Shooting is a perishable skill-

[Beendare]

And dang it if I'm not the poster boy for that....Grin

Bow; I had to put down my Recurve for awhile with a string hand injury...so picked up my compound- Wow, it used to feel like an extension of my arm- not now it doesn't

Pistols; I haven't shot for almost a year...though I dry fire. I went out to the ranch to do some draw and shoot though my hand is in bad shape and shot my steel plate array- dang I was rusty.

In fact, I'm glad I did as my Shield was hanging up a little bit with the Hard Cast bullets. My G19 didn't feel super comfortable either. The Shield might just be dirty from all the junk falling in my holster and packing it on a bunch of hunts...but I think I will take my trusty G17 on my next elk hunt as it just plain shoots.


So I'm about to shoot and I decided NO shooting glasses....100deg day sweat running into my eyes- Real life scenario....and dang if it didn't take me a 100 rounds to the draw and shoot quick and accurate clicking again. Felt good...but I sure do shoot better with glasses. Hopefully this will spur some guys to get back out there.

I don't know how guys that just take their pistols out once a year do it...I sure can't.

 

[Dented]

Yer preaching to the choir.

Just got back from the range. Same problem, took a little time off and I'm out there looking like I've never seen a gun in my life. I shoot my shotgun like it's a rifle, my rifle like it's a stick and my handguns like pure shit.

Well, on the bright side, I know what I'm going to be doing with my free time for the foreseeable future.

 

[Weldor]

It sure is!

 

[waitup]

I had not picked up my compound for a while and decided to plan to shoot everyday for 30 days straight in preparation for deer season. I am about 10 days in and I am amazed at how quick it is coming back/even improving.

 

[mcseal2]

I'm lucky enough to be able to shoot pistols and rifles to 100 yards in my yard. I tend to practice a lot more in the cooler months than summer, but still shoot several times a month.

I've found that I can help my rifle shooting by shooting pistols too. If I can keep my trigger control and follow through steady on a striker fired Sig 365 It carries over to my hunting rifles with more points of contact with me and a better trigger. I've been trying to practice as much as I can with 22LR, 9mm, and 223 with ammo prices and get more volume in. I still shoot the bigger rifles but not as much as I used to.

 

[Beendare]

Hey, sometimes life gets in the way of the important stuff…like shooting- grin.

My draw and shoot split times were crap too. I just wasn’t getting to perfect sight alignment as quick as in the past. I can’t blame that all on poor eyesight…I just haven’t had the reps.

It is like riding a bike…it will come back, just a little wobbly at first.

 

[NealS02]

I think how you practice shooting is super important and something I overlook/avoid. I see people talk all the time about shooting from random positions, after exercise, etc. and these are all great suggestions, but I seem to always find an excuse to shoot prone or from a bench. I live in NW IL and things like range quality and long distance availability are barriers I run into. Super tough to find a place to shoot more than 200 yards.

 

[Axlrod]

Reminds me of a guy at the range, about 20 years my senior. He said I don't come out here and shoot 3 times a week to get better- I do it so I don't get worse!

 

[Justin (Raz) Rasmussen]

I cannot stress this enough in my line of work.

You must practice reqularly with your bear gun in the manner you intend to carry it.

Under a time stressor like a shot clock idealy

 

[5MilesBack]

With pistol I would agree with you. But for bow......this is the first year since I picked up archery that I just haven't done much shooting since last September. Maybe 5-6 arrows total. But the other day I shot four arrows at 40 and they were absolutely stacked together in the bullseye. Where I degrade is in my range estimation, and picking the right pin without even having to think about it.

 

[MarlinMark]

Reminds me of one of my favorite sayings, "Just because you shoot a rifle, doesn't mean you are a rifleman."

Mark

 

[mcseal2]

Focus can be more important than volume too. I find that my pistol shooting especially is often better at the beginning of a session or after some time off. Lots of short sessions are better for me than a few long ones.

Long sessions tend to bring on flinching and sometimes a bit of target panic. I think some if this is due to a lot of magnum rifles and 44 mag handguns with stout loads in my high school years. I developed bad habits I spent a long time fixing and need to manage now.

Nothing over 357 or 10mm with hot loads in a handgun for me to be my most effective now and my light 270 and 300 win mag have brakes. That isn’t right or necessary for everyone but it is what works for me.

 

[Beendare]

I know its been awhile when the battery on my ear muffs and shot timer are dead- sheesh what a putz.

 

[Beendare]

My bad, no one wants to talk software.....only hardware...