That will help you a little, but TBH it's nowhere near as useful as doing the same with a real rifle dry firing it (I realise you need to get your FAC first, but even if you bought a knackered old air rifle and practised dry with that it would help you). In any case, if you want to get into FTR, the hold on the rifle is the least of your worries. I tend to free recoil long range rifles if the match allows the use of a front rest and rear bag. That means no part of my body is touching the rifle when I release the shot, apart from my trigger finger pressing the trigger. You will find various opinions on the use of free recoil, but it's a technique which always served me well in FTR.Madhatter wrote:No! Don't Laugh!! (Frankie Howard for those who are old enough) I was thinking of making a wooden rifle (dad's army ish!) and putting a laser pen on top just to practice holding the dot on a homemade target, off a front rest when at home ( I did say don't laugh). I thought this might help with the breathing and muscular tension. My wife has said no to me wearing a ghillie suit
It's not so much holding the gun steady on the target which makes a good shot. A lot of people even with no shooting experience will be able to do that, particularly using a rest. It's much more about holding it steady on the target during and after the trigger pull phase (as said above). That's the critical time when a slight movement can pull the shot off the target.
If you think it's going to take a while to get your FAC, buy an air rifle or pistol now and practise with that as it's the least forgiving in terms of trigger control (because the pellet spends much more time travelling down the barrel so will be more affected by any movement after the trigger breaks). I would recommend an air pistol over an air rifle, as a pistol is much less forgiving if your trigger control isn't very good. Learn to shoot an air pistol well (single handed) and you'll be able to shoot anything well in the future.
There are other tips I can give you if you're going to start shooting FTR with a bipod and rear bag in terms of making sure it's all set up well and settled, but that can wait until you've got some of the basic principles sorted.