Thread: Shooting training

Hi all, I'm interested to know what you do for training/practice for shooting?

Background:
I'm an ok shot when off a rest which works well for the majority of Thar and Deer hunting I do. Generally over my day pack at around 200m with the 270.

Since moving to central Otago I've reaffirmed I'm quite average at standing shots on rabbits Yes target practice with the 22 is the only way forward. What some good exercises or drills to do for improving?

I always try to get a rest when I can, however, some situations just don't allow it.

I like to think I'm a pretty good shot when I have a good rest, never rated myself as anything more than average for freehand shooting.

Lots of practice with the 22lr is always a good thing. I've been doing lots of rabbit shooting in an orchard over the last 6 weeks, I like making every shot count, so will lay prone if it's possible. I'm also using a 17 hornet, so its no drama shooting them out around 200 yards if need be, and I like the sniping them at a bit of distance when they are at ease and think they're safe, its also good practice for the way I hunt deer too.

But as I'm walking around, there are some that jump out into view that I know I'm not going to have time to get a good rest before they jump off to safety, you don't have long to think about it to get a shot away. I'm definitely finding I'm getting better at that freehand stuff the more I do it.

If you want to practice on targets and not bugger up the rabbit hunting, you could potentially set up some small steel targets and wander around and shoot them as they become visible etc. I'm thinking if you were able to walk a course and once you get past a tree (or something) a target becomes visible and you shoot it freehand quickly to try and replicate that happening on a bunny hunt.

I recently won one of these pop-up 22 targets from a FB group. Works damn well



These might be another option

Go straight to 20 secs in on the vid below

Just some steel targets and just lots of practice standing (offhand) or what every other positions you want to improve.
Steel targets are the best as you get instant feed back to whether you've hit or missed, and doesn't need to be replaced or reset like cans or apples etc.

You can watch Youtube videos on different techniques, but just putting rounds down range is the best thing you can do, especially offhand.
Don't be surprised if your off hand shooting is garbage to start with, but with training it should improve quickly.

My offhand and kneeling (especially kneeling) was terrible, but improved quickly when I found a technique that suited me.

GWH's post looks quite good. Try a pack of cheap tennis balls. Or google "duelling tree"

Get and learn to use a sling, this halves most people's groups.
Drill the fundamentals - hold, breathing, trigger pull, follow through. Consistency is key. Get a stupid-high magnification scope and focus on things a long way away (see how much you shake).
Dry-fire practice.
Line up on something, close your eyes for 3 breaths, open your eyes. Still on target? Change your hold/stance until you are. Train for muscle memory.

Personally, foot position plays a big part for me. (Start at the ground and work your way up - feet, knees, hips, torso) Your muscles should be relaxed. I find with the shape of my shoulder I have to keep my offhand elbow quite high to get a non-canted stock "in the pocket"

I learned/was taught that "standing" and "offhand" are different - Standing is when you are deliberately taking a shot, you have time to assume a good position and break the shot. Offhand is the best position you can get in to in the time given.
There's also variations of standing: Tactical/driven (think what SWAT teams on TV do - leaning forward, C grip, 'driving' the gun) vs target/artillery (think olympic 10m air rifle - leaning back, plumb line from your foregrip to the ground and supported by bone all the way)

Don't rush. Slow is smooth, smooth becomes fast. There's a difference between a quick shot and a rushed one.

The old sniper's motto: "Get closer, if you can't get closer, get steadier" - There's no point in handicapping yourself, if you can get a rest, do. Only hits count.

Get a "know your limits" target and shoot it positionally. Then accept that limit until you can.
Shoot your (paper) targets "snap" - from standing, rifle horizontal at the waist or port arms (or however you carry in the field) give yourself 3 seconds to bring it up and take the shot. (If you don't manage in 3s then reset and try again. Or maybe start with 5/10 seconds as suits you)

I like light triggers. 2.5lb is about the max I want.

