Osage Orange Sharpshooters
Newsletter
March, 2009
Next Match – Saturday April 18, 2009
This will be another ‘JCG/Any Rifle’ match, meaning that if you shoot a John C. Garand Match type rifle, (M1, 1903, Carbine, M1917, Krag, or even foreign bolt gun) you will be in the JCG category and eligible for JCG achievement medals. Scorecards will go into the CMP for you folks. ‘Any Rifle’ shooters (primarily but not limited to the AR-15 folks) will compete for one or two $5 cash awards, and their score cards will not go to the CMP.
Speaking of Score Cards
I would like to remind shooters that the CMP score cards need to be filled out completely and neatly. Certainly a cold, rainy day does not facilitate the process, but please, pay some additional attention to completeness, including signatures and your CMP number. Usually I will have documents with your CMP number on it if you can’t remember it.
Beginner’s Match (March 21)
We had 17 people turn in score cards for the match, and 12 of these were in the JCG category, with 7 new shooters in total. That’s a pretty good turnout for a cold day. All things considered, given the rain, that was pretty good shooting, too.Chris Parrot turned in a creditable 453 to lead the Garand shooters, and Robert Head was on fire with a 470 to lead the Any Rifle category. Good shooting!
Fun Shoot
Well, wasn’t that a hoot! We had a nice day for the fun shoot, and 33 people turned out. It’s really the only time in any shooting match when you can say “everybody’s a winner,” because that’s exactly the way our prize table works. The Henry coffee cup I took home looks good in faculty meetings, since it says in large letters, “Load on Sunday, shoot all week.” I love it.
Clinic
The clinic, too was a raging success. Again, we had nice weather, and we changed the format. Folks that wanted one-on-one instruction on the rifle range were able to get it, and those of us who wanted to talk in the classroom and get some advice on positions and the sling were able to do that too. In all, we had about 24 people show up, and most of them (you) were fairly inexperienced in match shooting. I hope that this club can help you all become better shooters.
Book Review and Shooting Drills
No, I won’t write it, but I want to talk about a review that appeared in the Wall Street Journal today (Saturday, March 14). It is about two books on business (?) that use a discussion of golf to point out what it takes to be real, real good at something. The books (which I haven’t read and don’t intend to) are “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell and “Talent is Overrated,” by Geoff Colvin. Both books have as there thesis that super-high achievers are not fundamentally different you and me, they just work harder and smarter. The striking thing about the review is that it is titled: “Mastery, Just 10,000 Hours Away.” And I think that phrase encapsulates what it takes to be good at shooting, especially from the standing position.
One of the books points out that the typical duffer practices by going to the driving range and hitting a bucket of balls. He hits them one after another, with little analysis, and often with a mind that wanders off to other things. When he finishes, he packs up and says, “well, I hope I do better tomorrow.” The practice is rarely aimed at overcoming a weakness (such as 85 yard chips to the hole), nor are the fundamentals of swing practiced in there elemental form, just as a complete swat at a ball. Finally, the practice that some pros do seems to be too mentally demanding for amateurs, for example, the almost Tai Chi of swinging a club in slow motion, taking a full minute to complete the swing so as to better analyze the feel of each step of the motion.
How similar this is to how we shoot. We go to the range, blast off a few rounds—mostly from the bench, and hope we do better the next match. How many of us spend a half-hour each day practicing the cross-legged position, getting into prone efficiently and loading the rifle quickly, or just holding the sight on target in the offhand position?
To break any sport into its elements becomes rote practice, and that’s not fun. But in a match, golf or shooting, it is the ability to repeat the correct procedure over and over again that makes a winner. There is a definite rhythm, a relationship to heart beat, and a sort of automatic response to stimulus that is only acquired by very pointed, specific practice of the individual motions and actions.
Watch a good offhand shooter. He will shoot each shot at almost the same number of seconds after bringing the rifle on target. With tens of thousands of practice shots (very few of them with live, center fire ammunition), the shooter knows exactly where he wants the sight to settle on the target, how his gripping hand should feel as the trigger finger moves, and the exact relationship between the target at the sight as the trigger breaks. These things have been drilled in.
