Most effective training drills for limited time

[Gregor.Samsa]

I'd love to hear recommendations for training drills that offer the greatest ROI for someone who has limited opportunities to get to the range. Definitely an emphasis on quality over quantity as work and family life are crazy busy. Shooting with a local club, I am only able out to 1000 yards once a month if I'm lucky and am dictated by the course of fire. On my own, I can get out to 300 yards. thanks

 

[LV Precision]

Dry fire on 1 MOA targets using a DST cap. Best investment I've made in shooting, and a 15 minute session will get you more reps than anything you could do live fire at the range. Pay attention to your reticle movement and it will tell the story of how good you really are.

Live fire should really be confirmation of your recoil management based on your fundamentals, and practicing in the wind. Otherwise everything else can be done dry at home.

 

[Gregor.Samsa]

Thanks

 

[Dthomas3523]

Dry fire only works certain things. The expectation/knowledge that a live round will go off changes everything. A prime example is pistol (rifle is the same, but pistol is very relatable example), where you dryfire at home and everything seems perfect. Then you go to range and things fall apart.

Dry fire is where you develop proper habits. Live fire is where you employ them and further them as well as figure out what needs work on the next range trip. Recoil is definitely not just about recoil.

And “wind training” is one of the most overrated things anyone who isn’t losing by a point or two can worry about. Wind doesn’t matter until you’re doing everything else right and dry fire alone won’t get you there.

Until you are losing matches with the few first round misses that were due to a wind call, you can get everything you need @ 100yds on a prs barricade.

Do constant build and break drills and only shoot one shot per position.

That maximizes your training time. Say you only have an hour and 30 rounds.

Thats 30 positions. Shoot 1” dots @ 100. Until you can hit those 90-100% of the time, shooting at distance or wind isn’t going to help.

 

[LV Precision]

Being able to account for a 6 mph vs 10 mph wind will absolutely make a difference to the average shooter. You have to see what the effects on target look like, what the wind looks like, and generally experience conditions. Doesnt take long, but it is necessary.

And modern psychology of elite performance does not recommend practicing 30 different positions in 1 setting. That is not enough focused reps to make a difference. Focus on 1-2 positions at a time and drill those until they feel perfect.

 

[Gregor.Samsa]

Thank you. The Kraft data drill looks to be perfect for this.

 

[Darkside-Six]

Dry fire is a great way to practice. I personally like the indoor dry firing kits from https://idts-dryfire.com/

Great way to practice fundamentals and as said above, build and break drills.
Of you can make it to your range 300y is fine. Just focus on smaller targets and work your positions from there.

 

[dgheriani]

A mix of paper targets at 100 yards and small steel at 300 (my most used target is a 4" round at 300 and 320 yards). Not knowing where you are skill level-wise, I'd suggest starting with a Kraft drill at 100 (unstressed) to see how yo stack up in the different positions. Then practice individual positions in single shot drills. Once you can score a 1 or 2 (un-stressed) re-do it under time stress as well as introduce small targets at 300. With my .223 or .308, a 4" circle at 300 is small enough that I have to account for small wind shifts.

 

[MakeSawdust]

Dthomas pretty well has it covered. Dryfire as much as possible and focus on the fundamentals. Translate those fundamentals to live fire as often as possible even if you only have 300 yards to work with. If you want to work on wind calls inside 300 yards get a good .22lr.

I do disagree that shooting paper at 100 is ideal. A lot of PRS is spotting shots and making small corrections. Shooting small steel (1 moa) at 300-400 yards can build those skills pretty well while still focusing on the same stuff as shooting paper at 100 yards. I 100% agree with doing build and break drills as your primary practice regardless of how much time you have. Build a position quickly and break a good shot. Those are the basic skills employed in a PRS match. If you can do that and see where every shot goes and make good corrections, you will be well on your way.

If you have time, you should definitely shoot some groups at 100 yards on paper to check your fundamentals. Paper tells a story that steel doesn't unless you paint the steel before every string of fire.