Did I mention drill your fundamentals?
This can be a thing to think about (reverse it for south paw):

Alternatively shitcan all that and get a 12ga and a fast bike

Originally Posted by mimms

Get and learn to use a sling, this halves most people's groups.
Drill the fundamentals - hold, breathing, trigger pull, follow through. Consistency is key. Get a stupid-high magnification scope and focus on things a long way away (see how much you shake).
Dry-fire practice.
Line up on something, close your eyes for 3 breaths, open your eyes. Still on target? Change your hold/stance until you are. Train for muscle memory.

Personally, foot position plays a big part for me. (Start at the ground and work your way up - feet, knees, hips, torso) Your muscles should be relaxed. I find with the shape of my shoulder I have to keep my offhand elbow quite high to get a non-canted stock "in the pocket"

I learned/was taught that "standing" and "offhand" are different - Standing is when you are deliberately taking a shot, you have time to assume a good position and break the shot. Offhand is the best position you can get in to in the time given.
There's also variations of standing: Tactical/driven (think what SWAT teams on TV do - leaning forward, C grip, 'driving' the gun) vs target/artillery (think olympic 10m air rifle - leaning back, plumb line from your foregrip to the ground and supported by bone all the way)

Don't rush. Slow is smooth, smooth becomes fast. There's a difference between a quick shot and a rushed one.

The old sniper's motto: "Get closer, if you can't get closer, get steadier" - There's no point in handicapping yourself, if you can get a rest, do. Only hits count.

Get a "know your limits" target and shoot it positionally. Then accept that limit until you can.
Shoot your (paper) targets "snap" - from standing, rifle horizontal at the waist or port arms (or however you carry in the field) give yourself 3 seconds to bring it up and take the shot. (If you don't manage in 3s then reset and try again. Or maybe start with 5/10 seconds as suits you)

I like light triggers. 2.5lb is about the max I want.

Did I mention drill your fundamentals?
This can be a thing to think about (reverse it for south paw):

Some really good info thanks guys.
The steel flipper target looks quite useful, will see what I can get made up.

Yup shooting with a sling to stablise helps tremendously. When shooting animals I'll take all the help I can get haha. Bit tricky using matagouri bushes as an aid, the prickly buggers.
Will do a bit of research into what stance works the best for me and keep slinging lead downrange.

Hi Joe,

Practice is good but you need to practice good technique.
Mimms is right - it starts with the feet and whatever part of you is on the ground.
Technique and specially position do vary depending on how long your arms legs and stuff are but there are fundamental principles.
I've outlined them in as rough and ready sort of way here on an old forum post.

I'd start by shooting on paper where you can see your misses. Steel gives little learning - its for fun and competition. Also, on paper you will be able to adjust your zero and know your trajectory, two things that are often left to guesswork by plinkers.

Rabbit shooting is very demanding of accurate shooting technique. A rabbit at 50m is equivalent to a chamois at 300m. No mean feat.

Me and some friends tries to make it fun and practice competing in Field shoot compititions. Its great and since we've started doing it our skill level has gone through the roof.

It basically teaches you to make the best use of available rests .

a golf ball thrown out and then shot with .22lr is fun...man they can go a distance when hit squarely.

Originally Posted by Bagheera

Hi Joe,

Practice is good but you need to practice good technique.
Mimms is right - it starts with the feet and whatever part of you is on the ground.
Technique and specially position do vary depending on how long your arms legs and stuff are but there are fundamental principles.
I've outlined them in as rough and ready sort of way here on an old forum post.

I'd start by shooting on paper where you can see your misses. Steel gives little learning - its for fun and competition. Also, on paper you will be able to adjust your zero and know your trajectory, two things that are often left to guesswork by plinkers.

Rabbit shooting is very demanding of accurate shooting technique. A rabbit at 50m is equivalent to a chamois at 300m. No mean feat.

