How to Shoot a Rifle: Basic Marksmanship Techniques
Everyone thinks they know how to shoot a rifle but in reality, most people don’t. This article will help beginners or even experienced shooters know and understand the fundamentals that will make you a better shooter.
It always seems that some people are born natural shooters and others need a little help. I don’t think that’s the case, I think just some people understand the fundamentals of shooting and many people are focusing on the wrong things and forget about the basics.
Basic rifle marksmanship is composed of four key fundamentals:
- Stance
- Sight Alignment
- Breathing
- Trigger squeeze
These four basic fundamentals are what determines if you will hit your target with deadly accuracy or miss. Often times they are forgotten or overlooked. In this article, I will explain the fundamentals in detail and I will give you the knowledge to become a better shooter. Whether you are a seasoned shooter with thousands of rounds downrange or if you are just starting out, following this guide will increase your ability to hit your target. The four basic marksmanship techniques to make you a better shooter are stance, sight alignment, breathing, and trigger squeeze.
Find Out Which Eye is Dominant
One of your eyes works harder than the other one.
“I’m right handed so I must be right eyed dominate too.”
That is not always the case. You need to know which eye is your dominant one or you will always struggle with shooting. Here is an easy little trick to figure out which one of your eyes is the dominant one.
Extend out both of your arms in front of you and touch your thumbs together and your pointer fingers together. You should be making a triangle shape with your hands and you should be able to see through the triangle. Now focus on something far away and place it in the middle of the triangle shape you are making with your hands. Now slowly bring your hands closer to your face while keeping the object you are focusing on in the middle of your hands. Do this until your hands are all the way up against your face. Whatever eye you are using to look through your hands is your dominant eye.
Standing, Kneeling, Prone. Get Comfortable and be consistent
Having a good stance is the foundation for making an accurate shot. Now you can still be accurate with holding a terrible stance but having a good comfortable one with make it a lot easier. I will explain how to hold the rifle in a standing position, but all of these techniques can be transferred to the kneeling and prone positions. It is all the same concept.
Start with shouldering the rifle with the top of the buttstock resting firmly in your shoulder just below your collarbone. The area where your shoulder and chest meet together is right where you want the buttstock pushed against. Square your shoulders up with your hips. You don’t want to angle your shoulder with the buttstock back behind your other shoulder. Your body should be square and shoulders centered. Your cheek needs to be resting down on the buttstock in a natural position. Make sure your head isn’t too low. I often see shooters rounding the shoulders and dropping there head too low in an exaggerated way. This is not good. You want to bring the rifle up to your eye more than bringing your eye up to the rifle.
Your shooting hand should be resting on the grip of the rifle with your wrist relaxed. Don’t position your hand or wrist in an uncomfortable position because this will make you get tired and fatigue a lot quicker. Your support hand should be grabbing the magazine well (not the magazine itself) or the barrel shroud or the forend depending on the type of rifle. Most importantly make sure you are comfortable and can hold this position for a while. If you can’t try adjusting a little.
Sight Alignment, Don’t Overthink It
I’m my opinion good sight alignment is the most important part of marksmanship. Having good sight alignment and being consistent will determine if you hit your target or miss.
I’m going to go over the use of regular iron sights for this explanation, however, this technique can be carried over when using a red dot style optics or a scope.
Focus on the front sight! Not on the rear sight or the target. You want to cut the target in half with the front sight post. Do not completely cover the target with the front sight post but hold over the target so the front sight is covering half of the target.
The front sight should be centered as much as possible when viewing through the rear sight. The biggest key here is to be consistent and repeat this every time when shooting.
Don’t Hold Your Breathe, You Might Pass Out.
Breathing is another factor that will affect your accuracy. You need to breathe slowly and steadily, with an exaggerated exhale at the end of your breath.
At the end of your exhale there is a natural pause before you inhale. At this moment your body is very still and this is the steadiest you will be. This is when you will squeeze the trigger. This leads us into the next section, trigger squeeze.
Squeeze the Trigger, Don’t Pull it
So the thinking has evolved when it comes to proper trigger squeeze. It used to be you want the tip of your finger on the trigger and to never have the crease of your finger on the trigger. Some people don’t agree with that and I am one of them.
Everyone has different hand sizing and finger lengths. You don’t want to strain your hand in order to have the tip of your finger resting on the trigger. Instead, your finger should rest on the trigger where it naturally lays without strain. If you have a small hand and the tip of your finger rests on the trigger that’s great but if it is on the crease that is okay.
Know you should know how to shoot a rifle
Following these four basic techniques will improve your accuracy and make you a better shooter. Nothing is more frustrating than going to the range and having a bad day because you could hit anything. Don’t get stressed and just remember to slow down and use the fundamentals.
