You may delude yourself into thinking you are making significant progress in your shooting. You may excuse a lack of concentration which spans your entire practice session. You may forgive yourself for that little slip into a bad habit. You may even think you are pretty good at shooting.
Look at the damn target! Does it agree? Or does it tell you that you still need more work?
Now understand me here; shooting should be fun. However, it should also be a skill that is constantly under construction and improvement.
I know myself when I don’t feel like shooting, it is harder to do well, but you need to bear down and suck it up, buttercup, or stay home and don’t waste the ammunition.
Better yet, when you don’t feel like it’s going to be a stellar day, GO! Hopefully, you will embarrass yourself into performing correctly even when you don’t feel like it is a good day.
Additionally, you do not get to determine when a home invasion or other need for defensive skills might arise. The bad guy does not give a damn about the quality of your day. He wants to end it, PERIOD.
I hope that when the bad guy attacks you, you feel like shooting, as he is unlikely to let you go home. You get my point, right?
Let me tell you a dirty little secret, Alice. “The bullet doesn’t care whether you felt like doing your job correctly. It will go exactly where you told it to go every time.”
I hear guys, especially the rim-fire crowd opining about fliers because the ammunition manufacturer didn’t have excellent quality control. Bullshit! You are the one with the “quality control” issue, and the sooner you own up to that fact, the sooner the manufacturer will mysteriously begin to produce better quality ammunition. It’s just that simple. Cheap ammunition is cheap for a reason. You want everything? Go find a Genie in a bottle to grant your wishes.
Fliers are usually caused by inattention to detail. Little things, you know, like not “not being able to call your shot.”
You are the one pressing the trigger. You are the one aligning the sights. You are the one holding the gun. You are the one establishing your natural point of aim. Yet, you have the gray matter between their ears twisted in a useless mass of crap.
Am I getting through to you yet?
Start doing things right, and the holes in the target will take care of themselves.
If you aren’t sure what “right” is, sign up for a class from a Certified Instructor. Of course, Uncle Louie, your neighbor, and your pal from the bar are all those things, but are they professional instructors?
Look at that smile. Get one from a Certified Instructor!