It’s simple to me. As this author states, If my gun has sights on it, I practice shooting it using the sights. If a situation ever comes up where I can’t use the sights, going through the motions from memory will still lead to accurate fire, and generally speaking, ranges where you’re using a gun in a life and death situation aren’t going to be far enough that your muscle memory won’t suffice to get the hits.

I practice long shots, too. I figure that if I can reliably hit a clay pigeon target at 50 meters with my pistol (yes, meters, not feet), that I’ll be able to reliably hit anything closer with ease.

The long and short of it is this: if you want to get good with your piece, then go shoot it. A lot. Don’t get hung up on all of the little stupid details. Just shoot it. Figure out what it takes to hit the target, then repeat. Do it a lot, until the motion becomes ingrained, and you’re fine.

It’s like weight training. I do weight training 5 times a week, and have made it a thing where I try to bring in new guys and teach them my routine to share what I know. I find that people that I’m introducing to weight training are always amazed at how much their “strength” increases so quickly after starting a new weight training program. It’s so common that the weight lifting community has a term for it: “newbie gains”. They think they’re building muscle, but study after study has revealed that, no, they’re not actually building that much muscle that early on. It actually takes quite some time to really noticeably put on muscle, like months, not days or weeks. What’s happpening is They’re re-wiring neurological pathways that allow them to get more efficient at the movements. They started trembling, unsure, and off balance, and after doing it for a bit, with nearly exactly the same muscles, they have increased the amount that they can lift substantially just by building that muscle memory. .

Think about riding a bike. An unfamiliar motion, an unfamiliar feeling. The first time you got on a bike, you were wobbly, unsure, and at risk of crashing. By your tenth time riding, you were doing just fine.

It’s all about muscle memory, wiring neurological pathways to new movements, and building habits based on what works.

Shooting is no different. I used to concentrate on grip, squeezing the trigger, breathing, etc. Now, I don’t even think. The gun comes out, the sight picture acquired, and the trigger is squeezed without me even putting thought into it.

Stop getting hung up on the piddly details about this and that, and just go shoot your gun.

Place a 8×10 piece of paper at 21′ and my point lands in the general center. I don’t care about bullseye markmanshipbragging rights. Hold a 8×10 sheet to your chest for a reality check.