Practical advice for shooting a varmint rifle?

Factual Questions
1

We have prairie dogs at my mom’s ranch. Her fiancee is going to shoot them. Seems cold-hearted - what did the monkey-pox/hantavirus spreading little prairie rats ever do to him? But I’m not here to start a GD. ;]

Our neighbor loaned us a pretty sweet little varmint rifle. Ruger something chambered for .17 HMR. While I won’t shoot living things, I have lots of fun shooting paper. So I’m sighting it in. It’s going well enough I guess. I can consistently put a full magazine into the “9” circle at 100 yards now.

I’m not happy though. I know I can do better than this with this rifle. When I’m lucky, I sometimes nearly get two bullets through the same hole. The thing is ungodly precise.

So, wise shooters of the SDMB, tell me - how do I improve my rifle shooting technique?

Thus far I’ve been doing something I vaguely call “BREAT-F”: breathe, relax, exhale, aim, trigger, follow-through. But I’m still not doing better than 2 MOA.

What can I do better? Gimme some general or specific tips. Sitting position.
-Ben

2

Well, first off would be to lie down and grovel. Far stabler than sitting. Rest the stock (not the barrel) on sandbags, or get a bipod. Try every brand of ammo out there and see which your rifle likes the most. I cut my rim-fire’s groups in half by finding the right (not even more expensive; my rifle’s got inexpensive tastes :slight_smile: ) brand. Or reload your own, and work up a load just for that rifle.

3

An old drill I learned in the army is great for working on smooth trigger pulls. This requires a buddy to assist.

1.) Unload your rifle.
2.) Unload your rifle.
3.) Lay in a prone shooting position with your rife.
4.) Have you buddy insert a cleaning rod, just the rod, into the rifle barrel so that approximately 6 inches extends out the front of your rife.
5.) Have your buddy balance a quarter on the cleaning rod.
6.) Pull the trigger.

The object is to get your trigger pulls smooth, including the firing pin striking, that the quarter does not fall off.

MeanJoe

4

In no particular order…

  1. When firing, focus on the front site (assuming it has iron sites). Most newbies make the mistake of focusing on the target.

  2. Make sure you have a consistent cheek weld and consistent eye relief.

  3. As Jeff Cooper says, “If you can get steadier, get steadier.” The steadiest rifleman position is prone. Choose Olympic or Military Prone, which ever feels most comfortable. (I like Olympic Prone.)

  4. There is a difference being pulling a trigger and squeezing a trigger. Do the latter.

  5. Practice trigger “follow-through”: smoothly squeeze the trigger all the way back.

  6. Use your trigger arm (usually the right arm) to firmly pull the butt of the rifle into your shoulder.

  7. Use your supporting arm (usually your left arm) to support the furniture. Do not firmly grip the furniture with the supporting arm.

  8. Use a sling. A Ching Sling is the best.

  9. Make sure your limbs are properly positioned in whatever position you’re shooting from. Read “Art of the Rifle” by Jeff Cooper for illustrated examples.

  10. Practice trigger control: Only squeeze the trigger when you’re on target. Stop squeezing when you’re off target. Resume squeezing when you’re back on target. Continue this until the gun fires.

  11. Practice breathing control: Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale half way, pause, fire.

  12. Find your Natural Point of Aim. (Read Cooper’s book for more info.)

  13. Concentrate. When shooting, the only thing that exists in your universe is your front site.

  14. Do not anticipate the shot. Do not flinch.

  15. Consistency is everything: consistent breathing, consistent sight picture, consistent cheek weld, consistent eye relief, consistent squeezing of trigger, etc.

5

I bet that is a neat rifle. I haven’t had the opportunity to shoot a firearm chambered for .17HMR yet. I am surprised that a 'scope has not been mounted on it yet. Perhaps the neighbor is planning to add a scope and you can volunteer to mount it and do the sight-in?

