Thread: Shooting training

Get and learn to use a sling, this halves most people's groups.
Drill the fundamentals - hold, breathing, trigger pull, follow through. Consistency is key. Get a stupid-high magnification scope and focus on things a long way away (see how much you shake).
Dry-fire practice.
Line up on something, close your eyes for 3 breaths, open your eyes. Still on target? Change your hold/stance until you are. Train for muscle memory.

Personally, foot position plays a big part for me. (Start at the ground and work your way up - feet, knees, hips, torso) Your muscles should be relaxed. I find with the shape of my shoulder I have to keep my offhand elbow quite high to get a non-canted stock "in the pocket"

I learned/was taught that "standing" and "offhand" are different - Standing is when you are deliberately taking a shot, you have time to assume a good position and break the shot. Offhand is the best position you can get in to in the time given.
There's also variations of standing: Tactical/driven (think what SWAT teams on TV do - leaning forward, C grip, 'driving' the gun) vs target/artillery (think olympic 10m air rifle - leaning back, plumb line from your foregrip to the ground and supported by bone all the way)

Don't rush. Slow is smooth, smooth becomes fast. There's a difference between a quick shot and a rushed one.

The old sniper's motto: "Get closer, if you can't get closer, get steadier" - There's no point in handicapping yourself, if you can get a rest, do. Only hits count.

Get a "know your limits" target and shoot it positionally. Then accept that limit until you can.
Shoot your (paper) targets "snap" - from standing, rifle horizontal at the waist or port arms (or however you carry in the field) give yourself 3 seconds to bring it up and take the shot. (If you don't manage in 3s then reset and try again. Or maybe start with 5/10 seconds as suits you)

I like light triggers. 2.5lb is about the max I want.

Did I mention drill your fundamentals?
This can be a thing to think about (reverse it for south paw):