Beware the Man w/ One Gun

[MtnCreek]

Anyone here think they would be a better shot if they only shot one rifle? I suppose it makes sense. I got a new scope the other week and did a little scope swapping with a couple of rifles. Yesterday evening I’m trying to get the new scope roughed in. I didn’t have any ammo loaded for this rifle so I cranked out 8 rds and set up in the yard. I absolutely, 100% hate picking up rocks, so there’s several targets available in the pasture. I turn the scope to 3x so I can see impacts and fired. High! Really High! It was so high, I couldn’t see the impact with the crosshairs on the target, but I could see the small crater in the grass. Put the reticle on it and counted 8 mils. Dialed 8 and shot again. High! Ok, so what did I screw up??? Measured, dialed and shot again. Still high, but getting a little closer. I’m checking out the turret trying to figure what was going on, then the little light bulb turned on; the reticle is set to work on 15x, not 3x… Turned it to 15x, measured, dialed, turned it back to 3x and hit. Not finely tuned, but sub MO rock accurate.

When I bought the scope, I knew this could be an issue, but I couldn’t pass up on what I thought was a good deal. At that point, I realized it may be a bigger deal than I had thought. I also started thinking about ‘what if I only shot one rifle’. I would at least be quicker on target and probably tighten my groups up. I’m not a pro shooter; I don’t have the skill, money or time, but I would like to be a better shooter. I think shooting only one rifle would aid in that. I like my toys, but I’m considering getting rid of a couple rifles and just sticking to one. Anyone done this? If so, any regrets?

Thanks!

 

[drsfmd]

I often hear that saying in reference to shotguns, but I have never found it to be even close to true.

 

[Furncliff]

I shoot once or twice a week. Mostly rimfire and cf handguns. I know that I get better results if I stick with one gun. This subject has come up before (Shoot one gun for a month) and I found I got better groups from the bench with the rim fires, and had better muscle memory response with the handguns.

Trouble is I like shooting different guns, so basically I have to settle for being mediocre.

 

[taliv]

it's sort of a cause/effect thing

i know a couple good shooters who are able to win pretty well with any reasonable rifle/caliber you hand them, given a few weeks of practice with it. and several shooters who are really good with just one rifle.

on the other hand, i know a truckload of competitors who perform poorly, blame the rifle, switch to a different one, and surprise! perform poorly in the next competition. these guys have been repeating this cycle for years, and some of them have safes full of expensive custom guns now. (while others sell the last one to fund the new one)

what's the difference? the first group knows how to TRAIN and spends substantial time TRAINING. The later group spends a little trigger-time trying to gather dope for their new rifle and most of their free time debating pros/cons of hardware on the internet.

so yeah, that often looks like guys with 1 gun are more proficient...


if you are willing to put in the time and $, you can be proficient with as many rifles as you want. if you only have a very limited amount of time, i'd suggest focusing on a single rifle.

 

[MtnCreek]

what's the difference? the first group knows how to TRAIN and spends substantial time TRAINING. The later group spends a little trigger-time trying to gather dope for their new rifle and most of their free time debating pros/cons of hardware on the internet.

Point taken.

 

[TonyAngel]

I do believe that being "used to" a rifle can help. I think that individual setups do have a "personality" of their own that you need to get used to shoot your best with it.

 

[David E]

Swapping scopes between rifles then being surprised its not sighted in, then thinking that fewer rifles is the answer is......interesting.

What helps my shooting is keeping things consistent on the rifles I have and not go about swapping this red dot for that scope, etc.

The other part that helps is to shoot them. For example, the red dot on my Mini 14 is sighted so the top edge if the dot hits dead-on at 100 yds. The center of the dot is zeroed for 200, while the bottom edge of the dot strikes true at 300. Because I know that, I can hit a target at 100, 200 and 300 yds with one shot at each distance, even if it's a year since I last shot it.

