Measuring my progress as a shooter…

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c_m_shooter said:
The better you get at offhand, the better all other positions will be. Bench rest practice, not so much.
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I don't mean to be critical of benchrest, nor to minimize the skills involved. I competed in CF and RF BR for years and I appreciate the challenges. But the skills, for the most part do not involve marksmanship, at least not in the traditional sense. At one point I became bored with benchrest, so I gave service rifle a try. To say it was humbling would be a gross understatement, even humiliating doesn't get there. But it did get me interested in casual position shooting, and over time I got better, advancing from embarrassing to merely bad. Will it improve your benchrest shooting? Probably not. BR requires a focus on equipment and ammo prep. The actual shooting skills involved are so different from position shooting that there really isn't much carryover. But if you're interested in measuring progress, I can almost guarantee that you will have plenty of room for measurement!
 
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Patrick1 said:
Recently, I have felt my accuracy has improved. On a 1/4 inch bullseye, with sorted pellets by weight, I had 25 of 30 inside the bullseye at 25 yards off of a bench with just a bipod and no other stabilizer. The other five were within 1/8 inch of the bullseye.(.22 Maverick Compact -500 mm barrel).
I have no idea if this is good bad or what.
Looking for comments, not approval. I practice weekly at local TWRA. Indoor range, so no wind.
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i enjoy using 5x7" card stock as targets and make tiny dots with a black marker at various intersecting lines as my bullseyes. Then depending on where my head is at, i shoot groups 3-10 rounds at just one of the dots to see how close i can keep the grouping. the cards are small so i can date them and keep them on file for later reference. It's also easy to then compare which gun i do better with in the various positions, sitting, standing, kneeling etc.. my best sitting rifle isn't my best standing and my best standing isn't my best kneeling or sitting (darn it).
 
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I would rate that grouping as excellent for 30 rounds fired. At that point, shooter fatigue and the psychological pressure of not ruining a good grouping carry more weight than people realize. You may be able to reduce that size simply by cranking your scope up, down, or to one side so that your point of impact is different and your point of aim is not shot out. Shooting at multiple targets (left, right, left, right for example) or simply standing up and sitting back down between every shot are super simply ways to add a new training element, measuring ability to present and get comfortable behind the rifle consistently.
 
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Patrick1 said:
Recently, I have felt my accuracy has improved. On a 1/4 inch bullseye, with sorted pellets by weight, I had 25 of 30 inside the bullseye at 25 yards off of a bench with just a bipod and no other stabilizer. The other five were within 1/8 inch of the bullseye.(.22 Maverick Compact -500 mm barrel).
I have no idea if this is good bad or what.
Looking for comments, not approval. I practice weekly at local TWRA. Indoor range, so no wind.
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Today's hint, from someone with the same gun, well sort of, it started life as a .25 sniper. DO NOT MESS WITH IT!! You don't state the pellets you are using but....try some AEA's if you aren't using them already. Oh you can get it even closer if you can stop your heart, but that has some rather negative side effects. :cool:
 
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HogKiller said:
Today's hint, from someone with the same gun, well sort of, it started life as a .25 sniper. DO NOT MESS WITH IT!! You don't state the pellets you are using but....try some AEA's if you aren't using them already. Oh you can get it even closer if you can stop your heart, but that has some rather negative side effects. :cool:
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I just got 5 different pellet sizes from AEA to try(16-28). Don’t really need to sort them! All within .1 grains from what I can tell!!
I’ve been shooting FX 16 gr, sorted to .1 gr! They ranged, about equal amounts from 15.6 to16.4, so I sorted at 15.8, 16.0 and16.2
Plus or minus .1, and thru out heavies and lights.
Since I went with the “easy tune system” from Shooting with Phil, my speed control and std deviation is waaaayyyyy better. Still learning though. Very happy with the way it shoots and since I’ve steadied my trigger pull, my accuracy has improved significantly. I only get a very occasional flyer.
When I shoot a bad shot, it’s almost always my fault.
 
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I'm no competition shooter, but I've been shooting all my life. I have shot enough to know what I am capable of in terms of precision, whether rested or offhand. I base improvement on the frequency with which I can duplicate good results (good results being within my capabilities and therefore subjective). If I can do MOA rested at any distance, that is good. If I can keep offhand shots on a 1" target at 25 yards, that is also good. The challenge for me is to do it as often as possible in a variety of conditions.
 
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rcarlisle said:
I'm no competition shooter, but I've been shooting all my life. I have shot enough to know what I am capable of in terms of precision, whether rested or offhand. I base improvement on the frequency with which I can duplicate good results (good results being within my capabilities and therefore subjective). If I can do MOA rested at any distance, that is good. If I can keep offhand shots on a 1" target at 25 yards, that is also good. The challenge for me is to do it as often as possible in a variety of conditions.
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Great post! Offhand is my next challenge! It’s a combination of strength, skill and steadiness as I see it, on top of the same skills as bench rest. Much tougher!
 
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