A bit more on point-shooting

I've heard it referred to as 'shooting without aiming', but that's not the case. It's flat wrong, in fact.

No, you don't use the sights. At least not in the standard fashion, which I'll get to later. But you aim. Go back and look at the pictures of Jordan, and you'll notice that the pistol is far enough forward that he can see it while focusing on the target. So by feel and vision you know where it's pointing. As the distance increases, you move the pistol further forward in your field of view. Please note, you're not just pointing in a direction and pressing trigger, you are aiming, using your view of the target and pistol as your reference points. And with practice, muscle memory helps out.

As the range increases and you raise your hands higher, you do see the sights- primarily the front- and that gives a more precise aim*, until- the range being great enough and/or time being available you use the sights in standard fashion.

Few people are good at this right from the start, but with a bit of practice you might be surprised how accurate you can become with this. And it has another advantage for many: if your vision isn't that good(especially dim conditions), or you wear glasses which could be wet or dirty or knocked off/lost, it saves you the time of picking out the sights and aligning them. I have the standard middle-age problem that changing from far to near vision isn't nearly as fast as it once was, which can make switching from target to sights and back a problem if speed is needed. Again, especially in bad light. Since there's not an optical/red-dot available that's small enough to fit on a holstered pistol for standard carry and affordable/reliable enough(been a while since I looked, there may be something now), that means that being able to point-shoot at closer ranges could be a very handy thing.

Generally, it's always a Good Thing to bring it all the way up and use the sights. Developing some point-shooting skill doesn't take the place of using sights, it adds a skill to your arsenal. If nothing else, get hold of a soft-air gun and try it. Which is a good practice tool anyway.


*I was once on a firing line where point-shooting was being practiced and the range master came over and told me to stop using the sights. I wasn't, I was just moving my pistol further up & forward than the others. I don't remember if I was actively noticing the front sight, but that extra bit of reach was making a real difference in accuracy.