Getting better at 100 yards...

[A930Rocket]

Here are two pictures from this weekend. I’m still learning to dial the scope in on my AR15 spoon (with a bi-pod).

Scope is a Nikon P-223 3-9x40 Mate BDC 600.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006YVT0R8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

How do you guys keep it steady? Every time I breath, it moves, so I hold my breath.

Do you use your fingertip on the trigger or place your finger a little further in? I shot the last picture with my fingertip.

Any advice from the pros here?

Hits at bottom right quadrant if my phone flips it.


Hits around center after dialing the scope in some.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

Here are two pictures from this weekend. I’m still learning to dial the scope in on my AR15 spoon (with a bi-pod).

How do you guys keep it steady? ...

Nice shooting....if ya wanna spend some bucks, I'll tell ya what I use....but I'm a rank amateur, novice....

Caldwell Magnum Deadshot Fieldpod

....not the shorter one.

[vash]

if sighting in. i would forget the bipod. i use sandbags. really try to take as much as the human element out of the equation..get all the error out now. i just show up to pull the trigger. i get it where the rifle is nestled in the bags; aiming dead nuts. i just squeeeeze.

[KFC911]

Dang it Vash....I'm tryin' to spend the man's $ here

[legion]

Learn "natural point of aim". Basically, you change how you are seated to influence aim. Need to move the impact point to the right? Scoot left. Need to move it up? Scoot back. Also note that the rifle will move up and down as you breath. I aim high, then exhale to bring it on target, hold, and slowly squeeze.

Another method: one of my rifles also weighs about 60 lbs. It doesn't much matter what I do, it is going to impact in the same spot...

[SamC.]

"Marine Corps Fundamentals of Rifle Marksmanship" There are both print manuals and video instruction available online. Read and heed the instruction. Take a steady disciplined approach to shooting and you will get better quickly. The finest marksmen in the world, Marine Snipers, start off with the same fundamentals as any Marine Rifleman.

If you just want good quick advice, then follow this guidance once you settle in behind the weapon:

BRASS Breathe, Relax, Aim, Sight, Squeeze

Use the meaty portion of tip end of your trigger finger. Never the very tip and never, ever the joint. Will your body into submission. Make it be still. When the round goes down-range, it should come as a surprise to you. Target #1 - it appears you are pulling the weapon as you fire. This may be (likely) causing the low and to the right shot group. Try to find the "sweet spot" in your shoulder joint to "lock" the buttstock into. Use your non-shooting hand to steady the stock once you have settled into the shoulder joint. Resist pulling the weapon back with your firing hand on the pistol grip. As you are using a bipod, you can push forward into the stock using your boot tips, thus creating a push/pull action and "quieting down" your body and the weapon.

No doubt there are others on the forum who may have better advice and more experience, but this should at least point you in the right direction. Enjoy!

[vash]

Originally Posted by KC911

Dang it Vash....I'm tryin' to spend the man's $ here

opps. carry on.

(fill sandbags with really good sand?) that lead-sled thing is pretty good too!

[John Rogers]

Here is how most of the black powder shooters I do matches with aim and shoot. Since we shoot off hand and use open sights it is a tad more primitive. I get the rifle tight against the shoulder, get my left hand in the position just in front of the trigger guard, do a quick sweep to see if I am lined up to the target/steel, I lined up I raise the barrel just slightly above the target, take 3 even breaths and at the end of the last one I lower the rifle so the sights and target line up and touch the set trigger. BANG. Most of the Schuetzen shooters do the same as they are also old.


If bench shooting it is nearly the same as the barrel (in our cases) sits on a rest and the butt of the stock rests on my hand. At 73 I don't have the ability to hold steady even on a bench I time my trigger pull to when the target is in line. I would suggest either buying or borrowing a Lead Sled or other holder for the rifle as using one of those takes "you" out of the picture. Shooting on a bi-pod with the rifle against your shoulder opens lots of places where you can have accuracy issues.


