450guy
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fry
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ive been doin some last minute sight in on my rifle. im shooting a Ruger .300 WinMag and i cant seem to get shots on the paper. i know its not the gun as a couple others have shot it and hit the paper. its just my unsteady hand.
my rest right now is a couple of jackets on my tailgate. i plan on gettin some sand bags from work tommorow for a more solid rest.
my question is, does anyone have any other tips or tricks to help an unsteady hand?
Thanks in advance! 
*oops! just saw i posted in the wrong section  *
Edited by 450guy (09/24/07 07:30 PM)
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Gooose
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Lay off the coffee maybe? Set up a target at 10 yards. Fire 3 rounds. If those do not group adequately then check your scope mount to make sure everything is tight. If that is alright then it may be the round you are shooting...try a different load.
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Musicman
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Practice squeezing the trigger....possibly you're pulling the gun during???
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JD
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Gooose
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Maybe you don't know that your body/mind doesn't appeciate having the living crap kicked out of them every time you pull on that trigger for that cannon. I know mine don't so for deer I stick with my .243.  I once in an emergency had to borrow a friends 7mm Rem mag for deer season. Hated sighting it in but I did so adequately. First morning of hunting I spot a nice buck on the other side of a canyon. About a 250 yard shot which shouldn't have been an issue. First shot was from a decent prone positiion with my jacket across a log for a rest. Missed by a mile. Some of us are just not born to deal with magnums and for deer hunting are they really necessary?
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pez
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I've had pretty good luck by practicing dry firing. Probably want an empty shell or snap cap in the chamber while you do that. Just guessing, I'd say you're flinching, which is pretty understandable with a 300 mag. If that's the case, dry firing will show that pretty fast.
I could give you a bunch of pointers, but they might be off the mark  . If you have a friend who is a good shooter, see if he'll go out with you and give you some advice. My roommate in college was a good shot, and he helped me a bunch to get better.
I'll warn you though, part of getting more proficient was lots of good practice.
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BobK
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Yeah, If the gun shoots OK for others, the dreaded "flinchitis" is taking over, and that's understandable with a .300 Mag.
Incidentally, I usually shoot either from a bench at a range, or lacking that, I use a rolled-up sleeping bag from prone, on the GROUND! Don't knock it-it works well.
Anyway, once you start flinching, it is a bad habit to stop. It is a subconscious memory thing, and tough to break.
BEST way to check is to have a friend go with you and load the rifle for each shot WITHOUT YOU SEEING HIM DO IT! And he can mix 'em up! Once in a while, a live round, once in a while an empty. And "call your shots". You should know where the sights were precisely when the gun went off, whether it was "9 O'clock, just a tad to the left!" or right "on target, dead center.
And that is accomplished by SLOWLY AND GRADUALLY increasing the pressure on the trigger when the sights are on, until the gun surprises you when it goes off. You will remember EXACTLY where the sights were when it fired.
Don't use a quick "jerk" on the trigger, or you will NEVER hit anything, except by dumb luck!
BobK
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Tony1831
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450
One other thing to think about is to control your breathing by taking a breath and hold it for 5 to 8 seconds, during that time you should be able to gently squeeze the trigger when the crosshairs are lined up. If you feel uncomfortable taking the shot or feel like you will expire form lack of oxygen, just take another breath and try again to line up the crosshairs.
Most shooters have significant movement of the crosshairs while breathing in or out, so this could be contributing to your poor results as well.
Most importantly though, just practice until you are comfortable and the rest will come. 
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Edited by Tony1831 (09/25/07 09:05 AM)
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clucknmoan
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I agree with Pez, I would flinch too. I shoot a 300WSM (sometimes) and it even has quite the bite. If it is kicking to hard put a aftermarket kickpad on it, limb saver or decelerator, easy fix.
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Dogfish
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I shoot an adult sized air rifle for practice, a Webley Patriot that shoots .22 cal pellets at about 900 FPS. It weighs in at about 8.5 lbs with the scope. This will let you shoot almost anywhere (gotta watch your backstop, as mine is made with 3/16" steel plate) without disturbing your neighbors. Nothing like trigger time to get you into shape, 250 rounds of high quality .22 cal pellets costs about $6-10, and you don't get beat up in the process.
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Dogfish
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I also take a card table out into the woods where I have my range that allows me to shoot up to 350 yards. That, a folding chair, and some home made sand bags are all I use. Card table was a garage sale buy, sand and bags were free, chair was about $10, so it was about $20 all together, and it allows me to shoot 5 shot groups under 0.500" at 100 yards.
Might not want to shoot from your tailgate, as that is technically shooting from a vehicle, and a bit of a boo-boo with the WDFW enforcement guys, hunting or not.
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Be like Big Stick!
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Luke_the_Drifter
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Exhale as you start squeezing the trigger. When the gun fires you should have nearly released all the air stored up from the last breath. I've found that my muscles relax more as I exhale. The shot should surprise you a little bit. When you flinch, you are anticipating the shot, and you tense up and jerk the trigger too much.
Remember, you've fired the gun before. It isn't going to be any more kick than the last shot.