Also, as was stated. Don't go to the range and try to set up and shoot a bunch of stages or props. Pick one specific thing you aren't very good at and drill 100-200 rounds on it, if you have the time and ammo. Once you feel comfortable with that, you can work on something else. If you try to work on everything with 5-10 shots per scenario, you don't really have enough reps to get better at any of them. You are just testing yourself, you are likely not really improving.

The more you can break the whole process into pieces and put in many reps at each small task, the easier it will be to put everything together and shoot clean stages. If you have a lot of time, money, and the drive to grind it out and do drills, you will do very well. If you just want to go to the range and smack some steel once in a while you will plateau quickly.

Some people have fun smacking steel. Some want to win. You just have to realize what you are up against if you want to win. The guys that are winning are working very hard and investing a shitload of time and money. Even if you are naturally talented, it is still going to take a significant commitment to get to the podium. If you are just out to have fun, practice might look different than if you are out to win.

 

[Gregor.Samsa]

Dthomas pretty well has it covered. Dryfire as much as possible and focus on the fundamentals. Translate those fundamentals to live fire as often as possible even if you only have 300 yards to work with. If you want to work on wind calls inside 300 yards get a good .22lr.

I do disagree that shooting paper at 100 is ideal. A lot of PRS is spotting shots and making small corrections. Shooting small steel (1 moa) at 300-400 yards can build those skills pretty well while still focusing on the same stuff as shooting paper at 100 yards. I 100% agree with doing build and break drills as your primary practice regardless of how much time you have. Build a position quickly and break a good shot. Those are the basic skills employed in a PRS match. If you can do that and see where every shot goes and make good corrections, you will be well on your way.

If you have time, you should definitely shoot some groups at 100 yards on paper to check your fundamentals. Paper tells a story that steel doesn't unless you paint the steel before every string of fire.

Also, as was stated. Don't go to the range and try to set up and shoot a bunch of stages or props. Pick one specific thing you aren't very good at and drill 100-200 rounds on it, if you have the time and ammo. Once you feel comfortable with that, you can work on something else. If you try to work on everything with 5-10 shots per scenario, you don't really have enough reps to get better at any of them. You are just testing yourself, you are likely not really improving.

The more you can break the whole process into pieces and put in many reps at each small task, the easier it will be to put everything together and shoot clean stages. If you have a lot of time, money, and the drive to grind it out and do drills, you will do very well. If you just want to go to the range and smack some steel once in a while you will plateau quickly.

Some people have fun smacking steel. Some want to win. You just have to realize what you are up against if you want to win. The guys that are winning are working very hard and investing a shitload of time and money. Even if you are naturally talented, it is still going to take a significant commitment to get to the podium. If you are just out to have fun, practice might look different than if you are out to win.

Great advice. Thank you

 

[308pirate]

Dry fire is not a substitute for live fire.

Live fire is not a substitute for dry fire.

After you work a skill in dry fire, you then need to put live fire to it to find out where your technique fall apart. Fix it in live fire the duplicate on dry fire.

Works exactly the same way whether you're talking rifles or pistols.

But what do I know?

 

[Dthomas3523]

Being able to account for a 6 mph vs 10 mph wind will absolutely make a difference to the average shooter. You have to see what the effects on target look like, what the wind looks like, and generally experience conditions. Doesnt take long, but it is necessary.

And modern psychology of elite performance does not recommend practicing 30 different positions in 1 setting. That is not enough focused reps to make a difference. Focus on 1-2 positions at a time and drill those until they feel perfect.

It absolutely will not until that shooter is capable of only missing the first shot due to wind and then making the other hits after he sees what happened.

Cart before horse. Learn to shoot fundamentally and then learn wind.

Also, I didn’t say 30 completely different positions. I said, “build 30 positions”.

Your position for the day/week/month could be kneeling. You are far, far better off building that position 30 times with one shot each than you are building it 10 times with 3 shots or 15 times with 2 shots.

