This in bold makes a little flag go up IME. But don't think I'm being a critical ass hole, I just want to make sure we're on the same page.
Trigger is important but first and foremost is fully wrapping your head around the front sight. That target should be indistinguishable when you switch focus to the front sight. I try and tell people they shouldn't just bring the front sight into focus. The focus should be so intense that they're picking out the machine marks or small pieces of dust on the front sight. Even a man size target should blur to a point that you don't even really know it is there.
This is often evidenced with rifles also. A guy will shoot so-so at the 300, and go 10 for 10 at the 500 or 600. Why? Because he's still trying to maintain some level of half ass focus of the target at the closer distances, so his shooting suffers. But when he moves back 2 or 300 yds, he achieves perfection. This is because he gives up trying to maintain any focus on the target at all. It is simply too far for his eyes to achieve it. So his brain subconsciously tells him "Fugk it" and all his focus goes to the front sight. It is also very common for shooters to remove their script contacts or glasses entirely. Because it forces them to focus on the front sight and nothing else. Their vision simply won't allow them to do anything but.
I can always tell if people are truly focusing on the front sight if I take them to the three yard line with no bullseye, just a blank sheet and have them do nothing but slow fire with 100% focus on the front sight and nothing else. The ones that are fully grasping the concept will leave one small hole in the paper with five shots through it. The ones that aren't will be a 50 cent piece or bigger grouping.
When teaching fundamentals I am a believer that the trigger control will naturally fall into place once a person fully grasps the front sight focus because our brain doesn't allow that trigger finger to interrupt what we are so desperately trying to achieve and maintain before the shot breaks. So when going back to basics I try and tell people FRONT SIGHT, FRONT SIGHT, FRONT SIGHT and let everything else fall into place.
BUT, the biggest problem a coach has is convincing people they aren't focusing on the front sight. I'd say 95% of pistoleros just nod their head and say "yeah, i'm on the front sight" but they really aren't. They just think they are. And once that thing in their brain clicks and they start making those one caliber holes with five shots at the 3yd line, they take off from there.
Travis
I'm sure glad nobody told me that stuff when I was learning to shoot. Seriously. I learned to shoot well focusing on the target, and am a better shooter for it. Some guys do improve by focusing on the front sight, but it's by no means the universal best method despite some big name schools promoting it. Focus on trigger control is still far more important.
You must have some very unique eyes...
Because front sight focus to absolutely ensure perfect sight alignment is of paramount importance...it ALL starts there. If you don't have that, you can at best only hope to settle for a much less than perfect shot. Next step is maintaining that perfect alignment through the trigger pull. EVERYTHING comes secondary to those two things.
Sorry, but Travis is dead right on this one.
If you're getting really good results by focusing on the target, my bet is your eyes have a wider focus range than most people...therefore, your advice really doesn't apply to mere mortals.