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Tony1831
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Luke,
If you start to exhale and begin squeezing the trigger, odds are the shot will not be as accurate as it would if the shot is taken during the natural pause that oocurs between breaths. A 5-8 second pause between breaths should be more than adequate time to squeeze the trigger without pulling your point of impact off the pont of aim.
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Rocket Red
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Fire off a couple of hip shots, as practice. Then fire into the air a couple of times, yelling "Yee haw!" After that you should be much more relaxed and free of your flinchitis.
Oh yeah when you look down the scope you have to have your eyes open, at least one of them anyways.
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Luke_the_Drifter
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Quote:
Tony1831 said:
Luke,
If you start to exhale and begin squeezing the trigger, odds are the shot will not be as accurate as it would if the shot is taken during the natural pause that oocurs between breaths. A 5-8 second pause between breaths should be more than adequate time to squeeze the trigger without pulling your point of impact off the pont of aim.
By the time I finish exhaling, it's only a second or two later that I fire. It works for me. I don't fire while I'm still exhaling. I know how hard the trigger pull is and I know how to time the squeeze and the breath out. I don't like having a longer pause in between breaths, I start to tense up wanting to inhale again.
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"There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live."
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pez
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Having your buddy load the rifle and slip in a snap cap occasionally will show your flinch big time. I had no idea I was flinching until the rifle didn't go off, but it sure did jump. I learned pretty fast once I saw what I was doing wrong.
I'd say my roommate (an ex-marine) laughed his butt off for about 5 minutes when he saw me jerk that rifle when the I pulled the trigger. That helped a bunch.
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workin4fishin
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I'm not even a passable shot, but I've had a few good instructors. Best advice I've ever heard is to bend your trigger finger at the 2nd knuckle (middle knuckle) and push the trigger back between heartbeats.
WHAT?!?!?!? How the heck can you do that? It took a long time to be able to hear/feel my heartbeats, and that whole knuckle thing ain't easy either. Getting them both at the same time? Not within my ability. Maybe now that I'm in a country where I can almost afford enough ammo to practice that I can someday learn that technique.
Or maybe just fire from the hip and yell YEEEHAWWWW!!!
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Tony1831
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Whatever puts meat in the freezer Luke
but if you want to master your skills as a marksman, the method I described will yield results, for you or anyone else having trouble.
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450guy
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fry
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wow, cant believe all the responses! thanks a lot guys! i went out last night with the .22(to give my shoulder a rest)and put about 75 slow and easy rounds through it. i worked on my breathing technique and the helpped out. i was starting to feel more comfortable. im gonna go back out tonight with a buddy and ill have him load my gun and have him watch to see just how bad i flinch. thanks again for the help, you guys rock! 
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Gooose
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Semiautomatic rifles with large capacity clips will also help resolve the problems of breathing and blinking. I believe an AR-10 in .308 Winchester would fit that need. 
Seriously every rifleman needs to find their own style. Target practice and then target practice some more. We use to save up a bunch of yellow 1 quart Penzoil oil containers. Set them up at various ranges around the gravel pit we used for sighting in and target practice. Once the serious sighting in and testing of new reloads was finished it was free fire time. Five rounds in the rifle and all of the shots had to be taken without a rest...you could shoot from prone, kneeling or standing. Empty your rifle then the next shooter took up the shoot...came around your turn you just repeated. Plan on shooting 20 to 100 rounds. The guys shooting Mags usually bailed around 20 rounds. Builds confidence and experience in judging shots real quick.
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Independent Advocate For The Fish
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There's lies, damned lies and then there are statistics......Mark Twain
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Luke_the_Drifter
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Shoot often throughout the year, and shoot quite a few shots during each session. If you have a big magnum it will help becoming used to the sound and heavy recoil. After a while it will be like old hat.
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SwampDonkey
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Other's have mentioned Snap Cap's...which is good.
You could also spend around $100.00 or so on...a KDL or a muzzlebreak for it too. Some will dappen the recoil down to a 30-06 from a 300 Win or Wby.
Shoot'n @ paper & shoot'n @ Game are 2 different thing's... ya never fell the recoil when ya shoot at game.
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superfsh
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salm on!
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Lots and lots of good suggestions here. Here's another.
I shoot Winchester Model 70s and I don't have an issue with dry firing, but I'm not familiar with the Ruger action so check with others before doing this.
While sitting around with the boob-tube on and nobody else around, do a bunch of dry-firing. Put the rifle up, zero in on that pesky fly or some other spot on the wall and pull the trigger.
The psychological impact of holding your own gun and pulling the trigger without the resultant recoil helps some people.
But probably the funnest thing to do is head over to a shotgun range with a 12 or 16 gauge and shoot clays for half the day. You'll shoot over 100 times so get a shoulder pad.
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BigStick
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silver
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The Ruger,like all 3 screw action fastener receivers,is VERY quirky in their regard.
Tighten fore/aft fasteners rather snug,leave the middle much towards the loose side of the spectrum.
Then ascertain scope rings are snugged,both to the receiver proper and the ring saddles as well.
That as a mechanical baseline,seperate from Operator ability,ammo selection and bore condition...amongst a myriad of other variables(including the scope proper).
But start at the start and that means check fastener torque................
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