Help, having Basic Marksmanship Issue/ Bad Habits?

[AlwaysLastPlace]

Think of this, if you are looking through a 1” hole to shoot every single time, your scopes natural curve Marrys to the hole, making it simple to line up the circle to the circle….the square can (especially at 100yds) make a mirage when you are using your non dominant eye, I watch people shoot with the wrong eye 30-40 times a year

I just made a game out of this with my family to try and figure this out. It was fun.

I taped a marker to a yardstick and used a roughly 8.5 x11 picture frame, taped a piece of paper to it and put it on the wall. We all tried to keep our eye on the tip of the marker and put a dot in the center of the rectangle frame. That was fun. Then we changed the rules you had to walk toward it 5 steps and could only move the stick once per step. That one was hilarious. Then we all did the second one again with our other eye on the tip of the marker. That was pandemonium. People accused of cheating, etc.

Then I tapped a dot the size of a quarter on the wall and taped the top of the frame to the yard stick. Every single time everyone could easily put the frame over the dot more perfectly than the other way.

I wanted to cut out a circle but I lost everyone's attention at that point.

 

[Motorhead]

Loose hand grip with pressure to fire between thumb and trigger finger.
DO NOT move finger after sear breaks !!!! If accustom to shooting a semi auto ... STOP IT !!!!

If requiring rifle butt stock pressure against shoulder ? ... do so with Fore arm hand & NOT trigger hand !

DO NOT heavily plant your face on the stock comb keeping its contact just light enough to reference your sights eye box placement.

Combined = FOLLOW THREW that is DOING & MOVING NOTHING until target is struck

Try that if not doing so already ?????

 

[Chukar60]

Thanks for the encouragement. I was definitely laughing and having fun. I didn't know I could shoot a pellet through a hole with almost no clearance at a target behind it.
I think the reason I am acting all alarmed is that I string shots a lot and never thought it was me until it basically smacked me in the face that it had to be me.

I shoot a winter indoor league where we shoot an NRA target and I cannot recall the number. The bullseye is slightly larger than a 22 cal pellet and the guys that are good don’t miss the bullseye very much at all. It takes form, form and more form for that kind of consistency. That kind of discipline is beyond my realm but I admit it and just have a good time.

 

[Bedrock Bob]

Who knows?

When I shoot strings or circles it is generally about follow through. And it gets worse when I'm frustrated about my marksmanship. I anticipate the hit rather than focusing on controlling the shot.

I don't see your form but I can hear the emotion in your voice and read it in your post. Misses are what teaches us to be better. So dump all that and get ice cold on every shot. Follow through. Focus on your offhand putting tension into your shoulder. Focus on not dragging your trigger hand and putting just enough pressure on the trigger to break a shot.

When I get anxious I have a heavy trigger hand and loose the "pull" with my offhand. I start "hooking" the trigger when the gun jumps forward and it shoots circles around the dot or strings to the high right. My solution is to refocus on my offhand tension, relax my trigger hand and follow through.

It's a disconnect between the mental and physical aspects of form. This is the culprit for 99% of my accuracy problems. I'll bet it is a big part of yours as well.

I listen to the music in my head (Usually carnival music or freaky italian opera). I cross my eyes on the target. I repeat a mantra. Anything to take up brain space that is filled with emotion or anxiety. I don't pay any attention at all to a bad shot. I just reach for another pellet, listen to the calliope play in my head and focus on form and follow through on the next one.

I try not to think about individual shots. It's a flow from one shot to the next with no punctuation. I'm not taking individual shots. I'm dancing with a rifle and the shots are just dance steps in a song that's going to play all night.

That being said the shape of your target makes a whole bunch of difference in how you hit. The size of your target too. Squares are pretty forgiving as compared to a circle but hard to shoot at. Triangles are worse. A tiny dot you can barely see will always produce the best precision for me.

If I'm aiming at anything more than a dot I try to drill a hole into a spot with my eye and hit that rather than regarding the shape of the target. As my target increases in size so do my patterns. And my patterns will change shape when shooting at different shaped targets.

