I have heard that caffine and carbonated drinks can really effect you shooting. Is this true, does caffine really make you shake enough to screw up you accuracy? thanks

Yup, sure will. It's easy to test yourself. Shoot a couple of targets offhand when you're decaffinated, then drink a cup of the kind of stuff that will have you memorizing the bedroom ceiling. Now see what happens to your score.

Bye
Jack

Does caffine really effect accuracy that much?

what about carbonation?

Caffeine does. At least it does for me.

I don't know if carbonation would, other than burping at the wrong time. A lot of carbonated drinks do have caffeine, so we are back to the caffeine issue.

Mate, I made my self an iced coffie this morning four teaspoons of coffie in a litre of milk. I dont normaly drink coffie just tea sometimes. Well I went to sharpen the chainsaw to cut some firewood (winter over here) and I was that jittery I could hardly keep the file on the tooth I was working on. I wouldn't be game to try to shoot even now about four hours later. As for carbonation, a lot of softdrinks contain caffine. Not long ago this was not listed in ingrediants over here but I think it has to be now.

Do believe that no caffeine will result in a more steady hold...but if you are a heavy caffeine user, may take a while to clean out your system. If I were to stop the caffeine today, am willing to bet it would take a good while before my hold came back to normal....in the mean time, would be one grumpy so-and-so.

I can't say that I abstain from caffeine before going to the range, but I don't drink as much. Those caffeine-withdraw headaches are killers!

I recently read somewhere that a little caffeine boost helps elevate awareness and is good for target shooters. Just a little.
I know that since I am in the habit of drinking morning cups of coffee, if I don't have caffeine before shooting . . . . . well, you can't shoot what you can't see because you are still asleep on your feet. :p

Caffeine effects really depend on the person and their level of skill. A little has never bothered me on paper compared to wind, heat, poor technique, frustration, and lack of sleep. Drinking a couple of extra cups on the morning of a shoot is not a good idea if you are not accustom to this level of stimulation.

I used to take Caffine pills to pull myself out of bed in high school... really a stupid thing to do. Personally caffine has always helped me when shooting pins, i seem to shoot much faster and even more accuratly with caffine in me but i think its because im accustom to it. Also because of being a photographer for years (thats my college major in fact) i've learned many ways to keep a steady hand under everything from caffine and stress to lack of sleep and harsh enviroment. I must agree with what you said Olympian, it varys from person to person.

Don't forget, Tea contains more caffine per cup than coffee, so it cannot be subbed for coffee. I always stopped caffine at least two days before going to the range, and found my scores were at least 15-20% better than when I had coffee that morning.

Lee L.

I didn't read all the replies, so I may be repeating, but caffeine will blur your vision. I've never had a problem with it, though.

Don't forget, Tea contains more caffine per cup than coffee, so it cannot be subbed for coffee. I always stopped caffine at least two days before going to the range, and found my scores were at least 15-20% better than when I had coffee that morning.

Lee L.

Tea has more 'feine than coffee? That can't be right. Can it? Would it depend on the tea?

Tea has more 'feine than coffee? That can't be right. Can it? Would it depend on the tea?

Yup, that's what my Doctor told me almost twice as much per ounce. I imagine that De-Caffinated Tea will have less than regular tea, also DE-Caffinated Coffee would be less than regular Coffee, but I don't think either would be Caffine Free.

Lee L.

I have heard that caffine and carbonated drinks can really effect you shooting. Is this true
I recently read somewhere that a little caffeine boost helps elevate awareness and is good for target shooters.

Yes, and not quite.

Effect of caffeine on target detection and rifle marksmanship. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14668172)

Caffeine effects on marksmanship during high-stress military training with 72 hour sleep deprivation. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12688447)

Effect of caffeine on target detection and rifle marksmanship. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8249478)

Years back Pistol shooters were taking a seditive before a shoot to calm them from the shakes ! That is supposed to have been stopped ! Caffine will give you the shakes and it takes about 4 days to get it out of your system and to settle you nerves down ! Decaf has caffine in it but not as much so i wouldn't drink that either before a serious match ! It increases your blood pressure also as does smoking ! You might be better off with a 1/2 ounce of rye to calm the nerves down but not any more then that ! How ever going to a range with booze on your breath might not make you to popular ! JAGG