Target Color

[William H. Shuey]

Hi Troops:

I'm still fuming from the Stonewall skirmish last weekend. I dug my Maynard out and shot in the carbine match for the first time in years and was doing fine till I 0'd on the hanging pots. Sunday, the same thing. I'm doing fine till the hanging cups and pots when I 0 again. Looking back, I did the same on the tiles at the Nationals.
I am doing fine till I hit white colored targets and then I go to ----. Anybody out there have an idea what I'm doing that is letting white targets get to me?? I'm really frustrated.

Bill Shuey
1st Maine Hvy. Art.

[Ron/The Old Reb]

What for glasses where you wearing? :cool:

[Eggman]

Soometimes the bright yellow front sight I prefer will next to disappear among the white tiles if the light is wrong. I switch the front sight color to black when this problem is apparent.

[Greg Ogdan 110th OVI]

For me, light colored front sights are for paper only. When it's time for team competition, the front is always very flat black. Not nearly all my teammates agree though.

[Muley Gil]

Sight? Y'all are using SIGHTS? :confused:

Durn, I'll have to try that at the next shoot.

[William H. Shuey]

"What for glasses where you wearing?"

I have a set of prescription yellow Kodak lens shooting glasses. I coat the front sight blade with Dayglow red paint. I would think if the front sight color would cause problems anywhere it would be on claybirds with the red side out instead of blackside out, but the claybirds weren't a problem last weekend. I went 3/5 on carbine and 4/6 on Musket.
The comment about front sight color is worth experimenting on though, I think I'll try spraying the front blade with sight black and see if things improve.

Thank Y'All for the help.

Bill Shuey

[kowdok]

I from time to time have the same problem. Remember the pots aren't much larger than the 10 ring so concentration is more important. The 4" tiles are a little different story but it still comes down to concentration. They appear so large that they draw your attention away from the front sight and hence you will miss. This info was relayed to me by one of the most experienced shooters out there and I have found it to be all too true. You have to force yourself to focus on the front sight and you will hit those white targets. Try it.

[Michael Bodner]

Your gun is no good. I'll give you 75 bucks for it...

-Mike

[Paul Lampman 263V]

Kowdok is right on the money. Also, a goodly number of years back the American Rifleman had an excellent article about the eye-brain perception of different colored backrounds with a black bull (buff vs white) and how the eye-brain perceives or handles the information. It was basically for bullseye shooters but the principle holds true for all types of shooting. It indicated that while not applying to all shooters (depending upon the condition of your eyes and brain for that matter) the difference in target color vs backround color can make a difference in your point of aim. That's why we sometimes find that we are shooting low on one type of target and dead on with others.

[Southron Sr.]

What I would do would be to get some tiles from my local building supply company (sometimes they will let you have some of their discontinued colors for free.) Use a masonry bit in a hand drill to drill a hole in them.

I would also get one of those kits with the assorted front sight paint colors in it.

Then head for the range.

Now,time to experiment some.

Hang the tiles "white" side out.

Then shoot them with different colored front sights.

You will probably find a front sight color that works best for you.