Frequency of practice—thoughts on how much is “enough”?

[Macintosh]

Wondering what folks think is “enough” practice to stay a reasonably proficient shooter. I’ve had times where I was able and motivated to shoot every week, and other times where I really struggled to shoot monthly. Personally I think there are elements of shooting that are akin to a muscle and need to be worked regularly to stay in shape. I think my wind calls are one area where I lose my feel for it fairly quickly, maybe because I never really have enough opportunity to work that aspect. Certainly I lose other parts like trigger control, being able to quickly and naturally find a position that utilizes my natural point of aim for a given target, but in many cases I can get back to a reasonable point without too much trouble.

So what do you say—how frequently do you need to practice shooting to stay in top form? How about to stay “pretty good”? For those who dont manage to shoot as much as they’d like, do you have specific things you do to try to stay as practiced as possible?

(Also the question is intentionally general, so dont ask “enough for what”. Hoping to hear what it takes to be enough for you and what that means)

 

[Formidilosus]

My experience with seeing a large sample size of shooters and animals killed is that given a correct initial training program of 3 or so days and 400’ish rounds that encompasses optimum gun handling, manipulations, shot process, positional shooting, etc. that a person is generally on demand on game animals to around 450 yards or so in moderate conditions in broken, mountainous terrain by themselves; and to about 600 yards with someone spotting/calling for them.
On demand does not mean “if everything is perfect”. It means that if someone wants to kill an antelope/deer/elk/etc, they do so, and they do so quickly to a very high probability.
The latency of that tends to be about a month, or two, at most. After that initial training/practice done as such, there is a definite reduction in skill with no practice in about a month.

Note, in general easy conditions means the wind is very stable and low velocity (3-6mph), shooting position is prone/or extremely stable, and time to observe conditions. Moderate conditions mean an unstable wind in broken terrain, with medium wind speeds of 8-12mph, alternate positions, and under time/stress.

So on demand to 450 yards in field conditions- about 400-500 rounds initially, and about 400’ish rounds per year in purposeful and correct practice.

To do the same to 600 yards or so in easy conditions- with the same initial baseline, is about a 1,000 rounds a year in field conditions. To do 600’ish yards on demand in broken terrain in moderate conditions- 1,500-2,000 rounds a year in broken terrain that is similar to where you hunt. Shooting 2,000 rounds a year on a range in the eastern United States, is not preparing you for shooting the same range in most of the mountain west.

To be have a high success rate at 800’ish yards has shown to be around 4,000+ plus rounds a year in a field environment for easy conditions. In moderate conditions a lot of rounds shooting several times a month in the mountains on novel ranges and targets.

It trends to be that every increase of 200 yards takes right at double the rounds over the last to achieve the same results. It takes twice as much practice to be on demand at 600 as it does at 400 yards; and it takes twice as much practice to be on demand at 800 yards as it does at 600 yards.

 

[prm]

Not entirely a substitute for shooting, but I have three dummy rounds loaded up and cycle through them dry firing at targets from a variety of positions. If I do 15-20 ”shots” a night for a couple weeks prior to a hunt it really helps. Doesn’t help with wind, but at least makes great improvement in trigger control and cycling bolt after shots. Also helps to have printed targets of animals at different angles scaled to desired ranges. If I had access to actually shoot I would, but that is not currently an easy option.

 

[miller3483]

My experience with seeing a large sample size of shooters and animals killed is that given a correct initial training program of 3 or so days and 400’ish rounds that encompasses optimum gun handling, manipulations, shot process, positional shooting, etc. that a person is generally on demand on game animals to around 450 yards or so in moderate conditions in broken, mountainous terrain by themselves; and to about 600 yards with someone spotting/calling for them.
On demand does not mean “if everything is perfect”. It means that if someone wants to kill an antelope/deer/elk/etc, they do so, and they do so quickly to a very high probability.
The latency of that tends to be about a month, or two, at most. After that initial training/practice done as such, there is a definite reduction in skill with no practice in about a month.

