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Most rifle silhouette shooters I know practice shooting but very few train. I define practice as going to the shooting range and just pulling the trigger without paying too much attention to details.
Training on the other hand involves planning, doing shooting drills to improve hold as well as physical and mental preparation.
Like me a lot of you in the past have been involved in sports like football, basketball, etc. If you remember most of the training you did was not like playing the game itself but involved doing a lot different drills to help conditioning and build up skills.
The information provided here may not be of my own creation and it is provided mainly for new shooters and for those looking for advice that will help them improve their performance. If some of you want more of the same let me know.
I will not engage in arguments or debates with those that disagree with the advice given. So if you do not agree with me save your time and move to another topic.
I have shot silhouettes since 1978 and won many State and International Championships, two Canadian and one US HP Hunting Rifle Nationals. I have also spotted or coached others that won 13 US Nationals.
Lone Ringer
Right now, I'm only practicing and I'm not even doing nearly enough of that. I've been thinking about training a lot more lately, including trying to figure out the best workout routines and frequencies to help my scores. I'm also going back through a couple of my books to refresh some of the finer points in my mind so that I keep them involved when I'm devising my new training routine. I'm also wondering if getting back into taekwondo or another martial art my help more than just working out with weights. One of the obstacles that I currently have is wondering how to measure the effectiveness of my workouts. There are so many variables involved in my scores and I only get to shoot one or two matches a month, so that doesn't really give me real information that will tell me if a workout routine is working for me.
Also, my biggest problem with this is the same as when I've tried to other things alone before. I just keep letting other things get in the way of my plan if I don't have someone pushing me. Sad
Jason
Jason,
A lot of us are not able to shoot a lot of matches every month. Where I live in Southern Cal. I have to travel very far to compete specially HP so I have gotten more involved in Cowboy Lever Action. I do try to train at least once a week with my SB or HP rifles. I challenge myself to hit smaller targets than regulation. A good drill is to place a chicken or other target in front of a ram and try to hit the ram without touching the target in front.
In regards to physical training I would recommend what ever you are comfortable with. I used to run track and cross country when I was going to HS and Junior College but now at 56 I am limited to walking or riding my bike which I do several times a week. The better conditioned you are the better it will be in the long run because you will not be as tired when you go to big matches like the Conard Cup or Nationals where you are required to spend all day at the range.
Training at home with a match air rifle is probably the best training that you can do since it does not involve traveling to and from the rifle range. You do not have to train for hours at a time, if you have 15 minutes is better than not doing anything. Dry firing is one thing you can do if you do not have access to a good air rifle and there is no negative feedback when you practice dry firing.
Visualization is another technique that a lot of champions use and you do not have to go anywhere to do that. It is my belief that you have to accept high scores in your mind before you can do them in reality. So imagine yourself at matches not like if you are watching yourself in a movie but actually feel like if you are at a match shooting and getting good scores. Your mind does differentiate visualization from reality and you can trick it into believing that you have shot high scores while you visualized them before you actually do them in reality. The idea is to increase your comfort zone so that you can achieve the scores that you want to get.
Let me explain how that works, if you are the type of shooter that gets 25 to 30 targets out of 40 that is your comfort zone and every time that you are getting less than that you will do what ever is necessary to stay within that comfort zone on the other hand if you have something close to 30 targets out of the first 30 shots you will more than likely choke or make errors but you will not get a score higher than your comfort zone until you learn to accept shooting scores higher than 30.
If you learn to shoot 1 shot matches and stay in the present rather than the past or future you will be way ahead of the game. It is not as easy as it sounds because it involves forgetting bad shots or thinking about the ones to follow.
Try to figure out what kind of hold you have by placing a target with one, two, three and four inch circles at one hundred yards or meters. If you are one of the lucky few that can hold less than 1 ½ to two inches at 100 meters it will do wonders for your confidence when you are shooting matches but if your hold is larger than three inches then you will have to work harder at making your hold smaller. Now to qualify my previous statement I have to tell you that when I do that myself I do it outdoors with no protection from the wind so if you do that yourself at some place where there the wind is not as prevalent as where I do my shooting your groups should be better.
To make your hold smaller do not aim at the whole target but instead pick a spot like a head, tail or leg to aim and make the necessary adjustments to you scope to hit center. I some times aim at the leg or tail of a turkey if I am having trouble hitting them. I have also aimed at the snout or top of the back of rams. Chickens and pigs are where most people get the bulk of their scores and we should strive to get all of them all of the time.
