Lookin for some shooting technique drills

Potshot21

Potshot21

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Hey CGN, I'm sure this has been beaten like a rented mule, but I'm looking for some drills to help improve my shooting.

Or if someone can direct me to some other threads with this info it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Potshot
 
Practice practice practice.

Rembember the fundemntials.
Proper body behind the rifle. As straight behind the rifle possible, a comfortable way that your not straining to keep line of sight.

Breathing. In the mouth out the nose. Take a breath or 3 and fire just as you finish the exhale. If u hold out to long start over.

Trigger control. "it should surprise u when the round goes off". That saying is pure bull crap. Stay in control. Try you finger any way u feel you can best pull the trigger straight back.

Fallow threw. Very important. Keep ur eye on target and don't release the trigger until after your looking at the shot. Bad fallowthrew gives u a flinch that you don't realize.
 
Ahhh, buy a precision .22 rifle, a sling, a mitt, a spotting scope and a case of bricks of ammunition. There are as many habits to shooting well, as there are opinions. There are books on sniper shooting that give some of the techniques and actions, but you really won't know what to do until you get a couple thousand rounds of trigger time.
 
Holland shooting school, has few videos out about shooting from a bi-pod and bolt manipulation, I practice these techniques.
 
Good point on the .22

I shoot military competion and practice every weekend just about with my .22lr. It's a single shot with target peep sights. Nothing like the weapon I use but it's getting the principles down pat.
 
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I am looking for ways of practicing the fundamentals of shooting properly. I'm new to punching paper and it shows. I have an annoying flinch that developed early on in my shooting when I was younger and smaller and unfortunately, old habits die hard.

AKD, good point on the follow through! I've never heard of that one but it makes perfect sense now that I think about it.

So besides breathing properly, getting comfortable and follow thru, are there any other fundamentals I should be working on as well?
 
trigger controll, nice clean smooth consistant pulls, a jerky trigger fiinger is as bad as a flinch. try and use the "pad" of your trigger finger, for ALMOST every one, useing this part of the finger allows for a pull the is straight back as possible. If you pull or push the trigger in either directin threw the pul it will pull or push the rifle affecting accuracy
 
Your targets will tell u what you need to work on as well. If your group is a straight line up and down work on ur breathing. Side to side, work on ur trigger control.

One way to get rid of flinch is shoot with both eyes open and litterly force ur eyes to stay open. Just shoot in a safe direction, don't worry about hitting the target. Do this a few times so ur head gets confidence not to flinch.


One other thing - confidence - goes a long way.

And the most important thing .... Have fun!
 
alright..

dry firing ..

get down into firing position.. find a "target" to aim at.. doesnt have to be far away, can be just on the other side of the room ..

get comfortable like you're going to take a shot, get your breathing right.. when you're breathing is set and your crosshairs are settling on your target on the exhale... close your eyes, and take a breath, exhale again and see if your crosshairs are still on your target.. if not, then your position is wrong, adjust your firing position until your crosshairs do settle on target..

then take your dry shot.. where do the crosshairs settle after that ? left or right? then you're finger is in the wrong position on the trigger.. you should be squeezing the trigger with the center of the first finger segment..
 
I've heard the old advice about having someone balance a coin on the end of your barrel, then breaking a dry-fire shot (coin shouldn't fall off). If you go with the .22 you can practice all day for cheap - but don't dry fire it (many .22LRs don't like dry fire).
 
Position, position, position, did I mention position?
When you get into position to fire your shot and everything is lined up perfectly and you are relaxed, close your eyes for 3 seconds then open them. If you are not still perfectly lined up for a perfect shot, there is something wrong with your position.
If your rifle is pointed to the right, you need to move your position slighty right. If you are pointed left, you need to move left. If you are pointed high, you need to scrunch forward a bit, and if it is pointed low you need to scrunch back.
These slight movements might only be 1/4 inch or so. Repete this exercise of closing your eyes for 3 seconds until you stay perfectly line up with your target when you open your eyes.
As for the flinch, you need to spend a lot of time dry firing and shooting a couple bricks of .22. to develope muscle memory to fire that perfect shot every time. Also use double ear protection (plugs and muff) when shooting anything bigger than a .22.
 
Just my 2 cents....

Log your shots in a shooting diary as well as video tape yourself. Then review after at home, i find it helps alot with pointing out things to yourself that you just block out or don't even consider while your at the firing line.

What are you preparing for? Hunting, punching paper or competition target shooting? I would tackle my practice for each discipline differently.

Hunting: standing shots, and modified braced shots with a limited time to shoot, desired hit zone would be 4-6" bullseye at given range.

Punching Paper: Most comfortable position (for me its seated at the bench). Rifle braced as you want (sand bags, bipod, shooting sled etc.) Target size is up to you along with everything else.

Competition Shooting: Specific shooting position, Specific target size, Specific rifle weight, Time allow for shots ? Number of shots per string ? Practice marking your hits on the paper work ? Practice coming to the line, positioning equipment, safety protocols & shooting beside other competitors.
 
I'm a big fan of the Dime Drills mentioned above. Learned it in the US Army. From the prone position put the dime out there watch your breathing and post trigger pull flinch and position. Also agree with Maynard.
 
The biggest help I found for the "flinch", was a guy at my club saying "it's the muzzle blast that causes the flinch". I started using plugs AND muffs, and just paid attention to it. Sure enough, it's not the actual recoil that was causing me to flinch but the noise.

Once I get into position, I apply pressure to my trigger finger when on target. If I breath etc and am off target, I release pressure. Both movements are very slowly, and the shot comes as a suprise. If it's a suprise, no flinch.

I also bought a Savage target 22 and shot that for a couple of years before I bought a centerfire. I put many many many rounds down target at 25 and 50m. I still bring that out most days and shoot it a lot, very cheap and it is lots of fun.
 
Probably the best drill you can use to get rid of a flinch is "Live and Dry".
It requires a partner.Basically he loads you rifle for you as you turn your head away.You need to be on a range and use both live and dummy rounds.He either loads it with a live round or a dummy.You don't know the difference.When you flinch on a dummy it is blatantly obvious.Then you need to concentrate on the 5 S's.Slow,smooth, steady,subconcious, squeeze through ALL shots.
 
Funny, I thought you were looking for drills such as :

1. Run out to 100 meters and place a target, run back to your rifle and shoot it, best time wins.
2. Do 50 push-ups then shoot 3 targets at varrying ranges.
3. Setup a course with 10 or more clay pigeons, run the course with a 10/22 and a 10 round magazine. count your misses.
4. Shoot long range with precision rifle, run over to a shotgun and shoot a few milk jugs, finish by running over to a semi-auto of choice and destroying 5 targets at medium range.
5. Mix them up...
 
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