Sighting / Shooting Technique

[Hartshot]

Following a good clean shot the chances are, you haven't a clue what you did right, right ?

Think about it

If you were to be asked, right after a perfect hit on a 200 yard fox what you did, I bet you could not give a definitive answer of the sequence of events.

For instance, you're looking through the scope with the target in sight - what happens next, how did you get to that point ?

How does your brain process the image and then decide when the shot is to be squeezed off.

A percentage of shots in the field are not taken in ideal body positions or circumstances.
Shooting paper targets off a rock solid rest (on the face of it) can be seen as a technique which differs from this in as much as you have time, you can adjust your positioning until you are comfortable -is it though ?

Fir instance, what does YOUR eye concentrate on -

1, alignment of the crosshair to the target

2, alignment of the target to the crosshair

How do you do it, how did you get there - target aquisition, rifle mount, and the shot....the whole shooting match

H

[PESCA]

H, the majority of my shooting takes place either from the truck or from a static ambush position. This is foxes, as I rarely go after anything else.

From the static position, I use an Idleback chair, so, my shooting is much more controlled. From the truck, although on the door I have a built-on rest, when charlie moves position, you can't simply move the truck, so positions are often very awkward, sometimes to the point of "I shouldn't have taken that shot".

I can get full follow-though with the .204, none with the .243 and pretty much none with the mostly-used .223, but to be honest, you get to know the sound of kill shot, I believe.

Once the fox is framed and the backstop checked, I don't really remember the rest. Call it instinctive, call it 'red mist'. I'm not sure.

George

[Hartshot]

H, the majority of my shooting takes place either from the truck or from a static ambush position. This is foxes, as I rarely go after anything else.

From the static position, I use an Idleback chair, so, my shooting is much more controlled. From the truck, although on the door I have a built-on rest, when charlie moves position, you can't simply move the truck, so positions are often very awkward, sometimes to the point of "I shouldn't have taken that shot".

I can get full follow-though with the .204, none with the .243 and pretty much none with the mostly-used .223, but to be honest, you get to know the sound of kill shot, I believe

Once the fox is framed and the backstop checked, I don't really remember the rest. Call it instinctive, call it 'red mist'. I'm not sure.

George

That's the point I'm making George, mad innit.

What I'm trying to find out from the lads is what works for them, if there are any variables in how they get results.

You are spot on after the shot has gone, the noise on contact pretty much let's you know how it all went.

H

[PESCA]

Gotta love that reassuring 'thuuummmp' .

George

[Hartshot]

Either like a cardboard box being thumped, or a cricket bat hitting a really big egg

H

[sunndog]

once my eye goes to the scope pure instinct takes over. i know exactly what i'm doing......but if asked to relate the shot afterwards, range, wind, elevation, or aimpoint i mostly havent got a clue
i'm abolutely rubbish with figures of any kind so i don't use any in my head when working out a shot, for me its much like hand/eye coordination.
you don't think to yourself. my brew is 2 feet away i better extend my arm by 2 feet....you just reach out and grab it
thats the only way i can shoot. it works well and is very fast, but it does cost a few quid in ammo to get used to a new set-up lol

[PESCA]

That's very true, Adam. It must be instinctive.

I knew a guy who was a very good shot. Very meticulous. Far end of a fart sort of fella. He was used to shooting lots of bunnies at immense distances. He was so far from these rabbits, (500 yards plus) that they were unaware that he was even in the same county. So, he could take his time and check the windage:dialled-in, rangefind the distance:elevation dialled-in, side focus:adjusted.

When I told him he would never make a good fox-shooter, he got upset. He couldn't have made a snap decision and taken the shot very quickly if his life had depended on it. The truth sometimes hurts.

I did one day on the long-range bunnies with him and took them out to 335 yards with the .204. I never took up his invitation to go back again. Not for me. I may as well have been shooting paper. Definitely shooting skill involved, but no fieldcraft and no INSTINCT.

George

[AirRifleSport]

Fieldcrafrt... that is something I NEED to learn...

City boy I AM!
I do try but the bunnies notice me most of the time. As far as shooting them, I tend to squeeze the trigger at the same time my eye focus narrower to the thought point of impact. It is strange but is like if my eye zooms in that spot and the pellet comes out of my eye and not from the barrel.
Of course I miss more than I hit with my .22 non FAC air rifle. So many times I wish I had a rim fire as most of the times I cannot get closer than 60 metres before the buggers flee the scene.

[SikaStag]

H, It seems like we think differently. I think the opposite of your question. I more inclined to think, If I have missed it, I then start going through the thinking process to see where I went wrong. I will go to a target asap to check the Rifle has not shifted poi.

I like George do not put too much thought into the shot. That comment doesn't read good. What I mean is. after making sure the backstop is ok. I also check for other livestock that could get hit from a bullet deflecting of a bone. The rest is just crosshairs on and gradual pull of the trigger ( my triggers are light) BANG.

Deer is completely different approach for me. Same checking of the backstop and such. I have not sold venison for a lot of years. I harvest a beast for the freezer. for 18 years of my marriage we never bought red meat. We lived off of venison. I do all my own butchering. I make my own sausages. Square and links.
For years I followed the traditional placement of shot in the chest. When you butcher your own beast, you soon get to realise that there is a shit load of wasted meat that is not going into the freezer. I have never shot a Deer in the chest for probably 14 years. I shoot them in the neck. I do not take a side on neck shot, preferring to wait out the deer getting into the correct position, either facing me or looking straight away from me.

I am a great believer in the theory that a Deer that suspects you are there is starting to pump adrenaline around its body. A Deer that has been chest shot and runs flat out, is pumping adrenaline around its body. There has been claims made that this can affect the meat quality after butchering and eating. I prefer to be grazing away nicely then BANG, poleaxed, legs go from under them, they did not have a clue what was coming.

I served up venison to people that have never liked it in their words. They have licked there plate, after asking first if that was ok. When I said they had just eaten. Venison with pepper and cream sauce, made from start to finnish by my self. They think I am pulling their leg. I make venison steak pies, the meat melts in your mouth. Most people stick a back leg in the oven and the next day whats left, you could sole your shoes with it. My steak pies can be eaten three days in a row and there is no difference in the softness of the meat.


Ian

[PESCA]

To be honest, it's mostly about using the wind (not as in "parp"). You can often get away with being seen, if they can't smell you (though not often in charlie's case).

Also, don't know about anyone else, I always shoot with both eyes open. Keeps your peripheral vision open and as I learned from my target shooting days back in the late 70's, it takes more concentration to close your other eye than it does to leave it open. Something less to think about.

George