Welcome to Smallbore Rifle Silhouette by Jerry Webster

Advanced Tips

The reason this is called advanced tips is because it is not recommended for everyone. It is definitely not for a beginner. If you have trouble hitting the door, why try to hit the doorknob?

NARROWING DOWN THE AIM - I found that as I got better on my hold on the target I was accepting locations out of center on the targets. If I was inside the animal I was happy and fired. I was playing around once on the chickens and was aiming at and trying to hit just the head. I surprised myself as to how many I hit. I thought of changing to aiming at specific points on each animal but never did anything about it. Later I heard someone talking of aiming at the hole on the Pigs and I decide to make the change. It has improved my scores. There was a little bit of an adjustment and training period on how best to do it. This is what I came up with and use all of the time now. If you wish to shoot this way it takes discipline to actually act if you are trying to hit the exact point where you aim. If you accept just trying to be close, you are going to miss a lot of Turkeys, Chickens and Rams.

The table below shows the crosshairs and dot where I am aiming and the red dot is where I want the bullet to hit.

	The Chickens have a definite narrow point on the leg. There are some which have a slightly wider build there which can widen the aiming point. I prefer the bullet impact point slightly higher than center to avoid the narrowing taper toward the leg.
	On the Pigs it is relatively simple. Aim at the hole and impact the center of the target.
	On the Turkeys I aim at the center of the leg. I adjust the impact point to slightly right of center to avoid the taper of the tail. Do not accept being close to the leg to fire. If you don't feel like you need to hit it, it will most likely be a miss.
	On the Rams I aim at the front leg. It is such a tiny object I find myself accepting being off on the windage a little. It is a forgiving target side to side. I never accept being off for elevation. If my crosshairs are not splitting the gap between the stand and the body, I will not fire or it will miss high or low. There is no vertical error at all on the Rams.

GET ON TARGET FASTER - I have always shot fairly quickly and it is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be important on gusty days to be able to get shots off in a hurry in a calm period. Sometimes in a match when I had a bad day and was out of the running, I would intentionally shoot the last 5 shots as fast as I could. I did it in fun mostly but it was also helpful in getting onto the target faster between shots. Your ability to get zeroed in on a target quickly can improve with training. I am not talking about rushing the trigger finger, just the part of getting to the point where you can settle on the target. When you have been shooting in an established stance and hold, it is easier to get into position each time after picking up the rifle and, after taking a shot and closing the bolt with the next round in the chamber. It is inevitable that something is going to happen during a match when you will need extra time. It might be relative to equipment, weather or just wanting to discuss what the heck just happened with your spotter. It will happen. Why press your luck into having seconds to get your last shot off? Even if you wish to take your time throughout the 2-1/2 minutes of firing time allowed, if you practice the skill of quickly finding the target it will help you in the future at some point.

Silverlight video - 9 Pigs hit in 65 seconds.

Windows Media Version

If you click on the link and see the video you can see that it is possible to get on target in no time if you practice. I do not shoot like this while trying to compete. I do manage the rifle in a similar manor in a match. Think about it... if you can get organized in under 5 seconds, think of the luxury of time you have to settle on the target and fire.

ADJUST YOUR SCOPE to match the conditions. Many people hold off to one side of the animal to adjust to wind conditions. Personally I disagree with that method. If you are seeking the exact same sight picture every time, on the center of the animal or as I described earlier, it becomes more and more familiar. When you are aiming at specific points and you are on target, it is a highly recognized event in your mind. If you are deciding to alter the position of your aiming point on any given shot, you are moving your mind into unfamiliar territory.

PRACTICE - If you can go to the range and practice, make it mean something. It is nice to go out and casually shoot but practice can be made better. Shoot an actual match and keep track of your score. Any time I am at the range for practice I am shooting 40 shot matches. I have my own metal targets and can set up 20 of each animal. This can be done at the swingers if you do not have targets. Practice a 40 round match using paper targets printed out from the "PRACTICE" page on this site. Shooting a match at paper targets can be very enlightening. To increase the difficulty and improve the aim, shoot a 40 round match just at the Turkeys or Rams. If you compete well against yourself as I do, you will find yourself getting the pressure in practice as you would in a match. You are conscious of the 10's in a row as well as the chance to get a better score than you have ever had before.

STUPID FLINCHING - I have been plagued at times with getting anxious about getting on target and flinching the shot in the wrong direction. It is most common on a breezy day when it is harder to get centered on the target. I have found that I can cut it down or out by a strong focus of the trigger finger. Being completely conscious of the pressure of the index finger against the trigger helps me focus the attention of the action of firing back to where it ought to be.

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR SCORES - Sometimes it can be helpful to go back and look at how you have been doing. Figure out what your average score is for each animal and evaluate it. If you are shooting Rams better than Chickens, you are either really good at Rams or having a problem on the Chickens and should practice them more. If you have had a few matches in a row with poor results on a single animal, evaluate what might be wrong. If you do not monitor your progress you may not notice where you can make improvement.