What makes a person a good shot?

[longtooth]

Since tote 9 spends a lot of time w/ me I am going to stay out of this one.
watch the video. Watch The Video. WATCH THE VIDEO. Listen too.

[Cosmo 9]

I think there's one thing that it takes to be a good shot that you can't practice. You need good eye sight, my eyes are getting bad and it's takeing a toll on my shooting. I think I'm going to get lasered again!!

[Diode]

I think there's one thing that it takes to be a good shot that you can't practice. You need good eye sight, my eyes are getting bad and it's takeing a toll on my shooting. I think I'm going to get lasered again!!

No doubt, I wear bi-focals now and it's not easy to get a good site picture.

[Lodge2004]

A "good shot" is someone who can hit the target when and where necessary under a wide variety of conditions. Generally speaking, shooting a lot will eventually make someone a "good shot". That doesn't mean you just go to the range and launch 1,000's of rounds at the target while standing in your lane. There are numerous skills you should practice and a variety of ways to approach them.

Some things that have helped me:

• Dry fire - Gun handling skills, trigger control, drawing from holster, reloads, malfunction drills, etc...
  
  Air pistol - Accuracy, sight picture, trigger control, breath control, etc..
  
  Air soft pistol - Speed, moving while firing, multiple targets, drawing from holster, difficult positions
  
  Quality instruction - identify and eliminate bad habits, reinforce correct technique.
  
  Study - read, watch videos, ask questions, learn as much as you can about technique/tactics/mindset.
  
  Range time - put it all together at the range. Know ahead of time what you are going to practice so your time and ammunition are not wasted.
  
  Competition - keeps you humble. No matter how good you are, there will always be somebody who walks in that day and makes you feel like a newbie. Builds character, allows you to measure your progress and motivates you to practice more.

[stevie_d_64]

What makes a person a good shot is if they can admit to not being that good sometimes...

Everyone has their good and bad days...

You can send thousands of rounds downrange over a period of time, and a few of those you'll remember that you "feel" pretty good about...And seeing where they go at the end confirms it for you...

Marksmanship to me is a real "zen" kind of activity, you'll be lucky to spend years on one or two aspects of the entire realm of the program, and boom, something else will come up and ping you that there are other things you need to work on...Happens in a lot of things we do I believe...

I equate the perfect shot to be something to the equivalent of snatching a pebble out of a masters hand...

#1 There are no true masters...(there maybe some good folks out there, that know a lot of stuff, and are pretty darn good at it)

#2 I never want to think I'll ever really get that pebble...(there is always something to learn and apply, I don't ever want to think there is nothing else "not" worth learning.)

Sure, I'll take my best shot at the pebble every now and then, but that shows me there is always something more to it...

I'll step off the grasshopper mode now...

The David Carradine Ad got into my head somehow...ugggg...

[lrb111]

I belive it's "trigger pull". Even in point shooting, or especially, trigger pull is the thing that can keep you on or off the target.

There are a few that are beginning to teach that it is the foundation, even before the "front sight" mantra. Because it doesn't matter how hard one works on "front sight" if they are about to yank the gun around pulling the trigger.

[jimlongley]

Practice . . .


I will never be as good a shot as I would like to be, nor as good as I once was, but I feel that I am good enough for my purposes and at my age that's not bad.

[Witness P]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I'm a good shot but it's because I shoot alot!!! around 200-400 a week depending on the caliber. This is my secret find somewhere you can shoot outside in an unconfined place. All of my shooting at gun ranges was nothing compared to shooting freely outdoors, and at normally 25 yards minimum away. Learn to shoot at beer bottles and cans and golf balls is another good one golf balls is where I'm at right now, line up like 30 balls on the ground or on whatever and shoot them off then you can also shoot them as they roll about on the ground after each shot, it makes for some lively shooting.

[stevie_d_64]

Golf balls??? Fabulous!!! I got to try that sometime...Talk about some pinpoint drills on this one...

My Dad would suggest I still replace the divots when I miss though!

That really is a neat idea...

Any real, appreciable risk, of richochet's??? That would be my only concern...

[Popshot]

There are some people who have a gift to be a crack shot. Most of us have to work hard to get there. The good part is that the practice, especially when you see improvement, is rewarding and enjoyable.

In target shooting, the goal is to make repeated, carefully-placed hits on the target consistently, usually at a fixed distance.

In hunting, the goal is to make one very carefully placed shot on the target consistently, always at varying and often great distance.

In defensive situations, the goal is to hit center-of-mass of a close-range target, repeatedly and consistently, while experiencing great stress.

To meet these goals, takes a lot of practice. Find a way to squeeze your financial and time budgets to get to range more often than you have so far. That, and with the other comments mentioned above, can put you on the road to be a good shot.

[txinvestigator]

Go to your nearest range. Go ahead and pay and get checked in. Make sure you have your weapon where you normally carry it wearing what you normally wear.

Have a target hung at 5 yards.

Run around the building twice. Go straight to the range, face in an odd direction from your target. Draw and fire 3 rounds as fast as you can while moving away from your target.

Observe your holes. Test over.

[Jacob Staff]

Start shooting IDPA matches. When you start placing in the top 3 consistently, you may me a good shot. In the mean time, it is fun and you learn how to handle you pistol in a dynamic situation.

As far as bragging to your wife... you already a good enough shot for that. You could have done that before you even got you pistol

[j1132s]

Everything is relative; depends on who you consider as your peers. Since good is relative, you need something to comapre with.

Also, since your intend is self defence, do you feel you can hit your target when needed (under the situations that you may have to shoot)? If not, maybe more practice?

For example, I've seen some HighVelocity's targets, and I think he's a good shot. Definitely a better shot than I am.

[Tote 9]

[quote="The Marshal"]Tote 45,

Forget consistency if you have a crummy grip on your gun. That is first.
Learning to properly focus on your FRONT SIGHT is key to hitting consistently. Watch this Todd Jarrett video to get an understanding of this. Click Here

Thanks for the link, I will watch this video many times.

[gregthehand]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... &q=handgun

Good training