My new gun

**Toby Christensen** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 1:15pm

I will soon be working on a farm clearing it of snakes (we boast the most venomous in the world!) and shooting the odd kangaroo,

I grew up around guns; a .303 a 1940's .22 for fragging hares and snakes and some sort of gun with a telescopic sight (I was allowed to look but not touch)

I know it will be .303 calibre and the stock will rest so my manly upper body absorbs the kickback, with a modified safety.

Any advice for somebody who is T3H Suxxorz at marksmanship?

**saturnjunkie** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 1:18pm

Depends. What's your shooting style?...

ie. - standing, prone, kneeling. How do you hold your feet, how do you hold your upper body. What type of sight picture do you use? etc.

**Toby Christensen** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 1:24pm

Standing. Not sure about sights. Only time I would go prone would be if some religious door to door people came (KIDDING!)

**saturnjunkie** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 1:43pm

I would start with this:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob040111.html

Honestly, I only really shoot open sights so I can't give you any pointers on that since I just saw you are gonna be using a scope. My only advice is don't ever adjust your sighting in the field. Adjust your point of aim instead.

Get a good solid stance, take a half breath out, hold it and gently squeeze the trigger. Do not jerk the trigger. I imagine I'm squeezing a sponge though some instructors recommend just pulling the one finger. A friend of mine who is a 60 something former marine corps primary marksmanship instructor used to take recruits who jerked the trigger and do very unpleasant things to their finger to make it very sensitive to pain.

These things included (but probably weren't limited to):
Rubbing a finger on concrete until it had a nasty brush burn
holding a 5.56 round in his hand, placing the finger on the tip of the bullet and then pushing down with his thumb and working the fingertip on the bullet. He did that until an incident involving a broken finger and some blood occurred. Anyways, he's one of my musket teams top shooters so I take his advice for the most part. I also don't let him near my trigger finger. The mere thought of that was enough for me to stop jerking the trigger.

Get an idea of where the gun shoots on paper both from the bench and from standing. That's very important.

Use consistent ammo so you know where you stand.

That's about it. Get lots of range time.

**CannibalCrowley** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 2:44pm

Originally Posted by saturnjunkie

My only advice is don't ever adjust your sighting in the field. Adjust your point of aim instead.

Please do not take this bit of advice if you'll be shooting any further than 100 meters. Scopes and sights have windage and elevation adjustments for a reason.

**saturnjunkie** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 3:49pm

Guess that's what I get for only shooting ironsights ;)

**vigilus** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 4:43pm

You're using a 303 to shoot snakes?

I don't understand if this is a question on what you should buy or on how to improve your marksmanship?

**Olorin** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 8:01pm

Originally Posted by GuiltySpark

You're using a 303 to shoot snakes?

He better be one hell of a shot.

Angry, why not use a shotgun to kills snakes?

**Permalost** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 11:27pm

Or use a club:

***JohnnyCache*** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 11:52pm

or a .357 revolver loaded with shot loads. The beauty of this is you can turn it on the flank of the occasional recalcitrant bull or tresspasser.

On a sidenote, is there like, a hoteline you can call in OZ to report an unstable person with a gun?