Shooting offhand, standing without artificial support, is the most challenging shooting position and 95% of what you do at Rendezvous will require your mastery of some basic fundamentals.
Your Practice Goals: There are two fundamentals that every shooter must master. With your rifle at your shoulder:
- Establish and maintain a repeatable sight alignment, and
- Press the trigger without disturbing your sight alignment, until the rifles fires
Preparation For Dry Firing: You do not want to damage your rifle during your dry firing sessions. Percussion nipples (also called "cones") can be damaged by the constant "hammering" they get during your practice sessions. This often causes the nipple to flare outward, creating a ridge the will prevent easy removal of the spent percussion cap. If you are having trouble removing your spent caps after firing, you will need to replace your nipple. Not all nipples are the same, but they do tend to fall into two categories: Metric and American. Go online to Track of the Wolf and look through their selection of nipples and follow their recommendations. Rummage through your home plumbing supplies and grab a faucet washer. I chose this green one because it would be easier to see in the photo.
Just slip the washer over the nipple, flat end up. The washer absorbs the impact of the hammer and will prevent damage to the nipple.
Now is a good time to address percussion lock (also called cap locks) problems. If you are experiencing difficulty getting the spent cap off of the cone, it is either damaged or dirty. Peening of the nipple is caused by dry firing, or by firing many, many shots. The best solution is the replace the cone.
The "dirty" problem is easier to address. The accumulation of gunk under the fired cap can build up and prevent proper seating. You'll get a misfire when most of the hammer's energy is wasted as the hammer must push aside the gunk to seat the cap on the cone. It's a simple matter to wiping the cone clean after every shot. Using the sleeve of your hunting shirt will make you look more authentic.
Dominant Eye: Ideally, your dominant eye should be on the same side as your dominant hand. Take a quick test for you southpaws: Align your left index finger with a distant object. Then close your right eye. If the distant object is still aligned with your finger, your left eye is dominant. If the object appears to jump, your right eye is dominant. Right handers, just reverse the orientation. Click here for a link to Warby Parker's dominant eye test.
If it turns out you are cross eye dominant (right handed, left dominant eye), you can take a small piece of tape and attach it to your shooting glasses, as I have done here. Just position the tape so that it hides the sights from view. If you do it this way, you can still keep both eyes open to maintain your depth perception as you move from station to station.
More to follow.
