Skills Tip: Finding Your Natural Point of Aim
Trying to improve your accuracy? This is for you.
Consistency is one of the most essential elements of accurate shooting, but the big question is, “How can I improve it?”
Think of your body as a platform, meshing with the firearm, where your stability can make or break your shot. Your hip placement, shoulder alignment, and head position all affect your stability, your aim, and your accuracy. Creating and maintaining a solid platform for shooting will improve your accuracy and build repeatability in that accuracy for follow up shots.
Understanding your natural point of aim - where the gun naturally points when you take a shooting stance - and keeping it consistent, is a critical part of building the optimal platform for you to align your sights and easily acquire a sold sight picture,
SAFETY FIRST:
Before handling any firearm, always ensure it is unloaded and safe to handle by ACTS & PROVE.
Get Into a Comfortable Shooting Stance
Assume your shooting stance, feet shoulder-width apart, one foot slightly forward (non-dominant foot forward), creating enough angle to allow for the firearm to line up with your head without having to tilt your neck toward the firearm.
You want enough of a forward lean in your stance so you can manage recoil but also so your eye line is relatively level with the sights without you having to bend your neck.
The butt of the stock should sit comfortably between your shoulder and your chest (pull in tight to eliminate any space – to reduce recoil). Once you get comfortable, reset and establish the same position again. Practice the consistency.
Now Align the Sights
Shoulder your firearm and look down the sights (or scope) of your firearm at your intended target. If you are using mechanical sights ensure the rear aperture and the front post are correctly positioned on the target.
Drill Your Natural Point of Aim
To practice, establish and reinforce your natural point of aim – Shoulder the firearm, take aim, then close your eyes and relax. Take a few breaths, without making any adjustments. Open your eyes and see if your point of aim has changed, now that you are relaxed.
If your point of aim has moved, adjust your body position - starting with your feet. Re-establish your point of aim making minute adjustments. Close your eyes again and take a few more deep breaths.
Reopen your eyes and verify that your sights are still aligned with the target without any additional adjustment. If they are, you have found your natural point of aim. If not, make further slight adjustments and repeat the process until the sights naturally align with the target when you reopen your eyes after a few breaths.
Practice Makes Perfect
This is a great little drill to run at home to establish and maintain consistency. Keep in mind that your natural point of aim will vary slightly depending on different shooting positions, distances, and your firearms fit so practice in various scenarios to refine your technique.
Take time to refine and optimize your platform through your natural point of aim and you will see incremental improvements in your accuracy and overall shooting!
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