# Sight picture issues



## fischsemmel (Aug 24, 2010)

Hi there,

I recently purchased my dad's old service pistol, a .40 sig p229. It's my first pistol, though not my first firearm. I bought some snap caps and have been working at getting myself intimately familiar with the gun (slowly but surely) by dry-firing it a few days a week for ~200 shots per week.

My trigger control is getting better on double action, but I think I'm having some problems with my sight picture. From what I can tell from all the articles and things I've been reading, I should be focusing on the front sight of the gun; the front sight should be crystal clear in my vision. I should also have the target mostly in focus so that I can place the front sight in the right spot, and then the rear sight just needs to be in focus enough that I can line up the front sight with it.

Now I don't have bad vision; far from it. I have glasses for when I'm on a computer, but they only really help me avoid getting headaches from the screen, they don't help me see any more clearly. I've found that, no matter how hard I try, I cannot get my right eye to focus down the sights when I have both eyes open. I CAN get my left eye to focus down the sights with both eyes open, though, so I assume that's my dominant eye.

But when I dry-fire with both eyes open, I haven't been able to get a "proper" sight picture. If I focus on the front sight to the point that it is crystal clear in my vision, the target is blurry and I see double of it, to the point I can't put the front sight on the correct spot.

What I have managed to do that seems to work so far is focus about half on the target and half on the front sight. Doing this means I can see both well enough to line up a good shot, but neither is 100% in focus... they are probably both about 75% in focus.


Is this normal? Should I be able to acquire a correct sight picture with practice, or are my eyes unable to be trained to do that? I feel like getting 75% focused on both the target and the front sight takes me a bit of time... a delay I don't want to deal with if I ever need to use this gun in self-defense. Will that delay decrease with practice, or do I need to find a new way to acquire my sights and target?


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## cougartex (Jan 2, 2010)

Sight Alignment (from Cornered Cat)

"It is important that you learn to keep your eyes focused on the front sight the entire time you pull the trigger, and during follow-through after the shot breaks. Physiologically, it is simply not possible for the human eye to focus on a near object and a far object at the same time. This means that when your eye is focused upon the front sight, the target will be blurry. And when your eye is focused on the target, the front sight will be blurry. Some people (mostly young folks) can switch their focus back and forth rapidly enough to fool themselves into thinking that both are in focus at the same time, but it's not true. One or the other is in focus at any given time.

What all this means is that you will need to decide which is more important to have in sharp focus: the large target, or the tiny front sight. If you want to shoot accurately, you absolutely need to really see that tiny front sight and what it is doing. And that is why shooting instructors always tell their students to look at the front sight."

Cornered Cat - Sight Alignment


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

I wear the same glasses I use for the computer. to shoot with. The focal length for both is the same, and a clear crisp front sight is the key. I no longer even think about the target being blurry.


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## fischsemmel (Aug 24, 2010)

Hey Cougar,

I've read the same stuff you quoted from that site before (and repeatedly!). The reason I posted on here with my issues is because when I focus on the front sight like I'm told to, I not only see a blurry target... but I see two of the target. I assume this isn't too common, because I haven't read about this happening to anyone else before.

I figured asking specifically here would be a good idea, in light of this.


Also, I take issue with the specific language on the site you linked! (Sorry, I'm a stickler for semantics, specifics, precision, etc.). The "entire secret of accurate shooting" is "Your sights must aligned with the target at the moment the hammer falls . . . That's it.", says the site. But that's not it. Ask any trap/skeet shooter if all they have to be doing to hit their target is have their sight on the target when the hammer falls, and they'll tell you that's wrong.

And granted, shooting at a stationary burglar or a target or whatever, with a pistol, isn't quite the same... but what is the same is that if your sights are on the target at the moment the hammer falls, but the gun is not stationary relative to the target in the brief period of time when the bullet is travelling down the barrel... you might miss your mark, even though you followed the advice given by Mr. Hayes.


