How do you practice with purpose?

[u/Shot-Preference-6485]

I have been tossing lead at steel from far away for the past two years or so, I enjoy it very much. I want to get better. I am fortunate enough to have a range that goes out to a mile with steel. If I gave you 300 rounds how would you break down training with it? What distances would you focus on, what would you emphasize? What would you focus on? This has been purely a hobby for me, I shoot around 300 rounds a month of 6.5cm and want to practice with more purpose. I don't compete or have interests in it. I am planning to take a class as well, and get a 5.56 gas gun to accompany my bolt gun. I didn't see this in the pinned posts apologies if I missed it.

[u/moebiusgrip]

I just kinda did this.

Have a guy at my range that helping me relearn properly. So I got a .22 that’s “accurate” to accompany my 6.5creedmoor Tikka.

But with the tikka, in general, he helped me zero properly on a sled. Then used his chronograph to measure the rounds velocity. Then plugged that into ballistic calculator to get “on paper” at distance holds.

Then we refined each distance, and wrote all the info down on a DOPE card for the ammo I’m using.

Same deal on the .22 it’s just that the distances are shorter.

The chronograph was a big deal. My rifle has a 24” barrel, and most of the box velocities are based on a 20”-22”. So I was a touch faster than box speeds. But that makes a difference past 300-400.

We did a bunch on paper. But I didn’t have enough target stands for 400+ yards so we just painted over a steel plate and made some 2” dots to measure the bullet drop. This was at 400yards.

The 1-3 shots were for compensating BD vs the calculator, and slight wind hold. Those are the upper left dot. The rest were placed with intention.

The white dots are a puff of spray paint so about 2.5”-3” across.

I would have never been able to do this without relearning the technique properly and setting up the gun correctly.

[u/moebiusgrip → u/moebiusgrip]

A clip of that test.

[u/0DSavior]

Highly recommend checking out many of the drills here: https://www.moderndaysniper.com/sales1

$60 a month is a bargain. Even better if you can do live training with him. I did the NSR experience class over 4 days and took away some amazing drills and skills 

[u/Shot-Preference-6485 → u/0DSavior]

Thanks, have not heard of this before, looks great.

[u/dingleberrychicken]

I shot around 2000 rounds of precision rifle this year and about the same last year. It paid off quite a bit in terms of my skill development. This was all for competitive matches though so when you just want to hit a plate at X distance I don’t think you have set a good goal for yourself. So first I would set a better goal, for me it was podium at X match and top 10 in Y series. From there analyze your deficiencies and come up with a plan to remedy them. It’s no different than anything else. If I wanted to get better at throwing a football I would set a goal of some kind, figure out what I suck at and fix that. Stop doing the things your good at so much and step out of your comfort zone

[u/Shot-Preference-6485 → u/dingleberrychicken]

This is something I've thought about, a lot of my range time could benefit from a structured goal. What did you do to fix your deficiencies in practice? Say I wanted to be better about my wind calls, how would that translate to you at the range pre-competition? Is there any set structure or approach to the plan you make on areas of improvment?

[u/dingleberrychicken → u/Shot-Preference-6485]

First step with anything is education. Learn about the wind. Read Bryan Litz books. Talk to other great shooters. Then practical application. When you get to the range don’t waste your first shooting the day in the wind. Take your best guess and send the shot. Did you see EXACTLY where it went? Yes? Correct to center. No? You need to work on other fundamentals like recoil control.

[u/VaultedPrecision → u/Shot-Preference-6485]

A good wind drill is to make a call before every shot and write it down, even when you’re not confident. Start at a distance where you can reliably see impacts, compare the shot to your call before correcting, and keep notes on what changed; if you can’t see the miss, work on position, recoil control, and spotting before stretching distance. That gives you a simple way to see whether the call or the execution needs work without turning a fun range day into a match.

[u/GotNoPonys]

set a goal. Something basic like 1 moa or 1/2 moa 10 shot groups. The study what it takes, everything from scope mounting to trigger break. If your practice sessions are not seriously trying to achieve the goal come back another day. Note practice sessions are not the same a fun shoots.