Shooting or Stock Tips?

[spoonover]

Apr 4, 2011 14:43:01 GMT -5 ozark said:

I will tackle explaining the wobble area and suggest a way to decrease its size. While holding a rife or pistol as steady as possible while aiming at a target or animal part without using a rest of any sort the sight picture will not stay rock solid. The shooter will observe that sight picture is moving about. It will be dead on for an instant and then move away in some direction or another. The area the sight picture move within is the wobble area. As a rule a shooter cannot shoot a group smaller than their individual wobble area.
There are several methods of decreasing the size of your wobble area but it requires some effort and training. First learning how to hold the rifle, stance, breathing and concentrating can help. Dry firing an hour or so daily while holding the rifle correctly builds up the correct muscles and the wobble area decreases in size. I need to emphasize here that getting a natural point of aim is essential.
Above I mentioned that as a rule you cannot shoot groups smaller than your wobble area. With much work of body stance, mussel training, proper holding and cheeking the rifle one can discover the pattern of their wobble area. In my case the sight picture enters the bullseye at seven O:Clock. works across the bullseye to go out at two. It then wanders around toward six and out before heading back to the seven O:Clock entry. Since I know the pattern I can increase pressure on the trigger as it enters. Resist the urge to yank it while everything is pretty. If it doesn't go off wait until it makes its round and starts in again. In this manner you can cheat on the wobble area a bit.
I will stop here as this hopefully explains the wobble area. If some wants more on how to hold the rifle, how to position the body and become a good offhand shooter between The Rifleman and I we can guide you along. But, there is work to do and we can't do that for you.
A couple of years ago Rifleman wrote an excellent lesson on offhand shooting. It may be in the hints and tips. It was reading his post back then that made me know he was the real McCoy. I knew he had been there.
Edge this wasn't meant for you in particular. I just hope it helps many.

I have this in my notes and have tried and it works. Patrick Smith has a backpacking forum. Well worth the read I think!

www.kifaruforums.net/archive/index.php/t-18209.html

[ozark]

Very good read. I agree. Ben

[edge]

I went back to the Tips and re-read Rifleman's and Ozark's posts on off-hand shooting and calling the shots.

Off-hand I have never shot with the fist and have generally strangled the forend in an attempt to hold the rifle still. Shotgun hunting makes you use that hand to guide the shotgun and it is a hard thing to unlearn .

I like the idea of mashing the trigger and will try that.

edge.

[Jon]

Very interesting post and am trying to learn all I can.
Jon

[Rifleman]

One thing about trigger control, the key word is control. Like Ben said, straight back under control, it can be fast, it can be slow, but it must be under your control. One can shoot where the squeeze of the trigger is so slow it is a surprise when the sear breaks, this is what I do from the bench shooting for my best group. I find that when I shoot a rifle that is one that is new to me, it is a surprise when the trigger breaks, but I have shot so much, even then it does not take long for me to know when it is going to go. So the surprise thing does not hold as much water for the experienced shooter as the newbie. With a rifle that is an old friend, and when shooting in a position less stable then the bench, I apply pressure steady and straight back but now pay attention here is a key element, when the sights are outside of the acceptable hit area, I hold my spot in line so to say, as it relates to the pressure on the trigger. Think of it this way, I have a trigger that breaks at 5 lbs. I am holding 4 lbs on the trigger as I see the sights start to leave center, but as it comes back in, I apply the final little bit until it breaks clean. This takes alot of practice and when learning this you will get some really bad shots.This is a much quicker application of trigger control. Watch any experienced rifle team take off hand practice at the 200 yd line, and every now and then someone will send a really bad shot down range and skip one across the top of the berm. Quite funny when it happens to your buddy, LOL. Good shooting requires one to know when a shot must be perfect and when good enough is good enough. At 100 yds the kill zone on a big game animal is quite large and if he is hinky and getting ready to run one does not need to screw around all day trying to hit an inch target.

[deadon]

This has probably been mentioned before but when I am locked in, bench shooting, It seems to me that every heartbeat my rifle is moving a hair to the right. I shoot right handed. I am still working on and have been for 50 yrs to be able to pull the trigger when the cross hairs go back left and are on target. When I get there I will be home in my shooting world. Don't know if I am even expressing this correctly. Rusty

[DBinNY]

I know I'm a trigger masher too when shooting a deer at a reasonable range (like Wilms says). I also know when it's going off from having shot it a lot (like R-Man says). I think that the weight of the Savage combined with the decent trigger and the fast lock time results in hitting deer exactly where I expect to based upon the sight picture when I mash it. I believe that all of these elements contribute significantly to success with this weapon. Long range shots at woodchucks require a more deliberate squeeze.

My pre-WWII Savage model 23D .22 Hornet with the worlds worst trigger and overall light weight requires a completely different approach ;D.

[dans]

Hey guys, I have learned a bunch from reading through this thread. Explains why I get an annoying flyer every once in a while.