I can't out-shoot bullseye shooters

J

jimmythegeek

New member
Tonight I was making up for a lost weekend (lost to working) and went to a 50' indoor range nearby. I was practicing prone until my neck went out and I worked off-hand. The other 4 guys there were Bullseye shooters. On the same target, slow fire, with a pretty accurate rifle I scored about an 80, I think. Hoo, boy I need practice. I can catch myself flinching or jerking the trigger, lots of bad habits.

Now, these are guys who have been working at their craft a long time, but still. Maybe I can blame their optics....
 
Yea I feel your pain . I just started shooting for real accuracy in the last year or so . Everytime I think I'm pretty good somebody in the lane next to me puts me in my place . They will bring in there target and it will be one raggid hole or something . I just think I still got alot of work to do . I also see the other side as well . I've been shooting and here a guy calling out shots for his buddy .The guy can't shoot a group if his life depended on it and I think how is that posible your only 50 yards away with a scope :confused:. It takes real discipline and many shots down range to get uber accurate . :)
 
I
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to those who routinely shoot high 90's or 100's in bullseye pistol.
 
OK, practice, and get good with Bullseye, then to keep your head from getting too big, so shoot with some International Shooters.

I think the OP started out with rifle and this drifted to pistols....It doesn't matter.

I'm a HP shooter. When I was in Alaska it got a bit nippy for shooting outside so I took up indoor small bore in the winter to keep in shape.

I would get pretty good, and COCKY, then I'd enter a match with some college kids. Those kids from the U of A, made it look like I was throwing rocks.

You don't get better by shooting with average shooters that you can outshoot, you get better by trying to beat the great shooters.

An example: When I first hired on with the Anchorage Police Dept. I didn't shoot my service revolver as well as I would like. We had an indoor range so every night after shift, I'd challenge one of my friends who was dern good with his revolver. We shot for coffee and I bought a lot of coffee.

I didn't give up, and eventually he was buying my coffee.

I think its called SETTING GOALS.
 
I had a standing challenge to my students. A steak dinner if they could out shoot me on any single target in a match. They set their goal and kept me honest. One dinner in 5 years wasn't to bad and I was glad to do it. If you aren't pushed by somebody you have no reason to stay sharp or get sharper.

Humble is when they put you on a relay with the national men and women champions on either side of you. Then he coached me because I asked for it and took what I learned back to my students. It is all good.
 
Scouts usually shoot 50' small bore, no scopes. I always offer up the challenge that I will buy a pop for anyone who beats my score. It keeps the scouts focused on trying and keeps me focused too. I buy a pop once in a while which is good. Some of our scouts are getting really good at shooting. We have a couple of Sharpshooters and 1 working towards Expert. :) I think it helps having a couple of leaders in our Troop that are enthusiasts.
 
Gunwriters will advise to buy new equipment, expensive esoteric reloading equipment, it quite clear from the magazines: you can compensate for poor shooting skills by buying things.

But in the real world, nothing beats practice.
 
Old Grump just said something that really hits home - in that you won't get better unless you are pushed. That is so true, and not just in shooting.
 
Try different manufactuers of ammo and determine which one your gun likes to eat. They don't all have the same point of impact. It's a tedious and time consuming process, but worth it. Good Luck! :)
 
ex wife used to shoot standing cigarettes (butts wedged into a crack in a stump) in half with my rifles. Didnt seem to make much diffference which rifle. One shot to see placement (intentionally a bit low) and the the second would make the cigarette disappear. This at 100yds. Everyone who knows her calls her Kathy Oakley. Oh well, some of us have the talent and the rest of us wish we did. I do ok, but I am one of those wishers.
 
One shot to see placement (intentionally a bit low) and the the second would make the cigarette disappear. This at 100yds.
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What kind of rifles do you have that will consistently shoot 1/4" groups at 100 yards (figuring a cigarette is about 1/4" wide)?

Not too hard with a bench rest gun, but I haven't seen many others that will do it.
 
the second would make the cigarette disappear. This at 100yds. Everyone who knows her calls her Kathy Oakley
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She must be using a scope, right? Either that, or she has extraordinary vision!
Is it possible to even SEE a cigarette at 100 yards without a scope? :confused:
 
Of course these rifles are scoped. Fact is, that most rifles are a lot more accurate than their shooters. Inability to get close groups is usually the shooters fault and not that of the firearm or the ammunition. I will lay you odds that if your rifle were to be attached to a bench or heavy platform and you were able to see the results, you would be amazed.

The point being that some have and incredible talent. Larson could keep a can in the air with a bolt action rifle without sights (watched the man do it when I was a kid), Knapp is no slouch with a shotgun, and there are others. Known and unknown. All of these shooters have a natural talent. You can only train to your ability.
 
Anyone can become a better shooter, up until they can't. You won't know where and when that happens until you get there. There are some pretty impressive Senior scores in High Power. So I have a lot of hope that I can continue to improve for a few more decades.

Jimro
 
50 ft

50 feet is child's play to someone who shoots one-handed slow fire at 50 yards (and timed/rapid fire at 25 yards).
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You might be surprised. The indoor 50 ft. Slow Fire target (B2) is one of the more difficult in Bullseye. The national record for 20 shots SF indoors with a .22 pistol is co-held by four men at 199. The outdoor record for .22 pistol at 50 yards is 200-12X, co-held by two men. Lots of guys have shot 199s.(Well...maybe not "lots".)
Pete
 
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What gets me a lot, both in pistol and rifle offhand shooting is miss anxiety induced flinching or "the yips". When this happens, I can flinch with a .22. It's not the recoil and noise, it's yanking the trigger while the sights are on the X while I am getting tireder and tireder holding the aim.
It starts with "chicken finger" where you can't get yourself to increase pressure on the trigger because when you do, it seems to turn on some sort of magnet that repels the bullseye, then you start getting tired and you want to get the shot over with and BANG!!!, another bullet hole in the white part of the target.:(
 
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