Shooter Progression

If you get sick of using a pen. I recently discovered this build your own pdf target website. It takes a minute or two of messing with it to figure out how it all works, but it's a lot cheaper than buying targets.

http://www.printtargets.net/

Get some 4" Shoot-n-see targets. That way all your hits will be visible from a distance. I'm also a fan of fiber optic front sights like HiViz. Reasonable cost and lets you pick up the front sight very quickly.

I recommend reading on technique and lots of practice. I'm still not a great shot, but I am better than I use to be.

Marksmanship is about replicating the same technique over and over again.

I've read alot of books on shooting technique, taken these books to the range, and refer to them while working on technique. Sure, some people stare, but then again, I can see my own improvement.

As for how you're doing, don't compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to yourself. Save your targets and refer back to them (write the details of the range session on there).

Group size looks fine in order to defend yourself. Don't get too sucked into small groups being the ultimate goal. I see that happen a lot. Yes, there are times when this may be important. A 4" group IMO is the desired group size. From there I would slowly work on doing it quicker (be careful you don't do something unsafe) and/or at longer distances and keeping the group size at 4 inches. If you can get the groups tighter than that then increase speed and/or distance again. I'm a huge fan of Loui Awerbuck classes if he ever makes his way near where you live (he travels all across the USA). If possible, take a class from him and you will learn lots of useful stuff to help become more proficient and it will help separate lots of BS that flows on the internet.

I think you are doing alright, for being an "off-day". I have those too. Some days I shoot so much better than others, but the more experience I get, the fewer and farther between are my bad days. I agree that while striving for better groups is good, striving to shoot faster is also good.

If you have access to an 11x17 printer, you can use these pdf's I made awhile back. They can print on letter-paper too, but the dimensions may be a bit wonky.

If you print on an 11x17, without scaling for margins (just print "actual size"):

The big circle (Target2.pdf) is a 10" diameter, with thicker diamond lines (I don't know why, I always just focus better at them). I use this target sometimes for quick fires from low-ready (my range doesn't allow draw from holster) in quick succession from 7-10 yards, basically where I am just trying to hit within the circle (COM) but closer to the middle the better of course. Each concentric circle is 1/2"

The medium circle is 6" diameter, also with the diamond and 1/2" concentric circles. I shoot at this in a more controlled slow-fire manner. On most days I can keep an entire magazine within the 6" circle at 15-20 yards.

The four mini-circles are 2" diameter and I usually use them for my 10/22 but sometimes will shoot centerfire at them. Each concentric circle is 1/8" Sometimes it is fun to try to use only one shot to shoot out the 1/4" black dot in the middle, from 5-7 yards.

You can easily make your own targets however you'd like. Variety is the spice of life. These are just fun to try little games with. Sometimes I will hang one of each at 10 yards (it only takes one clip each), and do 2 quick shots at the big target, followed by a slightly lower shot at the 6" circle, followed by very slow aimed fire at the 2" circles.

I also love those shoot-n-sees and buy them frequently. They are great for seeing your shots out past 15 yards. I keep all the pasters too, because they are fun to just put up on a blank paper and try to pop it off with one shot at 7 yards or so.

Enjoy and I can't wait to see more posts!

Both targets appear to be lit from the 11 o'clock position. Based on the high lights and shadows, the targets have been drawn on the backside, i.e. convex when they should be concave.

You do not describe how the shots were made, either offhand of from a rest or not, our whether the rifle has a score or not...

At the end of the day it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, but you. You know from your own taggers and groups if you are progressing or not. Everyone progress and learns at different rates.

I can't begin to answer your question.

Why? Because I don't know the purpose of your "progression." What's your goal? Defensive effectiveness? Distinguished Marksman in NRA competition?

On the sliding scale of speed and accuracy, which end is more important to you?

Was any of this shot on the move? Was shooting from cover involved? Were you crowding that cover? And if bullseye is your progression, even those questions are completely pointless.

Also, beware of doing this. On any forum, you'll get guys that will see a decent group, and then tell you that you should be shooting a group half that sized. And it's not that these guys are just trying to be superior. Maybe they themselves shoot groups the size of a silver dollar at 25yds. But is that your goal? Maybe it takes them all day to do it.

I mean, I'm pretty confident that if I posted a video of me running a box drill or something, I'd get 80 responses here. 15 would be solid, experienced, informed critique of my shooting. 40 would be rubbish. 20 would be pointing out the obvious, and 5 would just say "looks good to me."

In my experience, the signal to noise ratio in attempting to diagnose/improve shooting technique on an internet forum is way, way out of whack.

If you want the right answers to this question, seek out quality training. Good trainers will see in a single string of fire something that would take an internet forum 40 pages of responses to flush out, and will do so with far less ... well... you'll just enjoy it more.

Now having said that, if you're going to go about this the hard way, THR is probably the better place to do it. Folks seem to be reasonably polite here.

There are far too many variables that you haven't presented here:

1) Your goals are what?

2) What was your shooting style? (drawing from a holster for speed, slow shooting for target accuracy, or shooting one-handed from a strong or weak side)

3) What are you shooting?


Honestly, if you want to get better I'd recommend a LOT of practice. This goes for anyone, and isn't a critique of your shooting (just your stated lack of experience). It's hard to just post a target online and expect it to be critiqued, at least not without a LOT of details. Even then, you'll find that many people have different goals. As was already mentioned, some guys aren't happy unless they can shoot a silver dollar at 50 yards with a pistol. But, many of those people are unprepared for defensive shooting, where speed and tactics overshadow pure accuracy.

Plan to shoot hundreds and then thousands of rounds in the course of your progression. Don't count on being a master with a pistol by shooting 25 rounds a couple of times per month... you might be able to do that once you've become experienced, but it takes quite a bit of practice to become truly proficient (I've been shooting for many years, and I'm still learning). Practice the fundamentals I hope you were taught in your CCW class, and try to find a balance between speed and accuracy if you're looking to shoot for defensive purposes. Also, try to find other people to shoot with, as it will be a better gauge of performance for you. If you don't know anyone who shoots, try attending some local IPSC/IDPA matches, or joining a gun club.