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Hunting
The Basics, Starting Out
A short story about the bottom line, with help from some LR Hunting Regulars
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<blockquote data-quote="Steve Shelp" data-source="post: 52704" data-attributes="member: 22"><p>Ian,</p><p> Haven't fired a round since deer season which isn't much being it only took one shot <img src="http://images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> .</p><p> I use to shoot an indoor 50ft rimfire league from the offhand postion, to pass those long snowy PA winters, but that's the extend of my competitive rimfire experience.</p><p> But it's funny you bring up rimfire with my name, because I'm a very firm believer in practicing with a 22 to keep your edge on trigger control finely tuned. I tried to wear out my dad's 22 growing up and shooting almost daily with it. Where we lived I could shoot almost 360 degrees around our house without a problem. And lord knows I've sent a round or 2 down my own 22 since leaving home.</p><p> When I got out of the Marines fter 4yrs, I wore a 4th award rifle and 3rd award pistol expert badge on my uniform and fired on our detachement's rifle/pistol team and went to the division matches one year down at Camp Lejuene's Stone Bay ranges. The reason I bring this up, is because of the big emphasis the USMC puts on your rifle qualification status (or it seems it use to) to even stay in the Corps. If you went "unq" (short for unqualified) on the rifle range in any one year, don't expect to be on the promotion list and you probably wouldn't be able to re-enlist. You were basically on your way out. But yet you only went to the rifle range to practice proper marksmanship and qualify once a year. You got 4 days of dry firing and a couple of across the course matches to get tuned back up from being rusty for a whole year and then it was time to qualify on the fifth day. For an military organization to put such a high emphasis on marksmanship, their once a year marksmanship training lacked big time in my opinion.</p><p> Yes we fired our weapons several thousand times in field training for night fire and various training exercises, but it wasn't scored or anything. So it wasn't marksmanship training per-say. Just hit that area target(read as a burned out tank hull or something) out there 300m, learn your field lessons for the day, and get back to the rear for a shower and some good hot chow..... maybe <img src="http://images/icons/confused.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> </p><p> I kept telling fellow Marines that had a hard time qualifying to go out to the local public firing range and rent a 22 and practice. I worked with one Marine doing this and he qualified something like 20 pts higher the next time he qualified with his M16 after shooting approx 1 full brick of 22 shells with my coaching a week before he was due to get out to the range. Was the 22 he practiced with anything like the M16? ......not even close. But the basic principles still applied to both rifles. Breathing, trigger control, etc, etc, should be instinctive when you're on top of your game. And that only comes by practicing correctly and A LOT, just like you said above. It's trigger time and there is no substitute. I think the 22 is way under-rated in this department by the general shooting/hunting public and unfortunetly the USMC as a whole (outside of any of their organized competition teams) in my opinion.</p><p></p><p>My $.02 worth. But it's time to try and get back in the groove though, because match season is fast approaching. I can't complain about the job taking shooting time away in these tough times though..... I still have a job so I've got to appreciate what I have for now.</p><p></p><p>Steve</p><p></p><p>[ 02-22-2003: Message edited by: Steve Shelp ]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Steve Shelp, post: 52704, member: 22"] Ian, Haven't fired a round since deer season which isn't much being it only took one shot [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] . I use to shoot an indoor 50ft rimfire league from the offhand postion, to pass those long snowy PA winters, but that's the extend of my competitive rimfire experience. But it's funny you bring up rimfire with my name, because I'm a very firm believer in practicing with a 22 to keep your edge on trigger control finely tuned. I tried to wear out my dad's 22 growing up and shooting almost daily with it. Where we lived I could shoot almost 360 degrees around our house without a problem. And lord knows I've sent a round or 2 down my own 22 since leaving home. When I got out of the Marines fter 4yrs, I wore a 4th award rifle and 3rd award pistol expert badge on my uniform and fired on our detachement's rifle/pistol team and went to the division matches one year down at Camp Lejuene's Stone Bay ranges. The reason I bring this up, is because of the big emphasis the USMC puts on your rifle qualification status (or it seems it use to) to even stay in the Corps. If you went "unq" (short for unqualified) on the rifle range in any one year, don't expect to be on the promotion list and you probably wouldn't be able to re-enlist. You were basically on your way out. But yet you only went to the rifle range to practice proper marksmanship and qualify once a year. You got 4 days of dry firing and a couple of across the course matches to get tuned back up from being rusty for a whole year and then it was time to qualify on the fifth day. For an military organization to put such a high emphasis on marksmanship, their once a year marksmanship training lacked big time in my opinion. Yes we fired our weapons several thousand times in field training for night fire and various training exercises, but it wasn't scored or anything. So it wasn't marksmanship training per-say. Just hit that area target(read as a burned out tank hull or something) out there 300m, learn your field lessons for the day, and get back to the rear for a shower and some good hot chow..... maybe [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] I kept telling fellow Marines that had a hard time qualifying to go out to the local public firing range and rent a 22 and practice. I worked with one Marine doing this and he qualified something like 20 pts higher the next time he qualified with his M16 after shooting approx 1 full brick of 22 shells with my coaching a week before he was due to get out to the range. Was the 22 he practiced with anything like the M16? ......not even close. But the basic principles still applied to both rifles. Breathing, trigger control, etc, etc, should be instinctive when you're on top of your game. And that only comes by practicing correctly and A LOT, just like you said above. It's trigger time and there is no substitute. I think the 22 is way under-rated in this department by the general shooting/hunting public and unfortunetly the USMC as a whole (outside of any of their organized competition teams) in my opinion. My $.02 worth. But it's time to try and get back in the groove though, because match season is fast approaching. I can't complain about the job taking shooting time away in these tough times though..... I still have a job so I've got to appreciate what I have for now. Steve [ 02-22-2003: Message edited by: Steve Shelp ] [/QUOTE]
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The Basics, Starting Out
A short story about the bottom line, with help from some LR Hunting Regulars
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