Ok shooters/hunters, are there any tricks or tips for getting out of the habit of slapping the trigger? I tend to jump forward a tiny bit, every shot, anticipating to recoil. I even did it in bootcamp when shooting the 9mm. Now I'm shooting a 30.06 so it's not any easier. I was at the range for about an hour today trying to relax when I shot. I thought about loosening the trigger a little bit, but is there anything else? I consistently pulled to the right on most of my shots today. I know its me and not my scope being really far off b/c I felt myself doing it. Plus, there wasn't much grouping. I went through 40rds today, and made little progress except for a lightly sore shoulder. I just bought this gun, and its my first rifle, so I don't think that is helping me either. On a 4 circle 100 yard target I was consistently hitting the lower right of the outer 2 circles, with a few in the 2nd inner circle. Shots were from 50-100 yrds with rifle resting on case. No stand or mount.

 

Hey me too, but.....

My grouping was the upper left outer circles at 100 yards

I will pay attention to this thread.

New rifle, Weatherby 308 with a Bushnell Scope

 

It's expensive, but just practice until you are comfortable with your rifle. I personally get into position, take a breath, slowly let out half the breath, hold my breath, and gently squeeze the trigger.
If your rifle is new the trigger pull is probably pretty heavy. All of todays rifles are set up this way for "safety" reasons. I have two 30-06s. One is a semi auto with a factory trigger, the other is a bolt action with a trigger job. With the semi auto I can consistantly hit a softball size area at 100 yards. With the bolt action I can get 1.5 inch groups at 100 yards. They are both remingtons, so same quality.
I guess what I'm trying to say is practice, practice, practice and think about investing in a trigger job. Good luck!

 

First thing you have to do is relax, 2nd get over the minor recoil from a 30.06 it's just not much of a recoil. When shooting you need a better rest,get one it will help. Have someone else shoot your gun to be sure it is shooting dead on maybe it's not you pulling?. 3rd, take a deep breath and let some out and hold again and as you do squeeze the trigger in one movement and concentrate on your target, watch them cross hairs think of nothing else. Practice makes perfect and with time you will get better at it, but man 40 rounds/??. Try shooting my .50 that will make you squirm a little.

 

it sounds like what is making you jump is that your anticipating the recoil before it actually kicks, just when your shooting really drive the butt end into your shoulder and lean forward to reduce the recoil and hold on really tight, I tell ppl this when I go shooting and it gives them more confidence cause they feel they have better control of the gun. Try getting a new recoil pad for the back so when it does kick you dont feel it as much and eventually after shooting hundreds of more rounds you will feel confident with your gun.

 

Yep, went through 2 boxes. Got a couple really nice shots in, but most went off to the lower right. I believe all Remington 700s come with adjustable triggers, just have to find an authorized remington service department to do it. It felt way to stiff, and wasn't helping with my pull problem. I thought about buying a bipod, but figured it would get in the way when out in the field.
I also just need more time getting used to the rifle. After about one box, my shoulder was tender, and I would lean funny or pull my shoulder away trying to avoid the recoil.

 

Oh, I know I am anticipating for the recoil. Its a bad habit of mine. Today when I was about to make the shot, I would get my breathing right, finger on trigger, and pull. But, with the stiff trigger, lots of times it wasn't enough pressure, and it wouldn't shot, everytime that happened I felt myself jump. Then usually the next round after that, I would be frusterated and slam the trigger back, but pull the gun with it and not even hit the target. :o

 

Some people may (mistakenly, imho I might add) tell you this is bad, but practice your trigger pull at home with a spent casing. As long as there is a spent primer in there you should have no problems, change it out from time to time. Or if you really want, they sell special dummy casings just for trigger practice.
After you have some practice in, bring a friend to the range. Have him/her load either the dummy or a live round at random and without your knowledge. Treat it like it will fire every time, of course. And concentrate on maintaining your sight picture each time. It will take several trips but you'll come around and it will be a permanent fix.

