The details

[sperho]

In another thread in this subforum, ac12 said:

About improvement.  As you get better it is a diminishing curve.  The higher your scores, the harder it is to get a few points more.  That is when you start to get into the details.

You aren't kidding.  I also recently read the Pope article that was posted elsewhere on GTA and this also stuck out (paraphrased), "a good score isn't a series of perfect shots, it's a series of shots with very few bad ones."  Again, he wasn't kidding.

While I'm seeing constant improvement, the improvement tends to come in small, yet sustainable, spurts.  I suppose it has something to do with mastering a particular part of my stance, which I'm varying ever so slightly from target sheet to target sheet to experiment, while making an effort to only modifying one thing slightly and keeping everything else the same as I work through targets.

The other thing is that shooting is truly a mental game.  If I make a mental note that I just shot 10 great shots in a row, the next one after making that mental note is invariably awful.  My advice to others trying to improve their accuracy, especially off-hand, is to only look ahead and visualize the next shot going near or on the bull.  Keep looking toward the next shot.  Refrain from even considering your last shot while positioning for the next one!  Only consider it during follow through and during the next several moments if it was a really good one and how you felt during that particular shot cycle.

This is the first time in many decades of on and off again plinking that I've really seriously attempted to work on my shooting to improve.  I have to say that both the challenge and feeling of seeing every little improvement is quite rewarding.  Keep practicing!

[rapidray]

That seems like it might be an interesting read...I will have to find it! Thanks.

[ac12]

My AR coach told me that a match is not 60 shots, it is 60 1-shot matches. 
The goal of each match is to score a 10.

You are correct about thinking about your last shot, unless your last shot was a 10.
Mentally if you fret about a bad shot, you will just duplicate the bad shot.  Like when I was in college, I use to golf with a "friend." He would say "watch out for the water," and guess where I hit the ball...right into the water.  Thinking about what went wrong will reinforce doing it wrong again.  That is NEGATIVE reinforcement.  You have to learn to forget about the last shot , you can't do anything about it, concentrate on the next shot.  This is easier said that done, but is important to do.

A trick he taught us to do was to tape a target with a 10 into our pellet box.  Every time we loaded a pellet we are reminded that we did shoot a 10, and we can do it again.  Positive reinforcement.

[sperho]

That seems like it might be an interesting read...I will have to find it! Thanks.

I found a link:  http://www.issa-schuetzen.org/history/off-hand-rifle-shooting.php

[rapidray]

That seems like it might be an interesting read...I will have to find it! Thanks.

I found a link:  http://www.issa-schuetzen.org/history/off-hand-rifle-shooting.php

Thank you for posting the link! I have copied it over to my Pages and is now on my IPad! Great article. Again "Thanks"