Why do I suck w/a rifle?

I seen a noticeable increase in accuracy when I began paying more attention to the trigger. Like they say...80% of Marksmanship is trigger control.
 
With only one eye you have a harder time judging distance and picking up moving targets. More practice will help. How many times have I said "practice", probably enough that you got my point.. Did you loose the other eye recently enough to know if it was also your dominant eye.
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Nope - not recent. I was born with ~ 95% sight loss in my right eye.
As a result, I have & never did have any depth perception. Yes - hitting something moving is and always has been erratic. Not only shooting, but, hitting a baseball, catching a ball & stuff like that. I suck at that stuff too.

However - if it sits still for a fraction of a second, I "own" it.
I shot a round of sporting clays once and at one station they toss two birds straight up in the air at once. That was tailor made for me. They hit the high point and hung for just a split second & I smoked them both. IIRC, I scored 8 hits all told - pretty much suck city...it was a lot of fun though.

Re. a .22 - I have an old Marlin/Glenfield model 60. (Decent gun). I also have a Browning .22 lever action(pretty gun but nasty trigger) & my wife has a Winchester 9422 Trapper (Really sweet little gun - but -it's hers & I don't get to touch it all that often).

I have thought about getting a Henry & putting a tang sight on it.
I go round and round w/that idea.
I do also have a Marlin Cowboy II in .38/.357 that a tang sight would just be perfect on.
Since I also handload, shooting that is on the cheap side.

Re: equipment - well, I have two Winchester Trappers, one in .44spl/.44 mag and the other in .45LC. - a Ted Williams (Sears) brand Wincheter 94 in .30/30, the .22's mentioned above and a Winchester 670 in .30/06.
I handload for the Trappers so ammo is on the cheap there.
The other two the .30/30 and the .30/06 - I very seldom - if ever - shoot them because of the recoil. I just don't get any enjoyment out of getting my shoulder pounded.

Bottom line here & I guess it's one everyone has stressed is - practice, practice, practice.
Stupid question here - would dry firing help any?

Finding a place to shoot a rifle around where I live is very problematic.
The nearest place to shoot one is an hour away.
W/gas prices near $4.00 a gallon, that makes it about a $12.00 round trip.
Since I retired, my "fun budget" is about $80.00 a month so going once a week would chew up over half my budget in just gas alone.
Once a month would be more realsitic.
 
Without seeing you shoot, I can't say for sure. However, I suspect improper follow through and/or inconsistent/improper form/grip/stance.

I would first start with follow through. The barrel of a long gun is much longer than a handgun, and improper/inconsistent follow through has more potential to affect accuracy on a rifle than a handgun.

Here is a video that may be of help to you. Please keep us posted with your progress.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGs_GuPiDbI
 
Yes, dry firing is good practice when done properly. Get snap caps for the gun (they protect the firing pin). When you dry fire, aim at a target that is clear enough you can see if you wiggle. The sights should stay where you put them until at least a second after you hear the firing pin strike. When that happens more times than not you will see improvement at the range. If you can find a book or military shooting manual it should have good techniques to practice.
 
If you are not using a left handed rifle, you might want to start. I can't imagine using a right handed rifle with only the left eye functioning. All the left hand shooters I know that use a right hand rifle still use their right eye to sight.
 
the reason you suk at rifles

not that you do suk at rifles, but, you were right hand dominant and therefore right eye dominant, you no longer have your right eye. i don't know if that was from birth( i don't suspect that though) or it was lost not to long ago( within the last ten years). one of the replies you got says it best, grab a .22 and practice practice practice. other things you can do is go see an optometrist and ask for their advice as to how to gain dominance in the left eye, they will have sopme exercises you can do to train your left eye to be more dominant. good luck in your endeavor to be a better shot.
as far as recoil goes, the only advice i can give there is train your self to flow with it. this will entail timing between your torso response and finger pull on the trigger. don't fear the recoil, embrace it. another thing that might help is to pull the rifle into your shoulder tightly.
 
Just because a person is right handed does not mean they are/were right eye dominant. There is a fair portion of people who are cross dominant (right hand and left eye or left hand and right eye).

There are people who are right handed but do better batting or golfing left or left handed and do better batting or golfing right. Each person is an individual and needs to see what works best for them.
 
Being able to shoot a handgun well should and will able you to shoot with a long gun be it a shotgun, or rifle. Tension in any part of your body is something that will adversely affect your shooting. Relax! Relax your forearm grip, trigger/pistol grip, and the way you stand. Grip firmly, but do not torque. For off hand shooting, don't hold too long. The longer you hold, the more you will wiggle. If you hold too long, tip the barrel down, and regroup. Call your Shot! when the target crosses your line of sight squeeze, and only then squeeze. Calling you shot is most important to me. We play a little game where a partner hands you the gun, and you do not know if it is loaded or not. This will bring awareness to flinching if you have this. All if this I am telling you applies to handgun shooting, so apply it to rifle practice. Tell yourself you are a cool shot, cause you are. I tell myself this also.
 
you were right hand dominant and therefore right eye dominant, you no longer have your right eye. i don't know if that was from birth( i don't suspect that though) or it was lost not to long ago( within the last ten years
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I was born blind in my right eye.
I always wondered if it was possible to have been born blind in a dominant eye??
How weird would that be?
 
I'm not really a great shot with pistols, shotguns, or rifles. I can hit the black with a pistol out to, say, 50 feet while taking my sweet time. I've never used a scope/pistol package so I can't comment on that. I have only been able to shoot my rifles indoors, so probably only to 50-75 feet, but am decent with them. Seeing that I have only heavy old war rifles, the recoil isn't too bad for me. Shooting a nice, heavy gun might make all the difference in the world to you, or it may not. Using a Limbsaver, from what I gather, will definitely help. My brother has a Remy 700 in 30-06 we haven't had the chance to take out yet, but from the weight of it I can already tell it will totally be suck city. I told him he should seriously think about plunking down the money for a nice chassis system, get that thing real heavy, and it'll be a decent package. I am not crazy over recoil myself, and honestly, even a .357 is mildly unpleasant for me to shoot. I had a PF-9 that I really hated to shoot, but forced myself to get good with, and I did. I understand the practicality of a 6-7 lb rifle, but those are meant for the field where serious work is done. I don't go in the field!
 
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