THE #1 SHOOTING SKILL HUNTERS OVERLOOK

"When you're trying to get to the top of the mountain, it is best to ask directions from someone who has already been there". When it comes to precision rifle shooting, both in a competition environment and on game, John Pynch has been there. He has taken a wide variety of species across continents. As someone who has prioritized being able to put the bullet where it needs to be on an animal, he has spent countless hours behind a rifle scope and on a trigger. Because of this devotion, he has won numerous matches in both NRL and PRS. His dedication to precision shooting has even contributed to Leupold Optics' reticle designs. I don't say these things to hype John, but simply to show the value of the knowledge nuggets he shares in the video he recently shot with Randy Newberg.

In this video, John gives Randy a precision rifle shooting crash course. Randy, a well-known hunter, was preparing for an upcoming NRL Hunter match. As the astute observer and diligent coach, John noticed one area in which Randy needed improvement. Randy is not alone in this either. It is a common deficiency with many hunters. That skill is follow-through. Proper follow-through helps shooters take their shooting to the next level by allowing them to see the effects of their shot, call their own hits and misses, and make corrections to the center of the target. John describes follow-through with these three steps:

1. Pin the trigger to the rear after the shot. 2. Watch the impact through the scope. 3. Keep your head down as you run the bolt.

I will elaborate on these points by illustrating their opposites. Poor trigger follow-through would be slapping the trigger and immediately separating the index finger from the face of the trigger. Poor visual follow-through is most often seen in "prairie dogging". This is when the shooter lifts their head up to look over the scope immediately after the shot. This particular bad habit is one I understand the origins of, even if I don't condone it. I think this comes from shooting at conventional hunting distances, where the wider field of view offered by the naked eye is conducive to seeing where a hit animal runs to. This rationale, however, goes out the window when shooting further than 100 yards. It is much more valuable to use the magnification afforded by the rifle scope to assess the effects of our shot and watch the animal's movement. The final aspect of poor follow-through would come from breaking cheek weld with the stock in between shots while cycling the bolt. This will result in slower follow-up shots.

Also shown in the video were the benefits of proper follow-through. Most importantly, being able to assess where the bullet landed. Sometimes, as shooters, we will break a perfect shot, i.e., no reticle wobble or movement through the shot process. However, the bullet doesn't land where we intended because we did not properly account for other environmental factors. Proper follow-through lets us see how things like wind or misjudged distance caused us to miss a target. By seeing where the bullet landed, we can compensate with our follow-up shot. John ran Randy through some exercises to help him practice these fundamentals, and the positive results followed.

If you are interested in practicing these important aspects of follow-through yourself, you can. For cheek weld and trigger finger follow-through, simply set up your phone to take a video of yourself while you're shooting. You can go back after each shot and evaluate your fundamentals. Visual follow-through through the scope is a little more difficult. If possible, I recommend setting up some sort of falling target. Fire your shots at the falling targets and note where you perceived each shot landing on the target. Then go down and retrieve your targets and compare your perceived hit locations to actual ones.

It is very encouraging to see someone, even of Randy's caliber, taking the time to enhance his skills as a rifleman. I'm always grateful when high-level competitors are willing to share some of their elements of success. I recommend taking the knowledge nuggets that are given and figuring out how to apply them to your own shooting.