I’ve learned and made more progress in the last year and a half since being introduced to your training methods by a couple of buddies who took a class with you and Joel than I did all the previous years I’d been shooting combined. Thanks for the free training content, much appreciated!

I noticed one interesting thing. For years I knew I was right-handed but my left eye was dominant. That's why I've been shooting with my left eye closed for over 10 years. If I do not close my left eye, after presenting the gun, the front sight is always completely outside the rear sight on the left side. After watching your videos on focusing on the target instead of the front sight, I tried the following exercise: when presenting the weapon, I focused my eyes on the front sight with both eyes open and the front sight was, of course, completely on the left side. Then, during the same presentation, I made an effort to focus on the target and, surprisingly, I literally saw the front sight slowly move back to the center of the rear sight. I can't explain it, but it's true: even though I'm right-handed with my left eye dominant, if I open both eyes there's no problem. This goes even further - with a collimator on the weapon, if I cover it with (occlusion) tape and make a presentation focusing my eyes on the target - I can see the target very well because of my dominant left eye, and the collimator itself practically disappears - only a red dot remains. So I put forward a thesis - that for right-handed people with a dominant left eye who shoot with iron sights, focusing their eyes on the target is practically a solution to a problem that no one has been able to solve for decades.

Duh moment! "Always look at the left gun" for right eye dominant. Now I get it

I’ve found the SIRT pistol is a great tool for becoming more familiar with target focused shooting.

Your comment on double vision confirms I am doing something wrong. I see two targets and train the dot on the right one.

Thanks for confirming that I'm not too mentally challenged for having taken six months and 15K worth of ammo to finally shoot target focused with my iron sights.🤣 A trick I learned that might help other older shooters is to have different prescriptions for the lenses in your glasses. I ask my optometrist for a prescription for my right eye (dominate) for the front sight distance (24" in my case) and got a lens made for that, then got my left eye lens made for distance. It feels weird when you first put them on but it works. You keep both eyes wide open and look through your sights at a small spot on the target, the sights are still blurry but your brain gets better information (I think) to let your finger know when to pull the trigger. Thanks for all your help!

I didnt realize I had not actually been target focusing with the dot most of the time from 2020-2022 until i went back to irons and could much more clearly control my visual focus and could see (by blurry target, clear sight vs clear target, fuzzy sight) where my focus was. Was an epiphany where I realized that as soon as the glowing ball started bouncing around in recoil i was staring at it

I shot my first 7 yesterday.Got into competitive shooting a month ago. Uncle Ben coming in clutch with the videos! Im improving every day 💪🏾

Hello, I have been following you for a while, and bought your books which are of great interest, and I have learned a lot. THANKS. I'm an old shooter, at one point I had to buy corrective lenses, in fact the right side lens is the only one corrected. I thought I was aiming at the target, but no, the right eye always automatically focused on the sights because they were sharp. So, no, I wasn't really aiming while being sharp on the target. I have just switched back to non-corrective protective glasses, and just noticed yesterday that I can now concentrate on the target, without really losing much precision for this sport, even on relatively distant targets. The sights are blurry, the target sharp. There's still work to do, but I'm making progress and it's fun. Keep up your videos, they are precious. Greetings from France.

I’ve come to this target focused iron concept on my own just recently and it has helped immensely. One small thing that helped with this was not tucking my head down (the tactical turtle). I bring the gun up into my sight without ever trying to look ’through’ the sights. Whoever started this “front sight focus” thing really didn’t do the world a favor…

Great video. I think the part about your eyes catching up with your shooting is spot on. I’m spending way too much time staring at the dot to make sure it’s on target. Thank You!

Good afternoon sir...iam a Steel challenge shooter going on a year now. A student of yours Ken Verderame with the Dry Fire Banners HIGHLY recommend watching your videos....Your target focus really Translates to way faster times. Iam only a RFPO -RRRO shooter I have almost made it to Master level in just over a year....So thank you and keep the great training videos coming

Lately after the stage is over, I don’t recall seeing my dot as if I’m point shooting. But my hits are good and I can recognize when I need a make up shot either because the gun was tilted or my trigger press felt jerked.

