Accuracy of the Long Straight-in Shot

Jen_Cen

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Someone told me that making this shot is the accuracy equivalent of hitting a dime with a rifle bullet 100 yards away. I call BS. What do you think?

CueTable Help

 
Someone told me that making this shot is the accuracy equivalent of hitting a dime with a rifle bullet 100 yards away. I call BS. What do you think?

CueTable Help


Well- maybe more like hitting a basketball at 100 yards-from a standing position (without a rifle rest) after you have sighted in the rifle.

It will test your fundamentals.

Thats why its a good drill/ warm up shot. Immediate feedback as to how you are hitten em that day.

Not my favorite shot at crunch time.

On HT Bellflower's Big Bertha golf table/dime at 100 yards
 
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You all can see 100 yards away?? :wink:

I have a hard time reading a sign as big as my car from
100 yards away.......................:eek:

td
 
This is an ideal question for ShootingArts (aka Hu) who does competitive shooting from what I remember.

I googled the size of a dime (about .7 in.) and then for "accuracy grouping 100 yards" and found several people making reference to successfully grouping several shots into a .5" - 1" circle at 100 yards.

In a forum, one guy said something to the effect of "I've made a .6" grouping at 100 yards with 5 shots... never bragged about it on the internet, I thought it was fairly common." Another poster replied to agree. It sounds like it's great shooting but not uncommonly great.

And I think that's a fair description of hitting a shot like this 5 times in a row. Actually, I may wonder if this shot is harder to hit 5x in a row than the rifle shot. It really is quite difficult even for those with great fundamentals.

My initial reaction was "BS" when I read the title too, then I wanted to say it's apples to oranges... but both shooting situations require careful aim and perfect muscle control to execute. I don't know if holding something perfectly still is more or less difficult than the muscle control needed to repeat a motion with perfect consistency.

I think your buddy made a pretty interesting and accurate comparison. If anyone thinks this shot is not a ballbreaker, get down on a 9 footer and try it sometime.
 
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Someone told me that making this shot is the accuracy equivalent of hitting a dime with a rifle bullet 100 yards away. I call BS. What do you think?

CueTable Help


I just shot it 10 times and made it 6 with the cueball closer to the jaw of the pocket. If I ever fire a rifle at a dime from a 100 yards I will let you know which is more difficult. (I once explained the best way to shoot straight in shots in my opinion but no one cared.)
 
Make it so that you either follow the cue ball to the same pocket as the object ball or draw back to the corner pocket nearest where you're shooting from and you have a shot that really tests your skills. :-)
 
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It will test your fundamentals.

Thats why its a good drill/ warm up shot. Immediate feedback as to how you are hitten em that day.

I don't know if I'd call this a good warm up shot. If anything you probably want to wait until you are already warmed up to practice it.

I think a lot about the mental aspects of the game. In my opinion, and feel free to argue this one, when warming up you should shoot easy shots that you are 100% sure of making every single time.....unless some act of God blows through to make you miss it. Hear me out though. No matter how much confidence you have in your game your subconscious mind is really the one in control. So, I think you need to feed it positive reinforcement before you play. If you go in and set up something like this long straight in shot you're basically dooming yourself for failure. Unless you are in dead stroke right out of the gate you're going to miss this more than you're going to make it. Every time you miss it you'll be saying to yourself "Man, I'm not shooting good today" and although you may consciously think that you can overcome it, your subconscious mind isn't letting you out of it. You're already programming yourself for shooting bad and missing shots. You're filling it with negative junk.

Now, on the other hand, if you start out with easy shots your subconscious mind is seeing those balls go in and is getting positive vibes from it. Start with 10 shots or so that you *KNOW* you won't miss. After that, challenge it a little, but don't make it tough. Simple cut shots work well. Get your mind into seeing the balls going into the pocket. Then move on to some 2 and 3 ball shots where you have to play position, again, easy shots and easy positions. Don't even practice those hard shots for warm up. Just keep making balls and making positions and keep feeding your brain with positive reinforcement. I guarantee you will shoot better and win more matches.
MULLY
and you'll make more of those tougher shots when they do come up
 
This is an ideal question for ShootingArts (aka Hu) who does competitive shooting from what I remember.

