Sling Shooters please
- Thread starter gme
- Start date
I'll go ahead and be "that guy" and say it flat out; it's because we have a lot of shooters who'd rather buy their scores than earn them. Take a look at a guy like Konrad Powers, who does stupidly simple reloading practices, spends very little time dealing with his equipment (either on the reloading bench or his rifles) and yet consistently shows up at the top of any match he attends. He works on himself, his game and what he can do to get every last bit of performance out of himself. The rifles will shoot, the ammo will shoot, but getting the shooter to shoot, that's the hard part. We have far too many (new) competitors who assume that they can beat Brandon Greene, Sherri Gallagher, Norm Houle or Kent Reeves by spending more on a better priming tool, a better case neck turner, or annealing cases with the latest annealer on the market.
The answer here is spending more time on the range, and more time in the sights. No shortcuts to that part.
The answer here is spending more time on the range, and more time in the sights. No shortcuts to that part.
USMCDOC
Silver $$ Contributor
Me and a very prominent benchrest competitor were having a conversation the other day on the phone.. i was surprised when he asked me if "dry firing" would be a bonus>> i of course said YES! It seems to be a term that is rarely used anymore.. You compete against yourself to improve to compete against others.. the only way to do that is "practice" and do it a lot!
I just recently got into dabbling with 22LR BR shooting.. practice and dry firing is unheard of in my area it seems.. i may not be dry firing my rifle anymore, but i do practice.. with lessor expensive ammo.. i use it for the trigger control practice.. If you can make decent shooting inexpensive ammo shoot more consistently, imagine how you will be with the good stuff..
I just recently got into dabbling with 22LR BR shooting.. practice and dry firing is unheard of in my area it seems.. i may not be dry firing my rifle anymore, but i do practice.. with lessor expensive ammo.. i use it for the trigger control practice.. If you can make decent shooting inexpensive ammo shoot more consistently, imagine how you will be with the good stuff..
I will ditto Kevin Thomas last post 100%. Only reason I am not active now is in 2013 I got rear ended, had spinal surgery in 2016 and now have bone plugs and titanium plate across C5,C6 and C7. Translation: I have been plugged and screwed and have the X rays to prove it. So far this year I have had gall bladder removed and a triple bypass on Oct 2 . I had hoped to get back into HP next season but Doc says no rifle shooting for six months. It is obvious I need a different Doc haha. This last Doc installed another titanium plate across my ribs.
I was introduced to the sling in 1956 and shot my first match in 1957 w/ sling and ever since.
Oh by the way right before my bypass I was at a flea market and bought what appears to be a new unfired New England 12 ga single barrel break down and I already have the sling hardware inbound for it. I figured out a scope mount and sling set up so I can mount sling on barrel forward or handguard and also a laser sight for night shooting on the same mount. It will most likely be a M16 silent sling but it will have a sling.
Oh yes I am sure Kevin will concur, if it is not 1 1/4" sling or wider it is not officially a sling! ! !.
I was introduced to the sling in 1956 and shot my first match in 1957 w/ sling and ever since.
Oh by the way right before my bypass I was at a flea market and bought what appears to be a new unfired New England 12 ga single barrel break down and I already have the sling hardware inbound for it. I figured out a scope mount and sling set up so I can mount sling on barrel forward or handguard and also a laser sight for night shooting on the same mount. It will most likely be a M16 silent sling but it will have a sling.
Oh yes I am sure Kevin will concur, if it is not 1 1/4" sling or wider it is not officially a sling! ! !.
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sparker
Silver $$ Contributor
Thanks guy's for your participation in this thread, it appears that there's more of us here than I (perhaps we) thought, interesting that many of us have relatively low post counts, wonder why? Mabey we're a little less talk-more shoot, which is not a bad thing
Mid range prone
Long range prone
Working on getting back into smallbore
Scott Parker
I'm proving this is not the whole answer.
I shoot on average once a day for the last 14 months and I'm not anywhere near as good as I think I should be.
Either I'm doing the same things wrong many, many times or I have no talent or both.
Take a look at Lanny Bassham's collected works on Mental Management for shooting sports, and I promise you, that'll be the single most cost effective equipment purchase you'll ever make.
sparker
Silver $$ Contributor
Send a link please Kevin.
Don't have a link, but you can order his stuff from Champion's Choice or Creedmoor Sports. Most any place that caters to competitive shooters will carry his books, videos and CDs.
USMCDOC
Silver $$ Contributor
I never did!
gme
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gme
Site $$ Sponsor
another excellent resource that deals more with the mechanics of position (if you can find it, out of print)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/3000094784/?tag=accuratescom-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/3000094784/?tag=accuratescom-20
Two years ago, I was shooting a long range match in Mn. I was scoring for a gentleman that was fairly new. After he finished his string, he said "no matter how much that I practice, I don't seem to be getting any better." I looked at his rifle, then pointed out an obvious mistake that he had. Then I told him, "if you shoot on your own, and keep practicing mistakes you will have a hard time getting better." I then suggested shooting more matches and talking with other shooters, he should get many helpful tips. Then you might have better things to practice.
That’s a great point, Keith. Nothing wrong with shooting on your own for practice, but practicing in a vacuum can sometimes hurt more than help. Also, you can’t really simulate the nerves, pressure etc of a match in practice.
sparker
Silver $$ Contributor
I really hope this helps others:
I started dry firing in my shop some years back. The issue was that the area I had to do it in was too narrow. It caused me to adopt a forced position that was very much in line with the target. This along with getting tapped by the rear sight when transitioning to a Palma rifle destroyed my ability to hold.
I have figured out some things and am re-learning how to shoot. I'm getting back to smallbore after several years of not shooting it. I have an H&R model 12 that will hold the X-ring at 200 yards with Lapua ammo. I'm looking to ring every last mm of accuracy from it.
I was greatly discouraged for some time until recently. I was at the monthly match at Fresno and finally put my shooting mat at 30 degrees from the target line like years ago. I shot a 199-12 at 600yds. That was the high score at 600 that day and put me in 2nd place behind Curt Gordon.
Heavy barrel
Silver $$ Contributor
Mid range prone
Long range prone
Smallbore
Long range prone
Smallbore
I think that service rifle loads are standard and targets are generous relative to fclass. So most of a highpower competitors time is on the range after handloading the day's ammo.
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