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Rifle Shooting - Five Tips for Better Accuracy

By Ross Gordon
May 7, 2009
The hunting field is not the place to work on your accuracy with your rifle - you need to spend the time off-field to make sure you can hit the shots that are crucial. Here are five tips to improve your ability to take and make the lethal shots from a distance.

1. Learn Smooth Trigger Control

When you're down behind your rifle ready for a shot, the way you pull the trigger is one of the most crucial elements in accuracy. Jerking or slamming the trigger too hard will pull your rifle off the mark every time.

What you need to do to correct this error is to practice a slow, steady pull on the trigger. Maintaining consistent pressure throughout the pull is not hard to learn, it just takes practice. Getting into the practice of a proper pull on the target range will make it second nature when you're in the field.

A heavy or hard to pull trigger makes smooth pulls difficult to achieve. If you know how to lighten the rifle trigger yourself, do it before you start practice. If not, take your rifle to a gunsmith and have it done.

2. Practice Deep Breathing

Breath control is another important factor to consider. No matter how steady you normally hold your rifle, if your breathing is hard you'll probably miss the shot.

Although you should shoot between inhaling and exhaling, holding your breath for more than a few seconds will also impair your aim. What you want to do is take a couple of deep, slow breaths and pull the trigger right after you exhale. If you don't have time to take a couple of breaths before the shot, you probably shouldn't be taking it.

3. Practice From Field Positions

If you're lazy and do all of your rifle practice sitting behind a stationary rest, you're going to miss in the field. You need to put the time into shooting your rifle from standing, kneeling, sitting and prone positions. Each of these positions are challenging, but they must become second nature to you.

4. Practice With A .22 Rifle

There's no rifle better for practicing your accuracy than a simple .22 caliber gun. Not only is it cheaper to shoot, it makes practice less strenuous by cutting out hard recoil and loud muzzle blasts. Relaxing behind a .22 makes learning breath control and smooth trigger pulls easier. It helps you to get rid of bad habits like flinching when pulling the trigger and not holding to your follow through.

5. Prepare for the Second Shot

This is an element of follow through that can't be ignored. No matter how accurate you think your first shot is you need to be ready for a second. Dropping your rifle or pulling away from your scope means a second shot will be impossible at the worst or inaccurate at best. The second shot is often the difference between life and death. And when you're hunting dangerous game, that life or death could be your own.
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