Back to the beginning

[yekimak]

I guess this is mor eof a cathartic post than anything, but I must posted in an effort to be true to myself and to others.

I, Michael *******, freely admit, in front of you, and to all, that I am a horrible shot. I have missed big game at close range, I have wounded small game that ran off and became unretrievable, and am more inclined to empty the magazine than I am to take careful aim. My skills as a marksman have degraded from my formative years of lighting matches with my bbgun, and shooting birds in the air with my slingshot, to missing targets at the 100 yard line (with iron sights), and wasting ammo, just to hear it go "Bang!" For this, I am ashamed.

I have resolved to become proficient with my weapons, and have begun to design a course of practice and exercise to help me achieve my goal. For the next few months I will relegate my high capacity guns to the safe. I will do my best to make each and every bullet hit its mark.

My first course of action is to practice as much as possible with a .22 rifle until I am as proficient with it as I was with my bbgun. It is a nylon 66 with iron sights. I believe the limited capacity and long reloading process will help slow my pace down and force me to concentrate on proper sight picture, and breathing. I wish to shoot enough that I will instinctively know the ballistics of the .22 lr cartridge and be able to adjust for windage and elevation as necessary without thought.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is where I run into a wall, should I go on to .22 pistol, an iron sighted centerfire, a scoped .22? What should I goto next? (besided a therepist)

[gb_in_ga]

First off, I agree with you (re)starting on a .22 rifle. I'd go one step farther, and that is to load just 1 round at a time. Treat it as a single shot. Take each shot, 1 at a time. Put the rifle aside each individual round. Rethink what you did on that shot. Did you control your breathing (breathe all the way in, halfway out and hold -- you have 30-45 seconds to get the shot off)? How was the sight picture? How was your grip? How was your spot/cheek weld? Did you properly squeeze off the shot? (squeeze, don't jerk -- you should not actually know beforehand when the shot is going to go off if you are doing it right) How was your follow-through? Did you blink? If so, you jerked, too. Did you move your head to look at the shot, right when you shot it? If so, you probably pulled your shot. You should have some idea, assuming you were paying attention to the basics, of just where your round printed. Now, look at your target -- a spotting scope is nice, but you can use a decent pair of binoculars if the range isn't too far -- it save steps. Tie the placement of each shot back with what you did for that shot. Do it for each shot, not each group. It slows you down, and it makes it very apparent what you did and what were the results. Until you get the basics down doing this, don't go any farther.

I would even suggest using an air rifle for this phase, it forces you to slow down, and you can't beat the ammo price! Not only that, but you can set up a shooting range in your garage/basement (if you have one), bullet traps that stop air rifle pellets are cheap and/or easy to make.

Then, once you get the basics down, start putting more rounds in your magazine, and just look at your groups. As you regain your confidence, then start looking at where you want to proceed next. If you want to move on to pistol, then either get out the .22, or maybe you might want to do a .38 or a .357 revolver with light .38's. I'd go the .38/.357 route, in that you can load up the cylinder with snap caps and practice, practice, practice -- the basics, that is. Grip, sight picture, trigger squeeze, breathing, etc. Practice. Once you get it down, go ahead and go to the range for some live fire, but keep it slow, paying attention to the basics. If you go the center-fire rifle route, I'd just replay the training regimen you just went through with the .22 rifle. 1 shot at a time, paying attention to the basics. Either way, as you gain more confidence, proceed on to other things or faster shooting rates and so forth. You will be back in form in due time, just keep at it, don't get impatient, and pay attention to the basics.

[kennybs plbg]

Bolt action 22, 4 power scope and a brick of 22's. Best $200 you ever spent.

kenny b

[Garand Illusion]

Any of your choices would be fine. But since what you really need to do is find tune the skills you already have (or train out the bad ones) ...

I'd say get a pistol and spend about $65.00 on one of those lasers that attach to the trigger guard. I learned a LOT about how to shoot by watching how that little point of light waivered and skittered as I pulled the trigger.

I'm not suggesting you use it for long term, or for tactical purposes; just as as learning tool. And by getting the kind that goes on the trigger guard you can move it from gun to gun.

I bought mine from Amazon.com -- don't remember the brand or anything, but any workable laser sight would work.

[gb_in_ga]

One other suggestion that I have found to be quite helpful. it is the next best thing to having an individual coach, and a good coach will bring it along as well. If you have one, get your camcorder and tripod. Set it up so that it has a good view of you while you are shooting. Zoom in so that you can really see what is going on. Turn it on, and shoot a shot, going through all of the motions like I suggested before. Now, rewind the tape (if it is a tape model) and replay what you just shot. Look at what you did. The camera won't lie to you, it will show you what you are doing wrong. Rewind (if tape) and repeat with your next shot.

