Being to perfect

I realised I'm trying to be too perfect at the range. I'm trying to stack bullets, or at least get them touching all the time. I don't need to do that! I used to say that if I can hit a pie plate at a given distance 9 out of 10 shots, I was good to hunt at that distance. Don't know why I got away from that way of thinking.

The light came on. My practice needs to be precise, but not perfect. With confidence and time, perhaps I will start stacking bullets, or shooting clover leaf groups all the time. Shooting freehand at 50 yards needs to be precise, but not necessarily perfect.

To be effective, I don't have to be perfect. I need to lighten up a little bit, and practice better.

Without higher goals, we flounder in mediocrity.

"Too"

Sorry. Couldn't resist. Had to laugh. All in fun.

:-)

Striving for perfection is a good thing,it gives you goals.
Learnig to accecpt what you can do today or where you are today is sometimes hard because you expect more. If you are burning powder and the little bitty groups are hard to come by its still a good day.You really don't need minute of qnat to kill deer and elk.

Sometimes what you need is to have someone who is a solid shooter in the type of shooting you are doing watch you, and then be able to give you some pointers. If your form is bad, you can have all the effort in the world and still be frustrated. Other times the specific gun you are using is not capable of going beyond a certain point or possibly your loads need to be tuned better.
When it comes to set-up and shooting form there is a list of things that you need to do every time and they need to be repeatable. As a friend says, "You need to train your brain." with good shooting skills. You also need to be patient and realistic in your approach.

Ernie hit it right on the head.

Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

If there are some fundamental things that may be lacking in your form or execution, you can only get so close to your goal before peaking out. Use good fundamentals and you will improve markedly.

When I shot competition archery, I was able to shoot about 289 (of 300) as my personal best. When I had a bad day, that dropped to the mid 260s. It didn't matter how much I practiced, or how aggressively I spend on equipment.
With the help of a coach I fixed a number of things I was doing wrong and my scores dropped again, down to the 240's. But when they started coming back up, they just kept going and going. Now, the more I practiced, the better my scores got. When it did have that "bad day" it was a 2-3 point drop over my average vs. a 20 point drop. Eventually I held a 300 average for most of the season.

Using my old form and techniques, I would never have been able to achieve that elusive 300, regardless of how hard I practiced.

I would be willing to bet that all of us on this board would benefit from time spent with an experienced coach. There is only so much you can learn form internet forums and youtube videos.

Interesting thoughts . I guess I never pretended that i would be the best shot in the world . I practice as often as time and money allows. As there probably not a professional hand gun hunting coach within a few hundred miles of me i concern myself with target practice .striving to be minute of squirrels head out to 25 yds minute of deer out too 75 yds. These are real hunting conditions in my world. I do plink out to 100 yds for fun. This plinking helps to make me more confident at hunting distances. I am not consistent enough to place every shot on target at 100 yds with my revolver and would not shoot deer that far. Never got into competitive shooting outside of dollar bets with shooting buddies .

Yes yes yes!
lots of practice and continual challenges.
Minute of Prairie Dog head at 150 yards makes a deer at 100 a lot easier.
I'm loading a bunch of 110gn vmax 30-30 rounds for next year's Pdog trip with hopes to extend the comfort zone for deer to 200+ yards.
I would love to find an experienced coach who was skilled in both range and field shooting. It would definitely improve my game.

Yeah I get what you guys are saying. I agree 100% with ya. I have never had a teacher for this stuff. My dad never got me outdoors much, or helped me with this type of stuff. What I do know, I learned pretty much on my own over the last 41 years. I feel like I've done pretty well, but I KNOW there is room for improvement.

Form?? There is proper FORM to shooting handguns?

I think most people in an endeavor like handgun hunting would strive to be the best they can be.... I certainly hope so. Wouldn't we all love one ragged hole all the time? I know my group sizes at the yardages I hunt deer .... And I know how that changes between my two hunting guns. My skill level and tool of choice create my limits and I stay inside them. Like you raptortrapper, I'm the only handgun hunter I know, so I try to read and learn as much as I can. Do I wish I could take game out to 100 yards right now? Yes... But I'll be happy as hell in two weeks sitting in my stand waiting on the shot I know I can make.

One thing's for sure, this forum has helped me immensely.

PsTaN

im in the pie plate camp and happy with it. then i never have shot of a bench. all my shooting is done as i would hunt sitting, leaned on a tree, on my hind legs with out support... then i im also more of a still hunter than sitting somewhere and falling asleep waking up and its darker than the inside of a boot. try explaining to the warden why your coming out of the woods with a flashlight and gun at 9pm.

"Being to perfect," never had a problem of being accused of that!

One thing I want to clarify, I am not, nor will I ever be a top notch handgun shot. Even in archery, when I was at my best, I still got my clock cleaned at the bigger tournaments. There are shooters out there who are the human embodiment of a Hooter Shooter (archery equivalent to a Ransom Rest).

One thing I did realize is that you are not likely to do better in tournaments or in hunting situations than you do in practice. To add to that, you really need to be honest with yourself when you practice. Keep score, and INCLUDE the bad shots. At a minimum it will help you identify the conditions under which you make bad shots, and hopefully raise your awareness so you can correct the behavior.

If you don't happen to have a coach nearby one thing that you can do is take a video of you shooting and from different angles. It is quite enlightening to see the playback and watch what happens just before the gun goes off. Can you see your hand tense up, maybe close your eyes right as you pull the trigger? Subtle things that make the difference.

I strive to shoot as perfect at the range as I can bc its a controlled environment. When I am in the field under stress and tired I know, in my case, my shooting suffers a little. If you're at the range shooting 100% maybe you'll shoot 80% in the field. If you start off at the range satisfied with an 80% what might it go down too in the field? I try to shoot the limit of my tool. If it's sub inch gun my goal is sub inch.

Look at the big brain on Brad!

I'm not the greatest pistol shot in the world and never will be. I accept that for what it is, and try harder every time I go to the range. My biggest problem, targets do not excite me in the least. Put a deer in front of me, it's dead.

I do my best work under pressure. I've pulled of some great shots on deer ( with a long gun and bow), but I know my limits with a wheel gun. I believe knowing one's limits is half the battle. The rest will fall into place.

Brenden

I look more at the first shot with the gun, [cold shot] than groups. Thats the shot I will count on when hunting. I take multiple guns when I go shoot, all have different grips,
triggers, sights.
First shot needs to go where I want.Shoot a group with one lay it down pick another ,lots of first shots that way.I may now always shoot to my abilitys or expectations but I always learn something and have fun doing it.When you have a bad day thats all it was a bad day,leave it there at the range.

X 2

I keep a close watch on my first shots, also.

They tend to be more consistent (go where I want them to) than the following shots.

To the OP...be proud that you seek perfection...admirable trait.