Flash Sight Picture_Are You Training this Way?

This thread started from another thread regarding painting "iron sights" on pistols where I found a significant amount of responders were only painting front sights.

So that got me curious why that might be so, and I'm thinking they may have been using a Jeff Cooper technique of flash sight picture, where emphasis in defensive shooting with aiming is weighed heavily on the front sight coming to the target, and the rear sight then comes up secondarily with the shooter "seeing" it, but not focusing on it, as I understand the article.

For decades, even with defensive pistol shooting, I've been lining up front and rear sights, and allowing the target in the distant to be a bit fuzzy, feeling comfortable that as long as the barrel is relatively parallel to the ground, the bullet should fly straight and not veer off at all angles.

But now re-thinking.

So I'm curious, who is practicing defensive shooting with the Flash Sight Picture (in the Wikipedia article below) and who is lining up front and rear sights, both in focus and with great care (but of course in an expedited manner!)

Interesting article below:

Thanks!

Rich

This from Wikipedia (flash sight topic is about half way through):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_technique_(shooting)

Flash sight picture

The Flash Sight Picture is a method of allowing the cognitive faculties of the shooter to align the target and the sights without the delay involved in the conscious alignment of sights, as used when slow-firing a rifle at a distant target. In point shooting, by contrast, the pistol is drawn from the holster and fired from the hip, without the sights being aligned at all.

In slow-fire rifle shooting, the front sight and rear sight of the rifle are aligned with the distant target with great care, taking at least several seconds.

The Flash Sight Picture technique falls between these two methods. During a gunfight, waiting to align the sights is too slow. However, more accuracy than point shooting is required to hit one's assailant reliably. It is physically impossible for the human eye to focus simultaneously on the rear sight (nearest to one's eye), the front sight (farther away from one's eye), and the relatively distant target at the same time. The muscles of the eye adjust to focus sight on one specific distance optimally at any one instant, so 3 different distances mean the shooter's focus must hunt (muscular physical adjustments) between all three points of mental concentration. The greatest adjustment of focus (relatively more ocular muscle contraction) is required to view shorter distances, such as the gun's rear sight. In the modern technique, the shooter is taught to focus on the front sight of the pistol and align it against the target, ignoring the rear sight for quicker aiming and minimal physical requirements. This prevents the focus of the eye from hunting between rear sight, front sight and target, wasting vital time in refocusing.

The technique is called 'flash' sight picture because the cognition is best able to perform this function when the target and front sight are presented quickly as a single image, in a 'flash', as if the shooter had just turned around to face a threat appearing from close by. The shooter's vision can "see" the rear sight, even if the focus is on the front sight. This is enough for the cognition to make an alignment. With the flash sight picture, the front sight and a rapidly presented image of the target are used to align the pistol. This is faster than slow-fire rifle, and offers more chance of hitting the target than point shooting from the hip.

The cognitive functions of the brain align objects in the hand with distant objects at great speed. This ability of human cognition can be used to align the pistol with the target. Colonel Cooper discovered this specific ability and named it the "Flash Sight Picture".

Human cognition can perceive a "Flash Sight Picture" at a speed faster than conscious awareness. This facility was discovered during World War II experiments with rapid recognition of aircraft silhouettes. Experimentation was continued after the war and branched into subliminal advertising in the 1960s, where images were flashed onto cinema screens for a duration too short for the viewer to notice, yet for cognition to have observed the image nonetheless.

Use of the Flash Sight Picture requires a rapid acquisition of the front sight in order to allow the brain to perform its calculations. This focus on the front sight is one of the main themes Colonel Cooper impressed upon students of the modern technique to clear their minds when shooting during a confrontation. The emphasis for students of the modern technique on the word "front sight" was so great, that a shooting school and a shooting magazine were named after this phrase.

This is something that I naturally started doing after practicing shooting both eyes open. I see a lot of people shoot with one eye and concentrate on aiming, same as if they were shooting a deer or in an accuracy contest. IMO in a self defense situation you will want both eyes open and on the target so you can continually assess the threat and your surroundings. Concentrating on the sights will take too long and cause you to lose focus on the attacker.

I have found this technique is a lot easier with the tritium sites on my glock as they are easier to decipher when blurry. The target sights on my 686 also work well, but the fixed sights on my sp101 do not work very well as they blend into the gun

For those who might be "re-thinking" make sure you are not "over-thinking."