BTW -- while I like the idea of the laser pointer, I don't like it at this part of your training regimen. Why? Because you will be looking at the laser rather than paying attention to your sight picture and follow through. Moving your head to look at the laser is a break in technique. And you may end up becoming dependent on it, which IMHO isn't a good thing. You really need to pay attention to the sights. If you do have one, you may find it useful to have a 2nd person observing the laser pointer while you are using a set of snap caps, as that will really show you (actually your observer/coach) if you are getting a good trigger squeeze and follow through. But don't pay attention to the laser yourself, that is for the observer. Pay attention to your sight picture, your trigger and your breathing. Remember your follow through.

[gb_in_ga]

Kenny:

I'd go along with that, but if the rifle has decent iron sights on it, I'd say that you could save a few bucks and not get the scope. It'd be nice if it had match sights, but that gets kinda pricey and isn't all that necessary. IMHO 200 rounds of ammo isn't enough, though. I'm talking about some serious practice to shake bad habits and build good ones, better get a couple of bricks to start with.

----------------------

Oops -- it is getting late here and the ol' eyes were playing tricks on me. You didn't say 200 rounds, you said 200 bucks and a brick. Ok, I'll go along with that, but if it were me I'd make it a couple of bricks, it cuts down on trips to the ammo store!

[yekimak]

I do have a pile of guns, and, what is really funny, is that I can still shoot my bbgun like I did when I was a kid. I just have not figured iut for the life of me why that does not transfer into my other rifles, save for the possibility that it is a mental blockage of some sort.

Right now i am using a nylon 66 given to me by my bio-dad (step dad raised me, so he is my real dad as far as I am concerned, bio-dad is trying to make up for 31 years of absence). I am shooting at clay pidgeons set out between 30-50 yards, breaking them and then breaking up the little pieces. so far I am at about 95% with full size clays, and about 60% with broken pieces, and about 30% with little pieces while sitting on a bench with elbow resting.

My first goal is to achieve better accuracy with the iron sights, then after that to acheive this sort of accuracy while standing. Being that I am a shaky person, I need to either learn how to control my trembles or to learn how to "catch the right shake" as a friend once told me.

Shooting at clays is fun, gives instant gratification, is representative of realworld shooing, and is less dissapointing than a 3" group on paper.

My overall goal is to be able to have pride in my marksmanship skills. I want to lose my fear that I am going to miss and know that, barring mishap or obvious stupidity, I will hit my mark. I want to be able to shoot a decent group with my .300 winmag for once.

[JohnKSa]

I would even suggest using an air rifle for this phase, it forces you to slow down, and you can't beat the ammo price! Not only that, but you can set up a shooting range in your garage/basement (if you have one), bullet traps that stop air rifle pellets are cheap and/or easy to make.

I agree, but I'd go a step farther and say to get a good quality spring-piston air rifle. It has abysmally long lock time, and an odd recoil behavior which will really force you to concentrate on the basics. Here's a good place for learning about airguns.

www.straightshooters.com

[chris in va]

Bolt action 22, 4 power scope and a brick of 22's. Best $200 you ever spent

Wow, a bolt action with scope for $190? That's some scope!

[Duxman]

nice gun the Nylon 66. Have had one for over 10 years now and it is amazingly good. Fast cycle times. The only good part is a hyper fast action. Even faster than the ruger 10/22. The negative portion of the weapon is loading it by tube. Not so fun.

Anyway, aside from the suggestions above, I suggest you arrange 1 to 2 hours with a qualified shooting instructor. I have been an average shooter until one taught me the nuiances of trigger finger placement, and how to control flinching. Both have made me a good shooter in the pistol side.

Now its time to find a rifle instructor....

JJ

[kennybs plbg]

Wow, a bolt action with scope for $190? That's some scope!

I have 2 in that price range, a simmons and bushnell banner on 22's, both are excellent 4X scopes for a 22 (under$35). I also sport a bausch and lomb 2x7 3000 elite on another 22 ($200). I kind of like the $30 banner the best, I don't mind if it gets knocked around as much.

kenny b

[yekimak]

In a way I like the tube feed because it slows me down some, kinda like pumping up an air rifle, 'cept I an shooting 10 shots between pumps....it also feels alot like my old air rifle and I am more comfortable with it because of that. i am going to give it a couple more bricks of ammo and them move on to a .22 pistol I think, and work from there. Then on to scoped guns, starting with a bull barrel scoped 10/22 with a 3x9x42 sightron sII on it. I think then is the time when I will start shooting paper for group.

[yekimak]

I went to the range yesterday with a different rifle that I was trying to sight in, this particular gun has on it A! style military sights. I shot horribly. I realized that, though part of it was me, that I do not have a clue how to use these sights.

With a normal peep and hood front I have a reference as to where the front sight goes, as I just align the hood with the rear peep and then put the front sight on target, but with the front sight on this gun, which has a front sight with protective ears, I have no way to easily reference the front sights position within the rear peep.