One thing I do not do when training at the rifle range is keep scores because they do not mean anything. The main thing for me is to learn to execute the shot well.
Visualize the shot, aim where you want to break the shot, execute the shot and follow through, then forget it hit or miss and do it again. If you do that right five times take a short break in place and repeat the series. After 10 shot your may want to walk around for a little bit, drink water if you are thirsty and do it again.
If you are shooting well continue but if you get tired and your hold deteriorates stop do not fight it and do not continue to shoot badly because you do not want to train shooting badly you want to train shooting the best you can do.
Lately I have been training without using my shooting vest to make my training harder than actual competition. If you or anybody else want to email me at tirador at earthlink.net you are more than welcome to do it just give me time to reply and do not worry about my spamblocker since I usually check my email several times a day if I am at home.
Lone Ringer
Lone Ringer,
Great advice on the physical part of the game. Can you share some advice on the mental aspects of the game before, during and after the shoot.
Distractions are everywhere at a match. How do you stay focused especially when you have a talker next to you, an over animated shooter, etc., or a noisy gallery?
I know range etiquette frowns on this but it always happens. How do you stay out of everyone else's business?
ppkny
I would like to see the Dawg chime in and discuss his training methods. (Yes the Dawg does train and not just at bending his elbow). I have had many long discussions with him about how to train for matches, and while I am still struggling to overcome mental and physical obstacles to success, I have used several of his principals in coaching a very good young shooter, new to the sport this year, that shot his first match in March of 2006 and climbed to AAA by the Midsouth Classic. What sayest thou, O' Dawg the great?
Kitty
Having a competitor/coach of Tirador's stature offer to take questions is like Christmas in January. Let's not be shy.
It took me quite a while to figure out that "practicing" as defined here is not merely a waste of time but is harmful in that it reinforces bad habits. I'd like to hear some more thoughts about what SPECIFIC things we should work on in training sessions, both physically and mentally. Special drills, perhaps.
I'd even like to hear what Dawg has to say.
ajj
Hello Every One,
Before the Internet most of us weekend warrior shooters were at a disadvantage because information and advice was not readily available. I had been shooting for ten years or so and felt kind of lost and was looking for answers to some questions I had and found them on tapes and videos by Lanny Basham his “Mental Management System” is probably the best thing out there because it teaches us to use and rely on the subconscious rather than the conscious mind.
The thing about it is that after we put together the best equipment, buy expensive ammo and practice or train like hell a lot of us come apart especially at large matches and that is because we fail to work on our mental game. I will not go into details regarding Lanny Basham’s Mental Management System but it is available for those that recognize the need to train the mind in order to excel.
Advice whether on tapes, videos, Internet or books work only when applied, most people will read a book or see a video with great advice but will not get up and go to the range to apply that advice and in a few days or weeks will be all but forgotten.
Lanny and others say that to maintain ones skill it is necessary to train two to three times a week and to improve it is necessary to train five times a week. The training necessary involves physical, mental as well as time at the range or home with an air rifle.
More of this later tonight or tomorrow since I have to drive my mother back to her home and its going to take me most of the day.
Lone Ringer
ppkny,
All the things you have mentioned are distractions I am sure on many ranges at one time or another and sometimes they might occur at allthe same time. How much we notice them is relative to the pay value we accord them. If our attention is on the task at hand, of shooting our next shot, the background noise will be just that - unimportant clutter.
Training the focus or concentration has to be part of the training, relative to how much you find you need.
Mark Taylor in "Rifle and Pistol Shooting - Winning With the Mental Edge"
"...if a shooter fully concentrates on placing each shot on each target - one at a time,and is successful, he can never be beaten."
Andrew
Andrew,
It is human nature to start something and then lose sight or interest especially with those of us that do not belong to teams that have coaches like in organized sports. For me anything that I do whether it involves preparing my rifles, checking ammo, visualizing, dry firing, live firing or going to matches is training for the big event of the year which is usually the Nationals.
I wanted with my provocative question to point out to some that there are alternative ways of getting the job done and to show that one way is more productive than the other.
I started shooting silhouettes right at the time when SB got started and when silhouette rifles did not exist. My first rifle was a $35 Rem 581 and when a friend of mine loaned me an Anschutz 64 for a short time I thought I had a great rifle. Since most of us were in the same boat we did not feel like anybody had an advantage over the others regarding equipment and winning scores that had less than 75% hits were the norm rather than the exception.