Do you remember the use of “drills” in your younger days—football, basketball, baseball, or whatever sport that required hand-eye coordination? Maybe it was piano, because the scales you play are certainly drills. Again and again the coach would force you to do the same set of motions until you wanted to quit. I don’t think I ever looked forward to a day of football practice, and I played through my first year of college. And the use of ‘drill’ in the military doesn’t conjure up images of sweetness and light for most of you, I am sure.
But I think that if you want to become successful at this sport you have to establish some drills to improve your performance in the areas in which you are weakest. Before I suggest some drills for you, let me answer the obvious question: “What do you do, Bill?” Well, these days I mostly practice shooting air rifle, standing, at 10 yards in my basement. The greatest weakness I have is offhand shooting, and most of my energy is going into improving it. As much as anything, my practice is mental drill, because I am consciously trying to force myself to do things exactly the same way each and every time. It is amazingly difficult. But I am trying. Before each shot I mentally prepare what I want to do, and after each shot I analyze the performance, striving on the next shot to avoid any previous mistakes—but not in a negative sense—all practice should be “do this, exactly this way,” not, “don’t do this.” Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.
The overall approach I am taking is to concentrate on concentration—sound funny? I’m really now beginning to understand the guys from Pennsylvania with the Zen Shooting Team; their motto is ‘be the bullet.’ It all sounds corny, I know, but the standing position is largely about concentration—blocking out all external stimulus and following only the front sight while your trigger finger moves. All else must fade into the unconscious. Maybe it’s not ‘be the bullet,’ but it’s darn near ‘be the front sight.’ So that’s what I’m doing. Oh, did I mention? I’m not using a jacket. Throw away your crutches and feel the force.
OK, here are some things to try. For sitting, stretch each day—lean forward against the wall and stretch the backs of your calfs and hamstrings. Sit on the floor and stretch in as many ways as you can. Then try to go cross-legged. Repeat your stretches and cross-legged attempts at least three times. Without forcing it, see how far you can bend over your crossed legs. The more you practice (drill) the better you’ll get. You don’t even need a rifle.
Using your jacket, glove, and rifle, at home, practice getting into your sling, and getting out of it. Put a black dot on a note card to simulate a target, then thumb-tack it to the wall, maybe 2 feet off the floor. Drop into sitting position, simulate loading, and acquire your position on target. This should become such a normal operation that you don’t even have to think about it—I don’t.
You can repeat the above drill with the rifle for rapid prone. Drop into position, acquire the target, the squeeze off the first round. Repeat. Oh, and the first shot should always be an ‘X’.
For slow prone, many people would benefit by practicing setting up their equipment and scope so that they can figure on shooting 20 shots without breaking position. Learn exactly how to position your scope stand on your mat so that you only have to move your face a smidgin to use it. David Tubb (many-time national highpower champion) gets his set up so he can have his cheek on his rifle stock and still see through the scope. This is not really a drill, but it is not something you learn on the fly but rather have to practice at home. It will pay big dividends when shooting a match.
I wanted to conclude the above advice by saying, “I have done all this—quite a bit.” I don’t practice getting into position much anymore because I am confident of my moves—I do however practice my moves in my mind. If I could go to the range more often though, I would practice the rapid fire moves a whole bunch—but I would only shoot 4 shots at a time—the first two and then two on a reload.
Here’s the last drill, one that I think will pay big dividends in all positions: the trigger-pull drill. You’ll need your rifle (empty—no ammunition anywhere near), a low chair or stool, a table, and a simulated target spot on the wall at table-top height. Sit on the stool with the rifle on the table pointed at the target. You hold the rifle into your shoulder with only your trigger hand once you get it lined up on the target, like bench rest shooting—in fact, that’s what this is bench rest shooting, but with no fancy rest—just the table top (if you need something like a towel to keep the rifle from scratching, fine, but the pad should not support nor anchor the rifle). Using only your typical hand grip and trigger pull method, try to dry fire the gun without moving the sights off the target. In fact, the sights shouldn’t move at all. I can only do this if I move the trigger ever-so-carefully, and it takes seconds to pull the trigger. As you get better, practice getting the trigger pulled faster. You see where this is going. The faster you can pull the trigger without disturbing the sights, the better the shooter you will be.
See you in April.
Bill Corcoran
WilliamCorcoran@missouristate.edu