February 2012 Issue - Target Shooter Magazine

This
SMALLBORE
Business
This Smallbore Business
by Don Brooke
Practice makes perfect?
NO, PERFECT
PRACTICE
MAKES
PERFECT!!
Last month, I referred to this
statement a couple of times and
rarely has a truer word been said.
This is exampled in all precision
sports and one of the best example
of other sports lies in Figure Skating.
My 13 year old daughter Megan is a really good figure
skater, progressing through the required levels at an
enormous rate. The amount of training that is needed
makes rifle shooting look silly, with the continuous
repetition of the elements and a huge physical
involvement to get things correct.
The parallel for shooting, particularly for 3-position
shooting, lies in the ability to get things right and
remain absolutely still with the only movement being
a miniscule muscular response with the trigger finger.
This too is a challenge!
The comparison factor here is probably an overkill
but, the skater and the shooter have a great deal of
similarity with the exception that the shooter is still,
whilst the skater is belting along at around 60 plus km/
hour then throwing in a really complicated manoeuvre
such as a double-axel jump, or a really rapid spin such
as a flying camel!
A difficult skating manoeuvre...
Have I lost you lot reading this?..... Probably, so
forgive the comparison and let’s revert to the heading
of Practice makes perfect and never have I seen a
better example to write about!
So many shooters fall into the trap of expending huge
amounts of ammunition to gain even that elusive
single point, particularly in position shooting as I
mentioned above. Say for instance we are shooting
standing smallbore and chasing a personal best,
(irrespective of what that level is) and suddenly
find that this is a daunting
prospect.
This
SMALLBORE
Business
I trained hard and continuously, teaching myself to
shoot well and I often wondered just what was this
going to take. (For the fullbore prone shooters out
there, try standing up with a 300m free rifle and see
what I mean!) Yet, even a high prone standard is full
of the intricacies that produce high scores, though
far less, (FAR less) than what it takes to shoot well
standing.
Yet again we are
comparing...
The heading of this article needs an understanding
- please note the BOLD typed clarification really is
entering the realm of ‘Mind Stuff’ I often write about
and the attitude that encompasses this.
You see, perfected training really is a matter of
attitude and awareness that, even though you are
elbows deep in fired cases, the progress is just not
happening. (See photo #2 and me with tongue in
cheek…)
Lots of shooting is not the answer...
I know what it took for my
own standing shooting to
break into a level exceeding
350 points and even then,
there was a long history
behind the standard as I
chased score levels above
320… then 330 points. (I hate
even thinking about that as I
write this!)
60
I sat in total awe of these blokes who shot scores in
the high 370s continuously, and often came home
dejected at yet another 348! (The amount of these I
shot in my early years was astounding and, this was
largely due to that at the time, my standard was
as good as anything in Australia and was stuck on
figuring it all out on my own.)
61
Can you give me an idea - if you are suddenly
confronted with a similar situation that this
photograph depicts - of what are you working on
here? (Please note, this is a prone photograph as
well!) Just what did you achieve apart from wearing