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Riflemen and shotgun shooters should prepare for s
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Riflemen and shotgun shooters should prepare for season ahead
Sunday, August 04, 2002
By Ben Moyer
A bowman getting in some back-yard practice shooting at bales and targets is a common sight this time of year. Archers know that practiced skills will let them shoot with confidence and responsibility when the time comes to unleash the string in the woods.
Seldom, though, does the average shotgun hunter practice before the small game season. Even riflemen rarely hone their skills except to fire a few shots to verify that the rifle is still zeroed in from the previous year. But to achieve maximum personal skill, even firearms hunters need practice.
Below are a few tips for effective firearms practice sessions in the weeks remaining before the earliest hunting seasons begin.
This advice is condensed from instructions by two noted experts in sporting arms use in the field--Dan Donarksi, former editor of Michigan Hunting and Fishing magazine and an editorial consultant to Realtree Camouflage, and Scott Rupp, editor of Petersen's Hunting magazine.
Shotgun
It is critically important that the shotgun fit the individual shooter. Yet, many of us continue using the same gun, year after year, without ever knowing if it fits our physique. To check for proper shotgun fit, place the butt of the unloaded gun in the crook of your elbow. Then, point the gun straight up (you might have to support the gun with the other hand) and, keeping the forearm and wrist straight, reach for the trigger with your trigger finger. If just the tip of your finger wraps around the trigger the fit of the gun is basically right. If you can't reach the trigger, or if more than the fingertip can wrap around the trigger, you can make adjustments by adding or removing a recoil pad.
After you have determined the gun fits well, practice mounting the gun the same way each time. This can be done without even going to a range.
Make sure the gun is unloaded, pick out a spot on a wall as a "target," and mount the gun as if you were going shoot at the spot. Do this repeatedly until you perfect a motion that brings the sight in line with the target on every repetition. Then, mount the gun with your eyes closed while you try and put the sight on the same target. If the sight and target are lined up when you open your eyes, you'll know that you have developed a consistent mounting motion, critical to effective shotgunning.
It's also important that your cheek contacts the same spot on the stock every time. After you've made a good mount, with the gun lined up with the target, have a helper place a small piece of moleskin on the stock at the point that touches your cheek. This will give you point of reference every time you mount the gun to shoot.
All that remains is to make a few trips to the trap range or sporting clays course to practice mounting, swinging and firing at moving targets.
Rifle
Good rifle shooting results from learning to manage three different elements of the skill: breath control, trigger control and hold. A good way to learn to meld these three elements together for better shooting is by "dry-firing." Place a spent cartridge case or one of the commercially available snap caps in the chamber of your favorite hunting rifle. This will protect your firing pin from the damage that can result from firing on an empty chamber.
Pick a well-defined spot, turn the scope down to its lowest power and aim at the spot. Get accustomed to the way the rifle weaves around and over the target and accept that movement is unavoidable and natural. Your task as a rifleman is to minimize movement by using a rest when you can, as well as learning to anticipate when the crosshairs will cross the target when a rest is not available.
Now, aim at the target, let out half a breath and squeeze the trigger when the sights are on target.
Once the fundamentals are mastered, a lot of serious shooting coaches recommend heading to the range with a .22 rifle, particularly if you have one with an action similar to your hunting rifle. The .22 gives you a lot more practice per dollar spent on ammunition, and the slower velocity of the bullet as it leaves the barrel demands sound technique. Otherwise, compared to a big game centerfire rifle, the sights will wander farther off target while the bullet is traveling down the barrel.
Always remember the fundamental tenet of gun safety when practicing, as well as hunting: Treat every gun with the respect due a loaded one.http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/outdoors/20020804moyer0804p7.asp
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Sunday, August 04, 2002
By Ben Moyer
A bowman getting in some back-yard practice shooting at bales and targets is a common sight this time of year. Archers know that practiced skills will let them shoot with confidence and responsibility when the time comes to unleash the string in the woods.
Seldom, though, does the average shotgun hunter practice before the small game season. Even riflemen rarely hone their skills except to fire a few shots to verify that the rifle is still zeroed in from the previous year. But to achieve maximum personal skill, even firearms hunters need practice.
Below are a few tips for effective firearms practice sessions in the weeks remaining before the earliest hunting seasons begin.
This advice is condensed from instructions by two noted experts in sporting arms use in the field--Dan Donarksi, former editor of Michigan Hunting and Fishing magazine and an editorial consultant to Realtree Camouflage, and Scott Rupp, editor of Petersen's Hunting magazine.
Shotgun
It is critically important that the shotgun fit the individual shooter. Yet, many of us continue using the same gun, year after year, without ever knowing if it fits our physique. To check for proper shotgun fit, place the butt of the unloaded gun in the crook of your elbow. Then, point the gun straight up (you might have to support the gun with the other hand) and, keeping the forearm and wrist straight, reach for the trigger with your trigger finger. If just the tip of your finger wraps around the trigger the fit of the gun is basically right. If you can't reach the trigger, or if more than the fingertip can wrap around the trigger, you can make adjustments by adding or removing a recoil pad.
After you have determined the gun fits well, practice mounting the gun the same way each time. This can be done without even going to a range.
Make sure the gun is unloaded, pick out a spot on a wall as a "target," and mount the gun as if you were going shoot at the spot. Do this repeatedly until you perfect a motion that brings the sight in line with the target on every repetition. Then, mount the gun with your eyes closed while you try and put the sight on the same target. If the sight and target are lined up when you open your eyes, you'll know that you have developed a consistent mounting motion, critical to effective shotgunning.
It's also important that your cheek contacts the same spot on the stock every time. After you've made a good mount, with the gun lined up with the target, have a helper place a small piece of moleskin on the stock at the point that touches your cheek. This will give you point of reference every time you mount the gun to shoot.
All that remains is to make a few trips to the trap range or sporting clays course to practice mounting, swinging and firing at moving targets.
Rifle
Good rifle shooting results from learning to manage three different elements of the skill: breath control, trigger control and hold. A good way to learn to meld these three elements together for better shooting is by "dry-firing." Place a spent cartridge case or one of the commercially available snap caps in the chamber of your favorite hunting rifle. This will protect your firing pin from the damage that can result from firing on an empty chamber.
Pick a well-defined spot, turn the scope down to its lowest power and aim at the spot. Get accustomed to the way the rifle weaves around and over the target and accept that movement is unavoidable and natural. Your task as a rifleman is to minimize movement by using a rest when you can, as well as learning to anticipate when the crosshairs will cross the target when a rest is not available.
Now, aim at the target, let out half a breath and squeeze the trigger when the sights are on target.
Once the fundamentals are mastered, a lot of serious shooting coaches recommend heading to the range with a .22 rifle, particularly if you have one with an action similar to your hunting rifle. The .22 gives you a lot more practice per dollar spent on ammunition, and the slower velocity of the bullet as it leaves the barrel demands sound technique. Otherwise, compared to a big game centerfire rifle, the sights will wander farther off target while the bullet is traveling down the barrel.
Always remember the fundamental tenet of gun safety when practicing, as well as hunting: Treat every gun with the respect due a loaded one.http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/outdoors/20020804moyer0804p7.asp
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878