The Ghost in the Darkness!

[RMulhern]

So you can't shoot consistent groups and have erratic accuracy with your BPCR. Well...listen up...and just possibly the advice I'm going to give may enhance your performance level! This dissertation is assuming that you have taken the time to develop an accurate load for your rifle and that you are capable of loading accurate ammunition! For more than several years I shot a course of fire called the Dewar Course! It's fired using the .22 Long Rifle cartridge and consist of 20 shots from 50 yards and 20 shots from 100 yards using a 'little bitty' scoring ring! A half-*** accurate rifle......won't do! It had to be a very accurate rifle. I always shot a Winchester M52 with heavy barrel which would literally drive tacks if I did my part. Iron sights were the norm although there were some scope matches allowed which we shot. So...what's .22 Long Rifle got to do with BPCR? The answer is.....EVERYTHING!! Why? Because the speed of the bullet very closely approximates the speed of BPCR projectiles! Any smallbore shooter in competition .22 caliber worth their salt knows that FOLLOW-THROUGH at shot break means either a hit where intended or a miss! It's just that simple and I've never known a worthy opponent that I shot against in smallbore competition that couldn't call their shot....EVERY TIME! And to be able to make an accurate 'call'....follow-through is imperative! This is easier stated...than done using projectiles that weigh upwards of say 500 to 560 grs. weight and kicked in the *** end by as much as 110 grs. of blackpowder! Accomplishing follow-through is best achieved with much trigger-pulling time and by the shooter using his/her vision in the correct manner which means that if the shooter is using say an aperture front sight or a post front sight that the vision at shot break must be upon the front sight and seen very clearly with the bullseye seen as a distant blurr! The eye CANNOT FOCUS ON TWO DIFFERENT OBJECTS AT THE SAME TIME which is just a simple fact of nature therefore the vision must be upon the front sight while the shot is being broken! The only way that shooters can call their shots accurately is by having their vision focused upon the front sight such that THEY CAN SEE where the front sight is in relation to the bullseye at...and during recoil! To accomplish this mission the shooters head and cheek must remain down upon the comb of the stock! The previous sentence is most important because contrary to what some of you have always heard...the eye will not automatically center the rear sight aperture. If the head and cheek are not placed into the same position upon the comb of the stock the eye will not center the rear eyepiece! My friend David Tubb refers to this as rear sight fade and it will cost you points....and erratic groups! Many shooters coming into the game of BPCR oft times have been smokeless powder shooters most of their lives and there is a world of difference betwixt the speed of jacketed smokeless powder projectiles and those of cast lead bullets and blackpowder! Barrel time means everything and the lag time betwixt the two disciplines is huge. Anyone coming into the game of BPCR that is not prepared to learn and pay attention to the iron-clad rules of marksmanship, which are non-yielding in their nature is, in my opinion, fighting a losing battle! If BPCR shooters cannot master the art of firing and calling their shots, good groups and scores will forever remain like the ghost in the darkness!!

[Dan Cash]

I fail your stated principles in so many ways that it is a miracle any shot connects. On the occasions when I do well, rules have been followed with excellent results. Like salvation, one has to keep working at it.

[Doc Highwall]

I agree 100% with RMulhern. Adding to his statement about stock/check weld and eye placement. You have sight alignment and you have target alignment.

Coming from high-power to small-bore shooting was a real eye opener as to follow through because of muzzle velocity.

I have learned that your eye has to be lined up exactly with the rear aperture looking at your front sight perfectly centered with equal light all around or your group will open up considerably with what some people call fliers.

Of the two sight alignment is more important!
Example #1, you are shooting 100 yards and your front and rear sights are 36” apart meaning you have a 1:100 Ratio, and for every .001” you are off with your sight alignment means you are off .100” off at the target.

Example #2, your eye is off sight alignment .010” because you are not set up right with your stock/check weld. This means all your shots will open your group by 1” in what ever direction you are off.

[Chill Wills]

'....follow-through is imperative! This is easier stated...than done using projectiles that weigh upwards of say 500 to 560 grs. weight and kicked in the *** end by as much as 110 grs. of blackpowder! Accomplishing follow-through is best achieved with much trigger-pulling time :!:

There is lots to know and get right in BPCR competition but this quote describes where most of the guys have trouble putting it all together prone on match day.

[6.5 mike]

Thanks for the reminder Rick, something I need to pay more attention to.

[bigted]

just reading thru this post again and I for 1 need to follow more closely the principles set forth above...with the exception of the second poster...

if my salvation were contingent on my performance then ... like the elusive uncalled shot ... id be sunk :shock: ...thank goodness I got over that train of thought and bondage!!!

anyway ... now ill jump down off my soap box and return to the subject at hand..........thanks Rick for the reminder that ALL is not respective to ones ability at the loading table. the trigger action is as ..or.. more impotent then any other portion of this habit forming pastime.

[300winmag]

Ghost in the Darkness!
That was a good movie.

[Good Cheer]

RMulhern, you called that one.

[BruceB]

Ahem.... it's actually "The Ghost AND The Darkness".

No matter though, still an excellent movie.

[RMulhern]

Ahem.... it's actually "The Ghost AND The Darkness".

No matter though, still an excellent movie.

In this case...it was "The Ghost IN The Darkness!"

[Gray Fox]

The same thing applies even more so to consistent accurate muzzleloader shooting, regardless of the ignition system. If you really want to learn follow through try shooting at a 50 yard target with a crossbow. GF

[Lead pot]

In this case...it was "The Ghost IN The Darkness!"

And there are a lot of shooters that shoot in the darkness :-)

[kokomokid]

I want to thank RM for putting me on to knobloch glasses and wish I had started bpcr before cataracts and floaters. LB

[KCSO]

Many years ago when I started with a BB gun I was taught to call each shot. You have hit a large nail right on the head.

[Matt85]

thanks for the reminder, follow threw is so often forgotten especially with heavy hitting bp cartridges like 45-70 and up. im off to the range tomorrow and will do my best to practice as many of the proper shooting techniques as I can remember.



Ahem.... it's actually "The Ghost AND The Darkness".

No matter though, still an excellent movie.

the quoted movie however, is just awful. calling the main character of hunter of any kind would be an embarrassment to hunters everywhere! i tried watching it again recently and couldn't do it. the scene that just gets me every time is when he has the lion out in the open eating a person and is given all the time in the world to take a shot but for unknown reasons waits until both lions have run off into the tall grass to take a wild shot at nothing. sorry for going off topic, but that is just a terrible movie!

-matt