Learning to shoot accurately

[tweek]

Mods - if this is the wrong section for this: point me in the right direction please.

Quick background on how/why I'm doing this and my interests: 3 weeks ago I had a small incident on track that landed me in the hospital with a nice little bump on my head. Actually the bump was big enough that it has ended my season of riding on track. Plus my bike needs new fairings. Say "lavy" as they say in frog land.

So while I'm grounded from my propensity for velocity I thought I'd start learning to shoot really well. Despite whatever might or might not have happened in my past, today I would say that I know squat about shooting. I know which end of the gun the bullet come out of and I know to keep that end pointed down range. The rest I'm in the process of learning now.

First thing that I think I need to define is what does 'shoot really well' mean? It seems the baseline is to shoot 1 MOA at 100 yards, which means that you can put 10 rounds in a grouping approximately 1 inch in diameter at 100 yards. I want to be able to do that. With iron sights, not a scope. Having worked with a rifle with a scope and an M4 with a red dot I don't see that putting 10 rounds in a 1" group at 100 yards is that big a deal. I'm not certain that doing it with iron sights is that big a deal either, but I would think its a better base to build on than requiring a scope.

So what I'm looking for now is help figuring out the best way to accomplish my goal. Just going to the range and making noise will help, but it won't turn me in to Carlos Hathcock. There must be some books, training, excercises and stuff out there that will speed things up. Well: other than enlisting - I'm too friggin old and my wife won't let me.

 

[codygjohnson]

Sign up for a marksmanship course. Good instruction is worth every penny. Most of them will be based on rifles with optics, but the principals are the same. You should understand what a proper sight picture looks like on your rifle. If not, look it up online or just flat out ask someone at the range. Once you've been taught the basics, practice practice, practice. You need to learn to impliment what youve been taught into you shooting. There are several civilian marksmanship programs out there where you can learn to shoot for the cost of dues. The CMP for instance. I can recommend some good courses if you'd like, but expect to pay $200-$500 for a course. Like I said before though, well worth the money.

 

[jsimmons]

Well, it's more easy to do if you're shooting off the bench, but if you're shooting offhand without a sling for added support of the weak side, 1 MOA is pretty near impossible for 10 consecutive shots, even if we're talking about a .22. Further, are we just talking about reliably hitting a human silhouette target at 100 yards, or are we talking about competitive shooting? If we're talking about competition, that's a whole different ball of wax. However, you can use competition techniques to help you become a better shooter in general.

0) Get a rifle that is reasonably accurate in its own right, or at least can be made more accurate. You don't want to have to fall back on the excuse that your tools suck.

1) Use decent ammo. You need ammo that's going to fly the reasonably similar from shot to shot. Bulk ammo will be fine for this.

2) Learn how your sights work, and work on obtaining a proper sight picture.

3) Practice your trigger squeeze. Squeezing the trigger the wrong way will send a shot off into the land of "i-don't-have-a-clue-where-that-went" (this is magnified when shooting a pistol).

4) Practice your grip. You want to hold the rifle firmly, but your don't want to white-knuckle it.

5) If you're shooting offhand, practice your stance.

6) Consistency. If you don't do the same thing for every shot, your accuracy will suffer.

7) When you're shooting, clear your mind of everything that does not involve what you're doing at that very moment.

8) It's easier to shoot well offhand with iron sights than with magnified optics.

9) Practice.

10) Practice.

11) Practice.

12) Go back to step 9.

 

[tweek]

I'm interested in eventually getting involved in competitive shooting.
The range I'm shooting at uses benches (I don't think they allow offhand or other positions). That said, I don't pile up the sand bags to suppor the rifle. It's more equivalent to being prone. I support the rifle in my hand like I was originally taught.

I'd apperciate some recomendations to courses in DFW if there are any. I have no problem paying for education.

 

[jsimmons]

I'm interested in eventually getting involved in competitive shooting.
The range I'm shooting at uses benches (I don't think they allow offhand or other positions). That said, I don't pile up the sand bags to suppor the rifle. It's more equivalent to being prone. I support the rifle in my hand like I was originally taught.

I'd apperciate some recomendations to courses in DFW if there are any. I have no problem paying for education.

