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how did you learn basic MARKSMENSHIP?

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mac1911

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My dad taught me how to shoot. Did any of you learn like this.
Sight picture exercises. Basically you set up a rifle on a solid rest and line up your sights. 15 yards away my dad would move the target into my sight picture.
When I saw the sights and target aligned my dad through a,small hole in the target would mark the paper behind it. Once the marks where no more than 3" apart (not very hard at 15 yards) only then did he take us live fire at the range.
Then he would have us shoot for groups. Was not concerned about where the holes where as,long as they where in a group. At 9 years old my dad was easy on me. 25 yards 2" group from the Glenfield 25. Then we,moved on to adjusting the sights to make them shoot point of aim point of impact.
All the while either shooting prone or seated. Never off the bench....
I,dropped out of Jr rifle at 12 to race motoX. I feel now if my dad never took that time I would not shoot very well getting back into shooting 20+ years later.

Also through out this he did his best to teach front sight focus,breathing control and trigger use.
 
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426wedge said:
US Army, Fort Gordon, Georgia 1966
Click to expand...

, want to describe how they taught you? Like to see the differences in the methods from the 60s through the present. Neighbors son recently returned from basic and said he qualified on a indoor computer range with a rifle that simulated recoil?
I also wonder what the different qualifications are from then to now. Scores,targets,ranges and what not.

My great uncle was 10th mountain although he talked very little of his service one of his older nephews said he seen several papers with many different fire arms listed and scored expert? Among the ones he remembers is m1 garand, Thompson, 1911, m1 carbine and he believes one for BAR.
I asked my great uncle to go shooting few years before he passed.
He quietly told me he would never shoot another weapon unless the enemy was at our shores.

Just curious on the methods.
 
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My Dad taught me and my twin brother in the back yard starting at age 6. He enlisted in the USMC December 9th, 1941.

My older brother left for the Island in June 1968

I left for the Island June 1986
 
Kinda jealous of you guys who started young shooting with family. I pulled my first trigger at age 40.

Learned a lot online, bought a couple books, took some classes up at Sig, shot an Appleseed last summer with another one this summer.
 
mac1911 said:
My dad taught me how to shoot. Did any of you learn like this.
Sight picture exercises. Basically you set up a rifle on a solid rest and line up your sights. 15 yards away my dad would move the target into my sight picture.
When I saw the sights and target aligned my dad through a,small hole in the target would mark the paper behind it. Once the marks where no more than 3" apart (not very hard at 15 yards) only then did he take us live fire at the range.
Then he would have us shoot for groups. Was not concerned about where the holes where as,long as they where in a group. At 9 years old my dad was easy on me. 25 yards 2" group from the Glenfield 25. Then we,moved on to adjusting the sights to make them shoot point of aim point of impact.
All the while either shooting prone or seated. Never off the bench....
I,dropped out of Jr rifle at 12 to race motoX. I feel now if my dad never took that time I would not shoot very well getting back into shooting 20+ years later.

Also through out this he did his best to teach front sight focus,breathing control and trigger use.
Click to expand...

Apart from a few rounds at summer camp, i didn't shoot a rifle til I was 30, and an AR til this summer.

FWIW, the Sig instructor taught us just like your dad - work on groups, then sighting, and although they had benches there he had us lie prone in the sand and shell casings for sighting. :)
 
God Bless the United States Military...
 
Killing pigeons in Braintree on Common St during the late 60's and early 70's at my grandmothers house. Some of them were on neighbors roof tops. [shocked]
Amazing that nobody called the cops being in a neighborhood. At that age never gave a worry about where the .22's were going. [thinking]


I have the gun [thumbsup]
 
Appleseed.

Attended 6 times.

Made Rifleman first weekend but not since.

I recommend Appleseed to any new shooter.

It was a great time and I learned how to shoot a rifle.

Before that 1st weekend I didn't even know how to sight a rifle.

Lots if other local training is available but Appleseed teaches the basics.
 
Boys club in the late 60's. Plenty of DCM (Dept of Civilian Marksmanship) .22 ammo. They also provided rifles but my dad bought a rifle for me. Twice a week Friday night with everyone and Monday night with just Jr. rifle team. A few dads (including mine) would help coach. Those "old" guys could shoot. Iron sights,military slings and four positions. You had to call your shot out loud before the spotter would respond. Jeers if you called placement wrong. Still have that .22

Building a 22 AR now to try my hand at an Appleseed to see if this old guy can still do it
 
When I was a young boy my father didn't shoot, but he asked a friend to teach me.

Many years later:

When I got talked into competing in High Power I went to Fort Benning, Georgia and took their 3 day course with the Army Marksman Team. I always thought I was pretty good, but boy did they make me better. I strongly advise anyone that can take that coarse to do it.
 
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water guns when i was a kid.... paintball when i got older.... since getting my ltc a few years ago, many youtube vids (both good n bad) and wiki pages and a few gun related pages found by searching
 
Learned from Vinnie Managello USMC retired he owned/coached East Boston Air Rifle club; my dad signed me up.
Bunch of working class Italian and Irish kids shooting air rifles in the guy's basement in the early 1980's. When we were proficient he took us to the range and we stepped it up to .22. The rest is just like everybody else and the wallet hasn't been the same.
 
NRA course, 1960s, in the basement of the ROTC building on the UMass-Amherst campus under the direction of Colonel Marchant. Still have the medals.
 
NRA marksmen course southboro rod and gun, 1984. Learned the basics from my dad prior to the course.
They held that course every other Monday night, my brother and I did it for years.

Jason.
 

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