Rifle Shooting is a Perishable Skill

July 07, 2019, 06:33 PM

And mine evidently perished.

Couldn't group worth a crap. M1A, AR, .223 bolt gun, you name it. Wobbling all over the place. I didn't shoot groups, I shot a Jackson Pollock.

I know the rifles are mechanically consistent. Nothing wrong with barrels, scope mounts, etc. I just sucked today.

I've got to fix an eye relief issue with my M1A, but that's really no excuse. It was in the mid 90s too, and that didn't help, but oh shit today was frustrating.

I struggled with breathing, wobbling, eye strain, trigger control; all of it. At least I could tell when I yanked one (most?). The couple of good trigger pulls I executed delivered good shots. Problem was, the first couple of shots were good, and I thought I was in for a good day. Then it all went to hell.

My shooting buddy couldn't hit worth a damn, either. We quit early, had a glass of ice water and talked.

Oy. Back to the drawing board...

"I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation."

Alfred Hornik, Sunday, December 2, 1945 to his family, on his continuing duty to others for surviving WW II.

July 07, 2019, 06:56 PM

RNshooter

I took a class a couple of weeks ago and my shooting got worse as the day went on. I was wobbling, too. I decided I just wasn't used to holding the rifle that way for that long, anymore.
Lots for offhand dry practice, in my future. I need to get back in shape.

Bruce

"The designer of the gun had clearly not been instructed to beat about the bush. 'Make it evil,' he'd been told. 'Make it totally clear that this gun has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them. If that means sticking all sort of spikes and prongs and blackened bits all over it then so be it. This is not a gun for hanging over the fireplace or sticking in the umbrella stand, it is a gun for going out and making people miserable with." -Douglas Adams

“It is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to try to enslave a people that wants to remain free."
-Niccolo Machiavelli

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. -Mencken

__________________________
"just look at the flowers..."

July 08, 2019, 05:04 AM

sourdough44

I had a great time prairie dogging with the son 4 weeks ago, lots of shooting practice.

Yeah, those doggies at 400 yards were always there, but just wait a bit & those 150 yard doggies are ready for gymnastics practice.

July 08, 2019, 10:35 AM

lyman

yes, it is,

sounds like you had the same type of weekend I did,

shot a Service Rifle match Sat,
first on in 2-1/2 to 3 yrs

offhand would have been better if I had used a couple rounds of OO buck,,

sitting rapid not much better (forgot the fundamentals,, like breathe, )

started to get it together on rapid and slow prone but I was so damned hot and sweaty by then it was not much of an improvement,

score was about where I was when I started the game in the 90's,

pitiful, it was,

https://www.chesterfieldarmament.com/

July 08, 2019, 11:45 AM

ZSMICHAEL

Physical and MENTAL fitness as well. By that I mean ability to relax and just let it happen. Frustration gets in the way. Work on your breathing. It will improve.

July 15, 2019, 03:17 PM

jimb888

It's hard when the eyes start to go. I'm in excellent condition and can outwalk most pups, but the eyes are what they are, and corrected you can either see downrange to the target OR see the sights and not the target depending on the glasses you use. Sigh....

July 16, 2019, 07:30 PM

MtnPlinker

My eyes have gone downhill quickly. I get it.

As a TC, if you can find a well trained Basic Rifle Instructor, he/she can get you back on track quickly. Check references and ask for a reference from their Training Counselor.

It is frustrating! Don’t give up.

________________________
"Red hair and black leather, my favorite color scheme"

July 19, 2019, 12:07 PM

hudr

Yes, the eyes! I didn’t shoot rifles at any range for years, mostly just CAS stuff. Then a buddy moved back and he was into the long range thing. I didn’t realize how much age had deteriorated my eyesight until I was trying to differentiate between the blurs of the silhouette steel targets at 200 yards.
There was a time when, armed with a buckhorn sighted Marlin 336 in 30-30, anything within 200 yards was in serious danger. Now the old Mark I eyeball must be supplemented with some magnification and time to stabilize.

Integrity is doing the right thing, even when nobody is looking.

August 02, 2019, 09:18 AM

joatmonv

It is and bless me for I have sinned. It's been a year since I've shot my target rifle.
I've got the AR out and plinked some but the rifle I bought specifically for target shooting has been sitting in the safe collecting dust.
It's only a 243 but I had fun going out to 400 yards at my friend's farm. It could go further, a bit, but the fundamentals were there.
Not sure how I'd do now after a year.

I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I'm not.

August 02, 2019, 06:15 PM

CLEANDEAN

quote:
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Physical and MENTAL fitness as well. By that I mean ability to relax and just let it happen. Frustration gets in the way. Work on your breathing. It will improve.

I specifically bought snap caps for 4 rifles . Using those, I dry fire when I get too apathetic to load my gear into the SUV.
Concentrating on trigger controll , holding a "half breath", maintaining a modererately strong hold back against my shoulder.
These three things while dry firing ...all seem to keep my rifle prowess from deterioration.

Never judge a man, till you have walked a mile in his shoes.....
That way, you'll be a mile away from him; and you'll have his shoes.

August 03, 2019, 09:57 AM

fritz

quote:
Originally posted by CLEANDEAN:
Concentrating on trigger controll , holding a "half breath"

That method of breathing control has been out of favor for a long, long time. Maybe decades.

You should never hold your breath while breaking a shot.