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Rifle Fundamentals: Shooting and Follow-Through

by NRA Staff - Monday, March 12, 2018

When you have learned how to perform the first four fundamentals of firing the shot—aiming, breath control, hold control and trigger control—you are ready to put them all together and begin shooting.

Shooting Groups. After doing several dry fire shots, begin shooting with live ammunition by shooting three or five shots on a target. If you go through the fundamentals correctly, your shots should form a cluster, or group, on the target. At first, it doesn't matter where your shots are on the target. It only matters that your hsots be together in a group.

With practice, your groups will become smaller and smaller. The key to getting good groups is always apply the fundamentals, so you are able to shoot the same way shot after shot.

Follow-Through. The fifth fundamental of firing the shot is follow-through. In most sports, following through means completing a movement. For example, think of a baseball swing or golf swing. In shooting, it means to continue aiming, breath control and hold control until after the shot is fired.

Do not anticipate the shot and move before and during the time the bullet is still in the barrel.

A part of follow-through is remembering what your sight picture looked like when the shot was fired. Was it good or were your sights pointed to one side or high or low? Remembering what your sight picture looked like when the shot was fired will tell you where the shot should have hit the target. It is vital to good shooting.

To practice, try shooting additional groups, and be sure to concentrate on follow-through. Try to continue aiming, breath control and hold control for two full seconds after each shot is fired.

The next Rifle Fundamentals article will cover sight adjustment.

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