Thread: How to not suck?

I have a jw15 it's the best $150 I ever spent on gun stuff, I'm no great marksman but can hit 50m groups standing, and on a rest group like a golf ball size with dirt cheap cci subs below grouping was shot standing at 50m as fast as I could cycle the bolt

Originally Posted by mikee

Out of interest @Angus_A ; do you use hearing protection, (yes I know its only a .22)
The "Bang" can be quite distracting (I always use muff and plugs shooting at the range not matter what), consistency is everything.
Good solid front rest and rear bag will help along with a good trigger although you tend to learn and aapt to the type of trigger you have.
Always aiming at the exact same place on the target regardless.
For targets I used to use plain A4 paper sheets and a black dot stickers you can get at an office stationary supply place. Quick and easy and uses no expensive printer ink

I used to use earplugs but now i use subsonics and a hushpower braveheart so it's quiet enough that i don't need ear protection.
My biggest problem is keeping it stable i think, admittedly i didn't have the best rest, a farm gate whilst sitting on a saw horse and i was really struggling. I've gotten pretty good at shooting using the sling as a support though.
Bought some of those stick on targets from hunting and fishing, on a piece of ply wood.

Originally Posted by dannyb

I have a jw15 it's the best $150 I ever spent on gun stuff, I'm no great marksman but can hit 50m groups standing, and on a rest group like a golf ball size with dirt cheap cci subs below grouping was shot standing at 50m as fast as I could cycle the bolt
Attachment 87920

That's bloody impressive, i was at 45m and was all over the place.

The best practice I found was dry firing, but don't dry fire a rimfire on an empty chamber or you will most likely damage your firing pin. Get an empty and slot it in. Lie down with a front rest and practice. Aim at a small target, a knot in a door, a cross on a piece of paper. Squeeze the trigger and keep watching the target. Repeat until you are happily still on target after squeezing the trigger.

The other part was the breathing. Take three breaths. On the third only exhale half of your lungs, pause and squeeze.

That was the best advice I got, and the only lessons I've ever had.

And some of those wee Norinco's can shoot. These are three successive 5 shot sets at 50m from one I bought for the kids with a cheap 4x scope on it.

Originally Posted by Angus_A

That's bloody impressive, i was at 45m and was all over the place.

it's a great little shooter my 4 children can replicate as good or better groupings aged 6,7-10,11 granted it takes them much longer.
only running a cheap as chips nikko stirling 3-9x40.
practice practice practice I have literally about 500 rounds through this rifle and it shoots consistently every time

someone once showed me a trick to show yourself how much you flinch.... have someone else load your mag with a snap cap randomly inserted. then you shoot away until you fire on the snap cap. maybe record yourself doing this and you can watch what you are doing. it was a surprise how much I flinched!
Im a lot better, but still got a way to go!

Thanks for all this advice guys! I'll get a bunch of practice ammo next week and organise a trip to the farm we shot at last time and get putting some of these suggestions into practice

Originally Posted by Angus_A

I used to use earplugs but now i use subsonics and a hushpower braveheart so it's quiet enough that i don't need ear protection.
My biggest problem is keeping it stable i think, admittedly i didn't have the best rest, a farm gate whilst sitting on a saw horse and i was really struggling. I've gotten pretty good at shooting using the sling as a support though.
Bought some of those stick on targets from hunting and fishing, on a piece of ply wood.

Originally Posted by Angus_A

I used to use earplugs but now i use subsonics and a hushpower braveheart so it's quiet enough that i don't need ear protection.
My biggest problem is keeping it stable i think, admittedly i didn't have the best rest, a farm gate whilst sitting on a saw horse and i was really struggling. I've gotten pretty good at shooting using the sling as a support though.
Bought some of those stick on targets from hunting and fishing, on a piece of ply wood.

I have to disagree with the no need for ear pro. Yeah I don't use any when spotlighting but on the range where all sorts of calibre are used I personally would.

I noticed that my trigger pull made the grouping from my jw15 go all over the show.

I have one inch groups at 25m twice but if I did a bad pull it'd have a bad flyer.

If you go to a wreckers then get a scissor lift and kindly find someone to weld a bit of metal plate onto the bottom of glue a bit of plywood. Bolt a bit of ply or MDF and insulate it do the bolt doesn't scratch the gun and you have an ok rest. The only thing is make sure that the wood is fairly wide. Otherwise they aren't the most stable.

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Join one of the .22RF sporting rifle clubs there are several around Auckland they shoot on Smallbore 25 metre ranges plenty of highly experienced shooters more than happy to coach you
The one I had the most to do with was at the range in Howick, practising on a farm by your self is not going to help much you need a regular weekly shoot to improve quickly

Stop thinking about it so much and just learn to enjoy your shooting.
The longer you sit there concentrating the worse your shooting will be, whilst you don't want to hurry your shots over thinking it doesn't do you any favours either.
Practice working the bolt, getting on target, pulling the trigger, repeat with no wavering around and overthinking the shot in between

Originally Posted by shooternz

Join one of the .22RF sporting rifle clubs there are several around Auckland they shoot on Smallbore 25 metre ranges plenty of highly experienced shooters more than happy to coach you
The one I had the most to do with was at the range in Howick, practising on a farm by your self is not going to help much you need a regular weekly shoot to improve quickly

Agreed. While I never stayed with it (I liked clay target shooting better) and I'd already become familiar with firearms, doing indoor small bore on an old bsa martini was great practice for breathing and trigger control especially with those bloody light triggers.

Originally Posted by gadgetman

The other part was the breathing. Take three breaths. On the third only exhale half of your lungs, pause and squeeze.

That was the best advice I got, and the only lessons I've ever had

i was told this for photography...(if you have the time for it without missing the shot)and transferred it on to shooting.
a mate who is also a panelbeater would blink as he pulled the trigger causing him to flinch ......said it was ingrained from welding with that split second before the auto darkening kicked in......i never had that problem tho maybe i had a better welding helmet

Get someone else to shoot the rifle too, just to make sure it is not a rifle issue.

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Stop thinking about it so much and just learn to enjoy your shooting.
The longer you sit there concentrating the worse your shooting will be, whilst you don't want to hurry your shots over thinking it doesn't do you any favours either.
Practice working the bolt, getting on target, pulling the trigger, repeat with no wavering around and overthinking the shot in between

Good advice for Angus, but don't dry fire a rimfire too much or you could damage the firing pin.

Are 22lr snap caps a thing? Could get my hands on a couple if that'll make it easier on the gun. I'll look into making some kind of a better shooting rest for next time also, i think that had a ton to do with my problems. Investigate that scissor lift idea Russian 22 suggested.