 

[CraigC]

There's definitely something to be said for focusing on one weapon and working toward being proficient with it. However, most folks who do a lot of shooting like to own a variety of guns and they tend to multiply like flies. So while that old saying may have been true at some point in time, I really don't think it holds true anymore. At least not universally. I would say that more often than not, the guy that owns one rifle 'may' go through a "box of shells" every ten years and 'may' fire one or two shots on paper, rested across a cardboard box and sighting through a Tasco scope in see-thru mounts, before deer season and call it "good enough". We've all seen this stereotype at the range and we've all thought the same thing. It may sound like an elitist, condescending comment but I think it illustrates my point.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

I have some AK's, M1 rifle, M1 carbine, several Remiongton 700's, and of course, a Shiloh Sharps single shot. All in all, I can pick up my Remington 700, in .30-06, set up like a scout rifle, and as if by magic, place a bullet on the target. It is fast, light, and has a Timney trigger that breaks right when the crosshairs line up (or so it seems). I feel that if I had only that rifle, and it was all I ever shot, I could reach nirvana. Spreading my shooting over many rifles does not allow me to reach perfection with one rifle, but it DOES make me more proficient with many, and that may be a more practical plan. But I DO respect the guy who only has one, and knows how to use it. I would keep a watchful eye on that guy a lot more than all the others.

 

[gp911]

I agree the one gun idea has merit, but it's not a definite for reasons mentioned above. When I was a kid I was a crack shot with my bb gun from long ranges (for a bb gun) because I knew that gun's performance like the back of my hand. I like having variety, but if I was stuck with one gun forever I would be more proficient with it than if it was part of a collection, I figure.

 

[caribou]

For years Ive used the same 2 rifles to make my living Hunting. A romainian M-69 and Remington solid .22LRs and a '42 Sako M-39 with Czech 147 gn. LPS FMJ's, and haveing shot Boucoup Mucho through both, I know them VERY VERY well.

I belive a man who has a rifle he "knows", despite how many other rifles he may own, is gonna have an edge over those who are not so familiar with theirs. Most guys in my profession here use the same rifle day in and day out, and their performance shows in fur, meat and sucess at all temps and terrain.

 

[BP Hunter]

That has always been my concern - I wish I was proficient with one long gun and a handgun. But.. I love keeping differnt types of guns. My gunsafe is already full. Anyway, if it was going to one gun, it would be my Marlin 336 with iron sights.

 

[mshootnit]

its true. I know a guy that went quite awhile with only one rifle. real good shot with it.

 

[Trent]

Handguns? Sure. I do much better if I take ONE handgun to the range and practice exclusively with it. If I take 3 or 4, I shoot ALL of them like crap. Triggers, hold, everything is just too different from one another.

Rifles, not so much. I can take 3 or 4 bolt guns and do just as well on all of them.

The important thing is to ZERO ALL OF THEM. I can not - repeat - CAN NOT STAND - having a gun in the safe/cabinet that isn't properly zeroed. It drives me absolutely nuts to put on a new scope, or get a new gun, and not know if it's even remotely close to being "on."

I *HAVE* to know they are zeroed or something in my brain twitches and won't relent UNTIL I know.

 

[MtnCreek]

What got me was going from FFP scope to SFP scope. I'd been using one type and it didn't click in my head that the other works differently. That got me to thinking about rifles; different triggers, different glass, different stocks, different…….. The more I look at them, it looks like a hodgepodge of somewhat nice to mediocre rifles with somewhat nice to mediocre glass. Add to that, mediocre shooting and I need to change something, but as Taliv said, it's me that needs a change. It’s just easy to look at a handful of rifles and wonder why I have this and why don’t have that and if I’d got that instead, I would be better or somehow enjoy it more. Don’t get me wrong, I Love shooting; it clears my head, refreshes me. I think I’ve just gotten myself into some kind of I should’a mode.

I’m going to clean them up and set them in the back of the safe for a while and stick to one bolt gun and one .223 autoloader. What would probably help me more than anything is to get out of my comfort zone and get away from my standard setups. I have my spots that I shoot from because they’re the nice, flat spots on the high ground, … Force myself to think about what I’m doing, shoot and repeat. Hopefully I’ll learn something. I’ll try that for a while before doing anything drastic.