Youtube has a lot of good videos that show different techniques. Check that out while you're looking for a class.

 

[308nato]

You could try looking into an Appleseed project going on near you ,I think theres one comming to College Station soon.

 

[tweek]

@308nato - thanks. I've seen their site but I didnt look to see the schedule. I'll go back.

I'm surprised there aren't more rifle marksmanship classes being offered, or that I'm searching so badly. I can find lots of CHL and pistol related training. But not so much for rifles. Strange.


This is probably stupid, but I'm just checking to make sure I have this right: The sight picture I should have with an apeture sight should look exactly like this:

The top of the post should be at the dead center of the ring and the target. From reading I should focus on the post allowing the ring and the target to blur.

 

[M. Sage]

I'm not the greatest shot in the world, but I do Ok. I've learned from some very excellent shots, and if I listened to my own advice more, I'd probably be a lot better! But I've taught some rifle newbies and even experienced shooters how to cut their group sizes down considerably. Here's some of the stuff I've picked up:

The main thing I tell every newbie I teach is that accuracy is nothing more than consistency. Do it the same way every time and you'll be accurate. There are some tricks to help you along the way.

Slow down! Jackie Stewart once said something along the lines of "if you want to go faster, slow down". Same concept applies here. Take your time with your shots, line 'em up and don't apply that last bit of pressure to your trigger until it's perfect and you know it. Note: It's not "until you think it's perfect", you break the shot when you know it's perfect.

Some of these you'll want to look up on you own, like "natural point of aim". Learn it, know it, use it.

Follow-through seems to be the biggest one that gets people. Everybody releases the trigger and shifts their focus to the target as soon as the gun goes off. Don't. When your rifle goes off, keep doing exactly what you were doing before it went off. Hold the trigger back. Keep your focus on the front sight until it's realigned with the target. Keep your breath exhaled. Once your sight comes back on target, you can reset the trigger, take a breath and maybe change your focus downrange. Follow-through keeps you from moving the gun away from the target before the shot goes off (it happens more than you realize - I've seen group sizes more than halved just by teaching this one thing), and helps eliminate any flinch tendencies you might have.

Front sight post. Focus on it. The tip of your front sight should be centered in your rear sight. Front sight should be clear as day, target fuzzy. Front sight post, breathing, trigger. That's your mantra.

Exhale. Don't force the air from your lungs, though! Take a deep breath (or three), and let it fall slowly out of your lungs. Relax your body. If you want to check your natural point of aim, now is a good time to keep your finger off the trigger and close your eyes. Open them again when your breath is out and adjust your body position as needed. But to shoot - deep breath, let it slowly fall out of your lungs (don't force it!) until it stops on its own. You have 6 or so seconds before you need another breath. This is called respiratory pause, and now is the time to shoot, but don't rush your shot! If it's not perfect, it's not perfect. You can always take another breath (you should, at any rate ). Lungs that are at their natural empty point require zero muscle effort. Using muscles causes shaking since they fire in short little bursts in groups, and raises your heart rate - your pulse causes more shake.

Prepare ("prep") the trigger. As you exhale and your sights come into alignment with the target, take up the slack and start applying pressure. Don't give it enough to break the shot, that last little bit comes during respiratory pause (if you're good, you'll break it between heartbeats). This keeps you from jerking the trigger, so your sights stay on target.

Don't shoot tired, drink enough water (but not too much), avoid caffeine and don't shoot on a full stomach (or a totally empty one). When you're digesting food, it causes you to (bet you can't guess) shake more. Calm your mind and pay total attention to what you're doing, but don't overdo the intensity. Gotta get zen with your shooting. It's about being calm and cool. When I'm shooting for groups, I can take hot brass to the side of the head without reacting (though it does drag me out of the zone enough that I can't break the shot). Block everything but your shot from your mind.

To sum it up and break it down, there are three parts to shooting accurately. There's the pre-shot preparation, where you calm yourself down and find your natural point of aim. There's the point where you take the shot - deep breath, front sight post, exhale slowly and squeeeeeeeeze. I literally think that last part to myself every time I'm trying for accuracy. Then there's post-shot, following-through by freezing until your natural point of aim puts the sights back on target.

