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Tactic Factory

// 03 Tactic Factory

Sight Lab

Iron sights or optic: where your eye should be, what stays sharp, and why small sight errors turn into big misses. Shown for your selected weapon.

Showing Blake Drill · A-zone · 7 ydBlake DrillShow the default

What your eye sees

Your eye can hold one distance sharp at a time. Pick where it focuses and watch the rest blur.

Eye focus

Do this

Do this. The dot is projected to infinity, so it is sharp exactly when the target is. The housing melts away. You see where on the target the dot sits and press — no refocusing.

With both eyes open the brain merges the two views: the housing turns see-through, your field of view stays wide and the dot seems to float on the target.

Small error, big miss

Move the front sight a fraction off centre and see where the shot goes. The shorter the sight radius, the more a tiny alignment error grows downrange.

Distance

Miss at the target

0.6 cm · 0.2 in

Still in the A-zone

With a dot, alignment is done for you. The dot can sit anywhere in the window — near the edge it moves the hit only a little (parallax). Don't waste time centring it; put it on the target and press.

Where to look, step by step

The order your eyes and the gun move in. Watch it play, or step through.

Do

Target first, drive the dot in

  1. 1Eyes go to the exact spot you want to hit before the gun moves.
  2. 2Drive the gun up into that eye-to-target line. The dot appears on the spot — you didn't go looking for it.
  3. 3Dot on the spot, steady enough for this shot: press.
Don't

Hunting for the dot

  1. 1Eyes drop to the optic as the gun comes up.
  2. 2The dot isn't in the window — you fish for it, moving the gun around.
  3. 3Found it. Now refocus on the target and confirm. Time gone.

Focus by distance

How much sight you need depends on the shot. Shoot as fast as the target allows — no faster.

  1. Close & big

    ≤ 7 yd, A-zone

    Irons
    Target focus. A blurry post roughly in the notch is enough.
    Optic
    Target focus. Dot anywhere on the A-zone — press.

  2. Mid

    8–15 yd

    Irons
    Eyes on target, then snap focus to the front sight before the press.
    Optic
    Target focus. Let the dot settle on the spot before you press.

  3. Far, small or partial

    15+ yd, heads, plates

    Irons
    Hard front sight focus. Perfect alignment, smooth press.
    Optic
    Still target focus. Small, still dot; follow through until the dot settles.

Common problems

What shooters run into, and what usually fixes it.

  • I see two front sights / two dots

    Normal with both eyes open. Trust the image lined up with your dominant eye. If it bothers you, put a small piece of tape on the non-dominant shooting-glasses lens while you train.

  • I'm cross-dominant

    Bring the gun to your dominant eye rather than your head to the gun, or tilt your head slightly. Closing one eye works but costs field of view; try both eyes with the trick above first.

  • My dot looks like a comet or starburst

    Usually astigmatism. Turn the brightness down, try a different optic or emitter, and make sure you're focused on the target — a glass focus makes it worse.

  • The dot covers the target

    Brightness too high: the dot blooms. Set it just bright enough to pick up instantly against the target.

  • My front sight is blurry (age)

    Presbyopia makes the front sight hard to focus. A fibre or narrow front post, shooting glasses with a reading segment at the sight, or an optic all help.

  • I lose the dot on the draw

    The gun arrives misaligned. Look at the target, not the window, and rep the presentation dry until the dot shows up by itself.

Illustrative model: blur, error and parallax figures teach the idea, they are not measurements.