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Can stress mess up your shooting? Yea. OH YEA. When I was shooting competitively (international style 3 position and air rifle), many a times I went into a 10 shot final with what should have been no shot of winning, and the people who couldn't handle the stress would absolutely CRUMBLE under the pressure, especially if there was a decent sized audience.
While stress may not necessarily throw off your ability to hold, it can considerably throw off your repeatability and timing. You shoot a bad shot, it lingers, then you don't pay attention to trigger control, head position, sight alignment, etc. As far as timing goes, you will anticipate and force the shot. You begin to think that your hold isn't what it should be, and try to force the shot off "on the move", i.e as your hold is dipping or moving laterally.
Shooting is as much mental as it is physical. For the most part, my best scores and national records all came when my team and I were relaxed and enjoying the opportunity to be doing what we were doing.
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