Is the problem the equipment....or you?

[steve white]

We all have to test our gear. We sometimes reload to squeeze the best out of a rifle. We look everywhere for the weak link in our arsenal...except in the mirror. What do you look for to alert you that YOU are the problem, not the rifle? And if that cannot be ascertained, do you even have a reasonable assessment of your equipment?
A PH was quoted in another thread saying that he had rather a client bring a 270 Win. than a 338 Magnum. He stated that the 270 required one shot on average vs. two shots for the 338--that is a recoil management problem, is it not? So maybe the line is not so clear cut, for example, where recoil enters as a factor in accuracy assessment? Then there is the question of form vs. function. Many of us were self taught--to our detriment/bad habits. Some rifles, especially ultra light ones may need a different shooting method, or shots are hard to control.

What have you got to offer in terms of adjusting "the nut behind the buttplate"?

 

[analog_peninsula]

It may be a truism, but it’s also true: failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Never take new gear if you can possibly help it.

 

[MedRiver]

Get off the bench!

A high percentage of my shooting these days is away from the bench…..offhand, kneeling, sticks, tripods, backpacks, etc.

The more I shoot in field type conditions the more I find my weaknesses. A 1/2 MOA gun does no good in the hands of a 6 MOA shooter.

I have a much better idea of what I am and am NOT capable of. Very humbling to take the sandbags away

 

[JimP]

You need to shoot your magnum rifle enough to where you are no longer afraid of it. If you are recoil sensitive or don't want to take the time that it requires, don't buy a magnum.

As for who's problem it is, most of the time it's the shooter and not the equipment. Every time that I either missed a shot or made a bad shot I have found that my equipment was just fine and I was the problem.

 

[BRICKBURN]

My first reaction is always : It's the rifle.
I then check zero quickly. This will determines whether I bumped the scope or need to have a look in the mirror.

I corrected a scope bump this spring. I then could not get a group under a quarter at a hundred yards and knew it was me. I walked away from the range knowing it was me.

I came back a week later with a clean bore and had three nearly touching. It was me.

(Hunting position, not bags, or devices.)

Most mirror gazing points to my biggest weakness. Moving to the rifle after having been shotgun shooting for while. I slap the rifle trigger. "Groups" look like they have come out of a shotgun.
I have to consciously relearn to "squeeze the trigger" and get the results I want to see.

 

[Rolly]

I’m the nut behind this bolt. I am 78 years old and soon to be 79. I just finished my 4th safari. Three in RSA and one in Namibia. Three buffalo and some pg so far. Maybe they’ll be more. Maybe not.
As you age, you no longer only find the physical challenges of the hunt that are concerning but also the emotional aspects important. You are less confident in yourself. You worry more about your plane connections. Did I schedule this flight right? What do I do If I miss my next connection in Polokwani? Where will I spend the night? Can sleep at the airport on the floor? What if I make a poor shot on that trophy? Will I be able to follow up? Can I keep up or will I make a bad impression with the PH and other hunters? Am I too old to even hunt? Sometimes I think it would be a lot simpler to just stay home .
These are the questions we older hunters deal with on a daily basis. It’s not only about the physical aspects but also about the more personal self doubt thoughts that creep into your thoughts in the dead of night when the buggie man of your childhood invades our thoughts and dreams.

 

[Sabre]

I always bring a rifle I know can shoot with me when testing a new rifle, preferably in the same caliber. I also will often bring a .22 rifle I know shoots well.

If the gun I trust groups aren't good, I shoot the rifle in the same caliber I know groups well with the same ammo. If it groups well, it's unlikely to be me or the ammo.

If the gun I trust groups poorly, I tend to think it's me. So then I will grab the .22 and shoot for a while focusing on fundamentals.

 

[Sika98k]

Piss poor preparation prevents proper performance.

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

I was a pretty good shot up to 325 yards, good off most rests: sticks, bi-pod, side of a tree, termite mound, rock or pack. After a hunt in Wyoming, I realized I was limited to a certain distance and could not confidently shoot at significant angles. Then I bought a custom rifle capable of shooting long range, trained with that rifle at long range shooting schools, which included shooting prone the majority of the time. This changed everything for me. The way I set up, breath, the way I grip the rifle, my finger position on the trigger, pressure on the trigger until the trigger breaks and fires, avoiding canting my rifle, buttstock placement in my shoulder, understanding DOPE, knowing how to validate a rifle and ammo at distance. This made all the difference in the world on my recent NZ hunt! A rented rifle shooting prone, either hand, distances at over 400 yards, 30 plus degree angles… My confidence improved, accuracy improved, and I started to enjoy the process more.

 

[grand veneur]

It's both!

The best shooter does not shoot equally well every day. There are many reasons for this. Some of them can be due to the rifle or the reloaded ammunition, but also to the shooter, who was not in the best shape that day for physical or mental reasons. Something like this has to be accepted, but it must not be due to a lack of training or a lack of control over a rifle, no matter what caliber. Unfortunately, this is where the problem lies in most cases; the wrong rifle chosen by an inexperienced hunter who prioritizes his dreaming. Hunting in Africa certainly provides the most common reason for this. Some posts on the Forum clearly show this. For example, someone buys a big bore double rifle to hunt dangerous game in Africa with total ignorance the disadvantages of such rifles and on the other side what to expect in the field. Some of this can be compensated with appropriate training with the rifle, but unfortunately not always. When choosing a particular rifle, you should first consider it very practically and not be influenced by any personal dreams or by reports of so-called experts. With practically suitable equipment and mastery of it in the field, thereafter you have the opportunity to realize additionally some of your dreams without any problems from side of your equipment...or you.