Ben you’ve been posting like a mad man , love it

I feel so behind the curve as I work to learn target focus. I get hung up on thinking accuracy feels much worse than it actually is. Comments about shooting with irons indoor are encouraging as well. It's really reassuring to listen to your perspective.

This video was very good because I can relate to the questions and you’re clearing things up for me.

I'm an amateur IPSC production shooter. I find that I shoot much faster and more accurately when I target focus. The 15-20 meter targets seem to be a bit more of a problem for me, so I focus on my front sight for them...but then I shoot slower, and not always more accurately. I'm starting to realize that target focus, no matter the range we practice at, is the way to go. More practice on Friday! Love your vids, Ben. They teach and help me A LOT. Thank you.

I keep hearing you talk about target focusing. I was shoot a budget 9mm at 80ish yards today. Missed the first 5 times. So I stopped focusing on my sights and focused on the target. I landed as close as I ever had to the direct center of the target on the 6th shot...basically thank you for repeatedly hammering that concept. I'm starting to understand it.

Your video today gave me an epiphany. I switched to a dot because I often remarked that I didn't see the iron sights when shooting in a match and that a dot would allow me to shoot target focused. The irons were always out of focus. Turns out I was probably shooting target focused and never even knew it. I do know I would slow down and focus on the front sight for some shots and thought I was doing something wrong when I shot with the front sight out of focus. I still have to work on my grip as I'm sure that is why even shooting target focused irons my shot accuracy suffered due to inconsistent grip pressure. I've got a bad habit of not always gripping with my support hand enough. Need to practice grip more.

Ben, I watched your other video about target focused shooting and found it very helpful. I’ve done a ton of shooting in a more tactical scenario (don’t crucify me) and I’ve found that part of that world has the institutional inbreeding of front sight focus. I got tired of doing front sight focus with iron sights and then switching to target focus with my carbine optic. So I started teaching myself to target focus all the time. I didn’t tell instructor because I didn’t want to get in a big argument. It’s been a process for me to train my eyes to stay with the target, but I’m seeing good improvements in speed and accuracy. Both of these videos about target focus have really “opened” my eyes as it were. Thanks for helping me confirm I am on the right track.

In my opinion, any fine motor skill that we do well is done subconsciously. A person that keyboards 60 mistake free words per minute is not consciously selecting each key; the same is true with the piano, guitar, driving, etc…it’s all about feel. Precision handgun manipulation is all about feel. The eye selects (programs) the intended point of impact (not the target) and the body responds in the same way it does when someone tosses a muffin across the kitchen, and your body subconsciously dispatches the hand to snatch it. The mental calculations are performed instantly, and your body reacts with precision. It’s not possible for your conscious mind to keep up with your subconscious…it just isn’t. You can’t consciously type 60, mistake free words per minute. When in the “zone” It’s like the conscious is not participating but observing. A person’s capacity to process information from their senses, their mental bandwidth, is finite. I understand that vision can take up to 80% of a person’s sensory bandwidth. Handgun manipulation is all about “feel”, and there lies the challenge to overcome for precision. Around the 8:20 mark in the vid, Ben delves into the experience of the conscious mind flirting with the subconscious. When this happens, if you surrender to it, relax and double down on the point of impact, you will be amazed by your performance. IMHO, expanding your feel and awareness, through practice and training, is essentially learning to direct more sensory bandwidth toward feel. The best in the business can clear their mind and surrender to their subconscious force at will…most of the time. 😂 The 13:15 mark of this vid is a good example of conscious vs subconscious performance. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Zsp_ib1mubinhas.htmlsi=laMbhtW-TxeDbcLZ

One of the things that I feel had helped me is the fact that I play competive FPS games, and aiming in fps games is similar to aiming with an actual firearm in how you focus on the target. In fps games. I have years of consistently not focusing on the crosshair and focusing on the target which it seems like we want to do here so the concept came easier for me. Gamers is this your experience? edit: obviously my mechanics lacks and i need to work on it, but the subject of target focus is something that is not a huge struggle. I still focus on the dot in longer shots so it isnt perfect but i feel i have an advantage in this area. You can also see my profile to know what i am talking about in the videos relating to fps games that i have in there.

