Correct breathing for target shooting

[XDJYo]

Respiratory pause is the key:

From the USMC shooting Team guide:

Breath control is another critical element in marksmanship. If the shooter breathes while trying to aim, the rise and fall of his chest causes the rifle to move vertically and disrupts his sight alignment. To eliminate this motion, it is necessary for the shooter to briefly stop breathing while firing a shot.

Natural Respiratory Pause
When shooting, the shooter takes normal breaths then he exhales until he reaches a point called natural respiratory pause. Natural respiratory pause is the period when the shooter is completely relaxed in his respiratory cycle.

The natural respiratory pause lasts just seconds during normal breathing, but this pause can be extended up to 15 seconds for some shooters to fire a shot.

This pause should last as long as the shooter feels comfortable with it. It really depends on the physical condition and the lung capacity of the shooter. Holding the breath longer than is comfortable will cause a lack of oxygen that can deteriorate vision and affect the shooter's ability to focus on the sights. Involuntary movements of the diaphragm will occur that will interfere with the shooter's ability to concentrate.

There are two techniques for achieving a comfortable natural respiratory pause :

Normal Breathing
The shooter breathes normally, and as he approaches taking the shot, he pauses, settles into his aiming point, applies trigger pressure, and takes the shot. It is easier to achieve an aiming point when breathing stops because the movement in the shooter's chest, abdomen,. and shoulders stop.

Getting the aiming point, applying trigger pressure, and taking the shot all occur during the shooter's natural respiratory pause. This type of breath control is usually preferred by the shooter who is in good physical condition because he can hold his breath longer with ease.

Decreased Breathing
The second technique for breath control is good for shooters that have trouble extending their natural respiratory pause.

As the shooter approaches taking the shot, he applies initial trigger pressure and decreases his breathing. He starts settling into his aiming point as his breathing decreases to a pause. He can obtain a proper sight picture during shallow breathing because he is not moving as much. He then pauses, achieves his final aiming point, and applies continual pressure to the trigger until the shot breaks.

Thanks Ronin! That's kind of what I was looking for. The anatomy, step by step guide type of thing.

[CrippledPidgeon]

When shooting for accuracy, my thought is that no matter what the run-up to the shot is, you should be taking your shot when your lungs are at a neutral position.

Whether it be for rifle or pistol, the less you work to take the shot, the better. That's why shooters tend to put their non-shooting hand in their pocket, or hook their thumb in a belt loop, or in their waistband. It gives their hand a steady place to rest, so that the muscles on that side of their body don't affect the other side.

Similarly, you don't want to be using any strength in your chest to either expel or hold in air. So on my last breath before I line up my shot, I let the strength out of my diaphragm and let it stop where it wants to. I also don't bother with closing my mouth, or shutting an eye because that takes effort as well.

If I'm only concentrating on the muscle groups that are involved with holding the gun up, and pulling the trigger, I'll be able to extract the most accuracy out of the gun that I can.

That being said, in a defense class, forget it. Time is a far more important factor than squeezing off the perfect shot.

[JoshuaS]

I inhale, then exhale a little bit and hold...but only when rifle shooting a centerfire. I find shooting my 10/22 it doesn't matter (maybe if I shot smaller targets at longer ranges), and is a distraction when handgun shooting

[BamBam-31]

For pistols, I do the following:

--inhale fully
--exhale half
--slowly exhale the remainder
--consciously initiate subconscious uninterrupted trigger squeeze process
--focus all my attention on front sight and correct sight alignment

Works for me. Main point being to control your breathing somehow to minimize your arc of movement. Experiment.

Rifles are different. From prone, I exhale all the way and hold, then squeeze the shot off. If I can't squeeze it off within 5-7 seconds, I take another breath and fully exhale again. Reason being, it's easier to be consistent with fully empty than half-empty lungs. Slight differences in lung capacity will cause vertical stringing.

[XDJYo]

****THANK YOU****

I want to thank everybody for their great suggestions on breathing technique!

I am having the hardest time controlling my arms/hands/gun when I bring the pistol on target. My arms tend to move a bit as I'm trying to focus on the front sight and acquire the target/line up the sights etc.

Well, I went by myself and just concentrated on my breathing. I took everything very, very slowly. I rented a Ruger Mark III 22/45 and spent about 2 hours today shooting.

