I thought that I would post and update with a couple of thing that I've found while working with the red dot sight. Some or all of this has already be said before but this is what is working for me. And my first practice arrow, most important one, has been on the money every time.
The first and probably the most important is anchor point. It has to be exact every time. You don't have a peep to help you line up with. Draw stops would really help. My PDCs are going back on today. I changed to a different release. I'm using a Tru-fire Jaguar three finger release. This release has a swivel head and allows me to use the back of my hand against my jaw. This allows a much greater contact area with the jaw between the first and second knuckle and my thumb right by my Adams apple.
Next in my shot sequence is sighting the dot. This kinda all happens at almost the same time. First I close one eye and make sure that I have the bow string just to the right side of my direct vision. This double checks my anchor point. I have a little knot of serving I placed there that should be level with my eye. I find the dot and center it in the scope and place it on the target. THEN I open both eyes and there should be no change in where the dot is, If there is then something is out of alignment, anchor point, head tilt, bow canted, grip, etc.
Once I'm I'm lined up and anchored, with both eyes open, I prepare to make my release. Most of this goes on automatically but with the trouble I was having I had to think about every little thing that was going on during my shots. One thing that I learned when shooting bullseye competition pistol with a red dot scope was NOT to try and force the dot to be still. If you do you will never be accurate. Trust me on this one point, I have several gold medals and a wall full of plaques to back this one up. What you are trying to do with the dot is to get the smallest CONSISTANT rhythmic movement over the point of aim.
Let me take a moment to try and explain the reason while this is more pronounced than with conventional sights. This is the same for pistol, rifle, shotgun, and bow. With conventional bow sight you have a sight radius of about 24-30”. Most good archers can hold this rock steady as seen from their eyes. The same holds true for pistol and rifle shooters with iron sights. Now when you switch to a red dot sight you just took that 24-30” sight radius and mad it 20 yards or what ever you shooting distance is. This is how your eyes perceive it. The small movements that were there BEFORE can now be visualized. If you try and stop the movement you will tense up and that brings a whole new set of problems into the shot. This will drive some people crazy thinking that something is wrong. They start trying to change what was a solid shooting form to stop the movement. The human body cannot be perfectly still unless it is dead. What you are trying for is the smallest consistent rhythmic movement over your point of aim. If the movement becomes erratic then there is another problem. Holding the shot too long will cause this. If you want to test this you can do so easily before you switch to a red dot sight. On a bow WITH conventional sights on it take a $2.00 laser pointer key chain and mount it to your bow with a piece of two-way tape. You are not trying to get it the same as your point of aim just close on the target where you can see it. Shoot as normal with your sights but look at the dot on your target. See it bouncing around on the target when you are drawn back. This movement is close to what you will see with a red dot. I don't know if this has been explained here before but there it is for what its worth. Now back to the shot.
When the rhythmic movement is settled over the point of aim AND the dot is centered in the scope apply pressure to your release. If all went as it should your arrow should fly true and you should be able to go claim your dead critter.
Sorry this is kinda long but it's a lot of info.
I hope this helps someone make the change to this type of sight easier.
JRStatistics: Posted by bikerjr1 — Sun Sep 05, 2010 2:03 pm
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