How to shoot

The following guidance was taken from an article on long-range shooting in in Field and Stream. (Field and Stream is by some distance the best shooting and hunting magazine currently published.)
The article is based around a training session with Gary Smith, a ­precision-​rifle instructor at Gunsite Academy.

Ethical range
Your ethical range Is the distance at which you can make the shot 10 times out of 10. Otherwise, you’re too far away.
Hunt better.
Get closer.

Trigger control
The trigger hand comprises three parts:

• The last three fingers are a unit whose job is to snug the butt into your shoulder.
• The thumb lies lightly alongside your trigger finger (not around the rifle’s grip), barely touching the gun, and its job is to do nothing, so as not to introduce torque.
• Last is your trigger finger, and its only job is to press straight back at a 90-degree angle, applying slow and steady pressure until—and after—the trigger breaks.

Accept the wobble
Wobble in the sight picture is unavoidable. Instead of correcting it, you need to trust it—because your aim will always return to the target.

Focus on the reticle, not the target
Your eye can only focus in one plane at a time. Don’t focus on the target. Focus on the reticle instead, and it will find the centre as the target blurs slightly.
If the target is crystal clear, the reticle is probably not on the absolute middle of it.

Breathe …
Find your natural pause point when you breathe.
Take a breath and let out as much as feels right.
That’s a place your body likes and can find again.
That’s where you want to shoot from.

Breathe again …
Your eye muscles are the smallest and weakest in your body, and start to lose focus in as little as eight seconds without oxygen.
If you go that long without shooting, breathe again.

Learn the wind
Wind is the most critical factor at distance. And the only way to learn about wind is to put a bullet through it.
There are two places where the wind has almost no effect: at the muzzle and at the target.
Two-thirds of the way to the target is where the bullet has traveled far enough that small forces have big effects.
That’s where you want to know what the wind is doing.

Straight body
Put your body straight behind the rifle.
Recoil starts before the bullet leaves the muzzle.
By positioning your body directly behind the gun, you’ll be more accurate.

Trust your rifle
Your rifle shoots much better than you.
Your job is to line up the sights and get out of the way.

Act naturally
Find your natural point of aim where you point the weapon instinctively once you relax into a position.
Get set up behind the scope and get on target.
Then shut your eyes, take a couple of breaths, relax, and open your eyes to see where the crosshairs are.
If they’re still on target, good.
If not, squirm around until they are.
That’s your natural point of aim.
That’s the position from which you’ll have the best accuracy.