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## fischsemmel (Aug 24, 2010)

Bisley said:


> I wear the same glasses I use for the computer. to shoot with. The focal length for both is the same, and a clear crisp front sight is the key. I no longer even think about the target being blurry.


Again, it's not so much that the target is blurry, as that I see double of the target when I focus on the front sight like everything says to (also just tried with my glasses on, and I have the same issue).

Now maybe you don't need to be able to hit the head of a pin with every shot if you're shooting to center mass in self-defense... but what about target shooting? How can I realistically try to hit a bullseye if I can hardly see the blur that is the bullseye because I'm SO focused on the front sight?

Do I just need to practice enough, always focused to the max on the front sight, so that the fact that the target is a blur and doubled doesn't affect me? So that I just automatically aim at the correct blur and the correct spot in that blur?


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## fischsemmel (Aug 24, 2010)

So I went and got my sig and put some of my snap caps into it. If I line up the sights on a typical, electrical outlet that is about 15 feet away from me across my computer room and focus entirely on the front sight... I see two of the outlet, and the doubles appear to be 18 inches apart, with the "false double" also about 6 inches below the true one. It's just like when you're at the optometrist and he says "Ok, you should see a green square and a red square... let me know when they are right over top of each other/right across from each other" except that instead of multi-colored squares, I see double of my target.... and they never line up unless I stop focusing on the front sight.

Do you all experience this issue too?


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## MitchellB (Aug 14, 2010)

Focus on the target if you are using a shotgun. Focus on the front sight with a handgun.


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

Well, if you are not able to focus on the front sight with both eyes open, without it making you cross-eyed, you may have to shoot with your non-dominant eye closed.

When you shoot with both eyes open, you are not really focusing both eyes on the front sight. Your dominant eye, only, is lining up the sights. So you gain nothing by having the other eye open, except a better view of everything that is going on in the periphery of your vision.


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## Dannyboy555 (Jan 9, 2010)

I have the same "double picture" problem with both eyes open. I definitely recognize the importance of having the best peripheral vision in a given situation, but to me the most important factor is putting a bullet on target. 

One drill I have been incorporating into my dry fire sessions is to start with the non-dom eye completely closed and get a perfect understanding of what the proper sight picture should look like. After dry firing that way I then slowly ease open my non-dom eye just a little and continue with the dry fire. It is a long tedious process but when I started I could barely have my non-dom eye open and now (about 2 months later) I have my non-dom eye half way open and still have a clear sight picture. 

However, when it comes down to it, putting bullets on target is the most important issue. Remember, in s a self-defense situation you are responsible for each and every round you send out, so make them count.


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## recoilguy (Apr 30, 2009)

I am not sure if this will help but a guy I shoot with every Tuesday has a similar problem. He has Bi Focals and can't focus front site and get a good image of the target. What he did to compenstae for that was go to his eye doctor and had him make a pair of glasses with his weak eye piece normal and the shooting eye he had made upside down so as he aquires te front site with his strong eye he is not looking over the top but using his close up part and as his other eye goes down range to see the target he is using the correct part of the bifocal also.

It may not help in your instance but I thought it was a cool idea and he can shoot alpha after alpha now.

RCG


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## TOF (Sep 7, 2006)

The first thing you need to do is determine for certain which eye is dominant.

If it is the left you might have an easier time learning to shoot left handed. You should learn to shoot with either hand anyway.

If the objective is to use a pistol for defense you need to learn to shoot with what ever visual aids you wear 99% of the time. The special focal length, yellow lens, wrap around glasses in your shooting bag won't do you any good when you are confronted by a group of hoodlums as you walk to your car after work.

Once you decide which hand/eye to use, practice, practice, practice.


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## JeffWard (Aug 24, 2007)

Probably coming from your cross-eye dominance.

Practice closing your non dominant eye, taking a sight picture, then opening it. If you see the target shift, you're swapping. Eventually, the brain will figure it out, and one of the two (double vision) targets will be "stronger". The correct one.

JW


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