Whether you enjoy shooting at the range as a hobby or have more practical applications for your skills, there’s always room for improvement. Maybe you want to get that kill shot the first time on your next hunt with your trusty 308 Win or maybe you want to improve your grouping on the range with your new 9mm Luger pistol ammo.
Whatever your goals, here are some tips to help you improve your grip and shooting skills.
1. Work Your Grip
When it comes down to it, shooting is an upper-body workout. However, most of the strength you need to shoot well is focused on your arms and hands. You need a lot of grip strength to keep your gun steady as you pull the trigger — and to control the muzzle when it fires and you find yourself having to absorb the recoil so you can fire again.
Grip trainers — those goofy-looking spring things you can use while you’re sitting through yet another meeting that could have been an email — are a great tool. However, they can only take you so far. On average, these will be about 9 pounds of resistance per finger, while some triggers have a pull weight of 12 pounds or more.
You can practice by dry-firing your own weapon to get used to the exact weight of your particular trigger pull, but this isn’t an option unless you’re home or at the range. Some tools let you work on your trigger finger exclusively.
2. Strengthen Your Forearms
Hand strength is great, but it isn’t the only thing you need to focus on when improving your shooting skills. Forearm strength is the foundation, especially when firing handguns or anything that doesn’t have a stock and sits tight to your shoulder. Building up your forearms gives you a solid base to handle things like recoil, which can be useful for higher caliber sidearms.
Barbell reverse bicep curls, wrist rollers, plate pinches, and towel pull-ups should be part of your regular exercise regimen. In addition to creating forearms your phlebotomist will thank you for, this will create a solid foundation for shooting anything that doesn’t sit against your shoulder.
3. Switch Your Grips
Pistols and other sidearms aren’t the only weapons you need to worry about when it comes to managing your grip and skills. Shooting an AR-15 is more complicated than just pointing it at your target and pulling the trigger. Choosing your grip — and that doesn’t always mean using the stock grip your AR comes equipped with — can change the way you shoot and how accurate your targeting is.
A C-clamp grip is a popular choice, thanks to the competitive shooting community. Start by extending your support arm down the length of the barrel, placing your palm under the guard with your palm up. It sounds simple, but if the goal is to improve your target shooting, this sort of grip shift can make all the difference.
4. Dry-Fire Exercises
Some may swear that you should never dry-fire your weapons, but other than very specific models, that’s a rule you don’t really need to adhere to. Using it as a tool can actually increase your shooting skills. Start by making sure your firearm is unloaded — double and triple check, and remove all ammo from your training room, just to be safe. Then take your shooting stance and keep your pistol an inch or so from the wall. Focus on the front sight and pull the trigger.
This exercise aims to keep your barrel as still as possible when the trigger breaks. This takes a lot of control, but it will help you develop the kind of muscle memory you’ll need to improve your shooting skills.
5. Keep Your Eyes Open
Don’t get your shooting skills from movies or video games. It makes for good cinema when the hero closes one eye as he lines up his shot, but all you’re doing is reducing your targeting efficiency by 50% and shooting your depth perception in the foot. If you find yourself struggling to keep your shots grouped on the target or can’t manage that kill shot on the first try, keep your eyes open while you shoot.
6. Don’t Try Too Hard
Now, don’t take this suggestion literally. Practice is an important part of improving your shooting skills, but trying too hard will suck all the fun out of it and make it more difficult to develop that all-important muscle memory. When you start getting frustrated, step away. Trying to push through that frustration could lead to careless mistakes — and that’s the last thing you want when you’re dealing with firearms.
Have Fun and Stay Safe Out There
If you’ve hit a wall when it comes to improving your shooting skills for your next hunt or range day, consider adding some grip and forearm exercises to your workout. Something as simple as grip strength can play an enormous role in how well you do at the range or on the hunt.
