"occluding" the optic; pistol version

[allen-1]

One of the guys I shoot with/against pretty regularly is better than me. It's just that simple. Adam's faster, moves better, shoots faster and shoots more accurately. He's pretty quiet, but when he talks about shooting, I tend to listen to him.

A couple of months ago, I saw that he had a cover on his dot. He was shooting a G34 with an SRO, just like me. So I asked him what the cover was for. He explained that "occluding" the dot, (making it impossible to see THROUGH the optic), made your brain process things differently. It forces your brain to bring together the two images, target and dot, without actually looking through the sight, which gives you faster acquisition of the target.

Hmmm.

For the last couple of months, I've been dryfiring like that, (with a cover over the forward glass). It took some adaptation, but it started working pretty well after a couple of weeks. I shot a match three weeks ago, with the cover on - and it didn't work as well as I would have liked. Missed a couple of long shots that I shouldn't have.

Went to the internet and did some googling and reading; then decided to try dryfiring and practicing with occlusion, and shooting matches with it unobstructed.

That worked out splendidly this past weekend. I shot a local "outlaw" match and smoked it.

Simple rules for this match, two on paper - anywhere, and steel must fall. VERY serious penalties for misses - 10 seconds per miss. I didn't miss any shots, and I shot very quickly - at least in comparison to my competition at that match.

I'm going to continue dryfire/practice occluded - and unobstructed for matches.

 

[fshalor]

Have you looked at Mantis products?

 

[allen-1]

Have you looked at Mantis products?

Not seriously/thoroughly. Bought one for my wife to put on her 320. She likes it.

 

[Mass-diver]

Have you looked at Mantis products?

I was thinking about getting one of the AR ones. What has your experience been?

 

[KBCraig]

Dots are brain trickeration in the first place, so it makes sense.

 

[kalash]

That's a Ben Stoeger trick, I believe. I heard Mason regularly shoots matches with the occluded dot and does, well, like he always does - very well.

 

[Supermoto]

It is a good way to test if you are focused on the dot or the target. I have never seen an Open shooter do it, but for some reason CO people think it's all the rage. Probably because they have tricked themselves into focusing on the sights from shooting irons. I don't see how if could possibly speed up target acquisition unless you are doing it wrong in the first place

 

[allen-1]

It is a good way to test if you are focused on the dot or the target. I have never seen an Open shooter do it, but for some reason CO people think it's all the rage. Probably because they have tricked themselves into focusing on the sights from shooting irons. I don't see how if could possibly speed up target acquisition unless you are doing it wrong in the first place

I think in my case, looking through the sight rather than superimposing the two images comes from years of shooting with "tube dots" on pistols for pins and plates. Which would indeed mean that I've been "doing it wrong".

Here's a stock photo of a "tube dot", (can't think of the correct term):

 

[SJan]

It is a good way to test if you are focused on the dot or the target. I have never seen an Open shooter do it, but for some reason CO people think it's all the rage. Probably because they have tricked themselves into focusing on the sights from shooting irons. I don't see how if could possibly speed up target acquisition unless you are doing it wrong in the first place

Mark M shot an indoor match with tape over his Cmore on his open gun several years ago, before "occluding the dot" became the cool kid thing to do. Like you said, its a helpful tool for an iron sight shooter transitioning to dot shooting.