Note, in general easy conditions means the wind is very stable and low velocity (3-6mph), shooting position is prone/or extremely stable, and time to observe conditions. Moderate conditions mean an unstable wind in broken terrain, with medium wind speeds of 8-12mph, alternate positions, and under time/stress.

So on demand to 450 yards in field conditions- about 400-500 rounds initially, and about 400’ish rounds per year in purposeful and correct practice.

To do the same to 600 yards or so in easy conditions- with the same initial baseline, is about a 1,000 rounds a year in field conditions. To do 600’ish yards on demand in broken terrain in moderate conditions- 1,500-2,000 rounds a year in broken terrain that is similar to where you hunt. Shooting 2,000 rounds a year on a range in the eastern United States, is not preparing you for shooting the same range in most of the mountain west.

To be have a high success rate at 800’ish yards has shown to be around 4,000+ plus rounds a year in a field environment for easy conditions. In moderate conditions a lot of rounds shooting several times a month in the mountains on novel ranges and targets.

It trends to be that every increase of 200 yards takes right at double the rounds over the last to achieve the same results. It takes twice as much practice to be on demand at 600 as it does at 400 yards; and it takes twice as much practice to be on demand at 800 yards as it does at 600 yards.

Other than the positional shooting drill that you have developed and posted about on here already, what else should I be doing that would be considered “purposeful and correct practice”? I’ve really enjoyed doing your positional drill, but I worry a bit that I may be ingraining bad habits and wonder if there are some more basic drills I should be working on like dry fire etc..Thanks for all your knowledge.

 

[Formidilosus]

Other than the positional shooting drill that you have developed and posted about on here already, what else should I be doing that would be considered “purposeful and correct practice”? I’ve really enjoyed doing your positional drill, but I worry a bit that I may be ingraining bad habits and wonder if there are some more basic drills I should be working on like dry fire etc..Thanks for all your knowledge.

Dry fire is good for making sure you can press a trigger without disturbing the gun, and for practice loading, unloading, and reloading, getting into positions, etc.

The practice drill is the positional shooting skills really needed for field shooting. I would suggest group shooting from those positions for ten round groups/score and time. Prone, sitting, kneeling, standing, on top of the pack, etc.

Some guidelines I use for most people I see.

Shoot the hunting drill as a baseline exactly as laid out cold, no warmup. Log your score whatever it is- no excuses.
Then practice group shooting prone using a pack until 10 round groups are consistently 2moa or under. Then do it for time. 1 minute for ten shots. Start standing, go to prone on the buzzer. Once you are holding 2 MOA prone, then it’s sitting with a pack/hiking sticks. Looking for the same process but about 3 MOA. Then sitting unsupported until about 4-5 MOA. Then standing until about 8 MOA.

Once you got that, then shoot the hunting drill again. Then work on the hunting drill until you are consistently in the 15-16 out of 20 range staying within time.

All throughout that shoot distance with the same process whenever you can.




Shooting is not magic, and it’s relatively simple. However doing it well isn’t easy. It takes repetition and consistent focused effort. It’s work.

 

[Rich M]

My experience with seeing a large sample size of shooters and animals killed is that given a correct initial training program of 3 or so days and 400’ish rounds that encompasses optimum gun handling, manipulations, shot process, positional shooting, etc. that a person is generally on demand on game animals to around 450 yards or so in moderate conditions in broken, mountainous terrain by themselves; and to about 600 yards with someone spotting/calling for them.
On demand does not mean “if everything is perfect”. It means that if someone wants to kill an antelope/deer/elk/etc, they do so, and they do so quickly to a very high probability.
The latency of that tends to be about a month, or two, at most. After that initial training/practice done as such, there is a definite reduction in skill with no practice in about a month.

So on demand to 450 yards in field conditions- about 400-500 rounds initially, and about 400’ish rounds per year in purposeful and correct practice.

