Blackwater
10-10-2014, 06:29 PM
Just had some time to devote to this, so I'll post it in hopes it might help some of you who are relatively new to shooting, and haven't had someone to really teach you how to get better quickly. An awful lot of folks are getting into shooting these days, and have never really been exposed to these concepts, so I humbly present my experience in hopes you'll benefit.
Almost from the first time I started shooting my little BB gun, I noticed I had to do a lot more than just point it in the general direction of the sparrows I pestered with it. Got Dad, an ol' Marine, to teach me how to line up the sights. Naturally, that helped, but smoothbore BB guns aren't exactly noted for tack-hole accuracy, so I tried everything I could, including looking OVER the sights so I could see the BB in flight, and work things out as best I could. Never got much in the way of accuracy, but I kept trying anyway. Then came the magic day when I got a .22 with a RIFLED barrel! WOW! What a change. I began to learn as much about the sights, and how to adjust them so the bullet hit at the top of my front sight when it was in the right place in the rear sight. DANG! I found I could hit a lot of stuff I'd only dreamed about now! That was a revellation, and I've never ceased to be fascinated about just how accurate these rifles and pistols CAN be, but each step of the way, I had to learn things that helped me get all I could out of them. Here's some of the things I've learned, and by all means chip in with little "secrets" that you've learned too.
First off, I found that nobody can hold a gun perfectly still, but with exercise, conditioning and practice, we can almost always get a lot better than we originally suspected we can. We just have to give it an honest and diligent TRY. That's all. As our physical condition goes up, we always shoot better. Practice is good, but ONLY PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT (or nearly so) RESULTS. So I had to learn what perfect practice was.
In pursuit of this, I found that the way I gripped the handguns really made a difference in POI and consistency. With trial and experimentation, I found that the firmer the grip, the better and more consistently I shot, and the smaller my groups would be. BUT, and here's the key - it had to be firm AND CONSISTENT. Vary the way I held it, and POI would vary and groups opened up. OK, a lesson learnt! So I then began working on developing a firm and consistent grip, and it worked! Nothing like success, is there? I was happy, but to get better still, I had to have VERY consistent and accurate loads. To get those, I had to eliminate all, or as much as I could, of the wobble my hands inevitably would produce, especially in long sessions where the muscles got tired, and my shooting would taper off in accuracy.
Next solution: a good, solid rest, of course, but even there I had some things to learn yet again. I learned that resting a single action's barrel, with its ejector rod set at an angle on the barrel, didn't do well when I rested the barrel. So, I started experimenting again and found that the best I could get was when the front of the frame (in front of the trigger guard) was resting on the sand bags, and my hands gripped it just like I was shooting offhand. Two hands were used, of course. They're a LOT better than one when you're testing the load, rather than your own ability, and the loads DID have to be tested as consistently as possible for me to get better ability. Can't tell whether it was you or the load if you aren't sure the load is very accurate. Simple. And it works, too.
Autos worked with the frame on the bags as long as that portion of the pistol doesn't move when shot.
Double action revolvers could work well when the barrel is rested - no ejector rod housing to try to twist it on the bags - but I still got better, more consistent results when I rested the front of the frame as I had with the SA's. I figued out that this was because the gun was freer to recoil as it wanted to. When I'd been resting the barrel, the bottom of the grips were just ever so slightly off the surface of the bench, and they'd often hit the bench top in recoil, throwing the shot before it left the barrel. That's when I learned that the bottom of the grip can't touch anything at all while in recoil, if I wanted to get the consistency I was after.
As to the "surprise fire" method, where the shooter doesn't know when the gun's going off, I found it to not work for me. Even on a bench, unless the wrists are supported perfectly, which takes more time than I often wanted to spend, there's still a tiny bit of wobble, and variation, but at least things were coming together for me in a very satisfying way.
Sight alignment is ALWAYS a significant factor, and that fell into place along the way, too. Once you get the gun steady on a good rest, that comes pretty easy. However, we've all got eyes that vary in their accuity, and I wasn't particularly blessed here, so I learned to "feel" the blurs pretty good, and accuracy was really getting interesting.
The trigger pull was also a factor, and somewhere in there, I learned to pull a single action's trigger without disturbing alignment during that long, relatively slow hammer fall. Follow through is CRUCIAL, and most especially so with single actions. Keeping that barrel and sights aligned during hammer fall can and DOES most assuredly affect where them danged ol' bullets hit!
