"See what you need to see" is an often heavily over-used term in the firearms training world, that isn't often followed with an explanation as to exactly what that means. As with all things in shooting, there are very few absolutes, and marksmanship fundamentals typically exist on an infinitely variable scale which is dependent on the constraints of what a shot requires. What that means is, there are varying degrees of "what you need to see", which is dependent on what is needed to make the shot. These factors could be:
For example, the traditional sight focus consists of a front sight, aligned with the rear sight, equal amounts of light on either side of the front sight blade, both sights aligned perfectly even across the top, with a hard front sight focus that puts the front sight in crystal clear focus with the target and rear sight blurry. This is the traditional sight picture and focus that is often taught. With this extreme degree of front sight focus, you will have the front sight in such perfect focus that you can make out the serrations on it, pick out any imperfections, and generally see the front sight in great detail. For the utmost accuracy, a hard front sight focus might be "what you need to see" to accomplish the shot based on whatever accuracy constraints may exist. For many shots...this degree of focus might also be excessive and totally unnecessary, reducing the overall speed of your shot(s). As always, the target will ultimately dictate the degree of what you need to see to accomplish the shot.
The above described sight focus might be ideal for extreme accuracy, accuracy at distance, and generally achieving a shot of a high level of difficulty. However, this does not describe all types of shots. The way I like to think of the basic fundamentals of shooting is that each fundamental is on an infinitely variable scale. On one end of the scale is the fastest possible speed. On the other end is the utmost in precision/accuracy. In learning to improve one's shooting performance, ultimately you are learning to make judgment calls on what equates to the maximum level of precision or speed you can exercise with a given fundamental for a particular shot. For example, at 3yds and shooting at an IPSC A and B zone, you would probably choose to use one type of sight focus, one type of trigger pull, and in general one end of the spectrum for each of the fundamentals, to squeeze out maximum speed while still maintaining acceptable accuracy. For many shooters, in that scenario, you might choose to use a "soft" sight focus (which I'll explain later), strong grip, and fast trigger control at the expense of accuracy, since we're only talking about 3yds. For other shooters that have true mastery of their fundamentals, in certain cases you might actually see a really experienced shooter at close range firing from a #3 position of drawstroke (aka "chest ready", compressed muzzle, muzzle parallel to the ground, firing from the ready position or partial extension), and actually still maintaining a tight group while using more of a body index on target (still sighted fire, technically, just a lower degree). For the highly experienced shooter, choosing alternatives like that may allow you to really push speed while still maintaining an acceptable degree of accuracy. In the case of this later example, the context of what the shooter "needed to see" may have been focusing intently on the point of the target they wanted to hit, and more importantly feeling the same familiar feelings of their lower body and upper body in alignment, natural point of aim (NPA), their arms, elbows, wrists and firing grip, all aligned in a familiar #3 position they've practiced many times before. The extreme end of this spectrum might be guys like Taran Butler, who often shoot stages from retention/ready positions or pure "point shooting" positions from the waist. It being possible for guys like that, because they have developed such a familiarity with their body parts, fundamentals, etc. that they can feel and maintain a somewhat consistent NPA even without the sights. In effect "feeling what they need to feel".
If you're shooting a 25yd B-8 bullseye target for score with a standard service pistol, you will most likely use another type of sight focus, trigger pull, and other fundamentals entirely. In this example, your sight focus might look more like the traditional description of sight focus, as you need a higher degree of differentiating absolutely perfect sight alignment. At this distance, errors in trigger control, sight alignment and other fundamentals are amplified significantly. So in this case, what you needed to see might have been a crystal clear front sight so that you could ensure it maintained perfect alignment during and through the trigger pull, so that you could "call the shot" and know whether you exercised the fundamentals perfectly or not. One thing to keep in mind is, even at this distance, "seeing what you need to see" is still entirely dependent on the individual shooter, and still totally different from person to person. For most shooters, yes, once you start reaching 25+yds, I would say a significant percentage of shooters are likely going to need to utilize a similar hard front sight focus. That being said, for more experienced shooters, some might not. I've heard of a number of very experienced competition shooters that actually still utilize a soft sight focus out to 25yds, and I think a few can even push it out farther than that. They are able to do that, because they have such mastery of their fundamentals and such an acute awareness of how they exercise them, as well as a significant degree of consistency, that they are able to maintain good sight alignment, good trigger control, and good usage of their other fundamentals without needing to see the sights in perfect clarity. This may not be you, and that's totally fine. The most important thing is to experiment and figure out what YOU need to make a given shot under its given constraints. If it's hard front sight focus at 25yds, but you can do it consistently, then excellent! Now you know where you need to be, so work on maintaining that, and eventually pushing yourself. Eventually you might be able to minimize the degree with which you need to see, so that you can fire in a more relaxed manner (soft sight focus) while still maintaining a good degree of accuracy. This applies at ALL distances.
So with the fundamentals on a variable scale, how do we determine when we switch to various points on that scale? It is going to be determined by many factors, including some of the following most common factors:
Lets break these down a bit further and explain how and why you might vary the way you utilize certain fundamentals for a particular shot.
