Firearms have always been part of life for my family. Growing up there were always deer heads on the walls and rifles in the safe. It seemed like the entire year revolved around our favorite hunting seasons. I got that first Daisy air rifle and I was hooked. My parents made the mistake of leaving me alone for a few hours, and I took out a few of the neighborhood squirrels that were hoarding the bird feeder. Grandma was happy about it.
As I got older my grandfather got sick and started gifting his firearms to us kids. I got a gorgeous 12 gauge shotgun and a semi-auto .22 rifle. I started hunting rabbits and squirrels every chance I could. I also learned to love target practice and became very proficient with open sights. I was soon given my first deer rifle and I bagged my first deer. All of the paper bullseyes in the world aren’t as fun as taking your first buck.
I continued target shooting on a regular basis and began competing in shooting competitions. Being a dead shot has always been instant bragging rights in my family. There is a story that has been passed down about my grandfather when he was young. He and some friends were standing around the truck on a high ridge drinking beers after a morning of hunting. My father noticed a deer running across the middle of a big field below at about 300 yards. Apparently, he set down his beer and dropped the moving target with one shot on open sights. He then picked up his beer like nothing happened. It may have been blown up a bit over the years, but I still loved passing that story on to my son the first time we went hunting.
We all have our sharpshooter stories and claims to fame. Mine is that I have never once missed a deer at which I fired. I don’t always get the biggest bucks or make the fanciest shots, but I don’t miss. I have continued using rifles on a regular basis and have learned a few things. One fact of marksmanship is that minor changes in your habits can drastically throw off your shooting accuracy. It is easy to miss a few shots and change something to try and fix it. Then when that doesn’t work you change something else. Before you know it, you are still missing your shots and don’t remember your proper mechanics. It just goes South for no apparent reason. It is kind of like a pro golfer shanking every shot for no reason.
It may not make sense in the frustration of the moment, but there is a specific reason for your missed shots. You now have to break down the potential issues like a mechanic diagnoses a vehicle. Look through your potential issues and eliminate as many as you can to leave the correct answer. There are lots of reasons why your shot could be off, and some might not be obvious at the time. In this article, we will cover some of the most common mistakes you can have mess up your shots and how you can fix them.
Loose Scope Mounts and Bumped Scopes
For a long time, I refused to mount a scope on my deer rifle because of one simple fact. If the scope gets bumped or the mount is loose it will actually make you less accurate than if you just used open sights. You can go out and buy the highest quality, most powerful scope on the market and it will do you no good without a quality mount. You may think they are just afterthoughts, but you should do your research when you buy rings and bases for a scope. You can go with a standard scope mount which blocks the use of your open sights, or you can use a raised mount with an opening to still use the open sights. This comes in handy for targets on the move or for low-light scenarios.
There is nothing wrong with mounting your own scope as long as you do it properly. Start with a vice grip and some rags for padding. Lock your rifle in place so it is perfectly level. Then use a torque wrench and tighten every bolt to factory specifications. There are only a few steps to mounting a scope, but they must be completed perfectly.
You also need to transport your rifle and scope properly if you want to keep that scope tight and sighted in. I try to always use a hardshell case for rifles with scopes as soft cases will still allow a scope to get bumped offline. You will need to upsize to a wider case to account for the scope itself. Always place your rifle in a vehicle where it cannot move around and nothing else can fall on it. You want your rifle and scope to have a nice gentle ride to their destination.
I learned this the hard way on a survival challenge in Kentucky a couple of years back. Along with some other basic gear, I decided to buy and test a break-down survival .22 rifle. The plan was to hike a few miles following water until I came to a good location for camp. I brought along another survivalist on this one, and I wanted to keep things simple. With the dense forest we faced, I expected to see some small game for hunting and trapping.
On our initial hike from our drop point to our camp, we spotted a squirrel. It was only about 30 yards away, and I regularly picked off rabbits at 100 yards with this rifle. I lined up my shot and fired. Not even close. Then I inspected my scope only to see that the bolts were completely loose from the car trip. It was nearly falling off of the rifle. The shot never had a chance. I ended up going back to open sights for the remainder of the survival challenge, but was much more careful with my scope mounts after that.
I often sight in my rifle after I have traveled to my hunting destination. The problem is that this could spook game in the area from the sound of gunfire. Another option is to use a laser rifle sighting kit. I bought one of these a few years ago, and it does a great job. There are several bullet-sized adapters so the device can be used in any caliber rifle. The adapters hold the device straight and steady as it shoots a laser down the same path that a bullet would travel.
