470 ne double practice.

[mitch4570]

Ok practicing off sticks at 50 yards and offhand at 25 yards. What kind of accuracy makes me ready for my buffalo hunt. Any advice, drills that you recommend.

 

[farmer_john]

Ok practicing off sticks at 50 yards and offhand at 25 yards. What kind of accuracy makes me ready for my buffalo hunt. Any advice, drills that you recommend.

Id recomend get a shot timer set sticks up
50 yards.
Spring from target at beep set up on and shoot bullsey.

Record time and accuracy divide points by time gives hit factor.

With the timer you will be able to analyse your shooting better. And see how long from beet to first shot and your split to second shot. So accuracy and speed will be important not just accuracy.
And the short sprint will get your heart rate up similar to your adrenalin dump

 

[BryceM]

For Buffalo, consistently hitting a small paper plate was my goal. 20/20 from the sticks at 100 yards is not only achievable but sufficient.m, but this was with a scope. For most situations 50 yards would be sufficient. Doing it at 100 improves confidence though.

Offhand, I’d shoot for the same at 25 yards.

 

[deewayne2003]

Got my first African buff hunt booked, but I killed a handful of the OZ variety.

I practice with my .470 by placing clay pigeons on pond dams and berms. Start slow with focus on making every shot count but especially the first.

Practice off sticks taking the first shot at different distances and then move up to breaking a target on the opposite end as fast as possible for the follow up.

I know where my double hits out to 150yds and can do it from sticks & free hand on 8” plates but that’s just in case something else comes along; the majority of my 200rnds of practice was spent shooting clays off of creek banks.

Walk upstream in the dry creek placing skeet on the cut banks out of a back pack, then reverse course with the .470 and shot them as you round the bends…..

I call it “Dangerous game Sporting clays”

On my tuskless hunt we were stalking in and the PH asked me… “How far are you confident with that .470 on shoulder shot?”

I said 100yds and he looked at me like I just lit a crack pipe infront of him and said with his Zim accent …. “Let’s pray it doesn’t come to that!”

Ended up killing my Tuskless at 12 paces.

Also practice getting shots on target and reloading between them.

 

[ftrovato]

My 2 cents.

Pie plate as fast as you can shoot accurately...No need to go faster than you can do to that level of accuracy.

 

[ARHinAK]

I won’t speak for all but the sights on my .470 double rifle were coarse express sights. Shallow V with a fair sized bead up front. With that in mind I figured if I could keep all my shots in a 6 inch circle at 50 yards I’d be doing good.
Rehearse the shot sequence as though the PH has just set up the sticks. Make that first shot your best effort followed up by a very quick second shot. By any means possible, stay on the sticks for your immediate second shot. No sense in offhand shooting if there’s a perfectly good rest right in front of you. My practice has always been to continue to shoot until I see the results I want on game, (hooves in the air).
Learn to run your gun quickly and efficiently on reloads, brass be damned.
Another thing I did, YMMV, once I figured out that I could hit what I was aiming at, I shot my .470 very little. Maybe 4 shots per range session max, then take a break for a few days. If you’re the rare bird who shoots a .470 like it’s a .22 long rifle, ignore that last bit.

 

[AimSmall]

If you have a range where you can: first shots off sticks, then moving and reloading without taking your eyes off the target. All other shots free-hand.

I practice with dummy rounds before going live.

Lots of videos show the hunter struggling to reload.

 

[Betterinthebush]

I won’t speak for all but the sights on my .470 double rifle were coarse express sights. Shallow V with a fair sized bead up front. With that in mind I figured if I could keep all my shots in a 6 inch circle at 50 yards I’d be doing good.
Rehearse the shot sequence as though the PH has just set up the sticks. Make that first shot your best effort followed up by a very quick second shot. By any means possible, stay on the sticks for your immediate second shot. No sense in offhand shooting if there’s a perfectly good rest right in front of you. My practice has always been to continue to shoot until I see the results I want on game, (hooves in the air).
Learn to run your gun quickly and efficiently on reloads, brass be damned.
Another thing I did, YMMV, once I figured out that I could hit what I was aiming at, I shot my .470 very little. Maybe 4 shots per range session max, then take a break for a few days. If you’re the rare bird who shoots a .470 like it’s a .22 long rifle, ignore that last bit.

Very good advice. Thank you.

 

[Russ16]

For my 450/400 practice I bought the 8 inch stick on targets that are black and turn green where you hit them. I put 4 on a target backer and shoot off sticks and freehand at 50 yards. I either do two shit per target or one shot per target with a quick reload after the first two.

Yesterday I went 12 for 12 freehand at 50 yards putting the shots inside that 8 inch target. Most were close to center.

I feel like I’m ready. Flight leaves two weeks form tomorrow.

 

[358 Norma]

Ok practicing off sticks at 50 yards and offhand at 25 yards. What kind of accuracy makes me ready for my buffalo hunt. Any advice, drills that you recommend.

My best advice is learn Buffalo anatomy and where exactly there heart is and aim at that spot, aim small miss small!

 

[Ray B]

My process is to shoot full power loads sufficient to have a registered load and set sights accordingly. then I develop a reduced load that groups well, regardless of location relative to the full load groups. I note the divergence of the two loads- so many clicks up/down, right/left. Using the practice load leaves me free to concentrate on form and muscle memory without getting beat to pieces on those occasions when pursuit of speed has resulted in improper hold, but was sufficient reminder that hold is everything. And using practice bullets allows for extensive practice without using scarce and expensive premium bullets.

 

[tomahawker]

I shot ground hogs all summer before I went.

 

[LeftySixgun]

I shot ground hogs all summer before I went.

Hahahaha, that’s my kind of practice!

 

[SStomcat]

For DG hunts I feel it should be within 30 - 50 yards max for you to take a good first shot using a Big Bore DB.

 

[Newboomer]

Hahahaha, that’s my kind of practice!

Practice reloading in varying conditions. Work on reloading on the run without looking at the rifle.
Quick reload on the sticks--when the rifle recoils eject and reload with the gun in the air. Carry two rounds in your off hand between the index and second finger. Used to do that in 3 gun with a double bbl shotgun.

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

The first shot and it's placement matters most. Practice accordingly. All the rest above is good advice.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Got my first African buff hunt booked, but I killed a handful of the OZ variety.

I practice with my .470 by placing clay pigeons on pond dams and berms. Start slow with focus on making every shot count but especially the first.

Practice off sticks taking the first shot at different distances and then move up to breaking a target on the opposite end as fast as possible for the follow up.

I know where my double hits out to 150yds and can do it from sticks & free hand on 8” plates but that’s just in case something else comes along; the majority of my 200rnds of practice was spent shooting clays off of creek banks.

Walk upstream in the dry creek placing skeet on the cut banks out of a back pack, then reverse course with the .470 and shot them as you round the bends…..

I call it “Dangerous game Sporting clays”

On my tuskless hunt we were stalking in and the PH asked me… “How far are you confident with that .470 on shoulder shot?”

I said 100yds and he looked at me like I just lit a crack pipe infront of him and said with his Zim accent …. “Let’s pray it doesn’t come to that!”

Ended up killing my Tuskless at 12 paces.

Also practice getting shots on target and reloading between them.

DG Sporting Clays sounds like a good group activity, if only there were a couple clubs around that host some weekend matches