NPOA Help

[bratch]

NPOA kicked my butt at the Sallisaw event and I'm planning on trying to work on it before Grandfield on my quest for 210.

What is the minimum distance to the target to notice if you have NPOA during dryfire practice? Can I use a target 15 feet away or do I need 50/82/etc feet?

[Old Dog]

You should be able to practice in a hallway, the garage, the basement, or the back yard.  It shouldn't take much distance to see a shift if you've got one.

What we did at RBC#2 was to get a good sling supported prone position and take aim at the center of a piece of blank typing paper.  Get comfortable, relaxed, with front sight centered on that piece of paper.  Close your eyes, take a breath, let it out, open your eyes and see if your front sight is still centered on the paper.  If not, you don't have your NPOA.  Repeat this drill till your sights are still centered when you open your eyes after that breath is let out.  Do make sure your rifle is EMPTY, prior to starting these NPOA drills.

Get the prone down and then start on the sitting and standing position.  You can do the same thing.  Get what you think is your NPOA, close the eyes, take a breath, let it out, open your eyes and see where that front sight moved to.  Keep going through the steps till you've got it.  The more you practice this the more you'll find that the adjustments you have to make to get your NPOA are reduces and eventually you should have it when you assume the firing position.  Make it part of your dry firing practice.

Believe it or not, some really nice tight groups have been fired by people with their eyes closed during NPOA exercises.  They may not be centered on the paper (mine weren't) but that shows they are "muscling" the sight to the center of the paper rather than finding their NPOA.

[SGTCap]

if 15feet is all you have then use it.  So long as your "target" is proportionatly small it should work fine.  I do dry fire practice in my hallway all the time.  I point of aim is the ground hole on an electrical outlet.  

Once you understand what NPOA is its just a mtter of practice and experience to know how to move your body to get your NPOA on target.  You should have a good grasp of what it is now, so it should just be a matter of practice.

[Junior Birdman]

   Hi bratch, and thanks for asking!  The distance isn't so important. What is important is that you get understand what NPOA is, and then shift to make your NPOA coincide with your target.

  If you take a good prone position and aim at the target, then do the first 3 steps to fire the shot: Align the sights perfectly, then bring them onto the target, (sight picture), then close your eyes and do step 3: take a deep breath and let it out.

  Relax and let everything settle. Then open your eys and look at where the front sight is because THAT is where your NPOA is. (Where your relaxed body naturally wants to place the shot)

  Now just shift your body to make the NPOA coincide with the target. Of course, the forward elbow is the anchor or pivot, so don't move it, and you'll need to slide your hips to the left or right to get the proper windage. When your front sight is directly over or under the target you have windage whipped.

  Then slide the hips nearer or farther from the elbows to get elevation. (forward will lower the sights, rearward will raise them) After a few tries, you should be relaxed and the sights will be right on the target. Just keep practicing until it becomes automatic every time you shoot.  JB

[SGTCap]

You should be able to practice in a hallway, the garage, the basement, or the back yard.  It shouldn't take much distance to see a shift if you've got one.

What we did at RBC#2 was to get a good sling supported prone position and take aim at the center of a piece of blank typing paper.  Get comfortable, relaxed, with front sight centered on that piece of paper.  Close your eyes, take a breath, let it out, open your eyes and see if your front sight is still centered on the paper.  If not, you don't have your NPOA.  Repeat this drill till your sights are still centered when you open your eyes after that breath is let out.  Do make sure your rifle is EMPTY, prior to starting these NPOA drills.

Get the prone down and then start on the sitting and standing position.  You can do the same thing.  Get what you think is your NPOA, close the eyes, take a breath, let it out, open your eyes and see where that front sight moved to.  Keep going through the steps till you've got it.  The more you practice this the more you'll find that the adjustments you have to make to get your NPOA are reduces and eventually you should have it when you assume the firing position.  Make it part of your dry firing practice.

Believe it or not, some really nice tight groups have been fired by people with their eyes closed during NPOA exercises.  They may not be centered on the paper (mine weren't) but that shows they are "muscling" the sight to the center of the paper rather than finding their NPOA.

I do a variation of that very drill.  The only twist on throw on is that I don't aim at my target when I get down.  I let my sights fall wherever they naturallly go when I get into possition, then check my NPOA, adjust and recheck.  Too me it takes a variable (muscle tension) out of the equasion so I can more quickly find my NPOA.  I hope that with practice I will be able to drop into possition with my sights/NPOA already on target.

May want to try it both ways and see what works for you.

[bratch]

Thanks guys.

I have a variety of spaces I could use the most convienant would be my "hobby" room.  Its just a regular bed room so space would be small. I may go out in the hall I'll have the added dimension of dogs licking my ears to through me off.

[SGTCap]

Thanks guys.

I have a variety of spaces I could use the most convienant would be my "hobby" room.  Its just a regular bed room so space would be small. I may go out in the hall I'll have the added dimension of dogs licking my ears to through me off.

Glad I'm not the only one with that problem. 

[VAshooter]

SgtCap bring up a very good point.  If you have a solid sling supported position you have a natural point of aim. It may not be aligned with your target but you have it. Once you know what a stable sling supported position feels like and have achieved your NPOA you can eliminate some of the steps we teach new shooters and get right into adjusting your body to get on target. If you are unsure of what you are doing then go through all the steps.

Get into a prone position with good sling support and get a good spot weld with your eye centered behind the rear aperture and relax. Close your eyes and let all the muscle tension go. Just totally relax and open your eyes and look through the sights to see where your rifle is pointed. Take a couple breaths and check to see if the sights are moving straight up and down as you breath. You are there. Now just go back and read JB's post on adjusting your NPOA to point at the target.

VAshooter

[wcmartin1]

SgtCap bring up a very good point.  If you have a solid sling supported position you have a natural point of aim. It may not be aligned with your target but you have it. Once you know what a stable sling supported position feels like and have achieved your NPOA you can eliminate some of the steps we teach new shooters and get right into adjusting your body to get on target. If you are unsure of what you are doing then go through all the steps.

Once you're at this point in your skill level you still go through all of the steps, but it's automatic and you don't think about it much.  You just do it naturally.

However, if you have previously achieved this level, but haven't shot in a while (Stupid couch!) or noticed that you're not shooting as well as usual, you may have to begin at the beginning to get back in the zone.