Wednesday, April 23, 2008 Rama: Shooting and the centerline By Karlon N. Rama Stage Five
AT a conservative distance of seven to 10 meters or thereabouts, it is possible to shoot an IPSC metric target without really aiming and not miss.
For so long as: 1) the shooter assumes the proper stance, grip and presentation; and 2) the front sight is at least aligned with a spot within the target, the shot will land on paper.
Glancing at the front sight to make sure that it is bearing on the target, without necessarily aligning them with the rear sight as taught in basic shooting class, is called peripheral sight-focused shooting.
American shooting masters Rob Laetham and Brian Enos, very active and visible athletes in the international shooting scene then, introduced the concept as early back
as the ’90s.
It was received with skepticism. I guess it was just hard for people to settle with the idea that a shot can be made to hit and score without executing the textbook sighting procedure.
But according to the two masters, any skew in trajectory the non-alignment of the front and rear sights might cause will be compensated by the short distance between the shooter and the target.
CENTERLINE. To illustrate, imagine standing up and facing someone squarely.
Then, imagine that there is a line bisecting you from the top of the head, between the eyebrows, bisecting your navel and reaching towards the ground. Let’s call this your centerline.
Imagine also that the person you are facing has that same line bisecting him. That is his centerline.
Now, imagine a vertical line emanating from lets say the chest area of your centerline and let it run to infinity. Since you are facing the other person squarely, doesn’t the vertical line from your central axis bisect his centerline?
Hold that thought and raise both your hands to your chest with both palms touching each other. Notice how your hands align naturally to that imaginary vertical line previously projected out?
Now, imagine a gun where the palm would be. If the gun is fired and the bullet flies in the same direction the gun is pointed, which is always the case, where do you think the bullet would go?
Going back to shooting, what is important is that the front sight at least bears on the target.
And how do we do that? A proper stance, which has the body facing the target squarely; a good grip, which eliminates the tendency of the gun to bank left or right while the trigger is being pulled; and correct presentation, which makes sure the gun is aligned with the body’s central axis.
Limitation and gain. Of course, an athlete can’t be expected to shoot the wings off a fly this way. For really accurate shots, one is still required to get proper sight alignment and sight picture.
The old lessons still hold true – by aligning the front and rear sights and aligning the gun to the target, we maximize accuracy.
So if peripheral sight-focused shots aren’t going to be accurate anyway, why do it?
The answer is speed. By simply glancing at the front sight instead of aligning them to the rear sight and then to the target before shooting, the shooter saves time.
And in both sport shooting and self-defense, speed may very well be the crucial element.
MATCH. And speaking of sport shooting and self-defense, Front Sight Gun Club in Minglanilla hosted yet another shoot last Sunday, their third for the month.
And they had a surprise visitor in United States Practical Shooting Association USPSA Grand Master Rey Abad of the American Shooting Centers in Houston, Texas. Rey is in the Philippines to follow-up on his pet-project, a 50-bay range in Aloguinsan, Cebu.
Front Sight President Efren Nemeño wrote an email to reveal that the winners are (Standard) Brandon Lariosa, White Degamo, Concord Fabillar and James Vincent Manigos; (Production) Ernesto Reyes, Ruperto Singson, Donnan Bacalso, Alvin Empinado and Christian Cullen.
Personal. He has skippered boats out of harms way more times that he gives himself credit for and he continues hands-on while on the helm out at sea. In land, in the company of his family, his is the hand that keeps them steered true north. Permit me to greet my father-in-law, Jun Cuizon, who celebrated his birthday last Monday.
