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

Rao Mistakes Helping A New Shooter Photo By Rao
Rao Mistakes Helping A New Shooter Photo By Rao

4 Mistakes New Gun Owners Make

A new gun owner who is directed to the proper first gun has a better chance of enjoying the experience and furthering his or her skills for years to come.

Not Your Daddy’s Trail Cameras

A look at cellular trail cam technology and what trail cams today can do that they didn’t do just a few years ago.

Barrel Break-In and Wear-Out

Is breaking in your new rifle’s barrel really important, and should you worry about wearing one out eventually?

 

The Armed Citizen® April 3, 2026

One brazen home invader decided on his own to come clean ...

Shooting From Retention

Should you be practicing shooting from a retention position? Probably.

 

North American Arms' Colorful Mini Revolver Trio

This company now offers these three .22-caliber wheelguns with Cerakote finishes.

Women's Interests



Get the best of NRA Women delivered to your inbox.