Post by Ghost on Jan 1, 2012 6:48:07 GMT -5
Natural Point Of Aim, The Rifleman's Secret
by BusBoy » Wed Mar 31, 2010 2:57 pm
OK, I have decided to try to explain this in writing. It will be good for me and may even be good for you
Your body, in whatever position you are in (sitting at your desk, standing in a line, laying in bed) has a position it wants to go to, WHEN IT IS RELAXED. This is the same for when you are in the various shooting positions, Standing, Sitting, Prone.
The first consideration in trying to use your Natural Point Of Aim (NPOA) to your advantage is proper and stable shooting positions. Perhaps that is where I should have started, but we can work on them later. If you have a proper shooting position, it will lend itself to helping you find your NPOA and then aid in adjusting your body so that your NPOA is such that you naturally are aiming the rifle at your target.
Try this little exercise. Stand and point, with your finger, at a distant object. Purposefully position your feet so that you must twist at the hips to hold your finger on the target, not a lot, just a little. Now, close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths......open your eyes. Is your finger still pointing at the object? I doubt it... Try the same exercise, now when you close your eyes and take a deep breath, twist back and forth at the hips. Now, with your eyes still closed, point at the object. Open your eyes. On the target now, aren't you?
Now, point at the object, close your eyes, relax and take a few breaths.....in fact, twist back and forth with your hips. Once you feel 'relaxed', open your eyes. If you are relaxed, you are pointing at your NPOA, or better said, you are now in your NPOA position. Move your rear foot left or right until you have moved your arm to point at your object. Repeat this exercise a couple of times. Once you get it right, when you close your eyes, do the NPOA exercise, you should still be pointing at the object when you open your eyes. This confirms that you have positioned your NPOA to point at your target.
The easiest way to find your NPOA is to get into your position, let's use prone, and get your sight alignment and sight picture established. Now you close your eyes, RELAX, take a rather deep breath, then open your eyes. Where your rifle is NOW pointing is your NPOA. In the prone position, you shift your entire body around your support elbow. That support elbow never moves.
Once you shift your whole body to move the sights back onto the target, repeat the eyes closed exercise above.
It is important to close your eyes because your eyes will use your muscles to hold the sights on the target. If you use your muscles, then with recoil and prolonged periods in that position, your muscles will start to fatigue and allow the rifle sights to wander off target or will not restore your sight picture after the recoil.
It is VERY IMPORTANT that you RELAX YOUR BODY while doing this exercise. NPOA is a "relaxed state", thus if you are not relaxing, you will not be finding your true NPOA, but a false one, based on your muscles and memory holding the rifle.
The breathing does two things. Primarily it introduces movement to your body, and with your eyes closed and you relaxing, this movement will naturally move your body to its desired resting position. Also the breathing will help you relax, which is critical in finding your NPOA.
Finding your NPOA for sitting and standing is basically the same thing. While in sitting, you simply just rotate your whole body to move your NPOA to the target, just a swivel or pivot. While in standing, you keep your forward foot planted and pivot around it, moving your rear foot.
The benefits you will realize by utilizing this Rifleman's Secret is several:
1) You will be able to hold a good sight picture for long periods of time. When your body gets stretched enough in the positions, then finding your NPOA for that position will be easy to maintain. Remember, NPOA is a RELAXED state/position. So if you are relaxed, then you can stay in that position for longer periods of time.
2) When the rifle recoils, the sights will return back on target. This is your relaxed, nature point your body wants to point the rifle. If this does not work for you, then you really don't have your NPOA, keep working at it.
3) With your sights coming back on target after recoil, you will be ready to make a follow up shot much more quickly. In fact, you should be able to get a well placed round on target every 3 seconds. Thus having a proper NPOA will greatly aid in aiming the rifle.
4) You will grow to appreciate the sling more: When you have a proper shooting position, using the sling properly, your shooting platform (your body) is well tied together and very stable. This means that you can relax easier, because you do not need to grip the rifle to keep it in position. You can "rest into the sling", allowing it to do some of your work.
5) You will be able to make very precise sight picture adjustments, either to accommodate for wind or to adjust your fire from a poor shot. It is just a little 'wiggle" of the body to make the adjustments to the placement of your NPOA, to move the sights to where you want the bullet to fly.
