TargetTalk

My prone scores are pretty much stuck. Shooting sporter air rifle, I can't seem to get consistently above 190/200. I've been in the 180s or 190s for almost a year now, getting in to the mid 190s consistently for a while in december but that didn't last. I know I can improve because at 50 meters I'm only getting 550-560, and many people get much higher scores than that. What can I do to improve my prone both in the long term, and in the week before the junior olympics?

Have you considered that you may be careless with establishing your zero hold aka natural point of aim [ NPA ] ? The other most common problem is trigger control. The best advice I can provide is something i've heard, and that is shoot the first ten you see. Staying on the sights too long can burn in an image and you may not recognize an error in sight allignment or sight picture. I hope these ideas can help. Good Shooting Bill Horton

10meter fan wrote:My prone scores are pretty much stuck. Shooting sporter air rifle, I can't seem to get consistently above 190/200. I've been in the 180s or 190s for almost a year now, getting in to the mid 190s consistently for a while in december but that didn't last. I know I can improve because at 50 meters I'm only getting 550-560, and many people get much higher scores than that. What can I do to improve my prone both in the long term, and in the week before the junior olympics?

First thing you can do is forget the scores themselves. You are aiming to shoot the bull and then repeat that. In a short time I would say you need to focus on the mental side. Keep positive, enjoy the good shots and forget the poor ones and move on to preparation for the next shot. On each shot remind yourself that you can shoot a bull, and try and recreate the feeling of a great shot (in your mind). If you can do that and just get to the end of a match without tracking the score, it will improve.

In the longer term you can work on training with a good coach.

Rob.

P.S. And don't forget to enjoy it !

Thanks for the help!

I do have a question though

The best advice I can provide is something i've heard, and that is shoot the first ten you see.

How can I apply this when I can't tell the difference between what a good 9 and a 10 look like?

10meter fan wrote:How can I apply this when I can't tell the difference between what a good 9 and a 10 look like?

I think a good shot plan helps here .... and doing it over & over & over, but being very focused and intent on it. It's not something that just happens fast ... it takes a while.

My youngest daughter is my example ... she has been shooting 5 years now (she's 15) and only in the last 4-5 months has really been able to call her shots to great accuracy. ( some of this is maturity) This is, only now, beginning to show up in her shot plan where she can start a shot over when she knows she'll shoot the 9 ... While it may be a 9.8 or 9.9 because of the focus and experience she can feel when it's not a 10. She's finally at the point where a majority of her shots are DEEP 10's ... a very few 10.0-10.1's, she considers those as off as the few 9.8-9.9's and then once every few days she'll totally lose focus and shoot an 8.

Write down your FULL shot plan and make that your dance. and dance the same way every time, trying to focus on nothing but the dance.

Here's a few questions for you ....
* how long does it take you to shoot a 20 shot string?
* what is going on in the other lanes while you are shooting? Can you keep from being distracted?

Last time I timed myself, it took me about 20 minutes to shoot a twenty shot string. I usually shoot at home, meaning I don't have anyone to distract me.

Is that time in prone? if so thats a good rhythm.
I went back and looked at your original post ....
Are you shooting 190 in 3x10 3-P? or is that a 20 shot string in prone?

A 95 on a card average in prone with a sporter rifle is not at all "bad".
Keep in perspective that you will not progress in leaps and bounds when you are shooting 95% .... each little >>tenth<< in your average will take time.
I'm going to assume that the 190 is the prone score.
Some things to check:
1) Position ... is your spine straight or are you a banana. Have someone take a photo of you from behind, specifically get a shot looking from the base of your spine to your neck ... check for a bend .... the dreaded "banana"
2) Are you canting the rifle? if so you might try to shift the gun forward a bit (move handstop back)
3) What rifle are you shooting? if it's a Daisy, what is your trigger pull? Have you done any work on it to try & get it to a safe 1.5 to 2lb pull?
4) Hardest here ... distractions. A simple way ... do you have an mp3 player? put a playlist together of your FAVORITE songs mixed with a type of songs you absolutely hate. Learn to do some tasks, including shooting while tuning the songs out. If you're "groovin" while you're shootin .... work harder to tune it out and focus only on the sight picture.

But above all else, don't kick yourself too hard for a 95% ... where do you live? do you have access to a coach. I'm sure someone here can recommend someone near you.

How can I apply this when I can't tell the difference between what a good 9 and a 10 look like?

What do you do after each shot, when looking through the spotting scope? When you have a good ten you need to really admire it and get excited about it. This gives your brain a little shot of endorphines (like taking a bite of chocolate, etc), and sets you up to sub-consciously do it again. Ignore the nine (don't reinforce them in your brain). This is for prone, but you do the same thing in other positions, just with different score objectives depending on your ability. This is based on the "one shot match" model, where each shot is a separate match.

On the matter of goals, you need performance based goals, for practice (making sure you are performing the shot the same "correct" way each time). Try to ignore "outcome" based goals for now. We all have them,but putting the focus on them is undesirable (as is trying to pretend they don't exist).

Thanks to all of you who are giving this young man your thoughtful and considerate advice.

10 meter fan's dad

Is that time in prone? if so thats a good rhythm.
I went back and looked at your original post ....
Are you shooting 190 in 3x10 3-P? or is that a 20 shot string in prone?

A 20 shot string in prone.

Position ... is your spine straight or are you a banana. Have someone take a photo of you from behind, specifically get a shot looking from the base of your spine to your neck ... check for a bend .... the dreaded "banana"

You're asking if my back is bent, right? I can tell my back is bent just by looking, so it's probably pretty bad. How do I fix this?

2) Are you canting the rifle? if so you might try to shift the gun forward a bit (move handstop back)

It's hard to tell because the bars on my aperture aren't very precise, but I don't think canting is an issue.

3) What rifle are you shooting? if it's a Daisy, what is your trigger pull? Have you done any work on it to try & get it to a safe 1.5 to 2lb pull?

It's a daisy 887, and it's been worked on.

What do you do after each shot, when looking through the spotting scope? When you have a good ten you need to really admire it and get excited about it

Thanks for this advice. It worked pretty well.

That was me, I guess I forgot to type my name.

10MeterFan wrote:

Position ... is your spine straight or are you a banana. Have someone take a photo of you from behind, specifically get a shot looking from the base of your spine to your neck ... check for a bend .... the dreaded "banana"

You're asking if my back is bent, right? I can tell my back is bent just by looking, so it's probably pretty bad. How do I fix this?

Now I don't mean "arch" in your back. What you want is a relaxed, straight line from your left heel up to the base of your neck (if you're a righty).
Have your dad stand behind the heel and look (you don't even need a gun here).... if there's a bend have him or you lift your hips and then leg to get it straightened out. Work on getting in & out of position many times until you have it by "feel".

And again ....remember you are at 95% ... progress will be a bit slower now than when you were at, say, 75%. Pat & Rob also gave great advise .... you're now into the mental part of this game.

BTW ... I personally think you have the best gun for sporter in the game.