Practice Drills

[Ontario Hunter]

I think you may find there are many clients, if not most of them, who, like me, don't have the luxury of buying a thumper gun just for one trip to Africa. They use the lodge's rental. They may go to the range when they get there, but I doubt they shoot more than a handful of rounds at the range before getting in the truck to go for their buffalo. And it seems to work out well enough.

I fired my PH's 375 once at the range. It was in the black at a hundred yards. He asked me if I wanted to shoot it again. "Why?" He asked me if I'd like to try his 458 Lott. No thanks. I have fragile retinas. So we went back to the lodge and got ready to go buffalo hunting. I shot the cow just before dusk that afternoon.

My PH had seen me take animals with running shots. And he had ample opportunity to say something when I drew down on that bull, but he didn't. He did the night before when I put the scope on another bull running away. But I wouldn't shoot a buff (or anything else) in the butt (unless it's wounded). I just wanted to be ready in case he spun around to look at us, which they often do. I asked him later why he didn't say anything. "You are the one client I would let take that shot." Actually, I didn't think it was a difficult shot. Big target very close. The bullet hit exactly where I expected. I suppose if there are readers who have spent sixty years shooting animals on the run and birds on the wing and clays at the range, I might be hesitant to reprimand them for taking a close running shot at a buffalo with a strange gun. IF they have that kind of experience and skill, I'm happy to be an example. Otherwise, don't attempt it. You may need to pull one of the PH's boots... or a buffalo horn ... from your underwear.

It's silly to make buffalo hunting into some kind of rocket science that it's not. Anyone can kill a buffalo with one shot out of a borrowed gun. That didn't make me special. Probably a hundred or more clients do it every year. It is a good idea to have some basic skill shooting some kind of rifle before attempting it. But buying your own ultraexpensive big bore rifle and fussing with all the headaches of getting it to Africa is not essential. Neither is it essential to waste even more money learning how to flinch at a range.

 

[Vintageguy]

I believe practice is important. I shoot more than anybody I know and I can tell if I have had too long a break from it. Familiarity with your rifle is invaluable. Watch YouTube a while and you’ll see lots of examples of people with rifles that they are not familiar with and handling them unsafe.
I saw a video of two brothers the other day on Buffalo and the first drilled his buff at probably 80 yards then, in rapid succession, nailed him with his fast follow up shots, textbook and nice to watch. His brother made a good first shot then short stroked and jammed his gun all while advancing towards the buff and into the line of fire had it charged. Not so nice.
A great first shot can prevent all kinds of problems from happening but muscle memory with your rifle in reloading and operation can mean the difference between a fond memory or a nightmare.

 

[Rare Breed]

How do you practice with your DG rifles? What distances, targets, drills, etc.?

Here is exactly what I do. I start at 50 yards everything I do is off sticks and make sure I am on target. I then, don’t laugh run around my field to get winded then free hand at 25 yards. I then do the same at 50 yards. Then I sit on my butt given I cannot kneel well (college football surgically repaired knees) and shoot at 25 yards. Last I will take my time at 100 yards on sticks. That’s my regimen

 

[C.W. Richter]

How do you practice with your DG rifles? What distances, targets, drills, etc.?

i use a Bosch hammer-drill with 1.00" rotating projectile all the time at work, so no off-hrs practice required. LOL you said Jim Shockey-Primos! (too much tv!!!) LOLOLOL Jim doesn't actually need them, as he whacks deer baited behind those logs from his Primos??? blind with his XYZ muzzleloader and his AAB bullets discussed by his wife/kids in commercials!

 

[C.W. Richter]

i use a Bosch hammer-drill with 1.00" rotating projectile all the time at work, so no off-hrs practice required. LOL you said Jim Shockey-Primos! (too much tv!!!) LOLOLOL Jim doesn't actually need them, as he whacks deer baited behind those logs from his Primos??? blind with his XYZ muzzleloader and his AAB bullets discussed by his wife/kids in commercials!

sight rifle in. affix target to old tire. roll down hill (at diff angles). shoot. you're welcome. lol if you watch jim shockey videos and buy everything he recommends, you'll do betterer. and, wait for the point when he says every hunt is scary and dangerous...it's priceless and i live for it! lol Practice off the sticks too-as DG are sometimes impatient! You can get a permission slip for this from Will Primos and Toxey Hayes.

 

[AimSmall]

The question was DG practice?
Add in:
Shoot the rifle fully loaded with your hunting ammo AND reload, quickly, while moving, without looking for ammo, or at the rifle.

DG hunts can have SGB moments.

 

[Rare Breed]

Amen on the fast reload without looking given my recent lion experience

 

[Hunt anything]

Here is exactly what I do. I start at 50 yards everything I do is off sticks and make sure I am on target. I then, don’t laugh run around my field to get winded then free hand at 25 yards. I then do the same at 50 yards. Then I sit on my butt given I cannot kneel well (college football surgically repaired knees) and shoot at 25 yards. Last I will take my time at 100 yards on sticks. That’s my regimen

I’m about the same, I’ll shoot my .416 or .375 off of the sticks at anywhere from 50 to 100 yards and then without cycling the bolt (just for safety reasons) I charge my buffalo target and shoot a couple offhand shots. My charge isn’t too impressive because of catchers knees, but it does get my heart rate up a bit. As for shooting with sub DG calibers, in my opinion any quality trigger time is worth it.