Since the variety of ammunition for .17HMR is rather limited for the present, you could indeed try every different one available. Since .17HMR is rimfire, you won’t be able to reload your own, though. I started a thread in MPSIMS that (if it lives much longer) might give you some more pointers about shooting.

Looks like Crafter_Man has done some competitive rifle shooting - follow his advice and you’re sure to improve.

6

If I did have experience in competitive rifle shooting, you can be assured I would have know it was called a front sight, not a front site. :smack:

7

Never mind, Crafter_Man, even if you have never done any competitive shooting, your suggestions are excellent. I did do competitive shooting in my younger days, and I can’t add much. But I do have a few pointers.

I agree with shooting prone. In addition, shift around on the ground so that the rifle is comfortably aiming in the direction of the target. You’re not pulling or pushing it into position, in other words. Tension needed to pull or push the rifle will result in a less-steady rifle.

I’ll add more on using a sling. Mike, you want to (this is going to be difficult to describe) wrap the sling around your left arm, assuming you’re shooting right-handed. Then put your left hand where it belongs on the rifle. When this is done properly, we used to say we were “wearing the rifle,” since you cannot just put the firearm down, you literally have to take it off your arm. But it provides a pretty solid and steady hold.

One thing I used to do to relieve eye fatigue was to wear an eyepatch on the eye I wasn’t using. That way, I wasn’t using muscles to keep it closed; I could keep it open behind the patch. I still only saw through my sighting eye, but without the tension caused by tired eye muscles in my other one, it was much more comfortable.

See, I told you I couldn’t add much. Hope these are useful, Mike, and good luck.

8
      • Holy sheet! I been off shooting for a few years now, and that caliber looks like the coolest thing to come along in a while! When I stopped paying attention, the .17 rimfire concept was being proposed but no ammo manufacturers would commit to it. -I haven’t wasted money on a gun in years now, I’m about due.
        …
  • The only thing that could make it all perfect was if they made a semiauto pistol… I only found a H&R revolver when I looked for pistols…
    ~
9

A good rest and sandbags will help. When I was shooting .22 benchrest I used a Hart varminter rest (a squat cast iron tripod with a small platform on a screw jack arrangement) with leather sandbags front and rear. Not supporting the rifle with your body goes a long way toward consistency.

How is wind? It’s a short time of flight to 100 yards but a little wind makes a big difference. It can also move the point of impact in non-intuitiuve directions because of the bullet’s spin. I’ll see if I can dig up the little compass chart gizmo I had for wind deflection. You may not want to go to the expense of full blown wind flags but a pole in the ground with a streamer made of surveyor’s tape placed a few yards ahead of your shooting position can reveal a lot.

10

My experience is that the Ruger semi’s aren’t good at driving tacks. Yours might be different. Thats a light bullet and prone to being blown off course a bit. If it don’t have a scope on it put one on, it will make a difference.

11

To clarify, the rifle does have both a bipod and a 2-10x variable scope. Our neighbor is relatively wealthy and has a LOT of nice toys. I’m jealous. Though, at my skill level, I would be seriously lucky to even hit the target at 100 yards with iron sights of any kind so the scope is double nice.

The HMR .17 is pretty cool. The best page I found on it is http://www.cctrap.com/~varmint/17hmr.htm
Sighted in at 100 yards, the trajectory is close enough to flat that you don’t need to worry about holding off inside that range.

Make sure you have a consistent cheek weld and consistent eye relief.

This may be my biggest problem. I need to get some kind of dot sticker I can put on the stock to get a consistent sport for the cheek weld. The scope is pretty particular about what the position of your eye is. Too close or too far and you’re screwed.

I’ll add more on using a sling.

Sling. Didn’t even think of that! Right, I’ll try that.

As Jeff Cooper says, “If you can get steadier, get steadier.” The steadiest rifleman position is prone. Choose Olympic or Military Prone, which ever feels most comfortable. (I like Olympic Prone.)

May not be realistic, since I’m shooting from ground level, towards ground level, in a field that’s knee-high in wild grass. But I’ll try it.

