See you at the Education Building on January 15 at 6:30pm for this interesting class on the fundamentals of rifle marksmanship. Below some of the topics we shall cover. To sign up, email education@austinrifleclub.org or use this link https://www.zeffy.com/ticketing/intro-to-rifle-marksmanship-class The class is free, if you want to make a donation to the club do it at the class. The Ed building is heated, feel free to bring food.

 Objective: to learn basic skills for operating the rifle, as a point of beginning on the way to excellence in marksmanship.

Cooper’s definition of who is a good shot:  Those who can achieve first-round hits on appropriate targets, at unknown ranges, from improvised firing positions, against the clock.  

Moreover (paraphrasing Cooper), with a conditioned mindset to remain cool under pressure, so as not to spoil the shot.

1. Hand and Eye dominance

• Gun fit / length of pull
  • Conforming yourself to the rifle, or
  • Conforming the rifle to fit you

• Gun Handling
  • the four general rules of firearms safety
  • Firearms Maintenance
  • Live storage
  • Long-term storage
  • Transporting the rifle
  • Carrying systems

• Range etiquette
  • Cold range/hot range

• Shooting 
  • Positions
  • Stance
  • Grip
  • Sight Alignment
  • Trigger control
  • Breathing
  • Follow-through

• Bench-resting technique

• Sighting and Aiming
  • Bore sighting and zeroing the rifle
  • Targets
  • Sight Alignment, Point of Aim and Point of Impact
  • Parallax

Topics for a future class:

• Accessories
  • Sights (iron sights and/or optical sights)
  • The Sling
  • Rifle rests and sand bags
  • Spotting scopes
  • Ammunition
  • Gun Case
  • Cleaning
  • For the range
    • Eye & Ear protection
    • Appropriate Targets, Staple Gun
  • Dry-fire options

Some Next Steps

1. Skills building:  
   1. Dry fire practice
   1. Live fire practice
   1. Match Competition

• Knowledge Base:  
  • Ballistics
    • Internal (moment of ignition to moment of bullet exiting the barrel, and the pressure curve)
    • External  (effects of gravity and wind drag,and the effect of wind on bullet drift)
    • Terminal (bullet’s behavior upon impacting the target, penetration and solid vs. expanding bullets)

read more