Thread: Smallbore shooting

good on the young fella!!

I found when I started smallbore there was not a lot of coaching available. I shot in auckland so there were some very good shooters around to ask a few questions of. If I did some reading I would ask one or two of them if thats how they shot and usually get some good advise.

Early on I bought a copy of 'ways of the rifle'. It was good for starting out in smallbore and one I would recommend if you are the type to learn through reading.

I went in to mastergrade in my first year and if I was to put it down to one thing it was concentrating on getting my natural point of aim for every shot. So when I come up on a target and I am fully relaxed and exhale, the sight picture is good. If I have to slightly push, pull, drop or lift a shoulder etc to get that sight picture then I was not at my natural point of aim and the chances of a 10.1 were a lot less.

It does take practice and patience and early on you might feel like you are really running against the clock to make it but I think to get to a _consistent_ high level you have to do it. Once you are used to it it's not hard and often it's a tiny tweak in position like you are low on the target and your right foot toes goes back a tiny bit, just enough that when you relax, exhale you are dead on the target without any muscle input trying to correct your sight picture.

If your area has something like a SCATT device you might be able to book it for a week later on to check if you have any other issues like trigger pull, holding too long etc.. I bought one at some time and it was a great tool to tell you how you are going but I was never one to put in long stints of dry firing...

Good luck!

PS, as mentioned by others, often the last shots, especially on a 20 card become difficult. They are right, it can be mental and the pressure can come on if you have shot 17+ 10's up to that point but it is also where you can really start to fall out of position. The body has had to move a lot to get to the far left to the far right. This is where if you dont use the natural point of aim you start to hold and force the rifle in to position because your body as fallen down and/or NPA is still to the left where you originally started. Practice acquiring the NPA and the right hand targets will be as good as the left. Of course, all just in my experience

@res
Shot 100.6 (with scope last week), doing exactly what you've suggested - changing direction around the 10/1 targets.
First card 97.4 through my usual cycle, reversed the cycle direction on the second card - 100.6!
Young Sean - there's lots of good advice here.
Thanks @zimmer for the chart - just have to work out how to print it off.
Will be very useful for teaching purposes on Tuesdays, when we have local colleges preparing their shooters for the inter-Collegiates in October.

Thanks for all the advice team.

10 and 1 again tonight
Much improvement

On last weeks effort but we were dealing with health issues and other shit it in the family that might of lacked concentration.

Good effort @Sean remember to move your body with the targets as tonight your legs never moved.

Yea, have to move those legs and hips. You have time to re set up several times per shot if needed-a good breathing routine (I like 3-5 breath cycles depending on how much stress I'm trying to work out of my body/mind)with your eyes shut until your at the point in your breathing that you choose to shoot at(personally I use a point just above empty that I find fairly repeatable due to a rib touching down on the floor at the point-I should point out its a damaged rib so won't work for everyone) then open to check what your natural point of aim is-you shouldn't be having to mussel the rifle on. If it's not pointing at a ten I reset up my body or check it by relaxing and doing the breathing thing again-you do have time. Once I'm happy with my natural point of aim I start breathing through my cycle (the rifle should be going perfectly up and down with no side to side if you have your position right) while applying pressure to the trigger and doing minute movements of the hips to get things alined on the .1 it my vision start to fade before the trigger brakes I start the whole breathing cycle again.

Just what I find works for me

Some great tips there from @res
Not sure if covered though but when settling in to your natural position either close your eyes or glance to one side, go through your breathing routine, and then open eyes and see where your sights are pointing. Make adjustments as required and recheck.

I assume everyone now shoots the modified Estonian position (right leg drawn up) rather than "army". Estonian raises the chest and reduces the effect of diaphragm motion.

Don't hold your shots too long. Something I was guilty of - little voice in head saying "she'll be right", it seldom was. The longer you hold a situation called retina burn in occurs where you think you are still nicely holding the bull - you are not. I used to stop and restart the sequence. Sometimes would even raise and close bolt and proceed.

Shooting with both eyes open is another area of discussion.

Unfortunately, trying to follow all technique advise at once just screws up a young shooter and takes some of the fun out of it, although once you have been shooting for a while you become keen to improve obviously and apply all advise but better to concentrate on only few a facets initially - position and breathing.

And once everything is mastered you can then progress to subconsciously firing the shot between heartbeats, oh and you have slowed your heartbeat as well ha ha.

The both eyes open helped me heaps. Dad made a blinder from a matt grey plastic (think it was a 20l drum) and a magnet from a door catch. The key here is a neutral color, ie not white or black.
Also had one of those flappy hats with the side flaps. Reduced eye strain heaps and targets alot clearer.

I was (still am....) a fast shooter. I would spend time getting all sorted, timer starters, sighters sort of slow. Then 2nd from top left, then top left, around anti clockwise, second to last on card would be 2nd from top right, last top right. Again heaps of theories on shooting order, but that worked for me (taught by NZ rep, and the reasoning was it the same difference every shot, and lined you up for second card.


Well done Sean and keep at it! I have found it was a great foundation in accurate shooting - anything.

Another vote for both eyes open, judged a magnetic blinder for years but now just have both open with nothing blocking my view-I do the same when using a scope for hunting

Both eyes open for sure! For me anyway I used a blinder on the rifle and used milk bottle plastic.

If it wasn't already mentioned the pupils dilate in sympathy with one another so when you close one eye your pupil in both eyes will dilate open which may not be what is ideal for the eye looking through the sight.

It was the last night tonight. Parent kids shootout. A great turn out.

Sean shot his personal best.

My first attempt at smallbore

Originally Posted by Dundee

It was the last night tonight. Parent kids shootout. A great turn out.
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Sean shot his personal best.
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My first attempt at smallbore
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Good work @Sean

I see the Adults cheated ........... Again.

Cheers
Pete

Spotted in teh paper this morning.

Rotorua teen shooter aims for Olympics (+video) - Sport - Rotorua Daily Post News

13 year new shooter hits 100.07

Young eyes and good technique are a wonderful combo. Well done to her