do you focus on the target and allow muscle memory to break the shot or focus on the target and allow the dot to settle and break the shot
myself I seldom have the dot settle and have recently tried to allow muscle memory to break the shot while focusing on the animal, I have just begun trying this so I have not seen an increase in score yet as I have found it difficult to allow myself to do this each and every shot though one of the first times I did attempt this I was able to get 7/10 turkeys
I am just curious how you AAA and master shooters go about this

Tagging in for the topic. I'm an "A" shooter with one foot in "AA" for both Standard and Hunter rifles.

I focus on the animal and try to settle the reticle on the animal, but it's more a matter of timing (taking the shot while momentarily on the animal) rather than being able to hold solidly on the animal and pulling the trigger at my leisure.


I too would love to hear from those more experienced about how they go about taking a shot.

The dot moves with your wiggle............. Look at what you are trying to hit, it is not moving.

Pick a spot on the target that corresponds with the wind. Watch that spot. Try to hit that spot.

Dustin

Dustin is correct. If the ocular and objectives are adjusted correctly for you on your scope the reticle and the animal should be in focus. It's your job to drift the dot to where you want to break the shot and break it.

FWIW, a shooter I respect a lot says the key is to be active on the trigger. Knowing when to break it is as important as where.

Before every shot, repeat in your mind, "Watch the spot, not the dot." When I'm not shooting well, I often say it out loud. I'm not the only master class shooter who does so, either. It actually helps remind you of that important focus point and also helps clear other stuff out of your head. Especially in smallbore, keep watching that spot even after the shot breaks until the bullet strikes the target and it has fallen, as it helps with follow through of the shot. You should try to do it in highpower silhouette also for the same reason, but the recoil will usually prevent you from actually seeing the bullet strike.

I will say that I focus on both, but at different times. I will focus on the dot while going through my routine and bringing. The rifle down to the animal. Once I am on target, I focus on the animal.

I also do something similar to Dustin and repeat in my head "small and slow." I want a small wobble area and I want my movement to be as slow as possible. I picked up that tip from the book With Winning in Mind. It helps me a lot more than repeating "squeeze the trigger."

Just to be clear; I should not be doing math in my head while shooting?

Funny you should mention that David. Sometimes I get too caught up in everything when I'm on the line. When my mind gets too cluttered I start calculating the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle. Then when my mind is cleared of shooting stuff (no, not there move the dot UP) my trigger finger just does the work. So maybe you SHOULD do math on the line...

I find that if I think too much while shooting it can get in the way. I find focusing on the end result, knocking the animal over to be more beneficial. Your body will physically do what your mind tells it to do. So if your mind is telling the body to knock over the target it will complete the process (sight alignment, trigger control, etc.) needed to complete the objective. Successful conscious repetitions of this process will begin to create a subconscious habit and makes a conscious effort into subconscious effort. Think of it as effortless effort. Find a comfortable stance with a comfortable rifle and focus on the end result. I am not saying this will work for everyone it is just the way I like to think (or not) about it.

DavidABQ wrote:Just to be clear; I should not be doing math in my head while shooting?

Hah! That very thing cost me two animals on Saturday in a CLA match.

So I am not the only person trying to remember the sine, cosine and tangent for 30, 45 and 60 degrees while shooting or doing simple differentiation?

It really bothers me when I can't get something like that out of my head.

That's a little more complicated than my thought process. I was thinking, "Soooo, if I'm at 25 going into the Rams and I've hit seven, what does that add up to?" So I missed the next two, then picked up the last one. Even simple math is complicated to me.

lijeboy wrote:That's a little more complicated than my thought process. I was thinking, "Soooo, if I'm at 25 going into the Rams and I've hit seven, what does that add up to?" So I missed the next two, then picked up the last one. Even simple math is complicated to me.

I am just kidding, most of the time I am doing the simple addition in a match.

It is hard as hell to not do math in my head during a match.

An old tip from Olympic great Jack Writer that helped me, back when I was practicing more: "Thinking about follow-through before the shot will help you break a clean shot."