Art of the Rifle

[hube1236]

What exactly is the art of the rifle. I find riflery (noting that I have only fired rifles 3X in my life). I read "marine sniper" and I wanted to be a sniper- not to kill but to be that good at something firearms related,

Accomplished rifle men that I speak to seem to have a little secret, a little insight that I have to own a rifle to share, but before the layaway account is enacted, the secret or at least part of must be mine!

Please tell me some little detail that got you hooked.

PS I HATE deer, so deer stories will not mean as much to me as hitting a beer can at 600 yards.

[CITADELGRAD87]

I have hit a manhole cover at 700 yards. Several times in a row.

Influencing something so far away with an implement that is your very own is very fulfilling. Sending a tiny bit of metal in a gentle, predictable arc to slam with force into something can spin your brain.

I am a man. I like to make lots of noise, break things, and blow stuff up.

Rifles help me in my quest for this fun.

Unfortunatly, I fired lots of rounds with other guy's rifles and did not have the same feeling.

Decide what your focus will be, then get a rifle to fit the task, ie long range (you ought to wait for this until you are proficient, it will be discouraging otherwise), informal target, defensive CQB-type training and competition, etc.

The guys here are very helpful and polite. If you were near where I live, I'd let you shoot several types. Keep asking questions, narrow your focus, then dive in.

BTW, it really doesn't matter where you start, you'll soon own lots of different types, or even, like many, several examples of the same type.

[Gewehr98]

I've hit a golf ball at 500 meters in a tactical match. I built the rifle that did it for the purpose of getting inside a 10" circle at 1000 yards, with a wildcat cartridge that there wasn't much loading data for, so it was basically starting from scratch, with a little help from some ballistics software and a program called Load From A Disk. The day after that match, I had the word "Titleist" engraved on the gun's floorplate. I still don't consider myself a sniper though, just somebody who goes out and shoots, A LOT, and enjoys long range riflery, to the point that I'm building a .45-70 blackpowder cartridge Creedmoor rifle on an ancient Egyptian Rolling Block action.

Not too long ago, there was an article in Precision Shooting Magazine about a gentleman who routinely took honors in long range benchrest, hunter category, using basically box-stock Remington 700 rifles in .308 Winchester. That was an eye-opener to me. Here was a fella who had practiced and become so attuned to his rifle and it's characteristics that he could wring that kind of performance out of a rifle that you or I could buy at Wal-Mart. To me, he has perfected The Art of the Rifle. Benchresters have made even tighter groups further out there, but their equipment reads like a Who's Who among custom smiths and designers. To pull a rifle out of the back of a truck, or carry one through the woods, then make accurate shots way out there from a cold bore, that's riflery at it's finest.

It also means money for equipment and ammo, (not necessarily your own, though, especially if you can get Uncle Sam to help you via Army or Marine marksmanship competition and grooming - I won't even talk about Air Force rifle marksmanship, because in my 14 years active duty it's a bit of a joke, reserved basically for those either in the Security Forces or Combat Arms, sorry for the rant) and practice, lots of practice, such that your back hurts in offhand competitions, and you can see your heartbeat in your sights. You tune out the bugs and sweat in your eyes, and concentrate. You're in your bubble. Sight alignment and squeeze, repeat. Dry firing over and over again, then loading live ammo for a target and practicing the same sight alignment and squeeze, but this time the gun goes bang. If you did it right, the gun surprises you from the report, but your target will show a hole where your sights were aligned the moment the sear was released. And even if your scores for the day weren't that good, you push yourself to go at it again and again, smoothing up all the rough edges in your technique until you can engage those targets with confidence and certainty.

My dad taught both my sister and I around 4th grade to shoot, and a lot of the above paragraph came from him, it's burned into both our minds 25+ years later. When the day comes I have a son or daughter of my own, I can only hope I'd make Dad proud by passing on his own version of The Art of the Rifle. :)

[John/az2]

Gewehr98,

Reading what you wrote was like taking a drink of cold water on a hot sweaty day.

*sigh* :)

[Bam Bam]

A friend who is into target shooting would say that the AOTR is the discipline. Relax, Breathe, Sqeeze, etc. Something like "Zen and the Art of Archery".

To me the AOTR is more like the fellow who climbed up a tree at the Battle of Saratoga to pick off the British officer.

Maybe the secret is being able to something difficult while making it look easy, like professional golf...

[Art Eatman]

Without gettin' carried away about it, I like the "Zen" comment. I guess the "Art" is the getting in tune with what you're doing. After the technical and scientific stuff is done, it's then up to the shooter.

Just like driving a race car--nobody else can do it for you, and if you're not all married up to the car, your performance will really suck. The rifle's gotta fit right so it will feel right, and you become able to "look" the bullet where you want it to go. Nothing like a bunch of years of practice, of course--and loving what you're doing. That's why the ancient saying: "Beware the man who only owns one gun. He probably knows how to use it."

It holds true for handguns, shotguns and archery, for that matter.

Now: About deer. Shoot him in the neck. Do a clean job of gutting out. Disassemble, cut and wrap within a few hours. Without this, a fella is behind the curve. Then, KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING! when you cook. (And by the way: Deerburger makes the best spaghetti sauce I ever tasted!)

I just got hungry.

:), Art

[Bam Bam]

Didn't Zane Grey write a book called "The Rifleman'? If not him, who? Or am I cunfosing the TV show?

[Jeff Thomas]

Col. Cooper actually wrote a book titled 'Art of the Rifle'. I was fortunate to get it autographed, thanks to Rich ... great book.


And, I had a chance to tell the good Col. my favorite line ... 'if you can get closer, get closer ... if you can get steadier, get steadier'.

Regards from AZ