A frequent complaint of PHs is that clients cannot shoot accurately enough, fast enough and tend to admire the shot instead of working the action.

I have been practicing off my sticks and I am shooting for (pun intended) being able to get a shot off in 5 seconds that hits a 6 inch circle at 100 yards three times in a row.

I can accomplish this task now just about every single time I shoot. To start I put up the sticks, load the rifle, engage the safety and take two steps back. I assume a 30 degree muzzle up stance then walk forward, put the rifle on the sticks, aim and shoot within 5 seconds, cycle the bolt and shoot again within 5 seconds, and do the same with the third shot.

Most of the time my group is about 4 inches but never more than 6. I am limited to 100 yards and it is indoors.

What is everyone's rule of thumb for minimum standards of marksmanship on game?

The size of the respective animal's heart / lung area. If you can't hit it from whatever distance and angle your are in, then don't shoot.

My rule of thumb is African Game animals do not die as quick with a good shot as pie plates.

I have a few simple rules / practice habits that I have developed over the years that might be of help.

1) Get out of the habit of picking up brass after each shot. Really, do not follow the brass - follow the animal! This starts at the bench / off the sticks, or where ever you are shooting. Guys get obsessed with picking up brass after each shot - I've seen it a million times at the range, in the field. If you are shooting a double, get in the habit of FULLY ejecting the brass and immediately reloading!

2)Get in the habit of making double-tap shots at your practice targets; Boom, reload / grab second trigger and boom! This is critical when hunting DG! Also critical when taking a shot at PG...Get in the habit of automatically assuming you need to take a second shot and NOW!. This starts at practice time, not when the first critter appears in your sights! Get out of the habit of shooting and then stopping to see what happened - a lot of the time a fast and accurate second shot is the difference between the game being here and now versus there and later (?).

Those are my 2 biggest recommendations based on mutual consensus and personal experience.

And lastly, practice shots at extreme close and extreme long ranges and make a habit of doing them without the need of a shooting aid, i.e. sticks...This really helps when that perfect moment ain't so perfect and you have to improvize - practice "worst-case" and you be better prepared for "any case"!\

JW

Adrenillin does wonders on racking the bolt! My PH's step son picked up my first round on my lion....it was creased as only not clearing action before jacking a second round could have done....I cannot replicate it.

Get rid of the sticks and practice with and without a sling. The sticks are not needed at a 100 yard shot and can cost you a trophy in the time it takes to set them up.

+1

Get rid of the sticks and practice reloading from the shoulder,
slow at first until you have the accuracy down pat, then faster.
This also helps with keeping an eye on the animal.

The whole process should be done from muscle memory and in no time
you will have reloaded the rifle before your brain knows it.


.

I have also practiced shooting offhand and kneeling using a sling. However when it comes to plains game in my experience most shots are taken off of sticks. I'm looking for an quantifiable goal to help gauge my proficiency.

I live in a city that has two rifle ranges, both 100 yards long. The other range only allows bench rest shooting which of course is of no value. The nearest place that would allow me to shoot at distances greater than 100 yards is a 180 mile round trip. So I have to make do with what I have. If I didn't have to drive 90 miles each way I would practice at 200, 300 yards etc.

I agree with the above tactics.

Another one I suggest is to practice at home. Find a spot on the wall as far away as possible and cycle the bolt, find your target and fire and repeat.

I don't recommend doing this with a loaded gun though.

All good advice. It is amazing how fast you can reload when facing DG.

I wouldn't be worried about reloading from the shoulder. Either you have to tilt or rock your head back or get smacked with the bolt. So there really is no "reloading from the shoulder." Dropping the butt down a bit from the shoulder while reloading isn't going to hurt anything.

