What is the best distance from the target for slingshot practice?

At what distance from your target should you practice, and should you practice shooting at different distances? This question regards the distance you should be from your target when you are practicing, and whether or not it is beneficial to practice at varying distances from the target, or stick with the standard 10 m slingshot tournament distance.

Next up is a great question about target shooting. We all know we need to practice and practice often if we want to succeed at slingshot shooting, but how far should we be from our target while shooting?

We know that standard tournament slingshot shooting targets are placed at 10 m, but does that mean you should always practice at 10 m when you're not on the line at a tournament? The fact is: the distance you should be from your target depends on your skill level at slingshot shooting. If you are just starting out shooting a slingshot 10 m might be a too far.

The key is that you want to have success shooting your slingshot!
If you're having success at slingshot shooting, then you will be seeing a pattern in the placement of your shots on the target. If your shots are flying wild and erratic so that you can't see where they are heading, then shooting at that distance will be a hindrance. If you can identify a clear pattern to where your shots are landing, then try just 12 to 15 feet away until you see that pattern.

Also, (Nathan talks about this in his Slingshot Mastery course: Foundations) shoot at a large piece of paper. Maybe even a pizza box or posterboard. There's a lot more to it than this, but the gist of it is to make sure that your paper is large enough to catch all your shots so that you can see any grouping. As tempting as it is to start out with a spinner or a can that is super fun to smash with a slingshot, if you can't hit that target consistently, I'm gonna know where your shots are landing and therefore you won't know how to improve your shooting.

Now for the question about shooting at unknown distances with a slingshot. Few things are more rewarding than walking through the woods and hitting targets at unknown distances. We recommend shooting our clay ammo for this since he will be leaving the ammo behind in the woods.

In summary. Start out shooting large paper targets to see your grouping and then move on to smaller targets. When you're starting out shooting slingshots, it will be important to stay close enough to your target to get consistent results. And when you're ready to level up, shoot at the full 10 m and then challenge yourself by shooting your slingshot at unknown distances and varying distances.

By all means: shoot those spinners! Improve your shooting until you can hit that tiny one! And work hard at slingshot shooting until you can hit it at 10 m! Our advice is simply to make sure that you take your time and work on the foundations before you get out of yourself.

Stay tuned! We'll be releasing these weekly all season long. You can look forward to close to THIRTY questions coming your way.

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