People are going to make fun this but even though I compete in USPSA I still love to go to indoor airsoft. I converted my airsoft gun to a red dot. When shooting at people who are shooting back at you you have no choice but to stay target focused. I need to see if that person sees me if they are aiming at me. It has helped me a lot and is still a lot of fun.

I have a story.....I've been learning CZ 75's inside out and been working on my SP-01 putting in a flat trigger and some Cajun parts. If you know you know.....anyway- in all this I took a break and went a town over and did some trading with a guy and also ended up with a P-01. Had some VZ grips, came together great with my extra Cajun springs and stuff. Anyway-- I was out putting the little P-01 through it's paces and got really into a 3 target defensive style transition drill and got really aggressive and when I went to the last target I zoned in and target focused on the 4 x 6" head box BY ACCIDENT. Squeezed that trigger looking "through" my sights and I'll be damned brother I drilled that 20 yard head box dead center. I'm a decent at best pistol shooter, way better rifleman for sure but I had a huge realization in the rain that day. I just DID IT. I took that shot in the moment just for kicks while being super aggressive and it was dead nuts, I even walked up close and was amazed. Normally when I take head shots over 10-15 yards I focus really hard and take a second. We cut out head boxes small here. A little smaller than actual small. The point is I TOTALLY agree and will be working more on target focus. I shoot dot and irons,HK/Glock/CZ pistols. Thank's for all your info.......

I did a ton of work to get target focused and after thinking I had broken the habit I caught myself throwing shots I had called good. I realized the reason I had called them good was because I was letting myself get sucked back into the optic and wasn't fully aware of where my dot actually was on the target. So now I'm shooting occluded again.

Ive been watching a lot of your videos and trying to learn target focus with iron sights. This video is really good and helpful because it reinforces and serves as a further guide to people trying to learn the skill. Thanks very much as always!

After a couple classes with you, and you pounding on these vids, I learned I wasn’t doing what I thought. Thx for that. Seriously. I’ve found my biggest error is ‘landing the dot’. Eyes (or head) snap, lock in tight, see a hint of red dot coming in, and bam, eyes gravitate to the dot as though that’s somehow gonna ‘ease’ the landing. Not so. Conscious effort and lotsa honesty with myself, and I’m improving. I truly appreciate you pounding on this. It’s working for me! 👊🏻

Great stuff

Working hard on target focus, starting to see benefits and able to call shots - sometimes you SEE the hole appear! Also trying to disconnect movement from shooting. Last night I had a train wreck... saw the dropped shot but was still moving to the next target. WHEN DO YOU GO BACK? In this case the target was only visible in a narrow gap. I would have had to stop from a run and back up... I guess I'm asking for a Hit Factor discussion video?

Interesting, dot shooter this weekend at Comp, it was like I did not even see the dot. I know it was there and was making good quick hits. Weird feeling. Yes my mind was like how am I hitting these.

Shooting a Colt Single Action Army replica target focused was an interesting experience. That platform barely has iron sights, so when they’re a blur, they might as well not be there. Still, if you put the blur where the sights should be on the spot you’re looking at on the target, the bullets all go there. I was surprised to find I could consistently shoot tighter groups when target focused.

Hi Ben! Appreciate the information you publish, especially the "been there" and common sense approach. Dumb question in re: target focus with a red dot (handgun): if the pitfall is focus on the dot as opposed to the actual target...what's your take on a laser sight vs. the red dot? Would the "dot on the actual target" work better? Why are lasers not used in competition (vs red dots)?

I have shot dots 99% of the time for 5 years. I didn't have a problem with my backup irons. Recently, I tried shooting a snubnose revolver and for the first time in years, I experienced a strong desire to focus on the front sight. I think it may be because I couldn't tell where the small black sight was well enough while trying to focus on target.

This is the stage I’m at, I am target focus until the shot becomes harder/longer than I find myself focusing in the dot.

