Unless I'm working up a new rifle, it really doesn't take much practice if you (like I) have very high confidence in the platform (rifle, scope) and your abilities.

It's all about comfort level.

Once my hunting rifles are sighted in, I'll shoot perhaps 20 rounds apiece through each one.All shots are from field positions-standing, sitting, kneeling, or over shooting sticks. Then I use my heavy barrelled .22 to keep the muscles used for shooting conditioned. I burn up several bricks of .22 a year.

I shoot 30 rounds a week of full house loads in 416 Rigby and 338 Win. Mag. These are from shooting sticks, standing unsupported and kneeling. I started 2 weeks ago and will continue untill July 15 when I go to Tanzania.

I'm training-up for my first hunt (in Africa) by running about 40-60 rounds a week each through the 2 rifles I'm taking over. 460 G&A magazine gun and a .470 Rigby DR. As with the others I'm practicing on position shooting from 25 - 150 yards.
As for other shooting I'm in the middle of a train-up for the ITRC later this summer...I'll shoot between 5-6000 rounds of 5.56 through my M-4 before the match. Shoot bricks of .22 LR over the period of a year (just got a case of Eley Tenex, 5k rounds) for daily maintenance. Have a range by the office and at the house.

Shooting is a perishable skill and must be done frequently to keep it "instinctive".

JW

I don't practice much anymore...I will sight in a rifle or test some loads and I finish off the round by shooting 5 to 10 rounds off hand..I do this everytime I go to the range...works for me.

When designing a practice strategem, consider that recoil is cumulative. It probably would not bother any of us to shoot 100 rounds of .308 in a day. But shoot 1000 rounds of .308 in a day, and the effect is quite different, and can actually lead to deterioration of shooting skills. In the past the U.S. Army national match team used to spend much of its practice hours dry firing rather than firing live ammo. Of course they fired a lot of live ammo, but just not as much as some of us would imagine.

Personally I prefer to limit myself to 20 rounds of any heavy recoiling caliber per day, lest my shooting habits deterioriate and perhaps a flinch would develop. But I do like to supplement with another 50 rounds or so from a lighter recoiling caliber because shooting of any type improves shooting skills.

quote:

Shooting is a perishable skill and must be done frequently to keep it "instinctive".

Very wise words. And something various parts of the military have understood, and thus done, for years.

quote:

Posted by 500grains:
Personally I prefer to limit myself to 20 rounds of any heavy recoiling caliber per day, <snip>. But I do like to supplement with another 50 rounds or so from a lighter recoiling caliber because shooting of any type improves shooting skills.

That's the way I practice too. Trying to force too many heavy recoil shots into one session can be worse than not practicing at all.

I have found that any shooting improves skills and you really only need to fine tune with a specific rifle just before you take it on a hunt. I shoot a lot of .22 just to make proper shooting form second nature/instinctive. I also shoot as much .308'ish calibre rounds as I can to get more "immune" to the noise and muzzle blast. I top off my practice with my heavier kicking rifles, if that is what I'll be using on the hunt. Saves money and reduces the accumulative effects of recoil and noise. I also do a lot of dry-firing with the rifle I will be hunting with, so that I'll be completely in tune with its nuances (trigger pull, etc) for the duration of the hunt at least.

Cheers,
Canuck

I am constantly tinkering with rifles, so I dry fire just about every day. I usually shoot 22 LR rifle every time I go to the range, weekly or more often. The rifles I'm taking to Africa may get fired once a month, always from field positions.

I guess I take a different approach to rifle practice than most people posting here. My live fire shooting is pretty much restricted to sighting in the rifles I'll use on the hunt and firing enough rounds to give me confidence in the rifles reliability and accuracy. The question always is can I count on them 100% of the time.

My actual practice regime to develop the ability to hit what I aim at is through dry fire practice. I started this dry fire practice after first reading Bell's book Karamojo Safari more than 40 years ago. He always carried his rifle while on trek and was contantly aiming and dry firing it at rocks, game and other likely targets. He became famous for his accuracy in the field.

My practice regime starts 2 months before an upcoming hunt. I keep a scope sighted rifle next to my desk at home and try to dry fire it at least 20 times/day, usually much more. I aim at a light bulb on my neighbors garage approximately 80 yds distant. I grade every trigger break on an A to F ranking. What I am after here is for the cross hairs to remain perfectly still during and after the the sear breaks. If you think that is easy, try it! It takes a lot of work and concentration to get to that level. If you do get there I guarantee your bullets will hit where you aim asuming your rifle is well sighted in and you'll be able to do it from any position or from any rest.

