Sight Alignment

 As I continue my series, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Shooters, I want to point out that there are many shooters out there that have never learned the basic fundamentals of marksmanship.  Then there are those of us who have been slinging lead for years and love our new gadgets and gizmos, but may have neglected to practice the skills needed to put effective firepower downrange using the three little pieces of metal protruding from the tops of our guns.  So here I will be discussing how to properly align your sights in the very likely event your scope, red-dot or laser ends up quitting the fight before the enemy.

Right after the invention of rifling, sight alignment is the most important contribution to man to fire an accurate shot. Sight alignment and sight picture are two terms that are often used interchangeably and many times used as one and the same. It’s fine to put them together once they are both understood, but it is vital to know that they are two different and vary distinct things. Sight alignment has nothing to do with the target (well, besides hitting it) and I will be covering this relationship in the upcoming, The Fourth Habit of Highly Effective Shooters.

 Watch Where You’re Pointing That Thing!

In order for you to provide exceptional customer service, the shooter must aim the gun and give the round a definite direction of travel to the target.  Accurate aiming with open sights is achieved by the shooter placing the front sight exactly in the middle of the rear sight with the top of the sight posts flush and you should see equal amounts of light on either side of the front sight post.  (fig 1)  With an aperture or peep sight, this is accomplished by putting the tip of the front sight post centered vertically, as well as horizontally, in the rear sight aperture. It then becomes imperative that the shooter maintain this relationship between the front and rear sights while depressing the trigger and discharging the gun.  For more on how to accomplish this task, check out, You Want Me to do What With My Finger? on ITS Tactical.

 Sight alignment has to be worked out with any individual gun you shoot, but the basics remain the same. There are a lot of different types of sights out there and it’s important to know how yours is meant to be used.  Some owner’s manuals will even include pictures or descriptions on how they should be aligned.  If you’re like me, you don’t read directions, but maybe you could take a peek when no one is looking…it could save you a lot of time and headaches on the range

Houston, We Have a Problem

As with nearly everything in life, there are a few things that can go awry, but if you’re armed with the right knowledge, you’ll be better prepared to make self corrections.  The first is known as an Angular Shift Error. (fig 2) This occurs if the shooter fails to correctly align the sites as described above and there will be little hope for hitting the target, except in rare cases where a round is accidently “thrown” into the target. If the shooter is not aligning the sights with the same military precision required of Marine recruits folding their underwear, each time he shoots the front site post will be in a slightly different relationship with the rear sight and it will look more like he’s shooting buck shot than a finely tuned instrument of destruction.

fig 2

 The other problem, which has more to do with sight picture, is a Parallel Shift Error. This is when the sights are aligned perfectly; but the gun is not aligned perfectly with the target.  Basically what this means is that if you’re shooting at a target that is an eight inch circle, you can move your gun around in an eight inch circle, no matter how far away you are and you’ll still hit the target in the same place your gun was in your imaginary circle on the firing line.  If you’re focused on the target instead of the front sight, small movements (wobble) will appear magnified.  This movement, though still there, will appear reduced significantly by focusing on your front sight.  The take away for all this gun-fighting geometry is that your sight alignment (angular shift) is far more detrimental than sight picture (parallel shifts within the target size) to hitting your target.  (fig 3)  The majority of the shooters efforts should therefore be towards keeping the sights in correct alignment.   So don’t worry about your wobble…holding the gun perfectly still is neither required, nor is it possible without support.

Ya Gotta Focus Man!

Now comes the really tough part, Front Sight Focus!  If you’ve been around guns for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve heard it, but what does it mean…and more importantly, can you do it?  What this means is that the front sight should be crystal clear, with the rear sights and target appearing blurry. I get it; this goes against everything your mind is screaming at you…to focus on the target! But you need to fight that internal battle and focus only on the front sight. You also need to keep your eye on the front sight throughout each shot (did I hear someone say follow-through?) and not look at the target in-between each shot (You know you might be doing this if: 1. Your shots are going low or 2. You can see your impacts as you’re shooting).  Also, many shooters who are focusing on the front site break that focus at the last millisecond before the round goes off and focus on the target.  This is just as bad as not focusing on the front site at all.

 Every shooter has at least one thing that is their crux to effective shooting.  Mine was front site focus for years, but now for some reason it’s my trigger squeeze.  If you’ve never had that “Ah HA!” moment with your front sight, then there is a good chance you’re not really focusing on it correctly.  In every course I run, even with experienced shooters, there is always at least one shooter who is not focusing on his front sights, but I can get to this point.  I’ll have them bring the gun up and focus on the site and then describe to me in minute detail, exactly what the sight looks like as they are pressing back on the trigger.  When the gun goes off, they see that by some miracle the bullet-fairy delivered the round to its intended target…Ah HA!  If you haven’t had that moment, next time you’re at the range, just point your gun at a target, focus on the front site and say, “OK, I know it’s not going to work, but I’m going to keep focusing on the front sight until the gun goes off, I follow through and my gun is back on target.”  I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

 A Zen-Like State

It is crucial to maintain front slight focus throughout the entire shot, but especially from when the round goes off until you get your next sight picture. Many times you will hear people say you should concentrate on the front sight, but I think this is wrong.  The definition I found for concentration is to, “direct toward one point”. If you’re concentrating on one point, there are too many other things vital to shooting that this will handicap your shooting.  Maybe it’s just semantics, but I suggest you let you eyes focus on the front site as your mind relaxes and takes in and processes all the data needed to deliver a well placed shot.  With an open mind and the picture of what your eye needs to see in your mind, let your eyes pull the trigger, and practice trigger patience. If the shot is not there, you need to be patient and wait until it is.  Too many shooters try to force a shot that’s not there and waste a round.  I’ve heard it for many years and it’s true; you can’t miss fast enough!