**4. There is a difference being pulling a trigger and squeezing a trigger. Do the latter.

  1. Practice trigger “follow-through”: smoothly squeeze the trigger all the way back.
    **

I think I’m doing these okay. I think. I’ll keep emphasizing the smooth and follow-through.

Use your trigger arm (usually the right arm) to firmly pull the butt of the rifle into your shoulder.

Now this brings up another problem - when I do that then I have to really, really get my point of aim well settled because my chest heaves during breathing enough to put the scope a good ways off center. I guess I just need to get the bipod set up while holding in half a breath.

Find your Natural Point of Aim. (Read Cooper’s book for more info.)

This is probably a big one. Well, I wanted to get Art of the Rifle, but maybe I’ll get it sooner than I expected!
-Ben

12

Oh. I didn’t realize this was a semi-auto rifle. Having said that, my Ruger 1022 is as accurate as I am able hold on any target out to 100 yards. Maybe mine is one of the few accurate semi-auto rifles or maybe some less accurate ones have slipped out of the factory.

BTW, what is that new semi-auto Ruger called? The 1017 or some such? I think the bolt version of the .22LR caliber is called the 7722…

13

It has a ‘scope already? Hot dang! Now we’re talkin’! Okay, here’s what let’s do: let’s sight-in that 'scope! Are ya up for it?

14

That’s another reason I KNOW I can do better than I’m doing…

Here’s the link:

http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/FAProdView?model=7024&return=Y

Unfortunately it seems like all of ruger.com is down right now, maybe they’re doing maint or something.
-Ben

15

That shows a picture of a target I’ve shot at. There isn’t a lot wrong with the rifle in that picture, it’s all me. I need work, the rifle is fine. Better than fine, really. The thing is freaking amazing.
-Ben

16

Yeah, that’s what I thought - it’s a bolt action rifle. Okay, we’re gonna need to do a few preliminary things before we start shootin’. Are the bases screwed down tight? (if you want, take 'em off and apply some locktite to the threads) Are the rings securely set in the rings? Make sure the “claws” (if these are Weaver-style bases and rings) are set in the slots and the thumbscrews are tight. After you make sure this is all done to your satisfaction, we’re ready to move to the actual range work.

17

Dang, I meant to ask, “Is the 'scope securely set in the rings?”

18

Dang, I meant to ask, “Is the 'scope securely set in the rings?”

19

Okay, I’ll take your silence as a sign that you’re busy checking the 'scope mounting. Now, we want to set the target out at 25 yards and, after removing the bolt, sight through the bore of the rifle and set it so the bull’s eye is centered. It really helps if you have a way to hold the rifle steady while doing this - a SightVise is perfect for this, but you can use sand bags to get the job done. Holding the rifle in the position that centers the bull’s eye, check the crosshairs of the 'scope - they should be right on the bull’s eye, too. Here’s the hard part of this phase of the procedure: if the crosshairs need to be moved, ya gotta hold the rifle in that position. Do this a couple times until you are confident that the bore is looking at the target in the same way the 'scope is. This isn’t a final alignment, but this will get you on the paper. If you are confident that the rifle is already set up, you can just go to the next phase.

20

Here’s where we start shootin’! Okay, put a dot on the paper and move the target out to 100 yards. If you reckon that’s where the majority of your shots are gonna be, we’ll sight it in dead-on at that range. If you’re planning on longer shots, we’ll sight it in for 1.5 inches high at 100 yards. Okay, get all settled in and take three shots at the dot. (we’re shooting at the dot 'cause the big old black circle doesn’t give us the precision we need) Now, put the rifle back on the center of the dot and take a look at the three holes you made. Are they clustered close together? Great! Now, put the crosshairs on the center of the dot and hold the rifle very firmly so it won’t move while you’re making adjustments. Double check that the crosshairs are centered on the dot, and then (while holding everything stationary) move the crosshairs with the adjustment knobs on the 'scope so that they are in the middle of the shot cluster. There ya go! You’re done! Take another shot and it should punch out that dot…