Confessions of a non rifleman...

[Coop de Ville]

Hi All,
hope this fits here.

Been on the boards for years and been a part of the firearm community for years.

Is it ok to settle as a pistol/shotgun shooter?

I've spent years with both. But off and on with a rifle.

I am trying.

Lately with a bushy m4 I picked up 8 years ago...

Just can't make it work.

My G19 or HP I can engage bowling pins at 75 yards. double taps and reloads... body armor drills... in my sleep.

My 870P.. 1 hole groups at 50 yards all day. 00 drills fast as the 11-87... all day.

deep breath...

Between my bushy and my pride and joy... a 336 cowboy in 30-30...........

...pie plate at 50 yards (when then sun shines).


I know practice will make me better, but it seems the learning curve for rifles (for me) is much longer.

Are there any shooters here who aren't rifleman?

I've always believed a gunman/ shooter's foundation is the rifle... the longarm. The instrument that secures freedom.

Am I the only one who just can't get it... Is it ok to be relegated to the pistol/ shotun?

Alas.. I am not done yet... I have 3K rounds of wolf left to paractice...

Just venting... I'm not giving up yet.

Best,
-Coop

 

[Electron Don]

Pistolero

That's some shooting. Personally, I find pistol work harder.

Both of my boys are cross dominant. that is, right handed but left eye is dominant. My teen ager shoots right handed and "forces" the right eye. He does O.K with iron sights but is slow to acquire when using a scoped rifle. On the other hand, he consistently out shoots me with pistols. He shoots right handed but lines it up with his left eye.

 

[Coop de Ville]

I'm good with a scope or red dot... but I'm kinda not proud of that.

After reading the story of Sgt. York... kinda believe that the proving grounds are of iron sights.

FTIW- I do wear glasses and have astigmatism... but so do a lot of others I assume.

I missed that...

What I mean is that I can't hit squat with a rifle....................

-Coop

 

[SKULLANDCROSSBONES65]

G'day. Don't let it worry you. Just enjoy using up that rifle ammo. I'm not so good with a center-fire, but I'll still take it out and give it a go.

 

[Uncle Buck]

"Well, if'n ya quits it now ya aints never gonna be any good wid it!" So said my grandfather on numerous occasions when one of us decided it just was not worth the effort. He was right.

If you really want to master the rifle, then try something else. Get someone to watch you shoot, watch others shoot and see what form they use. Can you video tape the way you shoot? Review the tape and see what you are doing wrong.

I have seen some people pick up a rifle and just blow the soda cans away and I have seen others, myself included, who just scare them.

I had to practice, I had to adjust my stance, start shooting supported. It took some time but I have gotten to were I can hit what I shoot at.

Also, it could be your rifle. Are your sights adjusted correctly? Are they bent? I bought a Winchester Model 1894 rifle and could not hit a gallon jug at 50 yards. I had to remove the ramp from the rear sight and a gun smith had to tap the front sight into alignment. If that had been my first rifle, it probably would have been my last. It was pretty discouraging.

 

[MemphisJim]

At age 66 and after having to have eyes corrected for 50 years, I'm long since reconciled to the notion I need visual assistance when shooting rifles. If I can't scope it, I don't shoot it often. Two years ago I won a Henry Golden Boy at a Friends of the NRA banquet; I was heartbroken that it can't be scoped out of the box. My son now has it and I had to settle for buying an H001T that I could scope. I have several family heirloom rifles (some Winchesters from the '40s) that I take to the range annually for a "remembrance" shoot as an excuse to handle them. But for serious shooting, it's the newer, scoped ones for daily use. With pistols, I mostly work on self-defense scenarios at closer distances so eyesight isn't much of an issue, although the MkII 22/45 is red dot equipped and a couple of Sigs have Laser Grips. Shotguns are an issue with me, but I don't think it has to do with vision. Clay pigeons just laugh when I'm on the line.

 

[SIGSHR]

Define "Rifleman"? Is someone who only shoots off a bench with a rest and padding a rifleman? Or is it someone who shoots off hand. Scope vs. Iron Sights, centerfire vs. rimfire. I did not become a Truly Great pistol shooter until I practiced Bullseye with a .22, nowadays 95% of my shooting is with a
22, when I first fired one of my SIG SHRs after years of firing only rimfires, I got a 1.5" group at 100 yards off the bench, all that shooting of rimfires paid off.

 

[chris in va]

I'm good with a scope or red dot... but I'm kinda not proud of that.

FTIW- I do wear glasses and have astigmatism... but so do a lot of others I assume.

I think you answered your own question. I also have astigmatism (at 39) and I really can't see targets all that well anymore. As we get older it's not a bad thing to start using sighting aids like peep sights, red dots, scopes etc. I actually encourage it. Iron sights get all blurry and it's no wonder I keep missing.

Look, do you fault an 80 year old for using a cane, or do you expect him to be proud and fall down all the time because he's hard headed enough to think he can still walk on two legs like everyone else?

 

[oneounceload]

Is it ok to settle as a pistol/shotgun shooter?

Absolutely.....no problems there at all

 

[45King]

I hear you, and empathize with you. I've always been a diffident marksman with a rifle, but do much better with either shotgun or pistol. That doesn't make me give up trying, however. Not all of us can be Sgt. York or Jeff Cooper. "Heart. You gotta have miles and miles of heart."-Gene Hackman, The Replacements

Lots of practice doesn't hurt anything, either.

 

[kozak6]

I'm not much of a rifleman either. My eyes are terrible (and I'm a young guy!), and I can't get any real practice either.

 

[80viking]

A friend and expert marksman once told me ''you can't be good at everything if you try to shoot rifle, pistol, and shotgun equally you will excel at none''.

I concentrate on my rifle shooting and just have fun with the other stuff.