Skill, not stuff 2026 challenge

[dallas.kc]

I like this idea a lot. I'm guilty of buying stuff all the time, thinking I need stuff for every possible situation.

I'd really like to work on my woodsmanship a lot more, reading sign, scouting, etc, and becoming proficient across the board in traditional archery, compound, pistol and rifle shooting. Looking forward to following this thread, hopefully folks post progress

 

[lukebrowning]

I suppose I could use a longbow, buckskin and eat grass but that seems pretty miserable. I keep notes of things that work and don’t work while I’m in the field so that I don’t buy unnecessary chit when I’m slow-rolling a dump to procrastinate or avoid people. I usually end up increasing weight in exchange for more time and efficiency in the field.

 

[goalie]

It's now 2026.


I got out and made sure the year starts out the right way. 5.56 and 22lr fun was had.

 

[goalie]

Doing some more handgun training instead of rifle this week due to location. Will get some positional rifle in this weekend though.

Stupid Minneapolis

 

[madtinker]

My wife bought me a precision shooting book for Christmas. The other evening I tried some dry-fire practice using the material on building a position, shooting from prone. Super basic stuff, but I learned so much. Very humbling. I thought I was a decent shot but I’ve been doing this the wrong way for 30 years. This new method felt 10x as stable, and showed me where I need to adjust my rifle setup (build up the comb, for starters). Lots to un-learn, lots to re-learn.

 

[he_lives]

My wife bought me a precision shooting book for Christmas. The other evening I tried some dry-fire practice using the material on building a position, shooting from prone. Super basic stuff, but I learned so much. Very humbling. I thought I was a decent shot but I’ve been doing this the wrong way for 30 years. This new method felt 10x as stable, and showed me where I need to adjust my rifle setup (build up the comb, for starters). Lots to un-learn, lots to re-learn.

What book are you reading?

 

[madtinker]

What book are you reading?

Long Range Shooting Handbook by Cleckner

 

[RockAndSage]

Doing some more handgun training instead of rifle this week due to location. Will get some positional rifle in this weekend though.

Stupid Minneapolis

That's a great time to work on off-hand rifle with dry-fire. A lot of field-realistic shooting, especially in rugged and brushy country where you might need to make a quicker type of shot or at really difficult angles, ends up being a hybrid of improvised standing-supported/off-hand. Things like doing a half-squat to shoot under a tree branch but needing to be above the brush; resting on a smaller, not too steady branch at a not-optimal height, etc. Standing, off-hand dry fire practice is priceless in a certain category of shooting needs.

The only thing to note is that it's harder to do inside a house than with a pistol, because of parallax on the optics. So, if you can find a safe direction out a window, beyond 100yds usually, the parallax won't be an issue. Most factory settings are 100-125yds on fixed-parallax scopes, IIRC.