Whether you’re a beginner starting your gun ownership and shooting journey, an expert, or place your marksmanship somewhere in between, there’s always something you can improve to get better precision, accuracy, and results with your AR-15. Accurate shooting with an AR-15
starts with fundamentals.
Ammunition and prior gun exposure play a vital role in improving your shooting skills, but perhaps the most important thing is buying a quality AR-15 and relevant firearm accessories. In
addition, the way you hold the gun is essential in improving your shooting skills. Here are a few tips that will help strengthen your AR-15 marksmanship.
Improve Grip Technique
As mentioned, a good grip is critical in where you place your rounds. There’s no right or wrong grip technique. It is highly subjective, meaning that what works for someone else might not necessarily work for you. It all comes down to finding the one that best works for you.
Remember, your body possesses a natural awareness of your unique movement, balance, and location patterns, better known as proprioception. Letting your instincts guide you will help you
get better control over the muzzle without having to work extra hard.
Your forward hand is vital because it provides a stable shooting platform. If you visit a local gun range to fire some rounds with your AR-15, you’d see shooters using various grip techniques.
One significant difference in techniques is where you place your support arm and hand during the operation. While some prefer to keep their support arm underneath the handguard, others
prefer using the support arm as forward on the handguard as possible.
With some practice, you can become quite proficient with some of the primary grip techniques on the AR-15. Here are some standard methods you should understand that are widely used by AR-15 shooters.
C-Clamp
The C-Clamp grip technique is quite common among AR-15 enthusiasts. The style helps to reduce recoil and muzzle rise. It also helps keep a clear sight picture. This technique also assists
users in greater mobility and transitions between targets.
To perfect the C-Clamp technique, you need to extend your support arm down the length of the handguard. Next, place your hand below the guard with palms facing up and index finger pointed towards the barrel’s end.
Thumb placement depends on whatever you’re comfortable with. You can either place the thumb beside your palm or wrap it on the top of your rifle. You can ace the grip with or without
a vertical or angled foregrip.
Magwell Hold
The Magwell hold is a classing technique. Out of every technique, the Magwell can be the most comfortable. The technique lets you put your arms close to the body and counter the rifle’s
weight against your torso, reducing fatigue. In addition, the Magwell hold provides limited recoil management and is best used when engaging short-range targets.
To perfect the grip, place your trigger hand on the lower receiver, and the support hand goes onto the magazine well. Next, make sure your fingers clamp the magazine well on one side and your thumb on the other. To refine the grip further, consider adding an aftermarket Magwell
grip attachment.
Aftermarket Foregrips
You can opt for aftermarket foregrips attached to Ar-15s with rail handguards. The grip lets you keep the gun close to the shoulder to absorb maximum recoil. In addition, the grip is excellent
for greater mobility, field view, and firing with accuracy from any shooting position. Typically, you can find two foregrip styles:
Vertical foregrips
Angled foregrips
When using a vertical foregrip, position it as far as possible to ensure your support arm aligns with the barrel. This leads to a swift target acquisition and an intuitive barrel swing.
On the other hand, if you plan to use an angled foregrip, the hand is supposed to be more in line with the bore. Make sure to wrap your support hand around the grip to maintain consistent
backward pressure on your shoulders.
Master the Essentials
Using the right grip is one of the essentials you need to get right to improve your shooting skills.
Unfortunately, Hollywood does an excellent job of portraying shooting as nice and easy when, in reality, it's not. You must master the fundamentals to give yourself the best possible chance
of shooting accurately. Apart from the grip, you must pay attention to your buttstock
placement.
The buttstock should sit firmly inside the shoulder pocket. It helps the AR-15’s stability when aiming at the target and recoil absorption after firing. Your elbow placement is also essential
when shooting your AR-15. You must ensure that elbows are tucked in and against your body. They naturally tend to rise; when they do, you’ll suffer instability and inaccuracy during your
shot.
Believe it or not, breathing plays an important role in your shooting accuracy. When your chest rises and falls during breathing, the rifle moves with it. If you fire during the motion, you’re
likely to be less accurate. Therefore, slow your breathing as much as possible and aim to shoot during the natural pause right after exhaling.
Trigger squeeze is also important to prevent the rifle from moving. A slow, steady, and relaxed squeeze is the way to go, as it keeps the rifle stationary. When the AR-15 fires, pause for a
moment before releasing the trigger. Gradually release it so you can get a proper feel of the reset.
