Stop Shooting before boot?

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Tucker 1371

New member
So I am in the process of getting all my paperwork squared away for the Marines. I (hopefully) will be shipping for boot in February. I was in the car with my recruiter today and I mentioned that I'd be bringing my rifle down to college with me after Thanksgiving break and asked if he could spend a few hours at the range with me. His reply was that I should stop working on my accuracy immediately and forget everything I think I know about shooting and that trying to practice will only cause me to develop bad shooting habits.

Any Marines in here agree? I guess it makes some sense. Any tips on how to unlearn how to shoot (bump firing comes to mind:D)? I kind of want to start with a blank slate now. If you've got any suggestions pass them along. I'm PTing my John Brown hind parts off right now, 3mi/day and 10 pull ups every time I walk in or out of my room plus a set of 20 every morning and night. For push ups I'm doing four 10 rep sets of incline, decline, and regular once a day. Plus MMA practice Tuesdays and Thursdays 9-10pm.
 
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Deerhunter

New member
#18indycolts I agree. Not with you being a Colts fan but that is neither here nor there. I had been hunting for 10 years before I went into the Army. They like to claim that you develope bad habits. I was one of the best shooters in my company in Basic Training. Keep on shooting and enjoy it. Depending on your MOS you might not get to shoot as much as you want once your in.
 
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longlane

New member
Father was in the Navy...

Country boy, shot for food not for fun. Once in, his superiors, their superiors, and their superiors all had fits trying to convince him to "use his talent." So, yeah. Shoot all you want before you go in; you owe it to your own survival, your family, and your country. Just my half a cent...

BTW--my dad still has the letters to prove that the Navy wanted him to "use his talent." No memorious biscuit stuff here.
 
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johnwilliamson062

Moderator
This claim is certainly made a lot.
In a similar boat myself and I plan to increase my rifle shooting significantly before I go.
I am sure my bad shooting habits wont be the only thing they break.

I would recommend only shooting seriously though. Concentrate on the fundamentals, don't be doing things like bump firing and think you are practicing.
 
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markj

New member
Shoot as much as you can. My Nephew went in, he was trained by me on rifle and handgun, he exceded in marksmanship almost went sniper until he learned what it involves. He is in Okinowa now just out of Iraq. Got him a raise before he graduated boot. Gave him a fine 1911 as a gift :)

Congrats and I hope you get a lot out of the Marine Corp. I sure noticed the change in Josh.

Another thing to do is pull ups, them guys like to do a lot of pull ups.
 
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FrankenMauser

New member
Shoot all you want. It won't make a difference.

I kept shooting until I shipped out, and ignored the techniques taught by the marksmanship instructors. I shot expert every time, with my basic training qualification including some beautiful 3-leaf clovers. (Still have almost all the targets ... somewhere...)
 
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koolminx

New member
Your recruiter is a dinklestein....

I shot less than expert one time in my entire 13 year military history of shooting every 6 months when budgets could afford it... That was the first time I shot the M-16 A1, I shot 8 different rifles with my different duty stations, and never shot less than expert which is 188 pts or higher out of 200 on a 200 meter range.

Only shot a perfect 200 one time... Still never listened to my recruiter... I shot every week before I joined and every day I could afford it after, when on leave or on a weekend....

Shoot to your hearts content, it will not fail you.
 
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Tucker 1371

New member
My dinklestein recruiter is a Gunney with a Sharpshooter badge who I'm fairly sure has had at least one tour so I'm inclined to believe him. The again you guys seem to know what yall are talking about. I'm not a bad shot right now so


I think I'll just keep shooting, he's probably assuming I'm some kid who just likes guns but doesn't know up from down about shooting them.
 
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Tucker 1371

New member
Deerhunter,

I am trying to get 0311 but I am only joining the reserves. If I can't get infantry then I think I'm going to see if I can get combat engineers. I'm in college right now and I want to finish and then switch over to active duty. If they call for volunteers to go while I'm still in college though I don't see myself saying no.
 
