Impatient about becoming a good shooter....

[Lavid2002]

I am so impatient to become a good marksman. Ive been shooting rifle for three years now. Reading any forum I can, and still have so many questions and so little answers. Im the only shooter/hunter in my family. I dont really have the dad/uncle/cousin who has been shooting all his life to teatch me everything like some other people. I dont even have a workbench in my house! Hahaha. I dont even know how to bed an action, ive practiced my stances, done my part at the range and tried to get some trigger time on me, and my groups have stopped improving, now what? I just dont know whats next....What should I do? My local range has advanced NRA marksmanship classes...should I take them? I will take any advice offered. Thanks guys!
Dave

 

[30Cal]

Take the classes they offer. Show up at a Highpower rifle match. Both good ways to improve.

 

[jpwilly]

Classes are good. Trigger time is best! I learned and learned on bb guns then 22lr's when I was young then I got my centerfire SKS at 14 years old. I had probably shot 50K rounds through various 22 rifles before I ever touched a centerfire. I had the advantage of two brothers to hang out with and a Father who taught us well and let us go at it once he knew we were safe. Living in the country surrounded by farmland...the world was my shooting gallery!

So back to your delema...practice instruction and competition will make you better. Books and the internet can seve as a guide but you have to put it into practice or its worthless. Competing is an interesting element nothing more motivating than wanting to make every shot count!

 

[Lavid2002]

Ill see when they offer tha classes next : D

Thanks!

 

[Frank Ettin]

What sort of rifleman do you want to be? If your interest is in becoming a solid, practical rifleman, I heartily recommend the General Rifle class (course number 270) at Gunsite (http://www.gunsite.com/ ). It is an outstanding school and an excellent class in practical rifle craft.

It's not about shooting groups. It's about hitting a target with one shot at an unknown range, under field conditions and under time pressure. We ran exercises that included:

[1] taking snap shots off hand at targets at 25 and 50 yards, both starting with a slung rifle and starting at low or high ready;

[2] more snap shooting, but "double taps" (the drill was to always work the bolt and chamber another round, with the gun on your shoulder, immediately after each shot);

[3] starting with a slung rifle and, on a signal, dismounting the rifle, dropping to prone and hitting a target at 200 yards with one shot in seven seconds;

[4] The Scrambler – seven metal targets in various colors, at varying ranges (mid range, around 100 to 150 yards) set out among the trees, and you must move from firing position to firing position and hit each target firing no more than two shots, using an improvised rest and being timed;

[5] walking though the woods looking for targets at from 100 to 200 yards and taking appropriation action to “solve the problem”, i. e., assume an appropriate shooting position and shoot the target, when you spot a target;

[6] moving targets off hand from 25, 50 and 60 yards – both paper and steel.

And that was only part of what we did during the week when I took the class two years ago. We shot around 500 rounds for the week, had a great time and learned a lot about actually putting a rifle to use. It's an expensive proposition, but IMHO well worth the time and money.

 

[Jimro]

Get a shooting buddy with some experience and let him/her coach you.

If you are trying to teach yourself it's awful tough. The key to tight groups is consistently applying the basics. Breath control, trigger control, sight picture and sight alignment. A coach will let you know when you are flinching, jerking the trigger, rushing a shot, or holding your breath for too long. All sorts of little things that will help you get better.

If you can do the basics perfectly every time then you can get pretty darn close to the accuracy of the weapon system you are shooting.

Jimro

 

[Gbro]

1. Your rifle has to be up to the task. If it doesn't group for you, can anyone else shoot a group with it? or have a machine rest?.
Impatience, and shooting don't mix very well. Good rifle shooting is mastering concentration.
I can shoot OK when the range is quiet(just a couple shooters) but on a league night and all benches busy, I might as well save my ammo.
Of course everyone is different, but Impatience isn't very good.
For what its worth, the advanced marksmanship class might be too advanced, you may want to start with the basics.

 

[sks]

Rent the DVD Shooter and emulate everything you see, including the empty plastic bottle silencer. Just kidding. I agree that you need someone to help you and then lots and lots of time. But you need to build muscle memory, habits, etc the good way. If you learn bad you will have to unlearn that to learn correctly.

That being said, some among us will always be better than others. Some people can hit a golf ball better than others and some can shoot better than others. You might never be the shooter you want to be but then again you might.

I agree with what fiddletown asked, What kind of rifleman do you want to be? When you answer that then you can take practical steps to become that.

Best of luck.

 

[Frank Ettin]

A few Gunsite pictures.

 

[YukonKid]

nice 1911 fiddle

well how good are you, maybe you can't improve anymore everyone gets good and then goes downhill as their eyes/fingers go.

I would look into the classes, but take it all with a grain of salt.

YK

 

[Frank Ettin]

Well Yukon, when I finished the class, if I could see it, I could hit it -- in the field, out to about 250 yards -- with one shot. I'm probably a little more rusty now, since shooting is a perishable skill. But I can improve with some practice.

When I took the class, I was pretty much a novice with a rifle. I improved noticeably. I've found good, professional training to be well worth it. I've had a fair amount of handgun training (at Gunsite and from other instructors) as well as wingshooting and trapshooting coaching. In my view, it's paid off.