 

[mdwest]

I dont know that I practice any differently with my DG rifles than I do my PG rifles.. I just shoot them..

I shoot fairly regularly year round.. shotgun, rimfire, centerfire rifle, pistol, big bores, etc.. they all get occasional work outs..

If I know I am going on a particular hunt.. whether its dove or cape buffalo.. a couple of months prior to the hunt, I'll start using the firearm that it intended for that hunt a bit more than usually.. if for the sake of argument I might shoot 8-10 375 H&H rounds a month on average when no DG hunting is intended.. once I know I am going to hunt DG, that will get ramped up to 20-30 rounds per month for a few months prior to the hunt..

I already practice mounting and dismounting from sticks, shooting at close targets (inside 50), long targets (out to maybe 250), rapid reloads, etc.. regardless of the rifle platform being shot.. so none of that changes much (other than the DG rifles never get shot beyond 100)..

 

[Hunt anything]

I didn’t mention I practice reloading / topping off quite a bit, at times on plains game hunts I will borrow/rent a rifle but on DG hunts I will always take my own rifle that I’m extra familiar with.

 

[Justbryan]

I agree with the need to practice. My shooting on my last trip to South Africa was not my best. I missed a Warthog & Klipspringer.

My problem is that I don't have a close range to Lake Fork Texas home. I need to find someplace to shoot.

 

[Hunt anything]

Rare Breed where did you play college football?

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Amen on the fast reload without looking given my recent lion experience

For this reason I have made sure my 404 Jeffery on Mauser 98 snaps over on shells dropped in the chamber. I'm confident I could load a fifth round over an empty magazine without even looking at the gun. No practice needed. Tip the barrel down slightly, drop a bullet in the receiver, close the bolt, and shoot that charging buffalo.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I agree with the need to practice. My shooting on my last trip to South Africa was not my best. I missed a Warthog & Klipspringer.

My problem is that I don't have a close range to Lake Fork Texas home. I need to find someplace to shoot.

Don't beat yourself up too much. Warthogs are nervous and klipspringer are tiny targets. I missed three shots at the same gemsbuck bull over two days. Very uncharacteristic. But at least I eventually did get him. I don't need more time at the range as much as I need to roll back the years. Sigh!

 

[thriller]

How do you practice with your DG rifles? What distances, targets, drills, etc.?

I shoot lots of hogs personally. I find they make excellent practice

 

[BourbonTrail]

My practice:

- Tons of dry fire practice (from sticks, off hand, reload, time to target, trigger control, etc.)
- Sight in confirmation
- Off sticks @100 yards
- Offhand at 50 & 25 yards as fast as possible with scope
- Shoot my ‘06 off sticks @ 100 & 200 yards
- Offhand at 50 & 25 yards as fast as possible with irons

Rinse and repeat. I vary the size and type targets regularly along with shooting positions.

 

[Inline6]

I shoot a lot of matches. Between rimfire, shotgun and centerfire I shoot close to 3k a year. Not what I used to do, (have shot that in a weekend during training).

Like others have said dry fire, Dry Fire, DRY FIRE!

I don't shoot the big bore until it is a several months away from a hunt. They are sighted in ready to go. I figure with all my other trigger time, I'm good. When I shoot them, that seems to hold true.

 

[Hunt anything]

One other thing I do is I carry my DG rifles on my daily 5-10 mile walks when a hunt is a month or two away. Every mile or so I’ll find a tree and find a good rest and dry fire at a target, GOOD muscle repetition is extremely valuable. Don’t slop through any part of training, it can cause bad habits. IMO if you just don’t feel up to it every once in a while it’s better to forgo a day or two of training than get in a bad habit.

 

[ARHinAK]

Besides hitting what you’re aiming at, learn to manipulate your gun quickly and without error. With my double I practiced two shots and a reload. This can be done with snap caps while you’re working on the mechanics. Know exactly which hand will be doing what to best handle the rifle, doubles aren’t featherweights. Have your spare ammo positioned nearest the hand that will be reaching for it. Think economy of motion. The shortest distance from A to B in any movement. Stay with the sticks as much as you can, beats offhand every time but practice that too.
With a bolt gun, run the bolt. You might think that’s obvious but I’ll bet more than a few hunters like to admire their first shot. If you decide to kill an animal, kill him. Perfect shot or not I’ll put the second right after the first. If you practice that way, you’ll do it that way and you’ll have hooves in the air more often than not.

 

[PietVis]

I don't see anybody commenting on shooting under pressure, with a elevated heart rate and bumpy nerves. Almost everybody can shoot straight when you are calm and have time to take a shot.
Running, then rapidly emptying my magazine on a set of steel gongs with my DG rifle has helped me ramp up my capabilities when shooting under pressure.