Simple practice shooting question

I'm just getting back into shooting with the aim of hunting, and wondering about range practice. This probably has a very intuitive simple answer, but I want to check I'm not being daft.

If I'm shooting a rimfire .22 on the range, and shooting a higher calibre on a hunt, I'm still going to benefit from range practice with a .22 right? I know handling and recoil are different, but cost of shooting tens of .22 vs anything centrefire is so much less which is why I'm considering this. Of course I'd shoot with centrefire at range too, but likely 80/20 split to save some $.

So is it worth me using a .22 for practice, or should I just bite the bullet so to speak, and shoot centrefire at distance on range repeatedly?

New to hunting so I'm all ears to any advice and opinions.

definately...100% valuable..trigger control,breathing,hold,are all the same....and believe it or not a .22lr does recoil a LITTLE so a firm hold helps too..if you dont believe me on the recoil,hold but plate against chin and fire round LOL.

Practice with a 22 is fundamental to becoming a decent marksman - show me a shooter who practices with their 22 and you'll have a person who has good position, trigger release/followthru, can read wind and understands trajectory. . ..

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Originally Posted by pickled_puck

I'm just getting back into shooting with the aim of hunting, and wondering about range practice. This probably has a very intuitive simple answer, but I want to check I'm not being daft.

If I'm shooting a rimfire .22 on the range, and shooting a higher calibre on a hunt, I'm still going to benefit from range practice with a .22 right? I know handling and recoil are different, but cost of shooting tens of .22 vs anything centrefire is so much less which is why I'm considering this. Of course I'd shoot with centrefire at range too, but likely 80/20 split to save some $.

So is it worth me using a .22 for practice, or should I just bite the bullet so to speak, and shoot centrefire at distance on range repeatedly?

New to hunting so I'm all ears to any advice and opinions.

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absolutely practice practice but vary it mix up shooting prone or of a bench to try for tight grouping teaches trigger control relaxing breathing and hold then try off hand standing kneeling many shots bush hunting have to be taken in a hurry - deer dont stand still for long and can be gone very quickly - so practice your technique - I taught myself to bring rifle down onto deer rather than come up onto target - my theory being I would rather shoot low than over the top - yes practice and when you get your deer rifle do the same - regard deer as a target to place your shot into

Awesome, thanks team, .22 practice it is!

Cant do now with new range rules/ cone of fire etc but chasing a golf ball on ground at 25m plus standing is great practise or a clay terget at 100m with your hunting rifle snap shooting will soon tell you if you are in the zone .

Even an air rifle, offhand, is good.

The only negative to practice with a 22 is that it can be shot with a lighter grip than a centre fire. The negative being that the brain is trained to a soft grip. Knowing that, if a concious effort is made to pull the 22 hard to the shoulder and grip the fore-end firmly, the practice will be transferable and valuable

And it might seem boring but dry firing (without actaully cocking just going thru the motions of hold and trigger repease) with your centrefire has huge benefit. If you can put up with the boring aspect of it. Offhand only, most avoid practising offhand.

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Originally Posted by zimmer

And it might seem boring but dry firing (without actaully cocking just going thru the motions of hold and trigger repease) with your centrefire has huge benefit. If you can put up with the boring aspect of it. Offhand only, most avoid practising offhand.

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Why avoid offhand? Most of my practice with the. 22 air rifle are offhand because this is the most likely shooting position in the bush where I hunt. I figured offhand dry firing with my centerfire would be useful.

Identify your target beyond all doubt because you never miss (right?) and I'll be missed.

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Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

The only negative to practice with a 22 is that it can be shot with a lighter grip than a centre fire. The negative being that the brain is trained to a soft grip. Knowing that, if a concious effort is made to pull the 22 hard to the shoulder and grip the fore-end firmly, the practice will be transferable and valuable

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Hey Moa - if you try and practise you can shoot even "snotty" rifles with a light hold, and guess what, they'll shoot better for it - the firm hold thing is a function of your sub conscious being uncontrolled.

25 years ago I got a flinch shooting a 7x57, and I fooled around a lot to alleviate it (things like light loads etc) but after a while I went after the problem from a psychological perspective and that both permanently cured the flinch and improved my shooting. Physiological things like top notch earmuffs, suppressors and muzzle brakes can help too.