Training people is what I do. It’s done in steps and wind is one of the absolute last steps.

 

[Dthomas3523]

Dthomas pretty well has it covered. Dryfire as much as possible and focus on the fundamentals. Translate those fundamentals to live fire as often as possible even if you only have 300 yards to work with. If you want to work on wind calls inside 300 yards get a good .22lr.

I do disagree that shooting paper at 100 is ideal. A lot of PRS is spotting shots and making small corrections. Shooting small steel (1 moa) at 300-400 yards can build those skills pretty well while still focusing on the same stuff as shooting paper at 100 yards. I 100% agree with doing build and break drills as your primary practice regardless of how much time you have. Build a position quickly and break a good shot. Those are the basic skills employed in a PRS match. If you can do that and see where every shot goes and make good corrections, you will be well on your way.

If you have time, you should definitely shoot some groups at 100 yards on paper to check your fundamentals. Paper tells a story that steel doesn't unless you paint the steel before every string of fire.

Also, as was stated. Don't go to the range and try to set up and shoot a bunch of stages or props. Pick one specific thing you aren't very good at and drill 100-200 rounds on it, if you have the time and ammo. Once you feel comfortable with that, you can work on something else. If you try to work on everything with 5-10 shots per scenario, you don't really have enough reps to get better at any of them. You are just testing yourself, you are likely not really improving.

The more you can break the whole process into pieces and put in many reps at each small task, the easier it will be to put everything together and shoot clean stages. If you have a lot of time, money, and the drive to grind it out and do drills, you will do very well. If you just want to go to the range and smack some steel once in a while you will plateau quickly.

Some people have fun smacking steel. Some want to win. You just have to realize what you are up against if you want to win. The guys that are winning are working very hard and investing a shitload of time and money. Even if you are naturally talented, it is still going to take a significant commitment to get to the podium. If you are just out to have fun, practice might look different than if you are out to win.

Again, process and steps.

You don’t move to distance if you can’t hit things close.

Also, I can name 15+ national level shooters who never shoot more than 100yds.

This game is much more about recoil management and seeing your shots than it is about wind reading and shooting at distance. Part of the reason people stay in mid to low pack is overthinking the wind and distance.

I promise I can take a shooter and hammer in fundamentals, shooting 1moa @ 100yds, position building under time (no more than 1 shot each time they build a position), and that shooter will move into upper mid/lower top pack exponentially faster than someone shooting @ 400+ yds and focusing on wind.

Once they master the above, you move into focusing on wind and other minutiae thing that cause you to lose a match by a few points.

 

[Dthomas3523]

For example, the difference between a full value 6mph wind @ 500 and a 10mph with a 109 Berger going 2850 is .3

If your wobble is .2 or .3 you have a problem and most shooters aren’t able to get their wobble into the .1-.2 you should be getting on a stable prop and solid position.

If your wobble doesn’t look like this, your wind reading won’t matter:

 

[Dthomas3523]

You’ll also be far better at reading wind doing the following things:

Keep your kestrel with you away from the range. Make a wind call and check it.

Take a friend to range and have them take kestrel down range to different points. Make a wind call from the shooter’s position and have your friend take a reading/relay it to you.

 

[IronOperator87]

For example, the difference between a full value 6mph wind @ 500 and a 10mph with a 109 Berger going 2850 is .3

If your wobble is .2 or .3 you have a problem and most shooters aren’t able to get their wobble into the .1-.2 you should be getting on a stable prop and solid position.

If your wobble doesn’t look like this, your wind reading won’t matter:

What position were you shooting in the video? Is that mostly what you see as a wobble zone if everything is perfect? Just trying to gauge how much work I have to do.

 

[LV Precision]

It absolutely will not until that shooter is capable of only missing the first shot due to wind and then making the other hits after he sees what happened.

Cart before horse. Learn to shoot fundamentally and then learn wind.

Also, I didn’t say 30 completely different positions. I said, “build 30 positions”.

