Theoretically, it is a simple task to shoot a rifle accurately. Just align your sights on your target and squeeze the trigger without disturbing your aim.
Unfortunately, it just doesn't work that way in the real world. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise - there is no such thing as the person who can hold anything absolutely steady. One of my instructors once told us, 'There are only two kinds of people who can hold a gun absolutely steady - a corpse and God. Now we know that none of us are God, and we hope than none of us will be a corpse any time soon.' One may take issue with characterizing God as a person (even if we were made in his image), but I hope this gets my point across. NOBODY, but NOBODY holds absoutely steady.
Adding to the problem of merely holding the rifle steady - now you must squeeze the trigger without disturbing your aim. Even under the most ideal conditions, you are undoubtedly disturbing the rifle during trigger squeeze and let-off. Knowing these two facts, our goal will be to minimize the disturbances involved with holding and squeezing off the shot - minimizing the "wobble area".
I believe that given the proper equipment, we are all, barring somewhat uncommon physical problems involving our nervous system or musculature, physically capable of shooting 1 MOA at 100 yards. What's left? Preparation - mental discipline, attitude, call it what you will. Don't handicap yourself by failing to mentally and physically prepare for your trip to the range or your hunt.
There are two basic methods to trigger control. One is to continuously squeeze the trigger while maintaining and correcting your sight alinment and sight picture. The other is to only continue the squeeze when the sight alignment and sight picture are correct, the theory being that the gun can then only fire when conditions are as close to ideal as possible.
The rifle is supposed to fire unexpectedly. If this happens, it is not possible to flinch, because the shooter has literally no idea of precisely when the rifle will fire. a lot of good shots claim that thay always really do know when the rifle will fire, with possibly an equal number stating that they never know. I think the truth is that most good shooters know 'about when' the rifle will fire, but not exactly. The exception to this is the really good shot who practices a lot with the same rifle. He or she probably just gets so accustomed to their rifle that they really do know precisely when the shot will break.
At any rate, once you've got your sight alignment and sight picture, the idea is to place the pad of your index finger tip on the trigger and then slowly and gently squeeze the trigger straight back so as not to disturb your aim until the rifle goes off unexpectedly. I like to sometimes use the term 'press the trigger with your fingertip', because it conveys, to me at least, a minimum amout of exertion and gentleness. Be gentle - don't disturb your aim. Also, the only two things you should be thinking about is gently pressing or squeezing that trigger, and maintaining your aim.
Don't hurry the trigger squeeze when you're on target !! This is called JERKING the trigger - plain and simple. Take your time. Relax.
Sight alignment is defined as the relationship between the front and the rear sights. Sight picture is defined as the relationship between the sights and the target (aiming black) downrange. Sight alignment is a critical dimension. It is far more important than sight picture in assuring that a given shot will strike the target consistently with other shots fired with that same alignment. Even if sight picture is not perfect when firing a shot, one may still be well within the 10 ring. If sight alignment is off, even a little bit, one can lose several points as a result.
Open sights can be fairly difficult to use, as they demand that the rear sight, front sight, and target - all in different sight planes - be aligned all at once. One can only have one of the three in focus at any instant. To assure proper sight alignment, the rifleman's focus should be the front sight. The relationship of the front sight to the rear sight is easily verified if the front sight is the point of focus. Since the eyes do not accommodate several focal points at the same time, when the front sight is the point of focus, the rear sight will appear blurry, as will the target.
Additionally, focus on the front sight will go a long way to eliminating the distortions of the aiming black caused by mirage on still, hot, days. If you look through your sights and focus on the target on a still, hot, day, the aiming black will appear to move about and change shape from a nice circle to various oblong shapes, and your shots will be all over the place. If on the other hand, you focus on the front sight, the aiming black will stabilize in the front sight, and your shots will be more consistent.
A better option is the peep or aperture sight. This sight is a front blade and a the rear is simply a piece of metal with a hole in it. With this sight, the shooter will naturally center the front blade at the point of strongest light, which is the center of the rear aperture. If one puts the front blade on the target, the eye will naturally align your sights, as the amount of light coming through the rear aperture around the front sight will be easy to see, and the front sight will be easier to center in the rear aperture by using this method, thereby assuring good sight alignment.
