What is wrong with me ?

[Kodiak AK]

OK . Pick it up . Rack the slide . Make sure the saftey is off.Line up the sights. Focus on the front sight. Breath . Focus on the target . Breath . Let the rear sight turn fuzzy and get a good sight picture on the target. Breath . Squeez. Breath .Keep the sights lined up . Breath . Squeez. Discharge . Andddddddddddd.............. It's in the white .

Try again.
Breath . Line up the sights . Focus on the front sight. Breath . Squeez . Breath . Keep the sights on the target center . Line it all up . Squeez a little more . Breath . Squeez . Discharge.Anddddddddddd....... Hey the 2 ring that is better I guess.


Heck with this . Line up center target . Pull the trigger till empty . Take a look . Everything in the 9 ring and less .

Why can't I shoot when I concentrate?
Why am I great at point shooting , but I can't bench rest to save my life ?

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

 

[tc300mag1]

im kind of the same the more i concentrate the worse i shoot.. But i also notice if i pause relax my shoulders put pistol down move arms around think pick it back up and concentrate i can do good for 2-3 shoots then all over but if i point shoot i shoot a lot better

 

[Kodiak AK]

A part of me thinks that being this way is better . It will alow for more points if I compete , and if I ever need to shoot , I should be OK . But I would like to see how acurate my guns realy are with out resorting to getting a Ransom Rest .

 

[Hypnogator]

You just need some expert instruction! For a modest fee, I'll be happy to fly up to Alaska and help you out! For hunting privileges, I'll give a big discount, too!

Seriously, long long ago in a state far away, I used to shoot on the University of Iowa rifle team. The entire bullseye was the size of a quarter, and the X-ring was a dot the size of a pinhead. Never was good enough to make the competition team, but I learned some things that served me well later in the Army.

First, make very sure you're comfortable. Adjust your sling or your shooting position until you can hold it for five minutes without discomfort. When you've achieved a good position, take a couple of deep breaths, then let about half your breath out and hold it. Now, concentrate on your s-q-u-e-e-z-e. When you've achieved a perfect sight picture, begin your squeeze. If the sight picture drifts off (and it will), hold the pressure on the trigger until you have eased the sight picture back on, again. Remember, you don't have to fire every time you begin the process. If you feel the need to breathe and haven't let the shot off with a perfect sight picture, ease the pressure off of the trigger, take a few deep breaths, then begin the process all over again. You should be genuinely surprised when the weapon fires, and if you've been concentrating on that perfect sight picture, the bullet should go pretty much where you intend it to. Practice will help that, of course.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

 

[hksw]

This is what makes shooting interesting. Much like golf, you're always trying to improve your skill. Everybody starts at zero. Some reach the top faster than others and there is more than one path to take.

 

[Chuck Dye]

Why fight it?

"I'm better when I move." The Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) to Percy Garris (Strother Martin).

Might be better to accept the gift and cultivate it. Just stay out of Bolivia .

Hoodle dang, hoo dee ai do, hoodle dang, hoo dee ay!

 

[El Tejon]

When you move, you are shooting with the subconscious.

When you concentrate, you are fighting the sights. Do not fight the sights. Let the sights come to you.

Be like water, brasshopper. Clear your mind and achieve wu-hsin.

[gong sounds, of course]

Kodiak, you are just fine. It happens to us all, thus the continual need for training and improvement.

 

[Model520Fan]

Try mixing a few dummy rounds into your try-hard fire and see what happens.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Why can't I shoot when I concentrate?

There's concentration and concentration. After awhile, target shooting becomes a form of Zen-style meditation. I've found at times my responsibility is to allow the bullet to find its proper place in the ten ring, which is to say: to do absolutely nothing to interfere with the perfect shot both the gun and the bullet intrinsically desire to make.

Yes, it verges into mysticism after awhile.

 

[tc300mag1]

You must use the Force Kodiak AK let the Force Flow though you trust your fellings

 

[Preacherman]

trust your fellings

Kodiak, I didn't know you were a lumberjack?

 

[El Tejon]

[El Tejon signing] "Oh, he's a lumberjack and . . ."

Maybe that's the problem Kodiak. Are you wearing a funny wool hat and Canadian tuxedo when shooting?

 

[Stand_Watie]

When you move, you are shooting with the subconscious.

When you concentrate, you are fighting the sights. Do not fight the sights. Let the sights come to you.

I second that advice. I think you're trying too hard. Try to relax as if you had 1.5 beers under your belt. I also shoot better when I relax, and worse when I try to hold the gun perfectly steady.

 

[El Tejon]

Kodiak, in all seriousness, sounds like you should try some breathing exercises. Know the law hon gung or taiji chikung exercises? Even some yoga stuff would help I'll bet.

 

[tc300mag1]

opps my bad speeling(spell checker not working ) ..lol should have been feelings

 

[Kodiak AK]

Drinking and shooting don't mix .

And I am not a lumber jack , but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night .


So I need to be a zen baby , and just stop sweating it and shoot?

 

[Stand_Watie]

Drinking and shooting don't mix

Absolutely correct. Shoot as if you had 1.5 beers under your belt. Don't drink 1.5 beers before shooting.

 

[BHPshooter]

I had a big problem with that too, although I was even worse when point shooting.

Dry-firing works miracles. Always keep sharp focus on the front sight, and be calm

I used to scatter ten shots all over a 8.5x11 piece of paper. Now I can get most shots where I want them... But then, I'm not terribly fast at it, either.

It's all one step at a time.

Dry-fire every day. Invest in some decent snap-caps.

Wes

 

[Kodiak AK]

Speaking of dry fire , anybody know if it is safe to dry fire a Walther P22?

 

[Archie]

Kodiak, you have a rather common problem.

I'm a bullseye (2700) shooter. It drives me nuts when I can get better groups in Timed and Rapid Fire than in Slow Fire. And I'm not the only one. Here's the conventional wisdom from the shooters; good, bad and ugly.

When you shoot slowfire, you're attempting to get a perfect sight alignment and sight picture. Simultaneously, you're trying to do a dead slow trigger pull so you won't disturb said sight picture.

It isn't humanly possible!

When you shoot either timed or rapid, you get in the middle of the target and do a series of controlled rapid trigger actuations.

So what you need to do with your slow fire is what you do with your timed and rapid fire strings. Get a good sight alignment; get the sights into the middle of what is your aiming area... that is, if you hold center, lets the sights wander around in the more or less center of the target... then do either a "controlled yank" or "fast press" or "rapid fire" trigger pull and be done with it.

One of my old coaches directed me to shoot slow fire as a series of 10 "first shots" for a timed fire sequence. Do in your head the "Ready on the Right. Ready on the Left. Ready on the Firing Line." Raise the pistol, fire the first round and put the pistol down.

If you hold the pistol on target more than about six seconds, put the gun down and begin again.

 

[PATH]

Good advice Archie. The slow fire is what kills me. I shoot around 80's on the timed and rapid but only in the low 60's in the slow fire. I guess the rest is zen like though as well as physical and mental training.

 

[Kodiak AK]

It seems I am not alone .

Thanx for all of the sugestions .I will give these things a try when I go out next.