Shooting this afternoon until dusk. Last rounds at 600 yards. I’m fortunate that where I get to shoot is as enjoyable as that I get to shoot — and it’s only 20 minutes from my home. It does a heart good, especially considering I hiked 5 miles.
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Breath Control During Long-range or Precision Fire (Slow Fire)
It is critical that a shooter interrupt their breathing at a
point of natural respiratory pause before firing a long-range shot or a precision shot from any distance. A respiratory cycle lasts 4 to 5 seconds. Inhaling and exhaling each require about 2 seconds. A natural pause of 2 to 3 seconds occurs between each respiratory cycle.
The pause can be extended up to 10 seconds. During the pause, breathing muscles are relaxed and the
sights settle at their natural point of aim. To minimize
movement, a Shooter must fire the shot during the natural respiratory pause. The basic technique is as follows:
l Breathe naturally until the sight picture begins to settle.
l Take a slightly deeper breath.
l Exhale and stop at the natural respiratory pause.
l Fire the shot during the natural respiratory pause.
Note
If the sight picture does not sufficiently
settle to allow the shot to be fired, resume
normal breathing and repeat the process.
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No doubt, breathing is important, although I’m a recent devotee of the Ryan Cleckner school of long range shooting. He says he’s a big advocate of breathing, but you take the shot when the target decides, when the bad guy sticks his head from behind the wall, or the deer runs into the open.
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I think @Todd30 is talking more about precision shooting over accurate shooting. With precision, you fire when you are ready, with accurate shooting, you fire when the target is ready, so to speak.
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Yep, I get it, and I’m not discounting that. I’ve studied Chris Sajnog’s methodology as well, including box breathing. I’m just leaning more toward the accurate than the precise right now, as I think it better reflects real world situations.
I do marvel at people who can make tiny clusters of holes. In fact, some of @Todd30’s practice target photos are most impressive.
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That’s speaking directly on his style vs yours. With his, he wants groups as small as possible exactly where he wants them, and he will take as long as it takes. With yours, you desire multiple hits center mass, when opportunity calls. In general, accuracy and precision are two very different things. One can be precise and not accurate, accurate and not precise, both, or neither.
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I like a mix of both types. I like to be accurate, but I want to be precise when required/desired. I’m accurate with distances I have available, but I’m actively working to increase my skills to reach the level of precision and accuracy he has. Currently, I consider myself accurate but not precise. I can put shot groups within a half moa at 400 center mass, but not on top of each other. Starting next year, I’ll be going back to short ranges to work on increasing precision and working out in steps.
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@Alces_Americanus I am jealous of your access to such a nice area to practice! Here, options are pretty limited without donating a kidney… they don’t look as good either!
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You need to relocate my friend! I have access to the same looking range😎
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I have to agree that there is a difference between precision shooting and accurate shooting. I load my own bullets precisely and I know its trajectory. I have zeroed my 5.56 to 200 yards and anything from my distance to 250 yards will only have two inches of variance depending on the distance.
Not to mention my scope is good to a thousand yards! I shot a 344 in Marine Corps and that was out of 350 with iron sights too. My dad always said, “If your gonna do something, do your best!” and I like to utilize what skills I do have.
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Thanks for the tag, It was there because another thread had this thread tagged in it.
I removed the tag so that it doesn’t cause any issues so it should not be there anymore.
Let me know if you have any questions and thanks again for the heads up!
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Whoah! Awesome.
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First Target Kimber 45 ACP ultra Carry 4.5 in barrel 7 yd double taps. The first six shots low were warm up aiming at the one. Second pick my hellcat 9 mm layered on top 10 yd triple tap drills.
I usually go to the range weekly.
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Upon shooting these targets, what have you learned? What do you need to do to improve?
Ask yourself questions, was my sight alignment good? Was my sight picture good? Was my grip good? Did I operate the trigger smoothly? Did I anticipate the shot? OOPS! Did I hit where I anticipated it to hit?
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All valid points Todd. I’m usually point shooting with the 45 since iron sights are difficult to see these days at my age and my goal is to keep them in center Mass. I noticed today I was shooting low and to the right. My hellcat at 10 yd triple taps as quickly as I can I still keep on target was what I wanted to accomplish. Was that satisfied today? Nope but I’m never satisfied. Now I could slow down and make an impressive looking Target but that was not my goal today. Right now I’m working on acquiring the Green Dot on my hellcat as efficiently as I can. Beginning to get there but repetition is what it takes.
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A New Range Target
After seeing some “One Shot Challenge” targets in this vein, I decided to make my own. Ace of spades is so cliché, so I went with hearts. Honest to goodness regulation Bicycle playing cards, cut into a force deck.
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And if you live near a casino you can get them used for free.
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Appreciate the point. Often we have to be proactive in learning, especially of we don’t have a regular trainer.
I try to take notes on what worked better for me and learn from others, grip, stance, breathing. With rifles, I try various body positions, body-rifle only, Vs leaning on bench, squatting, one knee, bracing against a wall, to simulate real life hunting Vs defense; If range allows it.
In prep for hunting, I’m hoping if I use a make shift rest, tree, or stone, I can minimize body contact which can negatively affect accuracy such as breathing and heart beat.
I try slow fire rifle like in hunting. But with handgun, my range doesn’t allow rapid, but instead of slow, I try medium rate of fire to simulate reality, what I heard is like point and shoot fire.
Heard others suggest one handed trials, just incase of ailment/injury.
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