I want to go to Namibia and hunt for plains games. How good should my shotting abilities be. I am practicing my shotting at 100 metres currently and can put my bullets in a 10 cm circle off of my shotting sticks. Is that good enough.

Heinz

Keep practicing. That would probably do the job at that range, at 200 that's 8". The more you shoot, the tighter the groups get. You might not get that tight a group in the field. Good luck.

Somewhere in Southwest Zimbabwe there is a very, very large Cape Buffalo. One of the largest my PH had ever seen. At least 44, maybe larger. He has a 375 Barnes TSX somewhere in his front quarters. And he's doing just fine, thank you. I made a terrible shot. I think about him everyday. It's a metaphor, but it's my answer.

Practice under all possible field conditions. And then practice some more.

Well Heinz, there are a lot of people who go to Africa and shoot worse than that.

Ranges tend to be long in Namibia. I had both my rifles sighted in at 200 yards, which was a good thing because the PH had a 200 yard range! But, you must know your own limitations and not take a shot you are not confident about.It is your trophy fee!
Peter.

quote:

Originally posted by Grumulkin:
Well Heinz, there are a lot of people who go to Africa and shoot worse than that.

That would be me.

I had a terrible time the first week and missed an impala at less that 50 meters and missed five times at a caracal sleeping on a hillside.

Part of the problem was a scope that ended up having a floating stadia wire. With a new scope it was still difficult But, mostly it was me and not being able to get comfortable with the sticks. Nothing three weeks of practice after my safari couldn't cure. I was great when I got back and practiced a bunch.

Hold the sticks and not the rifle. Hold the sticks and not the rifle.

Most of my shots were under 100 meters. I did great with the bigger animals and even hit a trotting springbuck. Being comfortable there and relaxing was the key. Having fun even when you miss and not worrying about impressing anyone was the rest of it.
Frank

If you can hit a 12 inch circle at 25 yards, you will be a better shot than 50% of the guys on this forum.

A more important question is how quickly can you hit a 10cm target at 100 m. If it takes you a minute to get settled in, you may be in for some problems. If you are able to do it in less than 1 second from putting the gun on the sticks, you are a better man than I.

I think a reasonable amount of speed in the decision is about as important as the fine accuracy. A happy medium for both, and more importantly KNOWING your ability, and not being pushed out of your envelope is key.

Have fun!

Practice as much as you can and know your ranges at which you are confident.
Practice with ear muffs and dont get too caught up on shooting from the bench. If you are going to shoot from the bench then do so with a good bipod. Make sure your rifle is actually capable of shooting a good grouping before you get your spirits down over not being able to get three shots on the bull.

Then more important than anything else make sure you PH understands your limitations, and sticks within them. Dont let them get lazy and have you shooting from 300m. The stalk is 90% of the hunt, dont pass up on this opportunity to experience a true hunt by allowing your PH to push you to shoot long ranges. Get close and then get closer.

That said, if you are going to hunt in Namibia and your fitness is not up to standard then your physical limitations may ( topography dependant ) hinder you in your ability to get closer. In situations like these it is hardest to turn down a shot, but it is in exactly these circumstances that most of the woundings will happen.
It becomes an ethical choice once again

quote:

Originally posted by fatbutnotdead:
If you can hit a 12 inch circle at 25 yards, you will be a better shot than 50% of the guys on this forum.

Know your rifle rule no.1

The only way to really know your rifle is to use it and shoot it as often as possible and as with many positions as possible.

Practise a lot off hand shooting it builds confidence especially when you have an extra rest to use when hunting.

Then a lot of fun and good practise is speed shooting holding the rifle on your shoulder and seeing how quickly you can shoot your target from the rifle over your shoulder with sling position it will help with picking the target as quickly as possible.

Start packing....you are ready. The vitals on most of the plains game will cover 10cm.

Clear your mind and have no thought before you even put the rifle to your shoulder.

No thought=perfect shot.



dale

quote:

Originally posted by daleW:
No thought=perfect shot
dale

Does that make us naturals Dale?

As I recall James Mellon, in his classic, African Hunter, argued that everyone should be able to put all shots into an 8 inch pie plate (that's 20 cm) OFFHAND at 100 yards.

Ten centimeters from sticks should do it, but begin to practice offhand because your second shot, if you need one, may not be from the sticks.

Regards

I had a PH tell me the American hunters were usually adequate shooters but tended to not shoot the second shot quickly enough. He convinced me to practice a quick second shot and do that in the field. I too lost a cape buffalo and its trophy fee because I wanted to watch the results of what I thought was a good first shot. An expensive lesson learned!

Heinz: Let's catch up (sabletp@aol.com): Looks like you're getting closer to your first safari. Keep practicing however. 10 cm groupings at 100 yards off sticks is OK, but you can do better. You should strive for better precision and accuracy than that. Have you put two bullets through the same hole yet?

If so then you're ready. You'll glass the target, swear to yourself you just fired two additional shots, but can only find one fresh point of impact. Two explanations; A) You either missed the entire target or B) Punched two bullets through the same hole. You're not the kind of guy who's willing to accept option A! Wallah, now you're ready for Namibia.

You see Heinz, this extra degree of accuracy in practice, allows you to compensate for the added variables of error in real hunting situations in the field. Adrenaline, breathing, pressure, perspiration, buck fever, unfamiliarity with outfitter's shooting sticks and failure to find your comfort zones...are all factors that cause shooters to miss.

"How could I have missed?" you'll ask yourself. "I was shooting just fine back at my range before I arrived here?" Well, everybody is a sniper marksman during practice, but the key is transferring that accuracy to when it counts when that gemsbok is standing broadside 100 meters away. Will you be able to hit that 10 cm. "plate"?

Your biggest battle will be your tendency to "peek." You'll want to see the animal's reaction to the shot, so you'll lift your head off your butt stock at the very split second you squeeze the trigger. Don't do that! You'll miss everytime, because your head movement will alter your hold, without you even thinking about it. No one "peeks" in practice sessions because your paper target can't "run off" or "drop in his tracks." So therefore you have no natural temptation to lift your head off the comb of your gun stock to watch what happens.

Many guys have embarked on safari proclaiming themselves ready after a couple good practice sessions, only to come back to the camp at the end of day one with no antelope meat in the back of the landcrusier. That's not the kind of day one in Namibia that you want to have Heinz.

Bwana Moja

I think your shooting needs to be just as good as you can make it. We are not all masters, we have differant amounts of talent. We can all be better than we are. Keep practicing, you'll do fine.
In other words, the answer to your question is qualitative, not quantitative.