 

From the description of the POI, your trigger must be awfully hard. Don't expect any groups until it is crisp and breaks every time at about 1.5-2 lbs for a hunting trigger. You also need to make sure that the middle of the pad of the finger is in the middle of the trigger. If you put too much finger on the trigger, expect groups to be low and right if you are right handed. The situation is worsened by a lousy hard trigger. What rifle did you buy and does it have an adjustable trigger? Once you get a decent trigger, start to apply pressure to the trigger in slow but steady pull. When it goes off, you should see fire/flames in the scope. Make sure to look thru the scope with BOTH eyes open too otherwise you'll close yer eyes and jerk the trigger...like yer doin' now.

 

One of the most frequent mistakes people make when shooting is trying to pull the trigger with the whole finger. Just have the fleshy part of your trigger finger on the trigger, and pull towards you until the shot surprises you. Don't have the trigger in the crotch of the joint. You should NOT anticipate the trigger releasing. All of your concentration should be on the cross-hairs, or front sight of a handgun, or rifle with out a scope. As said before, take a breath, let out some of it, and squeeze. If you can't get the cross-hairs to sit still, let down, and start over. Don't sit there and fight it, the longer you hold, the harder it is to hold it still!

 

Exactly what I was gonna say.

 

First thing I'd do is start with dry fire exercises. Dry fire teaches you to be smooth with the trigger, and learning the pull a little at a time. When pulling the trigger, use the first section of your finger, not the joint, just the upper half. There's generally two ways to breathe, full breath and fire, or full breath, let it out, then fire. (both work) Your problem is anticipation of the shot, whether it's shot noise, or recoil, your first priority is to become comfortable while you're shooting. Relax, take your time, and only focus on the task at hand. Don't think about the shot, just be smooth and sure, let it happen. I'll repeat myself, dry fire exercises will help you tremendously. Use a spent round or a snap cap, as said above, and do it 25-50x a day. After a week you'll find yourself being much more comfortable with the trigger, and won't feel the need to flinch. (even if you know the rifle isn't loaded) Now, head to the range, and do a 50 round dry fire exercise, use proper breathing techniques, and pull the trigger with the tip of your finger. Then fire your rifle until you feel satisfied and stop if you begin to flinch. Eventually, after multiple trips to the range, you will lose the flinch and find yourself producing much tighter, more consistent groups.

 

Umm, but a .22 for the price of putting thousands of '06 downrange, you could buy a 10/22 or something similar and put 10's of thousands of rounds. Get where you can hit animal crackers at 50 yards. I like those cause they explode and you know you hit em. IMHO .30-06 is way to stout to be shooting for a first rifle. it's like trying to teach somone to shoot a pistol with a .44 mag.

I've shot all kinds of heavy rounds and I don't flinch at all. though I had woefully long trigger pulls with all kinds of creep on them. My best trigger was a TC contender pistol. About 2-2.5lbs and it broke like glass. Totally get sights on target, left breath out and apply just a little pressure--bang. It was awesome.

 

Like several have already said, you must get your trigger pull right first. Get a shooting vise. A cheap one should be less than $20. This will allow you to have the gun perfectly still when you are sighting it. This will also allow you to try different types of ammo out to see what your rifle likes. A vise is money well spent. Once you get the rifle shooting right you can then move to other positions without the vise to practice hunting situations.

However, you must deal with you trigger issues first. Until you get that corrected you are wasting your time. Get a snap cap and practice at home on the kitchen table. Make sure your rifle is unloaded, set the rifle in a shooting position and balance a coin on top of the action. Fire the rifle. Keep firing until the coin does not fall off the top of the rifle. Once you can do this go back to the range and do the exact same thing with live ammo.

Now come help me sight in my .375 H&H. A few shots from this bad boy will make that .30-06 seem so much nicer.

 

I'm gonna try these dry fire techniques, sound like they should do the trick. It's not the amount of kick from the .06, its the recoil in general. When I was shooting the 9mm in basic, same thing. I would jerk forward a little bit, and jerk the trigger in anticipation of the recoil/fire.
I've been reading up on trigger adjustments too. I hear they are great, but can be pricey.