Shoot From All Positions
If you only shoot from the bench every time you visit a gun range, you are only refining a section of your shooting skills. To become a well-rounded marksman, you must shoot from all
four primary positions and build your skills.
It would help if you practiced the standing position, which is ideal for targets under 200 yards. Even though it provides the least stability, especially if you’re a beginner, it is fast, and you
conduct a shot almost immediately.
Kneeling is another primary position you should look to practice. Once you get a hold of this position, you can easily hit accurate targets 200-300 yards away. Braced, double-knee, and
speed-kneeling are three different variants of the kneeling position.
You can practice shooting while sitting with your legs crossed. While seated, you can rest your elbows and give ample support to the AR-15 for precise and accurate shooting. You can also practice the prone position, perhaps the most stable of the four primary positions.
With the right AR-15 barrel, accurate technique, and the right prone position, you can provide a stable base that will help you shoot up to 600 yards.
Regular Practice
The only way to improve in shooting or any other sport or skill is to practice regularly. You can’t expect to become an expert, accurate shooter overnight. Many professionals visit their local
gun range regularly to enhance their rifle skills. In addition, whenever you practice, use the right technique and correct fundamentals when you handle the rifle.
Work around your busy schedule to fit in a time when you can focus on your practice. With regular practice, you’ll develop strong muscle memory as shooting with the right technique and
position becomes second nature, and you become more comfortable with the AR-15. Plus, visiting your local gun range regularly also allows you to meet new people and shoot your stress
away!
Improve Your AR-15
You can’t expect to shoot accurately and consistently with a substandard rifle. That said, AR-15s are very accurate, and you can customize these weapons to your liking. There are various
options available for more or less each component of the gun. In addition, there are other options that can also improve the aesthetics of your gun.
However, you must consider improving your barrels to upgrade your AR-15 for greater accuracy, precision, and cleaner shots. In most stock AR-15s, you’ll see 16-inch barrels.
Upgrading to an 18 inch version, a longer aftermarket barrel, will help you with more accurate shots. In addition, the 18-inch barrel shoots at a higher velocity and a flatter trajectory without
adding much weight.
Due to the velocity, the round will also spend less time traveling to the target. It also minimizes the impact of other factors, such as wind drift and drop rate, resulting in more accurate shots.
You can go even further and get a longer barrel with a heavy contour. It will help you with better heat management, resulting in rounds being on target.
You can also consider upgrading your trigger to have better control over your shots. A clean break and a lighter pull will undoubtedly significantly impact your shooting because they will minimize side-to-side inaccuracy. In addition, you can choose various trigger styles for greater
precision.
You can go with the single-stage trigger, which moves very little and feels like you’re pressing a button. It may lessen your chance of pulling or pushing a shot. On the other hand, you can go
with a two-stage trigger which provides a break-wall during the pull. It lets you know when you’re ready to fire to get an accurate sight of your target.
Within the categories mentioned above, you can also find different shoe styles. Curved triggers ensure that your fingers return to the original position after every shot, leading to consistency
and reliability when firing. Straight triggers allow you to place your fingers where you find them most comfortable. The license to freedom will enable you to control the trigger weight, leading
to a smooth pull.
Apart from triggers, you can also invest in a quality buttstock to improve your AR-15 and subsequent shooting skills. While foldable stocks are popular and great for tactical scenes, fixed
stocks offer more accuracy over long-distance shooting.
You can choose a buttstock that offers impeccable benefits such as increased recoil absorption, extra shoulder grip, and a comfortable area to place your cheeks when aiming at targets.
Furthermore, changing buttstock is not much of a hassle. All you need is a screwdriver or a castle nut wrench.
Now that you understand how to improve your AR-15 shooting skills, it is time to go ahead and equip yourself with the best rifle to help you become a better shooter. When buying an AR-15,
you should do your due diligence and look for a reliable supplier and manufacturer that stocks
high-quality products.
Don’t settle for a substandard or cheap AR-15, as it wouldn’t help to improve your shooting skills. On the other hand, you need to create a budget and ensure you don’t exceed it. As a
beginner, spending on an expensive gun can be unwise when you don’t know how to use it properly.
As a newbie, you can always work with a stock AR-15 to build your skills. Eventually, you can add accessories to upgrade and customize it to your liking. Accessories like scopes can
significantly impact your accuracy and shooting skills.
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