 

[Treefrog]

I really admire the OP's honesty.

As a former instructor... After reading some of the responses here...

I can advise you not to take much in the way of advice from the internet. People that have been "doing it their whole life" without ever taking any training are not the ones that you'll benefit the most from listening to. I witnessed plenty of that while working at the range.

Take a class or two. There are plenty in that neck of the desert. Demand to see the instructor's credentials. Learn from a professional. Or even better, go to school and get your credentials to teach. No one devotes more time to not-sucking than the shooting instructors do.

Cheers,

J~

 

[AlwaysLastPlace]

I really admire the OP's honesty.

As a former instructor... After reading some of the responses here...

I can advise you not to take much in the way of advice from the internet. People that have been "doing it their whole life" without ever taking any training are not the ones that you'll benefit the most from listening to. I witnessed plenty of that while working at the range.

Take a class or two. There are plenty in that neck of the desert. Demand to see the instructor's credentials. Learn from a professional. Or even better, go to school and get your credentials to teach. No one devotes more time to not-sucking than the shooting instructors do.

Cheers,

J~

I love teaching. Thanks for the great advice and encouragement, Is there an air rifle specific class or air rifle specific coaching credentials in AZ?
I know there are smaller competitions and that's kind of coaching each other for the people that are open to feedback. I like those.

Honestly, I don't care for powder burners anymore. I take a class in fall and in spring just to stay aware of how much slower or worse I have gotten in the past 6 months in practical movements, partner based tactics, and accurate fire at speed.
This is just so that if there is a real world problem I don't have to find my competency level the hard way.
Other than that I don't live fire practice anymore. I dry fire once a week for an hour combined with AR, Glock and 870 with mantis x.
I shoot at least 20 pellets per day, every single day. That's 2x 8 round .30 cal magazines and I will single load a couple to round out a set. But often I will lose track of time and shoot 4 mags. All at 25 yards but these are deliberate, well thought and careful shots.

I rarely find genuinely bad advice. That's why I like forums. I got 100 things to try and I will try them all.
They might not be good or they might not be any good but they are probably just not the right to for "right now."

Everyone takes helping pretty seriously. When people ask for help, before I try to give good advice
I like to say:
Get a giant bottle of pellet lube and relax that sphincter.

 

[Gerry52]

Been following this thread. You never mentioned what gun. Springer, PCP? Here are a couple things I've learned about my technique the last couple years (I shoot only pcp). I mainly hunt. Paper shoot only when zeroing in or on a hunting day when there's nothing to hunt. I pay strict attention to my breathing & heartbeat. I take 2 regular breaths & on 2nd exhale, after a second or 3, I take my shot IN BETWEEN heartbeats. I'm usually sitting cross-legged, using a tall bipod (13-27"). Butt stock is more or less "resting" at my shoulder, not jammed in tight. My thumb rests on right side of grip (right-handed) pointing skyward. Not wrapped around it or through the hole (on a thumbhole stock). My cheek just touches the weld, not heavily resting on it. I've found the less pressure & contact I can manage with the gun the more precise my shots are. Of course, while hunting, there are times a quick shot has to be taken but head shots at 90 or 100 yards are always more precise if I follow & apply what I've learned. My guns have always been more accurate than me but I've gotten closer to the bar they set. Hope that might help. And, as said above, set your sphincter on 2-4, not 10! I shoot with both eyes open & was taught (by a sniper) to concentrate more on reticle than target. It all takes PRACTICE & time.

 

[DennisB]

you have BAD choice of words

 

[sb327]

If I understand correctly, you shoot fine through a square hole but your group starts to open (drift) when trying to just shoot a group at a spot on the paper.

The only difference I can tell between the two scenarios is that the appearance of the target changes when you shoot at just the paper. With the square hole, the appearance of the square stays the same between shots.

Sometimes when I’m shooting just to see how well the gun will group, I will move my point of impact (with the scope) away from my point of aim. This keeps the target appearance the same throughout the group.

I’m no coach by any means and I may have misunderstood what issue you are having so take the above with a grain of salt.

Good luck and have fun,
Dave