Please help because I can't hit squat with my AR

[Nik Habicht]

Here's something else -- if you find yourself consistently missing a challenging target. Circle the plate after the second miss. It'll take a little patience, but basically take successive shots holding at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock on the plate. When you hit at one of those positions, sight on that spot on the remaining plates at that distance......

I know next to nothing about rifle shooting, but you should know your zero, and the amount of hold over/under you might need at all of the distances you're likely to see at the match.....

[e5gator]

if youre hitting the first target with the first shot but missing the rest I would say you have the yipps. youve missed them before and now you expect to miss them every time. Treat every target as an individual target and not as part of an array, take your time, BREATH, sight allignment and sight picture, slow steady squeeze. RING THAT STEEL!! haha good luck

[JimmyZip]

Never hold your breath when you are aiming. It actually increases your pulse slightly,rather exhale slowly relaxing as you increase trigger pressure. Your shot will break with less jerk and hits should improve. Increase trigger pressure as you relax and exhale. Remember to breath as you move through your stage too. Breathing and accurate rifle fire are integral.

[slemmo]

Shoot prone and monopod your rifle on your magazine.

[Lead-Head]

What u may be experiencing is timer related. In other words, when the timer goes beep, shooting can go all over the place.

I would suggest practice like you shoot in a match. I might paper group my rifle once or twice a year. And shoot it off of a bench and bags every so often, but most of the time practice is best from field/match positions. Rifle shooting on the clock has a lot to do with finding the best position as quickly as possible and using it to get hiTs.

Edited December 19, 2015 by Lead-Head

[bradhall]

Slow down

[George Post]

Hopefully the OP has worked out his problem by now. It would be great to know what worked for him.

15 years ago I was in the same boat. In practice I had a hard time just getting all my shots to stay on an 8.5x11 inch paper from prone at 100 yards. I let someone shoot my rifle and he put 3 shots in the bottom left corner, half inch group with iron sights. It took me awhile to realize that he chose a spot to aim at (bottom left corner) while I was aiming at the whole paper. After I learned that trick I could then shoot a six inch group.

Then my next learning moment was at a match at West Point. Getting ready for that match, I heard we would have to shoot out farther than the 100 yards we had at my home range. 200+ yards. I read up and asked fellow shooters about 200 yard zeros and how if you were hitting dead on at 50 yards you would be very close to dead on at 200 yard. At the same time I also learned that if you rest your rifle on the magazine it would be way steadier. So, in practice I was shooting at 4 in. targets, prone, and hitting it most of the time if I put the top of the front sight right at the bottom of the circle. Because with a 200 yard zero you hit about 1.75 inches high at 100 yards. At the West Point match I did the same as I did in practice, I aimed at the bottom of the target even though the target was at 230 yards. I could see the dirt splashing under the target and still I didn't make the connection that I was aiming at the wrong spot. I'd like to think I'm smarter now, as I haven't done that lately.

Now a days, when practicing at 100 yards I put an aiming dot on the paper and then draw a circle 1.75 inches above that and judge my hits on how they land compared to the drawn circle. BTW, a .223 case is about 1.75 inches long.

One of my greatest learning points has been to give each target the respect it deserves. For me that means if it takes me a bit longer to set up my position that's ok because its faster than throwing 3 or 5 hoper shots and still not be able to hit it. It means knowing where I have to aim to hit and waiting till the sights are there before I pull the trigger. Whether that means center of target, one third up from bottom or top of target and even up one foot and over 18 inches. I can set up and aim faster them I can recover and aim correctly after a poor miss.

In summation,

1) pick somewhere to aim, not the whole target.

2) know your zero and how to apply it for the distance you are shooting at.

3) the lower your rifle to the ground, the steadier it will be.

4) give the target the respect it deserves.

[igolfat8]

Hopefully the OP has worked out his problem by now. It would be great to know what worked for him.

Yes, I have and thank you for all of your thoughtful responses. Here is what has worked for me.

1) I went from standing and resting my rifle off of the rifle staging box to the reverse kneeling position. I rest my right elbow on my right knee and rest the forearm on the side of the rifle staging box. Its much more secure and has eliminated 95% of the movement and unsteadiness that I had with standing.

