Question: I am a relatively new pistol shooter who reads everything I can on the art of pistol competition. Please explain the term "area aiming" in ordinary, every day terms to help me get a better grasp of its meaning.

Answer: Area aiming is a term used by better pistol shots to describe an important part of the process of firing a well aimed shot, with confidence that it will end up in or near the center of the bullseye. Aiming area can be described as the area projected on the target by the front sight or scope dot as viewed by the shooter. For example, you point an electronic red dot sight at a target down range and make a mental note of the extreme movements of the dot. Maybe it is moving back and forth and up and down inside an approximate circle the size of the 7-ring. The area of this observed imaginary circle would be your personal aiming area capability on this day.

The 10-ring is so small it is nearly impossible for any shooter to hold his front sight, or red dot inside an area the size of that circle for an entire competitive event. So, the shooter has two choices. He/she can try to fire the pistol as the sight moves into the 10-ring, or place the center of his personal aiming area over the 10-ring and carefully apply pressure to the trigger until the shot leaves the pistol.

Area aiming is the more logical choice for just about all pistol shooters, but this requires some explanation. It is sad that so much has been written about the six-o'clock hold, which defines an infinitely small spot. Sounds great but is not practical for off-hand shooting. The reason is that no mortal can hold the pistol absolutely still, or consistently "grab" a shot when the sight is momentarily on the exact desired spot.

The good news is that it is not at all necessary to hold the pistol still, even though it is desired. Area aiming means that you just hold the pistol within an arc of movement
that is COMFORTABLE and EASY for you! Of course, you want to center your personal aiming AREA about the target center.

Shouldn't I always be trying to reduce my aiming area while in competition?

NO! Absolutely not during competition! This will cause anxiety and distracts from proper trigger movement resulting in those awful shots that land outside your personal, comfortable aiming area. This is when and where most points are dropped.

Remember this. Nobody can consistently shoot a group smaller than his personal minimum arc (or area) of movement. Even the handful of people who can hold ten-ring and follow through at 50 yards will shoot a few nines due to minor trigger control errors and bullet dispersion. These few shooters are the 2670 shooters, because they can control the hammer drop while keeping the front sight in their comfortable area of hold. They don't disturb pistol sight alignment or target picture as they actuate the trigger/hammer mechanism.

The saving grace for the rest of us is that the bullets tend to cluster about the center of our personal aiming area. Nature invented statistical distribution to do just that. For example, If a golfer is within reach of a hole and swings comfortably, the ball is more likely to go into the cup than any other single, random point you can pick. In bullseye shooting, with a zeroed pistol the bullet is more likely to go into the x-ring than any other random spot you can pick.

So, hold the dot within your personal comfortable area centered about the x-ring. Press the trigger smoothly toward the web of your hand until the bullet has safely hit the target. Then return the dot or front sight to that aiming area immediately. This will help ensure a habit of following through. Let nature do the hard work for you.

Can you explain why the shots will tend to cluster in the middle of my aiming area?

The front sight or dot will move randomly in your aiming area. As it approaches the outer edge of your "circle", your mind will immediately tend to send it back across the middle toward the other extreme. Kind of like a star pattern of movement. As it crosses the middle of the target, your subconscious (or conscious mind) will not be trying to correct anything. Thus the dot or sight will spend more time in the middle than at the extreme edges of your aiming area. The shot is more likely to break during this time, than at the edge of your area. You must not decide to help the shot fire at this time as you are very likely to change the angle of the pistol, slightly. This is my definition of "grabbing" for a 10 and getting a 6.

When should I try to reduce my aiming area?

This must all be done in training rather than in competition! This is important! Do most of this after you have improved trigger control by dry-firing and exercising your arm, wrist and hand with a 5 pound weight. Dry-firing, while standing at the 50 yard line, is the best way to do
this. You can measure (observe) your improvement by watching the front sight or red dot move around in this area.

Shooting does less to improve your hold, compared to dry-firing where you can see what is happening. Fortunately, dry-firing costs less! Unfortunately, It is so boring that few heed this advice religiously. If you want to be a champion, follow this advice! I honestly believe that the basic secrets are in this spiel.

I hope this inspires you to become a champion!