How about some help?

[chuck d]

This is a target I shot tonite. Clean barrel, put 20 on a swinger, hit 50% at 40M.
Then put 20 on this paper target at 40M.
Hit total is not good, but I am somewhat happy with the group.
Question?
How do I tighten up?
How tight do you pull rifle into shoulder?
Any thoughts appreciated.
I am happy with ammo, scope and zeros. But I need more hits!!
Thanks
chuck

[durant7]

Hello Chuck.

So, when are we going to see you at a match? Dave and I have been wondering. We drove across your State this weekend to shoot in NY at Hendrick Hudson. There schedule is in my blog. Perhaps we can see you there sometime and shoot together.

I was helping a shooter and a similar question came up. I talked about using the large dot and work toward increasingly small dots. See link at end. I mix that with the hybrid life fire/dry fire. Take a shot and then just pop the bolt up and close and dry fire on the shell 3-5 times and then load a fresh one and see if you can figure out how to exterminate trigger finger induced movement when breaking the shot.

Good luck, hope to see you at a match before the snow flies! Sometimes the best way to learn is to go to a match and talk with folks and see what they are up to. I am glad to see you are on paper. That is key to figure out what is going on. Steel should be for matches only IMO.

http://durant7.blogspot.com/2011/03/dot ... ering.html

[Jetmugg]

Great idea about mixing the dry fire and live fire. I'm gonna hafta try that during my next practice session.

SteveM.

[edgehit]

Try walking a couple of miles every other night or ride bike. Both activities settle my wobble down a considerable amount.

[ppkny]

chuck d, You mentioned you are happy with your gun, scope and zeros. At the chickens and pigs off the bench you should be almost in the same hole or probably no bigger grouping than a dime at the short distances. Are you at least there. Offhand just intensifies the slightless errors.
There is know one thing that will improve your groups, stance, trigger control, wobble control etc. all have an effect. Try to work on each aspect individually until you are comfortable that you are doing the best you can with each one. The final shot should be automatic eventually when your muscle memory takes over.
ppkny

[Innocent]

Chuck D,

1) Is your Natural Point of Aim (NPA) on? It appears that you are slightly low and to left to me.
2) Assuming you are right handed, and your NPA is on it could be too much trigger finger, or you are anticpating and therefore dropping your shots.
3) If you are left handed, trigger control, squeeze, don't jerk.
4) Assuming no wind/mirage (or other environmental conditions), and the rifle/ammo combination will hold a tighter group, moving your sight setting about a minute to the right would have picked up 75% solid hits, and from that I would say work on group reducing excercises like the Troy Lawton article.

This is where having a spotter that you can work with, and being able to call your shots well can improve the overall score/groups.

Nice group for starting with, not being there and watching your actual shooting, I am suggesting these as the most common reasons for what you have shot.

Mary

[CZforlife]

The spotter is so true Mary! When me and hammy spot each other on the 100m Rams we shoot lights out, no spotter I'm defiantly a little iffy.

[Innocent]

Chuck D,
As for how tight to pull the rifle into your shoulder....BALANCE along with NPA is important. The rifle should fit such that when in a comfortable position you are not using any muscles except for the trigger finger. In high power you do need to hold on to the rifle some, only because of the recoil, smallbore it is not necessary to hold the rifle, and the less muscles you use, the less motion you will have. This includes, stomach muscles....relax the belly.

Mary

[lone ringer]

This is a target I shot tonite. Clean barrel, put 20 on a swinger, hit 50% at 40M.
Then put 20 on this paper target at 40M.
Hit total is not good, but I am somewhat happy with the group.
Question?
How do I tighten up?
How tight do you pull rifle into shoulder?
Any thoughts appreciated.
I am happy with ammo, scope and zeros. But I need more hits!!
Thanks
chuck

Chuck what happens when you shoot at a target instead of at a point (leg) on the target is that your muzzle memory (subconscious mind) has not been trained to shoot when you are right in the center of your target. Another thing that happens when you shoot with your conscious mind instead of your subconscious mind is that when you are lets say dead center on your target by the time your brain tells your finger to pull the trigger you are on your way out away from the target and that may be why a lot of your shots are on the edge and not on the target.

If you pick an aiming point that is smaller than the actual target your groups are going to be smaller, my suggestion is that you move the scope ten clicks up and aim at the leg of the chicken or do like Mary said and move the windage knob anticipating you are not hitting in the middle.

One thing I would advice to you is to use a different kind of paper target so you can see exactly where the shots are going so you can make a quick correction on the elevation or windage if the shots are not going where you are breaking them, sometimes our bench rest and off hand groups are different and that may be your problem.

If you train/practice and you miss a lot that is exactly what you are doing, training to miss targets but if on the other hand you make a serious effort to better your off-hand shooting technique and hold eventually (do not expect quick results) your scores will improve. What I am saying is to get into the habit of going for quality rather than for quantity on the shooting you do.

The best advice I can give you is to get a 10 meter air rifle and train/practice at home for at least half hour to an hour several times a week.
The idea being is to learn to shoot one perfect shot on demand and the rest is repetition. Hope this helps.

[Innocent]

To reiterate Tony's comment....one of my mentors often said, "4 good shots on every bank is still a 32."

Mary

[chuck d]

Thanks for all the feedback.
While new to SB Silhouette I have shot XTC for the last 18 years. I'm a pretty good offhand shooter, with a Service Rifle. I use a 6:00 hold so understand the aim at a point. With my SR set up I can usually loose all wiggle- with a shooting jacket and a 13.5 LB rifle.
I have been aiming at the center of the animal, you're all saying pick a point?
NPA is understood and not a problem-
Trigger control- much different with a regular stock vs an AR/pistol grip. Although was told by an old Marine, who had a 99% off hand average, when shooting a M14 your trigger hand should squeeze the stock as if your were trying to wring the lindseed oil out of it. True in SB Silhouette? (may need that Pharr stock for next season, more vertical grip)
I also understand bad practice! I have seen my groups at all lines shrink and want to continue. I do worry that I can develop bad habits if I do not learn how those who do it well, do it.
Eyes have become a XTC problem. But learning to trust the post was easy, vs a 24X wobble!

Thanks for the advice!
chuck

Jud and Dave- my plans have been changed for my first 2 attempts at attending a match.Looks like the next rifle is July 17, which I will make.

[Innocent]

Chuck, I do a lot of what I will call point spotting. Rather than trying to describe the environmental conditions to the shooter, I simply pick a point (usually even on freshly painted targets there are blemishes) or an area, such as breast/egg layer etc. to call to the shooter. Less for them to process, but again it gets down to a shooter spotter coordination. Terminollgy varies with the shooter, examples of terms used, front/rear leg, dinger, breast/egg layer, big ball/little ball (Tureau/Clark terms), head, neck, wing....and the list goes on.

Grass and dirt make excellent aiming points on an animal also.

Mary

[chuck d]

Mary,
Is your scope then zeroed for dot being point of impact? Earlier advise sounded like aim at a low point (leg) and set scope to impact mid target. (higher)
chuck

[Innocent]

Zeroed at point of impact.

Mary

[Byron]

Chuck:

Quality practice, and Quality Matches. The more quality shots you take the higher your score will climb. Watch what the best shooters do and copy as much as you can. Travel to as many matches as you can.

Byron