The best, easiest, and most accurate sight to use is the telescopic sight. Not only does it put your sights and your target all in the same sighting plane (and therefore the same focus), but it may (most do) provide many powers of magnification. High magnification makes precise aiming much easier. It also allows you to hold exactly on a specific part of the target.
I've heard a lot of complaints about how high magnification makes precision shooting more difficult, because it amplifies imperfections in the sight hold, ruining their concentration. Heck, I don't know about YOU, but I want to know if I'm doing something wrong so I can correct it - not mask it out with low magnification. As far as spoiling concentration, all I can say is that they're obviously not concentrating hard enough to begin with, and need to work on their mental self-discipline.
Another advantage that the telescopic sight gives us is the ability to judge range. One thing that every shooter should do, depending on the reticle type of their scope, is to measure the dot coverage, or thin part of the duplex at a known range. I do this by using targets that have inches marked off in a grid at the rifle range. I measure how many inches across the fine part of the duplex or the dot is at 100 yards on the lowest power of the scope. Then I crank the scope up to maximum power, and repeat this measurement. Write these down in your log book, and the magnifications used. Now, if you have an idea of the size of your target, you can estimate its distance by comparing it to the dot or duplex lines in your scope. Some scopes have rangefinders built in, but I don't own one of these ... yet.
One thing worth mentioning here is rifle cant. This is the amount that your rifle is tilted off absolute vertical. If your rifle is canted, the bullet will strike in the direction that your rifle is canted. At close range (100 yards), you may not notice much effect with a slight cant. At longer distances, you will notice the effect. Some scopes have a built-in bubble level, and some places (like Sinclair International) sell a level that you can attach to your scope. Here's "An Explanation of Canting", from the folks at SCOPLEVELTM:
You must learn to control and correlate your breathing and your shooting. It is not possible to take a delicately squeezed off shot when your are inhaling or exhaling. There is simple too much movement and too much distraction.
Take two, three, or four nice big, deep breaths before you even put your eye to your sights. This puts a lot of oxygen into your system and gives you the ability to hold your last breath a lot longer. Now look through your sights, and take one final deep breath, letting it out until you feel your 'natural pause' (for most of us, this is around 1/2 or 2/3 out) where the air is no longer pressing to get out of your lungs. At this point, make the final alignment of your sights on your target, and perform a trigger squeeze until the shot breaks. If you don't feel comfortable and can't get the shot off without wanting to breathe, then STOP - take your finger off the trigger - breathe - let out - and return to your trigger squeeze. If I don't get the shot off before I want to breathe again, I stop and start over with 2 - 4 deep breaths.
Most sights are graduated in fractions of a minute of angle (MOA). One minute of angle is approximately one inch at 100 yards, 2 inches at 200 yards, 3 inches at 300 yards, and 6 inches at 600 yards. (It is almost exactly 1.047198" at 100 yards, but 1" is close enough in the real world.) Many sights are graduated in 1/2 or 1/4 MOA - with some target or varmint scopes even giving 1/8 MOA adjustments, thus each "click" on the sight will shift bullet impact accordingly at any given distance. Adjust your telescopic sight in the direction that you want bullet impact to move. Adjust the rear sight of iron sights also in the direction that you want bullet impact to move. If you are shooting at 600 yards, and your bullets are impacting the target six inches to the left of the center of the X ring, adjusting your sight one minute of windage to the right will bring the point of impact to the center of the X ring. Similarly, if striking 3 inches to the left of the center of the X ring, adding on 1/2 minute of windage will move the point of impact to the center of the X ring.
There are a few different shooting positions that one may assume, depending on the circumstances of the situation you find yourself in, and the feasibility of the position in question. They are, in order of the most steady to least steady:
Notice that except in the case of benchrest, the further you get up off the ground, the more stability you lose. While shooting in competition, the preferred position is obviously the benchrest. However, in competition or in the field, this is not always possible. Some competitions require that shots be taken from various positions. Some hunting situations - such as being in tall grass - dictate that the prone position be abandoned in favor of the sitting or kneeling position in order to see the target.
