04-05-2011, 02:35 PM
SBBW Wrote:LR, Have you had the chance to try this with a scoped/magnified optic, specifically the portion of focusing more on a spot on the target? The concept sounds valid from what little I know about really good golfers and the fact that they focus on a certain spot on the ball and driving the club through it.
I have noticed, now that you have brought my attention to it, that when I shoot a sighting shot on the target, and then use that hole for my actually group "target" my groups seem to be smaller than when I try to shoot for the center of the target. Thanks for your help as always.
SBBW:
Yes, I have tried it. It is pretty much a statement of the obvious. Obviously your cross hair / dot will cover up that point where you want to look so you will end up looking at the cross hair or dot anyway. Front sight the same if using irons with a post front sight.
However, I firmly believe that the statement "always focus on your front sight / cross hair" isn't a good way to describe what to focus on either.
I need to take a look at some research but for now I would bet that what happens is that you are looking at the center of the target until your cross hair or post block that picture. However, the picture is till burned into the brain for a short period and they will put the cross hair on the spot they still 'see' and shoot.
Yesterday I was shooting using a Nightforce 2.5 - 10 X with a FC-2 reticle. The reticle uses a 1.5 minute dot @ 10X. I was shooting at some 3" Shoot N C targets at 200 yards. The dot totally obscured the Shoot N C targets.
It was not difficult at all to shoot into these small targets even though the dot completely covered them when in the aiming process. I suspect that what I was doing was burning the image into my mind for a short period of time -- maybe a second or two -- and that was enough for me to get confident shots with the optic.
I think this may be true because if I held too long -- past two seconds or so -- I had to start my approach all over again. This means something went on in my mind that said "it isn't right anymore so start over." What triggered this was most likely that the picture in my memory of where the target was, faded too much for me to trust a good shot.
Sounds kind of weird but you know what it is like to have an image 'burned' into your retina? Same type of thing I think happens.
The pity of this is that for years guys follow guidelines such as 'stay focused on the front sight' yet what the better guys do in reality is more than likely to focus on the center of the target and then shift focus to a sight that obscures that center but only for long enough to take a shot.
Focusing on a cross hair or front sight is probably important but it may not be as important as people once thought.
LR1955