I have found that it doesn't take many shots at the range from my 458 Lott or 465 double for me to drop from an A level to a B or C level. Again try it and see if the same happens to you. If your level dosen't drop, your a much much better shot them I am.

465H&H

The vast majority of my practice is with my 22LR. This year I'm going to try to shoot about 20 rounds, using the rifles that I'm taking, every other week until I head over.

ErikD,
Before my 1st trip to Africa last year I practiced almost every week-end for a year. After my rifles were bench rest on target, I used the hunting load I would be hunting with. 300 grain 375HH Trophy Bonded and 180 grain Weatherby Trophy Bonded. Although expensive fired 200 rounds of 375 and 250 rounds 300. Off the bench used every type of postion, and used shooting sticks I made. Took shots at 25, 50, 100, 150 yards. Completed timed rapid fire at balloons. I am lucky to have a range with electric target return (which I made) at my home. No question that you must know your rifle and have the confidence in knowing where your bullet will hit at different distance. All trophies taken were 1 shot kills, including 320 yard shot for my Kudu.

I enjoy shooting not just for the practise but for the fun of it especially when working with loads so I must say for every animal that falls to a bullet I must have shot 50-60 rounds. This is now however when I was younger around 16 it must have been 10-20 rounds per animal.

The only reason why it is so much more is because I can afford the ammo much easier.

Im practicing for an upcoming trip and am shooting quite a few rounds but a good part of that is load development. However I still try to shoot off the sticks and freehand as part of my practice regimen once I am comfortable with a given loads ballistics.

I had two years to practice from the time I booked until the plains game hunt. My PH said to practice off sticks from 50 to 350 yards. I had to join a different gun club that offered that long of a range. I shot hundreds of rounds working up loads in two rifles using Barnes X which I had never used before. I also shot winter and summer to simulate conditions of blistering hot northern Namibia and freezing cold southern Namibia. I wanted to make sure there would be no surprises.

One thing I didn't practice was shooting a cape cobra at 6 feet!

I spend a great deal of time and burn a lot of powder shooting the four rifles my son and I will be taking with us this trip. A great deal of that is from the bench which is not helpful for field shooting except that I rest the rifle on sandbags but hold the rifle as I would if shooting from a supported or prone position. It does teach trigger control, breathing, and how to shift the sights small amounts to prevent muscular tension, and provides a lot of information on ballistics because I shoot at 100, 200 and 300 yards.

To provide a break and simulate field shooting off-hand, I shoot metallic silhouettes with 22LR at ranges out to 100yds. I try to do this at least every other range session. If you can hit a "dead-zone" target at 100yds off-hand, it builds confidence because none of .22's is as accurate as one of my hunting rifles. Kudude

I do pretty much the same as 465H&H, most of my shooting is backing up hunters and not hunting shots. I handle the rifle around the house everyday, throwing it up on game mounts or such around the house and dry firing. Otherwise I shoot just enough on the range to make sure the sights and functioning are perfect.

I think the number of rounds you shoot is less important than the kind of shooting you do. If you can practice shooting in open country, or at least at a range which has a semi-open area, at targets for which you don't know the actual distance, and where there is no bench, it is immensely helpful once you've done the preliminary bench work. This lets you know how well (or badly) you can shoot from different positions, of from shooting sticks. Get off the bench!

I'm going to Zimbabwe for my first African trip this Oct.

I've always shot lots with a shotgun and have found that shooting is indeed a perishable skill. But hand to eye coordination comes back pretty quick if you can get in lots of rounds over a fairly short period of weeks. I've found that this is more difficult to do logistically and phisically with a rifle since trigger control seems tougher to master for me.

I've been shooting twenty to thirty rounds (combined) a week, once a week, in various positions through my heavy double and/or my 375H&H to get accostomed to the rifles and the recoil and this is working. What used to be uncomfortable no longer is any big deal. I also shoot at least 50 and preferable 100 or more 22 rounds, time allowing. My shooting has been improving steadily, especially my ability to shoot well quickly.