2) I have a 3-9 power Nikon Pro-Staff scope. Before I was using the highest magnification (9x) and everything was so jittery inside the glass. Now I am shooting at 5x power. Wow, what a difference! It is so much steadier at lower magnification.

3) Lowered my load down considerably from max power. Less recoil and faster to reacquire the target.

4) Changed the stock muzzle brake to one that lessens recoil and muzzle rise

5) I have slowed down slightly to make sure I have a steady hold on the first target before breaking the shot. This makes it easier to acquire successive targets.

6) Installed a Timney trigger group. Other than the trigger and brake my gun is stock and I am shooting 1000% better. In fact I have won several matches at our local club.

Since putting these steps into play, my speed of shooting has now passed everyone at my local club. Pistol and shotgun were my strengths in 3 gun and rifle was certainly my weakness. Now I believe my rifle skills are as strong or maybe even stronger than the other two since I have trained so hard to crush this weak link in my game.

Thanks a LOT to all of you for your help and encouragement along the way!

[slemmo]

Hopefully the OP has worked out his problem by now. It would be great to know what worked for him.

Yes, I have and thank you for all of your thoughtful responses. Here is what has worked for me.

1) I went from standing and resting my rifle off of the rifle staging box to the reverse kneeling position. I rest my right elbow on my right knee and rest the forearm on the side of the rifle staging box. Its much more secure and has eliminated 95% of the movement and unsteadiness that I had with standing.

That would have been my advice had you not said the thing you had to rest your rifle on was 40" inch, which I figured was too high.

But, you should clamp your rifle to whatever you're resting against with your hand like this:

you can do that on either side of walls and on horizontal edges. You will be a lot more stable than by just resting your arm against something in a semi-offhand shooting position, and then if you're low enough to rest your right elbow on your knee as well that's a very stable shooting position.

Edited December 21, 2015 by slemmo

[JordanGriffith]

Here's my 2 cents. My dad taught me how to shoot for hunting purposes. You take your time and make one perfect shot. Then I got into shooting sports and I needed to learn a different way to shoot. Luckily for me, my best friend is in the military and serves with the best unit we have. He's been trained by some of the best shooters, example one being Jerry Miculek. He taught me how to shoot everything faster and more accurate. Since you have the other two guns covered, I'll just go over the rifle. When you shoot you should notice your rifles muzzle movement. Most of the time on a right handed shooter it should track in a clockwise circle moving up and to the right. The key to shooting fast and accurate is practicing and being fully aware how the gun moves. I will note that with my new compensator that circle is indeed much tighter. Once you learn that circle and the timing you just let the gun do its movement and time your shots. Other things that help is a firm hold on your rifle, support hand extended out as far as your comfortable, athletic stance leaning forward slightly and "driving" your shots. That also helps with recoil management.

I personally run a 15" keymod rail and have my support hand all the way out to the end, been considering a longer handguard for a little extra reach. But I'm taller with a long wingspan. It might be hard to understand what I'm saying, but if you go and shoot your rifle you should see the circle I'm talking about.

One last thing, get a 1-4x 1-6x or 1-8x scope. 5x that close is too much. I personally use 1x almost all the time. But it depends on the stage setup. If the stage has all close range targets and one at 100 I'll just shoot the whole stage at 1x. But if the stage has a couple close targets and a bunch of 100 yard + targets I'll start on 1x and when I get to the long range I'll throw the magnification up a little higher, this is where the switchview comes in handy. If you can hit your targets at 100 yards with 1x it's not worth the time to switch, but if you struggle then I'd take the second the change the magnification.

[perttime]

Shoot prone and monopod your rifle on your magazine.

That's what I was taught during my conscript service, using "much improved AKs" and 30 round magazines. Works great with Steyr AUG with 30 round magazines too - and the AUG front grip gets me a second point on the ground, in addition. (Haven't had a chance to handle an AR recently)

[slemmo]

Yep, unless you have a bipod it's certainly a better option than a bad sitting position. But going prone with a bipod is very often a better option than sitting supported, once you get down you can engage much faster than any other position. But this again depends on the distance of the targets, if we're talking about 10" plates at 100yards then I would just stand up and clamp the rifle against a barricade like in the above picture if possible, which in that case would be faster than going prone. Wether you want to go prone at a certain distance or shoot standing or sitting supported is something you just figure out yourself based on your own shooting skills.