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In view of the various threads about Keith Atcheson buff attack and rifle malfunction and rifle safties being on vs off etc... What would you experienced chaps suggest as absolutely essential in terms of practicing with your bolt action rifle (both off range and on range). I’m sure that many of the less experienced hunters here could use your advice regarding this as many are probably going on their first dangerous game hunt this year. My range session practice routine is as follows (with a sighted in 458 Lott): 1) I use small round paper plates placed at 20 yard intervals (up to 100 yards) and do one round over sticks and another alternating between sitting, kneeling, prone (a killer on the body) and off hand (in no particular order) while walking in a zigzag pattern up range. on both of these rounds I shoot random plates i.e. not in any particular order. Believe it or not……I have NEVER ever done this where the safety was consciously in the safe position……I guess it’s time to change something. 2) when I’m at home (and normally after the wife has gone to bed, as she hates me continually cocking rifles while she’s close by), I will pick a spot on the wall or a picture or something, and take a snap shot when the rifle touches the shoulder…..Invariably I’m spot on. From my next session, I intend to go through routine one above, but will also start to practice WITHOUT the scope…. Please share your thoughts/experiences. Regards Dave | ||
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Dave, This one I learned from Jeff Cooper, it is a "dry practice" routine. Sit in front of your TV with your rifle in your ready position. Whenever you see a zero or an "oh" on the screen, bring the rifle to the shoulder and engage. Run the bolt, and do it again. For each practice shot, run the bolt with the rifle at the shoulder. To learn the rifle fundamentals and range drills, I recommend going to Gunsite or one of the other schools. Learning under the eyes of knowing riflemen will give you the base such that your practice will be perfect. jim if you're too busy to hunt,you're too busy. | |||
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Sounds like you are doing everything right. Just mounting the gun and getting a good site picture goes a long ways in the field. I dry fire more then I use live ammo like you said snap the gun to the shoulder while looking at a target over and over it is amazing how close you well be when the time comes to shooting. Unless you have a real propblem that you need to work on you can do every thing your self that they do at the schools. If one would spend the money that the school cost on ammo and range time you well improve greatly. | |||
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If you're not practicing using the safety, you will not release the safety in a stressful situation. If you're going to carry the rifle with safety on, you should be practicing use of the safety. JD | |||
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The one thing which I learned AFTER taking a pair of Buff's in the bush was that I should have used the iron sights, and will never do that again with a scope. The Buff is a big enough target to be engaged without the scope crutch, and IMHO should not be shot at a great distance for the first round. After the first round, the iron sights and speed will speak for themselves. Try it you'll like it. As for the saftey issue, practice and experience will make it possible to remain aware of one's surroundings at stressful times. Murphy's Law is always ineffect, so act accordingly.  Member NRA, SCI- Life #358 28+ years now! DRSS, double owner-shooter since 1983, O/U .30-06 Browning Continental set. | |||
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I practice with live ammo in the field but I shoot cast bullets. I order mine from custom cast bullets. Assembled loads are less than 20 cents apiece, and since a .416 is not a barn burner anyway in terms of velocity, you can load these cast bullets almost as fast at aolids or Swifts. | |||
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Keep it simple, just do a lot of quick off hand shooting at 50 and 100 yards...Shoot as fast as you can but don't shoot so fast that your not hitting the target pretty well... Point shooting, instinctive shooting or whatever you want to call it at 25 and 50 yards in really a good practice and extremely accurate and fast.. I personally shoot full power loads to practice as that is what I will be shooting when the chips are down and this may or may not be needed, just seems to me thats what I should do, no basis or fact to support it. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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BTT | |||
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I'm wondering on exactly what people call "instinctive shooting". Does it mean with the rifle below the shoulder, at waist level, sites below the line of sight or is it with the rifle in the shooting position and looking through the sites while focusing on the target? 465H&H | |||
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 These make great dry fire practice. Chuck | |||
