Perfect Practice: What Are You Making Automatic?

Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes champions.

We’ve all heard some version of that saying. But I think there is an important question hiding inside it:

What, exactly, are you practicing?

It is easy to measure a range session by numbers. Fifty shots. A stack of targets. Two hours on the line.

But firing more shots doesn’t necessarily make us better shooters.

Every repetition is teaching us something — including the bad ones.

You’re Building Habits Either Way

If I mount the rifle inconsistently fifty times, I’ve practiced inconsistency fifty times.

If I rush the trigger, lift my head after the shot, or accept a sight picture that I know isn’t right, I’m practicing those things too.

Do them often enough and they begin to feel normal.

That is why I would rather have a shorter session filled with deliberate repetitions than simply keep shooting to reach a certain round count.

The goal of practice isn’t just repetition.

It is correct repetition.

Some Things Should Become Automatic

Think about everything that happens before, during, and immediately after a shot.

Position. Grip. Cheek placement. Breathing. Sight picture. Trigger control. Follow-through. Calling the shot.

When we are learning — or relearning — we may have to consciously think through all of those pieces.

But with good repetition, much of that process should eventually become automatic.

That doesn’t mean shooting without thinking.

It means we are no longer spending valuable attention on mechanics that we have already trained.

And that becomes especially important when the clock is running.

The Clock Changes Things

In a timed event, there isn’t unlimited time to reconstruct your shot process before every shot.

But the answer isn’t to practice rushing.

It is to practice efficiency.

There is a big difference.

When your position, setup, breathing, trigger process, and follow-through are familiar, there is less wasted motion and less unnecessary thought.

That leaves your attention available for the things that actually require a decision.

What is the wind doing?

Have the conditions changed?

Should I wait?

Do I need a sight adjustment?

Is this a shot I should take — or should I come down and start again?

Those decisions deserve your time.

You are not practicing so you can hurry when the clock starts. You are practicing so you don’t have to hurry.

Give Practice a Purpose

One thing I am working on is being more deliberate about what I expect from a practice session.

Instead of simply deciding how many shots I’m going to fire, I want to know what I’m training.

Maybe today is about calling every shot.

Maybe it is maintaining the same position.

Maybe it is trigger control.

Maybe I’m testing one change to a load.

Maybe I’m specifically practicing my match pace under a clock.

Not every session has to accomplish everything.

In fact, trying to fix everything at once can make it difficult to learn anything at all.

Pick something. Pay attention to it. Repeat it correctly. Record what happened.

Don’t Let the Target Fool You

There is another piece of this that can be difficult for competitive shooters.

A ten isn’t always a good shot.

Sometimes we know the instant the rifle fires that we rushed the trigger or accepted a sight picture we shouldn’t have — and somehow the shot still lands in the ten-ring.

It is tempting to accept the result.

But if the process was wrong, I don’t want that lucky ten teaching me that the mistake was okay.

The reverse can happen too. We can execute a shot exactly as intended and get an unexpected result. That is information worth investigating.

Good practice teaches us to evaluate how we made the shot, not just where the hole appeared.

Know When You’re Done

There comes a point in some practice sessions when concentration slips.

We get tired. We start rushing. The position changes. We fire another shot simply because there is still ammunition sitting on the bench.

That may be the moment to stop.

There is little value in spending the first half of a session building a good habit and the second half practicing your way out of it.

Sometimes thirty excellent repetitions are more valuable than seventy mediocre ones.

So before the next practice session, I’m going to ask myself a different question.

Not:

How many shots am I going to fire today?

But:

What do I want to become automatic today?

Because when the match starts, the pressure builds, and the clock is running, that is the shooter who is going to show up.

The one we practiced becoming.

Bye for now.