Shooting technique helpful hints

Ganderite and Dan have probably given you the best advice. However it is very difficult to wrap your head around only thinking positive thoughts when you are a new shooter. This is something you must be able to do to become an elite level shooter. For now find an elite level shooter to watch and/or shoot with. Ask questions. Nothing is a silly question. Everything matters no matter how small. Once you havethe basics of body position, hold, breathing, trigger control and follow through etc then practice as much as you can. Practice what you find difficult NOT what you are good at. After you have mastered the basics then move on to knowing your equipment. Learn your rifle and ammo. Learn how it performs in the wind. Learn how to shoot it from all positions.Once you are comfortable with all that then you can think about the mental game Ganderite talks about. It really is kind of the final step to becoming a truly excellent shooter. Most of all enjoy the journey!
 
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This is great stuff. I totally get the think positive stuff. Just the other weekend I had the range all to myself and I was closing my eyes while the barrel cooled breathing in and out deep getting rid of the image of the reticle that was getting stuck in my vision from looking statically through the scope for too long (ganderite gonna try your advice on that one next range trip). While I was sitting there with my eyes closed breathing I felt mentally more relaxed than I had the whole work week. Feeling relaxed in turn made me feel positive. Obviously this led to positive thoughts about the results of my shooting. I will admit though that I am glad I had the range to myself for this. People looking over at me with my eyes closed doing some wierd gun meditation between shots might have been weird. Keep the tips rolling in.
 
This is a amazing thread! Many thanks to everyone who takes the time to help inform and educate people that are getting into long range shooting. I can't wait to get out and try all this stuff out!

Justin
 
Everything I could offer has already been said.

1) Shoot lots of ammo
2) Use finger pad instead of joint
3) Group size matters more than bullseye's
4) Learn to breath correctly
5) That six second eye adjustment thing someone mentioned makes perfect sense

Getting used to recoil is a biggie. I find that if I shoot my .44 Magnum first, my 9mm accuracy improves greatly. I also see lots of guys mix some snap caps in with live rounds to observe the flinch which is an accuracy killer. Lots of shooting cures most of the flinch.
 
We shooters, all of us, have some parts of our shooting skills that are strong ... and some areas that aren't so hot, those frequent mistake areas that hold one back, and are in need of some work to overcome on our path to excellence.
An honest, open minded, self-assessment ... with ego thoroughly detached, will guide one to those habitual problem areas, so that they may be addressed and eventually rectified.

Emotions are attached to the firing sequence. At one extreme, .... an unsettling flinch .... at the other, that calm perfect shot, the one that breaks to certain knowledge of exactly where it will fall.

We all fight our respective demon's, ..... For me it's blinking at the trigger break. Unless that faint orange glow through the scope is part of the visuals of recoil, ..... I've blown the shot. In a word, followthrough.

Watching closely, you may also notice, some shooters who are struggling snap their trigger finger foward after breaking the shot.

This thread is awesome. I just appreciate hearing inside knowledge from shooters that are better than I am.
 
Ganderite, do you use the same mental chant when you are shooting CQB?


No. CQB is very fast. I think of the relay and what I have to do. e.g., for snap and rapid, I have to remind myself to take the time to get off a good shot (there is lots of time - I try to fire last shot on the STOP command.) And I remind myself to take up some trigger weight before firing, rather than slapping the trigger. Slapping moves my group about 6" left.

If I had a CQB chant, it would be " Beat Bolivar! Beat Bolivar!"
 
i dont think its been mentioned yet...

BE HEALTHY!! if your so inactive that you need to breath 2x every second cuz your breaths are so sharp and shallow and your resting heart beat is 100BMP chances are your not goin to be an accurate or consistant shot. walk every day, ride a bike, do somthing that requires a good cardio vascular system.
 
To me, shooting is very similar to golf. There are many veriables that make up a good technique but you can't possibly fix them all at once.

I'm not a great shot but I used to be total crap and have improved drastically but there is always something better. When I started with handguns, I couldn't even hit the paper at 20m. Now I shoot 3"-4" groups with a Sig 9mm while standing. This is what keeps you coming back for more.

As ultimate monkey said, health is also key. As an example, I completely stopped bringing a Timmies coffee to the range because it gives me the shakes.
 
Rman said:
Move your thumb position to the right, of the centre line of the action, when shooting. Do not wrap it around the stock. The position of the thumb keeps the trigger finger off of the stock, and allows for more consistant trigger pulls without influence on the stock.
It does feel different at first, but once you get used to it, it will be easy to see an improvement.

R.
Click to expand...

I do this and find it works, but hadn't thought about why it works. I just try to influence the gun on the rest the minimum amount possible.


Ganderite said:
For example, you eye will burn in an image in 6 seconds. Look at the TV or out the window for 10 seconds, then look away and blink your eyes. You will see the image. If you concentrate on a sight picture for more than 6 seconds you lose the ability to clearly see aiming errors. So as you deep breath , wiggle and get ready for the shot, don't stare at the target. Do that last, and quickly.
Click to expand...

This explains some issues I have had with iron sights under certain lighting conditions. I have broke off the shot to relax my eye and then go back to it and it helps, but this is definitely a part of the problem. I will be watching for this in the future, thanks.


Mark
 
A great way to improve is to shoot competition.Even if its with yourself.Keep track of your scores and try to beat them ever time you are out.

Use the 5 S's when practicing your trigger control. Slow, smooth, steady,subconcious,squeeze. The most important being subconcious.If you are thinking about it you need more practice.If you are firing in matches that require fast/rapid fire shots just use the smooth,steady,subconcious,squeeze. The principles are the same but just a faster pace. Keep in mind I'm mainly a service rifle/tactical shooter.My targets sometimes only stay exposed for a few seconds and I am quite possibly in another position than prone. Two things that have helped me greatly are:
1. Your only job is to break the shot when the sight picture is correct. That means that when I'm shooting from unstable positions I'm not going to fight to try and control the rifle.Your body is only capable of creating a holding pattern(the pattern the aiming mark/crosshairs make on the face of the target) of a certain size.Some folks can just hold smaller than others.With myself I don't bother trying to hold really small. I just wait til the pick hits the right spot on the target and my subconcious breaks the shot for me.Its like the rifle shoots itself.Sounds like mumbo jumbo I know but when you get there a serious light will come on. This is also why I only practice standing. If I can make perfect shots every time standing then its a piece of cake in other more stable positions.
2. Any hit is better than no hit. Better to take a messy inner or magpie than to wait too long to try and make it perfect and end up rushing it and coming up with a miss.

Of course if you are shooting slowfire belly gun stuff or off of a bench these may not apply.
 
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