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Chuck, I confess I've used my horses and sheep in the pasture for practice more than once - shouldering the rifle and drawing a bead at various angles. My old push-feed M77 .458 is the most natural pointing rifle I've ever owned. It fits me like a glove, it's action is smooth as glass and it's always been 100% in functioning since the day I got it. I use the iron sights on it and can hit the 200 yard 10"x14" gong regularly. .22 LR Ruger M77/22 30-06 Ruger M77/MkII .375 H&H Ruger RSM | |||
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465H&H I call instintive shooting just pointing the rifle from the shoulder and pulling the trigger with a controlled jerk. A pistol would be another story, that would be both from the shoulder and hip, but for this thread were talking big bore rifles. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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DRB, Your drill is just fine except you should have the safety on until the gun is on your shoulder and your sights are coming into alignment then flick the saftey off. The other thing you can do to simualte stress is "exercise". Do say 15 push ups and 30 jumping jacks or run in palce for a minute or two. Anything to elevate your heart rate. An elevated heart rate is a a good simulation for how your body will react under stress. This technique is used to simulate stress for law enforcement training. Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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DRB, I agree with your method of practice, using the paper plates. That is my standard off hand practice target. I use a range timer to check on my progress in speed. One thing we have in Nevada is plenty of jackrabbits. Great running practice! Swift, Silent, & Friendly | |||
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I was shooting Saturday morning and decided that I needed to practice working the safety and shooting from field positions. So far everything worked fine, the safety functioned and the M70 fed and ejected every 260 grain Partition (my pig load) without a bobble no matter how clumsily I worked the action. One humbling thing was the same load that shot MOA off of the bench, shot 4" groups from the shooting sticks when I shot them as fast as I could work the bolt. With open sights it took me 50% longer to empty the magazine and I was shooting 8" groups at 100 yards. I need more practice. Frank "I don't know what there is about buffalo that frightens me so.....He looks like he hates you personally. He looks like you owe him money." - Robert Ruark, Horn of the Hunter, 1953 NRA Life, SAF Life, CRPA Life, DRSS lite | |||
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Years ago a guy sold "spinning ducks" at the Dallas gun show. This is 4 metal ducks on the end of rods welded to an alternator pully which sits atop a 4 leg stand. Hit the ducks and make them spin! I find using a good single cock air rifle with a scope and making the ducks spin is good practice. You have to load the pellet, close the barrel, hoist the rifle and take aim. Shoot the ducks before they stop...break the barrel, insert the pellet and here you go again. When you get to where you can keep the ducks spinning at a reasonable rate then you will notice you have a good steady speed going. It will work for a bolt gun too. Move the ducks to a different distance and start again. You have to "get with it" as the light pellet does not have all that much energy to really get the ducks to spinning fast. We also use the air rifle to shoot off sticks at the small turkey, pig, air gun swinging targets at various distances. A good spring air rifle with scope is close to the weight of many field rifles. You can borrow money but you can not borrow time. Go hunting with your family. | |||
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The way I learned followup shots for dangerous game was at the bench at 50 yards. Set your 50 yard target and bench rest. Shoot the 50 yard target off the bench followed immediately by a standing shot. Two things to consider - recoil from the bench resembles a field rest, secondly, standing after the recoil and working of the action resembles coming out of recoil and moving after the initial shot. You're never in proper position in the field after the first shot, and your target has always changed perspective. Of course everyone at the range thinks you're crazy, so you get the added benefit of everyone leaving you alone. It helps when you look behind you as if something is attacking you from your 6. | |||
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How many folks remove the rifle stock from their shoulder to work the bolt? I have seen this tons of times and it is the biggest waste of time in getting that second shot off. Learn to work the bolt with the gun anchored  | |||
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Just go out to the field and shoot your big bore to whatever run away from you, birds, rabbits, etc. L | |||
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The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting African Big Game Hunting How to practice those quick follow up shots with bolt action
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