You can then just use your scope to aim at a target. If the red dot from the laser lines up with your bullseye, then you know the scope has not been bumped. However, if the laser shows that your scope is off you should not adjust it to the laser. You are better off to head to the closest range and correct the issue. I frequently use laser sighting tools to see if my scope is off, but I never use them to sight in the scope as I want to be as accurate as possible. Remember that you will have accurate shots for decades if you properly sight in your scope and then keep it properly in place.
Shaky Restsfd
All shooters know that you will get the most accurate shots using some kind of rest for your rifle. This could be a bipod or a shooting stick. It could be a block rest at your range or your elbow on the ground when in the prone position. It can be your arm anchored on a tree trunk, or the hood of your truck. A rest is simply a grounded or stationary object that helps to support the weight of your rifle. It is no different than lining up a billiards shot. Your rest hand must be stable on the table if you want your shot to be accurate. It allows you to focus more on aiming and less on holding up the weight.
Not all rests are going to work the same, and some are more stable than others. I learned this one the hard way just last deer season. Opening morning for deer season is always fun for my son and I. He is still just eight years old and has a hard time keeping still and quiet, so we usually hunt from the truck. We parked at the top of a hill on a cleared right of way and waited for the sun to come up.
A few deer popped out into the open between 200 and 300 yards out. Typically this is an okay shot for me with my scope and a good rest. I have taken several deer with this rifle at those distances. However, we left the truck running and the old V8 engine vibrations were shaking the truck just a little. I was using the drivers side door as a rest, and I could not quite keep the crosshairs where I wanted them. I ended up settling for a later deer at 150 yards that was close enough to compensate for the wobbly rest.
In this case the shakiness was caused by the engine, but lots of rests can be shaky. Sometimes the rest is just not on even ground. If you are just a bit more selective and get your rest right before you line up your shot, you will always be more accurate. I like to use a bench rest that is heavy enough to stay put. I often bring my own rest just in case I am not happy with what they have at the range. When you have a good rest, you can just relax your support hand and let the rest support all of the weight.
Lousy Shooting Conditions
You really must consider all possible factors that could affect your accuracy, and your shooting environment is one of them. Unfortunately you do not always have much control over this. The weather conditions such as cloud cover, wind, rain, and temperature can all affect your shot at an outdoor range. Strong winds can push your shot in any direction, and rain affects your shot over long distances.
Cloud cover is ideal as direct sunlight can create glare on your scope lens. Cold temperatures can make you shiver when lining up your shot. On the other hand, hot temperatures can give you a mirage effect when looking through your scope. Heat can also raise your heart rate making your hands shaky and causing you to sweat. The location of the sun can affect your shot as well, so keep that in mind when picking the time of day you shoot.
Noise and movement can also greatly affect your accuracy. If you are used to shooting at a busy range with lots of other shooters, try to stick to that. If you are used to an empty range with no noise or movement, stick with that. Consistency is the key. If you have a choice, fewer distractions for your senses is always better. However, you should remember that there will be distractions in nature. You do not hunt in a vacuum.
It is not uncommon for hunters on foot or in vehicles to come through my hunting area while I am lining up a shot. There is also a lot of sound and movement in the woods from all of the other animals. We all know how much a squirrel sounds like a deer in the fall. While you will typically be more accurate without distractions, you should still be able to focus when they happen.
Stock to Shoulder Pressure
For a long time, I never had any concerns about shoulder pressure. It always seemed fairly tight, and my shots were accurate. Then the last few years, I noticed that I have gotten lazy with my shoulder pressure. I sometimes do not pull the stock tight which can allow the gun to move more when fired. This is different from my normal routine, so it can cause my shots to be off-target.
How much pressure you use is mainly a personal preference. How you hold the stock against your shoulder not only affects your shot, but it also affects how the recoil hits you. Sometimes added shoulder pressure will cause the shot to jolt your shoulder less versus a shot with less shoulder pressure. In general, less shoulder pressure will allow the rifle to move more when shot.
You don’t need lots of pressure to be accurate as the key is consistency. It is absolutely possible to be accurate with a small to medium amount of shoulder pressure, as long as it is the same every time you shoot. As you shoot a rifle over and over, you will develop a routine that needs to be followed every shot. Shoulder pressure is part of this routine. It is just the same as a basketball player bouncing the ball twice before each free throw. Every time you line up a shot, just ask yourself if your shoulder pressure is right. This little extra mental step can go a long way.
