Competitive Shooting Tips from Patrick Kelley

Anyone who has the itch to compete in action shooting sports has the natural inclination to improving their skills and their scores. Often times what separates good shooters from great shooters is improving basic skills to the point of becoming second nature. These subtle improvements add up over the range of skills you need as a competitive shooter and result in higher scores, less time, greater accuracy, and more spots on the leaderboard. Champion shooter and "King of Heavy Metal" in 3-Gun, Patrick Kelley shares his favorite competitive shooting tips. 

A Better Way To Shoot Off-Hand

This is one of our favorite competitive shooting tips from Kelley, but hunters and plinkers can use this as well! No matter what you shoot, eventually you're probably going to have to make a quick, accurate off-hand shot. Shooting off-hand is tricky because no matter how steady you are, everyone has a bit of natural vibration to their body, which means that your sights can look wobbly when you're trying to get a shot off. Rather than fight this natural motion that comes from shooting without a rest, Kelley uses it to his advantage to shoot faster and more precisely. 

To see this natural movement in action, shoulder the rifle, hold it near the magazine, elbow on your hip and kick your hip out. You should see the muzzle start to move gently in a figure-8 pattern. This is your wobble zone. When you pull the trigger, you'll get a shot in your wobble zone. Kelley explains that if you have an 8-ring wobble zone, you'll always shoot an 8 or better. Time and accuracy are of the essence to Kelley and all practical shooters in competitive or hunting situations. 

The key is to apply energy into your muzzle. That starts with holding the gun closer to the muzzle so you have better ability to control it and move the muzzle where you want it to go. Kelley compares it to pointing a laser pointer at the wall. If you hold it steady, you'll see it move and bounce with your natural vibration. But as soon as your apply energy into it and try to draw a smooth line on the wall, the wobbles in the laser pointer will go away (caution: your cat might go nuts on this one). The same is true when you're running your rifle off-hand. 

To practice this, Kelley recommends shooting at a longer distance (150 yards or more),apply energy into your muzzle and come at the target from the bottom. This is called approach shooting. You approach the target from one direction instead of shooting your wobble zone. At longer distances, approach the target from the bottom, somewhere between 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock. If you approach from the top, you won't be able to see the target because your gun and optic will obstruct your view. "If the targets are closer, I tend to approach from 9 o'clock. On a plate rack at 60 yards, I tend to work my way just across because speed is of the essence and I can drive the gun across the targets," says Kelley. But you should get to the range and practice to see what works best for you. 

Work your crosshairs onto the hit zone of your target and at the same time, apply positive pressure to the trigger. "It's a timing shot to be sure, so you actually have to have very good trigger control," says Kelley (but of course everyone needs good trigger control to be a good shooter). Bottom line: let the shot break as you move onto the target. If you're moving the gun fast, you need to let it break sooner. If you're moving the gun slowly, then you have a little more time. As you practice and shoot different distances, you'll start to get a feel for when to break the shot. 

"You'll find that approach shooting will add a few more points to your score, lessen your time on the clock and make all the rest of the positions you're shooting a little bit easier because once you can do it off-hand, you can do it from just about anywhere," says Kelley.

Learn from Position Practice

If you're competing in a discipline like 3-Gun or PRS, you'll find yourself in a variety of different shooting positions and each of them look different in your scope. Your wobble zone and recoil impulse will change drastically based on your shooting position. Kelley reveals how several common scenarios affect rifle behavior and explains what he does to ensure he's always on target and ready to compete. 

The key to shooting better any position is getting comfortable with how your target looks in your optic in order to break shots cleanly. Kelley demonstrates on a tiered structured with three shooting levels. On the top tier, the best thing to do is simply rest your forend on top of the tier, your reticle will move horizontally side to side. The up and down movement is taken care of by your body and the tier. 

Kelley demonstrates another position where he kneels and braces the forend of his MSR on the top of a lower tier. Many shooters would be tempted to brace their elbow on their knee, but that depends on the size and shape of your body. Kelley explains that he's too tall for this and can't get his elbow down to his knee and maintain proper position in his upper body to make the shots. Instead, he pushes the gun forward so the magazine well rests against the wall, reaches over the top with his left hand, and braces his forearm against the wall and grips the forend of the gun. He pushes forward and down to give a more stable platform. The reticle makes tiny, circular motions that's easy to break a shot. 

At the lowest level of a tiered structure, Kelley prefers reverse kneeling. He braces his right elbow on his right knee, creating bone on bone contact. He rests the forend of the rifle wherever it needs to be to maintain his elbow and knee contact and reaches his left hand as far forward as he can. With so many points of contact, the reticle should have very minimal movement. 

"It's incumbent upon you to learn every position and recognize the reticle movement so you can break clean shots at speed," says Kelley. 

Faster Target Transitions

In action shooting sports, the ability to shoot quickly only gets you so far. You must also minimize the time it takes to transition from one target to the next. This is how top competitors shave fractions of seconds off the clock. At any given stage, top shooters like Kelley plan out how they're going to approach each target and in what order. Kelley explains that the key is to lead with your eyes. Your eyes are the fastest muscle in your body. After your break the shot on the first target, your eyes should move to the second target first, head stays on the stock and move your gun to follow your eyes. "The real time savings is moving between one target and the next. Lots of guys can pull the trigger fast. Not everyone can move from one target to the next efficiently with accuracy," says Kelley. Work on transitioning between targets faster and you'll see your clock time start to decrease. 

Shooter Better On The Move

In a game like 3-Gun, time is of the essence! Shooting while your feet are moving is the best way to cut down your time on the clock... but the trick is, you have to be accurate. Fast and accurate. Easier said than done. You could just post up in one spot and shoot your targets. But in 3-Gun, you have to move through the course of fire anyways, so you might as well engage the targets on your way there. The key to going fast is in your legs and in your running technique. Bend your knees, heel to toe, and keep moving your feet moving forward. It's as simple as that, but you need to practice in order for it to become second nature. 

Use these competitive shooting tips from Patrick Kelley and you should see your scores increase and your clock times decrease!