I know some folks don't think highly of professional training. Some don't think it helps, and certainly there's lousy training out there. But then again, Jeff Cooper used to say, "...one is no more armed because he has possession of a firearm than he is a musician because he owns a piano."

So the question for you may is, how good are you, under field conditions and not from a bench? And are you telling the truth?

 

[Gbro]

So the question for you may is, how good are you, under field conditions and not from a bench? And are you telling the truth?

That is a question many many just do not want an answer to. We get 100's of hunters come through the annual site in days and its a sad thing. Granted the object is to give the rifle a accuracy test, but so many still can't shoot from a rest much less the off hand that so many will not hesitate to use in the bush/field.

 

[Lavid2002]

How good am I?

Dont really know how to answer that one....I could post some pictures....but thats about it. I was shooting A shotgun pattern at 70 yards in the 7-10 circles with my ruger 10/22 (stock barrel and 3x scope). Looking at the target thats about 5moa! : D Marksman indeed hahaha. Heres some pictures of my groups with open iron sights with a pellet gun, (most of my practice is in the back yard because my mom is very busy and cant always take me to the range) Heres the groups from the pellet gun in various positions from sitting,kneeling,standing, and prone. I beleive their labeled what position I was in for that grouping.

And heres that shotgun pattern with my 10/22 with stock barrel and trigger

Sorry for the bad resolution, and to answer any questions I would really like to be a practical marksman. I would love to be able to take that shot from X and such distance away looking at my information, making the proper adjustments to my equipment and having the confidence that I can make that shot on the game animal/target is the goal I hope to acheive from practicing at the range. Oh, did I mention the practicing part is fun too : D
I hope the pictures help.
What do you think?
Dave

 

[texastweeter]

Have you tried diffrent brands/weight of ammo? maybe your gun just doesnt digest that ammo very well. my 17 can group sub moa with some brands of ammo, but with others it becomes a 2 moa firearm. switch it up, and clean between ammo switches to keep things a constant.

 

[OJ]

Unfortunately, it's too late to start young -

I got my first .22 single shot rifle for my 6th birthday and my dad was a shotgunner - never owned a rifle - so I learned the usual way kids then did - so called "instinct" shooting.

I had some cousins some 10 years older than I who taught me "cowboying" and other stuff. We had ongoing bets on things they thought up so I usually was in debt but, once they really goofed. They bet me (double or nothing what I owed them) I couldn't average one rabbit per day the two weeks I visited them. I knew there had to be an angle but couldn't figure it out.

The first day, I had three rabbits before noon - the last one in mid jump going away when my cousin demanded to know how I did that. I reminded him he had seen me shoot before and why was he surprised. He wanted to know how I did it with a rifle that had no rear sight.

Well, nobody had told me it didn't have a rear sight.

They conceded the bet to me before noon the first day.

I think some lessons and a lot of practice with inexpensive ammo like .22 caliber will produce the results you want - just don't take all the stuff about stance, etc. too seriously and concentrate on good trigger squeeze.

We all have our pet likes and dislikes but, I prefer aperture sights to open or optical sights but - that's just a personal thing.

 

[davlandrum]

Get a shooting buddy with some experience and let him/her coach you.

That helped me a lot.

I got to help a lot of new shooters this weekend at our "Range Day" for hunter's ed.

I was able to coach some good groups from the students with nice quiet shot routine coaching. Lot of fun for me, and they were sure proud to show mom or dad how they did.

My buddy is my coach. Whenever I start doing something wierd, he comes along and gets me back in the game. Sometimes it is something as little as how much finger I got on the trigger, and an extra set of eyes while you are shooting will find stuff like that.

 

[ndking1126]

my experience..

Like most people, I thought I was not as accurate as my gun was. Then one night, my uncle sat me down and said "If you know the sites were on the target when you pulled the trigger, then there is nothing else you can do. The gun is the problem!" What a revalation that was for me! I had always been taught the problem was me. The next time I went out on the range, sure enough. I know where I pulled the trigger, and I know the bullet didn't hit there!

Suddenly, instead of looking for some new tactic or breathing technique, I started looking into how to make my rifle more accurate. What a complete paradigm shift.. and it has absolutely worked. Unfortunately my scope crapped out shortly after all my modifications to my rifle so I haven't been to continue shooting with my new found accuracy

Just a thought for you!
Nathan

 

[bigautomatic]

Concentrate on doing everything exactly the same every shot. Cheek weld, trigger squeeze, follow through, etc. There are lots of variables involved with repeated accuracy, but start with the basics. Btw- the 10/22 is one of the funnest beginner rimfires out there, but don't go dumping a bunch of money into it. A lot of people get hung up on spending $100 here, $200 there, all the while you could be saving that money to get yourself a much more accurate rifle. For the same or less money no doubt. Try lots of different ammo in your Ruger, you'll find one that it likes best.
Hang in there, and practice, practice, practice.

 

[TPAW]

My local range has advanced NRA marksmanship classes...should I take them? I will take any advice

Yes.

 

[TPAW]

OJ

What a GREAT picture and equally GREAT story! Thank you for sharing your memoirs with us. Although I am 60 now, for a fleeting moment I was back in my childhood! Excellent post! ........