Shooting accuracy

[Fred Gunner]

Get some 30-06 snap caps and dry fire every day.

If you have someone to help you, have them balance a dime on your rifle barrel just behind the front site. Your goal is 5 continuous dry fires without “Dropping the Dime”

That will help save ammo money and let you get lots of practice.

For ethical long range shooting find the “Point Blank” Range to zero your scope for the ammo you’ll be hunting with. on our 30-06 shooting factory 180 grain Swift A-Frames we’er zeroed at 200 yards.

Point Blank zero is the sweet spot where the bullets trajectory will be within the 6 inch kill zone from 50 to 300 yards. 300 yards being what most find as the ethical maximum range for clean kills. (if 18year olds in basic training can qualify at 300 yards with open sights you can do it with a scope)

The most important rule is if your going to take shots out past 100 yards you must practice at those longer ranges until you can hit a 6 inch target 5 for 5 shots.

Got to go my wife and I are off to the range today. Shooting drill 150 yard steel plate followed by 250 yard plate to practice follow up shots... great fun.

 

[jacques smith]

You’ve gotten some good advice here. One thing is nagging me
Your comment on trigger figure feels hugely better using a pad
Makes me wonder if your LOP is too short—easy fix thicker recoil pad or spacer. What ever feels good to you, pad or not, plan on hunting with same rig as practice
Country knowledge says if you can hit a pop can st 25 yards UR good to go to 220 with 06
Best of luck

 

[ShortMag]

I'm also from Indiana and had never taken a shot at animal over 150 yards until I hunted Africa earlier this year. I know that finding a public range longer than 100 yards to practice on can be difficult but I would highly advise you to either find such a range(there's a public range in Wabash that goes out to 500) and work to push your comfort level once you've gotten the basics down by shooting at longer than expected ranges or shoot smaller than life size targets at 100 yards to help overcome the mental aspect of shooting at small looking/far away target. Dry firing a lot will help but make sure you do it safely! Also practice to reload and fire a second shot quickly instead of admiring your first shot. I wouldn't worry about group size much at all, your main concern should be putting one shot into the vital area from a cold rifle in a timely manner and then reloading immediately for a follow up shot. Once in Africa I would suggest building your confidence with a close shot or two before stretching out to the maximum distance you are comfortable with.

 

[inkedspot]

As mentioned previously, get a 22 bolt action and get a lot of practice on getting steady using something cheap to shoot. I bought a $200 22 Mag and probably shot 4000 rounds off of sticks in preparation. The safari press targets are good for that because they are scaled down and allow you to simulate shooting the actual animals at closer range. DST Precision makes a cap that goes on your scope called a D.F.A.T. that lets your rifle scope focus at around 11'. Print an appropriate sized image and dryfire practice off of the sticks every day at home. You can do it indoors with the DFAT. Between my wife and I we took 10 animals, and with the exception of the Gemsbok and Black Wildebeest that were taken in very open country, most shots were between 50-125 yards. After all that practice with sticks I was disappointed that we didnt ever actually use them. We were almost always lucky enough that the animal was close enough to shoot offhand, or there were rocks or a tree branch close enough to use for support. Try different models of sticks as well, some will feel much more stable to you than others. Practice as much as you can and just let your PH know how far you are comfortable with. They will make sure that you have the absolute best chance of a successful opportunity, especially if they know what your limits are.

 

[Von S.]

When you proof a weapon before hunting with it you are proving that the weapon is mechanically sound, your ammunition is accurate in that weapon and your scope isn't changing impact.

If a weapon doesn't hit the same size group under 1.5 inches 5 times in a row off the bench I deem it unacceptable to hunt with and that's even with something really big.

How can a Marksman prove his ability with a defective weapon, bullet or site?

And whereas 150 is no great distance, this world is full of people who won't even attempt a head shot on a deer at 25 yards off hand. Basically they are saying that with a high powered rifle they really can't hit much of anything and if they can't hit a 3 inch circle off hand at 25 just how are they going to hit anything at 150 or beyond even with sticks? And though I have looked i have yet to see bench rests placed everywhere I've ever went hunting.

It's simple.....,go to a 100 yard gun range and staple 3 - 6 in paper plated 3 feet off the ground about 10 feet apart and see if you can hit all three with three bullets.

Stay there until you can do it 5 times in one day. Then do it again and again.

Become a shot that the PH doesnt have to kill the bwanas game day in or day out.

Or bring a portable bench rest with you and hire two bearers to cart it around Africa for you.

 

[Spooksar]

The one thing no one has mentioned is rifle fit and balance. This is important to felt recoil. Everyone is different so you need to figure it out. For me most Ruger rifles beat me up with factory stocks but put a Boyd’s or Composite stock on and I’m fine

 

[Fred Gunner]

The one thing no one has mentioned is rifle fit and balance.

Or a good trigger with a crisp clean break with no creep or over travel. The fastest and cheapest way to improve accuracy at any range is a great trigger. I had a Timney Rifle Trigger installed on my Ruger Guide Gun and it is fantastic.

 

[meigsbucks]

It sounds like you have a great practice plan in place.
As CLICKBANGBANG said paper plates make a great cheap target. I actually prefer the dessert size plates (5"). The plain white on a brown box works great. Another good practice tip is tape an animal target or picture on the wall of your garage or basement. Then, with an UNLOADED rifle practice getting on the sticks and acquiring your target.
Also, don't forget about air rifles and .22's. Cheap trigger time.
Even though you walk a lot at work... Walk more. I'm not talking about training for the olympics but a couple of miles two or three times a week and a four or five mile walk twice a week for a couple of months prior will make a difference. Walking on uneven terrain just takes more effort.