Shooting a string?

[chuck d]

When you shoot a string, do you put your rifle down, and start each shot over again, or do you keep in the shoulder?
thanks
chuck

[Bob259]

When you shoot a string, do you put your rifle down, and start each shot over again, or do you keep in the shoulder?
thanks
chuck

It's personal preference of the shooter, you'll see a little of both on the line. Currently I put my rifle down, reload and re shoulder between shots when I had my other rifle with a Fortner action I kept it on the shoulder.

[jneihouse]

Experiment with both techniques.....You will need to develop a shot sequence that works for you, everyone is a little different...2 1/2 minutes to shoot 5 shots is a long time in most instances...New shooters, or I should say shooters who are new to this sport, often feel a pressure to get the 5 shots downrange...It's the "I've ONLY got 2 1/2 minutes to shoot this round" instead of the "I've got a WHOLE 2/12 minutes to shoot this round" mentality....It is good to develop the stamina and ability to hold the rifle on target and execute 5 well aimed shots in 2 1/2 minutes without taking ithe rifle down...helpful if you are having to wait out wind gusts...to shoot in the lulls.

Kitty

[Jeaux]

Kitty's last sentence was a hint to when I will keep the rifle shouldered. Shooting when winds are gusty is more of a challenge because you will find it practically impossible to hold on the animal while a gust is in progress and when it does lay down to a steady breeze where the conditions will be about as favorable as you can expect, you have no idea how long those conditions will last. It is in a shooters best interest to get as many good shots downrange as possible while the conditions are favorable. During good conditions, I go through each shot deliberately in a set routine. I like to mount the rifle each time for every shot. I find that this is part of the routine for good conditions and typically like Kitty says I am in the frame of mind that I am not even thinking about getting my shots off in the allowed time as it is never a problem. In the wind however all bets are off. Everything takes longer, so it is good to shoot in the wind when you can and find a system that works for you at those times. I think my left arm would fall asleep if I kept it in the ready to shoot position for a full two and a half minutes. It's all in what you like and works for you though. I have seen top shooters use both methods.

[Innocent]

Both methods work, depending on the shooter, conditions and range. More importantly, remember that if you shoot four good shots on every bank you will have a master score of a 32....work your shots, not your time.

Mary

[jneihouse]

If I remember correctly, getting as many accurate shots downrange during optimal shooting conditions was part of the reason behind Troy Lawton's Uber 10-22 he shot in a few matches....Jeaux, free, unsolicited training tip (and worth every bit of what you pay for it ) of the day....To build staminia in the off arm for holding the rifle for extended periods of time keep a 5 lb dumbell by your favorite chair....with elbow on the arm hold the dumbell in the off arm hand with the forearm at about a 45degree angle to the arm of the chair, upon which the elbow rests...your closed hand with the dumbell in it should be facing your upper body....if done correctly you should have the dumbell parallel to an imaginary line drawn across your chest with the line intersecting both of your nipples (assuming you have the standard two)...curl your wrist (hand holding the dumbell) back toward your upper body until you feel tension in the top of your forearm, which will the the part of the forearm that is the fartherest away from your body. Much the same way you would do a dumbell curl...you should feel tension in your forearm, a bit less in the wrist, and tension in your bicep....Hold that position as still as possible for 5 minutes....rest 5 minutes....repeat 5 times, do the exercise every other day...You may need to use a heavier dumbell, depending on the strength level you are already at...Idea is to build the muscle groups that the off arm in supporting the rifle....Was one of the routines we used to get Mini Kitty strong enough to hold her rifle...

Kitty

[Jeaux]

That's an interesting exercise Kitty. I will have to give it a try to see how it works for me. Troy L. was the guy I was referring to in the earlier post. I watched him at Winnsboro a few years ago and he is like a statue except for cycling the bolt with the right hand, nothing else moved between shots. He could have developed that style back when he was shooting the souped up 10-22. I looked hard at the one that Limey (I think it was Limey anyway) was displaying for sale at Winnsboro last year. I had shot some matches this past spring that we had to fight wind pretty fierce and had thought then that a semi auto would be the ticket to getting the shots off during the lulls. I just try to move things along at a faster pace when shooting in the wind and things calm down momentarily. Mary's advice on making all shots count is solid. Only getting off 4 good shots that result in hits beat 5 shots that only net three targets anyday. You can't eat what you don't hit.

[jneihouse]

There are a few very well made 10-22's or 10-22 clones...like the one that Briley made or was marketing a few years ago....seems like they run in cycles of every few years, popularity wise...Bobby Pitcfhford was 'smithing at Briley, if I recall correctly, when they brought their version of the 10-22 to market...I've saw a few at the larger gunshows, ususally priced at less than the sum of the parts...I've sniffed a few of them and petted them but managed to resist the urge to bring one home...I don't shoot my bolt gun well enough to be able to afford to play with a semi auto....they are interesting, though...Troy is a machine, as is Cathy and Augustin and Dave Imas and a few others....One of my favorite silhouette match memories comes from the Sunshine Classic a few years back....It was before James and Cathy married and Chris couldn't make the trip down from Montana...I spotted for Cathy in her dads absence....Day two storms rolled in (Jacksonville Fla, go figure, huh?) and the wind was going from a steady 10 mph or so to who knows what....Cathy was down a few animals to Troy, largely due to a firing pin spring failure on her 1712....They went into the final bank of animals (turkeys) with Cathy down 3 and the wind at it's most unpredictable....I timed the gusts and made "best guess" predictions as to when a lull would come to shoot in...Cathy ended up with 9, wining the match by one animal....Troy was without his usual spotter....His spotter forgot to set the timer and Troy ended the match with a miss cause he ran out of time trying to wait out the gusts and wait for a lull....Good times, lots of fun.

Kitty

[boats]

As a general rule once NPA is established best to leave things as they are. I leave it in my shoulder except if I can't settle on a good hold after two passes will lift my head turn and rest my chin on the comb for a few seconds , then go back at it again. Twice more and still can't settle will often times dismount and re-mount. This a mental trick to get rid of indecision or blocked thoughts.

2 1/2 minutes is plenty of time to get shots off, My advice is don't waste any but do use the time to break the best shot you can. I can't recall the last time I only got 4 off before the buzzer but can remember plenty of times I broke shots I should have held. Guy told me years ago he could not understand why somebody would pull the trigger when the sights were not on the target. That's about all there is to shooting offhand, don't shoot bad shots.

Boats