This may sound stupid but...

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Granatelli

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OK - I am loving my new Smith & Wesson revolver. With its 8 3/8 inch barrel, I can shoot the lights out... up to about 10 yards.

Here is my question - the gun will shoot flat to about 200 yards, but at 25 yards, I cannot really see the target that well. I mean, I can see the paper, since it's one of those large paper targets. I just can't really tell where the center is. I wear glasses for reading only and my long distance vision is pretty darn good.

I realize I can by a scope, and I might just do that. Here is the question (and I have decent vision, really):

How does one accurately shoot at a target that is 25 yards away?
 
Practice. Not trying to be flip, but that is the only way.
 
Master a near-distance first. Move to a greater distance (15 yd./ 50 ft.) when you are confident about the nearer distance.

Then move to 25 yds. Try using an 8 1/2 x 11 blank paper with a day-glow orange target-sticker (local gun store should have them) in the center.

That way you can see the holes on the white paper from the firing line, so you have immediate feedback on your performance.

Certainly, you will know the basics - stance, grip, sight alignment, breath control, trigger pull, and of course, trigger pull.

gd

P.S. I have shot and continue to shoot more .22 L.R. than anything else. It's fun, easy on the budget, and improves all aspects of my shooting.
 
you seem happy at ten yards so why don't we try 12 to 15. when you get that nailed down slowly and patiently extend your comfort zone a few yards, and then a few more, and then again. when you feel you can brag about about making 50 yard shots take a deep breath, exhale, walk to your target and move it back again i had an advantage over some of todays shooters, easy access to an empty clay pit. the instant feedback from the dirt flying around the target was invaluable, and 100 yard shots from a steady rest were common. problem today is i can barely see the hill at that distance and think i'm Elmer Keith when i make a ten yard shot. .
 
Target selection is critical at 25 yards. The traditional bullseye target is usually a 3"-5" black circle on a white or tan background. You level the front and rear sights at the bottom edge of the circle. (called the 'six o'clock hold) Focus on the front sight and let the target and rear sight become a little blurry.
Adjust your sights so the bullets hit in the center of the circle.
http://pistol-training.com/archives/1361
http://www.bullseyepistol.com/

My latest prescription doesn't allow me to focus on the front sight, so I use paper plates at 25 yards and place the blurry front sight in the center of plate and level it with the even blurry-er rear sight. consistent blurrs is the key for me.

I've added a Trijicon Reflex sight to my .357 and am buying a Trijicon RMR sight for my .45 auto because I'm 50 dammit!! and I don't need to justify it to you youngins! :)
My personal protection pistol will keep it's open sights.
 
I've got mild astigmatism. Not enough to need glasses for driving (it sharpens my vision but my depth perception goes to pot so they said it was my choice at the DMV test) but enough that if I need precision vision at distance that I use my corrective glasses for night driving and for flying my model airplanes.

I tried using the glasses for shooting but they affect my near focusing abilities so that the front sight is totally blurred. And since the front sight is the key I've had to live with shooting without corrective lenses and just "aim for the paper's center. It sounds like you may be in the same boat on this. If so you likely find that you can shoot better on bright sunny days when your eyes are irised shut moreso.

If you're target shooting you can try some different targets that have bolder center markings. For myself I'm experimenting at the moment with a bold ring of dark marking that is two inches wide with a 4 and 6 inch white "bull". The dark ring and white center seems to be working nicer for poor eyes. I do these targets up in CAD so I can easily change them to try things out.

Another cheap and simple target is a white pie plate stapled over a backdrop of a black plastic garbage bag either slipped over the target stand or stapled on first. Again it generates a nice high contrast spot to see at the distance.

After that it's all about getting as CONSISTENT a sight picture as you can so your groups are as small as practical. You're not so much aiming at the center of the pie plate or paper as you are just trying to get a symetrical and consistent sight picture of the overall splotch of the target as seen against the front blade.
 
Glasses with a prescription adjusted for the clearest possible focus on the front sight helped me for quite awhile. As I got older, that helped less and less. I tried a red dot sight—not a laser sight, but a red dot—and a center hold, which helped even more.

I've added red dot sights to all the pistols I shoot for accuracy; unfortunately, all the visual gadgetry and tricks in the world haven't done a thing for my arthritis. Oh, well!
 
Thanks for all the excellent suggestions... If anyone is near Ocean County, NJ - feel free to email me at [email protected] and I would be more that happy to bring you to the range with me.
 
Just a guess, but if your eyesight is good or even average, I would bet your "problem" has a lot more to do with trigger control than sight picture. At 10 yards you can punch the trigger without seeing a big effect, this really changes at 25 and up.
 
It is all about the front sight and practice. One thing that will help is to dry fire. Aim at a blank wall and trip the trigger. If the sights move you have a problem that needs to be addressed.
 
When you say you have a hard time seeing the target, do you mean the whole paper or the round part? Or do you mean the front sight is covering the round target part of the target? I find it easy to hit within a few inches at 100 yards with a 8 3/8in barrel, even a six inch but I have to be mindful of the target and where it is in relation to the front sight blade since the front sight6 blade covers it completely at those ranges.
 
Get a steel plate about 8 inches in diameter, and paint it flourescent traffic cone orange (they actually sell that color). Put that out at 50 yards. Don't worry about where the center is, just bang away. Hours of fun!
 
Sight focus

Look , Tell your self, Front sight, Front sight, Front sight while you are shooting, you have 3 distances,1 to back sight, 2 to front sight, 3 to target.
Anybody can only focus on one at a time.So, back sight slightly fuzzy, front sight sharp focus, target slightly blurred. Use the mantra ,"front sight" until you cant aim a handgun with out thinking it.

Its worth a tatoo on the back of your hand. "FRONT SIGHT"

I joke around a lot on here, but this is straight dope. :)
 
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My NRA instructor did something fancy, after we got done qualifying me for basic pistol we looked at our groups. I'm a pessimist so I said my groups were "ok" compared to his...so he held the target up to my chest, smiled and said "looks like you put them all on target to me".
 
If its vision and focus on the front sight, i suggest you try "cockpit style" trifocals. With an exaggerated center tuned to your front sight distance they really helped me.
 
the gun will shoot flat to about 200 yards

how do you see the target @ 200yards and not 20yards?, and what caliber and model S&W is it that shoots so flat @ 200 yards, I want one!
 
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