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Tom2

New member
Yea all your practice will help you in putting the rounds on target for sure. I used to practice with just a 10-22 in the AF and that helped alot. Alot more than having nothing to practice with. Plain vanilla version, not tricked out or scoped. What he might be worried about is if you try to show up your instructors as far as the preliminary training on your rifle, looking like a "smarty pants" trying to do things other than what they say, getting ahead of them, etc. which will make you stand out among your peers and make your life miserable, guaranteed. Just lay low till it comes time to put lead on target, your practice will show up as better groups than the greenhorns, and that might get you some praise. Making your instructors look like a dumbass, either inadvertently or on purpose, will make you hurt. You do not want to become Sgt. Bigmouth's go-to whipping boy. Rounds in the black are what will count in the end, no matter if you keep your mouth shut as much as possible. WHen they are training newbies, like city boys, you also need to keep situational awareness on the range, in case some doof shoots at your target, or forgets to keep the da__ muzzle pointed down range!
 
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Maximus856

New member
GSU, I'm an 0311/8621/0933. The 8621 is my intel job and 0933 is marksmanship coach. First let me say good luck, and make sure you pick your job wisely depending on what you want to do. I'm stuck in Intel right now, and nothing is worse then having people who went to bootcamp after you picking up rank before you because of your job.

However, I shot a decent amount before joining and am a 2 time expert with my last one being a sharpshooter. Everyone has bad days, especially when transitioning to the m4 and shooting at the 500.. excuses excuses right :rolleyes:. The only time your habits will get in the way is in bootcamp, because the PMI will get a bit ticked if you don't do it exactly how you were shown. Once in the fleet, nobody really gives a hoot how you shoot so long as you don't cheat, IE. getting in the prone on the standing portion. Also, they've combined table 1 (200,300,500) with table 2 which is the feild fire, so you may shoot marksman or sharpshooter on table one, but do amazing on table two and it can average out. In closing, just suck it up in bootcamp and get in the really awkward positions. Don't look at it as unlearning something, rather look at it as learning something new.

-Max.

PS. The only time bad habits came into play for me personally was with the 9mm.
 
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BurkGlocker

New member
B.R.A.S.S.

Breathe
Relax
Aim
Slack
Squeeze

To this day, I still use this acronym during my shooting sessions. My dad and brother were making fun of my shooting technique today until I was popping off 6 inch diameter pumpkins at 300m. The only one that I dont follow with my rifles is slack, because they both have VERY crisp triggers and usually any firm pressure will get to go off, but with my DA pistols, yeah, I do.
 
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44 AMP

Staff
Not sure how the Marines rank it...

Gunney with a Sharpshooter badge
Click to expand...
but when I was in the Army, "sharpshooter" was the middle qualification level. Marksman was the lowest, and Expert the highest.

I knew how, and had been shooting for years before joining, and yes, in Basic training, some of my instructors told me I was doing things wrong. After examining my targets, they told me to "just keep doing what you're doing".

For sure, the military wants you to do everything their way. But if you are accurate your way, its not wrong.
 
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FrankenMauser

New member
The only time your habits will get in the way is in bootcamp, because the PMI will get a bit ticked if you don't do it exactly how you were shown.
Click to expand...

Absolutely.

You definitely need to proficiently demonstrate exactly what you are taught.
As Maximus said, you don't have to unlearn anything, though. You just need to learn what they want, on top of what you know... and always know which answer they're looking for.
 
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Mike40-11

New member
Yeah, hear this not infrequently from recruiters. Hear lot's of things from recruiters....:rolleyes: yeah, yeah, I know they're necessary and I don't envy them their jobs...

No matter the rank or tour status, not everybody in the military, even the Marines, is a gun guy. The Marines do stress it more than the other branches.

Don't worry about it. If you like to shoot, shoot. They'll give you plenty of instruction in basic and, chances are, you'll pick up a few tips no matter how good (or bad) you are.

But don't be concerned about getting plenty of practice in beforehand. Qualifying with a rifle will not by any stretch of imagination be the hardest thing you have to do in basic. Just one of many things you have to complete. If you REALLY want to be prepared for boot, make sure you can run. Not necessarily all that fast, but a lot.

1SG USA (R)
 
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