As a range officer I see heaps of guys "clinging" to their rifle, I get them set up on the bench, explain natural point of aim, have them dry fire till they are doing it with a totally relaxed trigger hand and then enjoy it as their next group is half what they previously shot!

Agree with the previous comments. It would be sweet to have a rimfire and centrefire in the same format for this purpose (e.g. T1X/T3x).

Yes as the others have said you can't go wrong practicing with your .22. cheap, effective, back to the basic principles, without the other detractors such as cost, recoil, muzzle climb etc. I shoot a .22 most days.

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Originally Posted by MB

Agree with the previous comments. It would be sweet to have a rimfire and centrefire in the same format for this purpose (e.g. T1X/T3x).

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yip I have a t1x, T3x 223 and creed. When i pick up the centrefires its just like grabbing the T1x on the range ( lol until the " bang")

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Originally Posted by Tentman

Hey Moa - if you try and practise you can shoot even "snotty" rifles with a light hold, and guess what, they'll shoot better for it - the firm hold thing is a function of your sub conscious being uncontrolled.

25 years ago I got a flinch shooting a 7x57, and I fooled around a lot to alleviate it (things like light loads etc) but after a while I went after the problem from a psychological perspective and that both permanently cured the flinch and improved my shooting. Physiological things like top notch earmuffs, suppressors and muzzle brakes can help too.

As a range officer I see heaps of guys "clinging" to their rifle, I get them set up on the bench, explain natural point of aim, have them dry fire till they are doing it with a totally relaxed trigger hand and then enjoy it as their next group is half what they previously shot!

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I see now I wasnt clear about my reasoning. Most centrefires are heavier than 22's and so need a firmer, stronger grip to shoot - well for me anyway. I have found that for offhand shooting even with a 22, a firm grip and hard pull to the shoulder is better for a quick accurate shot. So I wasnt thinking so much about recoil as a solid grip to counter the rifle weight

some on here recommend dry firing - and yes good practice with a centerfire especially for trigger control and breathing - but just in case ya did not know absolutely not with a rim fire - many will contact firing pin onto breech resulting in firing pin damage

Many of the "modern" 22 designs are fine to dryfire, Rugers, CZs, Savages etc. Tikka and Anschutz a bit less so.

I believe it's fine to dry fire my CZ 452, think it even says so in the manual, but you hear different things. I dry fire it before it goes back in the gun safe, but don't sit there pulling the trigger hundreds of times.

Older 22s where the bolt faces are flat generally shouldn't be dry fired as it can cause distortion of the rear of the chamber.

Bolt faces which are rebated to hold the cartridge can mostly be dry fired but check by decocking the bolt and put a straight edge across the face. If the firing pin is not proud it will not hit and damage the chamber rear.

I'm still not a fan of lots of dry firing even if the firing pin doesn't protrude far enough to do damage. The reason for this is most firing pins have a shoulder which when dry firing stops the firing pin travel. (No case to cushion or limit travel.) IMO constant wacking of the shoulder may lead to damage. May take thousands but.....

I once broke the bolt head locking pin on my old Omark dry firing. The shoulder on the firing pin was stopped by the locking pin leading to a crack. A damaged bolt head retaing pin in an Omark is not desirable.

I have 2 Walthers that are safe to dry fire, well not in the true sense. I can cycle the bolts but leave them unclosed and something latches and I can dry fire them as though they are cocked.

The issue also comes up as to how do you leave your semi auto. Both my Marlin and my Browning I just close the slide/bolt and pull the trigger. I don't think minimal dry firing like this is too much of an issue.

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Originally Posted by muzza

Why not buy some snap caps or dummy rounds so you can practice at home. A photo of your mother in law or the former pm would likely make a good practise target

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After reading about them on the Rimfire Central Forum I bought some packets of concrete anchors off Amazon or Ebay, cannot remember which. Much cheaper than being rorted for snap caps locally. The particular size anchors I bought are correct for a 22 chamber and will also feed out of a mag like the real thing, and eject properly. Use them a few times, turning them in the chamber, throw away.

Some dummy rounds are useless for dry firing, only designed to check cycling function. I used to use a nice red plastic 308 one to dry fire my 308 range rifle prior to firing my sighters. It had a sprung thingee inside it. Problem was the spring was so piss weak I doubted it cushioned the firing pin fall at all.