Is the problem the equipment....or you?

[Phil Giordano]

To know that the equipment is 101% dependable and accurate built a ton of confidence, and confidence is (almost) everything - at least to me.
Like in fishing : if you believe in the bait, you'll fish better.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Of course....but if the question is which happens more often in the field, it's clearly operator error. None of the recent 1/2 dozen wounded and lost animals I referred to were equipment errors. I don't know any PH who would say they have seen more equipment failures than operator errors. It's usually someone who is not familiar with or lacking experience with their equipment...new rifles, bigger calibers, missed shots, fumbling with their safety, scared of their rifle, don't know how to adjust their new scope, etc etc. That's all operator error.

Yes, and I agreed with you. But, I have seen equipment failures twice when it counted. Once when my scope fell apart inside after a successful safari then went hog hunting after I got home, and once when my PH's rifle failed to feed and a buffalo jumped up at about ten feet. I broke the bulls neck before he got the PH. The broken scope resulted in a wounded and ruined pig. I had to crawl in under thick brush but did finish him.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Get off the bench!

A high percentage of my shooting these days is away from the bench…..offhand, kneeling, sticks, tripods, backpacks, etc.

The more I shoot in field type conditions the more I find my weaknesses. A 1/2 MOA gun does no good in the hands of a 6 MOA shooter.

I have a much better idea of what I am and am NOT capable of. Very humbling to take the sandbags away

You’re absolutely correct. The guys I’ve hunted elk/deer/pronghorn with shoot three rounds from the bench before the season (MAYBE!) to make sure their scope is still zeroed and that’s it. I think outside of this forum and probably the MAJORITY of hunters worldwide do the same thing before going hunting. The result often times is missed or worse, wounded game. I’ve personally witnessed both.

 

[WI-2021]

Usually the problem is me. I've invested quite a bit of time and money into making sure it isn't the equipment, even as I continue to work on making sure it isn't me. Generally it's much easier to fix our equipment than ourselves.

Before we started to plan our first safari, I'd never shot off of sticks. Fortunately, we started tentatively planning it three years ago, so I immediately bought a tripod and made a set of sticks and started practicing every range trip, typically about 50 rounds of .22 and a few centerfire rounds for good measure. Fast forward to our trip last month, and I still botched the shot on my blesbuck. We recovered it, thanks to the tracker and PH. That was totally on me, I rushed the shot and pushed it too far back. Practice will continue.

A year or two ago I had my .375 Ruger Alaskan glass bedded and a thicker recoil pad installed. At the same time I had the muzzle threaded for a suppressor, and a new front sight installed behind the threads. This rifle had always shot well, I had only had it bedded to help prevent stock cracking. When I got it back, I mounted the scope and headed to the range to sight in. The rifle that used to put three 300 grain DGX's into 1-1.5" at 100 yards now struggled to hit a pie plate consistently at 50 yards off the bench. I'm certainly capable of having a bad day at the range, but it was a little hard to believe that this was on me. After shooting 10+ rounds into what looked like a nice 00-buck pattern, I decided I needed to make sure it wasn't me. I switched to my .375 Ruger African, which also always shot well, and promptly put three shots into under an inch centered in the pattern shot by the other rifle. Aha, it's not me!

After arriving at home, troubleshooting continued. I'd already shot it with and without the suppressor during my failed sight-in struggle, so that was ruled out. That pretty much leaves a broken scope or something wrong with the bedding. I check action screw torque first, since that's easiest; all good there. The scope is a relatively inexpensive Vortex Viper HS that I got on clearance. It's been on other rifles before and worked well, but maybe it just wasn't up to the task on a relatively lively .375. Guess I'll swap the scope. I'd used Warne fixed rings on this rifle, which I'm generally not a big fan of since a third hand would be nice to install them, though they have always worked well for me once installed. I loosen up the mounting screws and pop the scope off. "Where the hell is the front recoil key?" Sure enough, the recoil key had managed to slip out of the front ring when I mounted the scope and I hadn't noticed it while working on my cluttered bench. This one was also a "me" problem. After I bit of rooting around I found the recoil key and remounted the scope, correctly this time. The next range trip that .375 was back to being its usual accurate self.

 

[coreydb]

You need to shoot your magnum rifle enough to where you are no longer afraid of it. If you are recoil sensitive or don't want to take the time that it requires, don't buy a magnum.

As for who's problem it is, most of the time it's the shooter and not the equipment. Every time that I either missed a shot or made a bad shot I have found that my equipment was just fine and I was the problem.

Amen Brother, Amen...

 

[AZDAVE]

I am in the same camp as @JoninCO in the constant training, assessment, retrain on lacking areas and skill. Many folks would consider me and my wife over prepared for our hunts.

For equipment if you haven't shaken it out to the last degree how do you know if you have a scope that went bad, or actions screws/ scope base screws etc. Without enough experience and or time with your hunting gear how can you determine if it is the equipment or you. I could go into several in depth long winded examples. I will just same we have had one problem each with equipment for each of us on safari and were able to diagnose and take corrective action

As for the you part of this, the ability to know your capabilities both physical and mental is also one you have to be %100 honest with yourself!!!