Those are the basics. If you can get a handle on them, remember them (again, I literally "chant" reminders to myself in my head as I'm shooting - it helps me focus), practice them and use them, as long as your equipment is even half decent, your groups can drop well below 1 MOA.

 

[Texas1911]

The main thing I tell every newbie I teach is that accuracy is nothing more than consistency. Do it the same way every time and you'll be accurate.

This! ... Consistency is the key to accuracy. Do it the same way, every time and you will get good results. Once you have mastered static shooting, then you've essentially mastered dynamic shooting in perspective. The only thing you have to work on from that standpoint is putting the pieces together, and doing so fast takes practice.

Follow-through seems to be the biggest one that gets people. Everybody releases the trigger and shifts their focus to the target as soon as the gun goes off. Don't. When your rifle goes off, keep doing exactly what you were doing before it went off. Hold the trigger back. Keep your focus on the front sight until it's realigned with the target. Keep your breath exhaled. Once your sight comes back on target, you can reset the trigger, take a breath and maybe change your focus downrange. Follow-through keeps you from moving the gun away from the target before the shot goes off (it happens more than you realize - I've seen group sizes more than halved just by teaching this one thing), and helps eliminate any flinch tendencies you might have.

+1 ... mechanically follow-through does nothing, but from a mental perspective it forces you to think about following through and committing to the shot. That translates into a clean trigger break rather than slapping it at the last second. Fast trigger pulls are done by simply speeding up the process of taking up the slack, pushing the trigger through the sear point, following through, and moving the trigger forward to the reset point. If you cannot identify those individual processes then you are not doing it right, even at speed.

Exhale. Don't force the air from your lungs, though! Take a deep breath (or three), and let it fall slowly out of your lungs. Relax your body. If you want to check your natural point of aim, now is a good time to keep your finger off the trigger and close your eyes. Open them again when your breath is out and adjust your body position as needed. But to shoot - deep breath, let it slowly fall out of your lungs (don't force it!) until it stops on its own. You have 6 or so seconds before you need another breath. This is called respiratory pause, and now is the time to shoot, but don't rush your shot! If it's not perfect, it's not perfect. You can always take another breath (you should, at any rate ). Lungs that are at their natural empty point require zero muscle effort. Using muscles causes shaking since they fire in short little bursts in groups, and raises your heart rate - your pulse causes more shake.

I've found that you have about a 3 second window of near zero movement, and then you slowly start to see an increasing pulse rate, especially after 6 seconds. Breaking a shot within 3 seconds requires alot of discipline in your trigger pull, but can be done with a little practice, especially learning the trigger. Beyond 6 you will start to feel yourself wanting to breathe, at that point you'll want to break the shot, but don't do it ... restart the breathing process.

In rapid strings, I will breath in and out rapidly between shots with a bolt-rifle during the cycling pause. On a semi-auto I will more or less go off of my body response.

Don't shoot tired, drink enough water (but not too much), avoid caffeine and don't shoot on a full stomach (or a totally empty one). When you're digesting food, it causes you to (bet you can't guess) shake more. Calm your mind and pay total attention to what you're doing, but don't overdo the intensity. Gotta get zen with your shooting. It's about being calm and cool. When I'm shooting for groups, I can take hot brass to the side of the head without reacting (though it does drag me out of the zone enough that I can't break the shot). Block everything but your shot from your mind.

The key to shooting well and repeatedly well is control over your body. You want to be a corpse on the rifle. The lower your heart rate, the less stressed you are, and the more focused you are on the gun, the better you will shoot. Breathing in and out in large breaths before you mount the gun and while you are shooting it will calm you and help you really focus on your task at hand.

Those are the basics. If you can get a handle on them, remember them (again, I literally "chant" reminders to myself in my head as I'm shooting - it helps me focus), practice them and use them, as long as your equipment is even half decent, your groups can drop well below 1 MOA.

A couple things to add... you need to rest your eyes ... don't live behind a scope or the sights else you will quickly lose focal control and have trouble developing a strong sight picture. Scopes that have adjustable parallax are especially better at this than those without it as incorrect parallax GREATLY taxes the eyes. I have sat behind my 10/22 so long that my eyes had some real issues focusing on things around me, even after leaving the scope, the majority of this was due to a mismatch in parallax.

