What makes one a "good shot?"

[Flatbrimmer]

It's very very dependant on the person and situation. I know guys that can blow up milk jugs all day long with long range rifles up to and including 1000 yards consistently but can't drop a bird with a shotgun to save their life. I also know guys that seemingly can't miss any bird in range regardless of species and speed but are lucky to hit anything with a handgun.

I scored very well on my qualifications for the sheriff's office when I was a reserve. 99.8%. I had one barely outside center mass. That didn't impress more than a few. They all said, "Well it's different out in the field." I agree with that. But about a year later we got called to an aggressive dog call. Two cars pull up, dog turns and crouches, I hop out, he zeros in and sprints barking and growling. I drew and fired one shot. He dropped and slid to a stop about 5 feet from me. THAT solidified that I was a good shot in everyone's mind. I've always considered myself a good shot with a handgun or rifle.

That being said, I'm going pheasant hunting tomorrow with the guys. Unless that thing comes up and licks the end of the barrel Napolean Dynamite style it's pretty safe from ending up in my bag.

 

[Firedude]

This more accurately shows how i feel my proficiency with a scattergun is...

 

[tikkaman]

Know your weapon and take good clean shots .

 

[KB_]

Honestly, after seeing them try to sight their rifles in at 100 yards, they shouldn't shoot past 50 yards with a rifle. They've "missed" just as many deer as they've hit. They're the people you don't want hunting near you.

Sitting there one day, I hear 3 shots ring off in quick succession from my uncles direction, and I'm like what the hell is he doing.
I texted him and said "well is it dead???"

He goes "oh the deer was running, but I missed it"...

Well how do you know you missed it. There's no way you went and looked in that time...

So after I got done hunting that morning, I went over to him and told him to show me where it was so I could look for blood or any sign of a wounded deer. We walk 200 yards from the stand he was in, in the brush and he's like it was running through here... I turned to him and asked what the F*** are you doing shooting at a running deer, though all this brush, from 4x your capable distance. He shook his head, shrugged, and said I don't know.

Unfortunately I've laid into him about shooting and the shots he takes. He needs to be in the woods where 40 yards is his furthest shot. Especially if he's never going to practice shooting to get better at it. He hasn't shot a deer in a few years now thankfully.

A good shot knows where his bullet is going to end up when the trigger breaks and the shot rings off.

My uncle would have whooped my behind if I talked to him like that, regardless of age. You sound fun

 

[2rocky]

....Someone who LIKES shooting, just like a good athlete is someone who loves practicing. Or a good horseman is someone who loves riding. You can't help but get better when you love the process

For archery, I know I was my deadliest when i'd shoot Vegas rounds out in the barn every night , 3D league throughout the summer and had 100 yards to shoot at field targets outside.

For Rifle, a springer air rifle and a .22 for daily games of PIG and Starling control...

 

[rjthehunter]

My uncle would have whooped my behind if I talked to him like that, regardless of age. You sound fun

He lost my respect a couple years ago due to some comments made. But regardless, he pulls out a gun for 1, maybe 2 weekends a year, and shows up to deer camp, complains, then goes home and it's peaceful in the woods again.

He likes to park his truck 20 yards from his stand. Then complain that the deer are always running when they're near him...

 

[elkduds]

Know your weapon and take good clean shots .

Passing on bad or iffy shots @ game. Judging by many posts this fall, this is easier said than done.

 

[antler_master]

I recently read a piece in Field and Stream where David Petzal asks and answers this question. The conclusion, for me anyway, is it can vary with the individual. He mentioned a woman at a range that he handed a .45 auto. It was the first time in her life she'd shot a semi handgun and she blew the bullseye to pieces. Similarly, when I was at MP school in Ft Gordon back in the early seventies I qualified with a .45 Colt 1911 and shot the third best score ever. It was also my first time firing a semi auto handgun ... but I had at least shot a handgun before (I owned a worn out Smith .38 prison revolver). The best score at that time was a young lady who had never fired any gun before basic training a few weeks earlier.

One of Petzal's good shot criteria is the ability to recover after messing up. I once watched a guy I knew (now deceased) jump out of the truck and miss an easy standing shot at a deer. Then he proceeded to frantically empty the magazine of his Remington auto 30-06 faster than I could take another breath. Doe ran off unscathed. The guy went completely to pieces after missing the first shot. My skeet average is a solid 22.5/25. So I do miss the occasional shot. And what shot do I miss more than any other? Not station eight where the targets are coming at me from houses fifteen yards away. I think I missed two of those all year. No, more than any other, I miss the very first target out of the high house on station one. Overhead and nearly straight away. Okay, so I missed. Figure it out and move on. Most of the time I'll still finish with 24 or 23. Over at the trap range I often shoot with a guy who I know CAN be a good shot. But if he misses a target on the first or second station he falls apart. Lucky if he breaks seventeen.