Note I said a "set trigger" which breaks at 2OZ which is on all my muzzle loaders except for two which break at 2LBS which is due to match rules. So I have to ask, what is yours and how well does it break? If there is creep and poor breaking then you'll never get real tight groups. On the AR's I used in some competition a few years ago I used Rock River Arms two stage triggers so I would pull the slack and then break for the shot. The other item is how well the scope is mounted I.E. are the rings exactly lined up using one of the alignment kits available such as the ones by Wheeler? If it was just bolted on then...…...

[HardDrive]

As others have said, squeeze, never pull. It should be a smooth enough action that the gun going off is a 'surprise'.

[ckelly78z]

Breathing regimine is part of accurate shooting. I always take in a breath, and exhale slowly. when I am fully exhaled, I squeeze (not pull) the trigger.....it seems to eliminate most of the movement. I sighted my AR15 in at 100 yards, and put all shots from a clip into a fist sized area laying down with a bipod. I haven't tried the new shooting table yet, been too hot out in our back field at my shooting range.

[Don Ro]

When I'm the most accurate at shooting is when I allow the explosion to surprise me.
IOW's, I'm willing to be shocked, alarmed, and jolted by the firearm. I put myself in a state of vulnerability...if that makes sense.
That's when I'm at my most relaxed and thus accurate.
Best,
.
Edit: HardDrive, yes!

[Jeff Higgins]

You have already gotten some good advice here, so I won't try to add anything other than the best advice I ever received: Get a coach.

Even a few hours spent with someone who really knows what he is doing will make all the difference in the world. Shooting well is much more difficult than most would think. You can pick up some advice from us, on the internet, in books, etc., but nothing beats one on one with a coach.

If you have an NRA affiliated range available, inquire with them. Most instructors relish the opportunity to share what they know, and will not hesitate at the opportunity to help a guy out. They live for this stuff. You will learn more in just a few hours than you will in a lifetime of going it on your own.

[vash]

i think the first best step is to dial the rifle in. make sure it is zero perfectly.

shooting is one of those things where errors are cumulative. i am not even discussing "breathing" if we dont know without a doubt where the rifle is hitting.

sandbags or some type of lead sled thing. lock the rifle it..just be the trigger guy. you dont need to control breathing if you are on bags. i saw a guy with some apparatus that used a camera trigger thing on a cord to pull his trigger, he wasnt even looking down the scope anymore. that is extreme tho.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Try various brands and grains of ammo.

Usually you can find something that shoots better than the others.

[vash]

what does a standard AR platform group like anyways?
2" groups? better? worse?

[shadowjack1]

If I recall my basic rifle course, BRASS = breathe, relax, aim, slack, squeeze. Its only been 50 years.
Only use the tip of your finger to squeeze the trigger.
The term "slack" means to take the slack out of a two stage trigger.
And if you shoot iron sights only the tip of the front sight blade is in focus.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Originally Posted by vash

what does a standard AR platform group like anyways?
2" groups? better? worse?

Assuming shooting at least a 5 round group, a standard, chrome lined AR barrel with the right ammo - 2" at 100 will be doing very good off a bagged rest. I doubt most could manage that.

Now switch to a 22" bull match barrel, sub 2lb trigger and hand loads - you may get down to the Holy Grail of 1".

Will need to switch to a bolt action to keep going.

[John Rogers]

I was cleaning the muzzle loader from yesterday's match and happened to see my Led Sled and remembered I had not mentioned it in my original post. See if you can either buy or borrow one as it takes you out of the shooting equation.

[A930Rocket]

Thanks guys!

I'll try to pick up some sand bags at PSA and find a coach for next time.

There is a ranger on site that might know someone.

[Arthropraxis]

Originally Posted by John Rogers

I was cleaning the muzzle loader from yesterday's match and happened to see my Led Sled and remembered I had not mentioned it in my original post. See if you can either buy or borrow one as it takes you out of the shooting equation.

Yes, use a rest the rifle can be strapped into. Put the crosshairs on the bullseye and take a shot. Then look through the scope to see where the bullet hit the paper. Don't move the rifle but move the crosshairs over the bullet hole. Now move the rifle so the crosshairs are over the bullseye and shoot again, still in the gun vice. Your scope is now perfectly sighted in two shots.

I zero in at 50 yards so the bullet crosses 0 again at 200 and will be about 1.5 in high at 100yards, depending on the load/bullet weight.