Taget panic

Tried shooting targets for the competitions Musket Man puts on but I just cant seem to get a good target to submit.But I can go out and hit pop can cans consitantly at 50-60 yards shooting free hand.At 100 yards I hit some free hand and get darn close the rest of the time.Why do I suck shooting at targets but can hit small objects?Is this target panic?

 

[Zonie]

I don't think that a lot of the cans, golf balls etc that I hit when plinking are really hit with a clean hit. Some of them are hit with the ricochet or dirt/sand/rocks that were laying in front of them.

When I shoot paper targets, the truth of where the bullet hits cannot be denied. Well, sometimes my target will end up with the guy on the next bench's bullet poking a hole in it but, you know what I mean.

I guess that's why although I shoot a lot of targets I really like plinking better.
Zonie

 

These are cans that are stuck on sagebrush.

 

[No Deer]

Set a can up in front of your target and then shoot at the can. :rotf:
Probably you don't concentrate as hard on that big taget as you do on the smaller can. (See the "aim small miss small thread".

 

Now that might work :rotf: Think Musket Man will have a can shootin contest?I do the same thing with my centerfire rifle to a point.But when it comes to an animal or something else Im on target.When I was a kid we used to shoot at different things kinda like stump shootin or roving with a bow.Maybe thats where it comes from.

 

[musketman]

Tried shooting targets for the competitions Musket Man puts on but I just cant seem to get a good target to submit.But I can go out and hit pop can cans consitantly at 50-60 yards shooting free hand.

There is no pressure while plinking whereas a competition has the added burden of three good consecutive shots...

Now that might work :rotf: Think Musket Man will have a can shootin contest?

That might not be a good thing, the letter carriers will get cut to shreds by the sharp edges... :haha:

 

[flashpanner]

But paper targets are boring! Summer is here and I find that the garden is rich in target materials. Tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes all make great dynamic targets, lots of fun making tomatoe :rotf: sauce!

 

I've had target panic shooting my bow. The best thing I did was to just put it down for a few days. You'll be surprised at how well you shoot after that.

Garryowen

 

[Big John]

Target panic is a direct response to the size of the target being shot at...get one of those bulleye targets the sky jumpers use and you'll be fine! :rotf: :rotf:

 

[TexiKan]

I find that the garden is rich in target materials. Tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes all make great dynamic targets, lots of fun making tomatoe :rotf: sauce!

I have to agree with Zonie on his analysis. Our club has been considered primarily a paper target club and others seem to dislike the concept. Like Zonie said, the accuracy cannot be questioned with paper. Although it is fun to see something get blown away, there is a bit more leniency in the area to achieve that hit.

I proposed a "Jalapeno Shoot" for some of those braggers who don't like shooting paper and they claim to be a "tough as nails" mountainman or plainsman. The premise is simple--if you hit the jalapeno, fine. If you miss, you have to eat it! So far, no takers in this competition! Now there's a hot time for all!

TexiKan

 

It's the difference between shooting for fun and shooting for score. They ain't the same. Shooting for score definitely requires more concentration than bustin' cans or steel targets. It's as a friend of mine said, "shooting is all between your ears".

Vic

 

[toyforever]

I proposed a "Jalapeno Shoot" for some of those braggers who don't like shooting paper and they claim to be a "tough as nails" mountainman or plainsman. The premise is simple--if you hit the jalapeno, fine. If you miss, you have to eat it! So far, no takers in this competition! Now there's a hot time for all!

TexiKan

Now that would be a shoot I would like to enter, but I have a suggestion-- how about if you hit the pepper, you get to chose who gets to eat the remainder?? :shocked2:

 

[musketman]

We use to fill gallon milk containers with water and shoot them...

Back in the days when you use to be able to buy cheep generic soda for pennies a can, we would set them up as targets (after we shook them up), you sure can tell when you get a hit... :haha:

 

[soggy]

:grin: an areosol can of shaving cream makes a great target ( a little pricy). No problem telling when you get a hit with that stuff :rotf:
Soggy

 

[Deadeye]

We've had raw egg shoots like that, miss it you gotta eat it.

 

[Slake]

shooting targets tells you exactly where and how you are shooting...if you feel like you plink well then you should do fairly well on the targets. But when plinking you can send a can spinning into the puckerbrush with a glancing blow
a shot that very well might be well out of the bullseye of a target...relax and practice...try new stuff...but by all means practice practice practice

 

[Smokey in Oz]

I've found trouble in the past hitting a deer at 100 yards :redface: whereas I can head shoot a wallaby at 200. :grin: Cant work it out. :hmm: They tell me it's called 'buck fever'. :shake:
Smokey.

 

[tom hargrove]

could those.walabeys, just be jumping into the path by accident :youcrazy: :rotf: :rotf:

 

[Smokey in Oz]

Yeah, right, maybe.....
I did forget to mention that I wasnt using BP in either of my examples....... :shake:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Target panic, or "stage fright" is overcome by practice, and more directly to the point, practicing how to concentrate and exclude all other noises, and distractions from your shooting routine. Every sport has the same problem. I am told by a friend that in golf, its called the " Yips ". Since I don't golf, I have to rely on his statement on that.

I deal with Target Panic by developing both a loading and a firing routine. When I have my feet set square to the target, according to preshoot practice, and marks I have made in the ground at the firing line for my feet, I mount the gun to my face the same way every time. I breathe in the same way every time. I exhale 1/2 of my breath the same way in the same time every time. I begin my count to release my trigger within 4-7 seconds. If I cannot achieve the sight picture I want in that window, the gun comes down, I exhale, deep breathe, rest the gun and shake my shoulders and arms to get rid of lactic acid in my muscles, and when I am ready, begin my mounting technique over again. I have a follow through cadence I use, also.

To exclude what everything else other shooters are doing from bothering me, I think and " Play " a very difficult piece of music I know, in my head. By filling my brain with that music, my brain has no room to be " listening" to what others are doing or saying.

I learned this technique as a musician when I was a kid, being pushed out on a stage to perform in front of others. When I do it right, it does not matter if I am in front of a thousand people, or 5, or all alone. My performance is the same. The next thing you have to learn with this, is how to go into this " Performer's Zone ", and come out of it, quickly, so you don't wear yourself out with that intense level of concentration. All it takes is practice- correct practice!