When you are at the range and hit eight out of ten targets at 900 yards you probably think to your self, "Not bad." But if you want to improve your shooting you must think "I missed two out of ten" and try to think why you missed those two. Was it a wind gust of 5 MPH wind that can drift a .308 match round 16in. away from target? Or maybe an inaccurate compansation for distance? Either way a shooter must always look at these things to figure out what they did wrong and correct it.
When it's been awhile since your last shooting sesson, I would recommend re-zeroing your rifle because when the temperature changes or your environment does, most likely your zero does to. While at the range try to call your shots and tell your spotter where you think it will hit and have him confrim it. Also, when you come back in from the field, use the excess ammo for target practice and refresh your field ammo.
When practicing never, and I stress never dry fire. It will cause tiny hair line fractures in the firing pin and can cause inaccuracy after time. I would recommend the use of "Snap Caps." Snap Caps are small dummy rounds that absorb the pressure from the firing pin. I have never met a police or military sniper who says practice only makes one worse. As a matter of fact, the F.B.I. recommends that police snipers practice at least once a month. I would say that once a week would be a good recommendation for maintaining an acceptable shooting level.
Most shooters do not realize that how you preactice affects how you shoot in a real life situation. For example; when at the reange you probably dont wear a tactical uniform or ghillie suit do you? You need to wear what you will in a real situation because if you dont you will find yourself being uncomfortable in your suit if you dont practice how to move in it. Another example would be wearing ear muffs while shooting. Are you really going to wear bulky ear muffs while on a mission? If you chose to wear ear protection I would recommend wearing ear plugs and not ear muffs. Wearing ear muffs also creat a problem when you put your cheek on your guns stock. When you ear muffs it makes you cock your head and have an inproper scope picture. Another very important tip is to figure out what you do when you shoot at the best of your ability and keep doing it that way because consistency equals accuracy and accuracy equals consistency.
