most pistols leave the factory sighted for the 6oclock sighting. I don't know why, but I find it easier to shootlike that rather than covering what ya wanna shoot with the sights.
Sight Alignment at 6:00 on Target?
I have always been practice shooting with my sight alignment on the center of the target or bullseye, but in a book I have been reading the pictures show the sights aligned at the 6:00 position of the bullseye of the target, but no real explanation of this. 
Somebody needs to explain this to me so I dont develope some bad habits. Center of bull or 6:00 position....and why? Thanks
Somebody needs to explain this to me so I dont develope some bad habits. Center of bull or 6:00 position....and why? Thanks
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Bruces45 said:most pistols leave the factory sighted for the 6oclock sighting. I don't know why, but I find it easier to shootlike that rather than covering what ya wanna shoot with the sights.
Im 100% the oppsite if i shoot like that i shoot way low i have to shoot with it on the bullseye guess depends on your style of shooting
This is a variable it seems - with bullseye I always took 6 o'clock hold but for rapid fire I think it is better to go for POI - center hold.
Mind you - at combat distances to be honest - we are probably only talkin' an inch or so!
Let's say - combat shooting is ''zonal'' - we aim for a region. With bullseye where there is a black circle then a lower hold does IMO allow for a better sight picture - black ''sits'' on sights and so even out of focus is a better blur :wink:
Mind you - at combat distances to be honest - we are probably only talkin' an inch or so!
Let's say - combat shooting is ''zonal'' - we aim for a region. With bullseye where there is a black circle then a lower hold does IMO allow for a better sight picture - black ''sits'' on sights and so even out of focus is a better blur :wink:
Ditto Chris For Defensive Shooting Work.
I hardly ever shoot at any targets that are not configured to look like Bad Guy human beings anymore.
I guess you could say I'm a paper people puncher.
I hardly ever shoot at any targets that are not configured to look like Bad Guy human beings anymore.
I guess you could say I'm a paper people puncher.
For me--------6'oclock so you can see your target. If you want to hit higher for some reason,put the front sight higher in the rear sight. This is the same for shotguns shooting birdshot at flying game. The only thing that I sight in,directly where I want to hit,is a scope with crosshair.------------
My pistols all seem to be factory set to the center mass. If I hold 6 o'clock all my shots are low. This was hard for me to adujust to after years of 6 o'clocj hold shooting competatively. Best to try and shoot your gun and see where it is printing. This brings us back to P95carry's post about 1 accurate shot.
Back in the dark ages, when I was shooting with an Army pistol team we were taught the 6 o'clock hold. The reason given is that it was more accurate since you knew you were seeing the "bottom" of the bull. If you use a center hold, technically you can never be sure you have really bisected the bull since at least half of it is "covered".
I know back then I bought it, and it's always worked for me.
I know back then I bought it, and it's always worked for me.
Combat sights are aligned differently than target sights. With combat sights you cover the POI with the front sight. With target sights use a 6 o'clock hold for better consistency.
Many defense pistols do not have adjustable sights so unless you like drifting the rear sight and have some way to raise or lower the front sight, you will have to live with the pistol by finding the ammo that works best for it AND hit closest to POI. Some people carry only 1 pistol and know it well enough to offset their POI to give them the optimal placement of the shot.
My great dislike of the 6 o'clock hold is where do you aim at different size bulls? Do you 6 o'clock the x ring itself with the x-ring sitting atop the front sight? I have heard many descriptions but seen few pictures to show the proper alignment.
Many defense pistols do not have adjustable sights so unless you like drifting the rear sight and have some way to raise or lower the front sight, you will have to live with the pistol by finding the ammo that works best for it AND hit closest to POI. Some people carry only 1 pistol and know it well enough to offset their POI to give them the optimal placement of the shot.
My great dislike of the 6 o'clock hold is where do you aim at different size bulls? Do you 6 o'clock the x ring itself with the x-ring sitting atop the front sight? I have heard many descriptions but seen few pictures to show the proper alignment.
With bullseye shooting, you usually have adjustable sights and you have a known size bullseye at a known distance. So, when setting up the gun for, let's say 50 yds, you would adjust the sights so that piont of impact was half the bullseye above tha point of aim on a 50 yard bullseye at 50 yards. (Aim for 6 o'clock and adjust for center impact). You would mark the sights (or note the settings) and repeat the process for 25 yards.
Then, at a match, you'd set the sights for the distance and your sight alignment/picture up so that the top of the front sight was exactly even with the top of the rear sight with equal amounts of light on either side and the bottom of the bullseye sitting on top of the front sight.
There is also a school of thought that holds that novice shooters should use a center hold because there is a greater tolerance over which you could say you have a good sight picture and therefore will be less prone to jerking the trigger. (The same argument holds that a novice should use a shorter barrel (sight radius) because errors don't show up as easily and induce trigger jerking)
Then, at a match, you'd set the sights for the distance and your sight alignment/picture up so that the top of the front sight was exactly even with the top of the rear sight with equal amounts of light on either side and the bottom of the bullseye sitting on top of the front sight.
There is also a school of thought that holds that novice shooters should use a center hold because there is a greater tolerance over which you could say you have a good sight picture and therefore will be less prone to jerking the trigger. (The same argument holds that a novice should use a shorter barrel (sight radius) because errors don't show up as easily and induce trigger jerking)
My pistols with fixed sights seem to shoot to point of aim at 25 feet or so...I don't have any with adjustable sights and I'm not really a "bullseye" shooter for accuracy....I agree with QK here and try to shoot targets that are man-shaped as my pistols are for defense, not pinpoint shooting, and they are two completely different methods. :wink:
I do participate in M1 Garand matches, and have my iron sighted rifles zeroed with a six-o'clock hold at 100 yards...they shoot about 2 inches higher than point of aim at that distance so that the bullseye circle is in complete view when sighting the rifle.
I do participate in M1 Garand matches, and have my iron sighted rifles zeroed with a six-o'clock hold at 100 yards...they shoot about 2 inches higher than point of aim at that distance so that the bullseye circle is in complete view when sighting the rifle.
I like that idea of using man shaped targets, then that little orange circle in the center of the target will not mean so much.!!! I am not a target shooter either, but it is nice to hit the center bull once in a while. The man target eliminates that problem. Thanks for all the answers.
Man/Bad Guy Targets
Actually, you still do want to always catch those Critical Areas in the Man targets.
Yes it seems a bit less "formal" than punching bulls.
Buy some but just remember that in the real world of defensive shooting Accurate Bullet Placement on your intended target is what will keep you alive and able to buy more Paper Men that don't shoot back at you. :wink:
Actually, you still do want to always catch those Critical Areas in the Man targets.
Yes it seems a bit less "formal" than punching bulls.
Buy some but just remember that in the real world of defensive shooting Accurate Bullet Placement on your intended target is what will keep you alive and able to buy more Paper Men that don't shoot back at you. :wink:
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