Equipment CAN make a difference but I agree with Petzal, it's an overrated factor. However, I do think a good trigger ranks near the top, especially at the range. He puts practice at the top but that can be counterproductive (even if it was affordable). Some folks are way too sensitive to recoil. For them, get it zeroed and go hunting. Too much time at the range can build a flinch.

And finally, field experience is invaluable if that's the objective for becoming a good shot. Shooting at the range is a lot different than shooting at animals. Take up varmint hunting. Not the same as shooting at deer but as close as you'll get without having a tag in your pocket.

quick, clean, drop dead, no mercy, no regret, simple cleaning.

 

[Doublegunner]

Prior to the season starting I was at the range. There were others as well that day and I noticed an older gentleman with his adult son sighting rifles in. That really wasn't unusual but I noticed that he had some pretty nice rifles racked up. I could see in my spotting scope that things weren't going well for them down range. When we stopped to change targets I talked with the man and asked him about the rifles and how he liked each of them. He gushed over his fierce, gave decent praise over the Christiansens and so on. Each of those rifles had a spendy long range scope on them and each was chambered in a substantial caliber. RUM'S and so on save the sako s20 chambered in 6,5 creed. I asked how often he shot them and he laughed and said hardly at all because they were so expensive to shoot. I went back to my 308 and 6.5 creed ringing steel at 550yds while they struggled to group at 100 yds. If you want to be a good shot you need to practice shooting and know your equipment and what it can do. I also think many would benefit from dropping down in the power department and focusing on accuracy and shot placement. Power means little if you can't put it where it will matter.

 

[millerkiller77]

Repetition is the mother of all skills. I don't care if it's swinging a hammer, frolicking a keyboard or pulling a trigger. What makes you a good shot is practice and humility, confidence will automatically follow directly behind those two.

 

[Don Fischer]

Boy, long thread and I didn't read it all. I have an idea of my own what makes a good shot. Start's with a good understanding of shooting skills and lot's of practice. Then it goes to passing on iffy shots, no shot ever has to be taken unless it's a wounded dangerious game animal looking for revenge. You need to live within your abilities. I know lots of people think they are good to 400 to absurb range but in truth darn few are! Lastly when you have all these thing's together it's state of mind. When it's time to shoot ou have to become an assain! Good shot's do not get buck fever and won't throw a shot at an animal getting gone, they wait for their shot. Good shots also know a rifle shoots larger groups the farther away the target is, good shot get reasnoably close. Guy that hunts cover and never makes a 200yd shot can very well be the guy that can wipe your eye. Sucker never miss's and I believe it's because he got his mind right before the shat and became a shooter. Doesn't matter if he sucks with a sotgun or a rifle, what matters is he knows how to shoot what he's shooting at the moment! It is pretty much all a head game, a good shot will not take a shot he does feel qualified to take for the sake of bragging right's. He may never kill an animal at over 100 yds but then at that range he never miss's either!

 

[Don Fischer]

This.
I used to spend a lot of time on the trigger. With component prices and adulting now, I just don't get out as much.

This and Idaho has crap for public ranges. My nearest public range is 1 hour away, the next after than almost two. My biggest shock on moving to Idaho decades ago was the lack of public shooting ranges.

Closest public range to me I have no idea how far it is. I shoot into good backstops on public property. Simply having a public shooting range will not make you a better shoot, shooting and learning the skill will, even if itt out on public land somewhere!

 

[Don Fischer]

I don’t zero my Hoyt “high”

Understanding trajectory is no help at all if you don't practice shooting skills!

 

[Don Fischer]

My advice buy a quality .22LR and try to shoot the barrel out. Trigger time is what counts and every Man thinks He’s a Lady’s Man and a Great Shot and there not !
I have had family issues this year with my Parent’s and Nursing Home’s so I went a Year with out shooting a shotgun. I received a call from the IKE”s Club to come out Oct 30th To shoot a little Trap so I was able to go. I broke a 74x75. How did I do this is because I tried to wear out a .22LR when I was a young Man.

You learn to aim a rifle, even a 22RF. You learn to point a shotgun, two different things.

Was thinking and had to add this. With shotguns most people won't hunt with a 410, claim it to hard to hit the bird. Yet the farm boy that only has a 410 has learned to pretty much always hit the bird. It's not as much the guage as the state of mind. Quite often I use my 410 to shoot training birds for my dog's and take it along grouse hunting too. A 22RF will not teach you to shoot a shotgun unless maybe your shooting bitd shot in the 22. As a kid in boy scout camp we had a trap range and all we had to shoot was the 22RF with bird shot. I never tried it!

