Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Besy way to practice?

How do you guys practice for Africa? I am a pretty decent shot already, but I am wanting to take my 300wsm I got for Africa out and practice. I was thinking of having a buddy take some time and place some gallon milk jugs in random places at unknown distances and shoot at them from field positions. Having no more than 10 seconds to spot the target, get set up for the shot, and making the shot.

How does that sound?(and of course pick up the empty gallons afterwards!)

Any practice replicating field conditions is good. I would practice off sticks or tripod as they are used a lot for the distance shots, and do take some getting used to.

Good Hunting

Randy

Ten seconds is a loooong time, way too long. Try for three; hope for five. Start using a .22LR off the sticks. Work at getting more accurate first, then faster. Then work on taking a second shot off of the sticks without coming out of the scope. Work at quickly deploying the sticks, getting your hand in the "Y", finding the target and loosing an accurate shot. Pick the sticks up and repeat.

When you have that well sorted out, move to a .223. Repeat the process. As you get lined out with the .223, start shooting your .300 at the end of your practice sessions for 5 to 10 shots.

Work on other shooting positions such as off-hand, leaning against trees(from both sides), from a knee, etc. But it is my experience that African P.H.s have a strong preference for shooting off the sticks.

Cheers, RS

Just use clay shotgun targets and spread them from 50-125 yards for hunting in the northern Province/ Natal/limpopo, and probably 100-250 for Namibia and the EC/WC habitats.

There will be a whole lot more time to discuss quality and distance outside the Northern Province. When the shots get over 150-200 yards there seems to be more time to look over game then when it's moving through the thick bush at 60 meters!

Exactamundo...and the advice on using smaller bores to practice is good, though I always preffered to practice with the rifle I would be using JMHO...

Ive always done all my practice offhand, and familiarized myself with using the sticks..just in case. To date Ive never used sticks, but I think they are a great idea. I find practicing offhand, then getting to utilize any kind of rest seems almost luxurious, it is so easy...

ingwe

I'm with you on this method ingwe. I do the same and even the flimsiest rest seems solid after offhand practice.
I use my steel plate and step back after a number of hits. Can be as difficult as you want to make it. The main square is 8"x8". Put the protector on the post as it was taking the odd hit. Target steel is wearalloy for repairing digger buckets etc and will take 2335fps hits form 400gn 404 without damage.


Von Gruff.

+1 on the .22, cheap to shoot and fun.
If you have the terrain available, practice on uphill and down hill shots. Flat land shooting is easy to replecate, but try to go for the angles (uphill and down, aim for the center of the vitals, not the skin).
The idea of a buddy setting the jugs at random distances is a good idea also.

You can't beat Springbok steaks, think of these as you squeeze the trigger!

Practice now, and enjoy the harvest later.

+1 on the .22 freehand. It helps with the target recognition trigger finger timing. Most outfitters want let you carry a round in the chamber so you have ~3 seconds to get on the sticks, chamber a round and find the target. No problem.....

a lot of shooting of the sticks and i tight sling

I use whatever I can for a steady while hunting if time allows. tree, handful of grass and pull back, sling when available, but the sticks fely awkward untill I held them with the off hand like I would branches or grass
Randy

+1

I use 'roos.

But being fair dinkum, try and practise off sticks using the milk jugs and clay targets (as per JJHack) once you get proficient.

I used to practice with my double rifles on straight away thrown clays, mostly just showing off, but one must keep in practice to do this and his rifle needs to be sighted in 1 or 2 inches high at 50 yards. It's fun and it's easier than some might suspect.

I do have a strong belief that if you can shoot "off hand" then you can shoot under any conditions, so I have spent most of my practice hours with a lifetime of off hand shooting and a lot of that was on Jack Rabbits, Rock Chucks, Pinheads, and Coyotes, they will fine tune you...

I do a good bit of bench shooting, but that is working up loads and sighting in rifles, and it does give you some skills, helps you with trigger pull,one of the most important aspects of accurate shooting of any kind. By that I mean a "controled jerk" as I call it, you still need to be able to pull a trigger fast, take a snap shot or whatever, when you hunt, and it can be done very easily with practice. You do not have to squeeze it for an eternity, in fact the target squeeze can be very counter productive in the field, but a flinch will not work, never ever!

My range has berms at 100 yards, 200 meters, 300 meters, 410 yards, and 504 yards from the firing line.

There is a steel pig silhouette at 100 yards, a rectangular gong 18 inches wide by 10 inches deep at 200 meters, and another pig silhouette at 300 meters as well as a buffalo silhouette that is 24 inches deep and 48 inches long at the 300 meter line. There is a turkey silhouette at 410 yards along with a 20 inch square gong at the same distance. At the 504 yard berm, I have a ram silhouette and another 20 inch square gong.

Essentially I have ANIMAL SILHOUETTES in 100 yard increments from 100 to 500 yards. I usually shoot several of these animals from sitting cross sticks three days a week year round. Three weeks before I go to Africa, I shoot three to five shots at each animal at each distance every morning, and three to five shots at each again in the afternoon. I will also walk the range, taking random offhand shots at the various animals, and also stop at the treeline on either side of the range to prop on a tree for a shot or two. Shooting morning and afternoon gives me the opportunity to see what the changing light does to my sight picture, and helps me deal with that using open iron sights.

I DO NOT shoot at round bullseye targets when getting ready to go hunting. Shooting actual animal shapes serves to train the eye, and teaches you where to hold the sight to give a heart/lung hit. On the painted steel silhouettes you get instant feedback as to exactly where the bullet struck, as it is easy to see the bullet splats. Works for me.

I practice from diferent distances and positions and always shoot at cardboard boxes so that I can see exactly where I hit.

Don't forget to wait while the music reaches a crescendo. Works on TV all the time.

On the other hand, if you can get a good shot off within three seconds of when you decide you're going to shoot, not much will get away.