Where you put your rifle counts ... rests should be under the barrel to receiver mount or any bedded portions of the gun. Setting the barrel up against something will shift your POI, sometimes significantly.

Use a rear and frost rest wherever possible. Learn to use your rear hand as a squeeze-bag. Anyone that cries about you using available options is an idiot and probably doesn't shoot for shit. I'd use that guy's dead body for a rest if presented the opportunity.

Use good ammo ... the plinker stuff is great for learning the basic mechanics, but for polishing the skills you learned you really are going to need something that is repeatable and reliable. If you are learning on a .22 or a centerfire beyond 200 yards then using good ammo is going to count for alot. Reloading helps afford good ammo as is worthwhile for ANY centerfire rifle.

Practice, document, and research. If you don't have any experience with shooting rifles then you can easily misinterpret results as being shooter related when it might have been a hot barrel or improper mounting. Mitigate as much as possible from the equation by becoming accustomed to the gun and really getting a baseline for the gun ... then you can blame only one thing, the shooter.

 

[RetArmySgt]

All of the above is very good information and most of it is what they teach in the military. There are 4 fundamental skills for marksmanship:
1) Steady Position
2) Sight Picture
3) Proper Breathing
4) Trigger SQUEEZE (squeeze not pull)

 

[sc020643]

great question and even better postings...

 

[tweek]

Thanks, asking the question isnt the hard part. Understanding and accepting the answer.....takes a bit more work.

Can't wait to go to the range this weekend. Not sure how much progress I'm going to make on this front b/c I'll be zeroing in new sights on a new rifle. I'm tempted to pickup up bore laser and just do it in my back yard at night when nobody can see me. Fricking yuppy habitat.

 

[wrtanker]

While waiting for your range time, get yourself a snapcap (do they make those for rifles?) or a spent round and practice dry firing in your living room. You can start working on the muscle memory and getting the feel of the routine. I've spent months "killing" everything that appeared on my TV in the evenings. DO NOT POINT IT AT ANY LIVING THING AT ANY TIME!!! Extreamly bad habit to get into. Every 'for real' killing shot should be very well planned and thought out every single time.

 

[tweek]

No spent brass yet. But a decent idea. Sure to make my wife think I'm even crazier than she already thinks I am.

 

[M. Sage]

Thanks, asking the question isnt the hard part. Understanding and accepting the answer.....takes a bit more work.

Can't wait to go to the range this weekend. Not sure how much progress I'm going to make on this front b/c I'll be zeroing in new sights on a new rifle. I'm tempted to pickup up bore laser and just do it in my back yard at night when nobody can see me. Fricking yuppy habitat.

Establishing zero is where these are VERY important skills. If you don't have the fundamentals down before you try zeroing the rifle, it's not going to stay that way. You need to at least shoot a 3-4" group at 100 yards before you even think about zeroing the rifle. Practice at 25 yards instead. Once you get all of the bullets within an inch of each other (you SHOULD be able to make the holes touch at that range), you can start thinking about zeroing the rifle.

While waiting for your range time, get yourself a snapcap (do they make those for rifles?) or a spent round and practice dry firing in your living room. You can start working on the muscle memory and getting the feel of the routine. I've spent months "killing" everything that appeared on my TV in the evenings. DO NOT POINT IT AT ANY LIVING THING AT ANY TIME!!! Extreamly bad habit to get into. Every 'for real' killing shot should be very well planned and thought out every single time.

ARs are built to take a beating, snap caps aren't really needed. Dry fire it all day long and don't worry about it.

No spent brass yet. But a decent idea. Sure to make my wife think I'm even crazier than she already thinks I am.

You don't really need a snap cap for an AR, and I'm not fond of using spent brass, or even "home made" caps that use brass. With the aluminum (like I have) or plastic snap caps, you can see that it's not a live round with a simple press check. You can pick it up and feel instantly by the light weight that it's not real, and the texture is going to be all wrong, too. The more ways you can confirm that your gun isn't loaded before you pull the trigger, the better off you'll be.

