Learn › Track 03 · Fundamentals
Sight alignment vs sight picture
Here are two mistakes of exactly the same size. In the first, your sights are perfectly lined up, but the whole pistol sits 0.1 mm to the right. In the second, the pistol is exactly where you want it, but the front blade sits 0.1 mm right of centre in the rear notch.
Think first: Which mistake moves the shot further from where you wanted it?
- The whole pistol 0.1 mm to the right
- The blade 0.1 mm off-centre in the notch
- Both the same: 0.1 mm is 0.1 mm
Two different things
Shooters use two terms that are easy to mix up.
Sight alignment is how the two sights sit relative to each other. The top of the front blade is level with the top of the rear notch. The light gaps on each side of the blade are equal. Alignment has nothing to do with the target.
Sight picture is that alignment plus where it sits on the target. Your hold (centre, 6 o'clock or sub-6) decides the picture. You'll choose one in the next lesson.
A common starting width for the gaps is gap : blade : gap ≈ 1 : 2 : 1. Older eyes usually prefer wider gaps. Whatever the width, the gaps stay equal and never close, even while the pistol wobbles. Blade width and notch width are adjustable on match pistols. See Sights, light gaps & clicks.
Some coaches suggest a front blade that looks about as wide as the black bull. This is a common rule of thumb, not a measured optimum.
Why alignment beats aim
The pellet leaves along the barrel, and the sights tell you where the barrel points. If the blade is off-centre in the notch, the barrel is angled away from your line of sight. That angle opens up over the whole 10 m.
How much? Divide 10,000 mm by your sight radius (the distance between the sights). With a 350 mm sight radius, a sight error grows about ×29 on the way to the target. If the pistol moves sideways with the sights still aligned, the shot moves only as far as the pistol did.
Think first: Sight radius 350 mm. The pistol points exactly at your aiming point, but the blade sits 0.1 mm right of centre in the notch. Where does the shot land?
Try other sight radii and errors yourself.
Reading misalignment
The same rule works in every direction: the shot follows the front blade. Blade right, shot right. Blade high, shot high.
Think first: You notice the top of the blade sits slightly below the top of the notch at the moment of release. The gaps are equal. Where does the shot go?
- High
- Low
- Left
- Nowhere different: only the gaps matter
Wobble is cheaper than misalignment
This changes how you aim. Every pistol wobbles. While the sights stay aligned, wobble only moves the picture around the target, and you can see how big it is: the shot lands where the aligned sights pointed. An alignment slip is different. A tenth of a millimetre at the blade is hard to notice, yet it moves the shot about 3 mm.
So keep the alignment perfect, and let the picture wander a little inside your aiming area. Don't chase the centre of the bull with a blade that has slipped to one side of the notch. Practise in the simulator: line up the blade, choose a hold, and see how small alignment slips move the shot.
Only open sights are allowed. Fibre-optic and other light-gathering sights, optical, mirror, telescope, laser and dot sights, and any device that signals when to fire are all banned.
- Sight alignment = blade level with the notch top and equal light gaps. Sight picture = alignment plus where it sits on the target.
- An alignment error is an angle. It grows by about 10,000 ÷ sight radius (≈ ×29 at 350 mm) on the way to the target.
- The shot follows the front blade: blade right, shot right; blade low, shot low.
- With aligned sights, wobble costs only what you can see on the target. Keep the alignment perfect and accept some wobble.