Excellent Video on Natural Point of Aim

[LRRPF52]

Caylen is a good dude. I had the opportunity to meet and talk with him down at the Sniper Adventure Challenge, looking over his Proof Research carbon fiber 6.5 Creedmoor.

This video is one of the best discussions on NPOA that I have seen, going into nuts and bolts of building and trouble-shooting your position.

[video=youtube;weBuYmnpg38]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weBuYmnpg38[/video]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weBuYmnpg38

[Whelenon]

That's good.

[biodsl]

Thanks. Very useful.

[davidj]

Thanks LRR. Great information.

[Variable]

Excellent vid. Thanks!

[cory]

LRRPF52 thank you for posting that! I absolutely studied that video and listened to it on my way to the range the other day.

Below are some of the tightest groups I've produced at 200 yards with Factory Amax. I still didn't feel like I've maxed out the accuracy of my rifle. I still feel like my technique can be better and that I can get better accuracy from hand loads.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4255[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]4256[/ATTACH]

[LRRPF52]

Do some NPOA or "Dot drills" at 100-200yds. If I only had a box of ammo and were to do a practical skill-building exercise, NPOA drills would be at the top of my list, breaking the position, with walking, stopping, getting into position, and making good shots.

[cory]

NPOA dot drills? Exactly what do you mean?

[LRRPF52]

Natural Point of Aim. Take a clean cardboard or white target backer, and place/color 9 dots on the background. Start prone, get into your shooter's zen, maybe do some dry-firing while aiming at each dot until your called shot is within your accuracy expectation (reticle will tell you), then you're ready to go hot.

Shoot the center dot with 1 shot. Get up off the rifle. Get back down, build your position, shoot the upper left dot.

Break your position, stand up, get back down, shoot the top right dot.

Repeat until you have shot all the dots on the target.

You should see a predictable placement of the shots with a highly accurate rifle. If the shots are not located consistently, then go back and work the fundamentals.

If your placement is consistent, then speed up, throw in walk-stop-position-shoot. Make it fun, even throw in running and getting into position.

I do it as part of the DM Course, after shooter's zen talk-through, dry-firing, and confirming zero. When I go through this with a student, their first group will be within the accuracy potential of the rifle/ammo usually. 1/2" groups are not uncommon. Then we go immediately to dot drills. Once the dot drill is over, we're done at 100yds, and it's steel from then on, from 200-600yds on Day 1 of the Flat-Range training. That's how I've been conducting the course this year in the Rocky Mountain Region.

In other regions with high-density forest, the course is almost unrecognizable to the Western/High Desert one.

Here's an example of a common target used for NPOA:

[cory]

Thanks! I'll give that a try.

[biodsl]

I experimented with this a bit today. With only 24 feet to work with, I set a 1/2 inch dot at the end of the hallway and dialed the Vortex back to 1x power. From prone, I placed the cross hair on the dot, closed my eyes and performed two respiratory cycles. Of course, the cross hair was way off. I adjusted my body and tried again. After a couple of rounds I found the zone. Then I took my hand off the grip and my great sight alignment shifted. I appears I'm putting way too much pressure on the weapon with my shooting hand. I took LRRPF52's advice and got up, walked around, and re-assumed the position. After a few cycles of this I found it much quicker to re-gain a good position and point of aim. Finally, I began picking up the rifle when I broke from prone. I did the whole cycle to include placing the weapon to ward the target. I definitely learned something today.

I also tried this from kneeling. It's amazing how much steadier I was when I shifted my body and not the rifle to bring the reticule on target.

[LRRPF52]

There is a lot of experience that can be gained by learning to steer your body to the target precisely, not the weapon. A 2-point quick-adjust sling can help you cheat for kneeling/seated/squatting/standing supported, but you still need to steer your body into the most natural position that will have the least cone of error on the target.

Great post biodsl. This just shows that you can practice NPOA drills dry. Let the target be the focus and driving force behind how you get into position, so that your position is always oriented to the target. It will make a tremendous and noticeable improvement on your shooting sessions.

[Heywood]

Another good one! Thanks.