For my past trip I practiced 3 different ways and they all helped. First I bought a Gammo pellet gun and made a good safe pellet trap and practiced on pictures of animals cut from hunting magazines. This was a blast and it also helped with practicing my follow through which I am convinced helped me in Africa.
Second, I practiced with my bolt action 22 in my backyard. Any where from 30 to 50 yards, I'm not sure how many 100's of rounds I shot but again I'm positive it helped my trigger control. These were practiced in every conceivable position I could think of and I'm pretty sure I shot animals from almost all positions in Africa.
Okay thirdly, I'm very fortunate to have several hundred acres of land I'm allowed to shoot at, this is surrounded by even more hundreds of acres of mining land. About 2 months before my hunt I would take 100 reloads for my 300 WSM and walk through the land and "plink" at different targets.I did this 3 or 4 times a week. There are a lot of old stripper cuts and I could shoot from one side to the other and also lengthwise. I was always very conscious of shooting safely and not taking a chance with riccochets. These shots were taken at ranges of 50 yards to 400 yards. While I practiced at long ranges I was more interested in shots less than 150 yards because I really enjoy stalking game and would rather shoot a mediocre animal after a great stalk than plink a great animal from long range not that they aren't all great animals!
By the time I went on my hunt I was fully prepared to take almost any shot and I was very familiar with my rifle. I've been shooting my whole life and all this practice still helped me a lot.
Now, here's my rule of thumb. Get ready to shoot, let the PH judge the game and decide whether to shoot or not. I look at it this way, we're a team and my job is to get ready for the shot and then to take the shot if given the nod. This really helped me because I wasn't trying to look at an animal with my binocular and then take a shot, I was getting ready to take the shot. My binocular were given a good workout when we were glassing for animals but when it was time to take a shot I was ready, mentally and physically, I wasn't trying to make a hurried shot. That's my 2 cents. good luck and take lots of pictures!
Joe

Don't discount the value of dry fire practice. You can do it in your house or backyard and it is free! It develops the same muscle memory as live fire.
Just as an aside, my PH and I agreed on the following sequence: When the sticks go up, I was to get into a firing position, release the safety and look through the scope. He would then evaluate the animals and direct me to the one to shoot. We didn't have many missed opportunities!

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
All good advice. It is amazing how fast you can reload when facing DG.

I wouldn't be worried about reloading from the shoulder. Either you have to tilt or rock your head back or get smacked with the bolt. So there really is no "reloading from the shoulder." Dropping the butt down a bit from the shoulder while reloading isn't going to hurt anything.

Will

do you mean reloading as in cartidges from the belt or cycling the action?

useing my 13 in LOP I cycle 3 rds from the shoulder with out losing scopesight with my 416 B&M. 350 grs at 2400fps.

IMHO most people run to long a LOP just shorten up till you can cycle the from the shoulder.

SSR

Will

Not sure I agree with you there.

I load from the shoulder on all buy my 505 Gibbs (Magnum Mauser)
and I lift my head back BUT it allows me to see where the animal
is going so I can be swinging the gun that way as I re take up
the sight picture.

But everyone is different.

.

Will- Maybe you should take a few lessons from the High Power "over the course" shooters. Maybe there is a way to teach an old dog new tricks.

quote:

Originally posted by Pegleg:
Will- Maybe you should take a few lessons from the High Power "over the course" shooters. Maybe there is a way to teach an old dog new tricks.

Here we go defying the laws of physics again!

You gotta move your head. You guys shouldn't try to kid me, much less anyone else!

The more I read and reflect, and that includes the reading of threads like this one, the more certain I become that I am a natural.

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
All good advice. It is amazing how fast you can reload when facing DG.

I wouldn't be worried about reloading from the shoulder. Either you have to tilt or rock your head back or get smacked with the bolt. So there really is no "reloading from the shoulder." Dropping the butt down a bit from the shoulder while reloading isn't going to hurt anything.

It will help. It's actually faster than reloading from the shoulder.

Many good ideas here.

As I have no bolt gun nor no scoped gun, I needed to practice like hell before my first safari.
I borrowed my uncle's scoped .30-06 (I had found out in advance what type of gun the outfitter would supply me with) and I bought a scoped .22.
I practiced with both guns on the range from various shooting positions (mostly offhand) and I did a lot of dry firing, including practicing rapid target acquisition with the scope - something I had never done before.
I did this for about four months before the trip and I put a few hundred rounds through the .30-06.

The .22 is good as it also is scoped, and it teached to use the bolt (albeit the bolt throw is too short!) for one who has previously only been shooting a lever action.

During the trip I also every evening did dry firing; cycling the bolt (empty gun); and practiced target acquisition on the stuffed animals in my sleeping quarters
The sound coming from my room became known as the Sound of Africa - so used did my hunting companions become to the sound of the bolt!

I still had some problems with the fast shots, but had I done no practising, my shooting would no doubt have been a disaster.

- Lars/Finland