I googled the size of a dime (about .7 in.) and then for "accuracy grouping 100 yards" and found several people making reference to successfully grouping several shots into a .5" - 1" circle at 100 yards.

In a forum, one guy said something to the effect of "I've made a .6" grouping at 100 yards with 5 shots... never bragged about it on the internet, I thought it was fairly common." Another poster replied to agree. It sounds like it's great shooting but not uncommonly great.

And I think that's a fair description of hitting a shot like this 5 times in a row. Actually, I may wonder if this shot is harder to hit 5x in a row than the rifle shot. It really is quite difficult even for those with great fundamentals.

My initial reaction was "BS" when I read the title too, then I wanted to say it's apples to oranges... but both shooting situations require careful aim and perfect muscle control to execute. I don't know if holding something perfectly still is more or less difficult than the muscle control needed to repeat a motion with perfect consistency.

I think your buddy made a pretty interesting and accurate comparison. If anyone thinks this shot is not a ballbreaker, get down on a 9 footer and try it sometime.

Good post! You make some valid points here my friend, but there is even more to shooting sub 1 inch groups. Like anything else, there are soooo many factors involved in shooting a rifle. If the bore is too dirty, bad group. If the bullets are not top quality, bad groups. If the rifle bore is not high quality, bad groups, not to mention temperature, humidity, elevation, wind, etc. It also depends on what caliber the gun is, a .22 short from a hundy is a real tough one, but a .243 with a 70 grain vmax is a whole lot easier. There are way more variables in target shooting than there are in pool. Ive shot 2" groups repeatedly, then my group spread to 6"+ due to a cheaply made gun, and cheaper ammo that fouled the barrel so bad I was surprised it didnt blow up! lol! Id say the dime at a hundy is by far a harder challenge to the majority of people, but like you said, its apples and oranges, and that straight in long table shot is no piece of cake either!



Joe
 
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I agree

I don't know if I'd call this a good warm up shot. If anything you probably want to wait until you are already warmed up to practice it.

I think a lot about the mental aspects of the game. In my opinion, and feel free to argue this one, when warming up you should shoot easy shots that you are 100% sure of making every single time.....unless some act of God blows through to make you miss it. Hear me out though. No matter how much confidence you have in your game your subconscious mind is really the one in control. So, I think you need to feed it positive reinforcement before you play. If you go in and set up something like this long straight in shot you're basically dooming yourself for failure. Unless you are in dead stroke right out of the gate you're going to miss this more than you're going to make it. Every time you miss it you'll be saying to yourself "Man, I'm not shooting good today" and although you may consciously think that you can overcome it, your subconscious mind isn't letting you out of it. You're already programming yourself for shooting bad and missing shots. You're filling it with negative junk.

Now, on the other hand, if you start out with easy shots your subconscious mind is seeing those balls go in and is getting positive vibes from it. Start with 10 shots or so that you *KNOW* you won't miss. After that, challenge it a little, but don't make it tough. Simple cut shots work well. Get your mind into seeing the balls going into the pocket. Then move on to some 2 and 3 ball shots where you have to play position, again, easy shots and easy positions. Don't even practice those hard shots for warm up. Just keep making balls and making positions and keep feeding your brain with positive reinforcement. I guarantee you will shoot better and win more matches.
MULLY
and you'll make more of those tougher shots when they do come up

We're on the same page.

For cold warm up-I put out all the balls loosely grouped in the center and shoot mostly stop shots using all the pockets trying to not go to a rail with the CB.

Then other confidence builders-1/2 ball cuts/ then finally the illustrated straight-ins out of the corner but starting at closer distances/ working to the center with the OB and beyond if fundamentals are clicking.

You are right-if warm ups are not going so great-I just hope I survive long enough to get in stroke during the match-otherwise it will be time for more drills. (piling rocks?)

Take care.

PS: Wayne-If you are drilling this 6/10 times-I'm interested in hearing how you like to approach this shot. I would think many here would be too.
 
I scoff when people suggest these are the hardest shots in pool. I build up to this shot when warming up and eventually I'm drawing back to the end rail from here.

