Whoda thunk? hit my first 10 rams this past weekend with a POA 1/4" behind the horn and 1/4'' above the back... the POI was about center of animal. It was hard to accuratly determine exaclty where everything was impacting because of pre match conditions, i.e., other shooters shooting at the swingers, the paper set up might has well have been a block of swiss cheese after al capone unloaded a couple mags on em.. sighting in offhand made it quite difficult but also seemed to raise my confidence about my zeros. anyways, missed my first chicken on my next relay cause i was still shaking so bad... Also this same match i somehow managed to tie Joy Cox for match winner, i am still speechless about that accomplishment, as well as another animal closer to my grandslam. So whats everyones technique? picking out imperfections in paint or casting on the animal itself, getting the crosshair in the black and let'er rip? or my (i think) unorthadox aproach, i have never heard of anyone doing something like this. Im gonna keep trying out this technique and maybe i can complete my attempt at a grandslam at our match on the 5th here in gonzales. Im also gonna do what works for me, and i encourage everyone to do what works for them...

I tend to switch between POI=POA and what I was taught as "shoot the line." The POI=POA is pretty obvious. The point of impact should be the point of aim. For "shoot the line" it's basically picking a spot on the outside line of each animal to shoot at. The logic is to have one spot that will be the same on every animal so you don't waste time and breath trying to find a paint fleck or other aiming point. I shot my best score (38/40) in smallbore using "shoot the line" but shot my second and third bests using POI=POA. I think either work fine and I'd probably be better off choosing one or the other for consistency. I seem to be a little more vigilant about performing every single step of my shot sequence after I change something or come back from a break from shooting, though. Hmm...

Kyler,
Congrats on the 10 in a row, and even better catching up to Joy's score for the match!!!
Sighting in standing does help, unless there are problems with the scope/rifle, or extreme conditions, then using the bench to get a reference point helps. POA =POI, now depending on the conditions sometme that may not be true.
I tend to try to break in the largest mass area of each animal, but if the conditions are switching I will try to hold for spots-marks on the animal itself.

Good luck in Gonzales.

Mary

I myself tend to focus on the animal and when the dot gets close to the largest part of the animal pull the trigger,(like Mary)so I guess its POI=POA with me. I know a couple of past national champs and state champs that put the horizontal crosshair on the back of the animal and the POI is maybe a minute lower depending on the animal. I have tried this but not stuck with it long enough to determine if its better for my style of shooting. This sounds like what Kyler is doing.

I teach the shooters that I work with to shoot a spot/paint chip/ etc that I pick for them based on wind, mirage, and whatever black magic that seems to be on the course that day...That particular spot may be anywhere on the animal. I pick the spot that, given the prevailing conditions that day, if they break on that spot the bullet would impact in the area of largest mass on the animal (see innocent Mary's explanation above). My feeling is that picking a spot helps keep the shooter focused. And we don't do a lot of twisting on the windage knob unless wind is a major element that day.

All that being said, I don't believe that there is a wrong way to hit 10 rams in a row..Congrats on the fine shooting. And certainly, as in Jason's case there is no wrong way to shoot 38/40. There's a lot to be said for finding something that works and sticking with it.

Kitty

Amen to Commander Kitty's response, personally I tend to break high back on the turkeys, and at horn/body juntion for rams, body/leg junction on chickens and high part of shoulder for pigs, assuming there are no strong environmental conditions. So your mpg may vary....


Innocent M

Hmmm... Hadn't realized how much influence the Commander had in my shooting style! It's hard for me to focus on spots so I work more on adjusting POA for conditions by regions of the animal (high front or low middle for example) and work best with spotters that call the same way.

The only time I get a good hold on a animal is right before my spotter say "You shot the wrong target"
At other times the animal is that white thing that the dot/cross hairs pass over. I must develop a steady hold someday. Here's hoping.

Daisy

daisy wrote:The only time I get a good hold on a animal is right before my spotter say "You shot the wrong target"
At other times the animal is that white thing that the dot/cross hairs pass over. I must develop a steady hold someday. Here's hoping.

Daisy

Now that's funny.... True, but funny

Shooting the wrong animal !!! What kind of spotter would instruct his shooter to do that. Bob259 Does this bring back some memories of last years PA states. I said I was sorry.
ppkny

ppkny wrote:Shooting the wrong animal !!! What kind of spotter would instruct his shooter to do that. Bob259 Does this bring back some memories of last years PA states. I said I was sorry.
ppkny

Unfortunately, some things just demand payback...

Cure for shooting the wrong animal is easy..just hit them all and make it a practice of shootiing the first on standing...am I good at problem causing, I mean problem solving or what???

Kitty

BTW Happy Thanksgiving

Silhouette shooters never shoot the wrong animal..they do at times try to help their enighbors out and knock down some for them.

Innocent

You know it's realy bad when your spotter says.. I have no idea where you hit. Only to be corrected to look at the right bank and the missing animal.

Sometimes it's harder to train older folks.... ahhh I mean spotters ;)

Two words any shooter hates to hear from his spotter...."No call"

Kitty