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

Henry Nff Tribute Rifles Lede
Henry Nff Tribute Rifles Lede

Henry Repeating Arms' New Rifle Series Gives Back to our National Forests

The National Forest Foundation Edition Rifle Series honors America’s National Forests and Grasslands while contributing to conservation projects across nearly 200 million acres of public lands nationwide.

Women for Gun Rights Launches First National Membership Program

The new program reflects increasing demand from supporters who want to become more actively involved in advancing WGR's mission of education, safety, and constitutional advocacy.

AIM Surplus Beretta 85BB Pistol Review

This classic single-stack is an affordable collectible for fans of Beretta semi-automatics or the .380 ACP cartridge.

NRA Launches New Official App

The app marks a significant milestone in enhancing member engagement and delivering convenient access to essential NRA resources on the go.

Firearm Terminology: Handgun Sizes

Understanding handgun terminologies and sizes will help you choose the right gun for you.

Revolutionary Women Patriots: Anna Maria Lane

Lane was the only documented woman veteran of the Revolutionary War to reside in Virginia.

 

Women's Interests



Get the best of NRA Women delivered to your inbox.