 

[Altitude sickness]

A lot of us lose skills as we age. My right eye has floaters now and that impacts my iron sight shooting. And even using a scope isn’t as easy.

But for hunting not shooting;

To get better at killing animals. You have to kill more animals. Any size and any legal species . As we all know, there is more to hunting and killing than the shooters firearm accuracy.

Having experience to know when to do what at crunch time takes a lot of reps. In other words you need to put yourself in as many crunch time situations as possible.

We all know there is a difference shooting paper and the 100 things that must be done correctly to stalk, get the animal in the sight picture quickly using a (tree branch, shooting sticks, back pack) aim knowing anatomy and the path of the bullet needed for that animals position and then shoot accurately.

Watch enough hunting shows and you will see a lot of unprepared hunters. They can’t find the animal in the scope, then rush the shot. The animal is quartering to the hunter and he aims behind the shoulder. Nerves because he hasn’t had enough reps on animals at trigger time.

Also many hunters as the age get more selective and don’t want to kill as many birds or animals.
So they go longer stretches between killing things. So may have a little rust.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

1978, Ugalla Game Reserve (Tanzania)

I’d always dreamt of hunting with a double rifle ever since I saw Stewart Granger’s professional hunter characters in “King Solomon’s Mines”, “Harry Black & The Tiger” and “The Last Safari”.

I was fortunate enough to share a camp with a South Carolina gentleman named Dave Bourban (who would later go on become my best friend & Safari partner until his tragic death during the Chinese Virus epidemic in 2020). Dave (upon hearing about my dream) very kindheartedly offered to let me use his .458 Winchester Magnum Belgium made boxlock ejector double rifle (steadfastly refusing to let me pay any money for the ammunition expended) for my upcoming Cape buffalo hunt.

I thought that accurately shooting a double rifle was going to be a breeze. Boy, was I wrong. It took me ten shots before I learnt to shoot that thing accurately. First thing I learnt: When using a double rifle, you have to get much closer to your quarry than when employing a magazine rifle. Second thing I learnt: With certain rifles where your grouping isn’t as tight as it is with other rifles, opt for double lung shots on big game (since this presents the largest target on the animal and thus permits for a slightly larger margin for error than other shots). Well, I corrected myself as soon as I could.

And I don’t think did too badly… all things considered.

 

[grand veneur]

Unfortunately, you don't get better with age, but you do get more experienced. If you have been doing something for decades, you know what works better than others. Furthermore, you come from a time when people were less dreaming and more practical. There was no internet and therefore no wise advice from people who consider themselves experts. That is why you did not acquire a rifle to look like a great white African hunter from the past, but rather something practical that you had mastered. With no knowledge of buffalo hunting, I shot my first buffaloes with borrowed rifles caliber 9,3x74R and 375 H&H Magnum, rifles that did not pose any particular problem to be able to shoot with, but not immediately with a big bore double rifle for example.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Folks shoot for different reasons, but they should only hunt with one objective, and that is to kill their quarry as fast and as humanely as possible.

At the club we have the big recoil brigade who just enjoy the buzz of the big bang rifles. that is fair. But they seldom shoot them well into paper and you can bet it is worse through hide.

I have strong thoughts on this - only shoot at animals with what you can shoot well. That includes or takes for granted that the gun you are using is well capable in it's own right. If you can only shoot up to a 270 well, then that is the ceiling. Any you only take on the animals that it is absolutely capable of and no more.

 

[Bandera]

Another thing that seems to rattle shooters, is shooting in front of people. The initial sight in with everybody watching.
Build the confidence in your skills by shooting more.
Learn to build the proper mindset. Tune out the rattle.
Build a process for taking the shot. Stance or rest, balance, focus on target, breath control, trigger control, safety off, squeeze the trigger, run the bolt.

Most people know these things. Putting them into practice is another matter.

 

[uplander01]

Equipment can fail, and so can people. But honestly, when you get to the true magnum calibers 450 and up, unless a guy is really willing to put in the time and work practicing, use something smaller. A few bad sessions with a 505 Gibbs or the like leaves a lasting impression on your brain.

Age is the biggest enemy as mentioned before. I feel it already and I’m not even 60 yet. years of abuse from sport and other activities has left my body somewhat vulnerable…no matter how much training, stretching, walking, shooting etc. The trip over is a big obstacle anymore that takes mental preparation, and painkillers lol. But at the end of the day when you feel inside that the juice isn’t worth the squeeze, it’s time to hang it up. When you don’t have the ability to physically push yourself, do proper follow up on your animal, put in the miles on foot, or IMO, carry your own rifle, hang it up. A lot easier to decide when DIY elk hunting or similar is out of reach by the simple question, “will I be able to carry it out”? Sheep hunting,…can I get up and down the mountain at altitude? Hard core big game hunting is a somewhat extreme sport, and like all other extreme sports….there is a time to retire, and it’s usually sooner rather than later.

 

[grand veneur]

Another thing that seems to rattle shooters, is shooting in front of people. The initial sight in with everybody watching.
Build the confidence in your skills by shooting more.
Learn to build the proper mindset. Tune out the rattle.
Build a process for taking the shot. Stance or rest, balance, focus on target, breath control, trigger control, safety off, squeeze the trigger, run the bolt.

Most people know these things. Putting them into practice is another matter.

That's right, but if someone has problems with recoil, this want not to stop them from having a flinch by pulling the trigger. Based on various statements from professionals and available statistics, it has been proven that the problem lies in a lack of control over magnum and big-bore rifles. If you read the endless posts on various Forums about recoil and how to reduce it, it is clear that this is the problem. Many hunters should take distance of such rifles and use something weaker, still suitable for the planned hunt, or hunt other game species.