Consistency Breeds Accuracy
Part 1
Understand The Basics
“Master the basics. Then practice them every day without fail. Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.” - John C. Maxwell
Being a Sniper is a skill. Whilst some have a natural ability, it is a skill that can be taught. Like anything learned you start off small and build on it. Mastering on step at a time only to add to it until you become expert. This is achieved through conscious effort. Starting small and building on knowledge gained and skills practiced.
Through these deliberate actions you develop habits. Over time you become proficient, then skilled and finally expert at your chosen discipline.
Understanding and applying the basics is fundamental to whatever you chose to do. Concentrate on the small stuff! Whilst individually basic skills may not amount too much, collectively they become significant.
Basic Marksmanship Principles
The position and hold must be firm enough to support the weapon.
The weapon must point naturally at the target (point of aim) without any undue physical effort.
The sight alignment and sight picture must be correct.
The shot must be released and followed through without disturbing the firers position.
These four principles form the foundation of a snipers marksmanship ability. It is these four principles they must apply in any given Final Firing Position if they are to have any chance of success. These aren’t unique to a sniper! These four principles are taught and practiced by every Service person as part of their individual weapon training. These four principles apply to every handheld weapon system and pertinent to many others regardless to how the munitions are launched. Knowing the basics isn’t enough! Being able to reel them off orally may score a few points in an exam or create an initial impression that you know what you’re about. However, you must understand them, understand what each actually means. Understand how to achieve each one. Understand how each principle supports the next and must be achieved before moving on to the next.
“People fail on application not the understanding.”
MMS Principle 1 - The position and hold must be firm enough to support the weapon.
This is your foundation and must be solid enough to be sustainable for long periods. There are several facets to building a good firing position and each of them support each other. Getting one wrong or if it’s not applied properly will have a negative impact on the others. When starting out a new firer must be deliberate in building up this position. By being slow and deliberate in the beginning they develop speed over time. Develop a muscle memory that allows then to intuitively take up a firm stable position that allows them to react quickly. Adjust where necessary and progress.
When starting a new venture its worth taking the time to understand what you need to put in place first. What are the pillars that will support you and why they are important. Conducting research or seeking advice will aid the process. Be deliberate in the beginning, practice will build confidence and ability. From a strong foundation you will be able to adapt quicker. Understand where you will require strength in one area if the situation means you’re weaker in another.
MMS Principle 2 - The weapon must point naturally at the target (point of aim) without any undue physical effort.
Having invested time and effort into building a good position in which to take on your target it would all be wasted effort if you aren’t naturally aligned with the supporting elements. Even with years of experience this is the one stage of the process that I still conscientiously apply. With years of repetition and experience I can adopt a stable position in an instant. Taking a moment to confirm this, at the start, save time in the future. In the marksmanship world it’s known as ‘test & adjust’. It’s a simple process that assures you are oriented correctly. Simply close your eyes and take two normal breaths. On the natural, exhale, pause of the second breath open your eyes. Where the weapon is pointed now is where it is naturally aligned. It is very rare that this is centred on to the target and some minor adjustments are required to the position and hold. It’s important to adjust now, before you go any further. Although you will get an initial shot off you will have to adjust subsequently. Or worse, repeatedly miss your target.
Taking the time to save time. Developing a process to make sure that you are set up correctly and actually aiming at what you think you are. It’s easy to become distracted, to be influence by others trying to convince us what we need when really they are servicing their own needs and requirements. If you have set strong foundations and pointing in the direction you need to be. Then not only will it look right it will feel right. This doesn’t mean easy or no effort required but when correct everything will be working together to support each other to achieve the one aim. Making sure you aren’t wasting time, resources and opportunity.
MMS Principle 3 - The sight alignment and sight picture must be correct.
Having built up a stable and supported position and confirmed the weapon is pointing naturally and the target. Now is the time to get concerned with the finer details of the equipment and the process. MMS Principle 3 encompasses the ‘aiming process’. A relationship between the firers eye, the weapon sight and the target. It is further broken down to sight alignment and sight picture. Sight alignment is defined as ‘the clearly focused tip of the foresight, horizontally and vertically centred in the rear sight aperture.” For a scoped weapon sight this equates to having no scope shadow. Any error in sight alignment with the firer is proportionally increased on the target. The definition of sight picture is “correct sight alignment superimposed onto your point of aim (the target). If sight alignment is correct the round will impact wherever it was placed on the target. If sight alignment contains any error and the fore sight or crosshair is positioned on the target (sight picture) the round will not impact there. It will in fact hit the target elsewhere, possibly less effective or may well miss the target altogether, depending on the degree of error with the sight alignment. Therefore, sight alignment is 1000% more important than sight picture.
A bit of self awareness is required here. If you don’t pay attention to what your doing at your end with factors that are within your control then don’t be surprised if you don’t achieve exactly what you set out to do. What you do and how you conduct yourself has a significant, and often disproportional, impact on how those you are trying to impact upon view you. If you can keep focused on the things you can control whilst keeping aware of the factors you don’t control. Including what your target might be doing then you still significant influence the chances of your success.
MMS Principles 4 - The shot must be released and followed through without disturbing the firers position.
We are at the final stage now. We have been deliberate in building up the firing position, ensured that we are naturally aligned to the target. Worked diligently to ensure everything is correct with the aiming process, particularly concerning our eye and the weapon sight. Whilst simultaneously being aware of how that is placed in relation to the target. We’re ready to release the shot! At this stage everything is in the right position, the conditions are right and must remain that way to achieve accuracy. Whilst the fore finger is continuously increasing the pressure on the trigger the eye maintains correct sight alignment and there is no air going in or out the body. The hammer striking the percussion cap and setting off the chain reaction that releases the round in flight, onto the target should almost be a surprise. It’s important, at this stage, not to snatch at the trigger or flinch in anticipation of the round going off. Both will have a detrimental effect on where the round impacts. At this stage the firer must continue to maintain the position. Keep focused on the aiming process whilst absorbing the recoil of the weapon allowing everything to return to the pre-firing position and watch for the impact of the round and then assessing the conditions and the result. If at any time something happens to your position or you loose the sight picture then stop and go through the process again.
Trust the process. If you’ve done everything you can do before hand as well as you can do it, then you will have the confidence to achieve your aim. As the decisive moment arrives consistency is key. Control what you can and manage that which you don’t. Now is not the time to make changes, over react or lose your nerve. Stay calm, trust the process and observe what happens. Only by doing this will you fully understand your calculations, where and how you should adjust, if at all. All being well it will be a simple case of doing the same process again with the same target or on to a new one.
Summary
No matter how experience you are the basics remain extant. Time and practice will afford you to become more efficient in their application, you ignore them at your peril. Unless you are continuously applying them then you need to practice at every opportunity. Should things not be happening in your life the way you would want them to, then you can’t go far wrong by returning to the basics. Looking to see if your foundations are still intact and taking the time to be deliberate in your actions. Making sure each individual action is supporting and setting the conditions for the next natural progression.
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