While there are a staggering number of variables that influence the flight of a bullet, successful shooting still relies on the skill of the shooter; their ability to aim correctly, hold that aim as best as possible, and execute good trigger control.

Caveat: I’m not writing from a position of authority. I picked up a new hobby, and writing short articles is a way to document my learning, and encourage further study.

Aim

Lined up on a shooting mound with other shooters aiming at static targets, the first step is to check that you’re aiming at the correct target. It can be a little embarassing when you spend the time going through your process, only to put a round on someone else’s target. The whole point of sights, optical or not, is to allow you to focus intently on a small object at considerable distance. This often means you sacrifice visual context of the vicinity around your target. Targets at a shooting range should be clearly identified. If your sights don’t allow you to see the identification of your own target, once you have verified it the first time (by pulling away a small amount), you can soften your gaze and use the picture around your sights as a reference. Notice objects that border on your sights, often other clearly-numbered targets.

Aperture sights

Aperture sights involve two elements. A rear sight near the shooters eye that has a small peep hole (aperture), and a front sight at the muzzle that contains a small sight ring. The rear sight may have a few controls to assist with picture clarity, like lens options for different lighting conditions, and minor focal adjustment. The target will be at a distance that is impossible to see clearly without optical assistance, but the sight ring in the front must be clear. The front sight may also apply a very small amount of magnification, 0.5x.

Aiming aperture sights involves lining up all the circles concentrically:

  • the circle of the aperture
  • the circle of the sight ring
  • the circle of the target bullseye

Diopter sight picture.jpg
By Francis Flinch at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, Link

Optical scope

Optical scopes offer telescopic zoom, allowing much greater target clarity. Scopes may be fixed zoom, or adjustable. An example adjustable zoom scope may offer 5-25x magnification. The increased target clarity comes at a cost, however. Like any telescopic lens equipment it works with very narrow rays of light. If you don’t hold your eye completely still behind a rifle scope, it is very difficult to maintain a good scope picture. Any wobble at all and the image disappears completely, obscured by scope shadow, ruining your aim. But you cannot rest your eye too near the scope for stability, as the recoil of firing a round would cause the scope to hit you in the face (often causing a cut above the eyebrow called scope bite). To prevent this the shooter must adjust their eye relief, the distance from their eye to the scope.

Aiming optical scopes involves positioning and holding your eye perfectly such that you have the best possible scope picture, with just a hint of scope shadow, and then placing the crosshair where you want to shoot.

Pso-1onsvd.jpg
By Chabster - Own work, CC BY 3.0, Link

Hold

Once you’ve learnt correct aiming, you then need the ability to hold that aim as steadily as possible. This takes considerable practice. Depending on the shooting discipline you pursue, holding aim involves various equipment. There are shooting disciplines where the rifle is supported by bipods or rests. Another involves wearing a stiff shooting jacket made of canvas and leather. The jacket restricts certain movement, and has other features to support the wearer lying prone to shoot. The jacket, combined with a rifle sling, turns the shooter’s body into a tripod to support the rifle. A shooter may also employ technological gadgets that provide data on how good their aim is, and how well they hold aim - SCATT shooting trainers.

Squeeze

The last fundamental skill a shooter must develop is good trigger control. The saying goes, squeeze, don’t jerk, the idea being that jerking the trigger will undoubtedly disturb the aim you’ve worked so hard to hold. Squeezing the trigger means using the fingerprint pad of your index finger to gradually and smoothly increase trigger pressure. Common advice is, let the shot surprise you. That does not mean surprise as in you weren’t intending to fire, but surprise you exactly when the shot is released. The advice is intended to prevent the shooter from tensing in reaction to recoil if the moment of release is anticipated, which would again disturb aim at the crucial moment.

If a shooter can aim well, hold steady, and not disturb the rifle at the moment the shot is released, then they’ve done all they physically can to minimise significant variables relating to shooter skill.