Caffeine and accuracy

[ida homer]

100% me.

I’m very caffeine sensitive, but I still won’t give up am ️. Ain’t worth it! But if I’m gonna shoot, 1 small cup max.

 

[glass eye]

Black Rifle Coffee......there, problem fixed.

 

[schmalts]

Never checked caffeine effects. I have noticed a definite effect from lack of rest and high stress when skeet shooting. My best scores are when I am less stressed and don't give a crap about my score.

 

[rwc101]

I went shooting Friday, three days off of Copenhagen. No idea how it effected my shooting, because after I got all set up, I realized I forgot my hearing protection... Nicotine withdrawal A.D.D.

I need to start dipping so I can have an excuse for arriving at the range without ammunition and a bolt in consecutive weeks.

 

[Blaser270]

How about having Mrs. Fin give you your coffee in the morning? One with caffine and one without. Flooded with creamer so you can't tell the difference? Then after you shoot, she tells you which one she gave you that morning.

This is a great thought. There are a lot of responses here, but if you get to this one, hear me out. I’m an aerospace engineer, and anytime theres a problem with an engine, we’re required to perform a “robust root cause analysis”. Often times they’re very complex problems with no obvious culprit. In short, we have to be able to turn the problem on and off, which often requires a great deal of designed experimentation. Having Mrs. Fin make your coffee is a great idea, but dont let her tell you what She served you until you’ve had several range sessions. Report your group information back to her to record after each session, but she must keep it secret for 10 sessions. Maybe mix in 1/2 caff. on some occasions and chart your group sizes. Have fun, and keep us posted.
Pete

 

[Roughwater]

Last summer I spent a lot of time measuring my rifle groups on days with my normal morning dose of caffeine and comparing to my groups without caffeine. As expected, the groups were noticeably less consistent after a morning of coffee as compared to the mornings with no coffee. Due to that, I cut out the high octane coffee on most of our hunts last year.

This summer I've been doing the same comparatives with archery. Seems even more amplified in archery than rifle. I suspect that is due to not being able to use a rest to stabilize my bow to the degree I can use a rest to stabilize a rifle. On the days with no caffeine, my 40 yard archery groups give me great confidence. On days with a jolt of caffeine, things go to hell quickly. My 40 yard groups of three arrows go from 100% in 2" groups to more like one of three arrows in the 2", with the other two averaging more like 5" groups.

I am wondering if it might be in my head, as I know what days I'm not on coffee and which days I am. As consistent as it has turned out over the last month, I have a hard time convincing myself it is just in my head. After two cups of Joe this morning and the group I just scattered across my targets, I thought I'd seek comments here.

With what I see with both archery and rifle, I think the coffee will be for the camera crew. Maybe I'll bring my decaf for the sake of my morning habit. I might be a bit of an anomaly, as with my liver situation I don't get a lot of blood to my liver, so it probably stays in my system longer than most people.

I am curious if any of you have ever done these type of comparisons, and if so, has it resulted in any difference for your accuracy. Have you experienced accuracy changes with other situations you might have tested for; dehydration, lack of rest, other?

Randy,

I don't know if this would be any help to ya but I'm 70 and never drank coffee. My mother however who is still living is 86 and drank it most of her life. She has switched to half calf but she shakes so badly she can't even read her own writing. She had difficulty holding food on a spoon. I do shake some myself but I drink tea and cola. However I still hunt Elk and prior to hunting season when I'm training I drink less tea and cola and lots of water, gator aid etc and my shaking is noticeably reduced. In the south I'm forced to train in the heat and I drink tons of water and gator aid/power aid.
I don't think the caffeine affects everyone the same as maybe you have noticed but I feel it affects me. My hands had a noticeable shake a month ago but it's almost gone now after several months of training for my fall hunt which this year happens to be in Montana. Honestly though I was never absolutely sure whether It's the training that's helping most or my change in diet (I also go low carb) and drink prior to the hunting season. But I hope I can keep doing both dieting and training on past hunting season as I know it will enhance my life.

 

[BoulderBulls]

How about having Mrs. Fin give you your coffee in the morning? One with caffine and one without. Flooded with creamer so you can't tell the difference? Then after you shoot, she tells you which one she gave you that morning.

Let's take it a step further. Double Blind. Next time your son's home he makes the coffee then gives it to Mrs fin then big fin chugs it down and shooots a few groups. At least I think that's how double Blind works.

 

[Irrelevant]

I do notice that more than 1 cup and I shake a little, so I limit my consumption while hunting, but the big effect for me is the dehydration, I really have to drink quite a bit of water, then pee out all that caffeine before I'm back to normal hydration levels. I also can't have coffee after about 2pm or I can't sleep at night.

But there's more to life than a 40 yard group. A hot cup of coffee in the morning adds more enjoyment to my day-to-day life than a slightly tighter group would.

 

[TrumpkinTheDwarf]

I am a creature of habit on the coffee front. Always have two double shot americanos in the morning. I've also shot without coffee and never noticed a difference. I don't get jitters until I'm up around 8 shots worth of espresso though... and I don't usually go through withdrawals when I cut coffee out completely so I guess I'm not much help here.