Share Your Tips to Improve Shooting Technique

[Ezana4CE]

What lessons have you learned or what tips can you share to help the novice air gunner, old hobbyist, new competition shooter develop good shooting habits? Please specify if you shoot springers, PCPs, big-bore or small-bore, pistols, if you are a competition shooter (FT, benchrest, HFT, pistol, etc.) hobby target shooter, plinker, or hunter. Let's discuss shooting positions, holds, rests, breathing technique, trigger technique, head position, natural point of aim, and other elements that you deem important.

 

[Luis Leon]

I’ll play… For me? Its about that first shot… As a plinker and pester, in no particular order, staying calm, and sending smooth.

 

[Farmplinker2]

Practice offhand as much as possible, then use a rest as much as possible. Plinker/Pester.

 

[Solo1]

I’ve come to realize that comfort is most important in any shooting environment. If you’re thinking of anything except for your sight and target its easy to have a bad shot. You also need to control breathing and time trigger pull with heart beat naturally. The more you practice getting in good positions before the shot the more success you’ll have!

 

[Franklink]

PRACTICE.

(And it doesn't count to sit at a bench and "practice" when you're going to be shooting from a stool or bumbag during a match or hunting outing).

 

[Pumacarl]

Excellent advice by all, nicely done guys! Mine would be similar to Luis Leon, on taking the time to get the first shot right and it will be the only shot you need. Setup, get comfortable, range it, guage wind, check strelok, breathing, trigger control and hit it. Don't have time for that? Miss. Hopefully you don't get lucky and hit, because that just sets you up for failure later on.

 

[Solo1]

Excellent advice by all, nicely done guys! Mine would be similar to Luis Leon, on taking the time to get the first shot right and it will be the only shot you need. Setup, get comfortable, range it, guage wind, check strelok, breathing, trigger control and hit it. Don't have time for that? Miss. Hopefully you don't get lucky and hit, because that just sets you up for failure later on.

Though if you shoot long enough with the same gun and in enough different situations you can pull off shots pretty quickly. A lot depends on how much you shoot!

 

[pan60]

i would like like to offer up a tip but short of saying slow you heart to near death and bring your resperation to that of the dead i am at a loss?

 

[Pumacarl]

i would like like to offer up a tip but short of saying slow you heart to near death and bring your resperation to that of the dead i am at a loss?

The Catch 22 to all of this is, the better you get at controlling yourself and your situation, the better you become at anything, but you have less fun/joy/pride doing it as it is now an expectation. I just said 'less' not none.

 

[pan60]

just a guess but i would think knowing and breaking bad habits might do as much or more up front then anything?
all joking aside i do try to be calm and rather its right or wrong i try to take shots while i softly exhale?
i hope someday to get better and better? i think most of us that do anything want to be better

 

[Solo1]

Having you gun fit perfectly means a lot too! And if you shoot many different guns having them all setup exactly the same for length of pull, cheek weld and scope position from eye makes a big difference. I put a airmarksman top rail on my m3 and had to shim the cheek piece with a 3/16” piece of wood to get it to shoot well again! Little things mean alot!

 

[Ezana4CE]

For me, most of what's important is good to develop good habits in practice. Once I have my holdovers memorized or notated then I feel the need to rely upon my skillset and technique. One aspect that I find important is breath control and knowing the best time to shoot during my respiratory cycle. It's important to me because when hunting, animals don't tend to give me the time I feel that I need to take the perfect shot. I just want them broadside and to pause long enough to press the trigger. When I practice controlling my breathing it often carries over into practical application. After a while I find that I don't give it much thought. Slowing my heart rate doesn't come into play as much because I'm rarely shooting on high or max magnification (I may have done that twice when squirrel hunting) and it was then that I noticed how my heart rate can really affect my POA/POI. On lower magnifications it's really not noticeable. Speaking of heart rate, I'm often excited when I see an animal after posting up for a while. This is especially true on night hunts where it seems that some of the other senses (aside from sight) are heightened. Once the animal shows up, the adrenaline gets going, and it's about breathing and concentration mostly. Then my hold, trigger press, and follow through need to flow together seamlessly. Another helpful tip is to practice offhand shooting as someone else mentioned. I think my reasons may be different from others. I like to shoot off a Trigger Stick bipods. I don't always hold them steady. When I do not, the slight movements can mimic the wobble I experience while shooting offhand. The familiarity with these small movements affords me more opportunities to take shots with confidence. I'm not suggesting that anyone do the same, it's just something I noticed. I am not in the habit of shooting animals to maim them so that they can run off. It has happened, but it certainly is not common for me. I also shoot offhand on occasion, but I will mostly look for a rest or kneel if possible.