 

[Don Fischer]

When I decide to harvest an animal, I know that once I pull the trigger, there will be an animal to clean.

Practice makes a good shot better. But some people just don't have the knack or knowledge for it. My cousin and uncle won't shoot over 100 yards with rifles. They just can't shoot, they flinch, they jerk the trigger, and I try to teach them, but it offends them. So I just keep my opinions to myself now

Your cousin and uncle it sounds like try to live within their aabilities. Great start on becoming a shhot shot!

 

[Don Fischer]

Sounds like your shotgun doesn't fit. Try patterning it. I can make just about any gun work at the trap range where I'm shooting high gun (mounted to shoulder). But at the skeet range I have to shoot low gun (ready position) or I'm no good. From low gun I can see the targets better (bad left eye) and no time to overthink the shot. But shooting quick from low gun requires a shotgun that fits me perfectly. Low gun skeet is great practice for wingshooting.

Once I started shooting low gun, international style, I improved a good bit. I believe the reason is because shooting low gun hurry's you into shooting and naturally get you pointing the gun rather than aiming. My tendicity at skeet, years ago, was on station 4 to get the gun up early and try to track the target, got me to aiming. But First time I tried station 8 low house I didn't think it was possible, I was wrong. Got to where I seldom missed that shot but station 4 still gave me fit's, I was aiming station 4 and pointing station 8. When I started I shot from high gun on station eight, well every station. I generally missed station 8 from low and high house! A good shot with one type a gun is not necessarily a good shot with all guns. I like handguns but don't shoot them very well. I got to where I started pointing and shooting at 10 yds and less for CC practice, hit ratio went up. Problem I believe is old eyes and short sighting radius on handguns. takes me a bit to get handgun sight's lined up and closer they are together, longer that bit becomes. Mostly probably is it's blurry sight's!

With a rifle I plink at long range to become better at short range. Guy's full of themselves feel one minute of angle is goot to go but in reality one minute of angle at 100 yda is about 1" group. At 500yds it's about a 5" group. those guy's doing that would be upset with a 5" group at 100 yds but seem to be alright with a 5" group at 500yds! Go figure. On the other hand the clean kill area on a deer is about 8". That's 8" at two yds and same 8" at a thousand yds, size of the kill zone does not change, only the size of the group!

 

[hotsoup]

I recently read a piece in Field and Stream where David Petzal asks and answers this question. The conclusion, for me anyway, is it can vary with the individual. He mentioned a woman at a range that he handed a .45 auto. It was the first time in her life she'd shot a semi handgun and she blew the bullseye to pieces. Similarly, when I was at MP school in Ft Gordon back in the early seventies I qualified with a .45 Colt 1911 and shot the third best score ever. It was also my first time firing a semi auto handgun ... but I had at least shot a handgun before (I owned a worn out Smith .38 prison revolver). The best score at that time was a young lady who had never fired any gun before basic training a few weeks earlier.

One of Petzal's good shot criteria is the ability to recover after messing up. I once watched a guy I knew (now deceased) jump out of the truck and miss an easy standing shot at a deer. Then he proceeded to frantically empty the magazine of his Remington auto 30-06 faster than I could take another breath. Doe ran off unscathed. The guy went completely to pieces after missing the first shot. My skeet average is a solid 22.5/25. So I do miss the occasional shot. And what shot do I miss more than any other? Not station eight where the targets are coming at me from houses fifteen yards away. I think I missed two of those all year. No, more than any other, I miss the very first target out of the high house on station one. Overhead and nearly straight away. Okay, so I missed. Figure it out and move on. Most of the time I'll still finish with 24 or 23. Over at the trap range I often shoot with a guy who I know CAN be a good shot. But if he misses a target on the first or second station he falls apart. Lucky if he breaks seventeen.

Equipment CAN make a difference but I agree with Petzal, it's an overrated factor. However, I do think a good trigger ranks near the top, especially at the range. He puts practice at the top but that can be counterproductive (even if it was affordable). Some folks are way too sensitive to recoil. For them, get it zeroed and go hunting. Too much time at the range can build a flinch.

And finally, field experience is invaluable if that's the objective for becoming a good shot. Shooting at the range is a lot different than shooting at animals. Take up varmint hunting. Not the same as shooting at deer but as close as you'll get without having a tag in your pocket.

A good shot is one who hits where one aims. Targets, game animals, etc.

 

[Farmerj]

A good shot?

Knowing when not to shoot.

 

[Walkathon]

I'm going to say that being a good shot is cleanly killing what you shoot at, and like Farmerj said- knowing when not to shoot.

 

[jt13]

Practice. Practice. Practice. Don't suck.