training for competition

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Ryan_mcle

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I am starting this thread to get a conversation going about how people are training for comps. This will also be a good spot to share scaled down targets for dry fire practice or plans/ideas for barricades or other structures to shoot off of.

Dose any one have some book recommendations or classes they have taken they could recommend?

What do you guys do for dryfire practice? How long at one time? What size target you use? What distance you set it at?

Do you have a training plan for at the range?

How much time do you spend on mental prep?

Ideas for working on wind reading while not shooting.

That should be a good start to the conversation.

Ryan
 
Guess I will start this off with 2 barricades and an adjustable roof pitch. These have all been built to so I can dismantle them for transport.

This is built to the specs of the PRS tie breaker barricade.
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This one has the same foot print as the one above.
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I designed this so I could practice off multiple pitches of roofs because there is no standard pitch for PRS matches. It is almost 4' wide and 5' long and adjusts from a 6/12(29deg) to a 14/12(49deg). Plan to shingle it for grip and weight so it dose not move around.

I will be using these in my training program I am working on. I will post this up in a couple weeks.

Ryan
 
"With winning in mind" by Lanny Bassham, and both "Secrets of mental marksmanship" and "The wind book for rifle shooters" by Linda Miller and Keith Cunningham.
When shooting few things will help you learn to read wind and swirl as well as single indicated deliberates and few things reinforce/ reward making hits as well as shooting steel.
 
I try and do dryfire practice for an hour before leaving for work each morning if I don't have gunsmithing or reloading to do. Have different sized dots on a trees about 100 yards back. Practice running my mental program for each shot and pulling the trigger subconciously.




I don't do much firing practice with my actual match rifle other than to confirm dope and the occasional match simulation. Most of my firing practice is done with a .22LR at 100 yards on KYL gongs and lolipops. Next is with a .223 copy of my match rifle. I do a lot of positional practice and barricade practice with it as well as mover practice. I try to do every variation of position possible on barricades and try and do more support side than strong side. I do a lot of practice on targets that are smaller than I expect to see in matches and on more challenging barricades.



Making it harder in practice makes it easier in competition. I avoid using training aids that aren't used in matches since they tend to reinforce bad habits and reliance on them. I avoid square range techniques for the same reason.

Also practice under time stress. Time stress gets a lot of people in matches. While practicing, they take whatever time they need to make shots, then they go to a match and after timing out on a few stages, they start to panic, rush shots and miss.
 
Dry firing in pitch dark. Focus totally on release control.

I swap my trigger over to my rimfire (which is only somewhat symmetrical due to lower firing spring tension) and shoot from 50 to 300y. Learn how and why shots printed like they did, whether good or bad. Build confidence in dialing up and down on the turrets quickly, and how to accommodate changes in rho.

Shoot 22 silhouette.

Shoot long with unsupported fullbore. It's a psychological adventure.
 
Ryan does coyote hunting count as training, often long unknown ranges, quick shooting at moving targets over backpacks off barricades of some kind, post, rail and stone fences etc. Just saying. Maybe precision shooting is training for coyote hunting??

Cheers Bill
 
The most important thing you can do to better yourself is to make sure you are subconscious. Train to be subconscious and the rest is easy. When the rifle shoots itself when the sight picture is correct...you have so much more time for all the other things that are going on.
 
kombayotch ypu said you shoot a lot of .22 to train. What type of rifle do you use? What are things to look for in a .22 trainer?

I had my eye on a Savage but it was very light even with a heavy target barrel. Do you add weight to it or does it not matter? I have a nice .17 HMR I can use but ammo is up to 44 cents a round.

Gunnerlove said:
"With winning in mind" by Lanny Bassham, and both "Secrets of mental marksmanship" and "The wind book for rifle shooters" by Linda Miller and Keith Cunningham.
When shooting few things will help you learn to read wind and swirl as well as single indicated deliberates and few things reinforce/ reward making hits as well as shooting steel.
Click to expand...

I have With Winning In Mind on CD. Are other two are the next two books a new shooter should get?
 
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I have a Sako Quad in a Manners T4 that was built by American Precision Arms.



Ideally, you want a trainer to be as close to your match rifle as possible, but that's tough to do with a .22LR (especially a factory one). The CZ 455 in the manners stock would be my choice if I was buying off the shelf.
http://cz-usa.com/product/cz-455-va...-camo-22-lr-5-rd-mag-manners-composite-stock/

At some point I'm going to build a new one on one of those Stiller actions that fits the M700 footprint and uses M700 triggers, and I'm going to put the same barrel profile I use on my match rifle on it.
 
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As I gear up for PRS type shooting, my trio of rifles will include a Savage rimfire (93FV) and all will wear Boyd pro varmint stocks. This gives me the same stock feel and I can ballast as needed to keep things constant. Obviously, the rimfire bolt throws are drastically shorter and thus faster but at least the ergonomics are as similar as I can make it.

With the Lam stocks, I have the freedom to machine and add "stuff" that might help the cause. And when things get dinged up, a bit of time with some sandpaper, filler and paint and back as new.

All will wear the same rail so moving optics around should be simplified.

My intermediate trainer will likely be in 223 rem. But my actions all are barrel nut style so barrel swaps are easy. Although I have a 6XC and a barrel ordered for 6.5 Creedmoor, I am really leaning towards this new tactical class. Heaven knows I am geared up for both 223 and 308 so this might just be the best way forward.

Keep an eye on how this class develops.

Jerry
 
I've made the mistake of having a right handed trainer and a lefty match gun. While on the PRS skills barricade, I attempted to rack a imaginary bolt with my right hand twice. So it really is important to practice like you play. Will be difficult to find a 22 lr bullpup lefty trainer haha.
 
Thanks for all the .22 trainer tips. I have an AI AE MkIII with Viperskins so I will have to find something that replicates that as best as I can.

Where can you get the CZ455 Trainer Precision in Canada?
 
Not sure who sells them.

Guys are putting the Stiller 2500 X .22LR action in AI chassis. It's expensive, but you can make an exact clone of your main rifle in .22LR. You can put an AICS mag body in the magwell with that system and then you're able to load the mag on barricades as well.
 
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