SteelChickens - Smallbore Rifle Silhouette

Technique

Practice vs. Training

Sometimes our forum is chock full of useful information. Other times it is entertaining. This excerpt is the former and worthy of being immortalized. You will find it on the Resources page along with a few other timeless gems. Hope this helps you weekend warriors focus on what matters.

Construction of the standing or off hand shooting position

We wish we had written this article. But we didn't. So we will give credit where credit is due. And turn everyone on to an informative site at the same time. Construction of the standing or off hand shooting position on www.smallbore.us.

Practice Time With Dave Imas

With winter around the corner, indoor practice might look enticing to some. At least one of the authors here at steelchickens.com is interested in getting in some indoor practice. We decided to ask the master and find out what he thinks. A big thank you to Dave Imas for taking the time to answer our questions.

What type of air rifle and scope do you use?

I am currently using a Walther LG 300 XT Match Rifle with an old Weaver T10 scope for practice. It is the only free scope I have at the moment. I would prefer to have a 16x scope on it because that I what I use on my silhouette rifles. In the past I used a Weihrauch spring gun with a Bushnell Banner 6x-18x scope.

I chose the Walther but, for my purposes, any Match rifle would do. The match rifles have a pellet velocity of around 550fps. Relative to smallbore rifles this is very slow and demands excellent shot execution. Follow through is imperative. If I'm shooting well with my air rifle it directly translates to better performance with my smallbore and highpower rifles.

How important is the accuracy of the air rifle?

In my limited experience I’ve yet to meet an air rifle that wasn’t more accurate than my smallbore or highpower rifles. That said, I believe accuracy is important from a feedback perspective. We need something to tell us when we are doing well or when we stink. That should be the shot location on the target. If we are using an inaccurate rifle we may not get the proper feedback for good execution and then won’t reinforce the behavior. If I didn’t have a rifle that would put the pellet exactly where I broke the shot I don’t think I would use it. Fortunately, such rifles are not hard to come by.

At what range(s) are you shooting?

I’m fortunate to have a bonus room above my garage that allows for a 10 meter shot. Keeps me out of the elements (keeping in mind I live in Washington) and allows me to focus on my performance and not worry about conditions beyond my control. I had a complete air rifle range in my backyard out to 45 yards when I practiced with my spring gun. That was, sometimes, more fun but I don’t think as effective a practice regimen.

How often do you practice?

At the moment and for the next few months I won’t practice at all. After September I typically call it a year and put my rifles up. I may pop in to the occasional match just for giggles but I don’t work too hard at it. Come January I’ll start pulling myself together and begin scraping the rust off. By the end of January, when I finally become serious, I’ll shoot twice a day for maybe 30 to 45 minutes each time. In that time I may get 25 – 35 shots off. That assumes, of course, that I’m not traveling for work which, often, puts a crimp in things.

With discipline and good shot execution during the practice sessions, shooting 2 – 3 times a week would greatly improve most folk’s match performance.

How many shots per session? Do you take them in groups of 5? Do you time yourself? Do you shoot at animal shapes or just a bullseye? If bullseye, what size?

I don’t group my shots but take them one at a time. Nor do I time myself. I am looking for a specific shot cycle and, if I’m executing correctly, time becomes irrelevant. Because I’m a spot shooter I practice on the 10 meter bull target. AR-5/10. This allows me to ignore my dot and focus on the spot just as I would in a silhouette match. Once a week or so I may shoot at the reduced silhouettes just to break up the routine.

What areas of improvement do you concentrate on during practice?

I have two goals for my practice sessions. The first and foremost is to solidify my shot discipline. For me, the difference between a good score or excellent score usually comes down to two or three under disciplined shots. My end goal is to get closer to an unconscious break. Again, this comes down to shot discipline and execution.

Spare the shot, spoil the shooter.

The plan is simple enough. Get into position, breathe, hold, break the shot on target. When it works, all is well. But how do we deal with things when they don't go well.

The solution is easy enough; don't take the shot. A rushed shot has a lower chance of hitting it's mark. A better shooter has an expectation of a hit. Don't settle for the chance of a hit.

So what happens when we have fallen out of the groove and start to feel rushed? We are nearing the end of our 4 to 8 seconds of air. We start to contemplate this and think about breaking before our hold becomes less steady. Instead of panicking and maybe forcing the situation, the better shooter restarts the process.

Discipline

During the pressure of a match we all feel the need to get the shot off. The higher ranked shooter has better discipline. The A shooter may break half of his or her shots feeling outside the groove. The master might only let go of a couple while out of sorts. So how do we find this level of discipline that keeps us from throwing away shots?

Practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.

Make every shot count. Whether dry firing at home or punching paper at the range, don't take the shot unless you are sure it is going to find steel. You may not be able to fit 5 shots into 150 seconds. That's OK. We are reinforcing perfection through repetition. When you can't break the shot confident you'll hit the target, regroup. Double check your position, get another breath, and try again.

Meanwhile, back at the match... We all feel the pressure. The other competitors. The timer. The excitement makes it harder to think about technique. This is where we will fall back on our training. Training in which we have practiced taking only perfect shots. Training that will keep us cool during competition so we can shoot to our potential.

Elevation

Here's some info gleamed from a recent shooting clinic. We liked the presentation and decided to repeat it here.

As a silhouette shooter our goal is to put the crosshairs on the animal and break the shot. Our common enemy is wiggle. Nobody is immune from the wiggles, but the better shooter has methods to control it. If we break down all the random movements they are either in the vertical or horizontal direction or a combination of the two. The following techniques are aimed at minimizing movement in the vertical direction.

The best support for our rifle is a solid one. The silhouette rules outlaw rifle supports that don't come standard on the human body. The most solid part of the human body is bone and that is what we will build our rifle support out of. Every human body is different. Each shooter will likely need to tweak and modify these methods to suit his or her body shape.

For right handed shooters it should look something like this. Feet should be shoulder width apart and facing between 45 and 90 degrees to right of target. Place left elbow on left hip. Left forearm extends straight up from hip and supports underside of rifle near middle of action. Right arm pulls rifle into shoulder firm enough to stabilize rifle. Shooter looks through scope and sees dot or crosshairs fall comfortably on target. If it doesn't work this smoothly, keep reading. This is where we start tweaking.

The average shooter usually finds that, in this position of bone supported rifle, the point of aim is low. From here, with muscles in left arm remaining relaxed, we look for changes to find more elevation without using any muscle tension.

Modify your left hand support. The higher the rifle the better. Some techniques rely on muscles in the hand or wrist which may introduce a new source of wiggles. Different hands multiplied by different rifles equals too many options to list. Watch other competitors and experiment to see what works for you. Also, moving the left hand back usually elevates the muzzle. Moving it forward drops the muzzle. This is sometimes used as a fine tune for banks of animals at slightly different heights.

Shifting the hips toward the target can help raise the left side of the hip bone. This will usually get us a little more elevation. Opening our stance a bit, with hips shifted, can gain us a bit more.

If you are having trouble moving the support structure up, you can compensate by moving the butt of the rifle down. This may compromise your cheek weld, but will definitely gain elevation.

Once you find the bone supported structure that works for your model of human body, attempt to duplicate is for every shot. If you have made a substantial change, scores may take a dip in the short term. If your change is to a stance that incorporates more bone support and less muscle support the long term payoff will be worth the short term cost.