A long time ago, likely in July of 2010, Fred told me "Amateurs talk about hardware, professionals talk about software." Now as someone who has worked in High Performance Computing for many years, that had a ring of truth. But how does it apply to Marksmanship? This weekend, I saw an excellent example of the theory in action.
Camp Butner NC hosted the NC State Rifle Championships. Saturday was a 1000 aggregate (20 shots at 200 standing, 200 sitting and 300 rapid prone, and 40 shots at 600 yards in slow prone). I had the opportunity to shoot with and beside some VERY good shooters and I would like to talk about one of them.
The man in question is in his 30's. He's been shooting High Power since he was 12. He holds records, has won major and national matches, and does his shooting with a service rifle (see the CMP Service Rifle rules for the definition of a service rifle).
On Saturday he shot a National record of 998 out of 1000 with 44x with the service rifle. He dropped one point in offhand and one in Rapid prone. In other words he shot 98 10's and X's and 2 9's.
The reason that this illustrates Fred's point is that the shooter in question wasn't shooting the most expensive or most accurate rifle. He didn't have the best gear. He had ammo that was the best that he could make (and he is an excellent reloader). But what set him apart was his focus, his attention to detail and his process. If you were to watch this shooter in offhand you would see that he does the exact same thing for every shot. The same in the other positions. He has spent years practicing and perfecting his process and the results are, well, record setting. His gear was good, but his performance was beyond excellent.
The advice that you might take from this is to spend more time focusing on your process and less worrying about your gear. You want good gear and an accurate rifle. But an excellent process can overcome many things and in the end, the software is more important than the hardware.
So stop worrying if your rifle is the best, and start working on perfecting a quality, consistent process. The results will please you.
Very nice points. Even though I am a shooting infant, not so much physically, I have somehow grasped this idea. I posted on another thread the effect that distraction had on me this past weekend.
At least I was working to build my positions and execute the shot the same way every time. I need more work on the physical side of shooting, in position mechanics, flexibility, stamina, and physical strength. Also need to work on the mental aspect. So I can get into and stay in the "bubble" as Appleseed calls it.
Prediction: I think Mr. Davis and others will point out to me and others that I NEED to be doing more dry fire practice.
I hear you...thanks.