Some really good reading thanks Bagheera, put those into practice this weekend.

I've sighted the 22 in at 70m, puts me 1.5 inch high at 50m and around 3.5 inch low at 100m. The calculations then checking by field testing on paper targets where within an inch of agreeing.
From prone I'm happy shooting bunnies at 120m. Beyond that I can't see the rabbit in the scope anymore.

Originally Posted by Joe_90

Some really good reading thanks Bagheera, put those into practice this weekend.

I've sighted the 22 in at 70m, puts me 1.5 inch high at 50m and around 3.5 inch low at 100m. The calculations then checking by field testing on paper targets where within an inch of agreeing.
From prone I'm happy shooting bunnies at 120m. Beyond that I can't see the rabbit in the scope anymore.

Practice is key obviously, but imo for accurate freehand shooting having a decent trigger makes a huge difference. Worth in vestigating for sure if your trigger is in the heavy side

See if your local range has a rimfire Silhouette shoot. These are tiny steel targets shot from 40m out to 100m all from standing. Really good practise and maybe someone there will help you out with a few tips, Hopefully better than what I got at my range when I started which was and I quote "If you stop f***ing shaking so much you might hit a few more". Any way I find snap shooting work better for me standing I can't hold a rifle still to save myself while standing.

Originally Posted by Bagheera

Hi Joe,

Practice is good but you need to practice good technique.
Mimms is right - it starts with the feet and whatever part of you is on the ground.
Technique and specially position do vary depending on how long your arms legs and stuff are but there are fundamental principles.
I've outlined them in as rough and ready sort of way here on an old forum post.

I'd start by shooting on paper where you can see your misses. Steel gives little learning - its for fun and competition. Also, on paper you will be able to adjust your zero and know your trajectory, two things that are often left to guesswork by plinkers.

Rabbit shooting is very demanding of accurate shooting technique. A rabbit at 50m is equivalent to a chamois at 300m. No mean feat.

I've tried to quote the things from that thread but can't make it pretty.

Two comments slightly different from your recommend:
Shot should be released on a 2/3rds exhale. This is the point when the body has optimum balance of oxygen, and before you start to lose focus with the inhale reflex.

"Dry fire with the big gun" - I say, Practice with what you use. Easy to develop bad habits/ a flinch with recoil. I feel the difference between CCI minimags and Winchester Super-X (but I put either in the bullseye at 50 yards) but I also find the punch of a .308 comforting, and a .60 black powder fooomf can't be beat.
I deffo agree that dry fire will familiarise you with the trigger, but it's the effect-on-target that is what we're aiming for (terrible pun, sorry) which is everything from trigger till the slug leaves the tube.

Hi Mimms,

Thanks for reading and adding to my outline in the other post. It's by no means the last word and all recommendations are welcome !

You're right of course, you don't shoot from having forced all breath out of your lungs. I would have called it a comfortable 80-90% pretty much as when you're breathing normally.

Regarding dry firing, the difference with a centrefire is that you can practice hundreds of shots in your own home without making as racket. I usually set up a target at 20m and do 5x standing (deliberate), 5x kneeling, 5x sitting 5x prone and 5 x snap, starting with the rifle slung over my shoulder from standing in 4 different directions bringing the gun up and firing in 1 second.

Lead on paper gives the best feedback, although its not quite as good for checking sub parts of technique like trigger release, flinch and follow through. I try and do some positional shooting in live fire at the range when I get the chance if I'm sighting in or rifle testing. I also shoot 4 positions twice a month with the 22, indoor so don't do much dry fire with that. Its harder to arrange dry fire with a 22 because there aren't any durable snapcaps and rimfire mechanisms all hit the firing pin onto the chamber and the manufacturers don't recommend it. They don't recommend doing hundreds with a centrefire either but a dozens seems OK.

For sure, you need to practice with the gun you're going to use and its best not to have too many different ones as far as skills is concerned.