Caffine before shooting?

[sl0re10]

Edit: sl0r, I noticed my addiction to spicy food good. I start aching and am sore when I don't have enough Sriracha or hot sauce, and it improves my mood. It also helps keep my nose clear.

yup; the capsaicin knocks out pain receptors (on nerves) for awhile. So; you feel better / less pain. Peppers are also natural antibiotics so it HELPS heal stomach ulcers... With siracha you also have garlic; good anti inflammatory... which is probably helping too.

but for years doctors pushed the old wives tale about it being bad for them... just like they still do that caffeine is bad for your heart... only research I can find says caffeine behaves similarly to digoxin... a cardiac drug.. if you have heart problems; an existing tolerance for caffeine and are on beta blockers... its probably going to hurt your heart health to stop drinking caffeine.

[I Swan]

I've always had a high pulse rate even when I'm skinnier and younger so I'm suppose to lay off caffeine that seems to make sense. It is not due to a bad heart. I do drink a lot of it on occasion I figure it is better than me nodding off or being drowsy at the wheel. I generally only shoot for fun not competition or dangerous game hunting so I doubt caffeine really matters for my shooting

[bender152]

In regards to ingesting too much caffeine prior to shooting, I overheard another shooter refer to it is "artificial stress".

[Ugly Hombre]

Black coffee before riding to rifle range with thumb buster.

Hot as hell and black as sin.

Black coffee again after riding back.

Hot as hell and black as sin. Or a cold beer or two.

[Merc1138]

I know that I'm physically addicted to caffeine. If I don't have enough, I start to go through withdrawals including shaking, mood swings and headaches. I don't want anyone to be around firearms if they are going through withdrawals from any chemical dependency.

Pretty much. I don't avoid caffeine, not going to chug a monster 30 minutes before i go to the range, but with no caffeine for a day or two? Not that I'm going to suddenly start picking fights with people or anything, but it becomes very easy to screw up one shot and then just end up pissed off for the rest of the day at the range.

[Divehobo]

Depends on the day of the week. Figuratively speaking, not sure if direction the wind is blowing makes a difference or not. Some days it throws everything off, others it doesn't; no rhyme or reason too it. In the grand scheme of things, I shoot at paper or steel targets, no fire being returned. My caffeine intake does not really matter that much to a hole in a target. It does not affect my seeing my kids or wife. Caffeine before nor not really doesn't matter, still getting to go shooting. Six of one, half dozen of another.

[Rez805]

I find myself in the "do what your body expects" crowd. I did have an afternoon espresso before an all-steel match last week. I definitely felt jittery on the first stage. I didn't feel completely dialed in until the last stage.

For the weekend matches I go to I will drink enough(which for me is about half a cup) to keep the withdrawals away for the duration of the match. I skipped out on that once and regretted it on the last stage and the drive home.

I can't really speak about the possible effects on precision shooting.

[major burnout]

Caffeine drinks are not my aiming fluid of choice.

[bsg]

i drink one cup of coffee in the morning and occasionally have a second cup. i don't perceive that my senses or level of functioning are negatively affected by this amount of caffeine intake.

[stormvet]

Before, during and after. Absolutely no bad time for Java.

[bounty1]

A couple of Red Bulls and a pot of coffee go pretty good before you go out to do some bump firing. The nice thing is you don't even have to put your thumb to your belt loop.

[Doctor Suarez]

For getting those last millimeters of accuracy? Probably not a good idea.

For practicing self-defense shooting with shaky hands and feeling like you're going to wet and **** yourself? ESPRESSO TIME!

[I Swan]

Maybe everyone's different. Before say a big gun show especially one far away I make a point to have a nice big breakfast if possible and something with caffeine like iced tea or coffee and/or an energy drink. I feel I'll need the energy and alertness to be walking around for a couple of hours and not be groggy or hungry and missing out on spotting some good deal.

One downside is if eating a bunch of carbs and sugar and caffeine makes me have to piss once I walk in. I hate gun show bathrooms but they are tolerable around opening.

[Merc1138]

Maybe everyone's different. Before say a big gun show especially one far away I make a point to have a nice big breakfast if possible and something with caffeine like iced tea or coffee and/or an energy drink. I feel I'll need the energy and alertness to be walking around for a couple of hours and not be groggy or hungry and missing out on spotting some good deal.

One downside is if eating a bunch of carbs and sugar and caffeine makes me have to piss once I walk in. I hate gun show bathrooms but they are tolerable around opening.

Gun show? We're talking about actually shooting.

[I Swan]

Gun show? We're talking about actually shooting.

I'm aware of that. I'm just discussing how caffeine and eating and such effects people's alertness and performance and such. I also mentioned caffeine and driving but I generally don't shoot a gun while operating a car either.