What to focus on to improve performance?

I've found that the more matches I shoot in a year, the better that I do. You can shoot all you want at home or practicing, but it's not the same as shooting in a match. There's a different intensity level when it comes to shooting in matches that you just don't have when practicing.
 
Something else to consider. Look at the equipment lists on match reports. Most of the regular top 10 shoot their own bullets. Seems to work. Not to say benchrest shooters don't have sources for super accurate bullets. Randy Robinett, Ron Cheek, Berger and many more. Hottenstine bullets were great. I sure miss him!

The late Jef Fowler always told me to treat each bag (1000) as a different lot.


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1. Learn how to tune a rifle
2. Learn your shooting technique/process
3. Learn how to focus.

Added note = I'm not sure a person ever fully learns any of those steps. We should always be learning then adapting/applying
 
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JerrySharrett said:
Barrels and bullets?? Most will agree.

BUT, if your rifle will not put the first three shots through the same hole, in ideal conditions, and at 100 yards??

Remember, the group never gets any smaller after the second shot.


.[/


First shot provides smallest group!!


Copied from Jackie Schmidt (#39)


In one match at Lake Charles last year, I lost a Match with a 499 36x. I had 22 X's at 100, and 14 at 200. Unfortunately, I missed the 10 ring with a shot at 200. I got all excited about hitting a 500 high X count that I forgot the first rule of Score. Hit the 10 ring first.

One match I attended last summer-8 on first shot(2 target match)-yuk. I didnt have an 8 on warmup target.. What happened??

To get better get more consistant--gun on bags, stock on cheek, grip on rifle etc.
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Lee,


At the end of the year I think it's important to take a good hard look at your shooting and give yourself an honest evaluation. What do you do well? What do you struggle with? Do you shoot one yardage better than the other?
Do you shoot a certain condition better then another? Is one of your rifles consistently better. Where do you screw up the match? Is it consistently your third group? Is it most often the last? Are your aggs better or worse compared to morning or afternoon! How are you messing up your groups? Is it just one shot out? Is it because of vertical? Are you getting caught by conditions? Are you letting the gun drift out of tune? You have to consider all things and look for patterns! Good and bad ones.

The top things I need to work on for next year is.

- Getting better at finishing groups once I've had to stop my run! I hate doing it and I often screw it up!

- Do a better job identifying if the conditions dictate, if you should pick or run your groups! I hate it when I'm 3 groups into a match and realize I should have been picking instead of running.

- For me the condition that wrecked more groups and aggs this year was a let-up! Got to get better at guarding against them.

- I'm a good runner but a very mediocre picker. So I need to practice picking more.

Preparation
This winter while things are slow I'll try and get done what Billy Stevens calls, "Out Front Work!" I'll make sure everything from my rest, loading dies, rifles are in perfect working order. I'll also turn up 300 to 400 rounds of brass for the up coming season and make sure my brass is perfect.

Practice!
Testing and tuning are completely different then practice! I'll tune and test shooting 3 shots and cherry picking conditions. When I practice I'm shooting 5 shot groups durning the worst part of the day. Not always with a clock but always in the worst part of the day. Just like golf tournaments! Benchrest matches are normally won or lost Sunday afternoon!

Stay Observant!
Pay attention and don't become stagnant. You can always learn something that may help! For example I learned a trick that helped me shoot my railgun faster by watching you at the IBS Nationals. I was losing time by catching the gun my left hand, operating the bolt with my right, load and push the gun forward with my left. I noticed that basically you caught the gun on recoil with your bolt hand, opened the bolt, and pushed the gun forward while closing the bolt all in one motion. Much faster then what I was doing! Making that one change sped me up considerably!

The stagnant part is don't be afraid to try new things! Particularly if you think it might improve your shooting. I was the first guy to show up at a match with a labradar! I took a lot of crap about that. For example...

Larry Costa and I at Fairchance durning the Nationals had a conversation that went something like this:

Larry, "What are you using that for?"

Bart "I think it helps me stay in tune!"

Larry, "Then why aren't you winning?"

Bart, "Well, Larry you still have to read the flags and catch the condition. Even if your gun is shooting"


I won the next Grand aggregate!Afterwards Larry came up and said, "maybe I need to play with mine a little more."

Lee you're already a Top Shooter! But there's some of my thoughts on improving. Now throw in a bunch of hard work, dedication and an overwhelming desire to win and bam You're there!
 