Hope this helps

JPK

Hunting with the rifle you're taking helps - before my first trip to Africa I used my 470 rabbit hunting each weekend - not enough left even for dog tucker but really good for your confidence. Raises the PH's eyebrows too, when you show him the photos esp if he's from one of those countries where you're only allowed 200 rounds per year per person.

mike

More practice is always better, but I have to admit that I have two rifles right now that I do almost all of my hunting with and both are sighted in and require very little maintenance and shoot on target over time..a .300 Wby and a .378 Wby..I hunt mostly with the .378 and I have hunted with this rifle for many years now..and it has had the same scope on it the entire time..a Leupold 1.75-6, and after sighting it in years ago, I have never had to fool with it. I take it to the range just before I go on a hunt and put maybe 10 rounds though it...it is a great confidence booster and I love shooting this rifle. It is an excellent Alaskan rifle and I have used it in RSA and it is extremely tough. And I think that is what makes it shoot straight year after year with no great effort on my part. I think knowning the rifle you are shooting and having great trust in it goes a long ways towards you making good shots on game. I may have shot maybe 1500 rounds or more through the .378 and half that through the .300...so shooting your rifle as much a you can over time makes me think that there is a cumulative benefit to be gained by using the same rifle over a long period of time.

Beware the man who has only one gun ... He will probably be very good with it.

Should I worry a bought dry fireing a Tikka T3?
Would snap caps be a good idea?
Or maybe a bolt made just for practice.

I quite enjoy getting out and field testing my big rifles prior to Safari.
Dry firing as stated above is great practice also.

Wow! a thread from 6 years ago has surfaced, withs ome real experts from the past!

For the past few years, I have been shooting no more than 6 rounds from the 2 hunting rifles that I take to Africa.

And that is only done to make sure they are shooting to the same point of impact.

I'm in the 200 to 400 range just because I like to hunt almost everything with the rifle I'm going to take for the most dangerous game I'm after. So far one feral hog and one mule deer chalked up for the 500 Jeffery lol ...

During most months I shoot once or twice weekly but not necessarily with the guns I will take on safari. During the month or so before a safari, I'll make sure my selected weapon is shooting well but I won't have to shoot it a lot since I've kept up with practice with that or a similar weapon.

Unlike what most recommend, my shooting is mostly bench rest shooting with rifles and so called hand rifles and offhand with revolvers. For my popping or raccoons and deer on my farm at longer ranges (i.e., 200 to 300 yards), I'm quite adept with shooting sticks so I guess you'd have to count that as practice also. It must work since I've never lost a wounded animal in Africa and my PH never had to shoot one for me or do much tracking. That would be a little over 20 African animals at this point.

I love to shoot my double all the time even if it is 4 orm 6 shots. But I fire all of my rifles that I hunt with.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by ErikD:

quote:

Shooting is a perishable skill and must be done frequently to keep it "instinctive".

Very wise words. And something various parts of the military have understood, and thus done, for years.

Richard Marcinko, the original CO of SEAL Team Six, had an ammo budget greater than the entire Marine Corps's. He said, "Shooting is a frangible skill." Those words have stuck with me for 30 years.

For the six months or so leading up to my safari, I will shoot 300/400-odd rounds through each of the rifles I intend to take with me. It has paid off in spades.

Saeed: +1

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Saeed: +1

But Saeed only tells a small part of the story. If you take Saeed's 6 sighting-in shots and add them to all the shots he puts into game while hunting in Africa he is probably well over 500 shots per year.

quote:

Originally posted by jetdrvr:
Richard Marcinko, the original CO of SEAL Team Six, had an ammo budget greater than the entire Marine Corps's.

Assuming that there are 200 operators in Seal Team six and 100 support staff, and assuming the USMC is 200,000 strong means each member of ST6 shoots 1000 rounds for every round a marine fires. So if the average marine only shoots 40 rounds per year, the average ST6 member would shoot over 40,000 rounds per year, or go through a rifle barrel every month, to say nothing of the suppressors...

If this is true, it is a failure of leadership in the USMC. If the average Marine fired 100 rounds per year, the average ST6 member would have to fire 100,000 rounds a year and go through a boatload of barrels. I know when I shot competitively and the ammo was free, I was hard pressed to shoot 1000 rounds a day. At that rate you would have to shoot for 100 days to shoot 100,000 rounds in year. Granted, I didn't shoot full auto, but I doubt ST6 does much of that either. I also suspect that ST6 practices a lot more than just shooting.

i shhot rifles everyday as im a shooting instructor i have many big bores but honestly most of my training is with my old rusted cz308 and very few with the safari rifles .....but i shoot practical rifles courses training and in competition .

