Having attended LR1955's Precision Rifle Course mulitple times, I refrained from answering until now. I was a raw shooter when I first went, I had never shot anything past 100 yards. In less than 3 hours, and in strong 25-35 MPH full value winds I (and the two sons with me, ages 19 and 21 at the time) was able to consistently hit an IPSC target at 700 yards with a 19 inch Grendel, and to hit an 8" center flag about 30% of the time.
LR1955 taught us that sight picture was critical, and that the trigger squeeze would take care of itself if we just focused on the sight picture. No breathing technique, no positioning. Simply get behind the rifle, find a comfortable position, and see the target. Interestingly, my sons, who had even less trigger time than I, but much better eyes, and even better muscle control, were faster at picking up the idea than I was. I was too involved in all the other stuff, and once LR1955 convinced me to let it go, and just do what my eye and mind told me to do, I was much more successful.
The Precision Rifle Course has you shooting with a spotter, so you are seeing and shooting, not deciding how much wind to put on, how much elevation, etc. You are the shooting machine, and he is the one who decides those things. Once you allow yourself to do that, the shooting becomes much easier. It becomes more complicated once you are on your own, because you have to add those things back in to your responsibility, but once you are comfortable with the "sight picture, shoot it" process, and have confidence in your ability in that regard, the rest becomes simply adding on to your skill set.
Heck, just posting this I realized a couple things that I have forgotten or not been implementing, so this is really a good conversation!
BUT....for me its an ever evolving and learning process. Every competition, I try to watch better shooters, and learn from them.
LR1955 taught us that sight picture was critical, and that the trigger squeeze would take care of itself if we just focused on the sight picture. No breathing technique, no positioning. Simply get behind the rifle, find a comfortable position, and see the target. Interestingly, my sons, who had even less trigger time than I, but much better eyes, and even better muscle control, were faster at picking up the idea than I was. I was too involved in all the other stuff, and once LR1955 convinced me to let it go, and just do what my eye and mind told me to do, I was much more successful.
The Precision Rifle Course has you shooting with a spotter, so you are seeing and shooting, not deciding how much wind to put on, how much elevation, etc. You are the shooting machine, and he is the one who decides those things. Once you allow yourself to do that, the shooting becomes much easier. It becomes more complicated once you are on your own, because you have to add those things back in to your responsibility, but once you are comfortable with the "sight picture, shoot it" process, and have confidence in your ability in that regard, the rest becomes simply adding on to your skill set.
Heck, just posting this I realized a couple things that I have forgotten or not been implementing, so this is really a good conversation!
BUT....for me its an ever evolving and learning process. Every competition, I try to watch better shooters, and learn from them.
You seek escape from pain. We seek the achievement of happiness. You exist for the sake of avoiding punishment. We exist for the sake of earning rewards. Threats will not make us function; fear is not our incentive. It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live. - John Galt