I find 300-400 rounds over about 4-6 weeks before a hunt has me very confident in my shooting. Max range distance around here is 250 yds - so i kinda speed shoot for groups, and do okay.

Dad used to teach shooting for 101-st airborne in about 1960, he’s still good but age has its affects. He doesnt miss, groups are just a little larger is all. Fun watching him teach folks about and how to shoot a 1911.

This is one of your best responses, sheds a whole lot of light. Thanks.

 

[miller3483]

Dry fire is good for making sure you can press a trigger without disturbing the gun, and for practice loading, unloading, and reloading, getting into positions, etc.

The practice drill is the positional shooting skills really needed for field shooting. I would suggest group shooting from those positions for ten round groups/score and time. Prone, sitting, kneeling, standing, on top of the pack, etc.

Some guidelines I use for most people I see.

Shoot the hunting drill as a baseline exactly as laid out cold, no warmup. Log your score whatever it is- no excuses.
Then practice group shooting prone using a pack until 10 round groups are consistently 2moa or under. Then do it for time. 1 minute for ten shots. Start standing, go to prone on the buzzer. Once you are holding 2 MOA prone, then it’s sitting with a pack/hiking sticks. Looking for the same process but about 3 MOA. Then sitting unsupported until about 4-5 MOA. Then standing until about 8 MOA.

Once you got that, then shoot the hunting drill again. Then work on the hunting drill until you are consistently in the 15-16 out of 20 range staying within time.

All throughout that shoot distance with the same process whenever you can.




Shooting is not magic, and it’s relatively simple. However doing it well isn’t easy. It takes repetition and consistent focused effort. It’s work.

This is exactly what I was looking for, thank you.

 

[Macintosh]

My experience with seeing a large sample size of shooters and animals killed is that given a correct initial training program of 3 or so days and 400’ish rounds that encompasses optimum gun handling, manipulations, shot process, positional shooting, etc. that a person is generally on demand on game animals to around 450 yards or so in moderate conditions in broken, mountainous terrain by themselves; and to about 600 yards with someone spotting/calling for them.
On demand does not mean “if everything is perfect”. It means that if someone wants to kill an antelope/deer/elk/etc, they do so, and they do so quickly to a very high probability.
The latency of that tends to be about a month, or two, at most. After that initial training/practice done as such, there is a definite reduction in skill with no practice in about a month.

Note, in general easy conditions means the wind is very stable and low velocity (3-6mph), shooting position is prone/or extremely stable, and time to observe conditions. Moderate conditions mean an unstable wind in broken terrain, with medium wind speeds of 8-12mph, alternate positions, and under time/stress.

So on demand to 450 yards in field conditions- about 400-500 rounds initially, and about 400’ish rounds per year in purposeful and correct practice.

To do the same to 600 yards or so in easy conditions- with the same initial baseline, is about a 1,000 rounds a year in field conditions. To do 600’ish yards on demand in broken terrain in moderate conditions- 1,500-2,000 rounds a year in broken terrain that is similar to where you hunt. Shooting 2,000 rounds a year on a range in the eastern United States, is not preparing you for shooting the same range in most of the mountain west.

To be have a high success rate at 800’ish yards has shown to be around 4,000+ plus rounds a year in a field environment for easy conditions. In moderate conditions a lot of rounds shooting several times a month in the mountains on novel ranges and targets.

It trends to be that every increase of 200 yards takes right at double the rounds over the last to achieve the same results. It takes twice as much practice to be on demand at 600 as it does at 400 yards; and it takes twice as much practice to be on demand at 800 yards as it does at 600 yards.

Thank you, thats helpful. Im guessing hunting-season results will be different if someone shoots 1000 rounds in a two week period in March (just for an example), versus 20 rounds per week for the entire year. What do you think about frequency of practice?