One thing I know that really hurt me this year was using a different lot of powder. I kept telling myself it was just me missing something for shots that went out. I finally dug out my powder that I have had good success with and could not believe how much better I shot with it.
I can say almost certainly I did the same thing with barrels and bullets.
I spent some time shooting with Bob Jr one day. We looked over my equipment and he watched me shoot awhile.
I asked him what he thought about my setup and shooting. He said "well your not doing anything stupid ". I was almost disappointed. I really hoped he was going to spot something I was overlooking or was just getting lazy about doing. It was interesting having him check out all of my equipment and finding little things that can be changed to help eliminate problems.
It helps to have another set of eyes look over everything you have to see if there are things that can be improved.
Joe Hynes
 
Exactly Dave. I got this jug of powder to have something to shoot and save my other lot. I asked a couple people about it and 1 guy said he tried it and couldn't get it to work. The other guy wanted to buy it from me.
All I know is it doesn't work with my combination.
Joe Hynes
 
Simple things in the setup can screw up an entire group, I was amazed at how many shots go out (mostly up) with varying hardness of the front bag.



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Dave - Billy Stevens told me the exact same thing !

I purchased 4-- 8 pound jugs of a lot over 2 years ago only to hear it was not very good . One of the best shooers in the World told me at Super Shoot in 2015. He was trying to shoot it
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Disappointed , I have just tried it a couple weeks ago. only shot middle node -3350 -groups looked good. Did not shoot any faster.
 
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Joe

You nailed it when you said "it doesn't work with my combination."

Another thing to remember is keep an open mind. When something new comes out, keep tabs on it. Don't jump on the bandwagon right off unless you're an experimenter and enjoy aggravation.There is difference between perservance and stubborn.

Later
Dave
 
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For me it all comes down to trigger time. The more practice I get over flags, the better I tend to do in matches. And the more matches I enter, the better I tend to shoot. An old guy once gave me some good math......'talk minus action equals zero'.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
 
Bart said:
Lee,


At the end of the year I think it's important to take a good hard look at your shooting and give yourself an honest evaluation. What do you do well? What do you struggle with? Do you shoot one yardage better than the other? Do you shoot a certain condition better then another? Is one of your rifles consistently better. Where do you screw up the match? Is it consistently your third group? Is it most often the last? Are your aggs better or worse compared to morning or afternoon! How are you messing up your groups? Is it just one shot out? Is it because of vertical? Are you getting caught by conditions? Are you letting the gun drift out of tune? You have to consider all things and look for patterns! Good and bad ones.

Preparation!
Practice!
Stay Observant!
...don't be afraid to try new things!

Lee you're already a Top Shooter! But there's some of my thoughts on improving. Now throw in a bunch of hard work, dedication and an overwhelming desire to win and bam You're there!
Click to expand...

Thank you Bart. Some excellent points! Your post and all the other comments really highlight how difficult it is to stay on top of your game and perform at the highest levels. Good luck to everyone in 2018.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
Lee
 
JerrySharrett said:
Something else to consider. Look at the equipment lists on match reports. Most of the regular top 10 shoot their own bullets. Seems to work. Not to say benchrest shooters don't have sources for super accurate bullets. Randy Robinett, Ron Cheek, Berger and many more. Hottenstine bullets were great. I sure miss him!

The late Jef Fowler always told me to treat each bag (1000) as a different lot.


.
Click to expand...

Yep Jerry, I miss Lowell also......
Lowell had a million friends.......
Here's a photo of a couple of friends....Lowell is in the J4 bucket...........
 

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JerrySharrett said:
Something else to consider. Look at the equipment lists on match reports. Most of the regular top 10 shoot their own bullets. Seems to work. Not to say benchrest shooters don't have sources for super accurate bullets. Randy Robinett, Ron Cheek, Berger and many more. Hottenstine bullets were great. I sure miss him!

The late Jef Fowler always told me to treat each bag (1000) as a different lot.


.
Click to expand...
Hey! Kenny is making bullets.......
 
Wilbur said:
The worst thing that can happen for the long run is the "it'll go"....actually goes!
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Wilbur, that is bad, as it reinforces poor decision making! ;-)

A question - off topic - Wilbur; I can no longer use the full editor features: once I enter the cursor, the dialog box turns light (screened) blue,
and the edit features do not display . . . and if I try to add (click on) a smiley, the dialog box goes back to white, but the smiley does not display!?? I have set and re-set the controls, to no avail. RG
 
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