Granted I'm not anywhere in the league of you folks, I was taught to shoot without sights. Don't know what is was with the Mentors I had but that is the way they taught me.
Mentors were Military, had served and this was back when shooting was taught as a part of growing up. One of course was an Uncle I'ved talked about.
I was around six , single shot .22lr ,no sights but with sling. Bolt was removed and I had my fill of "getting strapped in - locked in as one with the gun". Prone laying on scratchy wool blanket, hot summer sun. Heck I wanted to shoot. "Nope not yet" - you ain't got the basics".
Bolt installed, and a fired case in chamber. I would work the bolt and the Gunny would provide the fired case, I'd shut the bolt and before I pulled the trigger, he placed a washer on the bbl...That washer had better not fall off when trigger pulled.
Then he added placing a glass of water , filled almost to the brim...I had better not have that washer fall off the bbl...If my ..."form - you move"...do you know how cold ice water feels when you screw up and that rush of cold hits the nape of neck and shoulder? I do, I even had to find out more than once.
Hot Dang it,we have live ammo! I knew there would be a catch - there was. I had to practice this "form, use of sling, breathing, and ,<expletives>, at home".
Now the gunny had a box with a "vee" notch cut in it , another box about 7 yds in front with a 1" square of masking tape. Remember no sights - yet. So remove the bolt, look through the bolt and see the tape , look down the bbl , and though I knew there was a reason, I didn't really grasp it - yet.
So we
finally get to shoot the darn thing. Typical gunnny, range commands, and one poor fellow fired before the command to do so was given. He got to run aorund a bit with his rifle with the bolt removed.
So I had to load and shoot 5 rds without spilling the water on my neck and shoulders and hit the tape. I did.
Targets were extended out and we finally had that water removed, but the form was still stressed.
Later the same type of rifle with sights this time and he drew a picture of what we were supposed to "see". We again removed the bolt and compared the bore sight with the iron sights. Later we repeated with peep sights.
It was amazing that a kid could in fact hit the bottom of a soup can stuck in a box at 20 yds without sights. I managed all 20 rds...somehow.
Granted I'm 48 and my eyes are not what they used to be, but I remember that gunny, that ice water down the nape of my neck "and one bullet at a time, that one bullet may be what saves your life". In that barking, gunny voice.
He was not mean, he was stern and had seen the action in a War, he just wanted to impress upon us the importance of what we were learning. He had a sense of humor , he took care of us kids, but when told the story of only having one bullet and the enemy was close...that one bullet is the reason he is here and not 'still" over there.
We repeated the same dealie with form , breath control, trigger, sights with kneeling, standing. We also repeated without the use of sling.
Maybe that is why I got into shotguns...I could move and no ice water on my neck.