I haven't shot like I used to for about 15 years now, and I'm hoping/planning/preparing to get back "into" this, and regain at least SOME of what I once had in skill. Health problems and "the dimming eyes of old age" don't promise to deliver quite what I once had, but I've always loved a challenge, and I know it'll darn sure be a big improvement, and probably won't take all that long to get a significant portion of what I once had back again.
What I'll do then, is practice fast repeat shots, and see if I can still catch a "flash" sight picture when doing so. THAT will likely be the biggest challenge I'll face, other than my eyesight.
And for those of you who are older, and like the .45 1911's, I just got some LPA adj. sights put on my pair of old Commanders, and I can SEE those! They're white outline, and very bold, so I can see them even in dimming light. I got them because I THOUGHT they'd do the best of any I've seen, and for once at least, I think I hit the nail on the head. Eyes vary, though, but you might want to give them a look if your eyes are having trouble seeing your sights, especially when the light dims.
Other than the above, and the discipline and desire to see it through, all that's required is a humble attitude so you don't keep doing the same ol' things the same ol' way, and getting the same ol' results.
Shoot with someone who's significantly better than you are right now, and try to get better than he is. Might as well set a high goal, right? And danged if some don't actually pull it off, too! No kiddin'! I've always shot with a guy who was blessed with a pair of (to me) unbelievably great eyes. He's gitting a bit long in the tooth, too, but his eyes are still far better than mine. However, despite this, I've always been able to keep him honest, and at least give him a little run for his money, and provided the light was good, could nearly match him. Better eyes sure would help, but .... we play the game we've got, right? Not a lotta' choice there!
I'm sure I've left out a bunch, and some of you can add much here, but we can't get any better than our loads, and we can't check our loads if our abilities are only mediocre, so .... give 'er a try, and see what you can REALLY do. You'll likely surprise yourself. Improve your loads, and you'll want to improve your skills, and the cycle never ends. But it IS always FUN!
An don't forget, when you get good at slow fire, try some rapid fire, just to keep you humble and on the learning curve, and see just how good you can get. "Instinctive" shooting CAN be learned, but don't expect progress quite as fast as you got with sighted fire. Once you're up to speed, you'll find yourself almost "accidentally" picking up that flash sight picture, and you'll likely be surprised at how quickly you can do even that. It's amazing what we can do when we just try, and apply ourselves humbly to the task. Good luck!
Almost from the first time I started shooting my little BB gun, I noticed I had to do a lot more than just point it in the general direction of the sparrows I pestered with it. Got Dad, an ol' Marine, to teach me how to line up the sights. Naturally, that helped, but smoothbore BB guns aren't exactly noted for tack-hole accuracy, so I tried everything I could, including looking OVER the sights so I could see the BB in flight, and work things out as best I could. Never got much in the way of accuracy, but I kept trying anyway. Then came the magic day when I got a .22 with a RIFLED barrel! WOW! What a change. I began to learn as much about the sights, and how to adjust them so the bullet hit at the top of my front sight when it was in the right place in the rear sight. DANG! I found I could hit a lot of stuff I'd only dreamed about now! That was a revellation, and I've never ceased to be fascinated about just how accurate these rifles and pistols CAN be, but each step of the way, I had to learn things that helped me get all I could out of them. Here's some of the things I've learned, and by all means chip in with little "secrets" that you've learned too.
First off, I found that nobody can hold a gun perfectly still, but with exercise, conditioning and practice, we can almost always get a lot better than we originally suspected we can. We just have to give it an honest and diligent TRY. That's all. As our physical condition goes up, we always shoot better. Practice is good, but ONLY PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT (or nearly so) RESULTS. So I had to learn what perfect practice was.
In pursuit of this, I found that the way I gripped the handguns really made a difference in POI and consistency. With trial and experimentation, I found that the firmer the grip, the better and more consistently I shot, and the smaller my groups would be. BUT, and here's the key - it had to be firm AND CONSISTENT. Vary the way I held it, and POI would vary and groups opened up. OK, a lesson learnt! So I then began working on developing a firm and consistent grip, and it worked! Nothing like success, is there? I was happy, but to get better still, I had to have VERY consistent and accurate loads. To get those, I had to eliminate all, or as much as I could, of the wobble my hands inevitably would produce, especially in long sessions where the muscles got tired, and my shooting would taper off in accuracy.
