TargetTalk

Here and there I have found interesting things to do besides just shoot match after match for practice. That gets boring and probably isnt effective. Can we come up with everybodys favorite things to do at the range? And why we do them? IE put pressure on the shooter, work on NPA etc

I'm trying to be both coach and dad. She is shooting 575 3P and 570 international air, if that matters

I hear complaints (some from myself) about shooting the occasional "8".

Try shooting nothing BUT 8's. Let me know how you make out.

I have two interesting shooting games.

The first is "tens". If the shooter is capable enough to do it, see how many rounds you can put in the ten ring. This can be modified to 9s or 8s. My personal best is 26, which is just slightly more than total record bulls in a match relay. It's a confidence builder that every record bull CAN be a 10 - it's up to the shooter to make it happen.

Another fun one is to have a Necco Challenge. It works better if the shooter is outdoors, LOL. The training purpose is to help focus and stay calm when stress sets in. Necco wafers are slightly smaller than a USA50 bull at 50 feet. Put a double-sided piece of tape on each bull and affix your candy to each bull. Multiple shooters can fire, and whomever hits all ten wafers first wins. When hit, they go poof pleasingly! It also helps with muscle memory when loading and then smoothly falling into proper NPA. Newer shooters can sometimes lose focus when they fumble with a poorly ejecting cartridge or placing a round in the chamber backwards, etc. Oh - and it's fun!

When I was in college my archery team had a fun shoot on the last practice day of each month. Fun shoot activities were usually team-based, and obviously required shooting. Sometimes we adapted board games, sometimes card games, and I think one night we did something with dice. We did a poker game one night, which required you to place a bet, then try to shoot the cards necessary for a better hand. All the cards were face up, but the aces and the like were surrounded by low cards of a different suit, so you still had to aim. I seem to remember we did one based on the Oregon Trail video game of the early '90s, too (I went to a school that took its nerdiness seriously).

I wish I could remember more of them. I'll see what I can find in my e-mail archives.

I like "Shooting Tennis" - two shooters, one shot each at a time - finals style, highest shot wins the point, no points for a tie.
First to get 4 points (or more) AND 2 points clear.

Loser sweeps up - or whatever incentive you have to apply to get the blood pumping.

K.

Guts Match - finals style, lowest shot sits down until only 1 person remains. This will rarely be the "best" shooter on the line. Can be done in any position, and you can use the positions as a handicap with beginners in prone, intermediates in sitting or kneeling, advanced in standing

Fox hunt - From the Coach School book, slightly altered to make it a longer game. Pair up the shooters and have them shoot 5 or 10 shots. Score the shots, and the loser in the next 5 or 10 shot string gets an extra shot. If that person loses again, they get another shot. If they win, they lose one of their extra shots.

Three Amigos - At 50ft, on the back side of a target or blank piece of paper, see who can make the smallest 3 shot group.

Jug Shoot - Have the kids save up gallon and half-gallon milk jugs. Fill them with water and see which team/shooter can empty theirs first. Note the money shot is shooting the bottom of the jug such that it opens a hole up along the entire bottom of the jug.

Reverse Target - Turn a target backwards and try to shoot the bulls through the back of the target. High score wins.

Biathlon - Cut 10 bull targets into 5 bull targets. Set a lap system for running. Can be done as hit or miss of the bull, or as a shot value or higher. Not hitting is a penalty of X number of seconds. Shortest time wins. Can be done with push-ups, crunches, kangaroo hops, etc if space or layout is limiting.

Cut the tape - Put a piece of masking tape up down range. First person to cut it wins. Or, person to cut it in the fewest shots wins. If you put a small weight on the bottom, say a coin, it adds to the visual impact to see it fall for the winner

10s String - person who can shoot the longest string of 10s wins

10s - set a number of 10s that have to be shot, either fastest person to do it wins, or fewest shots wins

LifeSavers - Glue LifeSavers to a sheet of paper. Try to shoot through the lifesaver without breaking it, one shot per piece, person with the most candy remaining wins

Tic-Tacs - Same as above, but with Tic-Tacs, one shot each, except person with the fewest remaining wins. Can also be done with colored push pins

Remember, in all of these games, you can use the different positions as handicaps so shooters of all levels can compete against each other.

i had fun shooting flys the other day with a friends 7yo daughter before that she was scared of rifles. :)

I prefer fly hunting with the real thing!

I bait my targets with jelly, jam, honey, soda pop, or what ever is handy (the small jam containers from breakfast work really good) and proceed to blast them annoying flesh eating repugnances to insect heaven!

If you get really good, the head shots save a lot more of the meat too!

Regards,
Cranky

Not the first I've heard of this. Back in the day when I was competing in Bench Rest, we occasionally had a fly land on the target. With permission of the rangemaster, the shooter would take out the fly....at 100 yards!

I've got two that come to mind...

But the first certainly wouldn't stop the boredom as it involved shutting yourself in a dark room for 20 minutes, taking your normal stance, imagine the sight picture and work on trigger control / shot release, breathing and follow through... Guaranteed not to stop the boredom, but does help the score!

The second is a bit of a classic that our coach insisted we all do during camps for the State / Nats and I also used it a lot for Free and AP, which were the only events that I really enjoyed and focused my practice on, especially at the start of the season whilst building stamina.

Goes something like this for my live firing AP practice which never had an actual live fire session longer than 3 hours, with a few pit stops along the way…

Prep 1. 10 x Dry Fire shot release for trigger, hold, breathing, follow through etc..

Prep 2. 5 x live shots at blank target (reversed target). I always did this to check my group and measure how I was generally feeling on the day.

Round 1. Set myself a goal of shooting 92 with 10 shots. If I failed, I did 5 dry fire shots, followed by one live shot and if the live shot was a 10, I would move onto round 2. If I failed hitting the 10, I would start again.

Round 2. Set myself a goal of shooting 93 with 10 shots. If I failed, I did 5 dry fire shots, followed by one live shot and if the live shot was a 10, I would move onto round 3. If I failed hitting the 10, I would start round 1 again.

Round 3. Set myself a goal of shooting 94 with 10 shots. If I failed, I did 5 dry fire shots, followed by one live shot and if the live shot was a 10, I would move onto round 4. If I failed hitting the 10, I would start round 2 again.

Round 4. Set myself a goal of shooting 95 with 10 shots. If I failed, I did 5 dry fire shots, followed by one live shot and if the live shot was a 10, I would move onto round 5. If I failed hitting the 10, I would start round 3 again.

It kept my interest for some odd reason, but used to bore the vast majority of my training partners to the point of distraction…

Cheers,
Darrell

Another one I just remembered.... and another classic from my AP training days that involved our coach (mean he was).. It was one that I found myself doing automatically during training and matches, but had to curb myself to keeping the verbal to myself at the comps!

The Imaginary Clock....

10m Air Pistol target.

After the shot release and whilst following through, you had to call the shot as if it had just hit a clock face.

If the coach or you then found that the shot was not called 100% correctly, right down to 10.5 at 07:00 hour or say an 8 at 13:00 hour... you would have to do 10 dry fire shots before your next live shot.

If we were with the coach, he would also have us explain technically why the shot was say, an 8 at 13:00 hour..... Certainly made you aware of stuff..

Bye,
Darrell

This used to be big in my club before i started shooting when people practiced together a lot. Take a card that is a near perfect score pick up fired brass and put it through the hole first person to knock all ten out wins. i used to do it without ever setting the rifle down. Works best for scope but can do with irons if most shots are tens.
jason