#1 Son likes to watch Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares. I like spending time with him, so I guess that means that I like to watch it, at least when I'm spending time with him. But I have to say that it was interesting, turning around lost causes where people simply don't know how to go about doing something.
In one of the episodes, Ramsey brought in a chef to teach the kitchen staff how to work a dinner service. The line that struck me was when this chef told everyone "Every plate perfect". Because that's what they teach at Appleseed.
Long time readers know that while I'm an enthusiastic shooter, I'm not a particularly good one. The reason is the same as those kitchen staff - I haven't had a system to use approaching my shooting. Appleseed is all about a mental system for you to use when you're shooting.
Some are physical: I'm better about the shooting sling than before, and I'm a lot better about the shooting positions (I didn't expect that I'd much prefer sitting to prone).
Some are mental: trigger control is perhaps the most obvious, but practice will perhaps remove some of this from the mental arena as muscle memory takes over. But the most important mental note is like that chef said: every shot perfect. Breathing is a mental task, as is handling offhand wobble. Being aware of what your body is doing to your point of aim is a mental effort that if you think on it, will improve your shooting.
A lot.
But most important is to focus on the current shot. The last one - maybe a flyer, maybe not even scoring - that's past. The next shot is a lifetime away, as is the next target. To focus on nothing but the current shot, to make that perfect - that's surprisingly difficult. What's most interesting of all is that the process of doing that will tell you when your shot disappoints, and very possibly why.
Napoleon was right. The mental is to the physical as three is to one.
6 comments:
aim small, miss small
When you realize that you can call your shots and you can put a mark on a target in your dope book (you do have a book, right?) that will match up with where the spotter marks your actual target, you will get an even deeper understanding of what a mental/physical activity rifle shooting is.
An addendum: When you know it was in the 8 ring at seven o'clock before you ever look in the spotting scope, you'll really get wondering why you can't put it in the 10 ring every time.
ASM is correct.
I need an outdoor range where I can practice the different shooting positions. The Mrs. likes the nice indoor one, but you can't do prone or sitting.
:-(
Trigger control...
Trigger control...
Trigger control...
Trigger control...
Those are the four most important parts of shooting accurately within a couple hundred yards with a rifle. Out further than that, there's more to it. But take my .300 magnum sighted in to zero at 200 yards. What this means is that out to 300 yards, you can pretty much just hold on target and shoot and hit pretty damned close to the bullseye. not much of a trick there, any dorkus can line the sights up and hold them close to the bullseye. The hard part is making sure it stays there when you squeeze off.
I've found that my most accurate shots are the ones where i focus unerringly on the process of breaking the trigger properly. The very act of working that trigger accounts for 90 plus percent of misses, in my experience.
The other problem is folks try to hold their sights on the target, which is impossible. At linger ranges, your heartbeat will cause you to waver all over the place, much less nerves and breathing and the fact that the human body just isn't capable of being perfectly static. You have to accept the fact that your sights are going to be moving all over the place and work WITH that rather than against it. Time your trigger pull to break as your sights are moving across the target, and you'll shoot better than you will trying to force the sights to go on target.
Also, one more thing - the quality of your trigger has a lot to do with it. It should break like glass - add pressure, and keep adding pressure until SNAP! There shouldn't be movement in it once you take the slack out of it, until it just breaks clean and the shot happens. If it moves, or is gritty, get yourself an arkansas stone and polish the sear and release a bit until you get rid of that travel and grit.
Oh yeah, and aim small, miss small. If you shoot at the target, you'll hit the paper. If you shoot at the bullseye, you'll hit it sometimes. if you shoot at the center of the bullseye, you'll do even better, but if you shoot at the grain of paper at the center of the X in the middle of the bullseye, you'll shoot very well.
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