I hadn't been to the range in quite a while, at least not to do any serious shooting. Between my knees, back, colds, allergies, work, etc. I just hadn't had the time or the inclination. But sometimes, it is good to step back for a while. Apparently, my forced hiatus has helped my shooting. This is a very solid mid 80's round and it was done against the slightly skinnier B-21 target.
However, the thing that I was most pleased with was not the respectable pattern but how I shot it. About two thirds of the way through the round, I realized that I wasn't really acquiring a full sight picture. I was just instinctively point shooting at ranges closer than fifteen yards.
Point shooting involves having the bullet hit where you are looking without thinking much about it. Is not pretty but it is deadly and blinding fast when done right. While point shooting has probably been around as long as men have been shooting pistols, it was first developed as a formal training technique by William Fairbairn, a British officer serving with the Shanghai Police during the early 20th century. During WWII his methods were taught to British Commandos and American OSS agents by another legend, Major Rex Applegate of the OSS.
Most people don't shoot enough to develop instinctual point shooting. You have to burn through some ammo and that can get expensive. Point shooting is not about target shooting. In point shooting, it is good enough to keep all of your rounds on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper at combat ranges so long as you can do it faster than the person shooting back at you and do it every time. The great advantage of point shooting is that it works without a fine sight picture. That means that the point shooter will still be deadly in low light conditions where it is impossible to see the sights. It also means that older shooters (especially those who wear bifocals and trifocals like me) can still maintain a tactical edge even though they can't fire 6 inch groups at twenty five yards any more.
I have been playing at the edges of this breakthrough for a while but I would seem that I am finally internalizing it. I would get there and slip back. But, it now appears that the Zen of the technique has settled in. It's been a long haul since nearly failing my PI shooting qualification but it would appear I am past that now and becoming professionally competent with my weapon.
