04-17-2011, 02:11 PM
LR1955 Wrote:RS:
You are lucky. You had guys who would coach you on this very important marksmanship skill / technique.
How did they coach you?
LR55
Coming late to the competitive game, the first thing they had to do was break me of my old habits.
1-The first was teaching me to "stay with the rifle." Having been a hunter my whole life, I was quick off the rifle when I shot to see how I did. By staying with the rifle, they were teaching me to follow through on each shot.
2- The next thing was body position. The amount of cheek pressure in particular on the stock would change the POA of the the rifle.
3- Breathing. I never knew how much just the act of breathing would make a rifle move. At a 100 yard target, it was not that big of a deal, but when you're trying to hit a 3" X ring at 600 yards, it shows up markedly.
After getting through these basics we moved on to "calling the shot." We started with me laying next to my coach when he was shooting. He would talk out loud about the conditions he was seeing and adjustments he was making. Just after he fired, he would call the shot. The target would go down and almost always come up with the round in the area he had called it. He would shoot a string of 2 spotters and 20 rounds like this. Then we would reverse positions with me on my rifle and him next to me. I would tell him what I was seeing (mirage, flags, etc.) and would take the shot. I called the shot and when I started I was right about 5% of the time. We would talk about this and I began to understand that "calling the shot" was a part of the bigger process of making the right decisions prior to pulling the trigger. I learned to concentrate on exactly where the last place my crosshairs were when I pulled the trigger and to tune out the surrounding world. As they say, the bullet always goes where you aim. I also went to double hearing protection to eliminate the possibility of a "sympathy shot."
One of my coaches is a High Master prone shooter and the other is a High Master F-Open. I spend as much time practicing with them as I can. When we practice, we shoot an actaul 60 shot match at 600 yards. Per their advice, when I can't shoot with them, I also try to get trigger time in every weekend shooting at least 50 rounds. My target of choice has 20 1 moa circles on it. Placed at 100 yards it makes you make minute adjustments on each shot, not just hammering away at the same hole.
I have gotten better at calling my shots, but still have a journey ahead of me. But for me, it's all about the journey.