 

[Solo1]

Another little tid-bit i picked up when i used to shoot archery is that the saying practice makes perfect is not correct. The correct saying is perfect practice makes perfect!

 

[MountainSportAirguns]

Start out with learning the gun, being confident in how well it shoots. I truly believe everyone has to find what works for them, regardless of from a bench or out in the field. Try new techniques and try to find the most comfortable, stable position you can. I find that practicing on windy days has improved my shooting, reading the wind is from my experience the most difficult part of shooting well. Everything in-between will fall into place with practice, paper won't lie.

 

[Nordic Norm]

Learn to snap the trigger as the sight crosses the target. Instead of trying to hold steady, squeezing the trigger, as the sight or crosshairs mive randomly around. Develop a intentional sight movement. Mine is a high hold I draw straight down across the target. When the sight crosses the target or just before, intentionally snap the trigger. With a little practice, you will rarely have fliers or miss when offhand

 

[Ezana4CE]

Good fundamentals here

Advanced Marksmanship - Fundamentals of Marksmanship.

Based on the two topics, "Is Marksmanship Dead" and Equipment Versus Shooter" and the comments engendered. I know nobody here needs to read what is about to be posted, but it's been around a long time and used by a lot of people and covers fundamentals pretty well. I know, reticle is mispelled...

www.snipershide.com

 

[Hateful McNasty]

I have to go with the 3 P's

Practice
Patience
&
Plenty of Pellets

( Oops, I guess that's 4 P's)

 

[CTAirgunner]

Muscle memory. All my rifles are very similar. This doesn't mean go out and use your rifle as a dumbbell.

On my pesting rifles, they all use the same scope, same reticle. On my competition rifles, they will use the same scope, same reticle for PRS and for Bench.

Having dirty reticles and clear reticles in my stash is not going to be productive.

They also have very similar feels to them, cocking, shouldering, etc, With the exception of my slayer, the scope height is a little higher than I like but the rifle is still comfortable. However it is the only bullpup in my stable and a slightly higher scope height is inherent with bullpups.

Also I found that starting with 1 ammo choice when getting a new rifle is best. If it works, stick with it, if it doesn't move onto the next, it speeds up finding the right one IMO and also saves you a buck.

The other thing, shoot one rifle for a period of time , each time you go out, say 5 sessions before moving onto the next, muscle memory doesn't happen by shooting 1 rifle , then another immediately after....

I am comfortable taking multiple rifles out at this point because my brain and body instantly fall into the comfortable position behind the scope, they both know how each trigger feels, how each rifle sounds, how each rifle shoots.

This is just some of my advice that worked for me, it may not work for you.

 

[hameditor]

Lots of great suggestions here!

In addition to endorsing all of the above, I find HUGE accuracy benefits from using a "hasty sling" whenever possible. A two-position sling to support the "non-trigger finger arm", that is.

Now I understand that this is not suitable for bench use or for some (many/most/all?) competitions, but I have shot rifles with a sling whenever possible for over 40 years and feel under-equipped without one. That's why I am always pleased to see sling swivel studs on the stock of an air rifle.

Usually I use cheap "Chicom" reproduction SKS-type slings. They are made of cotton/canvas web material. I find this less slippery against most clothing than synthetic slings and so work very well for the intended purpose. The ones I have are about 1.25 Inches wide. That's fine for me.

Then the main issue is simply to have the sling set to the correct length for the user and get-in some practice with the hold. There's that "P word" again. Practice!

 

[Hateful McNasty]

I at first thought hasty sling was a impatient shot ... I don't know just seems poor follow through and trigger pull bites me most due I tend to get hold lazy ....