I WAS DOING some research on my late brother who was a Vice Admiral who went by the same name as I and stumbled across a lot of post on The American Long Rifle Forum regarding my efforts. They were not uncomplimentary but a tad short sighted.
They all objected that I was interested in teaching bench shooting. If that'd your interest perhaps I'm your man but bench shooting will show you how well your rifle shoots.
Out of the box or off the table with no instructions using a guessed at powder charge and a grabbed at piece of cotton cloth your ew to you rifle will not give you a group worth talking about. Daniel Boone and David Crocket couldn't shoot any better than that rifle is doing out of the box. You should and I try to help folks make the adjustments in powder, patch thickness and lubrication to bring that bench rest group a group tight enough to bring a smile to your face. That's a number of step ones.
THEN WHEN THE RIFLE HAS DISPLAYED GOOD BEHAVIOR YOU BOLDLY STEP UP, PUT ASIDE YOUR BENCH REST EQUIPMENTS ANDSTAND TO TO TRY YOUR LUCK OR SKILLS SHOOTING OFFHAND.
YOU WILL NOT SHOOT ANYWHERE NEAR AS WELL AS YOU DID TOWARD THE END OF YOUR BENCH REST TUNING IN.
WHY? BECAUSE YOU HAVE TAKEN A PERFECTLY ACCURATE RIFLE AND ADDED ALL YOUR PERSONAL WEAVING, WAVERING AND POSSIBLE SHAKING INTO THE PROCEDURE. HOW EMBARRASSING. Now it is time to work on your stance. You are the gun emplacement and that front sight has taken on a life of its own. Whizzing from left to right and back with maybe a shirt of up and down thrown in for punishment.. Slowly you lear how to control some or even a lot of that and your offhand groups begin to narrow. Don't hold too long it will only get worse etc.
In time you may begin to win prizes and become regarded as a pain in the lower lumbar areas by others at competitions.
But will never do well with a rifle that has never been tamed to acceptable behavior shooting at the bench unaffected by an argument with your bride or the results of a hangover.
If you never do well offhand you can always go back to bench. There is something rather grand about the rifleman who loads aims and fires and hits rather exactly where he aimed.
Dutch
They all objected that I was interested in teaching bench shooting. If that'd your interest perhaps I'm your man but bench shooting will show you how well your rifle shoots.
Out of the box or off the table with no instructions using a guessed at powder charge and a grabbed at piece of cotton cloth your ew to you rifle will not give you a group worth talking about. Daniel Boone and David Crocket couldn't shoot any better than that rifle is doing out of the box. You should and I try to help folks make the adjustments in powder, patch thickness and lubrication to bring that bench rest group a group tight enough to bring a smile to your face. That's a number of step ones.
THEN WHEN THE RIFLE HAS DISPLAYED GOOD BEHAVIOR YOU BOLDLY STEP UP, PUT ASIDE YOUR BENCH REST EQUIPMENTS ANDSTAND TO TO TRY YOUR LUCK OR SKILLS SHOOTING OFFHAND.
YOU WILL NOT SHOOT ANYWHERE NEAR AS WELL AS YOU DID TOWARD THE END OF YOUR BENCH REST TUNING IN.
WHY? BECAUSE YOU HAVE TAKEN A PERFECTLY ACCURATE RIFLE AND ADDED ALL YOUR PERSONAL WEAVING, WAVERING AND POSSIBLE SHAKING INTO THE PROCEDURE. HOW EMBARRASSING. Now it is time to work on your stance. You are the gun emplacement and that front sight has taken on a life of its own. Whizzing from left to right and back with maybe a shirt of up and down thrown in for punishment.. Slowly you lear how to control some or even a lot of that and your offhand groups begin to narrow. Don't hold too long it will only get worse etc.
In time you may begin to win prizes and become regarded as a pain in the lower lumbar areas by others at competitions.
But will never do well with a rifle that has never been tamed to acceptable behavior shooting at the bench unaffected by an argument with your bride or the results of a hangover.
If you never do well offhand you can always go back to bench. There is something rather grand about the rifleman who loads aims and fires and hits rather exactly where he aimed.
Dutch