Shooting Tips and Tricks Thread

[Stormrider51]

Let's start a thread where tips are given about What works for you in terms of reliability, accuracy, etc.  Here's my first suggestion.  I've heard people say that if they sight in from a bench the point of impact will change when they shoot offhand.  Here's something to try.  Rest the fore end on the sandbags at the exact same spot your hand would be if shooting offhand.  A gun will always recoil away from a point of contact so make sure the rest is at the same point as your hand would be.

Who's next?

Storm

[snake eyes]

Storm,
          Great tip! If I had one tip to give,especially to a new shooter it
would be practice dry fire. In the case of off hand it will get one use to
holding the rifle's weight on target.
 Thanks for starting this thread,should get some good pointers with all
the experience around here.

snake-eyes  

[Hanshi]

There is a difference between the bench and offhand.  Although shooting from a bench has for a while been somewhat problematic for me, groups are invariably high compared with either sitting or offhand.  Finding one's best load is best done from a bench rest situation; sighting in, however, is best done from offhand or a field sitting position.

[Uncle Russ]

Thanks for starting a VERY interesting thread Storm!  
I suspect there's as many different thoughts on how to improve accuracy as there are shooters, and that is as it should be.

Right or wrong I suspect my own experience is exactly as Hanshi pointed out....this may not hold true for everyone, but I know dozens of shooters who feel strongly the same way I do.
 
FWIW; My Load / Bench shooting zero / group is never the same zero for my off-hand shooting.
I will fine-tune a load from the Bench, to be sure, but as soon as I off-hand that bench zero for group, using the same sight picture, my group will be low at or around 4 / 5 o'clock.... every time.

Consequently, on my rifles with fixed sights, I never drift the front sight until my bench load is as good as I can get it by "holding" appropriately...I'll then drift or file the front to confirm to my off-hand center group.

Another thing is sights, early on I tried a passel of sights....always had to have what ever was trending at the time. For a few years the front blade was brass, brass on black, then nickle, then "pure" German Silver, then Ivory tipped on black, then whatever else came into vogue next.
About 25 /30 years ago I started shootin cold-black and I haven't looked back since...for open sights it's black on black...as black as I can get but never shinny.

If I was to offer one tip, that I felt was iron glad and would help everyone improve their shooting scores, I would say keep your sight black and plain old soot works wonders for that purpose....maintaining a figure eight at KD ranges also seems to help a bit.

YMMV on every thing I just said, but if you haven't tried it, you may just be pleasantly surprised.

Uncle Russ...

[1Poet]

Thanks for starting this thread, Storm.

[Stormrider51]

There's a ton of experience on here.  I'm hoping everyone will share their thoughts and observations about what works for them.  I don't expect total agreement, in fact I would be disappointed if there was, because we all have different things that work for us.  Newbies, and even us old timers, can try others ideas and see what works best.  For me at least, that's part of the fun of shooting black powder.  Every gun is a Universe unto itself.

Storm

[Stormrider51]

I just edited the thread to expand it a little.

Storm

[Ron T.]

I've gotten my flint-lock to fire about as quickly after the trigger is pulled as my 2 cap-lock rifles... and it only takes a little extra time to do a few things to improve the faster ignition of the main charge of powder in a flinter.

First, I wipe the edge of the flint and the face of the frizzen with a clean, dry patch.  Then I wipe out the frizzen pan with the same patch.  Then, after I load powder and patched ball (patch cut at the muzzle), I use a large, "unbent" paper clip to "clean out" the flash-hole to insure it's completely cleared.

You don't need a fancy "pick", just unbend a large, fat paper-clip and that's the bestest "tool" you could use... and the part of the paper clip that's still bent normally can be used as a small "handle" to poke the unbent end into and clean out the muzzle-loader's flash-hole.

Then I put some FFFFg in the pan and lean the rifle to the left and lightly hit the left side of the stock near the trigger-guard a few "bumps" with the palm of my hand to allow some of the FFFFg to be dribbled into the flash-hole.

Then I bring the rifle back to level and insure the FFFFg is evenly distributed over the entire length of the frizzen pan, adding a bit more FFFFg if needed for good ignition, then I lightly "bump" the right side of the rifle's stock a few times just in front of the frizzen pan with my open hand to re-distribute the FFFFg in the frizzen pan evenly.

Then I cock the rifle to full-cock if it isn't already at full-cock, aim at the target, set the double-set trigger and carefully "squeeze-off" the shot.

Using this method, I've had VERY few "flashes-in-the-pan" or mis-fires... and ignition has been very, VERY fast with literally NO "hesitation"... often SEEMING as fast as percussion cap rifles... and part of the "fun" is making your fellow shooters wonder how you're doing it !~!~!        


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

[Stormrider51]

Thanks, Ron!  Great tip and there is data to back you up.  Filled Vent Test  

Storm

[Ron T.]

Thanx, Storm...  

ALL of these things are part of the "mystic" of black powder shooting and traditional muzzle loading rifles and fowlers. N'est pas, mon ami?  


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

[prairie dog]

Here's my tip that's helped me recently.

 I have a real problem "flinching" with my flintlock.  It is the movement of the hammer and frizzen that distracts my eye and causes the flinch.

I made a "flint" of hard wood so I can practice dry firing the flint lock.  At first I practiced on the bench rest just to get accustomed to "ignoring" the movement.  Now I am practicing off hand and concentrating on keeping the sights on target after the hammer falls and following through with the sight picture.  

My monthly match scores show it's working but the greatest improvement has been seen on thrown clay targets.

[prairie dog]

One more hint,

All my miss-fires and hang-fires have been eliminated by changing my cleaning methods.  It seems that each barrel, ignition type (drum, patent breech, flash hole liner) requires a particular  method of cleaning in order to clear all the fouling from the flash channel.  

After I got that mystery solved miss-fires and hang-fires disappeared.

[Muley]

Being a hunter instead of a target shooter. I stay far far away from a bench.

I sight in my guns from a knee. I figure if I can shoot small groups from a knee. Why do I need a bench? Any groups I do shoot from a bench won't be the same POI when I go to a knee, so what good are they? I don't use a bench when hunting, but I do use a knee, and offhand. My POI stays the same from a knee to offhand. So, sighting in from a knee is all I need to do.

Another perk of sighting in my gun from knee and offhand is it's not only good for hunting, but also for shoots. I like to keep things simple. Do the same thing for everything. It's very peaceful.

[Riley/MN]

"Aim small - miss small"

Sorry, that's all I got...

[Buzzard]

The bench versus offhand question has been around longer than Uncle Russ; the main jist being that different bench height's cause different problems. An offhand shooter must use a bench that aligns his head, neck, and shoulder area in the same plane as standing upright. If sitting on a bench or chair, that puts the bench height for me at about 42". Anytime you must hunker down and snug into your stock, you'll have problems. The cant of the head, and therefore, your eyes, WILL cause your shots to go astray. As your eyes rotate upward, the surface of it changes from round to oval and distorts the picture. Holding your head still, you'll always see better looking straight forward than looking up, down, or sideways. I feel that's also why eyeglasses are ground to different thicknesses as they follow the contour of the glass around the eye. At least that's my 2 cents.