Target anxiety....is this a thing?

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fishinwrench

fishinwrench

Member
Nov 25, 2017
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mo
When practicing I have this bucketful of tiny dinosaurs, they're about an inch high and 1.5" wide. I can pick those things off consistently at 40 yards, as well as spinners and field target critter kill zones, no problem.
But put up a paper target and I am lucky to stay in the 8 ring.
It's something about my follow-thru when I shoot at paper, I can feel it.

It takes me a good 30 shots to get sighted in on paper because I only count the shots that "feel right", and honestly only 1/3 of them do when shooting a paper target. I am actually better off sighting in on a soup can because I can see where on the can the pellet hits and adjust accordingly.

I'm just curious if this is a "thing" or if I have some independent weirdness going on.
Just as a test I hung a beer bottle cap on a push pin over the bullseye......and drilled it on the first shot, exploding the push pin as well. Then tried putting 4 more in the bullseye of the paper target.....noway, only one made it, the others were 1/2" to 1.5" off. WTF?
 
Interesting. I face something similar but opposite with my springers. I can shoot a shirt button sized target on paper from 20-25 yards 10 out of 10 times but often miss the best shot placement on doves and pigeons at the same distance even when I have all the time in the world to make the shot.

Have you shot at a clean sheet of paper with a single, hand drawn, off-center dot about 3-5mm in size? can you hold your group with such a target?
 
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Fishinwrench I am the same way and barely ever shoot paper because of it. The paper pysches me out some how. I like reactive targets for fun and paper only to sight in. I think it is because i over think every shot. So now i accept my paper issues and dont do it unless necessary. I would love to do a benchrest competition someday but know it would not happen.
 
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The smaller the target the more you concentate the shot. On a paper target that has a fairly large black dot with little circles on it the large lack dot is harder ro center a shot. Same with the pidgeon, I try to imagine shooting the heart inside the pidgeon instead of seeing the whole bird. 
Try putting a 1/4 inch colored dot on the X ring and see how much easyer it is to hit.
Just my observations anyway
 
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It's an interesting phenomena. Don't know about others, but sometimes, NO anytime I try harder it just gets worse. Sounds crazy but talking with others while I shoot or listening to music improves accuracy. Years ago when I was teaching people to fly some students would get so in their head trying that they couldn't function. Was interesting to watch. Sometimes practicing landings I would roll up a newspaper and poke a student with it to break their concentration and they would do great. Once they realized the cycle they could break the habit. On the other hand some did best when they were in the zone. Just have to find what works for you. Fun to experiment and cost nothing. Just for kicks when you shoot instead of concentrating on your crosshairs visualize the hole appearing exactly in the x-ring. Good luck. Sylvan
 
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I think it is called trying too hard or majoring in the minors and minoring in the majors. When I first started training people to drive an 18 wheeler I was assigned to train a new guy named Jake, his name changed quickly to "Shaky Jake" because he would get tunnel vision trying too hard to get everything right. If he scrubbed a gear or curbed a tire it would bother him so much that he would be absolutely useless behind the wheel for an hour or so. He let the little things bother him so much more than they needed to. I repeatedly told him that the only person who never messes up is the person who never does anything, if you are out here, you are going to make a mistake or two ... learn what you can from it, put it behind you and carry on. He would always say, "But I know I am so much better than that, why do I keep doing it?" I said "because you are trying too hard and you take yourself too seriously, be one with the truck, make it your friend ... not your enemy. Unfortunately for Jake, he never seemed to be able to put these things behind him, got to the point where he couldn't sleep and eventually we had to let him go for the sake of the company and the public ... just too much liability.

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Target panic IS a very real thing. Talk to any competitive archer. I've experienced the phenomenon myself and it's truly miserable. Seems like the closer you push the pin towards the spot, the stronger is the impulse to release the shot. And yes, it can be target specific. I used to shoot in a league with a guy who was a crack shot on 5-spot target but would come completely unglued drawing down on a buck.

I've had my problems with this, and the only thing that 'cured' it was a lot of shooting at such a short range that I could separate the aiming process from the actual shot execution and concentrate on the latter. Whether this approach to the problem will work for anyone else and it may not be appropriate for rifle shooting. But it did cure me of my archery 'yips'.
 
