Precision or practical practice?

[ThE_LoNgShOt]

I was out at the range today with my AR 15 working on 100 yard offhand shooting. During a cease fire, I went out to put up a new target and the guy who was shooting next to me (who had a target near mine) looked at my results and said, "you'll tighten your groups up a lot if you use the bench and a rest.." I explained that I was purposely shooting offhand because I was trying to work on accuracy in a defense type shooting situation where I wouldn't have the luxury of a bench or rest. I said that I felt if I could put all my rounds inside the 12" target that I would be pretty confident if a self defense situation. Obviously if someone was sending lead back at me, the situation would be tremendously more stressful. He just looked at me funny and said, "oh, okay..." so I thought I'd ask the question.... Do you use your range time for practical shooting practice, or do you focus on precision target shooting?

[sargenv]

It depends.. depends on if I'm testing the ammo or me.. If the ammo, I put it on the bench to confirm that it is accurate, once I know what the rifle/ammo will do, I go off hand to see what I can do..

[MossbergMan]

Depends on what I want to accomplish. If it's load developement or sighting in....bench it. Otherwise off-hand and improvised braced positions (kneeling, sitting and prone) are excellent "practical rifle" practice. Good on ya for doing what you think you'll need in a "pinch". I use an Ares two point sling with excellent results and stability off-hand.
If you can use a range support to simulate a corner or barricade. Bracing on a vertical support is also practical for an "urban engagement scenario".
Shooting on the move (where you can do it) is also a very practical exercise.

[Steelplate45]

Both. I start out with precision shooting, then go to tactical drills, then finish with precision shooting.

[ExtremeX]

Both… and it depends on which rifle I am shooting too

I bench rest shoot to see what I can do, what my rifle can do, and how my ammo is performing.

I also shoot off hand, I don’t shoot my match ammo, and my thoughts are same as yours. I am only interested in banging man sized steel at various distances.

[Caseless]

Bench is useful for initial sighting-in and stashing my guns and gear.

To me:
Precision practice--prone or sitting
Non-precision practice--standing, squatting, kneeling, lying on your left/right side. Use left eye/right eye, left shoulder/right shoulder. etc. Otherwise the public range session turns stale for me after 15 minutes.

[Paper Boy]

Most of the time the "real range" is for precision or load development. Although I will off hand the steel at Angeles to finish off the day.

BLM is for non precision and more or a training day

[ExtremeX]

I think BLM land is good for whatever you decide to use it for….

I do most of my precision shooting and load development out there. I hate doing it at public ranges, having to wait for cease fires before I can go down range and setup new targets…

We also have our fair share of plinking and blasting at steel.

Just got to bring what you need to make it what you want… usually it’s a truck bed full of targets, stands, and a bench.

[ThE_LoNgShOt]

I'd much rather shoot BLM land but I'm just not sure where to go.... There is one place people shoot not far from me but it's scary because some people don't consider firearm safety as much as priority as I do! I've seen some dangerous stuff go on. It would be perfect if you could shoot with just a few people you knew you could trust.

[ExtremeX]

I'd much rather shoot BLM land but I'm just not sure where to go.... There is one place people shoot not far from me but it's scary because some people don't consider firearm safety as much as priority as I do! I've seen some dangerous stuff go on. It would be perfect if you could shoot with just a few people you knew you could trust.

[chozenfew805]

First I warm up with the basics. Trigger control, breathing, sight picture, yadadadadada.... Then I go through practical life like drills.

[Thefeeder]

><

Stay off the bench as much as possible. Shooting without rests well will translate to shooting very very well with rests.

The reverse will never happen.

[USMC 82-86]

I do the majority of my training using practical methods, and I think that is very practical. No pun intended. I have shot enough in my life with focus on the basics and precision and have no problem going back to that type of shooting from the practical type of shooting.

[Quickdraw Mcgraw]

The bench should be for testing ammo/sighting in red-dots, scopes ect. and mabye once in a while when my back gets sore...unless your training for a BENCH REST COMPITION or shooting 500-1000yards.

[Texas Boy]

I agree with Quickdraw, unless you are training for bench competition, the bench is only useful for load development and sighting in optics, etc.

Otherwise train your weaknesses or what you consider your most important shooting scenarios. I try to spend the most time practicing off hand - as this is the most difficult. BTW - your goal should be 6" group at 100 yards, not 12'. For reference, NRA High Power shoots off hand at 200 yards. I don't recall the size of the 10 ring on that target, but 12" sounds about right, so 6" at 100 yards.

If your goal is defensive shooting then I would suggest entering some "tactical rifle" type competitions. These will have you shooting on the move, and shooting from all sorts of improvised "cover" positions. Much of this is very difficult to perform at a normal range. If this isn't practical, then you could try dry firing in the privacy of your home from various cover positions. You will quickly discover that you need to be adept at firing from either side (LH or RH), and from all sorts of awkward positions, not to mention reloading and clearing your weapon. I still fondly recall the match were we had to lie on our back "in the street" using "the curb" for cover - from both LH and RH...except the street was dirt and the curb was a piece of wood, and it was pouring rain.