Also hoping to hear from others. Just cuz Jimi hendrix’s guitar is on fire up there , I still want to hear what has worked for others.

 

[Formidilosus]

Thank you, thats helpful. Im guessing hunting-season results will be different if someone shoots 1000 rounds in a two week period in March (just for an example), versus 20 rounds per week for the entire year. What do you think about frequency of practice?

Frequency is important and it depends on one’s baseline skill and how much they ask of their shooting. The more often you shoot, the less rounds each session needs to be. The less often, the more rounds need to be shot- however there is a point where basically no amount of rounds makes up for infrequent practice. And when I say practice- I mean purposeful, structured practice, not group shooting off a bench or blasting the same steel plate over and over.
For 800 yard field shooting around two weeks without practice you can observe a drop in performance. At about a month it’s a relatively significant drop. For 600’ish yards it not as bad, but shooting in field conditions every month or so seems to be the bare minimum. 450’ish yards one can go serveral months between practice sessions and still have a relatively high success rate with good practice when you do shoot.
For me, I will take shots that have a relatively high rate of me standing over the animal after the event is over. That is a combination of my hit rate for the target- distance, conditions, shooting position, animal size and position, ability to make repeat shots, ability to spot my own hits/misses, etc.; as well as terrain for tracking the animal, following up, blood trailing, etc.

Saying that, 800 yard plus shots are well inside the range I will, and do kill animals at. Very rarely do I shoot less than 3 days a week. The vast majority of weeks it’s 4 or 5 days, every week. Sometimes it’s 7-10 rounds a session, most times it 40-50 rounds, sometimes it’s 500 plus rounds. No chance if I wasn’t shooting weekly in previously unshot mountain terrain would I be shooting animal at 800 yards.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

The trainer bolt action rifle (CZ457) .22 rifle I built that wears the same reticle as my hunting rifle (Nightforce Mil-R), has made a huge improvement in my shooting.

Used with subsonic ammo and a suppressor, I’m able to go through positional drills, shooting off a tripod, improvised and awkward shooting positions, etc. almost daily, at my home.

Reading wind and making shots out to 300 yards with these low B.C. bullets is not exactly the same, but the fundamentals learned and thousands of cheap rounds fired most definitely is better than dryfire practice.

I normally fire around 200 rounds a year with my sheep rifle in the mountains on steel and feel proficient to 600 yards in good to low moderate conditions, but this is very intentional shooting. A trainer rifle is a great way to add value to what you already do.

 

[WormSportsman]

Thank you, thats helpful. Im guessing hunting-season results will be different if someone shoots 1000 rounds in a two week period in March (just for an example), versus 20 rounds per week for the entire year. What do you think about frequency of practice?

Also hoping to hear from others. Just cuz Jimi hendrix’s guitar is on fire up there , I still want to hear what has worked for others.

3 years ago I decided I wanted to improve my shooting and committed to shooting once a month. Before that I would shoot 2-3 times a year before hunting season and call it good. For me that shooting once a month feels like it has kept me sharper and my speed to get on target and get a hit on target from field positions has improved. I keep my shots at animals under 500 yards so for me I feel like once a month is both an achievable goal(with work and family) and keeps me ready for hunting season. I also do dry fire often in between range times which has helped trigger control also. My baseline was a few years ago I wouldn’t shoot over 300 yards and shot a couple times a year and now have confidence to take game out to 500 without issue.

 

[Doc Holliday]

It's enough if you made the shot. It wasn't if you missed.

 

[Macintosh]

It's enough if you made the shot. It wasn't if you missed.

Thanks, extremely helpful. What does that mean for you?

 

[S.Clancy]

I shot a TON growing up, competitive air rifle and 10's of thousands of rounds practicing, plinking, whatever. I find that I stay competent enough to shoot <600 yards with a couple weeks practice leading up to season. I really have no need or want to shoot farther, but if I did, the practice would need to increase.

 

[atmat]

It's enough if you made the shot. It wasn't if you missed.