Needless to say, it was a lack of consistancy in sight picture that kept me from shooting effectively. I think that it would behoove me to invest in a different set of sights that would help me maintain a consistant sight picture, or somehow mark the rear peep in a manner that helps me center the front sight.

I am going to keep posting my progress here as much as possible, as the writing down of my thoughts and experiences, coupled with the advice of you folks has proven to be beneficial so far. I guess it could be considered as part of a 12 step program to marksmanship.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; the wisdom to know the difference; and the skill to put holes where they belong...

[U.F.O.]

"You don't look at the sights when firing. You look through the sights downrange at whatever you are aiming at."

Front sight.....Press might seem like something worth considering during all the looking downrange.

U.F.O.

[U.F.O.]

I hear ya trackman_32. "I know you have to look at both at some point in the shooting phase" helps explain the process more than "You don't look at the sights when firing." I'm in total agreement.

U.F.O.

[U.F.O.]

Massad Ayoob

"Human vision being what it is, you can’t focus on the sights and the target at the same time. Actually, you can’t focus on both the front and the rear sight at the same time, either. Once the target has been identified as something you need to shoot, you no longer need your primary visual focus on it. Primary focus now goes to the aiming indicator, the front sight. Think of it as a fighter pilot would: “enemy craft sighted, lock missiles on target.” The way we lock the handgun’s missiles onto the target is by focusing on its front sight."

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob85.html

U.F.O.

[U.F.O.]

"Maybe that is the way you do it..."

Whatever Dude. You've gone from "You don't look at the sights when firing." to "I look at the target, align my sights with the target, and squeeze the trigger" all in about 3 posts. My bet is by your next post YOU'LL be quoting Massad Ayoob. Bottom line is if you don't look at your front sight you probably won't be hitting too many targets.

U.F.O.

[yekimak]

It has been nearly 2 months now since I started my little endeavor to becone a better shot. Many many rounds of .22 have been sent down range, on the order of 10,000 or so, out of an old nylon 66, my scoped 10/22, and my 22/45. The advice to look t the target, not the sights has invariably been the greatest bit of knowledge I have gained from this as demonstrated by the sub 1/2" group I shot with the 66 at 25 yards, and I know the only reason it is that big is because I still have a slight case of the shakes.

the Nylon 66 has demonstrated to me a "sick" level of accuracy, which totally surprised me. With the irons I can now tag clays easily out to 100 yards, ans it is getting boring to shoot them, or even the little chunks at 50.

I have also come to the conclusion that my 10/22 has some accuracy problems and is in need of some work, I.e. new stock, better barrel to rec. fit, and possibly some bolt work, as I am unable to shrink the groups at 50 yards down to less than 2". I may let this rifle sit for a while and focus on other guns this summer as I am reasonably sure that it is going to require some work to get the accuracy I desire out of it.

With my 22/45, one of the few guns I have bothered to "paper" in my previous life has come into its own during this time. With a pocketful of ae22 38 gr hp's I can lay waste to clay pidgeons and shotgun shells at 25 yards. I plan to focus on using this gun more in preparations for purchasing a newer self defense pistol, as I am not happy with the reliability of my old .45 that I have now.


Also in this project, I have fired sever hundred rounds of .45, and another several hundred rounds of .44 mag out of my 2.5" snubby SRH, lovingly refered to as SnubZilla. SnubZilla is a great little gun designed to fill the gap between me and the 12 gauge when hunting, but it also has this wonderful characteristic of amplifying any mistake one makes when shooting it. Careful aimed shots will regularly nail bowling pins at 50 yards, but panicked jerking of the trigger will not keep you on paper at 10.

Lesson learned so far.

1) I was surprised as to how practicing with one firearm translated to proficency with another firearm. Even between rifles and pistols, when I started getting better with my Nylon 66, I shot better with my 22/45. this was also the case for me between shooting coped and unscoped guns. Despite my 10/22's inadequacies, I did manage to start shooting smaller groups with it and that translated to smaller groups with other firearms with iron sights.

2)Shooting is fun...again, but since I get bored easily, I have to mix it up, shoot different guns, different ranges, and different targets....I think i have some sort of FADD (Firearms attention deficit disorder).

3)Shooting Tons of ammo will make you a better shot, whether it is from unconsciously learning with some sort of muscle memory or what I do not know, but I feel almost like when I was a devilish child with a slingshot. I knew where that I was going to hit, even though I could not consciously comprehend all of the variables. I am beginning to feel the same with some of my guns.

4)For some reason accuracy is accuracy, is accuracy.....it is weird, but I think a person can become accurate as a whole...I can't really explain it better than to mention that I do not miss items that I toss into the trash much anymore. I have no scientific idea how accuracy could translate from one activity to another but it appears to, at least to me.

5)This has been one of the best things I have ever done for myself, and I plan to continue.