One way to practice good trigger control and follow-through is to get in position, then have someone balance a penny on top of your barrel in front of the front sight. If it falls off, you either jerked the trigger or flinched.

 

[tweek]

I like the idea of balancing a penny on the barrel. I'll give it a try tonight.

On zeroing: what about using a lazer? At this point I'm mostly just working on the 25 yard range and the groups are about 1" (yeah - I suck, which is why I started this whole thread). Based on feedback I'm jerking the trigger so....we'll balance pennies for a bit.

Again: I really apperciate all the great knowledge you guys are sharing. We'll see how well I'm paying attention over the coming months.

BTW - looking to add another skill: reloading. New ammo is friggin expensive!

 

[codygjohnson]

If you want to go over some basics and get some honest feedback, I head to the range every Saturday morning. I live in Dallas and shoot in Ferris, so you're more than welcome to tag along. I've been doing a lot of load workups lately and get a little freaked out about testing my handloads all alone in the middle of nowhere, so I wouldn't mind the company. Also, I'm across the street from a pretty dandy training facility that would be a good place to sign up for a marksmanship course, if they're offering one in your timeframe.

 

[M. Sage]

I like the idea of balancing a penny on the barrel. I'll give it a try tonight.

On zeroing: what about using a lazer? At this point I'm mostly just working on the 25 yard range and the groups are about 1" (yeah - I suck, which is why I started this whole thread). Based on feedback I'm jerking the trigger so....we'll balance pennies for a bit.

Again: I really apperciate all the great knowledge you guys are sharing. We'll see how well I'm paying attention over the coming months.

BTW - looking to add another skill: reloading. New ammo is friggin expensive!

I thought reloading was pretty easy once I got all the stuff and started, but I'm a mechanic worked in factories when I was younger. I'm not new to the basic concepts involved in setting up and operating a machine and doing quality control checks. I even had the urge to make a QC log book but didn't. It's easy if you go slow, pay attention and double-check your double-checks.

A laser will get you on paper, but the only way to properly zero is to sit at a bench and punch holes in the target. Your best bet is to go shooting with someone who knows what they're doing and is willing to teach you and become a sponge. I'm teaching my roommate how to shoot, and the fool keeps trying to talk while I'm instructing. Students should only speak when they have a question (and always ask the question in their mind!), something I try to live by when I'm in that chair... Came a long way in my professional life pretty fast by living by it! One exception to someone learning how to shoot is that a student should speak up if something seems unsafe. We're all the safety officer.

 

[tweek]

@codygjohnson - I'd love to tag along but I just (like in the past hour) sold a rush project that needs to get done by Tuesday. The upside is the $$$$$$. Hopefully I'll still be able to squeeze a few hours out to go get to the range, but a day at the range is out of the question now.

@Sage - Being a good student isn't particularly easy. Checking the ego at the door and maintaining an attitude of curiosity takes practice. I have a very long way to go.
If all goes well w/ this side gig I should have some extra cash for a reloading kit. Which of course will result in another thread.

 

[tweek]

Interesting day at the range. For folks up in the DFW area I can't say enough good things about the folks at Quail Creek their range masters have spent a lot of time working with. Today one of them spent a solid hour working with me.

First he showed me how they are currently training soldiers and marines to hold the M16. First: it's a pistol grip. Hold it like it's a pistol. On the M4, like I have, fully extend the stock (I already do). Second, you can pull in your foreward hand and support the rifle by holding the magazine well. Third, it's ok to support the rifle on the magazine. Finally, establish a natural point of aim.

Establishing the natural point of aim seems to have helped my accuracy a lot. Basically, roll yourself in to the rifle, get a good sight picture, then close your eyes for two breaths and open your eyes again and see where you are pointed. You want to be on the target. If you are then take the shot. If not adjust and repeat the process.

The sight picture bit got changed too. The point of impact sits right on top of the front post. The top of the front post should be in the center of the rear sight.

If you do all of it right you can stack the shots on top of each other. If you don't you'll end up scattering shots all over the place.

Today I spent the entire time on the 50yard range. I was able to keep everything inside 3" circles. When I was careful the groups would easily fit inside a quarter. Another few weekends of practice I'll be ready to go over to the 100 yard range.