10/10 helpful contribution.

 

[vonb]

A .22lr is about the best medicine for training. It magnifies bad habits where you can work on them.

The best shooting for me in terms of discipline was after coming back from prairie dog shots out west.

 

[nobody]

Frequency is important and it depends on one’s baseline skill and how much they ask of their shooting. The more often you shoot, the less rounds each session needs to be. The less often, the more rounds need to be shot- however there is a point where basically no amount of rounds makes up for infrequent practice. And when I say practice- I mean purposeful, structured practice, not group shooting off a bench or blasting the same steel plate over and over.

I was going to comment and basically say this. I have had days where I'll go shoot through a few hundred rounds in one session. But I personally feel like I get more out of more frequent, lower round count (relatively) sessions. I would rather shoot or see somebody shoot 20 rounds 2-3 times a week rather than shoot 150-200 rounds once a month. Consistency is key, and muscle memory is a real thing that can and does develop and can be maintained with disciplined consistent practice. But it can also be lost in a relatively short amount of time. I find, for me, frequency definitely DOES matter more than round count in each session. I've had nights after work where I'm kindof rushed and only have enough time to get out to a spot, pick a rock out, run a dope calc, and shoot a few rounds (maybe even just one mag) and have to go home. But each of those rounds is sent with purpose and with a goal in mind. Maybe I'm working on recoil management (a huge goal of mine right now) and improving my ability to watch impacts and stay in the scope, or maybe I'm working on shooting while looking into the setting sun or with a wicked storm blowing in and some swirly winds. But those two rounds matter, and it's better to go shoot a purposeful mag on a regular basis rather than blasting away 200 rounds in the exact same conditions a few times a summer.

 

[TX_Diver]

Dry fire is good for making sure you can press a trigger without disturbing the gun, and for practice loading, unloading, and reloading, getting into positions, etc.

The practice drill is the positional shooting skills really needed for field shooting. I would suggest group shooting from those positions for ten round groups/score and time. Prone, sitting, kneeling, standing, on top of the pack, etc.

Some guidelines I use for most people I see.

Shoot the hunting drill as a baseline exactly as laid out cold, no warmup. Log your score whatever it is- no excuses.
Then practice group shooting prone using a pack until 10 round groups are consistently 2moa or under. Then do it for time. 1 minute for ten shots. Start standing, go to prone on the buzzer. Once you are holding 2 MOA prone, then it’s sitting with a pack/hiking sticks. Looking for the same process but about 3 MOA. Then sitting unsupported until about 4-5 MOA. Then standing until about 8 MOA.

Once you got that, then shoot the hunting drill again. Then work on the hunting drill until you are consistently in the 15-16 out of 20 range staying within time.

All throughout that shoot distance with the same process whenever you can.




Shooting is not magic, and it’s relatively simple. However doing it well isn’t easy. It takes repetition and consistent focused effort. It’s work.

Any chance you'd post up some of your favorite field shooting positions? I'm trying to get better ideas on how to shoot sitting & kneeling (and even standing). Figured out a few that work if I have good support nearby from a tree or something, but haven't been too successful w/ just my pack as my only shooting aid so far.

 

[DaleW]

I shoot a little before spring bear but other than that all my shooting is done in the summer. I try to shoot once per week with all my shooting being done at rocks in real world conditions. I haven't been to a gun range in probably 3 years. Ranges from 50 yards to around 1200. I'm not shooting very many rounds though. Probably about 20 everytime I'm out. My main focus is cold bore shooting and making sure my ballistic data is as true as possible. I take a quality over quantity approach partly out of necessity because of ammo/component cost for what I shoot.

 

[whoami-72]

It's not about how often you go. It's about how well you apply what you know and adapt to conditions. Case in point, I used to shoot with my carry gun twice a week. I went to a shooting competition and the momen I started shooting sideways under pressure I realized I was a lot worse than expected lol.