Finally got to shoot a little today! Thanks for the help gang!

[Ricochet]

With two kids in spring and summer sports it is just hard to do anything other than that, it just aint the same as it used to be! Grown folks and their greed have ruined youth sports..........Anyway, I finally got to get out with my Kibler SMR today and shoot a little. Last winter, I can remember being a little hesitant with that hair delay and flash going off. It was just enough of a distraction to affect my shooting. Then I connected on that first squirrel, it seemed that a light went off. After that, I unfortunately put the gun away till now. With a mink oil pillow tick patch around a .390 ball ahead of 30 gns of 3f my first three shots at 25 yds offhand were the first two touching about 1 inch to the right and a hair high. My third was in the bull. Now to some of you seasoned guys, this may not sound like too big of a feat, but to me, it was absolutely awesome. I couldn't hit a dang car tire offhand with it before. The rest of the short session mirrored the first shots. I am starting to feel as confident with this gun as I am with my Crockett cap lock and I can get em with that thing. I don't think that I would have progressed to this small success without the tips that I have gotten from here so I want to put out a thank you to this site and all the folks that add to the conversations. Even though I have been busy with the kids and not active in the talk, I have visited and read a lot. The tip that I believe helped me out the most, and I am sorry that I can't quote who I read it from, was to concentrate on the front sight only. Since I started doing that, my concentration level went up and my ball started going where I was aiming. I love this flintlock! I am now wanting a flintlock fowler in the worst way for them turkeys in the spring!!

 

[azmntman]

I too gained from that comment (may have been Zonie, not sure, but thanks! I always struggled to focus the front rear target and all three got real fuzzy)

 

[Ricochet]

Yep! Exactly what I was experiencing. Once I started focusing on the front blade, everything sort of "cleared up" for me

 

[Britsmoothy]

Sure, that why a rifle should fit someone just like a fine shotgun.
When the rifle is in the shoulder ideally we want the front sight in the rears notch from the get go then keeping the head still we can forget the rear sight.

 

[Grenadier1758]

There's several of us on the Forum that promote concentrating on the front sight. I have no choice since, at my age, the only sight that is close to being in focus is the front sight.

Let's give top credit to Zonie.

 

[Ricochet]

Will do, thanks goes to Zonie then! Back to ball for the next two weeks and it will hopefully be over so I can have a little more time for this stuff

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

[QUOTE=" was to concentrate on the front sight only.[/QUOTE]

Very good advice for those who can make it work. If there is anyone out there that can tell me what I am doing wrong, it would be appreciated. I have been shooting guns since the 50s and long ago heard "concentrate on the front sight only". I have tried to use this approach, but can't get the job done. I am not a bad shot, but would like to improve my shooting. If good shooting can be accomplished by front sight concentration, then that would be a whole lot easier than what I do. My eyes like me to: 1. Aquire sight picture, 2.come up on the center line of target and then toggle between front and back sights & target center. While all this busyness with the eyes is going on, I am holding breath and squeezing the trigger.
I never was normal. (LOL)
Flintlocklar

 

[Zonie]

I suggest that rather than toggleing back and forth between the target, the front sight and the rear sight you first sight on the target.
Get a mental image of it and where you want the shot to go.

Now, keeping that mental image in the back of your mind, focus only on the front sight. The target will be fuzzy looking but its outline will be there so, move the front sight to line up with the place you wanted to hit. Continue looking at the front sight and when it swings past the place, squeeze, don't jerk the trigger.

Also, don't try to second guess when the gun will fire. Just concentrate on the front sight and continue squeezing the trigger and let the gun do "its thing".
Also, don't relax your point of aim until at least a second after you hear/feel the gun fire.

 

[Sidney Smith]

I was always taught that you concentrate on the front sight, and let the target and the rear sight go fuzzy. That has always worked for me.

 

[hanshi]

It makes plenty of sense. A couple of inches of drift off a target will still score pretty well. But only a teeny-tiny misalignment of the front sight in the rear notch can put you off the paper entirely.