These are really all excellent and informative opinions and questions (for which I'm grateful). Many years ago, when God was in His Heaven and the National Service kept louts like me off the street, I just about invariably came away from the range with a black (right) eye. Finally, one day my platoon sergeant said, "Come 'ere, you 'orrible little man," and showed me how to keep my thumb out of my upper cheekbone while aiming and firing. It worked wonderfully. There was no magic to it. I just had to stay aware that this was what I had to do. The other "process" he encouraged was the both-eyes-open, point-and-shoot approach. Later, on civvy street, I practised this method with my air rifle, snap shooting at strategically (and safely) placed targets. It seemed to work very well. Now, at least, I can do a bit more than simply alarm flushed birds.