The smart and ethical hunter never stands when he can kneel, never kneels when he can sit, and doesn't sit if the prone position is an option. Your goal should always be to assume the steadiest position possible to kill cleanly with one shot. One should prcatice ALL positions in order to achieve proficiency.
To give a general idea of relative steadiness of the various positions, consider the following. If the benchrest position is arbitrarily given a 'rating' of 100 for steadiness, then prone gets about an 80, sitting - 65, kneeling - 50, and standing - 35.
This position is used for some forms of formal competition, for sighting in your rifle, for load development verification by handloaders, and for determining the accuracy of a rifle/load combination, whether it is a handload or commercial load purchased from the store.
This requires a sturdy, solid benchtop set on strong supports, and is best about 32" high, and a study stool on which to sit. The top of the shooting bench should be smooth (no rough wood or concrete) to avoid abraided elbows over a shooting session. If you don't have a sturdy, comfortable bench, you will not be able to shoot up to the rifle's potential.
Next you need a front pedestal, front sandbag, and rear sandbag sturdy enough to to hold the rifle steady during loading, unloading, and sighting on the target. Sand-filled leather bags work the best, but heavy cloth bags will do the job. In the absence of a front pedestal rest, stacked sandbags will do. The most important thing is that your rest is stable.
Next to benchrest, this position is the steadiest, and really the steadiest field position available. Therefore, this is also the first field position that should be mastered. This position is very useful when shooting at small game and varmints - especially at very long distances - where the terrain is "open". This also applies to larger game, such as pronghorns, etc.
NOTE: For practical shooters (e.g. hunters), care should be taken, NOT to practice this position to the exclusion of the others. One should not come to rely too heavily on this position, as this may be one of the less useful positions out in the field. It is relatively rare to find a piece of ground level enough and free from high grass, brush, or other debris so the prone position can be used. This also applies to competitive shooters who must shoot from various positions in competition.
That said, the most important things to remember about shooting prone are:
I highly recommend a portable bipod or tripod as a front rest to the field shooter in the prone or sitting positions. There are some manufacturers who sell units which attach to the front sling stud of your rifle. Of course, the sitting position will require longer legs on the unit. I happen to use Harris™ bipods on my rifles. There are other brands that are also very good. These units offer AMAZING stability. When using a forward rest, use your 'non-trigger' hand under the butt of the rifle to adjust and steady your elevation. I also use shooting sticks when more height than the bipod can offer is required. Check out my modification of Varmint Al's bi-fur-pod on my 'nifty tool' page.
This is probably the most useful of the field positions when big game hunting. It's not as steady as the prone, not as fast as kneeling or standing, but it offers the best combination of speed and accuracy of these positions. A drawback may be that it may not get you high enough to clear tall grass or brush, which is the strength of the kneeling and standing positions.
The secrets to the sitting position are:
I read on somebody's shooting page (forgive me - I can't remember where) of an interesting technique whereby the shooter actually wraps his arm under or around (?!) his leg (in conjunction with his sling) for a rock steady hold. He is obviously slim and flexible to be able to do this. If I find it, I'll link it up to this page.
This position is not as steady as sitting, but may be useful if you need a foot or so of elevation above the sitting position. It is also a preferred position over sitting if the ground is covered in thorns or cactus and is faster to assume than sitting.
To assume this position,
This is by far the toughest of all shooting positions. It is also essential that the field shooter practice this position, as there will be some situations where a shot is taken from this position or not at all. Some would argue that 'not at all' is the better option. I contend that at times when your game is reasonably close, this is a viable position to use, when necesary, assuming that you have practiced this position sufficiently to become as good a shot as the situation dictates. Notice all the 'weasley words'. This is a pure judgement call on the part of the shooter as to whether he/she can make a reasonably accurate shot. In any case, use a sling, and if a rest is available - USE IT. Any elevated horizontal or vertical surface such as tree trunks or limbs will do. Remember to pad the rest, or the recoil will send your shot wild.
Tips for offhand shooting:
If a vertical rest is available, place the pinky, ring, and middle fingers of your forward hand on the rest, and use your thumb and pointer finger to pad and hold your rifle.
22 January 2000