John Plaster (The Ultimate Sniper) shares a little story about making each shot count:
Many years ago, while training Southeast Asian mercenaries, I’d challenge a student to assume his sexiest “assault” stance and riddle a nearby silhouette with full-auto fire.
Gleefully, he’d tuck his M16 or AK-47 beneath his armpit and, “brt-t-t-t-t-t-t,” 30 rounds would rip through the air — but go only God knows where.
The amazed students, upon examining the intact silhouette, could see that, despite sound and smoke, a lot of bullets carelessly sprayed will hit nothing. My point exactly.
Indeed, semi-auto fire is more likely to hit than full-auto. Of course, as a sniper trainer, Plaster takes it even further:
A sniper does not fire patterns or groups or average shots. He fires one shot over and over, and develops certain one-shot habits during practice fire that will carry over to real-world shooting.