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Do You Practice Your Accuracy???


energizer

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I know we all go to the range. Set up our bench and practice our grouping. It's nice to see tight little clovers or even one ragged hole but I have not yet found a bench set up in front of a Moose, Deer, Lope or even a yodel dog. Once in a while a truck hood will double for a rest but not always.

I also do a lot of practice free hand shooting. Once your gun is accurate you have to make yourself accurate too.

I bring this up as I rcently heard a story about a fellow who was happy if he could shoot a pie plate at 200 yrds. The fellow telling the story was scoffing. He figured a 2 inch group at 200 yrds was more his style. I am not sure if the pie plate gent was talking about free hand or not but I sure would like to see the scoffer step away from the bench and show me a 2 inch group at 200 yrds. I'm sure some can do it. Not me. I could hit the pie plate every time at 200 free hand with my .257 but not my Benni. At least not every time. And I practice. Believe me. Practicing that stand up free hand shooting is NOT a waste of ammo. It's just down right practical.

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Yes and no.

 

I practice some off hand, however I know from prior experience in my younger days its just not practical for me for anything outside of 100yards.

 

I practice kneeling shots and sitting shots a good bit - practical rests that can be assumed in most hunting conditions very quickly. I can count on hitting a pie pan to 200 yard every time from a sitting position (actually probably more like 300), perhaps 150 - maybe 200 from a kneeling position. Generally speaking if my target is 100+ yards I've got time to find a more stable shooting arraingment - either propped up on a tree or other available cover or assume a solid sitting position.

 

Position shooting must be practiced for it to be natural and quick, but is surprisingly easy w/ a little practice.

 

David

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Thanks for the reply. I would lump sitting and kneeling in with free hand standing. The nature of my post was simply to practice shooting in a practical hunting stance as apposed to a controled bench with bags or rifle cradles. You're absolutly correct. If my target is outside of 100 yrds or looks comfortable where it is I too will use a kneeling position. I am no good at prone as the only time a scope ever kissed my eye I was lying down. Now I always flinch.

Hope to hear from you again.

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Great idea to do so, and the club where I am a member back home is greeat for this, because often, I'm the only person shooting there.

 

Make sure the range you are at allows such shooting.

 

I would agree, however, that for anything beyond about 50 yards, shooting standing, off-hand, is a bad choice, unless you practice it a LOT, and are 100% confident in your ability to place a shot like that.

 

When I hunt, I look for anything, a tree, a fence post, anything I can use to steady my shot.

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Iwould have to side with energizer I have a lead sled that I use to tune in the scope and from there on its free hand. I find that even with a low power selected on the scope im all over the bush at 100 yrds and the longer I wait the worse I get. What works for me is practice practice practice and when I get used to and comfortable with my gun I dont worry about the wiggles just pull the triger when it feels right and most times I hit what Im shooting at. I purchaced an R1 walnut in 308 this summer it made me very happy in the deer hunt i jumped a nice 8 point got two quick shots at it going flat out through the bush at about 75yrds By quick I mean you see the deer the gun automaticaly hits your sholder with the saftey off you shoot the deers gone and you wonder what the **** just happend. That R1 put one through the heart and one through the lungs and meat in the pot not because Im a good shot but bcause it comes up nice fits good and I trust it to hit what I point it at. My old Browning BLR that I carried for 30 years was so well trained that all you had to do was point it in the general direction. It dosnt seem to work quite as well for my son yet but Im shure it will with practice

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Free hand is a learned position and only 1 of many, when hunting i will look for a tree or something to steady my rest but i will not hold sending the shot because of it! In Arkansas you get plenty of practice and i learned free hand from day 1, sighting in was normally done from a bench day before season to make sure it had not been bumped off zero from the ride to the camp! Buying an accurate rifle also helps and 1 that shoulders and balances well helps also! Knowing the performance of you, your rifle and it's ballistics is a huge plus also! Range finder help a lot and back in the early days you would just walk off distances and make reference points on shooting lanes to estimate distance but my Swarovski 8x30 does a much better job and no walking!:rolleyes:

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