The reason I am bringing that up is because I want you the new shooters to know how the sport got started and I do not want you to feel discouraged when you do not see the results right away. You picked one of the most difficult of the shooting sports and for most it takes years of training to excel in it.
Some things I have learned to do is to first of all have fun when I am shooting whether I am alone or at the Nationals with several hundred other shooters,
Second I pay attention to details and try to make as few mistakes as possible that usually translates into a good score for me or the person that I am spotting for but if for some reason I am not successful that particular day I am kind to myself and accept my score no matter what because that was the very best I could do that day.
Third, I do not give up when conditions are bad, I have won several important matches when the wind was blowing so hard that many other competitors had pretty much given up or were not able to perform under those conditions.
Lone Ringer
John,
Thanks for the segway. I will not try and compare or support my way of training with someone who has done so much for the sport as Lone Ringer, sir your records and accomplishments stand head and shoulders above mine. I will share with this forum some of the key components I feel are critical to meeting my goals. This is only an overview, the in the weeds stuff is to complex and must be performed numerous times.
1. Read and review With Winning in Mind by Lanny Bassham on a monthly bases.
2. Basics such as stance, mind set, trigger control all should become subconscious. But always be ready to bring them to the conscience level when problems arise. If all else fails basics will be a welcomed friend.
3. Define an objective and find a way to measure it. Objectives can be anything that you feel are a weakness in you overall game. Break the objectives down to small parts if it is a big objective or subobjectives. For example head placement on the stock for consistent results(objective) tilt of head(subobjective), butt of stock in shoulder(subobjective) pressure on the stock of the head(subobjective)and so on. Consistent and controlled shot placement either mental of physical(measurement).
4. Keep detailed information on the measurement ie time of day, conditions, your mood, confidence level...etc, remember you will be reviewing this at a later date and will need key indicators to jog your memory. Review it often. This information will come in handy when you have problems to review it and see how the objective was meet before.
5. This detailed information will become what I call a toolbox. Your toolbox will contain information not only of how to fix a problem, but also how to deal with problems that will arise during a match, training session or practice. For example wind, rain, uneven firing line, noise...etc.
6. Matches are for score, objectives are to work on known and unforeseen problems. Stick with the measurement and document the outcome as per your requirement, not number of hits or misses.
7. Keep training sessions simple. For me I usually limit a session to 50 shots dry or live fire. This helps to limit shot by shot measurement and to the amount of information compiled.
8. Sessions are not limited to the range or dry fire they can be done while sitting around taking a break, the mind is a powerful tool, use it.
9. One of the best sayings I have heard and apply to this sport is amateurs practice to not get it wrong, professionals practice till they cannot get it wrong.
10. Have fun, these are some of the best moments of your life. They may not pass this way again.
As stated before this is just some of the things that I think are important and work to achieve my goals.
Dawg
Dawg,
Looks like you have a handle on things, I see that you are on your way to the top and I commend you for helping others do the same.
When I go to a rifle range to train live firing I usually take as many as four rifles to the range with me especially if I am shooting HP so as not to let the barrels get too hot to the touch and ruin their accuracy.
I may try different holding techniques to see what gives me better results, I do not take too many brakes in between and do not try to over analyze my performance. I basically like to pull the trigger a lot to work on my muscle memory, stamina and endurance for when going to large matches. It is not uncommon for me to fire 200 or more of HP and SB rounds combined because that lets me see if I am flinching or jerking the trigger when I switch from HP to SB. When I shoot HP only I dry fire one or two rounds for every live round I fire and when I shoot SB and HP on the same day I may fire five to ten .22 rounds for every HP round I fire. The rifle ranges that are available to me are not that close from home and they charge $5 to $15 per day so I limit my range training to only once a week and try to find a match somewhere on the weekend.
I do not make a habit of writing about my live fire training sessions like Dawg does and if I did it would probably help me remember a lot of things that I tend to forget so for this year I will make that one of my New Year’s resolutions.
Shooting offhand the way we do is a very complex and difficult endeavor because we do not use artificial support like in other shooting disciplines and we do it outdoors to complicate matters with the wind. As a joke I tell people that we make things too complicated because all we really have to do is put the dot on the target, pull the trigger to hit it and repeat the process nine more times. It would be that easy if we were all well trained, had a rock steady hold and would let our subconscious mind do the shooting but reality tells me that the percentage of shooters that can do that is quite small. The thing that keeps me going back for more is thinking that no matter how well I did on a particular day I could have done better and I will probably continue feeling that way until the day I get a perfect 40.
Lone Ringer