"Aim small, miss small"

[EJB]

I am probably wrong but If you concentrate on the center bullseye or where one wants to hit it, I would not think the rest of the target would affect your perception.

[lizzie]

I am probably wrong but If you concentrate on the center bullseye or where one wants to hit it, I would not think the rest of the target would affect your perception.

Maybe it doesn't hold true for some people. I don't think it affects perception, but I think it causes some type of response which allows a more singled-in focus. Iow, if I have a target that is 5" across, with a red bullseye in the center, I can aim at the bullseye, but subconsciously, I know that I have a full five inch circle to play with. Otoh, if I have a 1" diameter bottle cap suspended, subconsciously I know that I have to hit within an inch.

[EJB]

I can understand how that would work but when I aim in my mind the center of the target or the last hole I hit is all I concentrate on.  I do not even see the rest of the target only a spot as large as a pellet hole will be.

[glassman98]

Lizzie, I to us it. Shooting today @ 30-50yds till wind really kicked up. So went to my 11yd inside target setup. Got bored real quick. All my targets have 1/4" dia. bulls, with a 1/2" ring. So I started shooting wood match sticks 3/32" wide, and then went to tooth picks that are 1/16" wide. Try it. It is fun. I did it with my RX2,ProSport, and my Blue Streak. They all did good at it.
gman 

[lizzie]

Matchsticks.
Thanks for the idea- I'll try it.

[dpricenator]

of course for anyof this to work, you need to have your scope ZERO'D in perfectly. 

[tom96]

of course for anyof this to work, you need to have your scope ZERO'D in perfectly. 

ya but thats the easy part, that trick is to focus on only what you want to hit,such as a tiny imperfection in the paper where the color is darker. then block out the surrounding area in your head and slowly pullthe trigger straight back.

i think the reason is there is less to aim at so you could be more consistent with your aim point,

[hw77grey]

aim small, miss small, words to live by! Try lighting matches, it is a riot!

[uncle paulie]

Great post Lizzie! Not to hack the thread, but some of the folks might also be able to tighten up their groups by keeping both eyes open when shooting. It's something I picked up by accident years ago while shooting action videos. A little difficult to master at first, but once you get used to it, it becomes second nature. The benefits are that you're not tensing your face, you can get "on target" much faster(particularly at longer distances) and it helps to stay on target during the follow-through.

pv

[cactusrat]

Lizzie, congrats on the becoming a moderator.

Yes, aim small, miss small is the second best way to hit your target. In boot camp, I was told the best way to hit your target was to pour a lot of lead down range.

My long range (50+ yards) targets are half to one inch in size. For closer work, I like smaller targets, like match heads or whole grains of deer corn.

Still waiting for the fully  automatic, 1000 round, belt fed BB/pellet gun to come out.  What’s taking so long?

[airgunandy]

That's called "Spray and Pray"     

[Mo.sniper342]

when I was on the trap team in highschool there was a shooting coach that was starting  2nd graders out with red riders shooting aspirins out of the air, his thought was the small targets became normal to them so bigger targets were easy.

[RedFeather]

That's a bit different.  I believe they call it "instinctive shooting", promoted by a fellow back in the 60's.  He would take a group of every day people, give them BB guns and teach them to concentrate on the target, not the sights.  They ended up hitting aspirins tossed into the air.  The Army adopted the program as part of their training for troops in Viet Nam.  This guy (or someone schooled by him) decided to show what his style of shooting could do.  He took a sixteen year old girl with absolutely no shooting experience, started her with a BB gun, moved up to shooting clays with a 20 gauge from within a barn and then entered her in the Nationals.  She placed pretty high.  Churchill, who made those short double barreled shotguns back in the 20's/30's, promoted drawing your bead on part of the bird while wing shooting.  He theorized that aiming at the whole bird was what caused many misses.  And that guy could really shoot.

I should think that using a small target (or one matched to your sights and vision) is better than a large one since it is easier to optically determine the aim point.  With a scope, this is a bit easier but can also have a slight downside in that you might be tempted to crank it up to eleven to find that spot within a spot.  Great for the bench but not always so good offhand.

[kudzu]

That's a bit different.  I believe they call it "instinctive shooting", promoted by a fellow back in the 60's.

Would that be Lucky McDaniel you are speaking of?

[Jay]

Lizzie just another thought for you while you are learning about target shooting, an it's been debated for a long time, but most of us have came to the conclusion that about 80% of acc. come's from trigger "break", even to the point of being able to "call" your shot once it's released, with the smaller target you are speaking of it to me boil's down to you are breaking the trigger better because you just have less to "see" or time, so you are releasing it in a more precise time frame, the "trigger" control is the biggest an the last thing to be mastered before becoming a GREAT shot an not just a shooter.

[lizzie]

Lizzie just another thought for you while you are learning about target shooting, an it's been debated for a long time, but most of us have came to the conclusion that about 80% of acc. come's from trigger "break", even to the point of being able to "call" your shot once it's released, with the smaller target you are speaking of it to me boil's down to you are breaking the trigger better because you just have less to "see" or time, so you are releasing it in a more precise time frame, the "trigger" control is the biggest an the last thing to be mastered before becoming a GREAT shot an not just a shooter.

The trigger is something I am finding myself working dilligently on. Consistent cheekrest and hold is improving well, but the trigger will take some time.

[lizzie]

Lizzie, congrats on the becoming a moderator.

Yes, aim small, miss small is the second best way to hit your target. In boot camp, I was told the best way to hit your target was to pour a lot of lead down range.

My long range (50+ yards) targets are half to one inch in size. For closer work, I like smaller targets, like match heads or whole grains of deer corn.

Still waiting for the fully  automatic, 1000 round, belt fed BB/pellet gun to come out.   What’s taking so long?

Thanks!

Pouring lead is something that I do alot of, lol.

A recent issue of Shotgun News had an article about a fully-auto pellet gun.

[stevemag]

Lizzie, congrats on the becoming a moderator.

Yes, aim small, miss small is the second best way to hit your target. In boot camp, I was told the best way to hit your target was to pour a lot of lead down range.

My long range (50+ yards) targets are half to one inch in size. For closer work, I like smaller targets, like match heads or whole grains of deer corn.

Still waiting for the fully  automatic, 1000 round, belt fed BB/pellet gun to come out.  What’s taking so long?

Thanks!

Pouring lead is something that I do alot of, lol.

A recent issue of Shotgun News had an article about a fully-auto pellet gun.

you mean one like this?   http://air-ordnance.com/

[lizzie]

It's in the Sept 20, 2011 issue. SMG 22 from Air Ordinance, pages 22-28.

[stevemag]

there is video