The last part that no one has mentioned yet is your physical conditioning. I watch folks plan and prepare their equipment to the inth degree abut don't take the time to do anything about their shape. You can't get in shape watch hunting shows sitting in the recliner. I would be willing to bet a six pack for very good beer that more shots are blown by folks that are hurrying to keep up with their PH and getting on the sticks and their heart rate is through the roof, scope or irons are all over the target and a jerked trigger when they think the scope is on the animal.

 

[MedRiver]

My son and I went on a horseback ride yesterday to scout for elk. We took our rifles along. He had a .300 WM and l had my .358 NM.

We each fired four total rounds throughout the day from field positions at rocks. Solid hits over a backpack in awkward positions out to 400+ yards builds a lot of confidence.

I would wager there was more value in those 8 rounds than 200 on paper.

 

[Tex .416]

I come at this from a different perspective than many hunters.

I spent 16 years in our special operations forces during the GWOT. When we weren't conducting operations we were training on a wide variety of tasks. Train train train...do do it for real....then right back to an endless training cycle. When I got injured overseas I spent a couple years running the training courses at an institutional level, and I continued with firearms training for high-level users after I retired for a few years. Some people have delusions of grandeur where they think they'll hyper focus and pull something off in real life that they haven't trained for...they fail at best and die at worst. Confidence without skill is called hubris, and it's never an enabler. So we train. It's not called "safe game" for a reason, right?

Performance is byproduct of training. Shooting is pretty simple in concept...apply the fundamentals for a given discipline. Pull the trigger without moving the sights til the bullet clears the muzzle. Given the right equipment (a zeroed rifle capable of your required level of accuracy) you'll hit your target. All we are doing in field conditions is making the application of these fundamentals more difficult to apply. Could be stress, could be fatigue, could be environmental conditions...whatever. Field shooting and range shooting are symbiotic. You have to do the exact same baseline things to make accurate shots. The better you are at it on the range, the better you are at it in the field, they are inextricably linked. It's just more difficult.

You have to train smart. Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent. So if practice makes you worse you just don't know what you're doing and you need to go back to the fundamentals. You've built a mansion on a cardboard foundation. Only perfect practice makes perfect. I would, of course, rather be walking around Africa with my gun than practicing mounting my rifle on sticks for three hours. I would rather be glassing for sheep than generating data and dialing in guns at the long range. Shooting a brick of .22LR a weekend out of a small-bore analog of my 500 Linebaugh hunting handgun is tedious during the summer, but I do it.

I've never once thought "I spent too much time getting really good at basic shooting" when it was time to take a challenging shot, and my life and livelihood have revolved around shooting for three decades at this point.

Outstanding post.

I will add one extra thought in addition to Jon’s recommendation to use a .223. Practicing with a .308 is good for learning recoil management. It has just enough recoil to require good form and firm control under recoil with the ability to shoot a good number of rounds in a session without taking a beating. Ammo is abundant and barrels last for many thousands of rounds.

 

[Sabre]

The last part that no one has mentioned yet is your physical conditioning. I watch folks plan and prepare their equipment to the inth degree abut don't take the time to do anything about their shape. You can't get in shape watch hunting shows sitting in the recliner. I would be willing to bet a six pack for very good beer that more shots are blown by folks that are hurrying to keep up with their PH and getting on the sticks and their heart rate is through the roof, scope or irons are all over the target and a jerked trigger when they think the scope is on the animal.

I agree and do think that this is probably the reason for way more missed shots than equipment. However, I will say that even if a person tries to stay in shape and conditioned, sometimes it won't matter.

A person can go for walks/hikes all the want, but if they live in a flat area without much for elevation, and then go for a hunt in high elevation and mountains or big hills, they are going to be sucking wind and have a high heart rate.

Also, the older you get and the more chronic physical issues a person accumulates results in similar outcomes as well.

The best thing you can likely do is to not take a shot when you are breathing heavy and heart rate is high. But we all know that PHs will be excited and want you to shoot as soon as possible and lots of people will struggle with saying no when it seems like they only have a few seconds before the animal runs away. Which of course, increases stress and exacerbates all those issues.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Medriver, that Palomino looks quiet. Or he’s camera shy.

 

[ftrovato]

Professional golfers don't go to the driving and putting range every day because it's fun!

Hand and eye coordination take constant repetition. Then and only then are you stacking the odds in your favor for success.

Shooting is no different.

Then like a golfer trying to make a shot to win the match when we are trying to make that shot on an animal we have done all that we can to stack the odds of success in our favor.

My 2 cents....and that won't get you anything these days! ;-)

 

[Rimbaud]

Skill at arms is perishable. I shoot a lot, under field conditions, real and simulated, and lately have participated in USPSA matches for pistol, and also rifle matches (steel challenge and long range). I find the competition helps with shots under pressure in the field. I also like that some of the competitions, with rifle, require getting into less than ideal positions to make shots. In all competitions, you have to focus on breathing and fundamentals. Highly recommend this kind of training for other hunters. As for equipment, I am lucky enough to have good gear. I don't know if it makes me any better in the field, as I would say that it is hard to top the athleticism we all had before we spent so much time in offices or in our professions. I'm prepping now for an autumn bear and chamois hunt in Transylvania, and I am rucking with my pack, wearing my binos, and doing everything I can to prepare myself for what I hope will be one shot kills.