Marksmanship Fundamentals
Copyright 2016 Pseudonym Sniper
All rights reserved
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2762-1
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Acknowledgments
First off I would like to thank my wife, who has supported me, not only in this endeavor, but who has supported me throughout my career, despite knowing that I could be leaving at a moment’s notice to some crisis or another.
I would also like to thank the members of our unit’s Sniper team.
As they say, there is no I in Team, and it has been an honor to serve with all of you.
I thank you all, but in particular I would like to thank TC for your advice, knowledge and experience that you have passed on.
Kindest regards,
Pseudonym Sniper
Introduction
This book has been written to assist beginner and intermediate level shooters to not only learn but to understand what it takes to successfully engage targets at long range.
It will help to expand their knowledge of the Marksmanship fundamentals and teach them how to set up a rifle correctly to increase hit probability.
Learning these skills will transfer into the ability to successfully engage targets at long range.
This book’s target audience includes prospective Military and Law Enforcement Snipers, long range hunting enthusiasts, and civilian competition shooters.
This is why I will use the term "shooter" throughout this book as opposed to sniper or marksman. It is a book for anybody wanting to master the fundamentals.
This book will cover all of the fundamentals of marksmanship and also cover rifle setup.
Now…engaging targets at long range, whether it be in a Military, Law Enforcement or Civilian context, is one of the toughest skills to master, and it takes constant practice, in a variety of environments, for a shooter not only to become, but to remain proficient at it.
The implementation of these skills will require focus and concentration on the part of the shooter, and as such I have not written about the many other aspects of sniping/shooting.
These other skills include, but are not limited to, accurate range and wind estimation (see my other eBook "How To Estimate Range & Wind", camouflage and concealment, stalking, and tracking.
All of these skills require a lot of focus, concentration and practice and I prefer a shooter perfects each particular skill set before moving onto another, which is why I have not covered these other skills in this book.
No matter what your background, I hope this book serves you well and helps you to achieve a higher level of proficiency.
Kind regards,
Pseudonym Sniper
Achieving Accuracy and Precision
Now, you may be wondering why I have chosen to talk about Accuracy and Precision right off the bat.
Well the reason is simple…when you are learning a new skill, no matter what it is, you need to know what the end result of all your hard work will be…your goal.
With Marksmanship, the result you are trying to achieve is a combination of both Accuracy and Precision to enable you to engage targets at long range.
To reach this goal, you need to be able to consistently employ the fundamentals of marksmanship, which is what this book is all about.
So…before we look at the fundamentals, let us quickly look at the goal…Accuracy and Precision.
Now, some of you may be asking…aren’t they the same thing?
Well…no.
Accuracy is the ability to achieve “rounds on target” where the MPI (Mean Point of Impact) is the same as your POA (Point of Aim). The size of the “group” may be consistent with that of a dinner plate but if the MPI is the same as the POA then this is accurate fire.
Precision on the other hand is the ability to consistently put all of your rounds as close to together as possible. The size of your group may be 1MOA (1 Minute Of Angle) or better, but if the MPI of this group is not the same as your POA, then this is precise but inaccurate fire.
Therefore…by achieving a combination of both accuracy and precision consistently, you will be able to achieve a much higher hit percentage when engaging long range targets.
Below is a graphical representation.
Right so let us take a look the major factors that influence Accuracy and Precision.
Influencing Factors
There are several factors that influence our ability to achieve the necessary combination of accuracy and precision.
Let us take a quick look at what they are:
•Environment
•Ammunition
•Rifle
•Optics
•Shooter Ability (Marksmanship)
Disclaimer: I say, “Quickly look at” because the information I have provided below on Environment, Ammunition, Rifle, and Optics is merely included to give those new to long range shooting a brief introduction/understanding of these topics, as each of them could be the subject of their own book.
The shooters ability (aka marksmanship) is the only factor we will be looking at in depth (as it is the subject of this book), although we will cover off the basics of proper rifle setup.
Environment
The environment i.e. the wind, density altitude, temperature, and other environmental factors, GREATLY affect a shooter’s ability to shoot long range but there is little you can do to influence them directly.
What you can do though is develop an understanding of how things like wind influence your bullet as it travels “downrange” and make use of technological devices such as Kestrel Weather Meters, Laser Range finders, and Ballistic Software which all help to reduce the effect of environmental factors
If you are a Beginner or Intermediate level shooter I recommend reading my other book “How To Estimate Range And Wind” to give you an introduction to these topics.
The next three influencing items can be directly controlled by us…the shooter.
Ammunition
Ammunition is a major factor because even if you do everything else right, if your ammo isn’t fit for purpose then you will never achieve the level of accuracy and precision