MARKSMANSHIP BASICS - Practice

[Ian M]

#1 Describe your practice preparation prior to a long range hunt.

#2 Do you and your partner employ a dialogue during practice and during hunts? Please describe your range and field dialogue.

#3 Describe your long range practice targets.

#4 How many shots would you fire during an average practice session?

[Rimfire]

[quote=Ian M;164290]
#1 Describe your practice preparation prior to a long range hunt.

I try and practice the same all year round, shooting under the conditions I'm likely to encounter in the field hunting. As it gets closer to a hunt I shoot a lot of rimfire to get trigger time between high power rifle. As it gets even closer to the hunt I fire less shots and shoot more for the cold bore 1st round clean hit.

#2 Do you and your partner employ a dialogue during practice and during hunts? Please describe your range and field dialogue.

Depends who I'm hunting with. In the field non shooter continues to update while shooter gets ready calling Distance, Wind, etc. so you can draw a mental picture.
As I get settled in spotter gets ready to call the shot and advise if animal looks calm and its time to shoot. When it's agreed upon spotter advises OK looks good, Shooter calls going "Hot" spotter continues to watch the animal and if it looks good makes the call "Send it" or "Hold"

#3 Describe your long range practice targets.
Steele plates round and square / ground hogs / for the .22's I shoot crackers you can see hits at distance.

#4 How many shots would you fire during an average practice session?
As few as 1 to check cold bore and as many as 30+

[Buffalobob]

#1 Describe your practice preparation prior to a long range hunt.

To me the very most important thing is to have the gun dialed in out to 1K or more. This should be a reasonable cold barrel and should include groups at 100 yd, 300 yds, 500 yds, 800 yds and 1000 yds. I like to shoot at first light so the temperatures are cool and mirage and wind are low.

#2 Do you and your partner employ a dialogue during practice and during hunts? Please describe your range and field dialogue.

About the only thing I insist on is the words “Going Hot”. This means that I have the correct sight picture and am going to physically touch the trigger. If I touch the trigger I expect to fire the rifle with five seconds.

#3 Describe your long range practice targets.

I use a wire frame from political campaign signs and a piece of cardboard. I make “+” signs on the cardboard using blue painters tape.

#4 How many shots would you fire during an average practice session?

I do not actually practice. I will go to a groundhog competitions or a F-class competition or I will go and “test” some bullets or I will go and shoot some critters, but I never just practice. While I am waiting on a barrel to cool I might run off 20 rounds of 22 rimfire or something.

[royinidaho]

#1 Describe your practice preparation prior to a long range hunt.

Once drop chart is confirmed its all out in the field/mountains/canyons busting rocks at whatever distances the rocks happen to be. I even cheat a bunch by doing this in the summer at one of my honey holes.

#2 Do you and your partner employ a dialogue during practice and during hunts? Please describe your range and field dialogue.

I have a dialog printed that one of ya'll admin fellas posted. My partner is a numbskull who insists on not wearing muffs w/sound which causes major problems at times. Plus he's more intrigued by the vapor trails than anything else.

#3 Describe your long range practice targets.

When at the range the targets are usually left over silhouettes. Followed by lava stones on the berms followed by green plants (great fun to chop off a thistle or some other noxious weed way out there - ya gotta hit the lava rock just below the base) or white spots on the lava flows.

In the hills or along the Blackfoot or Teton River canyons anything that stands out and can be ranged, usually small marks on large boulders or small rocks on side hills.

#4 How many shots would you fire during an average practice session?

As bb says, as few as one to check cold barrel POI. I've found the one shot per day for several days to be of great benefit for getting a feel for the affects of the wind.

I'm a fairly conservative shooter and try to shoot a few as possible for practice through any given rifle. I usually take at least two guns for these sessions to keep the barrels cold, not cool but cold. Two LR rifles maybe 6 shots out of the barrel burner and 10+ out of the 338 RUM. Sometimes a bunch fewer.

[Guy M]

I consider all my rifle shooting as practice for hunting. My local club has an official practice or a match pretty much every month and I make all of them that I can. Last year stunk because I had to work almost every weekend that a match was scheduled. Normally though - I shoot several prone, across-the-course and "tactical" matches every year.

Today I headed out to the range with the .308, just to ring some steel. It was colder than I'd anticipated, 20's with a good little breeze blowing. Today, because of the difficulty in setting up targets farther downrange - I settled for 300 yards.



Set up the target, hauled out old faithful, the "Green Machine" I've been shooting for a dozen years and a few barrels. It's just a little old .308/Rem 700 with a Krieger barrel and a McMillan stock. Nice, solid, dependable rifle.



Target is a chunk of hard steel, 8x11, hanging in a little frame I knocked together. It's portable, and works fine as a target for any of my rifles.

Deliberately, I set my normal 300 yard dope rather than adjust for the cool temperature. Wrapped up in the sling, proned out and sent the first 168 Sierra downrange. Immediately I saw the steel swing and the solid "thwack" of a good hit rewarded me. It was low on the steel, so I dialed up two "clicks" of additional elevation, loaded the magazine, and sent 5 more downrange in short order. Proceeded to do this several times, until I'd gone through 25 rounds and was cold enough!

That's a pretty short practice session for me. Normally I'll stretch it to 600 yards, and normally I'll do a fair amount of shooting from sitting position, both supported and unsupported, and I even force myself to do some standing or offhand practice. I don't shoot a lot from the bipod or from a bench, simply enjoy the challenge of slinging up too much.

I figure that if I can hit that 8x11 chunk of steel regularly, I'll have no trouble nailing a buck in the vitals.

Regards, Guy