A good book I read about shooting faster was Ed McGivern's Fast & Fancy Revolver Shooting. 7:23 In effect you are going faster than you can see because you are working in your subconscious

Thank God you talked about double vision. I tell people about that and they look at me like I am crazy. I even have them look at their sights and they still say they don’t see it. Glad I am not crazy. Can you make a video talking about dominant and non-dominant eye? I am left eye dominant but have trained my self to shoot with my right eye. Just don’t understand why people say you need to shoot with your dominant eye.

Trying to stay taget focused is really hard

Double vision using irons both eyes open: The fix is to learn the difference between accommodation (done with the lens of the eye, good) and convergence (aiming both eyeballs at the same spot, bad). The 'good' ghost gun to see is a ghost of an entire slide off to one side, including a front sight that you're NOT looking at with your off eye. You can practice - recommended - with just your thumb at arms length. Target focus: See two thumbs, target is clear. Sight focus: STILL see two thumbs, thumbnail is clear. Once you get it, it's a major Ah-Hah moment.

Thoughts on this self test. I will get to a long (indoor) distance of 20+ ft and dryfire. On the last target, without moving anything, I'll keep looking at the last target for a second. Then move the gun off. If my focus is still sharp on the target, its confirmation of target focus. I also try and feel if the eye muscles have changed too. I do catch myself slipping into dot focus, especially if the last target is hard. Like a 2" circle or headbox only partial.

Is it possible to have the exact opposite problem? I was obsessed with shooting instinctive archery as a kid (no sights, 100% target focus). When I got into guns, the hardest part was learning to see the sights at all. I had never paid attention to anything but the target with both eyes open. To this day my irons still have a tendency to disappear when pushing hard. Seems like a lost cause. Red dots were a godsend. I can now let my focus go back downrange where it wants to be, and I still have an aiming reference which requires no mental effort to maintain (unlike irons).

I don't shoot irons of my own, ever. If I have a friend who hands me a irons gun it is interesting because I point the thing at the target and he fuzzy things align themselves. I start shooting and realize hey, target focus is still the key

Zero was sick in like 2011 when I was in highschool and I didnt know anything. When I only watched iv8888. Demo, and hickok45, zero was rocking shot timers and moving targets. So i kinda get the hype, but now that ive been shooting ipsc for 5 years, it's almost comedy😂 at least he might be getting new people into shooting, where they'll find channels like yours, vogels, lucas "god hates fgs" botkis learn to shoot in ___ minutes vids, the miculeks, rob empanadas, kim, castro, mojo/garand recoil/speed vids and learn to kick ass and hate themselves for their performance forever😂

great content. no one gives tips anymore on shooting with irons

Im training on getting target focused with irons, it works. But.. on harder targets I switch to something that i can only describe as "in betwin focus" cant see the target super clear but cant se the sights either. Its easier with my tanfo (green fiber) But my duty glock with factory irons its harder and thats what I need to work on.

Is blacked out rear better for target focused irons? So you don't have 'three' optical things flashing in your view?

For me the sights block where I’m looking at messing up my target focus do I look slightly above the front sight post ?

However, I have one question - in one of your videos, you mentioned that there seems to be a small percentage of people in the world for whom focusing their eyes on the target instead of on the front sight of the gun will shift the point of impact to the left ( for right-handed people) - could you tell me more about this? ?

What if you are shooting a rifle with irons, for example an AR or AK at a steel target 200 meters away, are you still target focused?

What should someone (I) do about being cross eye dominant? I was training at a place that told me I should squint my left eye to force focus on right eye to train right eye dominance instead of turning head or drawing the gun across the body or at an angle to align with left eye. What are your thoughts?

So I’ve actually found I become red dot focused on the close fast split targets, I think it’s because the transitions are so close my dumbass buries my eyes in the dot

How long should I train with an occluded dot?

Ben, off the topic of training. Do you plan on returning to USPSA if the BOD gets squared Way? This of course being they lift the ban? I have been watching you online for over year or so but haven't heard you mention it. Apologies if I missed anything regarding that.

Struggle is real.