“Squeeze it Harley”
How you pull the trigger makes all the difference in the world when looking at accuracy. When people are new to shooting a rifle, they often will jerk the trigger as sometimes seen in movies or TV shows. One of my favorite lines from an older movie is when a grown man named Harley emptied a clip at point-blank and missed every shot at a broken down motorcycle because he was jerking the trigger. In the movie he was firing a handgun, but the same holds true for a rifle. The advice given by his good friend was that he needs to “squeeze it Harley…. Squeeze it.” If you jerk the trigger you will generally pull your shot.
The perfect way to pull the trigger is slowly applying pressure without moving the barrel in any way. You don’t want to anticipate the shot. Just steadily pull straight back. If you are doing it right, the actual shot should almost surprise you when it happens. In addition to a gentle squeeze, you should be sure the trigger rests on the correct part of your trigger finger. It should line up with the center of the first part of the finger. If it is too far to the left or right, you will end up pulling your shots as well.
Barrel Temperature
I’m sure you already know that the barrel of your rifle will get hot as you continue to fire round after round through it. While you should be careful not to grab the barrel and burn your hand, you should also be aware of how this affects your shots. This is especially true on a hot day when the metal temperature already has a head start. Over a few hours of shooting, your groupings can get two or maybe three times as large. You may think that you are just worn out and less steady, but it could be because of a hot barrel. As metal changes temperature it expands and contracts. This actually changes dimensions of your barrel to a microscopic degree. It may be a tiny change, but it is enough to notice it on your targets.
Try cooling off your barrel after every few shots. Just set it in the shade where it gets plenty of air flow. You can also shoot in the shade or even hook up a fan to keep the barrel cool. This will also keep you cool which makes for more accurate shots as we mentioned above. I like to bring my .22 rifle with me and maybe a handgun to have some fun while I wait for my rifle barrel to cool off.
Always Follow Through
You always hear in football that you need to follow through with your arm when you throw the ball. The same is true for throwing a baseball, swinging a bat, or taking a free throw. Follow-through applies to golf shots, archery, and even shooting a rifle. With each of these examples, there is a set of movements or lack thereof that will result in a good shot. When you are told to follow through, it means to continue this movement or lack of movement after the shot or throw. This just prevents you from looking up and ruining your mechanics as you take the shot.
One follow through scenario I remember from childhood was my golf swing. I took lessons at the local community college at a young age, and I had a hard time being consistent. I would often look up to see where my shot went right as I swung the club. This caused a horrible slice or shank on just about every shot. I had a similar issue with competition archery. Especially towards the end of the competition, I would tend to drop my bow and pull my head up just a split second too early. This would throw off my shot, and my coach would have to remind me to always follow through.
Follow through for rifles is similar to archery in that you must keep your bullseye on the target even after you fire. We have it in our heads that it will be easier to see if you hit the target if you are not looking through the scope. As soon as we fire, there is a natural instinct to raise up and view your shot without the scope. Not only does this make no sense, but it can cause your shots to be pulled at firing. Just keep everything still when you fire and keep staring down that scope until you can clearly reacquire your target. Not only will this help with accuracy, but it will have you ready in case you need to take a second shot to finish the job.
Ammo and Reloading
If you have a zipper bag full of six or seven different types of ammo for your rifle, this could be your problem. Each round produced will fire in a slightly different way. This can affect the accuracy of your shots. If you want to shoot accurately, you should select a specific type of ammo and stick to that once you sight in your rifle. It is fine to try out a few different options before you make your decision. I usually just go with whichever option gives me the tightest groupings. This does not need to be a permanent decision, but you need to sight your rifle in again if you switch up your ammo in the future.
How you load your magazine or feed in a round can also affect how your rifle fires. These are tiny details, but they make a difference. The angle of the round, how fast you feed a round, and how hard you push the action can all affect your shot. As is with most of these factors, consistency is all that matters. There is no right or wrong way to handle your ammo. Just do it the same way every single time and you will be fine.
These are some of the most common reasons your shots can suddenly become inconsistent. However, this is far from a complete list. Try starting with these and see where it takes you. Think about each aspect as you take some target shots, and mark them off when you know they are not an issue. If you find an issue, try to correct it before continuing down the line. If your shots get back on point, you know you found and fixed your problem. If you get through our list and are still having problems, just think about anything else that is different from when your shots were last accurate. Critical thinking can help you find other problems we have not discussed. If you take the time to analyze and fix the issues, your shots will be back to consistent in no time.