Myth – “Breath Control is the critical component of marksmanship fundamentals.”
Fact – Shot placement is determined where the barrel points, as indicated by the aligned sights, when the trigger is pressed.
It is common, especially in military circles, to believe that breath control and/or breathing has some mystical effect on shooting and will magically cause shots to go high or low.
Any movement, whether caused by breathing or any other factor, will show as motion in the sights. While the hold may wobble, the shot will always be where the aligned sights indicate when the trigger breaks (assuming a good zero and ignoring trajectory, of course.)
All breath control does is pause the shooter’s respiration while executing shot(s), thus helping to minimize movement. That’s it! Pause breathing while pressing the trigger and breathe normally at any other time.
The problem is novice shooters often tend to hold too long, over-staring the sights, holding their breath until blue in the face, and probably inducing a flinch just to be rid of the chambered round. Breath control alone can’t cause shots to go high or low. Even if it somehow could, the shooter can see that aiming error with the sights. This assumes the shooter can call shots and fire without flinching.
Breath Control does have one important contribution to improved marksmanship: If you’re on a range and over hear “advice” such as “Watch your breathing” you can probably ignore anything that person says about marksmanship because he has just identified himself as someone who doesn’t understand the subject.
david
Dec 05, 2009 @ 05:54:51
You just overgeneralized all military branches in the US? Breathing is but one factor taught us to control accuracy, it wasn’t the only one. We were taught psychological aspects as well. Maybe you were referring to your country’s inferior military training.
Semper Fi
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John Buol
Dec 05, 2009 @ 09:16:10
>> Breathing is but one factor taught us to control accuracy, it wasn’t the only one.
Right, and far from the most important. Yet, too often, this gets regurgitated as critical when it usually isn’t an issue at all. A shooter (or Marine or Soldier) could be flinching, have a poor/inconsistent position or a host of other fundamental problems, but some non-shooter on the range will flippantly remark “watch your breathing” even when it isn’t the cause.
>> Maybe you were referring to your country’s inferior military training.
Yes. Army, Marines and every other branch is guilty here.
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mark
Feb 09, 2010 @ 11:27:25
>> All breath control does is pause the shooter’s respiration while executing shot(s), thus helping to minimize movement.
So you spend a whole article denouncing the importance of breathing discipline, and 2 sentences admitting it’s necessity in every shot. It’s not everything, but you do need to control it. What do you have against the military? Very ignorant to believe they only teach breathing techniques to their shooters. That makes no sense.
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John Buol
Feb 09, 2010 @ 14:12:45
>> Very ignorant to believe they only teach breathing techniques to their shooters
Read response #2 on this page that you ignored prior to posting.
>> What do you have against the military?
I enlisted in 1990 and was on active duty from 2003 to 2009. I’ve spent the majority of my service involved in small arms training and competition. Too many myths and misunderstandings are regurgitated by folks who simply don’t understand shooting. This is true in the military and civilian world.
The level of shooting needed for qualification is, by necessity, minimal and basic. These myths become evident after getting involved in higher level marksmanship events such as competition and learning how truly skilled shooters perform.
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hubie townsend
Dec 27, 2010 @ 17:18:56
“Watch your breathing”—- the true sign of a non-shooter coach. I would ask my rifle class students “Which of you is so retarded that he can’t see the sights move up and down when he is breathing?” so, don’t breathe while pulling the trigger. toooooo easy. the only two people i ever saw who were actually breathing while pulling the trigger were mental category IV (Cat fours).
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Chris
Mar 18, 2011 @ 15:50:22
John,
Just found your site, awesome discussions, wish I would have known about it sooner. You may not remember me, but I shot with the AMEDD team at the All Army last year. Though I was a novice shooter, I placed in two matches and earned the Bronze EIC badge my first time out. I give most of the credit to the coaching that you and Russel Moore gave us prior to the match, but I do have something to add about breathing that helped me greatly.
My only thought once the beeper went off was “front sight, front sight, front sight”; I didn’t think about breathing or anything else until I was empty and the horn went off. However, before each match started, I would take a deep breath, and blow it out slowly to help me relax. So, in that sense, I think learning to breath correctly is important to most any sport, marksmanship, golf, bowling, etc… I hear people talk about “being in the zone” when they do well. Learning different breathing techniques has helped me find “my zone”, and allowed me to let my subconscience do all the thousands of thinks it can do all at the same time, without any conscious interference. It’s like eating cereal, no one things about eating cereal, they just grab a spoon and start eating. But if you think about it, you’ll spill it every time.
Hope this didn’t sound wierd. I can agree with your argument on wheather breathing is an important fundamental of marksmanship. With me, it’s become more a part of my routine of relaxation/visualization before I shoot, and not a focus while I shoot.
Hooah,
Chris
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John M. Buol Jr.
Mar 19, 2011 @ 07:01:10
Totally agree with you. More importantly, shooters much better than I agree as well.
The whole point of my little diatribe here is to counter the common misconception within the Army that this has some mystical effect that will magically cause shots go go high or low without explanation. Rounds can only impact based on where the barrel points and that can be seen via aiming.
