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Frustrated by my poor shooting!

Screamer said:
equipment is top shelf
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Right. But has it been confirmed that it shoots small? Have you shot small groups with any other rifles? I.e., do you have confidence that, with accurate rifle and load, you can shoot small groups? If not, you should find a 'known good shooter' to try out your set up.
It's critical to have confidence in your set up. Otherwise, you will beat yourself up AND probably build a bunch of bad habits.
 
Dkk37058 said:
If your shooting competitively don’t stop just do your best and have fun talk to other people on the line they will help you to achieve your goals it’s a great sport to be in
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This truly is a great sport, not a man that wouldn't loan you a gun if yours broke on the line! Good, no great people!
 
Frankie,
For myself, I had to slow down in everything I was doing at the bench. I would get in a rush, drop a few points then spiral down from there. I just have to tell myself to slow down and breath.
My biggest competitor is myself.

I am planning on shooting at Bluegrass later this month.

Tim
 
I "retired" from competitive shooting (4P, Bullseye, 2700's, SB Silhouette, air rifle 3P) a few years back. Now, just as then, I competed with (shot against) myself. I set goals each practice session, match or season. Still do, each time I go to the range. Most of my goals were mental or consistency in technique (trigger control, breathing, grip, pre-shot routine, etc) , not score. I found that if I was successful in achieving the immediate goal (only 1 at a time leaving the rest to muscle memory), I was reasonably successful against the field. I also was not overly hard on myself if my concentration waned or it just wasn't my day to succeed. I wasn't home mowing lawns or picking up dog poop or at work, so all was well. Like in so many endeavors, one should make sure their worst day is better than their best day doing whatever it is that one would rather avoid.
 
K22 said:
Assuming equipment and loads are not the issue, most competitors, including me (pistol), experience peaks and valleys if you compete long enough.

When you say you are shooting poorly, please define. Is there a pattern on target to the poor results? An experienced competitor should be able to diagnose the source of your "poor" results by observing you shoot and studying your targets.

With me, I reached Distinguished Expert (Pistol) but was not able to go to the next level, Master. Oh, I would occasionally shoot a Master Class score but not enough of them to receive the classification. This was despite very capable equipment, ammo, and lots of practice. I had just reached the limit of my personal physical and mental capability.

Competitive shooting not only requires the physical skills, but it also requires the mental skills. The best shooters I encountered had "ice" in their veins. Nothing rattled them. Dealing with match pressure is a key element in match success in my experience.

Once you convince yourself you are shooting poorly and become frustrated, the climb back can be more difficult. A process that helped me was I took a break from live fire for a while and instead used dry fire practice, reviewing the fundamentals (Army Pistol Marksmanship Manual) and concentrating on them during dry fire exercises.

Sometimes stepping away from competitive shooter can help to reset your mental attitude. Unless you are a professional shooter, you need to convince yourself that this is a hobby and the goal is to have fun and shoot against yourself. The more you pressure yourself, the worse you will shoot. If competitive shooting becomes a source of frustration and unhappiness, it might be time to reassess your purpose and perhaps return to just shooting for fun.
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Thank you for your thoughts. Not a competitive pistol shooter but I play with them. I shoot SR benchrest, group & score. I started shooting accurate rifles in 1997. Been shooting NBRSA matches last 5 yrs and have done pretty well. I only compete against myself. Just having a rough start. Mainly because of lack of bench time going into 2025 season. Thanks & good shooting.
 
TIMO said:
Frankie,
For myself, I had to slow down in everything I was doing at the bench. I would get in a rush, drop a few points then spiral down from there. I just have to tell myself to slow down and breath.
My biggest competitor is myself.

I am planning on shooting at Bluegrass later this month.

Tim
Click to expand...
Thanks, Tim, I’ll be shooting at Bluegrass and the week before at Jackie‘s in Somerset. You should try coming to joining us.
 
Shooter13 said:
Last year a well known shooter offered me help, after the start of the this shooting season I'm going to make a call. At the end of last year and all this year I've shot poorly. I've had a friend video me, I've gone over my reloading procedures and not really found any real cause. I changed one barrel from 6PPC to a 30BR and installed a new 22PPC replacing a previous 22PPC. If I had hair I would have already pulled it out!
Anyone (or everyone) ever go through this? This starts my 6th year shooting competitively. If you did this did you find your answer?
Alright, let's cry together! :rolleyes: :(
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More range time until you hone it in,
Marksmanship is a dimishable skill
If I get busy and don't shoot for a month whether its pistol or bench rifle with scope
My targets reflect that.
I need to shoot 3 times per week to be on my game.
Just to STAY honed, that is not to improve.
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Now it may only take me 20 shots to re hone in on my technique and warm up
But those are 20 wasted shots if I'm rusty.
It took me 20 years to be able to actually shoot to the point I consider myself competetive
Consistently I mean, not the occasional lucky group
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When I am honed, I can take any of my rifles and shoot like the pics show
From a Factory Rem 788 to a full on custom Rem 700, doesnt matter.
It's mostly in my case, the barrel condition and load development
The rest is the shooters form, follow through, and discipline
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Maybe work on your breathing discipline (this is often overlooked)
and trigger follow through
BTW
I do not even use a rear bag most of the time anymore. (Don't need to, as the targets reflect)
So work on shooting good and learning how to hold the butt without a rear bag
And when you can shoot well without it, then go back to using it.
Steering the rear bag is part of the discipline.
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I also have several techniques to warm up if I know I havent been out shooting for awhile
1st, I will warm up prone, open sights, I know how well I SHOULD be able to shoot (1" at 100)
and if I dont then there is something wrong in my form, so will keep at it until I am doing like I should before I transfer over to a scoped rifle
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Then with scoped rifle, I will use my most proven accurate rig, and if I dont print at least in the .2's all shots touching with no fliers
then I know I need to hone that in as well.
Then I can go and test other ammo if I want.
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I tend to get busy a lot and cannot always shoot as often as I like so have come up with proven methods to get me back on track.
 

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Best thing I ever did was to make every match a test session. When I started trying to find something out instead of worrying about a dropped point, I suddenly stopped dropping so many points. I took an overall win yesterday while doing a seating depth test in my new rifle during the 1000y match. I obviously still shot like I would normally, so I could evaluate each string against my ability. Now if I test something and it doesn't go well, it's just another data point in the DOPE book. When the big match comes around, I keep all the stuff that worked well and use that.
 
Shooter13 said:
Thanks, Tim, I’ll be shooting at Bluegrass and the week before at Jackie‘s in Somerset. You should try coming to joining us.
Click to expand...
Frankie,
I need to. I am slow getting started this year. Got a different rifle last fall (here on the forum) and not quite have the load just where I would like it. Probably all the more reason to shoot a match and have a good eval of how it performs. It is a 6PPC so I am out of my comfort zone.
Tim
 
jelenko said:
Right. But has it been confirmed that it shoots small? Have you shot small groups with any other rifles? I.e., do you have confidence that, with accurate rifle and load, you can shoot small groups? If not, you should find a 'known good shooter' to try out your set up.
It's critical to have confidence in your set up. Otherwise, you will beat yourself up AND probably build a bunch of bad habits.
Click to expand...
Action-panda
Stock- Kelbly SPG, pillared & glued in by Kelbly.
Trigger- Jewell, installed & timed by Kelbly.
Rings- Kelbly.
Scope- Slll-45x
Barrel-Krieger.

I have 2 in this set up and they are identical. 2nd Panda has a Shilen on it now.
Gunsmith who does my barrel work is a Score & Hunter class National Champion.
 
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