Guys, Yes, I joke a lot, jerk around and regularly make a fool of myself, but this time I wish just to share some honest tidbits that worked for me over the years and may help y'all.
Longrifle or modern gun, the principles never changed. There are differences, but not in fundamentals. Good shots are just like good blackjack players, good teachers, good cops, good judges, good docs...they follow a system, stick to it through good and bad, modify when something better comes along and, hopefully, apply common horse sense, which, as a former teacher I can tell you, is not all that common.
#1. The Trigger Pull, most important. Numero uno. Slow, steady, with a follow though, I repeat, a follow through, like a golf swing. No good without. No jerk. No quickie. We all have a wobble area. Deal with it. Accept the mathematical norm of your ability, and work to improve it until death.
#2. The Sight Picture. Nearly equal to above, and for a few...moreso..., is sight picture. FOCUS ON THE FRONT SIGHT. That is where your eye is focusing. Forget the target; it will be perfectly clear in the background. Read my lips...eye on the front sight. I don't care if you are 8 or 80, listen to me.
I digress. Who is this clown talking, anyway? OK, age 16 ( I lied my age) Camp Perry...a member of the Pennsylvania State High Power (.30 M1 Garands) Rifle Team. A boy from Lebanon, I forget his name, and I placed 4th in the nation. No big deal, but, dang, we sure felt good and found it easy to get a date for a few days. CMP Master Instructor, Anniston, Alabama, 2008, for a refresher, Gary Anderson, personal instructor. Plus I am an absolutely lovable guy. Can prove that, too. There's more, but. trust me, I can hit and teach the newcomers with enthusiasm and safety.
Now, I am going to, for educational purposes only, explain my concepts and principles in operational terms, using modern arms as a better example, but, again, Kentuckies are no different, just less worthy of use as an example because of longer sight radius and the fact that the average Kentucky is capable of far more precision than the average black-powder enthusiast is capable of appreciating. Yes, gentlemen, it is the Indian, not the arrow that is usually at fault.
So here is the "proof." Take any two modern pistols to the range and compare them for accuracy. I can tell you by dryfiring both pistols only once each which one I'll be able to hit with.
How do I do this? I share a secret. I follow my own advice, I squeeze very, very carefully and WATCH THE FRONT SIGHT. If it bounces uncontrollably, it is inherently an"inaccurate" gun for me. If the sight holds true, I try again. If it feels good, I guarantee you I'd stake my life on it prior to a grave situation. That's how sure I am of this principle. It has never failed.
OK, specific example. My favorite collecting pistol the Nazi P38---I have 40 in a bank safe deposit box--is an inherently INACCURATE pistol. It was made for crass defense and shooting defenseless women and kids in the back of the neck in front of a death pit. For this, it works fine, but for a match pistol, you'll never see one on the firing line
The .45 can be made accurate by trigger work. A High Standard .22 is my all-around favorite accuracy gun, because I can control it and do trigger work. Tyrone's Croatian 9mm is the best all around center-fire pistol I have ever held in my hands, accuracy to boot. It just has that "east bloc" long-pull trigger like an AK47. Deal with it. It works great. I'm fetching one tomorrow, the powers willing.
Postovanje, Wayne