• This Forum is for adults 18 years of age or over. By continuing to use this Forum you are confirming that you are 18 or older. No content shall be viewed by any person under 18 in California.

Shoulder fire accuracy

Tex_SedX

Hello!

Forgive me if I am not familiar with the correct terms or that my backstory is TMI.

40 year old male, shooting glock pistols since I was 21. I spent a lot of time researching correct techniques for pistol accuracy and am comfortable with my marksmanship in that arena. I recently purchased a Winchester 1892 deluxe take down as my first rifle with the 16 inch barrel and chambered for 357 mag. I spent a year or two really thinking about the rifle I wanted and when I first held this gun I was immediately unwilling to hand it back to store clerk, it spoke to me.

I immediately put a sling on it, as a young boy all of our rifles were equipped with slings and I was instructed to not use the sling for carrying, it was there to improve shoulder fire accuracy.

My intention is to commit to a regimen of practice to become comfortably proficient with this weapon. Currently I shoot 8 inch groups at 25 yards with 3/16 shots being bulls eye. These are not slow steady shots but fairly quick cock, boom, aim, cock, boom, aim, cock, boom, aim - its so much fun and so new I don't have the patience (yet) to slow down and work on perfect form.

In addition I have been unable to find much information online in regards to proper training techniques for this style of shooting. Most rifle info seems to be aimed at bench rest firing and this gun does not want to be laid down. I shot it from rest one time for a bulls eye at 25 yards so I cam confident in the weapon as it stands. Its obviously a human factor that is affecting accuracy.

Any suggestions?

Jason
 
Last edited:
https://www.chuckhawks.com/rifle_offhand_position.htm

"Your right arm should be held horizontal, the elbow level and jutting out to your right. The first joint of your index finger should be against the trigger when you are ready to shoot."

Does anyone disagree with elbow horizontal? I naturally shoot this way but have been told by others at the range to keep to down.

Also pulling trigger with first joint of index is different than I would use for pistol, does anyone disagree with this?
 
It seems to me that you are asking about how to shoot a rifle of a type that has been seldom if ever discussed on this forum, in a manner that I have never seen brought up here. If you want to learn more about how to shoot a lever action rapidly off hand, I suggest that you would be better off asking at a cowboy action shooting web site...seriously.
 
Those guys seem to rank dressing up like a cowboy equally with shooting, not my scene.

Rifle fundamentals would seem to apply to all "stances" but if you guys dont know, I can move along, its w.e...
 
You need to find your way to the Cowboy action shooting groups around Houston. Shoots are held at Eagle Lake and outside of Columbus, just a short drive from Houston. Enjoy watching the shooting events and try to meet a few people. There will be plenty of people that will make you feel welcome and help you get accurate with a leaver action rifle.

Look up "cowboy action shooting Houston area" on the internet. They will have schedules and directions to the facilities.
 
Tex_SedX said:
Those guys seem to rank dressing up like a cowboy equally with shooting, not my scene.

Rifle fundamentals would seem to apply to all "stances" but if you guys dont know, I can move along, its w.e...
Click to expand...


They practice their trade somewhere and they are not all dressed up in their "duds" when they do. The dressing up is just part of the camaraderie on race day.
 
The less muscle needed to deliver the shot the better. That arm horizontal, elbow straight out is OLD (and maybe current) form.
I saw a pic of Patton, Olympic pistol winner, with his right arm extended at right angle to target, chest, shoulders squarely facing competitor to left. Nowhere near NPA. A lot of muscle used. Just one more aspect to tire, twitch, tremble.
If a form helps hold position, bone on bone, do it. If not . . .
 
Tex, It is going to be like learning anything else. Slow down, stand up straight bring rifle up to your cheek then pull it into your shoulder. Most of the weight will be in trigger hand and balance and not over muscle it with the fore hand. Shoot slow and smooth until your knocking down everything you aim at, then the speed will come on it’s own. Don’t hang around here to long, it’s un-healthy for the bank account and these guys will try to put you into something new and improved.
 
There are silhouette shoots that are not cowboy action that may be right up your alley. The one i did was 50,100,150,200. The standard steel animals and it was a great time. There were two classes and you would fall into the pistol caliber class. The other class was rifle caliber or you could use military bolt. They combined groups to maximise the number of shooters, but the groups were ranked separately. I shot a marlin 357 and a rossi, but the rossi was not so great. At 200 you needed a heavy bullet to knock down the rams because otherwise you would just ring them most of the time. I feel that if you find a group doing what you want to accomplish then learning will be more fun and easy. That pala group was great and after breaking the hard candy shell off those old coots they were very helpful.
 
Thanks for all the info guys! Im not really into loading my own ammo or pursuing bigger guns, for me its about self defense and entertainment. If I had more hours in the day and a little less income maybe, but I dont hunt anymore so its basically just about shooting bad guys. If they are more than 25 yards away I cant justify the shot to the police. The entertainment part is basically anything done well is fun. I would really like to be able to put a hole in a target and then just maybe make it a little bigger on the next go. Probably an unrealistic goal but those generally help you put in a little more effort.
 
Tex_SedX said:
https://www.chuckhawks.com/rifle_offhand_position.htm

"Your right arm should be held horizontal, the elbow level and jutting out to your right. The first joint of your index finger should be against the trigger when you are ready to shoot."

Does anyone disagree with elbow horizontal? I naturally shoot this way but have been told by others at the range to keep to down.

Also pulling trigger with first joint of index is different than I would use for pistol, does anyone disagree with this?
Click to expand...
Whether you use the first joint or the pad of the index finger is dictated by several things. how large the pistol grip area of the stock is in relationship to your hand size is the primary reason. My shooting buddy has hands that belong on sasquatch. He positions his trigger finger at the first joint. Me, I use the pad of the finger in front of the first joint. With all that being said, consistency is the key. Once you determine what you like, don't change it.
I hope this helps,

Lloyd
 
I would suggest finding a copy of the U.S. Army's Marksmanship Training Unit's Service Rifle Guide. It will have lots of information on offhand shooting, natural point of aim, use of the sling (which is NOT used in the offhand position in Service Rifle competition), etc. And FWIW, if you can't hit the bullseye in slow fire, you for sure can't hit it in rapid fire. Just saying.
 
I would buy some dry fire snap caps made for lever action rifles and dry fire the crap out of it. It can be done indoors, slap a dot on the wall and observe if you stay on target.
http://www.longhunt.com/storelh/index.php?route=product/product&path=127&product_id=315
I'm imagining the trigger is rough, like most lever guns.
If I was trying or learning to be proficient with a lever gun, I'd buy a similar type in 22 LR and practice, practice, practice.
Did I mention to practice?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Mulligan
Firing pin fall --a discussion
2 3
Replies
42
Views
5,937
dkhunt14
Kelbly trigger in pierce action
Replies
6
Views
759
BradY
Differences in Ammo accuracy
Replies
9
Views
519
M-61

Upgrades & Donations

This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.


Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.

You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.


To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.

Classified Ads

Forum statistics

Threads
166,287
Messages
2,215,904
Members
79,519
Latest member
DW79

Share This Page

Back
Top