Setting goals and attaining them.

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I want to get a little bit more focused on what I want to get out of my trips to the range in the future. So I am wondering if anybody can give me some ideas bout good books, videos or such that I can get my hands on to better learn about my Ar-15 and good rifle practices in general. I unfortunatly do not have the luxury of taking a class from an insructor as my work and school schedule limit my free time to non-working hours. Most of my free time is late at night. I want to know about some good things to practice while at the range and some good sources to learn them. I have an AR-15 dissipator and a Savage tactic in .308. Now that I have the toys its time to learn how to use them right. I can hit the target decently but really need to get more groups tighter. The range that I go to has only 100yd and 200yd distances. What would be a good size for groups? I do not intend to do anything but punch paper right now. Any kind of competition would come much later after I get out of school. The savage I use a scope and i also have a sope for the AR but I would like to learn to use mostly if not only the regular sights.

Thanks for any information that you could supply me with.
 
Even though shooting off-hand or in various positions is a good thing, I think that a "return to basics" sandbag bench set-up is the first thing folks should do. One, it teaches a sometimes difficult discipline, and once "mastered," reveals the rifle/load combo's full potential. It can almost eliminate the "you" factor - but not quite.

Punching paper is THE best way to see what you're doing wrong or right. You shoot, holes appear in the paper & that shows what the "you, rifle, ammo" combo is doing. Probably the better diagnostic tool going.

100 & 200 yds are fine distances. Anything MOA (~1" at 100 - twice that at 200, etc.) or under is "pretty good shootin'" unless you're doing competition benchrest. Any "tactical-type" rifle using a scope, with proper ammo (& your techniques) should be capable of MOA.

If you want to see more clearly what your sight picture is, leave the scopes on for the time being. Any errors with your own techniques will be magnified and easlier corrected.
 
Dry-firing at home can help with your eye-finger coordnation. (Snap-caps will help prevent damage from repeated impacts of the firing pin against the forward end of the bolt.)

At the range, concentrate on having the exact same sight picture when the rifle fires. The deal is that your squeeze/pull of the trigger doesn't move the crosshairs off target. Control of your trigger finger is ALL! :)

With the bolt-action, at the end of a string of shots, cycle through one more time and dry-fire. (J-random-occasional* dry-firing won't hurt anything.) You can check for any flinch you might be developing. (This helps with a revolver, as well.)

$0.02, Art

* "J Random Occasional" is a feller I met who never does anything regular nor often.
 
For Books: Jeff Cooper's The Art of the Rifle & John Plaster's The Ultimate Sniper. Also Gabe Suarez's The Tactical Rifle.

What type of ability are you wanting to reach? Do you want to improve ability of making field shots? Or do you want to sit in one place and snipe? Or both? Cooper tends towards being able to place hits from field postions with some degree of speed.

While Plaster and many others tend towards benchrest or varmint type shooting. They seldom shoot except from a solid rest or solid bipod.

If your interested in the varmint/benchrest approach you might want to get Precision Shooting.
 
I was going to mention Cooper's book as well ... best lesson I got out of it? '... if you can get closer, get closer ... if you can get steadier, get steadier ...'.

I've now had the pleasure of meeting the Colonel twice. The first time was shortly after I finished his book, and I told him how, prior to reading his words, I thought it was sort of 'cheating' to use a tree or other object to steady my hand. He got quite a chuckle out of that one. ;)

If you can't get training, then buy some videos ... definitely one of the next best things. Gunsite has great stuff ... Tactical Carbine I is on point: http://www.gunsite.com/shop/showdetl.cfm?&DID=11&Product_ID=851&CATID=89

I can't recommend any other, particular videos, but here is a source: http://www.gunvideo.com/

Good luck, and take care. Regards from AZ
 
Keep in mind that the use of the benchrest has to do with precision, and just what you and your rifle are doing. It's the testing process prior to "real use".

The real-world use of a rifle is in hunting. (I'll let others do their own thinking about what it is they're gonna hunt--and how many legs. :) ) To do worth a hoot at hunting, you have to be able to judge distances and be able to use whatever rest is available. If none is available, skill while using the venerable "off-hand" position becomes just really, really important.

Sure, get close. What if your only shot is across a 300-yard-wide canyon? Sure, use a rest. What if you're in chest-high shinnery, or scrubby mesquite? Rst? What rest?

From the military comes the phrasing, "Train hard. Fight easy." From general preparedness comes the phrasing, "Prepare for the worst; hope for the best."

This holds true for chasing Bambi or whatever, as well.

Fun, though.

Art
 
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