There are several different drills/exercises which can be done to help people understand and find their NPOA, they are taught at the Appleseed Shoots and are best learned there, saving a few electrons here for later use.
by BusBoy » Wed Mar 31, 2010 2:57 pm
OK, I have decided to try to explain this in writing. It will be good for me and may even be good for you
Your body, in whatever position you are in (sitting at your desk, standing in a line, laying in bed) has a position it wants to go to, WHEN IT IS RELAXED. This is the same for when you are in the various shooting positions, Standing, Sitting, Prone.
The first consideration in trying to use your Natural Point Of Aim (NPOA) to your advantage is proper and stable shooting positions. Perhaps that is where I should have started, but we can work on them later. If you have a proper shooting position, it will lend itself to helping you find your NPOA and then aid in adjusting your body so that your NPOA is such that you naturally are aiming the rifle at your target.
Try this little exercise. Stand and point, with your finger, at a distant object. Purposefully position your feet so that you must twist at the hips to hold your finger on the target, not a lot, just a little. Now, close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths......open your eyes. Is your finger still pointing at the object? I doubt it... Try the same exercise, now when you close your eyes and take a deep breath, twist back and forth at the hips. Now, with your eyes still closed, point at the object. Open your eyes. On the target now, aren't you?
Now, point at the object, close your eyes, relax and take a few breaths.....in fact, twist back and forth with your hips. Once you feel 'relaxed', open your eyes. If you are relaxed, you are pointing at your NPOA, or better said, you are now in your NPOA position. Move your rear foot left or right until you have moved your arm to point at your object. Repeat this exercise a couple of times. Once you get it right, when you close your eyes, do the NPOA exercise, you should still be pointing at the object when you open your eyes. This confirms that you have positioned your NPOA to point at your target.
The easiest way to find your NPOA is to get into your position, let's use prone, and get your sight alignment and sight picture established. Now you close your eyes, RELAX, take a rather deep breath, then open your eyes. Where your rifle is NOW pointing is your NPOA. In the prone position, you shift your entire body around your support elbow. That support elbow never moves.
Once you shift your whole body to move the sights back onto the target, repeat the eyes closed exercise above.
It is important to close your eyes because your eyes will use your muscles to hold the sights on the target. If you use your muscles, then with recoil and prolonged periods in that position, your muscles will start to fatigue and allow the rifle sights to wander off target or will not restore your sight picture after the recoil.
It is VERY IMPORTANT that you RELAX YOUR BODY while doing this exercise. NPOA is a "relaxed state", thus if you are not relaxing, you will not be finding your true NPOA, but a false one, based on your muscles and memory holding the rifle.
The breathing does two things. Primarily it introduces movement to your body, and with your eyes closed and you relaxing, this movement will naturally move your body to its desired resting position. Also the breathing will help you relax, which is critical in finding your NPOA.
Finding your NPOA for sitting and standing is basically the same thing. While in sitting, you simply just rotate your whole body to move your NPOA to the target, just a swivel or pivot. While in standing, you keep your forward foot planted and pivot around it, moving your rear foot.
The benefits you will realize by utilizing this Rifleman's Secret is several:
1) You will be able to hold a good sight picture for long periods of time. When your body gets stretched enough in the positions, then finding your NPOA for that position will be easy to maintain. Remember, NPOA is a RELAXED state/position. So if you are relaxed, then you can stay in that position for longer periods of time.
2) When the rifle recoils, the sights will return back on target. This is your relaxed, nature point your body wants to point the rifle. If this does not work for you, then you really don't have your NPOA, keep working at it.
3) With your sights coming back on target after recoil, you will be ready to make a follow up shot much more quickly. In fact, you should be able to get a well placed round on target every 3 seconds. Thus having a proper NPOA will greatly aid in aiming the rifle.
4) You will grow to appreciate the sling more: When you have a proper shooting position, using the sling properly, your shooting platform (your body) is well tied together and very stable. This means that you can relax easier, because you do not need to grip the rifle to keep it in position. You can "rest into the sling", allowing it to do some of your work.
5) You will be able to make very precise sight picture adjustments, either to accommodate for wind or to adjust your fire from a poor shot. It is just a little 'wiggle" of the body to make the adjustments to the placement of your NPOA, to move the sights to where you want the bullet to fly.
There are several different drills/exercises which can be done to help people understand and find their NPOA, they are taught at the Appleseed Shoots and are best learned there, saving a few electrons here for later use.
