I am looking for some new and interesting DG shooting drills for my double. Bench work just gets your sights/scope on the money and gets you used to the rifle. I think that you need to rapidly proceed to offhand, kneeling, sticks etc. and spend your time and ammo under realistic shooting conditions.
What do you do to simulate different scenarios, I read a post the other day where they floated balloons on a pond and shot as the wind drifted them along. Charging water jugs on a swinging rope?
Any thoughts on distances, reloading speed?

Just curious what you all are doing to get "tuned up".

Almost all of my practice is done on a makeshift shooting range behind my barn. One useful exercise, though not exactly my favourite, is to get all my gear set up at the bench, hang or place targets, and then sprint back to the house or around the barn a couple of times. Once my heart rate is elevated I race back to the bench, grab my loaded rifle and squeeze off a couple of quick shots. I don't carry the loaded gun while running because it tends to make my wife nervous. Depending on your physical condition, you can alter the distance or speed of running in order to achieve the desired heart rate.

As stupid as this may sound (never mind how stupid it looks!) I think it usefully approximates the racing heart that often plagues hunters when shooting at game.

Plus, the dogs seem to enjoy watching it.

John

Something to add to what JWM said is, after you shoot a few rounds reload while you are running. It might be a needed skill. Was for me.

I have a farm where we train mostly security and military operators ,but lately we are training some hunters .
We train them shooting almost exactly double shotguns ,and after 500 shells to the doves ,we began to train with the rifles ,to ipsc poppers,ipsc targets,and metal discs .the last day they cull dome hogs ,goats and rams .We have had great results.

IMO, once you find what your double will do from the bench, you need to get away from any bench, and go stump shooting. Shoot at targets of oppertunety at unknow ranges from hunting positions.

What is needed is to learn instinctive shooting, and there is one very good way to do that. If you have a place where you can hunt jackrabbits, you can shoot at the running jacks
and if you get where you can consistantly hit within 4 0r 5 inches of the running jack consistantly you will never miss the aiming point on a buffalo. Snap shooting is a very important part of being proficient with a double rifle. A quick second barrel is the drill if your first shot misses. When you practice enough so that you are hitting about 25 percent of the jacks you shoot at, and reasonably close to the rest, you are a double rifle shooter! This same drill can be used with your big bore bolt rifles as well.

Any training range needs moving animal targets with no aiming points on the target. It makes no difference if the animal targets are exact pictures if they don't move, and if they have aiming points visible to the shooter, that will teach you little IMO!!

I am going to get to shoot my first big bore rifle soon. It is a .416 remington custom shop rifle. I will probably shoot a shot or two with the lead sled, move to a standing bench, then to shooting sticks. I may mix it up a bit more, with some running and off hand shots depending on how I shoot the big bore.

I am going to start shooting a .22 alot. I want to try the shooting drill as laid out by sharaki's book. Many of my shots I face on deer are 300 plus yards and often running. If I can master that shot, I will consider myself on my way to marksmen.

I used to shot alot of skeet, I am going to start back. At one time I was shooting a couple of times a week, and could hit nearly 97-98 percent.

I am going to start running back in the woods, Im going to get my african boots and run with my rifle. I am going to start at 2-3 miles and progressively increase it. I am going to slow down periodically and practice shooting/shooting positions.

Before my first hunt years ago, I discovered that the US Military (head/shoulder outline) target inverted looked amazingly like a Cape's head--

I would place four of them at 100 , 75, 50 and 25 and practiced shooting two shots

and reloading quickly then moving to the next closer target, etc etc

anything outside the center was considered a miss.

Probably not as good as a target moving toward you but good cheap practice.

Went out this morning and set up Bwana Moja's buff target and gave it a good thrashing with several run and gun drills at various distances with the .375, .458, and the 470 on and off of the long-grass sticks.. made for good fun, great practice and a nice headache a couple of hours later!!

For all of my DG drills, I do the same thing.

I shoot my .500 over and over into the black part of the target until just before my nose starts to bleed.

Then I stop and go home and come back again as soon as I can and do it again.

Just kidding. Sort of.

I find that fast mounting and shooting, and then jacking the bolt fast and shooting again, is best.

Plus reloading. And shooting again.

My DG drills are done at 50 yards.

I spray painted paper plates flat black. Wearing exactly what I expected to be hunting in, including my binnoculars. I would shoot 2 shot groups, reloading fast. I did this off the sticks at 100,75,50 yards and offhand all the way up to 20 feet My rifle is a Mod. 70 .375 HH with 1.5X5 Leup. I only shot about 12 rounds per session but I did it often.
I also would sometimes carry my rifle all day long around the house, yard, shop, on the phone, eating. It became a part of me.
This all paid off last September in the Luangwe Valley.

For DG I sometimes use drill as quickly shooting off hand with quickly reloadind jast after 30-40 push-ups,two shots for target 50 metrs after two for 25metrs.
Next my favorite drill is one shot off shooting sticks for target 100 metrs and after two quickly shots off hand for target 50 metrs.
I use daily 200-300 dry shots and mount rifle for Robertson targets on my backyard before hunt.

I practice in National Forest lands. I use cardboard boxes, no bullseyes, for targets. Offhand, sticks, moving and various ranges. When I'm done I pick up the boxes so to leave no mess behind. So many shooting spots have been posted because of slobs leaving garbage behind.

Dave

Plus one on the rabbit gig. It wasn't to train for Africa but I used to shoot rabbits in England with an H&H 375 2.5 inch when I was in my teens. A very good way to become instinctively accurate with a double. Expensive but effective.

Am I the only one here who does NOT do any hunting specific exercise?

Admittedly, I probably shoot more than the average hunter throughout the year, mostly off the bench.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Am I the only one here who does NOT do any hunting specific exercise?

Admittedly, I probably shoot more than the average hunter throughout the year, mostly off the bench.

Statistically speaking, no!

In addition to shooting from field positions I also practice being cold, tired, hungry and getting bitten by ticks.

One can never do too much.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Am I the only one here who does NOT do any hunting specific exercise?

Admittedly, I probably shoot more than the average hunter throughout the year, mostly off the bench.

I grew up with a gun of one form or another in my hand every day on the farm/ranch.

The routine aspect of this has by necessity of educational activities and later professional activities diminished over the years.

These days -I shoot at least once per week generally.

However,the discipline will vary

--pistol, shotgun, long range rifle. automatic weapons or plinking.

For me, and perhaps others , when it comes to consistent use of a DR, esp. one of substantial recoil,

and for many of us a once, twice or thrice in a lifetime opportunity to "use" the DR--

up close on quarry with horns, claws or teeth.

I , like others , may feel the need to perhaps "over-familiarize" myself with the weapon,

not just the aim/accuracy aspect but equally importantly, the safety and/or cocking mechanism(K-gun/Blaser)

as well as, the reloading and rapid change of shooting position.

Besides it gives us reason to shoot the DR--

at least, to tell the wife that we need to practice.

For doubles, I take the quad out and staple 9" paper plates to stumps, dead trees or blowdowns. Then I return and start walking the woods, shooting offhand, off sticks, mounds, and other varieties of field positions. You can challenge yourself...longer distances, shooting thru narrow openings between trees, rapid fire & reload, etc. Lots more fun that shooting "range style", and much more realistic.

I find that balloons at different yardages are great instinctive targets for offhand and offsticks shooting.