No I don't. It other threads here it has been accepted that shot placement is the most important factor.

Depending on how you present your gun, you should have plenty of time to acquire and align the sights.

This is one advantage the isosceles method has over the Weaver method of presenting the gun.

RichLucky said:

This thread started from another thread regarding painting "iron sights" on pistols where I found a significant amount of responders were only painting front sights.

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I find that markings on the rear sight create a "busy" sight picture that can distract my eye from the front sight. Most, if not all, three-dot sights I've encountered have all the dots the same size even though the front sight is farther away from your eye and appears smaller and dimmer when brought up on target. In low light practice I've initially locked onto a rear tritium dot instead of the front.

Sure...... out to 5-7yds.......has minimal affect on shot placement at those ranges

Also..... being a bit farsighted I don't get as crisp of a sight picture as I use to........

Yes, although up to now I did not know it had a name.

"Back in the day" when I was an LEO, we were trained to fire the first round at the intended target then pick up the sights in the muzzle flash with the second round for a more precise aimed shot.

I can attest to the method as one night it was REALLY quiet in the county and one of the deputies and I decided to shine some racoons. Spotted one about 40 yards out in a field and stopped to take a shot. Fired the first round which sent the coon running, picked up the sights in the muzzle flash and rolled him with the second round (137 grain super vel from a 4" model 19)

I do use the "flash sight" technique for defensive shooting practice. In fact, I use it for normal target shooting, except that I slow down. My vision is always focused on the front sight - which is how I learned to shoot.

I have also taken to only coloring the front sight of my guns, but I prefer a dot sight. So, on my Smith & Wesson revolvers (all I shoot now).....I invariably change the front sight to a true blade design, tapered in thickness, with a colored dot (orange or yellow) on the rear. For whatever reason, works much better for me than the standard front sight.

We were doing that over 45 years ago in ITR. We called it "quick kill". Used Daisy pump up b.b. guns and 2 inch? steel disc tossed up by another Marine. We were all hitting the targets in no time. A great skill to have, saved alot of green rear ends.

At close range if I see my front sight I can hit the target. At longer ranges I use both sights. I was in Law Enforcement 35 years and was in a few fights. This always worked for me.

"Quick kill" is actually a form of threat focused instinctive or point shooting.

I'll also add a common misconception regarding "point shooting" is that all shooting is done from the hip. Many forms of aimed point shooting bring the gun into the line of vision and superimpose the gun on the target. WILSON DEFENSE JOURNAL: Understanding Point-Shooting -Michael Janich The key difference between it and any type of sighted fire is the focus is on the target/threat rather than the sights.

shotgun693 said:

At close range if I see my front sight I can hit the target. At longer ranges I use both sights. I was in Law Enforcement 35 years and was in a few fights. This always worked for me.

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That's well said; but there also seems to be a lot of confusion as well as variance in personal technique related to this topic. The question remains, 'For those longer shots, 'How' did you focus on both sights?'

I know how I do it; but, from reading this thread, it's obvious to me that other pistoleros are doing the same thing in other ways. I've spent a good part of my life learning how to speed shoot well; and, no matter how much better it might work, I'm too old now to learn somebody else's method!

Arc Angel said:

That's well said; but there also seems to be a lot of confusion as well as variance in personal technique related to this topic. The question remains, 'For those longer shots, 'How' did you focus on both sights?'

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I will take as much time to line up my sights ..... to make the best shot possible....... that the situation I am facing allows.......

or to put it another way.........

I would prefer to shoot them (if I have to) before they can hurt me!!!

As I'm sure most of you know, most Police shootings are real close. At a couple of feet or so you just shoot. At longer ranges you have a bit more time. I shot a bad guy at 80 yards one night, I took my time. You need to practice at any and all ranges, you never know what's going to happen.

shotgun693 said:

As I'm sure most of you know, most Police shootings are real close. At a couple of feet or so you just shoot. At longer ranges you have a bit more time. I shot a bad guy at 80 yards one night, I took my time. You need to practice at any and all ranges, you never know what's going to happen.

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80 yards at night? I can't imagine any realistic, probable scenario where a civilian would need to make such a shot or for it likely to be legal. You should devote your training appropriately to what's most probable. If roughly 97% of all self-defense situations occur within a certain distance range, it's prudent to allocate training time accordingly.

shotgun693 said:

As I'm sure most of you know, most Police shootings are real close. At a couple of feet or so you just shoot. At longer ranges you have a bit more time. I shot a bad guy at 80 yards one night, I took my time. You need to practice at any and all ranges, you never know what's going to happen.