 

[788Ham]

All that being said.... I've always been told, "The guns no better than the man behind it."

 

[taliv]

mtncreek,

go here http://kmprecisionrifletraining.com/

call bryan, sign up for a class. rent one of their house guns. then figure out what you want to do with all of them.

nothing wrong with having lots of guns and being decent with all of them. it's really a question of whether you want to be really good with one.

 

[bdgackle]

The man with one golf club probably has a better idea of where it will put the ball than a guy with a whole bag of clubs. He probably doesn't shoot a better game of golf, though.

Guns are not entirely interchangeable. You need to evaluate your needs, but there is a law of diminishing returns. At some point, you gain more from a little equipment specialization than you lose in familiarity. Spending 10 hours each training with a centerfire rifle and your ccw will yield more practical experience than 20 hours with one or the other (assuming both fill a useful role in your situation).

Skill vs time spent training tends to follow a logistic curve. For very small amounts of available training time, doubling your training more than doubles your skill. For very large amounts of training time, doubling training produces only a small increase in skill. It is at this point that picking up a whole other platform MAY be a better investment.

I also wouldn't discount the motivation boost that fun and variety provide. Personally, if I only owned one gun, I simply wouldn't spend as much time shooting.

Obviously, this doesn't apply if you want to be a top competitor, or if you are a pro who is playing for keeps - in that case, you need all the skill you can get. For someone looking for a more general skill set, though, variety can make sense.

 

[mdThanatos]

What if it came down to one of the same platform, I know this is in the rifle section but lets say that you had multiple variations of an AR-15, specifically same lower different uppers for instance one in 5.56 then another in 7.62x39 or even go with the Remington 700, same rifles just different caliber? How about with pistols as well, lets take the Glock for example, the 17 and the 22, the 19 and the 23, the 26 and the 27. Same size different caliber. In theory one should be relatively competent with either caliber in the rifles, pistols might be a different story.

 

[Grunt]

No, I tend to believe the saying, "Beware the man with many rifles because he may be an affecianato and practices by putting a lot of rounds down range to see which is the better rifle." I have seen a LOT of one-gun-hunters that aer like the ones mentioned earlier that have a rifle that may see 20 rounds per year through sub-standard equipment but not much more. On the other hand, you can trow me an AR, M-14, H&K, FAL, AK, Garand, UZI, etc. simply because I already own many of them, practice with them and can use one just as well as the next. Sort of like being able to speak several different languages...except with firearms.

 

[Welding Rod]

Where the heck would you find a guy who only owned one gun?

 

[nathan]

Its s a misnomer. Practice and practice and practice is the underlying factor , if not, its only a gun. But first , you have to have plenty of bullets. Nothing substitutes to constant practice. Maybe the first and easy step is dry firing. We all know how expensive ammo are nowadays.

 

[lefteyedom]

Its the shooter..

I met an old hunter in Idaho around 1987. He had kill at least one elk every year from the time he got back form "THE WAR" in 1946.. Untold numbers of deer he had taken over the years, he was a meat hunter.

His one rifle was a Savage 99 with 2X Lyman Alaskan, chambered for 300 Savage. The rifle stock finish had long since been worn off, Bluing must have been gone before Carter was in the White house.

The 99 was a tool that kept him in meat

Take from the story what you will

 

[Trent]

I take from the story the old hunter knew his business hunting, medium sized cartridges (308/300 savage) are universal meat takers, and that Savage makes fine rifles (still do, in my opinion).

But we can't hunt with rifles in Illinois, so I need other justification for owning all of the rifles I own.

Fun factor.

If I could "only have one?"

I tend to think "if I could only have one of EACH."

 

[Trent]

This being said, if I could only have one... out of 70+ rifles I'd take my Savage 112, 300 Win Mag.

I've shot a barrel out of that gun, had it over 15 years now, every round fired has been a meticulous handload through that rifle.

I guarantee you "if I can see it, I can hit it."

It is the ONE gun that I would NEVER sell. Ever.

I already told my wife, that gun goes in to my coffin with me.