Aim small miss small

[Saab1911]

Do you remember the advice about shooting in the movie "The Patriot"?

Mel Gibson's character tells his sons "Aim small, miss small".

I think I understand what he means, finally. I think that he means that you
should aim at a small object. For example, aim at a button and not the
entire chest. Aim at the X in the bullseye not the entire bullseye and so on.

When I started following this advice (or my understanding of the advice),
my group sizes shrank in half.

Is aiming at the smallest thing you can identify a good tactic? And will this
tactic work for self defense?

Cheers,

jae

[pax]

Yes, that's what the advice meant.

Yes, it will improve your aim.

Whether it's good self defense advice depends almost entirely upon how much time you have to work with in the situation. In some situations, a quick crude flash sight picture is all you might need.

pax

[Saab1911]

Originally Posted by pax

Yes, that's what the advice meant.

When I first heard it, I interpreted it as "If you aim at a small thing, you will miss"

[BurkGlocker]

When I first heard it, I interpreted it as "If you aim at a small thing, you will miss"

This is what I thought as well, like aiming at the head and missing by a mere fraction of an inch...

But I like y'alls logic better...

[Double Naught Spy]

"Aim small, miss small"

Yes, that is one of those oxymoronic mantras used in teaching. It still implies there is a miss involved. Miss small or miss big, a miss is a miss.

"Aim small, hit small" makes a lot more sense.

Is aiming at the smallest thing you can identify a good tactic? And will this tactic work for self defense?

As Pax noted, there is the time issue. The next problem is picking out a small object to aim at that will result in an impact that will affect critical structures. You can aim at a button in the center of the chest on the shirt, but if your shot is directly from the side, then your properly aimed and well placed shot will, at best, result in a grazing injury...even if you hit the button.

[Larry $]

Works for archery elk hunting. Pick a hair and aim at it. Don't just let fly at the animal in general.

[Ohio Rusty]

Larry: You are aiming at the whole hair ?? You could miss !! <BG> I pick out that hair and try to split that hair in half with an arrow ..... I think that kind of concentration on one spot is what accuracy is about. It works with archery gear.
When I was in Junior Olympic shooting program in the early 70's, we shared our shooting range with the .22 pistol shooters. Our archery coach would pair us up with a .22 shooter. The challenge was for him to shoot at the bullseye and then for us to put our arrow into the .22 hole in the target. It really made you focus.
Ohio Rusty ><>

[pax]

It still implies there is a miss involved.

If you aim at a 2-foot-square, and miss it by 2 feet, that's a significant miss.

If you aim a 2-inch-square, and miss it by 2 inches, that probably matters in most situations.

But if you aim at a single hair, and miss it by a hair -- that's a miss so small that everyone including you will call it a hit. But it's still a miss.

Welcome to humanity, where nobody's actually perfect...

pax

[jughead2]

my son and i have always shot at soda cans at ranges that they were HARD to hit. when we moved in to the so called self defense areas it was surprising the difference.

[shooter_john]

It took me a while to decide what that quote meant too... And i agree with you that think he meant aim at something small on the target, and if you still miss by a little bit, you probably still do okay. That is my interpretation anyway, and once I started applying that idea, I started shooting better. Now with rifles, I aim at the smallest thing I can readily aim at on a target, if I'm shooting plates with a pistol, I'll pick out an 'impact' on the plate and aim for that. I have actually adopted that as my personal shooting philosophy, since I interpreted it for myself.

[Saab1911]

I'm so glad that I wasn't the only one who misunderstood that statement.

[U.S.SFC_RET]

Shooting a precision rifle and missing a dime or a quarter sized target at 100 yards could be a miss. Shooting a fouled bore Mosin from the pits of hades at a 8" bull off a bench, now is that a miss?

[Stevie-Ray]

Yes, that is one of those oxymoronic mantras used in teaching. It still implies there is a miss involved. Miss small or miss big, a miss is a miss.

I would take that as meaning miss the small object but still hit the man. For example, as was already said, aim for a button and miss, chances are you will likely still score a hit, though maybe not a killing one.