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AFshooter
May 26, 2011 @ 22:09:10
I control my breathing to slow my heart rate. I can halt my breathing, but my heart is still beating. I can see the sights bounce ever so slightly when I hold my breath.
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John M. Buol Jr.
May 27, 2011 @ 08:25:23
A reason why those nutty Service Rifle shooters wear thick coats over sweaters in the heat of a Camp Perry summer.
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Carmine C. Pacucci
Jul 07, 2011 @ 14:33:58
Amazing how long this thread has been making rounds. I was a perimiter guard in 1969 at Blackhorse, Vietnam, for several months and a self taught as a night shooter with a Starlite scope. Often I would be taking shots at a tuft of grass that moved contratry to the breeze. The fellow who mentioned breathing controlling heart beat was on to something. As I set up a shot I could hear my heart beat in my ears along with a rush of adrenaline that would threaten to get me shaking. Being aware of my breathing brought me down enough to focus and do my job. Talk about being surprised by the shot. The whole side of the perimiter would light up. The yoga people are aware of the breathing pinciple.
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Colorado Pete
Mar 24, 2012 @ 00:57:20
Heheheheh! I used to be one of those nutty service rifle shooters, though never at Perry. I was so nutty that I shot one of those old muzzle-loading Garands long after everyone else had gone mousing. The sweatshirt is actually for, guess what – SWEAT – soaking it up so the shooting coat didn’t (and stayed cleaner).
My guess on the breathing bit is that if a rifle shooter in prone is staring at the target and not the front sight/reticle, sight movement in breathing will not be as noticed as it otherwise would. In this case, shots fired during the breathing cycle (not at respiratory pause) would certainly be vertically strung, and the bull-gazing shooter would not have a clue.
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John M. Buol Jr.
Mar 24, 2012 @ 09:22:51
>> In this case, shots fired during the breathing cycle (not at respiratory pause) would certainly be vertically strung, and the bull-gazing shooter would not have a clue.
Good point, but this shows that if the struggling shooter paid better attention to sight alignment and learned to call shots their breathing “problem” would take care of itself.
A hapless soldier with shooting problems is probably flinching and might also have an inconsistent position, poor trigger control and/or lack of good sight alignment. Then some random yahoo with a range safety paddle breezes by the targets and quips “watch your breathing” at the poor group without first bothering to see what the real issue(s) are.
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dANIELIWANNABEAMARINESOMEDAY
Apr 26, 2012 @ 14:54:36
I agree my dad always told me to shoot in between heartbeats. He was a expert rifleman in the Corps. Someday I wanna be a marine too.
SEMPER FI
OOOOOORRRRRRRAHHHHHH!!!!
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dANIELIWANNABEAMARINESOMEDAY
Apr 26, 2012 @ 14:55:12
marines are cool so is army
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Greg
Jul 16, 2012 @ 15:32:07
I have never seen a person critiqued more than John for writing an article about breathing during shooting. Taking breaths and relaxing before a match to calm yourself down is a great strategy, more oxygen goes into the brain as well giving you more mental stamina. I believe the man who said shoot between heartbeats is on to something to. Focusing on something like that instead of the tension of shooting for a brief moment can relax a person as well.
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Steve Boissoin
Jul 19, 2012 @ 14:21:18
Good points up until the end. Then he kind of blew it. The entire caution about watching your breathing is exactly because it moves, wobbles etc etc the firearm as you correctly stated. I have never understood it any other way. There are common movement characteristics that occur when we breathe and are in position to fire. If shooting from a bench, when I inhale I see the reticle move slightly upwards. I am aware of my breathing when I shoot. Hence, I’m watching my breathing. I shoot after a breath and during a slow and smooth exhale. I have found this a better method for me. Cheers
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John M. Buol Jr.
Jul 19, 2012 @ 14:50:47
>> I am aware of my breathing when I shoot.
Very good. More importantly, you’re aware of sight movement and calling the shot based on where the aligned sights are when the trigger breaks. Too many military personnel incorrectly blame all high or low shots on breathing, ignoring sight alignment errors, position errors, flinching or anything else. They don’t consider these things because they don’t know… “Watch your breathing” is all they got.
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Steve Boissoin
Jul 19, 2012 @ 15:00:05
I agree fully John, that is an excellent clarification. I just don’t think the original post included it and because it didn’t it was easier to misunderstand your comments. Not that it’s a big deal. A lot of things need to come together to not only be accurate but to be a precision shooter i.e. one who can duplicate accuracy over and over. Glad I stumbled across this site and thanks for the response. Cheers.
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Greg
Jul 19, 2012 @ 15:16:43
Steve, I always see any shot that I am off high or low as something in my mechanics. There are many other factors as you both say that go into being accurate consistently. The CMP has an excellent DVD on shooting basics. I learned a ton of things from it and it has helped my shooting improve. Discussion is what makes things better not worse, eh?
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Ramesh
Nov 22, 2012 @ 21:29:46
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