Course I have an eight foot table.
 
Aiming straight In

Hello everyone, A guy once showed me how he aims a straight in shot and it does work...You aim the cue ball at the pocket not the OB, as the cue is going to the pocket it takes the OB with it...Now I know it sounds crazy but it does work...Persoally I swivel them in...I did use that system for a while...

Regards Ron V.

P.S take it easy on me with this one guys
 
I just shot it 10 times and made it 6 with the cueball closer to the jaw of the pocket. If I ever fire a rifle at a dime from a 100 yards I will let you know which is more difficult. (I once explained the best way to shoot straight in shots in my opinion but no one cared.)

Do you think 60% is normal for you, or did it feel like you were hitting 'em better or worse than usual?

Don't be sad, lots of opinions and info pass through the forums every day, and some of them just don't ping on people's radar for some reason. Maybe it's a well known trick. Was it to aim as if shooting the cue ball to the center of the pocket, pretending the object ball wasn't even there? That one's a classic.
 
a very hard shot here. you can't really stroke this. 6/10 is really good under game conditions.

im sure if its not the equivelant its somewhere near it.
 
If your shooting fundamentals are good in both situations it's doable. There are a bunch of external factors in shooting that you don't need to deal with on cloth. Wind, atmospheric conditions, bugs, potential idiots with guns, the guy next to you who thought it would be cool to buy a surplus howitzer for an tiny deer, ect.

The only real difference I can see is that when you're shooting you're trying to stay in a sort of static equilibrium until the gun goes off (off a bench anyway). You're nearly fully supported. You only use muscles to adjust the aim of the gun. In pool you're after a much more dynamic equilibrium. You have to support yourself at the table and get a consistent stroke. It's usually not hard to stand at the table but properly addressing the ball is complicated if you really break it down. Every shot is different. Your feet and bridge end up in different locations relative to eachother. Some shots are over the rail and some you might have to reach for. You have to accommodate for all these variables to make your shots consistent.

There is also a much more important equipment variable with shooting. Most people who are capable of doing the long strait in shot with their personal cue can also do it with a bar cue. Most production guns made today just aren't capable of consistently hitting a dime at 100 yards.

I'd say that the long strait in shot is easier than hitting a dime at 100. Or I guess you could say I am a better pool player than shooter. Not surprising. I wouldn't be as good at pool if it cost fifty cents and up per shot.

This is one of those apples to oranges comparisons. It really varies from person to person. Given proper equipment and good technique just about anyone could do both. Depends on who is willing to put the work in.
 
I think the point is to use this shot to build a foundation for ones game.

Pot 100 of these every day to build a repeatable stroke. It's vital that the cb either follow or draw directly towards the hole.
 
I guess what my friend was suggesting is that it is the mathematical equivalent of the rifle shot. You know, taking into account the margin of error of each shot.
 
This is an ideal question for ShootingArts (aka Hu) who does competitive shooting from what I remember.


I too have competed in benchrest shooting matches. Not to brag, but I won our shooting club's "Club Champion-Rifle Shooter" award in 1999.

There are many classifications of rifles. Some have iron sights while some are scoped. There are plinkers, hunting rifles, varmint rifles, military rifles, true benchrest rifles, and other forms in between these. I have a varmint rifle in caliber .22-250 Remington that will consistently put a 5-shot group in less than 1/2" at 100 yards day in and day out. Then you can go up to benchrest quality rifles that will consistently (if the shooter does his part) put a 10-shot group into the target that is nothing but a single ragged hole. These guns are so accurate that in some benchrest competitions, they use a battery operated spinning cardboard plate behind the target to prove that 10 shots were fired (it's kinda hard to count 'em when there is just ONE hole). The OP did not specify as to which type of rifle would have been used, but I can tell you that the long straight in pool shot she diagrammed would be about a 40 to 50 percent shot for me on a good day while I could hit a dime at a hundred yards with my best varmint rifle (I know longer own a benchrest rifle) probably 60 to 70 percent of the time on a good day. I could have hit the dime almost EVERY time with my old benchrest rifle.

So IMO, I think making the long, straight-in pool shot is harder.

Maniac
 
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