Next solution: a good, solid rest, of course, but even there I had some things to learn yet again. I learned that resting a single action's barrel, with its ejector rod set at an angle on the barrel, didn't do well when I rested the barrel. So, I started experimenting again and found that the best I could get was when the front of the frame (in front of the trigger guard) was resting on the sand bags, and my hands gripped it just like I was shooting offhand. Two hands were used, of course. They're a LOT better than one when you're testing the load, rather than your own ability, and the loads DID have to be tested as consistently as possible for me to get better ability. Can't tell whether it was you or the load if you aren't sure the load is very accurate. Simple. And it works, too.
Autos worked with the frame on the bags as long as that portion of the pistol doesn't move when shot.
Double action revolvers could work well when the barrel is rested - no ejector rod housing to try to twist it on the bags - but I still got better, more consistent results when I rested the front of the frame as I had with the SA's. I figued out that this was because the gun was freer to recoil as it wanted to. When I'd been resting the barrel, the bottom of the grips were just ever so slightly off the surface of the bench, and they'd often hit the bench top in recoil, throwing the shot before it left the barrel. That's when I learned that the bottom of the grip can't touch anything at all while in recoil, if I wanted to get the consistency I was after.
As to the "surprise fire" method, where the shooter doesn't know when the gun's going off, I found it to not work for me. Even on a bench, unless the wrists are supported perfectly, which takes more time than I often wanted to spend, there's still a tiny bit of wobble, and variation, but at least things were coming together for me in a very satisfying way.
Sight alignment is ALWAYS a significant factor, and that fell into place along the way, too. Once you get the gun steady on a good rest, that comes pretty easy. However, we've all got eyes that vary in their accuity, and I wasn't particularly blessed here, so I learned to "feel" the blurs pretty good, and accuracy was really getting interesting.
The trigger pull was also a factor, and somewhere in there, I learned to pull a single action's trigger without disturbing alignment during that long, relatively slow hammer fall. Follow through is CRUCIAL, and most especially so with single actions. Keeping that barrel and sights aligned during hammer fall can and DOES most assuredly affect where them danged ol' bullets hit!
I haven't shot like I used to for about 15 years now, and I'm hoping/planning/preparing to get back "into" this, and regain at least SOME of what I once had in skill. Health problems and "the dimming eyes of old age" don't promise to deliver quite what I once had, but I've always loved a challenge, and I know it'll darn sure be a big improvement, and probably won't take all that long to get a significant portion of what I once had back again.
What I'll do then, is practice fast repeat shots, and see if I can still catch a "flash" sight picture when doing so. THAT will likely be the biggest challenge I'll face, other than my eyesight.
And for those of you who are older, and like the .45 1911's, I just got some LPA adj. sights put on my pair of old Commanders, and I can SEE those! They're white outline, and very bold, so I can see them even in dimming light. I got them because I THOUGHT they'd do the best of any I've seen, and for once at least, I think I hit the nail on the head. Eyes vary, though, but you might want to give them a look if your eyes are having trouble seeing your sights, especially when the light dims.
Other than the above, and the discipline and desire to see it through, all that's required is a humble attitude so you don't keep doing the same ol' things the same ol' way, and getting the same ol' results.
Shoot with someone who's significantly better than you are right now, and try to get better than he is. Might as well set a high goal, right? And danged if some don't actually pull it off, too! No kiddin'! I've always shot with a guy who was blessed with a pair of (to me) unbelievably great eyes. He's gitting a bit long in the tooth, too, but his eyes are still far better than mine. However, despite this, I've always been able to keep him honest, and at least give him a little run for his money, and provided the light was good, could nearly match him. Better eyes sure would help, but .... we play the game we've got, right? Not a lotta' choice there!
I'm sure I've left out a bunch, and some of you can add much here, but we can't get any better than our loads, and we can't check our loads if our abilities are only mediocre, so .... give 'er a try, and see what you can REALLY do. You'll likely surprise yourself. Improve your loads, and you'll want to improve your skills, and the cycle never ends. But it IS always FUN!
An don't forget, when you get good at slow fire, try some rapid fire, just to keep you humble and on the learning curve, and see just how good you can get. "Instinctive" shooting CAN be learned, but don't expect progress quite as fast as you got with sighted fire. Once you're up to speed, you'll find yourself almost "accidentally" picking up that flash sight picture, and you'll likely be surprised at how quickly you can do even that. It's amazing what we can do when we just try, and apply ourselves humbly to the task. Good luck!