shooting a scope

brantman · Post by **brantman** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:57 pm

when I stand upright my scope jumps all over the place. whats the technique for breathing control for this beast of a problem

Bob259 · Post by **Bob259** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:40 pm

What power you shooting at?... If your trying to hold at high power, start lower and slowly work up till your hold is better. If your not used to shooting at high power you have a tendency to 'chase the center' and that makes it look worse.

deadeyeky · Post by **deadeyeky** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:45 pm

yep, what bob259 said, and also take a look a luis bernardez's great article on the main page, or in the technique section...

Jerry G · Post by **Jerry G** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:15 am

You wiggle the same no mater what power your scope is. You just notice it more at the higher powers.

All it takes is practice. Get a 50 foot adapter and practice holding all winter.

Start out with about a 6 minute circle and practice holding. When you can do that, make a smaller circle and do it again. Keep it up until you are down to about a 2 minute circle.

It just takes practice and lots of time.

Jerry G · Post by **Jerry G** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:16 am

You wiggle the same no mater what power your scope is. You just notice it more at the higher powers.

All it takes is practice. Get a 50 foot adapter and practice holding all winter.

Start out with about a 6 minute circle and practice holding. When you can do that, make a smaller circle and do it again. Keep it up until you are down to about a 2 minute circle.

It just takes practice and lots of time.

yankee · Post by **yankee** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 3:04 pm

If you watch the scope dot or reticle you will continue to wander around.
You need to concentrate on the animal or better yet a specific spot on the animal. If you concentrate on this spot the reticle will automatically go to that spot. It may not stay there long but as you practice you will get better. The practice with the circles is very good. When you break all ten shots in a circle go to one a bit smaller. This will give you a goal that you can work up to then move on to the next smaller goal.

twofifty · Post by **twofifty** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 10:37 pm

Yankee, your suggestion helped me remember that sometimes, when in the right state of mind (wish I knew whatever that is and how to get there each time - lol ) I look beyond the reticle and only really see the target.
If I also follow through, this often results in a good clean hit.

In other words, being less deliberate (i.e., avoid overthinking the shot) can lead to happy results.

A couple days ago I was practicing all by myself at 100yds, on a 6" gong. After a hundred or so rounds, I was so relaxed and into the moment that reticle motion was greatly reduced. I was still kinda looking at the reticle, but mostly looking at the impact textures on the gong, and aiming for particular ones. And getting hit after hit.

It is still all a mystery to me.

Edit: oh yeah, breathing control.
I tend to breathe shallowly which is not really good. So am now experimenting with sequencing breathing thusly:

1. bang - follow through.
2. inhale as you raise the rifle and cycle the bolt.
3. partly exhale as you lower & settle into rifle, acquire next target.
4. bang - follow through.
5. when I got 'hung up' trying to settle down, or if I delayed my trigger release (still have problems with that even when the hold is good), I took a full deep breath or two, with corresponding exhalations, then back to 1.
6. as soon as my arms feel strained, I rest the barrel as one would do in a match, breathe fully several times, and get back at it.

ymmv