Kind of off topic but related....
In all seriousness, using reference points and indexing on gun -> target line may be a transferable technique to other aspects of competition. I think if you mention reference points and pointing the barrel in the general direction of the target to most people, they'd be like, " yeah, yeah, yeah, I do that". But I don't think most people are very deliberate about it. It's just a generalization "pointing".
Setting the rifle in it's position or support, envisioning the length of the barrel on gun target line, and moving your body squarely behind the invisible line helps me find targets in the scope and more importantly minimizes fidgeting in position and preserves position-building with natural point of aim.
In addition to maintaining a natural point of aim while indexing targets and panning across a range in a stage like a troop line I think it also helps you minimize time when you step into position on a barricade. I see a lot of people walk up to barricades and then decide how they want to drop down at the position. There's a lot of shifting of feed and getting into position. In the combat marksmanship world, you train to simply approach and simply walk into a position where you want your feet to be to engage targets. I liken it to walking up a set of stairs. Nobody walks up to the stairs and then shuffles their feet to figure out where they need to be to lift their foot on the first step. But people do it when they walk up to a barricade. Your final steps as you walk to a barricade should be putting your feet right in the spot where they need to be for you to drop down into a kneeling position. But the only way to know where your position behind the barricade should be so that it supports a proper natural point of aim is by using your gun target line as you're starting to lay the rifle down on the barricade. So it all goes hand in hand. I ran a stage at a match where I had people one meter off a barricade, step into position, drop down and fire one round at a large plate at 200 yards on a pro timer. The goal was 6 secs, 10 secs was acceptable. It was just an exercise of efficiency and trimming time without rushing. There is no time in that for fishing for targets in your scope. And probably not using a red dot.
