Re:
CherylT said:
Some of my troubles are seeing the targets from long distances. When I back off 75 or 100 feet, I can’t see the tiny rifle targets.
Yep... for shooting at 100 yards or greater, you need bigger targets. The targets we use at 200 yds are about 4' square and have huge black centers... at the very least you want a 12" black center and that would approximate what you would see using the proper size target at 300 yards.
From the pictures, watch your left, supporting arm position. When standing, bring your left elbow all the way into the left, front of your rib cage for support. You always want the most solid, bone-to-bone contact you can get. In competition, for the standing target we can't use a sling so I use a rather wierd hold on the gun with my left hand. Form your hand like you're holding a 1" thick book between your 4 fingers and your thumb. Now bend your wrist in and put that grasp around the mag well. Just make sure you keep your index finger clear of the ejection port. The handguard on the rifle rests on the webbing between your thumb and fingers.
When kneeling, get the left leg straight up and rest your elbow on the knee (again... solid bone-to-bone contact for support). Get the right leg spread a little farther to the right and sit on your right foot.... keep your back up straight or lean slightly backwards in order to maintain center of gravity. Proper use of a military sling in this, and all positions, will help so a traditional left hand grip on the hand guard is best.
Sitting is one of my best positions. Sit with your legs crossed at the ankles, rest an elbow on each knee. This position requires ME to lean into the gun a little but it's almost as solid a position as shooting from a bench.
Prone is probably the easiest position... direct contact with both elbows on solid ground...but I don't like the looks of those rocks so I'm not sure I'd try it on that terrain unless someone was shooting back!
I like to shoulder ARs pretty high. The top half of the butt stock is actually above my shoulder, the only piece ON the shoulder is the lower half... that lets me keep my head up straighter instead of having to lean into the gun.
Next... breathing. There's a natural cycle to breathing. The inhale, the natural rest point, and the deep exhale. Take a couple of deep breaths slowly and exhale deeply slowly, take one more deep inhale and exhale to the natural rest point... squeeze off the shot within 10 seconds of holding that natural rest point. If you can't get the shot off in that amount of time, call it off and start the process again. the brain loses oxygen very quickly.
Last: trigger control. I don't know how your trigger is but mine has NO takeup... if the trigger moves, the gun fires. Slowly squeeze the trigger while maintaining your aim till you hit the point where the trigger breaks. Avoid the temptation to rapidly pull the trigger when you think you are on target... the force will just pull you off.
Lastly: Sights. I don't like the standard sights on ARs but they're useable. Use the smaller aperture rear flip-up sight. I prefer an even smaller aperture so mine has a custom rear sight that has threads into which I can screw small, button sized apertures... adjusting the diameter as I need according to differing lighting conditions. As for the front post sight... I don't like them at all. I use a hooded crosshair front post like this:
It gives me the sight picture I like, which is 3 concentric circles... target, front sight, rear sight.
Mostly likely I didn’t pay close enough attention when he told me.