- Time dependent
- Distance dependent
- Target size-dependent
For example, the traditional sight focus consists of a front sight, aligned with the rear sight, equal amounts of light on either side of the front sight blade, both sights aligned perfectly even across the top, with a hard front sight focus that puts the front sight in crystal clear focus with the target and rear sight blurry. This is the traditional sight picture and focus that is often taught. With this extreme degree of front sight focus, you will have the front sight in such perfect focus that you can make out the serrations on it, pick out any imperfections, and generally see the front sight in great detail. For the utmost accuracy, a hard front sight focus might be "what you need to see" to accomplish the shot based on whatever accuracy constraints may exist. For many shots...this degree of focus might also be excessive and totally unnecessary, reducing the overall speed of your shot(s). As always, the target will ultimately dictate the degree of what you need to see to accomplish the shot.
The above described sight focus might be ideal for extreme accuracy, accuracy at distance, and generally achieving a shot of a high level of difficulty. However, this does not describe all types of shots. The way I like to think of the basic fundamentals of shooting is that each fundamental is on an infinitely variable scale. On one end of the scale is the fastest possible speed. On the other end is the utmost in precision/accuracy. In learning to improve one's shooting performance, ultimately you are learning to make judgment calls on what equates to the maximum level of precision or speed you can exercise with a given fundamental for a particular shot. For example, at 3yds and shooting at an IPSC A and B zone, you would probably choose to use one type of sight focus, one type of trigger pull, and in general one end of the spectrum for each of the fundamentals, to squeeze out maximum speed while still maintaining acceptable accuracy. For many shooters, in that scenario, you might choose to use a "soft" sight focus (which I'll explain later), strong grip, and fast trigger control at the expense of accuracy, since we're only talking about 3yds. For other shooters that have true mastery of their fundamentals, in certain cases you might actually see a really experienced shooter at close range firing from a #3 position of drawstroke (aka "chest ready", compressed muzzle, muzzle parallel to the ground, firing from the ready position or partial extension), and actually still maintaining a tight group while using more of a body index on target (still sighted fire, technically, just a lower degree). For the highly experienced shooter, choosing alternatives like that may allow you to really push speed while still maintaining an acceptable degree of accuracy. In the case of this later example, the context of what the shooter "needed to see" may have been focusing intently on the point of the target they wanted to hit, and more importantly feeling the same familiar feelings of their lower body and upper body in alignment, natural point of aim (NPA), their arms, elbows, wrists and firing grip, all aligned in a familiar #3 position they've practiced many times before. The extreme end of this spectrum might be guys like Taran Butler, who often shoot stages from retention/ready positions or pure "point shooting" positions from the waist. It being possible for guys like that, because they have developed such a familiarity with their body parts, fundamentals, etc. that they can feel and maintain a somewhat consistent NPA even without the sights. In effect "feeling what they need to feel".
If you're shooting a 25yd B-8 bullseye target for score with a standard service pistol, you will most likely use another type of sight focus, trigger pull, and other fundamentals entirely. In this example, your sight focus might look more like the traditional description of sight focus, as you need a higher degree of differentiating absolutely perfect sight alignment. At this distance, errors in trigger control, sight alignment and other fundamentals are amplified significantly. So in this case, what you needed to see might have been a crystal clear front sight so that you could ensure it maintained perfect alignment during and through the trigger pull, so that you could "call the shot" and know whether you exercised the fundamentals perfectly or not. One thing to keep in mind is, even at this distance, "seeing what you need to see" is still entirely dependent on the individual shooter, and still totally different from person to person. For most shooters, yes, once you start reaching 25+yds, I would say a significant percentage of shooters are likely going to need to utilize a similar hard front sight focus. That being said, for more experienced shooters, some might not. I've heard of a number of very experienced competition shooters that actually still utilize a soft sight focus out to 25yds, and I think a few can even push it out farther than that. They are able to do that, because they have such mastery of their fundamentals and such an acute awareness of how they exercise them, as well as a significant degree of consistency, that they are able to maintain good sight alignment, good trigger control, and good usage of their other fundamentals without needing to see the sights in perfect clarity. This may not be you, and that's totally fine. The most important thing is to experiment and figure out what YOU need to make a given shot under its given constraints. If it's hard front sight focus at 25yds, but you can do it consistently, then excellent! Now you know where you need to be, so work on maintaining that, and eventually pushing yourself. Eventually you might be able to minimize the degree with which you need to see, so that you can fire in a more relaxed manner (soft sight focus) while still maintaining a good degree of accuracy. This applies at ALL distances.
So with the fundamentals on a variable scale, how do we determine when we switch to various points on that scale? It is going to be determined by many factors, including some of the following most common factors:
- Time: Is the shot timed or are there other factors that necessitate having the quickest possible shot? You need a shot timer for this. Typically we're talking about tenths of a second. Absolutely being able to identify, maintain, and improve those tenths of a second is necessary if you want to attain an appreciable level of skill and speed.
- Distance: Is the target far or close? What are the time constraints for the shot? Is the shot far enough, or are your sights in such a configuration that you will need to take into account a hold over/under or bullet drop? The key here is bench resting your gun (yes your handgun) and absolutely knowing where it shoots at certain distances so there's no guessing game. It is fairly common to find with most pistol sight configurations that your POI / POA (point of impact / point of aim) from 0-7yds might be totally different and off by several inches from 7-25+yds.
- Difficulty: What is the size of the target? Are you shooting for score? Are you shooting for a specific outcome on target (steel, steel activator, mover, stopping a threat)?
Lets break these down a bit further and explain how and why you might vary the way you utilize certain fundamentals for a particular shot.
