Close, Medium, Far: Manage Your Sight Picture for Max Accuracy

Winchester's Becky Yackley explains how your pistol sight picture should change when the distance to the target does.

posted on June 29, 2022
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **

Becky Yackley is many things: champion competitive shooter, hunter, writer, Winchester brand ambassador, mother and expert mentor. She's been helping women of all skill levels achieve on the firing line for years, and she's happy to share her secrets. Top among those secrets is the fact that your sight picture—meaning the way that your handgun's sights relate to one another and to the target—needs to change just a little depending on how far away you are from your target.

In this video from Winchester Ammunition, Yackley will shoot from three distances: one that's nearly close enough to touch, one further back and one a full 150 feet away. These various distances are called "target presentations," and that's relevant both for competitive shooters and for self-defenders. At very close ranges, as Yackley notes, your sight picture is really secondary to what you need to do, which is essentially treat the gun as if it were your index finger, point, and then shoot. (Hence the term "point shooting.")

Further back, the sight picture becomes increasingly important, because the margin for error becomes narrower. Once you've retreated to 15 yards, it becomes important to align the sights side to side and top to bottom before squeezing the trigger. So what does that look like in practice? Let Yackley walk you through the steps of close, medium and far and you'll start to get the (sight) picture.

Latest

Women For Gun Rights Logo 2
Women For Gun Rights Logo 2

Women for Gun Rights Announces Inaugural 2026 Award Recipients at National Summit Gala

Four distinguished honorees were recognized for outstanding contributions to Second Amendment advocacy, leadership and service.

Buying Your First Duck Gun

Want to buy a shotgun for duck hunting? Here’s what to consider.

Remember Rule 4!

“Be sure of your target and what’s beyond it” is easy to forget when you’re scared or hyped up.

Call for Nominations: Women's Wildlife Management/Conservation Scholarship

This $5,000 renewable, one-year scholarship is available to qualified full-time college juniors or seniors majoring in wildlife management/conservation.

 

3 Tips for Getting Your Firearm Student on Target

Here are some simple but effective ways to get your student on paper in quick order for early confidence building.

The Armed Citizen® October 16, 2026

Waiting for authorities to arrive is not always an option when a crazed intruder is intent on getting to you first.

Women's Interests



Get the best of NRA Women delivered to your inbox.