”It is, but the front sight is critical. As long as the front sight is placed properly, your rear sight can be slightly off and you’ll still hit near what you’re shooting at. But let that front sight drift off, and it won’t matter how perfectly your rear sight is aligned, either with the target or with the front sight. You’ll miss, clean.”
Margo tried again. She was still flinching, but the shots were a little closer together.
”All right, unload the brass and hand me the pistol.”
”Why?” Margo asked curiously.
Ann took the pistol-offered, Kit noticed approvingly, in the roper manner, action open, muzzle down. “You’ve developed a who ping flinch. So we’ll do a ball-and-dummy drill. I’ll load the pistol for you.”
Ann turned away, blocking the gun from Margo’s immediate view, then handed it back. “All right. Let’s see how bad that flinch is.”
Margo fired the first round with a solid bang. The second time, the pistol only went click-and the barrel jerked about an inch anyway.
”Oh!” Margo gasped. “I did that, didn’t I?”
”Yes. You’re anticipating the noise and the recoil. This drill will help you learn to pull through smoothly without flinching, because you’ll never know which chamber might be loaded or empty”
Ann put her through a solid twenty minutes of ball-and-dummy drills. By the end, Margo had developed a much smoother trigger pull and her group size shrank considerably.
”Very good.” Ann pulled in the target and ran out a new one. “Now, concentrate on that front sight.”
Another fifteen minutes, and the spread of Margo’s shots was down to six inches at six yards. Not exactly impressive, but an improvement. Ann drilled her on front sight for another ten minutes, then let her take a short break. Margo pulled off the protective eyeglasses and earmuffs and ruffled her hair. Kit regretted the necessity to dye it. She looked like an abandoned waif with, pale skin and dark hair, but it was far safer for her.