MARKSMANSHIP BASICS - Natural Point of Aim

[Steve Shelp]

The best example I've seen to show someone how important NPA is... is the following:

When going through USMC bootcamp our Marksmanship Instructor had us remove the charging handle from our M16A2 rifles and tie a boot lace around the gas return on top of the bolt. The end of the boot lace would come out the back of the action right where the charging hadnle would normally be. You would get down and snap into whatever position you were going to fire. Get all set with what you thought was your NPA etc etc.... and say ready.
The instructor would take a peice of black construction paper and put between your eye and the rifle and you would dry fire the rifle. A platoon buddy would hear the click of the dry fire and pull on the boot lace to cycle the action and simulate recoil and cycling of the action(an re-cock the rifle). You would "fire" and 3 rounds this way. Then the instructor would use a mirror to see where your NPA really is and then remove the peice of paper to show you where your NPA really is.
When done properly your sights should still be centered on the target after 3 "blind" shots. If you have any left or right drift your group will go in that direction everytime. Rapid fire targets will show this flaw very clearly. Shooters tend to adjsut out bad habits of NPA during slow fire strings.

VERY IMPORTANT!!!

Steve

P.S. - I lost the Company High Shooter award due to mis-aligned NPA on the 300yd rapid fire string. My "group" moved just enough to the right to let one shot bleed out of the black off of the right shoulder of the target. I lost by 1 pt! The tie breaker would have been your score for pre-qual day and I won that by 7 pts. Oh well. Did I say NPA was important!!

[Forester]

I am new to this site and new to long range, but I have sent tens of thousands of rounds downrange in my biggest shooting pastime, USPSA/IDPA pistol shooting. I have had pretty good success there, and it tends to be a very analytical game when you get to the higher levels. You really need to be able to asses what you are doing, why, and if it is effective/efficient.

Shooting a pistol this way NPA becomes a big deal, you need to know exactly where it is in order to know how best to quickly and accurately engage the relevant targets. It should be a very muscle neutral position without excessive tension in your arms,shoulders, hips, and certainly not hands.

I define it as where the gun comes to when you have your arms extended and eyes are on the sights as necessary. Do this with no particular target in mind and I have to think about it off hand for it to make sense to me. I do it with my eyes closed with a pistol and then open them to see if I am on target. If I am not I know I need to rotate the entire structure until the sights are where they should be. You know how you want your feet, now you know how your arms naturally point the gun, freeze everything and rotate everything until the gun is on target wherever you desire.

Now how this transfers to the bench I am not sure because I have not tested it. It seems to me that you would want to setup yourself to the gun on the bench or prone in a similar position, though your NPA might change a bit with the forced change in body position?

2cents from a run and gun guy...

[Niles Coyote]

My understanding of NAP.

Get into your shooting position and when you are ready to fire (ie on target and where you wish to send the bullet) close your eyes and take a few seconds then open your eyes. If you are still on the same point on aim you have found your NAP. If you hae drifted then you need to make a correction in your posture.

I tend to drift a little to the right when in prone and a very small change to my right leg's (some thimes just my foot) position is all it takes.