Your position for the day/week/month could be kneeling. You are far, far better off building that position 30 times with one shot each than you are building it 10 times with 3 shots or 15 times with 2 shots.

Training people is what I do. It’s done in steps and wind is one of the absolute last steps.

Nowhere did I say that practicing in the wind is the #1 objective of live fire. I said that live is a confirmation of your fundamentals and recoil management AND practice in the wind.

I'm also somewhat surprised by that the video you posted because it shows the reticle leaving the target 3-4mils (if not completely off the target), which is more than to be expected in any position given proper fundamentals.

 

[ma smith]

Lesson of this thread is don't shoot groups

 

[cast1]

Also clean your rifle with a cordless drill.

 

[acudaowner]

darn I love using the cordless drill and 0004 steel wool when cleaning cases it's been saving me from having to wash the brass as I go .

 

[LR1845]

For example, the difference between a full value 6mph wind @ 500 and a 10mph with a 109 Berger going 2850 is .3

If your wobble is .2 or .3 you have a problem and most shooters aren’t able to get their wobble into the .1-.2 you should be getting on a stable prop and solid position.

If your wobble doesn’t look like this, your wind reading won’t matter:

Just curious…are you free recoil in this video?

 

[GreenGO Juan]

 

[TwistedOneinSeven]

I'd love to hear recommendations for training drills that offer the greatest ROI for someone who has limited opportunities to get to the range. Definitely an emphasis on quality over quantity as work and family life are crazy busy. Shooting with a local club, I am only able out to 1000 yards once a month if I'm lucky and am dictated by the course of fire. On my own, I can get out to 300 yards. thanks

As @Dthomas3523 said ^^^^^
Repeated build and break drills.


Biggest improvement I made (aiming to improve for "PRS" style comps) was picking a "prop" or position and doing it over and over;
load five rounds, with drill to take four single shots
build positions and take a single shot x 4.
Repeat over and over and over until you get really disappointed when you miss one of the four.
(I generally complete these drills at 200 or 300m)
Once you do this enough you'll get to the stage where you're, "OK, I missed that second one because I didn't......."
Then, use the fifth loaded round to go back and make that missed one a hit.

 

[todd]

As others have stated previously, taking the time to work on one thing at a time, and build from there has paid dividends for me as well. I will spend a half hour to an hour at the house with my barricade and pick ONE thing to work on. First, I spend however much time is necessary to figure out HOW to make a position stable. Then I work on how do I get INTO that position, and OUT of that position. Then I work on slowly speeding up the process and do a one-shot dry-fire drill a bunch of times. I will video tape myself at this point, because I have found little things that I'm not even aware of that are sucking time and I could do more efficiently, then work on smoothing those things out. Only after that will I take that to the range and work on it with live fire exercise, and work on managing recoil and spotting my shot to round everything out. Again, one-shot drills. These are the things that work for me.

 

[Gregor.Samsa]

I've been dry firing and building positions around the home with focus on mitigating reticle movement when pressing the trigger. I'm struggling to reduce reticle wiggle from standing positions off of railings etc. I'm using a bag to help stabilize but my heartbeat is causing most of the instability in my sight picture. anyone have any tips or techniques? thanks

 

[phlegethon]

I've been dry firing and building positions around the home with focus on mitigating reticle movement when pressing the trigger. I'm struggling to reduce reticle wiggle from standing positions off of railings etc. I'm using a bag to help stabilize but my heartbeat is causing most of the instability in my sight picture. anyone have any tips or techniques? thanks

Metoprolol?

 

[Gregor.Samsa]

Metoprolol?

haha no doubt!

 

[Kaveman44]

This was a game changer for me ! Dry fire practice that’s as realistic as it gets

 

[Darkside-Six]

Yup. The IDS is crucial. I try and get 30 min a night.

 

[Rougarou504]

T-Rex Arms has very good drill courses and some freebies online. They are also a great company with the correct 2A stances, strong ones too. They are the one I'm going with when I get to that point.

Training – T.REX ARMS

www.trex-arms.com