Answering the Question: Why Good Marksmanship is Important The Everyday Marksman

A good shot must necessarily be a good man since the essence of good marksmanship is self-control and self-control is the essential quality of a good man.





Theodore Roosevelt



I don't know why this question has been on my mind lately, but I've felt compelled to try and put words to my answer. Why is good marksmanship important? What do we get from learning and practicing it?



I think there's an assumption within the gun world that everyone already knows that marksmanship is important. But I don't think most people actually care.



In a way, it's a lot like cars. A lot of people are into cars, enjoy looking at cars, talking about them, and even driving them, but there's still a lot of people out there who are absolutely terrible drivers. Shooting is similar in a lot of ways. Owning firearms does not automatically confer some magical ability to be a good shot.

Related Links



* John Simpson's Interview

* Russ Miller's Interview

* Derrick Bartlett's Interview

* Amanda Banta's Interview

* Atomic Habits by James Clear



The Three Benefits

If I'm trying to narrow down the benefits of learning good marksmanship, it comes down to three major themes: confidence, capability, and character. Hmmm...I might have to start calling that the "Three C's."

Confidence

There's a lot of scared people out there. For whatever reason, a lot of people today don't like to think about what they would do in an emergency situation. Most people probably don't even think they are capable of handling themselves effectively.



I argue that learning how to shoot well translates into confidence. I remember a time when I first taught my wife how to land hits at 300, 400, and even 500 yards consistently. For days afterward, she would look at something off in the distance and say, "I bet I could hit that."



What strikes me about that statement is the shift towards betting on yourself to accomplish it. The more you learn and practice with firearms, the more confident you become that you'll be able to protect yourself.

Capability

While the first C, confidence, is about improving your self-image the next one is about improving your actual capabilities. A lot of gun owners out there don't actually practice very much.



The military doesn't teach rifle marksmanship. It teaches equipment familiarity. Despite what the officer corps thinks, learning to shoot a rifle is not like learning to drive a car. Instead, it is like learning to play the violin....The equipment familiarity learning curve comes up quick, but then the rifle marksmanship continuation of the curve rises very slowly....by shooting one careful shot at a time, carefully inspecting the result (and the cause).





Daryl Davis



I recall one particular range trip shortly after I built my first AR, the recce. I took a little flack from another shooter at the range because of my underpowered .223 rifle compared to his 300 Win Mag. But after a few rounds of shooting, I was clearly the better marksman and it was obvious why he thought he needed 300 Win Mag for deer.



There's no getting around the fact that improving your marksmanship skills directly affects your capability to provide food, protect yourself, and survive. But it requires work.

Character

I opened the episode with a quote from Teddy Roosevelt.