Is it The Load, The Gun Or The SHOOTER?

[ClassCat]

Time to beat the Hornets nest. Most shooters blame everything except the Real reason why their performance is lacking. Was it the Load (Bullets, Cases,Primers, Powder,Etc), a gun that is not competition level (Not Built well), or does the Shooter just Suck? My equipment is the best that is available based on Short Range BR. When my head is not screwed on straight that day,there isn't Schidt I can do about it. The faster you are to admit it, the faster you eliminate the problem. Have a friend slip a Dummy round mixed in with live one's. If you flinch, You are the problem !

 

[Eric Leonard]

and you can still make a perfect shot at the wrong time and still suck,,gusts and letups are still kicking my butt,,

 

[JimSC]

I am just a beginner at this hobby, I only decided to get serious about shooting recently so take this for what it is

I was injured a while back and spent 6 months house bound. During that time I had a lot of time think about what I would like to be doing. I decided what I missed most was shooting so for the last year a good portion of my day has been concerned with LR shooting. I have spent at least 1000 hours reading forums, books, articles, and watching hundreds of videos. One of the articles that had the most impact on me was a series called "How Much Does It Matter", and it makes a lot of sense. I make myself read it when I get the urge for a new shiny toy for the range or bench. The author point's out that while many things count and each is important that all have diminishing returns. Improving the velocity SD might give a significant boost when going from 20 - 10 but improving from 5 to 3 barely makes the needle move.

Over the last year I have improved from 170's and 180's to where I am shooting mid 190's on a regular basis. I would say most of my improvement came from improved reloading and lots of shooting practice. I use spin on barrels that I replace myself and moderately priced gear. Another thing I noticed was it was relatively easy to improve from a 90% shooter to a 95% shooter but that the hill gets steep at around 96 - 97% and most or all of my really bad errors are self inflicted at the firing line. I missed a wind shift the other day and started the match with a 166, followed it up with a 194 10X and 193 8X

 

[T-shooter]

There are so many variables, it's hard to keep track of them all. The lot # of bullets, primers, powder, & cases. Then the powder charge. 1/10 grain isn't close enough. .02 grain is better. Then the bullet, jump, are they all set to the same length to the ogive, the neck tension, are the necks clean or have a layer of carbon, the case and bullet runout. How long has the ammo been loaded? These are all things you can control. The temp, wind, humidity, air pressure may change day to day, or even minute to minute. The chamber and barrel temperature. The temperature of the powder. After all this, it's up to the shooter. You need to pay attention and do exactly the same thing every time. Same hold, cheek weld, trigger control, and make sure the rifle isn't canted. Is the barrel touching anything in the fore end? Is the scope level? Does the scope hold zero? Are the rings and rail holding correctly? The action screws in the rifle are torqued correctly? Are the barrel and chamber clean or carbon & copper fouled to some degree? And there are probably a lot of things I can't thing of right now.

And after all this, with a batch of ammo loaded the same day, I've went out and shot great and the next day with very similar conditions, not so good. Dumb luck? Who knows? When I start having a bad day, I just quit, load up, and go home. No need to fight it!

 

[grovey]

As a novice, it's the lack of wind reading skills that hurts my scores the most.

 

[Ned Ludd]

The real question is not which of those 3 is the culprit...all are potential contributors to poor precision. The real question is HOW you figure out which one(s) are the problem. That's sometimes easier said than done.

 

[6ShotsOr5?]

I’m responsible for choosing the load and the rig, and for calculating the vertical, doping the horizontal, and making a good pull. Simple question. It’s me.

 

[dcali]

With beginners, it's often all three. Eventually, people figure out the gun must be adequate, and reloading isn't that hard to learn. So experienced shooters tend to suffer from a lack of skill, which is the fun part - getting better.

However, I see a LOT of people blaming themselves when their rifles simply aren't up to the task. Maybe they don't want to be "that guy", but good gear fixes a lot. (Good, not expensive - the two are not equivalent).

 

[mikld]

For me, most "bad shots" are my fault. 25 years ago when I was shooting my handguns a lot I was much better and knew my guns well enough to tell if the potential "problem" was me or the load (I'm pretty sure all my guns are more accurate than I am.). One thing I now do when trying a new load I'll use 10 or more rounds (at least two cylinders full for my revolvers, two magazines full for my semi-autos or 12 rounds, and at least 2 clips for my M1 and min. two magazines full for my bolt gun). This gives me a better idea of how the load performs without my marksmanship getting in the way...

 

[Intheshop]

Offhand hunting rifle,dryfire practice,ranks right up there with windflags keeping me sharp.

