If you’ve been shooting 20 years or more, what advice do you wish someone told you early on?

[Alan]

If you've been shooting for 20+ years, what tips would you give new shooters? Let’s hear the wisdom from the veterans of the range.

 

[Indigo22]

I worked with a gunsmith for a while back in the 80's... He knew his way around 1911's quite well and taught me a few things. His standard phrase was that it cost the same amount of money to make a 1911 either accurate or reliable. To do both the cost was often double and sometimes triple as a result. He advised to choose one of the first two options with the understanding that you may or may not get lucky and have the other option along with your first choice.
He taught me how to make mine ultra reliable and as a result my Combat Commander would shoot any ammo I fed it including the Speer Lawman 200gr "flying ashtray" HP's. After changing the sights to Millet's, front and rear, as the previous owner had taken a file to the rear sight and widened it a bit. I found I was one of the lucky ones and could shoot walnut sized groups at 20 yards.... over bags of course... off hand they were closer to fist sized. As a side note the pistol was Electroless Nickle and the trigger pull was 11-lbs when I bought it, after the work was done it had a 4-lb butter smooth pull. Simply an amazing gun.

 

[critterpicker]

I had Bill Blankenship (held more Camp Perry records than any other handgun shooter) ignore your wobble,everybody does it. Just concentrate on keeping the rear sight aligned with the front sight. What causes the cone effect is the front sight not aligning with the rear sight.

If you keep your front and rear sight aligned and your wobble area is smaller than the 10 ring , your group will all be in the 10 ring.

 

[Alan]

I worked with a gunsmith for a while back in the 80's... He knew his way around 1911's quite well and taught me a few things. His standard phrase was that it cost the same amount of money to make a 1911 either accurate or reliable. To do both the cost was often double and sometimes triple as a result. He advised to choose one of the first two options with the understanding that you may or may not get lucky and have the other option along with your first choice.
He taught me how to make mine ultra reliable and as a result my Combat Commander would shoot any ammo I fed it including the Speer Lawman 200gr "flying ashtray" HP's. After changing the sights to Millet's, front and rear, as the previous owner had taken a file to the rear sight and widened it a bit. I found I was one of the lucky ones and could shoot walnut sized groups at 20 yards.... over bags of course... off hand they were closer to fist sized. As a side note the pistol was Electroless Nickle and the trigger pull was 11-lbs when I bought it, after the work was done it had a 4-lb butter smooth pull. Simply an amazing gun.

That tradeoff between accuracy and reliability is so real, and your experience shows how expertise and careful work can sometimes let you have the best of both worlds

 

[Alan]

I had Bill Blankenship (held more Camp Perry records than any other handgun shooter) ignore your wobble,everybody does it. Just concentrate on keeping the rear sight aligned with the front sight. What causes the cone effect is the front sight not aligning with the rear sight.

If you keep your front and rear sight aligned and your wobble area is smaller than the 10 ring , your group will all be in the 10 ring.

Great advice!