 Col. Jeff Cooper wrote, “If there is one thing that is most vital about pistolcraft it is concentration on the front sight.”  Now I’m not arguing with the wisdom of the father of the modern technique of hand gunning, I’m just contending his choice of the word “concentrate.”  I don’t believe in the “Front Sight, Front Sight, Front Sight” manta that I was taught (just say it in your head as you shoot).  As a Master Training Specialist (MTS), I learned that people learn and perform much better from visual input than from auditory.  So rather than saying the words “Front Sight”, I recommend putting a picture of what the front sight should look like in your mind and not continue pressing back on the trigger unless that is what you see with your gun.

 By concentrating on the front sight, the shooter will lose awareness of sight alignment, break the shot and throw a round…you can’t take it back.  Inattention to correct sight alignment can often be traced back to the shooter’s failure to fully understand its importance (now you don’t have that excuse). Shooters without this knowledge will start off on the right track and get everything lined up just right.  Then they get front site tunnel vision and lose correct sight alignment as they continue to press the trigger. Or if the shooter starts to notice his wobble, he’ll lose focus on the front sight to make sure he’s still on target and will then lose his sight alignment, which as we learned earlier is much more important than a parallel shift error. Shot, missed, Grade: F!

 Patience young Jedi…

Another way guys like to miss shots is what I touched on earlier, lack of trigger patience.  You’re waiting for the shot to break and it’s taking longer than expected, so you just start slapping the trigger like it owes you money.  In the process, you lose sight alignment, and the round.  Don’t get anxious for the round to go off.  Relax and let your mind process what’s going on.  If you’ve been told to just keep steady pressure on the trigger until the gun goes off, make sure you also keep your foot on the gas as your car spins out of control.  Don’t feel bad, I was taught the same thing, but treat your trigger like a gas pedal and if you’re losing control, let off the gas!  Once you’re back in control, let your eyes control the trigger as you keep the sights aligned until the shot breaks.

 Eyes Wide Shut

Since we’re talking cars, is it better to drive with one eye open or two? I’m not a professional race car driver, but I’m guessing the answer would be two.  Two eyes are needed to locate threats quickly and it’s physically impossible to close one eye without affecting the other at least slightly.  I read one study that said vision is degraded in the opposite eye by as much as 20% and that the pupil will compensate for the closed eye by dilating.  Normally this is a good thing as it lets in more light, but the amount of dilatation is not consistent with the lighting and this further deteriorates vision.  So if rapid target acquisition and accurate shooting are on your “nice to have” list, then keep both eyes open.  This becomes even more important if you are on a two-way range and you plan on moving at some point (highly recommended).  I don’t need a study to tell me that it’s easier to walk (or run) with both eyes open.

 There are going to be a few people with vision issues that do not allow them to focus with both eyes open, but don’t put yourself in that group too fast.  It’s going to be hard for anyone who’s never done it before to learn, but the benefits are well worth the effort.  You’ll start out seeing double and it will probably be blurry, but there are some easy drills you can do to speed up the process of teaching your mind which picture to focus on.  The first can be done at home or the office and all you need is a pen or pencil.  Hold the end of your really-non-gun upright at arm’s-length and place it over anything you designate as a target.  First try to let your eyes figure out which one is right, then close your non-dominant eye and see if it’s correct.  If it is, great!  If not, move it to your target and then open your eye to teach your mind what it should focus on.  Keep doing this until you start seeing one sight picture centered on the intended target.  Of course this can be done with an unloaded weapon, just make sure you observe all safety rules that go along with this.  The next thing you can do is to put a piece of clear tape on your shooting glasses on the non-dominant side.  It only needs to be big enough to cover the part of your vision where the front site post would be.  Then shoot with both eyes open and this will help train your mind to associate the correct eye to the sight.  I guess now is good time to mention dry-fire training since all of this can be trained without having to go to the range or waste white pastes covering your misses.  If after all this you still can’t hit the brad side of a barn with both eyes open, then shut that other eye tight and fire away!  Better to make accurate shots than to miss and potentially hit an innocent by-stander.

The author shooting the MK-18 with both eyes open

I hope you learned something about the importance of sight alignment in being a Highly Effective Shooter.  I actually didn’t know what I was going to say before I started, other than line up the sights and pull the trigger!  Let me know if you have any questions, I missed something or you have any sight alignment wisdom for the class.