Practice makes perfect..

[Doobin]

As we all know, but what kind of practice? Personally, I'm no big fan of paper-punching- I'd rather a small (15mm) spinner- it's the size of a rabbit's brain killzone, and so long as you can hit it, you're accurate. I find that if I'm shooting paper, I end up with so many holes it looks like it's been hit with a 12bore, and I get fed up easily. Especially with having to keep getting up to replace the paper.

What are your thoughts upon this? I aim (no pun intended, honest ) to start practising a bit more, as my shooting skills have gone seriously rusty over the winter.

[Davestate]

[i]I end up with so many holes it looks like it's been hit with a 12bore, and I get fed up easily. Especially with having to keep getting up to replace the paper.[/B]

Sounds like you need all the practice you can get

[Liam]

i do a fair bit of paper punching and i agree that i do get fed up with it after a while. The thing i do now at the club after zero-ing the gun, is i shoot some "Fun" targets tou could use a CD (one of those AOL free trial ones, not Thin Lizzy) sellotaped to a piece of card. Or my favourites are pictures of our quarry with the kill zones covered with a bull.
Also if you get sore eyes easily or your shooting starts to worsen quickly, i would recommend using red and blue bulls-eyes as they stand out a lot better than black.
Hope this helps

[SWAT Strachan]

It is rather amazing. At the old MVAC indoor range there were knock-down targets, paper targets, snooker targets, silouhette (sp) targets... all of them. We'd all sit/stand/lie there plinking away...

...but as soon as someone threw an old pellet tin down the range, you couldn't move for people at the shooting line . Every one of them trying to be the first to flip the tin over the backstop of the range! Try an old bean tin or similar, it seems more satisfying when you get a nice metallic 'clang' and a hole in the can. Long range shots at depleted aerosols are fun (but not recommended kids).

Had an old can of 'air duster' once, where the nozzle had snapped off. Totally useless. So I popped it against the garage, stepped WAY back, and promptly plinked a .177 into it... The can reached about 8 or 9 feet altitude, disgorging it's contents like a fire extinguisher!! Silly and possibly stupid, but spectacular none the less.

Shooters grow old, but they never grow up .

[Dave Stringer]

Originally posted by liam555
i do a fair bit of paper punching and i agree that i do get fed up with it after a while. The thing i do now at the club after zero-ing the gun, is i shoot some "Fun" targets tou could use a CD (one of those AOL free trial ones, not Thin Lizzy) sellotaped to a piece of card. Or my favourites are pictures of our quarry with the kill zones covered with a bull.
Also if you get sore eyes easily or your shooting starts to worsen quickly, i would recommend using red and blue bulls-eyes as they stand out a lot better than black.
Hope this helps

Why not thin lizzy?

[Liam]

cos you don't wanna be shooting any of your decent CDs and everyone knows that Thin Lizzy were the greatest Irish Band EVER!!! Bono is just a poofter

If you want to see spectacular Swat Strachan, a fellow i know set up a butane can with a lit firelighter (sunny jim thingys) and shot that. But i wouldn't recommend that to anyone, as i'm sure that its very dangerous and probably very very illegal!!!

[smiley]

chalk discs are a good pass-time mate... cut yourself about 30 or so stakes from a birch tree in the local (public) woods away from the path so you dont offend anyone (they grow back in no time!) and stick (hmmm) the chalk discs to one end with epoxy-resin and put a crude spike on the other end... find a safe area on your shoot with a hill/backdrop behind and try some range-finding... the discs are cheap enough from several gun shops (b.a.r ect) and you can glue more than one on the stakes for a good session... they are wicked for night-time range/lamp practice as the discs vaporise and you pick up a cloud of chalk with the lamp for a confirmed kill... fun, fun, fun!

[Geordie]

Originally posted by smiley
the discs are cheap enough from several gun shops (b.a.r ect) and you can glue more than one on the stakes for a good session...

Cheaper still, get down the nearest supermarket and grab a multipack of trebor extra strong mints! (or the Tesco own brand version) - just as good, cheaper, more freely available, and can be used to freshen breath between sessions

[andyiow]

Try going trough the hole in a polo mint IIRC the hole is about the size of a .22 pellet. Even the slightest nick seems to shatter the mint.

Lumps of chalk among other things make for interesting practice targets. Used shotgun cartridges are my favourite as they become harder the further away they are.

[Ray J]

[QUOTE
Used shotgun cartridges are my favourite as they become harder the further away they are. [/B][/QUOTE]
Try a live one, you'll know when you hit it properly.

With paper targets I shoot between 3 to five pell's in a given area, to test the grouping.

Ray

[Bob1957]

If you want to see spectacular Swat Strachan, a fellow i know set up a butane can with a lit firelighter (sunny jim thingys) and shot that. But i wouldn't recommend that to anyone, as i'm sure that its very dangerous and probably very very illegal!!! [/B][/QUOTE]


As butane is heavier than air it flows like water and follows natural contours, if it doesn't ignite straight away it could flow to where you are shooting from and then ignite. Please don't even consider doing this.

Bob

[SWAT Strachan]

As butane is heavier than air it flows like water and follows natural contours, if it doesn't ignite straight away it could flow to where you are shooting from and then ignite. Please don't even consider doing this.

OK, I'll shoot it from the bedroom window instead

Seriously though, there's no way I'd do that. I knew full well that the can I shot at contained an inert substance and was not flammable. I'm just a bit daft, not a complete idiot.

[napier]

i spend hours with a air arms zero target...at marked and unmarked distance..the beauty of this is that you can see where your mistakes are...judgement of distance is the key to becoming a great shot..understanding windage and pellet flight a must..combine the two with plenty practice..and yoiu wil enjoy your sport so much more...if you dont put in the time you will never improve...

[Fireball Sailor]

Get two garden canes, and put a string between them. Thread empty beer cans on by the ring pull.

Then have competitions to see who can flip the cans over the top of the string.

[Fireball Sailor]

Originally posted by andyiow
Try going trough the hole in a polo mint IIRC the hole is about the size of a .22 pellet. Even the slightest nick seems to shatter the mint.

At school, we stick Polo's in the middle of bullseyes, and shoot through the middle with Rimmie's at 25m - only a couple of people have managed it, but you can see the schorch marks through the middle.