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80 yards? At night? I've heard a lot good sea stories, but tell me more.

BAM-BAM said:

I will take as much time to line up my sights ....... to make the best shot possible ....... that the situation I am facing allows .......

or to put it another way .......

I would prefer to shoot them (if I have to) before they can hurt me!!!

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My compliments, really!

YOU ARE A VERY CLEVER GUNMAN!

That is exactly my own hard-acquired philosophy of how to successfully survive a CQB pistol gunfight.

For many years, now, I've practiced at 12 to 15 yards while everyone else was practicing at 3, 5, and 7 1/2 yards. Why did I do this? Well, after the third or fourth incident I realized that most opponents don't start shooting until AFTER they're reasonably confident that they're going to hit what they aim at.

As you have said: Much of surviving a gunfight involves stopping the other guy BEFORE he's able to stop you! To me this means that if the BG is comfortable at starting to fire from 5 yards then I have to be comfortable at starting to fire from 8 yards.

If the BG is ready to start firing at 10 yards then I have to be skillful enough to successfully engage him at 12 to 15. I mean: It's a CQB pistol gunfight - Right! Whoever fires first AND is able to successfully hit the mark has the best chance to survive.

Things were this way 125 years ago in the Old Wild West; and, in the interim, nothing's really changed all that much. CQB pistol gunfighting is the same today as it was when Wild Bill Hickok was out gunfighting on the streets of Deadwood.

It's pistol gunfighting! Stopping, waiting, to verify might be a good idea before you cross the street; but it's a very bad idea when your opponent has, both, a gun and evil intent. In CQB pistol gunfighting there are no timeouts; there are no starting lines; there is no opening bell; and there are no, 'Marquess of Queensberry rules'. There's only successfully stopping the other fellow BEFORE he successfully stops you.



PS: I don't, 'take my time to line up my sights'. Instead I, sometimes, take a little more time to line up my first shot. Then I allow my proprioceptive reflexes to take over as I, 'pour fire' on the center of the target. (NOT the exact center, only the general center.)

What is the cardinal sin in speed shooting? That would be taking the time to actually, 'nest' your front sight. (Seldom a good thing to do!) Instead I TAKE A LOW HOLD ON COM, allow my front sight to remain elevated, and focus on the target. The farther the target is away from me the more I focus on THE VERY TOP of my front sight, and the less I focus on the target.

In case you're wondering: Even at my present advanced age I remain a very good speed shooter. (I should be! To begin with I had no one to teach me; so, I had to teach myself. It took me a long time, as well as the repeated expenditure of a lot of ammunition before I finally learned how to do it right.)


Proper, Slow-Fire, Paper Target, Sight Alignment ~




Proper, Slow-Fire, Humanoid Target Focus ~




Proper, Rapid-Fire, Sight Alignment ~




Me at 16 1/2 yards, just as fast as my G-21 would go, 'Bang!' ~

As an old guy who no longer has vision acute enough to see the front sight clearly, I've been forced to train myself to point shoot. At 5-7 yards, I actually shoot smaller groups than I do when using the sights. Admittedly, I may be using the blur that was once the front sight subconsciously. At distance, with time, I use the sights, but then you are no longer in a justifiable self defense shooting situation.

Both Eyes Open

Brasky said:

This is something that I naturally started doing after practicing shooting both eyes open. I see a lot of people shoot with one eye and concentrate on aiming, same as if they were shooting a deer or in an accuracy contest. IMO in a self defense situation you will want both eyes open and on the target so you can continually assess the threat and your surroundings. Concentrating on the sights will take too long and cause you to lose focus on the attacker.

I have found this technique is a lot easier with the tritium sites on my glock as they are easier to decipher when blurry. The target sights on my 686 also work well, but the fixed sights on my sp101 do not work very well as they blend into the gun

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Hi Brasky!

And thank you for your reply!

RE: Eye's open: I have a lot of trouble with parallax error with boths eyes open. Although right-handed, my left eye is very dominant. And when using both eyes open , still tend to line up with my left, and squint with my right: that just seems natural to me now.

RE: front sights. Yeah: definitely gonna have to do something with my basic iron sights on my S&W BG 380: Either paint or modify the front, it just seems to add delay to acquire the target with the fixed sights the same color as the weapon.

Thanks again!

Rich