TargetTalk

MEC in their books talk about bringing the rifle up, checking npa and 'pre-aiming' over the top of the rear sight, breathing then letting out the breath as the head is lowered letting the sights fall on to the bull, then take the shot.

Launi Meili in her book talks about bringing the rifle up, checking npa through the sights, checking front and rear sight alignment, taking breaths that cross the bull, then stopping breathing so the sights are on the bull, then taking the shot.

What is the current thinking on this? On youtube in the ISSF videos I haven't noticed anyone doing the preaiming method...

Most shooters do but it's only a minor check, not so obvious as in the book.

I was at a clinic last weekend and Dave Johnson, former USA coach was there. He brought this up and highlighted it as guaranteed extra points for doing it. Several spoke at the clinic and as I remember it they sort-of separated it out into two steps. First, gun in place set your position, then look over the sights and check NPA, then proceed to settle your head onto the stock, etc. Really, the whole weekend they sought to drive home having and following a shot plan for every shot, always.

Also, when Nicco Campriani was at WVU I watched him shoot. These two steps were definitely deliberate parts of his shot process.

trying to work out a shot plan for me - when I look over the rear sight and check npa, I can only roughly do this by checking the alignment of the aperture below the bull - I can't actually get the front aperture onto the bull - is this expected? or is my rifle set up wrong? Or do you check npa by looking through the sights?

Close your eyes, mount the rifle like you are going to fire, relax and get a good "feel" for the position, open your eyes and see where you are aiming. Adjust your feet to bring front aperture around the bull. Repeat.

When you open your eyes and have perfect sight picture, your NPA is good.

Thank you Pat. Once npa is correct, do you take the shot right then and there, or do you lift the head, breathe, relax then lower the head and take the shot? cheers

Peashooter. Contact me on PM on Target Shooting Talk.

http://www.targetshooting.co.nz/

Ask for Tenpointnine

If you are using the "automatic" trigger operation, the rifle will often go off soon after you see the proper sight picture. If it does not go off within 6-8 seconds (preferably sooner), you need to reject that shot and start again.

If you are thinking about trigger operating the trigger you will not be able to maintain as good a hold. You can only focus on one thing at a time.

Everyone has their own shot routine, and everyone has little quirks that work for them. I personally like to do two checks on NPA in offhand. The first is over the sights, the second is once I am on the rifle looking through the sites, and then I proceed to relax through my breathing and break the shot subconsciously.

As Pat said, once you settle onto the rifle try to break the shot (in offhand) in some time less than 8 seconds. My overall shot process from leaving the offhand stand to break of trigger averages around 15 seconds when things are right and upwards of 30 to 45 seconds when things feel a little off.

I use my time above the rifle and sights to get the "feel" of the shot. I am a firm believer in muscle memory with offhand. The focus should be on how the rifle feels in position. If something feels off, I reset and try again. When it feels good then I start the NPA process and rest of my shot routine. Thinking should be at a minimum with shooting, feel and subconscious routine should take over.

As I mentioned, that's what I do, it works great for me. Hope this helps...

Pat McCoy wrote:If you are using the "automatic" trigger operation, the rifle will often go off soon after you see the proper sight picture. If it does not go off within 6-8 seconds (preferably sooner), you need to reject that shot and start again.

Can you describe "automatic trigger operation" and how one does this?

adrians

You might want to check out this old thread.

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... utomagical