 

[Liven The Dream]

As a older Guy at Long Range Shooting this my take ...
I have Won Matches , cleaned the 8,9&1000 Target with a Palma Rifle !!! So What !
There is this Bag of Bad Habits. The stuff in there will just frost your Buns.
It just doesn’t Care it pop one on you out of the clear Blue Sky .
The Hey do it right every time
Have Fun Hold Hard

 

[JimSC]

The real question is not which of those 3 is the culprit...all are potential contributors to poor precision. The real question is HOW you figure out which one(s) are the problem. That's sometimes easier said than done.

Practice, analyze, correct or as Jerry says

A lot of people ask me how do I get to the next level? Well.... you get to the next level by being the first one on the range and the last one to leave." - Jerry Miculek

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Time to beat the Hornets nest. Most shooters blame everything except the Real reason why their performance is lacking. Was it the Load (Bullets, Cases,Primers, Powder,Etc), a gun that is not competition level (Not Built well), or does the Shooter just Suck? My equipment is the best that is available based on Short Range BR. When my head is not screwed on straight that day,there isn't Schidt I can do about it. The faster you are to admit it, the faster you eliminate the problem. Have a friend slip a Dummy round mixed in with live one's. If you flinch, You are the problem !

you mean a primer change wont turn a 1/2moa shooter into a champion?

 

[Dusty Stevens]

in this endless quest for accuracy, the answer is practice?

 

[sw282]

l shoot for F U N... Been shooting IHMSA silhouettes since the late 70s.. Scores mean little or NOTHING to me.. l shot bench rest and egg shoots out to 300yds for a few years. Scores were and still are secondary at best.. l do my best. Never won a match.. NEVER had a bad day shooting either. lt all boils down to this. l shoot for fun. Keeping score is WORK. Fun only for me. No scoring/work allowed

 

[Rsadams]

Spent a few hours out today... After shooting pistols for the last few months... It was all me... Going to try and get some time useing my little .22 setup to get back in the groove...alot cheaper than the $1+ a round practice... Ran into the same thing after shooting rifles and laying of pistol for a few months... First day out again with the pistols , not great , back in groove in about 3-4 trips though... Shooting is a sport you must do....

 

[jimmymac]

As a novice, it's the lack of wind reading skills that hurts my scores the most.

Right on! I'm with you and need more practice.

Shooting a match a couple weekends ago, there was a mild 9 to 3 wind that repeated over and over. At 200 yards, I had a nice little group going that was printing about 3/4" to the right of my normal POI. I missed the letup on my 5th shot and turned that nice .3" group into a agg killing .945.

Four in, one out.

 

[jimmymac]

The interesting thing about this topic is the vast majority of the time I blame myself, but there are instances where I've placed the blame incorrectly. Case in point:

I was using brand "A" of bullets. I explored the usual powder charge/seating depth routine and had them shooting well enough, but never could agg as small as I would have liked. For the longest time, I blamed it on me for lack of experience, even though targets shot in perfect conditions indicated that I had something else going on with the random errant flyer that kills aggs. Once it dawned upon me that the flyer may not be me, I made a switch to brand "B" bullets. I had nothing to lose at that point.

Long story short. With the new bullets and two range sessions later I turned in my first sub .2" agg. Either I got a lot better in a hurry or the bullets made the difference. I'm betting on the latter and not the former.

 

[hoz53]

Time to beat the Hornets nest. Most shooters blame everything except the Real reason why their performance is lacking. Was it the Load (Bullets, Cases,Primers, Powder,Etc), a gun that is not competition level (Not Built well), or does the Shooter just Suck? My equipment is the best that is available based on Short Range BR. When my head is not screwed on straight that day,there isn't Schidt I can do about it. The faster you are to admit it, the faster you eliminate the problem. Have a friend slip a Dummy round mixed in with live one's. If you flinch, You are the problem !

My wife says it is the Shooter, the Gun and the Load dont matter

 

[JimSC]

in this endless quest for accuracy, the answer is practice?

Again this is coming from a novice attempting to improve. Practice is more than just going out there and shooting 100 rounds. You have to figure out what you are doing wrong, and what you are doing correctly when you practice. Equipment plays a role also but I am pretty sure that you could give me the finest equipment available and give one of the world class shooters an off the shelf Savage FTR and some Black Hills ammo and they would still hand me my butt in a 1000 yard match.

I am just doing club level matches and from what I am seeing 90% of the shooters equipment is more accurate than they are yet they feel like if they just get that AMP annealer, Labradar or March scope they will be able shoot a 600 35X agg regularly

Edit - just like any good sport, target shooting is complex. Great technique and crappy equipment will not win matches. Great equipment and crappy technique will not win either. But decent equipment and good technique will take you a long ways. Just my opinion