Advanced Marksmanship Dot Drills

[Nik H]

Hi All,

I don't know whether this is the right place or whether this belongs in the "Stupid Marksmanship" category. Mods move as you see fit.

Not that I am the greatest shot by any stretch of the imagination but I do pretty well with bullseye to 300 yards (5 shot groups < 0.8 MOA) and like to bang steel at out to 800 yards. I am shooting an AI AT in both 6.5 CM and 7.62x51mm.

Yesterday I printed out a dot drill target from here and tried my hand at engaging it at 100 yards. I have read a lot here about the value in dot drills. Since it was my first time, I didn't pay much attention to the time between shots. I was amazed at how difficult this was. I did not do very well and left the range quite depressed. Is there any reason why this would be more difficult to do then shooting consistent groups at bullseye targets? My 100 yard groups (5 shot) always are 0.5 MOA which is less diameter than some of those dots.

Any help would be most appreciated.

 

[MarkCO]

Run video on yourself while you do the dot drills. Pistol, Carbine and bolt guns, crappy targets are almost always verified byvideo to be improper technique for me. Slapping the trigger, muscling the gun, no follow through...I have seen myself make almost every mistake there is in fundamentals on video and the targets are just verification.

 

[Nik H]

Thanks for the response

I hear you but wouldn't understand why my technique would change by using a different target. If I were shooting greater than 1 MOA on a normal bullseye target, I would be questioning my technique. However being that my normal 5 shot groups would comfortably fit inside one of the dots, I am not understanding.

This being said, maybe I am psyching myself out and am not executing my normal technique???

 

[MarkCO]

The NPA won't be the same for every single dot on the sheet. Rebuilding for each dot, proper trigger press, same alignment, etc.

 

[Lowlight]

It's how we shoot the dot drill, it's not a group you need your head in every dot.

The dot drill exposes a lot of faults in the shooter's technique and position as evidence by your results

Video is the best way to see what you are doing wrong, but I guarantee I can rattle off 4 things not being done right without even looking

 

[Nik H]

It's how we shoot the dot drill, it's not a group you need your head in every dot.

The dot drill exposes a lot of faults in the shooter's technique and position as evidence by your results

Video is the best way to see what you are doing wrong, but I guarantee I can rattle off 4 things not being done right without even looking

Thanks Frank

Could you elaborate on those 4 things? I suppose I could wait until July when I meet you at LRI in NY but would like to get a jump on things

 

[damoncali]

I do load development on a target similar to a dot drill. If I get lazy, the POI will shift from target to target, even though the groups remain what you'd expect. It's an NPA/position thing. If you don't break it down and rebuild it between targets (mentally, and by shifting your body to get your NPA back), even small changes will screw up your POI. That's what makes these difficult.

If you purposefully shoot without care for this, it's not hard to induce an MOA of impact change from target to target.

 

[Nik H]

Thanks damoncali...You may be onto something there as my POI changes were less than 1 MOA but enough to cause a miss.

I will definitely try a physical and mental reset between shots.

 

[C_R_Slacker]

I'm pretty new to precision shooting and dot drills quickly showed me my deficiencies. I like to practice them with my 22 at 50 yards using the dots that come with shoot-n-see targets. Of course using a 22 takes recoil management out of the equation, but it is still helpful and I can do a lot more of it at a lower cost. Also, I like to stand up after every shot sometimes so I have to completely rebuild my position.

 

[madman23]

Recoil has nothing to do with shooting. Your position behind the rifle is what's important. Shooting a 22 or 308 is the same. Concentrate on the fundamentals. Easier said then done, lol.

 

[Nik H]

Tried again today and really focused on form, trigger pull and follow through. Reset everything on every shot. Score went from 11/20 on March 31 to 17/20.

This type of shooting certainly does expose any flaws.

I plan to try the video taping next time.

Thanks for all the help

 

[morganlamprecht]

IMO dot drills are where its at...a couple years ago i started shooting all of my load work round robin, so it was basically a build and break dot drill for each shot...i rarely shoot groups anymore, except when i zero a new barrel or confirm a zero and have limited paper space...normally, even when zeroing, what i do is shoot dot drills at 1/2" dots instead of shooting groups, if i can hit 8 or 9 out of 10, im confident in the zero and load shooting well...since doing this my shooting on steel at distance improved quite a bit, as well

 

[Nik H]

That is what I hope will also happen Morgan. I was pretty pigheaded about trying this type of training before but I now can definitely see the benefit of doing so. Should have done it a while ago.

 

[Kane0519]

Agreed, dot drills are where it's at. Last weekend I confirmed zero with a 5/8" group, which I was pleased with. Then went something like 7/20 on the dot drill, which I was not pleased with.