Tactical Skills for a Life Well Lived
Marksmanship is the foundation of this blog. It teaches us discipline, patience, and focus. There is no substitute for practice and experience.
I competed in a lot of local outlaw matches for years before finally going to a “real” one.
Excellence in Competition matches, or EIC, happen periodically at military bases all over the country. They follow CMP rules, with a few twists.
I shot this match with an off-the-rack M16A2 from my base’s CATM facility. I ended up winning a medal, but I learned a lot along the way. [Read Full Article »]
Buckle up, because I’m about to talk nerdy. This post is all about the two most common marksmanship measurement systems, how to use them, and which one you should use.
Be warned, I will be dropping some math on you. I’ll be gentle, though.
Minutes of Angle are an easy way to teach someone the basics if you’re sticking to the imperial system, but it does end up being more difficult to work with later on. A minute of angle is a more precise unit of measurement when you’re trying to squeeze maximum accuracy.
Milliradians are super convenient to use with the 10-based metric system. It also works with inches and yards with a little bit of math. The real benefit to MRAD is that it’s faster to communicate and make adjustments. The 10-based math makes calculations significantly quicker. [Read Full Article »]
Shooting enthusiasts, especially new ones, tend to try and shortcut the mastery process. They want to reach the next level with a minimum of effort.
The truth is that a standard rifle is more than capable of all the precision a new shooter can muster. Standard Colt AR-15’s turn in 1 MOA groups on a regular basis with good ammo. Factory bolt action rifles commonly do even better.
Research shows that increasing the accuracy of a rifle from 1 MOA to .5 MOA only increases hit probability 3.8%. When it comes to matches, there is only a 10-15% increase in scores for good shooters moving from basic rifles with no support equipment to match rifles, shooting coats, and slings.
Stop wasting money chasing tighter groups. [Read Full Article »]
Practicing rifle positions will take you far. You’ll be able to get in and out of them quickly, build up a stable shooting platform, and even be an effective marksman.
But getting good with your natural point of aim will make you even better.
The way to think about NPOA is that you, your weapon, and your sights are all a single unit that moves together to align with the target. You do not move the weapon in isolation.
This is the best way to ensure repeatable stability from shot to shot.
[Read Full Article »]
The notorious “chicken wing” is viewed by many as a defining trait of a newbie. Tactical instructors, and the enthusiasts who follow them, will all claim it’s a surefire way to get your arm shot off in a fight.
But have we been demonizing it perhaps a bit too much? Is it ever useful? Better yet, have we induced bad marksmanship habits in our desire to not have the dreaded chicken wing? [Read Full Article »]
The standing position is simultaneously the most common and least useful of the standard rifle positions. The thing is, outside of competition, if you need to use it then you need to use it right now!
We are going to look at the three main variations of unsupported standing, as well as the supported standing position. [Read Full Article »]
Kneeling is a moderately stable position, being better than standing but not as good as sitting or prone.
You might find it better than squatting, given the larger base on the ground, but it performs much worse for me.
Still, despite my lack of skill with it, the kneeling position is key when performing drills or quickly moving. [Read Full Article »]
Jeff Cooper, in The Art of the Rifle, stated that the seated position is the most useful for hunters. Military shooters use it less because it’s neither as low as prone nor fast like squatting or kneeling.
The sitting position is moderate to high stability, depending on your body mechanics. You will get slightly lower than kneeling or squatting but stay above most brush and grass. Kyle Lamb, in Green Eyes Black Rifles, points out that sitting is also convenient because it can be held for a long time compared to some of the others.
Properly done with a sling, I’ve found that you get almost as much stability as you do in prone. In fact, some of my best groups came from the seated position. Let’s look a little closer. [Read Full Article »]
The Swiss recognized the same need as everyone else. They needed infantry capable of using precision rifle fire at range. But they didn’t have the time or budget to do it the same way as other military powers who stood up designated marksman programs. Instead, they developed a system that mixed a point blank zero with designated holdover points and controlled rapid fire instead of single shots. The called this concept Sniping 4th Generation, or S4G. [Read Full Article »]
Most field shooters, from big game hunters to military members, do not have the luxury of time to check distance, adjust sights, and take a precisely aimed shot. In the real world, targets don’t want to be shot and they won’t expose themselves long enough for you to go through all those steps. So the challenge for the shooter is balancing accuracy requirements against available time.
The Point Blank Zero is one of the most important methods for doing this. [Read Full Article »]
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