I noticed that when I slowed down and purposefully breathed very deeply up to the point of bringing the pistol up on target, then taking one last deep breath in, then slightly exhale and hold, that my arms didn't shake/move around nearly as bad as before! I put 4 out of the first 5 shots on the bullseye. Most in the bullseye or 10 ring and even pushed the target out to 10, 15 and 25(?) yards with extremely good accurate shots. The only time I wandered out of the 9 or 10 ring was at 25 yards. And this was with the black on black iron sights. Very difficult to see clearly so it took me an extra bit of time to focus! I switched to my 1911, which was a bit tougher due to the extra weight, but I still landed a handful of shots pretty consistently. Not all great, but much better than before and certainly not all over the place and no flinching to speak of!

Anyways, just wanted to post my experience with very slow deliberate breathing and how it has helped me!

THANKS!!!!

[Xanatos]

Post up your targets! 9 ring or better at 15 yards is good work! Also sounds like you did real well at 25 yards. I want to see that!

[Mr. E]

This is good info. I never thought about it.
I'm sure in a real fire fight you will forget about breathing until its over and done with.

[XDJYo]

Post up your targets! 9 ring or better at 15 yards is good work! Also sounds like you did real well at 25 yards. I want to see that!

O.K. Here they are! Admission of guilt-I had two flyers at 15. But, out of 42 .22 and 5 .45, not a bad day at the range.

First one is 24 .22 and 5 .45 at 7 yards and another 8 .22 at 10 yards. (I had a total of 3 .22 that didn't go bang).

Second one is another 10 .22 at 15 yards.

(Sorry I had to attach the pix-can't seem to get the link to photobucket to work. Must be too early!).

[23 Blast]

When I really need to hit a small target......


....I hand my gun to a better shooter.


Seriously - when shooting pistols, I inhale, align sights, slowly exhale while gradually tightening my trigger finger. Essentially, I'm synchronizing my exhalation with the rearward motion of my booger hook. It helps with getting my trigger breaks at a consistent point with my breath patterns.

[Red Devil]

...Red Devil, the baby-breathing technique sounds very logical, as it allows breathing without moving the chest/shoulders. It is interesting because I'm reading The Miracle of Mindfulness by Tich Nhat Hanh, and which highly recommends this type of breathing for physical and emotional well being...

This type of breathing, when combined w/ movement and marksmanship properly applied to an imminent threat...?

...will also aid in physical and emotional well being.

[Xanatos]

That's some really nice work XDJYo. Pretty much a clean cut out of the middle. Now I wish I owned a .22LR so I can afford to go shoot.

[omnitravis]

On a related side-note:
The more breaths you take, up to some point, get larger and larger. In my old swimming class, we would take 3 breaths, and on that 3rd exhale we held. I am sure you could bother to do more if you had the time and get an even bigger lung capacity going, but, who wants to sit there and take several deep breaths just to hold their breath longer.
EDIT:
Dont know if someone else answered this yet, but, that has a pretty neat history, IMO.
"Camp Calvin B. Matthews or Marine Corps Rifle Range Camp Matthews or Marine Corps Rifle Range, La Jolla (prior to World War II) or more simply Camp Matthews was a United States Marine Corps military base from 1917 until 1964, when the base was decommissioned and transferred to the University of California to be part of the new University of California, San Diego (UCSD) campus. Over a million Marine recruits as well as other shooters (such as Marines stationed at Miramar) received their marksmanship training at this military base."
Taken from wiki.

I wonder if they tell those students part of the history, and if they would care.

[XDJYo]

That's some really nice work XDJYo. Pretty much a clean cut out of the middle. Now I wish I owned a .22LR so I can afford to go shoot.

Thanks! I had a really good day that day.

I couldn't agree more on the .22 and affordability factor. I started off with just my 1911 and thought that it would be my one and only gun. But, just like everybody else said, you start to acquire more somehow! With ammo getting harder to come by and very expensive, in some cases twice the price of what it was, I rationalized that for the price of a few hundred rounds of .45, I could have a great little .22 AND afford to shoot a bunch! Besides, it's a heck of a lot of fun and great to see the reward for all of the practice.

I got my Ruger 22/45 for $275 + tax/DROS-Out the door for $330 at Reeds in Santa Clara. I got a $25 discount for buying what I rented. This is the 2nd gun I did that with at Reeds. They've got a good selection (wasn't picked over like a lot of other places) and good prices. I'm glad Diane Feinstein doesn't have the .22 in her sights!