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"Grin_Reaver"Interesting. I face something similar but opposite with my springers. I can shoot a shirt button sized target on paper from 20-25 yards 10 out of 10 times but often miss the best shot placement on doves and pigeons at the same distance even when I have all the time in the world to make the shot.
Have you shot at a clean sheet of paper with a single, hand drawn, off-center dot about 3-5mm in size? can you hold your group with such a target?
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yes and as I said I am ok only about 1 out of 3 shots. I can feel it when the shot is right but I can't control it for the life of me. 
As long as I know that there will be something that happens when I hit....then I'm good, but if the only thing that happens is a hole on a piece of paper I just suck.
 
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I used to be pretty bad at shooting paper but with lots of practice I am getting better. It's very real to panic when shooting paper but for me it's usually when I have a good group then I blow it on the last shot. I get real bored with paper fast though and am good for a few 5 or 10 shot groups and I'm done. I way over think it. But put a pigeon or squirrel on the other end and it's way different. I just am in the zone.
 
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yes and as I said I am ok only about 1 out of 3 shots. I can feel it when the shot is right but I can't control it for the life of me. As long as I know that there will be something that happens when I hit....then I'm good, but if the only thing that happens is a hole on a piece of paper I just suck.
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fishinwrench, try imagining the target dot you're aiming for to be the heart of a squirrel. I'm gonna try that tomorrow morning when it gets light out.

Matt
 
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 I just know that I am doing something differently during that little 1/10 of a second after the trigger breaks if I know that I'm shooting something other than a sheet of paper. I'm watching thru the scope for whatever I'm shooting at to get hit, and that causes me to properly follow thru on the shot. 
I have no idea how to control it and make that happen when all I am looking for thru the scope is for a hole to appear.

This is an airgun specific thing for me. I never had this hangup with powder guns or with archery. That doggone pellet is just taking too long to GTFO of the barrel. 
 
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Yes Target anxiety or Target panic is real and not that uncommon quit a few people suffer from it, it usually affects folks that shoot paper/stationery targets but also can effect some 3-D shooters also whether it’s Airgun, Powder Burners or Archery shooters, over my 40 years of hunting I’ve ran into a few folks that have had this issue at the range and it’s something you need to work over/out in your mind. Put a can out at 50 yards and they will hit it every time put a target out at 50 yards and they are way off and vise versa they can hit paper but not the can.
 
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Well, at least I feel better now that I know I'm not the only one. It's really gotten into my head, I have a sense of dread every time I zero an airgun. The harder I try, the more deliberate I am, the worse I seem to get. Seems like if I just point an shoot without thinking I do better. I first zero at 30 yards, then move back to 40. Above both target brackets I have a homemade spinner made with the head of a carriage bolt that's about 5/8" diameter. I'll get 3/4 to 1" groups at best on paper most times at 40 yards, but if I'm shooting at the spinner above it I almost never miss. I have several galvanized pipe caps drilled and suspended from a piece of wire scattered all over my yard, anywhere from 25 to 40 yards. I enjoy shooting these because after the first hit you have a moving target. Once the arc slows to about 12-14" they become almost too easy to hit. Just makes no sense to me.
 
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When I first got my Crown last November I was amazed at the accuracy, but didn't have a lot if time to go to the range before it got too cold.

Since then I pop off sparrows at 75 yards at will, something I could not do with my Marauder. 

In the last week I've hit the range 3 times and can't even hit the target at 50 yards as well as I did with the Marauder, or even as I did last November with the Crown, and I know exactly why.

I know the gun is far more accurate than any airgun I've ever shot, and and no doubt better than I am. That puts a huge amount of self induced preasure on me to live up to the gun.

I'm making soo many mistakes, it's like 50 years ago when I was first learning! Well, not that bad, but still.

Yup, shooting is mostly mental, and most anything can distract
 
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PerkyVal, I don't know that this matters, but it happened on my Crown. It was shooting really well and I put maybe 500 pellets through it. Then I put it away and got occupied with my Wildcats. After a month or so I came back to the Crown and it shot for crap.

I figured the leading in of the barrel must have oxidized or something and changed the way the pellets went down the barrel. So I gave it a good cleaning and voila! Back on the mark. So maybe clean it?

Crusher
 
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