Quote of the day—Bryce M. Towsley

Don’t get hung up on your gear. You need guns that are reliable and fit well, but that’s it. The next cool rail-mounted gadget will not make you a better shooter. Instead, take that money and buy more ammo for practice. The guy who has burned enough powder so he can hit the target fastest is the guy that will win the match, not the guy who dragged his gun through the gadget catalog.

If you practice with bad habits, you will shoot with bad habits. To learn correct technique, take a class from a professional. But if you don’t have the time and money for that, attend some local matches and learn from the top guys there.

Bryce M. Towsley
July 8, 2013
9 Shooting Tips for Better Long-Range Accuracy
[I can’t emphasis this enough. I started out shooting pistol matches with a Ruger P89. I took classes, practiced a couple times a week, and improved enough that I was occasionally winning the local USPSA matches.

On the Microsoft Gun Club email list other people were discussing which $1000 to $2000 gun would be best for the local pistol league match. I came in near the top in those leagues with my $300 Ruger. It wasn’t until I was certain the Ruger was “holding me back” and I had put 30K rounds through it that I decided to upgrade to a better pistol. I immediately saw about an improvement in my match results and dominated in the league matches.

I remember one time after doing quite a bit better than another league shooter he said something to the effect that it was the guns we were shooting that made the difference. He was shooting a compact Glock and I was shooting my STI Eagle. I offered to trade guns and reshoot the course of fire. He agreed. He did about the same as before and I did slightly worse. I still beat him by a significant margin.

The “meatware” is far more important than the hardware in almost all shooting matches. This is particularly important true in pistol matches.

In rifle matches there is a bigger difference in the hardware capabilities at long ranges. While you aren’t going to be making 1000 yard shots on USPSA targets with an SKS I’ll bet on Monte Milanuk (who coaches at Boomershoot each year) with a Savage Model 12 F-T/R chambered in .308 over someone who has invested more money than time into long range shooting.—Joe]

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10 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Bryce M. Towsley

  1. The two greatest additions to long range shooting accuracy aren’t hardware. They are 1) More shooting. 2) Coaching.

    Of the two, more shooting is the MOST valuable. You can read and watch a lot of the important parts about long range shooting, but you have to shoot to put them into play.

    It goes back to the old saying, “Fear the man who has one rifle, for he probably knows how to shoot it!”

    That said, good coaching helps, especially with reading the wind, which is THE big variable in long range accuracy!

  2. Jerry Miculek could beat either of us, blindfolded, with a matchlock! 🙂

      • That’s no exaggeration at all. If either of you were blindfolded (and with or without a matchlock) I am confident that Miculek could beat you. ; )

  3. I’m noticing a common theme in parts of the American gun culture. It almost totally ignores skill and knowledge as factors in shooting. 100 yards is a long shot for a rifle, and if one can hit a pie plate from a supported position more than half the time at that distance, one is pleased. Zeroing is accomplished by using up the last of some cheap ammo you had lying around. The other ammo you have is not used in the process because you’re saving it for when it counts. You don’t get any solid experience working in MOA in the zeroing process because the indicated click values on your fifty dollar tactical rifle scope are far from their actual value, plus there is significant lash in the adjustments and the clicks are often mechanically ambiguous.

    Once you have your fifty dollar tactical rifle scope dialed in at 25 yards, you’re done. You can now place the rifle above the mantle or in the vehicle gun rack, leave it there, and you’re prepared for anything.

    • There always has been something in the American psyche that likes technology for its own sake, even while the rationale was that it helps them do a better job. this is true in cars, cameras, firearms, as you noted, and probably most notably, fishing. Fishing lures are, after all, intended first to attract fishermen with money and only secondarily, hungry fish. As Colonel Cooper wrote once, “What’s it for? Why, to sell, of course.” And I say this as someone who looks lustfully at the Tech sight for my .22 rifle, as if it will make up for lack of practice.

    • Well of course MY company’s products are thoroughly necessary and eminently useful, so this concept of not getting hung up on gear does not apply to them.

  4. heh. I was pretty happy with my 12F/TR once I got the setup issues sorted out. I’m amused and gratified that my choice is now instructor approved.

    Now I just need to make it back some year soon.

  5. “It’s the singer, not the instrument…” Or, put another way, “Good troops can win even with mediocre equipment’ Poor troops lose even with good equipment. The combination of the best troops with the best equipment is unstoppable…”

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