Thank you for coming by The Everyday Marksman. This site and its community are a labor of love. I hope you stick around for a while, and maybe even join us.
-Matt
Mental Marksmanship: Train the Mind, and the Rest Will Follow
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Linda Miller and Keith Cunningham are the authors of Secrets of Mental Marksmanship, How to fire Perfect Shots. They are accomplished shooters in both the civilian and military worlds, and today we are talking about developing the right mindset.
Tarred Bank Line: the Cordage You’re Not Using, But Probably Should
Let’s step away from firearms for a minute and talk about cordage. Just about everyone in the shooting world knows of, and probably uses, 550 paracord. In fact, we love to “paracord all the things” with bracelets, rifle slings, and more. The stuff is useful for a lot of reasons, and we’ll get to it. But bank line is another alternative that you really should try out.
The Survival Fire Marksman Challenge
Building a fire is a fundamental outdoors survival skill. Fire keeps you warm, cooks your food, signals others for help, and purifies your water. But too many of us take the easy route for building one. The survival fire challenge is about doing it the old fashioned way.
Bringing New Shooters into the Fold: A Range Day Story
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Today’s episode is simple: I wanted to talk about a recent experience taking two new shooters to the range for the first time. I think this is one of those pivotal moments in peoples’ lives, and we should strive to get it right for their first time.
The Tactical Belt: Minimalist Duty Loadout for Everyday People
Today we continue our discussion of load carriage options by talking about the tactical belt. You might also know it as a duty belt, and it’s a great method for carrying gear when you do it right.
The AR-15 Barrel Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need to Know
This post summarizes just about everything I’ve learned about rifle barrels in general, and specifically the AR-15. Barrels are an important topic, so settle in for some details.
Community Member Highlight: Mark Cutright
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As part of a new series I’m calling Community Highlights, I asked Mark Cutright- my first subscriber, to come onto the show and tell us his story. Mark has extensive background with tactical training as a civilian, and a lot of advice overall.
Choosing the Best Concealed Carry Belt for You
Today we’re continuing our discussion on load carriage. But now we’re moving towards the discreet end of the spectrum. I didn’t think all that much about my belt when I first received my CCW permit. It was all about the pistol and associated holster. But the truth is that a good concealed carry belt is part of a system that includes the pistol, holster, belt, and you.
The Go-Getter Marksman Challenge
Vince Lombardi once said, “Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”
At its heart, The Everyday Marksman is about taking action. The more action you take, and the more wins you amass in the process, then the stronger your mindset becomes.
As Coach Lombardi put it, winning is a habit. So even if you have to start with small wins and slowly build up to big wins, that’s still building a habit towards success. For this challenge, you are going to set a goal, tell us about it, and then follow it through to completion.
Goal Setting: When Wishing is Not a Valid Course of Action
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Today’s episode covers three topics. Each of the focus on some important aspect of setting and achieving goals. First, we’ll talk about selecting and writing down a goal. Secondly, and this is where most people fall short, we’re going to talk about how to actually plan for the success of that goal. Lastly, we’ll talk about some of the common mental pitfalls that stop you from achieving whatever desire you have.
Why are we talking about this topic today? Well, that’s a great question.
How to Breathe for Better Marksmanship
One of the easily overlooked areas of good marksmanship is controlling your breathing. I really believe it’s one of those things that everyone knows they should get control of it, but good breath control becomes one of the first marksmanship fundamentals to go out the window as pressure mounts.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in the midst of a stage and didn’t even think about my breathing until after it was over. Of course, then I try to go backwards and wonder if I did it correctly anyway, or if I did it wrong and it cost me a little bit of performance.
Loading Your Rifle with Ammo and Not Ego
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Russell Miller is a triple-distinguished competition shooter as well as a former special operations officer. He’s spent an enormous amount of time coaching snipers and precision shooters, and today he’s our guest on the show.
In this episode, we cover a lot of ground between the world of competition shooting and tactical precision marksmanship. Russ shared some very pointed criticism of US Army marksmanship training.
Some of the main topics I think you’ll enjoy focus on getting started in rifle competition, and establishing a balance between behaviors appropriate for competition versus defensive situations. Additionally, we spend a lot of time talking about the importance of consistent practice to build a foundation of skills that make good marksmanship instinctive.