Quote Originally Posted by TheBelly View Post
I'm trying to practice a bit for this by making my own stupid little 3"x6" targets drawn on a piece of paper and staple them out there.
Perfect idea, not stupid.

Good practice for matches like this is not just shooting at a chunk of steel. Sure it is fun watching it get tossed around like a rag doll, but... You might have hit it, but was it left edge, center or what. You will only know for a shot or two until the fresh paint is gone and it is a grey blob.

I have a bunch of 8x10 paper targets I made up. White target on a black background and the opposite. The crosshairs show up well against the white target. Being a small target on a big chunk of paper you can learn from your misses instead of just saying "Well I missed."

I started doing exactly that when I was shooing IHMSA Silhouette hard. Air gun training in the basement and lots of rounds downrange. I was able to progress rapidly and won a match or two along the way.

After two years of these PD matches I went out to slay some real prairie dogs. Everything inside 350 yards was easy. Before that my comfort was maybe 250 yards with my 22-250 or 220 Swift. I might fling a bullet at the 400-500 yards dogs, but I was just kinda guessing where it would go.