Improving hold

[FinnishPower]

Hi,

I recently have got into sihlouette and my hold doesnt seem to be up to scratch, could some of you please share you techniques on improving hold and also share how some of you also dry fire as i have herd dry firing is a great practise technique but i am not exactly sure what you do.

thanks in advance

FinnishPower

[Innocent]

One of my mentors, now deceased, taught me long ago that many people make the mistake of tensing up when they hold the rifle. This tightened the stomach muscles, and there result is more movement.
Make sure that your stomach muscles are relaxed and let the rilfe lay in your support system (bone to bone contact to the ground).

This works for me, having coached for more years than I care to remember, listen and watch everyone, don't be afraid to try (not usually in a match) different things.

Innocent

[ajj]

It is so important to be practicing the correct fundamentals that I suggest you spring for a good book (if, like most of us, you don't have access to a qualified coach.) Best is probably "Ways of the Rifle" with "Air Rifle Shooting" (I think that's the correct title) by the same authors good also. Both are very thorough, illustrated, expensive and available from pilkguns.
The important thing is to practice very specific and fundamental things, and to know what those things are. Most of us just shoot and dryfire as much as we can, hoping that we'll improve. Exactly the wrong way to go about it. I speak from sad experience.
I wish I knew how to tell you what you need to do. At one time I might have tried. I finally learned enough to know I'm not qualified to be trying to play coach.
Get a good book or some high-quality instruction or both and go to work on the fundamentals: position, breathing, trigger control, mental management.
Good luck to you, and good shooting.

[jneihouse]

I would echo what Innocent and Ajj said above and really encourage you to try to attend one of the larger matches across the country. Go, not with the expectation of shooting any specific score, but to have fun and watch some of the better shooters. So much can be learned by sitting or standing quietly behind the firing line and watching a top level shooter/spotter combination.

Kitty

[Innocent]

With Winning in Mind by Lanny Bassham is a good mental control reference book. Lones Wigger has some books out for shooting in wind, USAMU has some stuff out on position shooting.
All good starting points.

Kitty's remark about attending a larger match and watching shooter/spotter teams is invaluable. Most master class shooters love to talk about the sport, do not be afraid to ask.

Innocent

[genphideaux]

With Winning in Mind by Lanny Bassham has been one of the best for me, it taught me to make every shot count. Practice how you will compete.

[dryfire]

Some excellent resource material referenced by several people in this thread. One of the things many of us don't take into account is where we are headed with this silhouette thing. We have to realize once we have some fundamental skills the rest is mental. If our rifle/scope/ammo combination is consistent the only inconsistency remaining is how we
think.
Dave Imas described it well when he says of looking for a shot routine
in his practice. The outcome of the shot is just a result of doing the right
things. Bassham's book is excellent for providing a guide line of what
to do. "The Rifle Shooter" by David Tubb is also very good.
One of the best I have seen for how to apply mental training is
"Mental Training in Shooting" by Grethe Jeppesen. If you can afford the time to apply the principals in this book over several months as they may apply to our game you will improve your scores considerably.
Remember what Bassham says though - "run the right program"
Pilkguns has the Jeppesen book

[dryfire]

Hi Finnishpower
A few years back when I was practicing on our home range I met a fellow
by the name of Kosti Uusikartino. It turned out this fellow had been a coach on the Finland biathlon team and when he moved to Canada
he did some time coaching the Canadian team. He said to me that in live or dry firing one should always have a mental picture of what you want to see with your sights on target and the position is created to turn that into reality. The moment that picture is actually seen the shot should be gone.
We know we cannot hold perfectly still but if we train the approach to the target and do holding practice with dryfiring we can increase both the quality and duration of an acceptable hold.

To answer your question which started this thread. Dryfiring is the act of shooting without live ammo. To save possible damage to the chamber face of your rifle collect a few spent cases from your rifle and chamber these. After 5-10 shots turn the case to a fresh spot on the base.
In winter months I use air rifle paper targets scaled down for
approximately 30 feet use. I place a small 3/16" circle on these where
I usually focus on for live targets. Sounds boring as hell but I know it works. This is really good for creating consistency with your approach to
the target and shot execution
When you get an approach you can live with, get a mental picture of the approach happening before you mount the rifle. After each shot think about the quality of the shot - if poor dismiss it - if good dwell on it to make the next shot equal or better. Start the cycle again for the next shot.
David Tubb describes that too many shooters dwell too long in wonder of a tremendous hold they may have on a particular target. He suggests to
train the approach and practice the hold. The approach can be made consistent , the hold will only be as good as it's going to be on a given day.

[saikatana]

This is a holding drill Troy Lawton uses:
http://www.zediker.com/articles/zcomlawt.pdf