JBROWN:

In the eight years I was going on safari I rarely shot big bore rifle more than was necessary to sight in. To tell the truth I just plain get no pleasure from shooting 'big bore' Which to me is anything other than 'small bore' which when and where I was brought up meant 22LR. If I remember when I first started to read about shooting it was called 'centerfire' to seperate it. I did shoot a lot of 22LR especially plinking, some benchrest targets which I DO get pleasure from. A 22LR at 100yds is totally pleasing to shoot groups with. I shot far far more handgun than I ever shot rifle and enjoy sporting clays more than most any other shooting activity. I have never had a problem shooting big game. Not all one shot kills but a large percentage were. I rarely took running shots and rarely anything over 200yds and preferably 150yds and the longer shots basically not in windy conditions. I don't judge range well at all and wind drift even less. I hardly ever break my own rules.

It's a Zen thing.

As someone once said, if a man is a good shot, then he's a good shot.

His body, his mind and his rifle become a lethal unity.

Every time.

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:

quote:

Originally posted by jetdrvr:
Richard Marcinko, the original CO of SEAL Team Six, had an ammo budget greater than the entire Marine Corps's.

Assuming that there are 200 operators in Seal Team six and 100 support staff, and assuming the USMC is 200,000 strong means each member of ST6 shoots 1000 rounds for every round a marine fires. So if the average marine only shoots 40 rounds per year, the average ST6 member would shoot over 40,000 rounds per year, or go through a rifle barrel every month, to say nothing of the suppressors...

If this is true, it is a failure of leadership in the USMC. If the average Marine fired 100 rounds per year, the average ST6 member would have to fire 100,000 rounds a year and go through a boatload of barrels. I know when I shot competitively and the ammo was free, I was hard pressed to shoot 1000 rounds a day. At that rate you would have to shoot for 100 days to shoot 100,000 rounds in year. Granted, I didn't shoot full auto, but I doubt ST6 does much of that either. I also suspect that ST6 practices a lot more than just shooting.

Read the man's book, Rogue Warrior. I bet it outsold yours. I'm simply quoting him, and I had a few friends on the original Six, one who was killed in Grenada, and they supported this. So shove your figures. Call him up and ask him. I'm the last guy who would ever consider calling Cmdr. Marcinko a liar, but if you're feeling really froggy, then jump. I could care less. Always the wise guy, aren't you?

I don't know any Seals or any other members of any particularly elite military groups with the exception on one ex Selous Scout who is a PH in Zimbabwe. Have no idea how much he shot or how much he shoots now. I do know in Pamwe Chete the book about the Selous Scouts I don't remember much about great expenditure of ammunition in practice. I was in the US Army in the Artillery and I don't remember shooting very much at all after qualification in Basic training which entailed very little shooting. I did win a cigarette lighter (since stolen) for shooting a possible in the 200 yard standing to sitting competition at Ft Chaffee Arkansas. I don't remember ever shooting again in the service except to qualify with grease gun and Thompson after I got out of Crypto school.I can't imagine I was much different from most other GI's. Have no idea about Marines today. My Father was one in the Nicruagan Campaign and he has told me they were paid extra money for each qualification they made so he went for them all. And even at 60 after not shooting for many years he was still an excellant shot. I believe once you learn it it truly is like riding a bicycle ,you never forget how.

Michael Robinson: +1!

During the time I was hunting in Africa, I was into high power rifle competition in a big way, so the basics of marksmansip were things I practiced on a regular basis and honed in competition.

My attitude toward the rifles I took to Africa was somewhat different. Once I had worked up a load I was satisfied with, both in terms of accuracy and potency, I quit shooting with it until just before departure.

In the interim I practiced reguarly and extensively with reduced loads and cast bullets, using the method espoused by Bell mentioned above, except instead of dry firing, I was live firing. As a result, my relationship with the rifle was entirely instinctive. This paid off in some tight spots later on.

When I arrived in Africa, I confirmed my zeros, shooting over the hood of the hunting car with a folded towel under my jacket shoulder. Shooting at game I never noticed recoil, either at the moment of the shot or afterwards, and this was with an 8.75 pound rifle shooting a 570 grain bullet at 2150 fps.