Below is a blog post by a guy I worked with in Afghanistan. He's currently living in a liberal/anti-gun area, and he's responding to some hysterical "how dare you enjoy a destructive activity?" outrage. Pardon the typos and punctuation errors--he's an Army guy so it's impressive that he can write at all ;-)
http://thedogtagchronicles.com/2012/07/10/why-we-like-to-shoot/
The author makes some good points.
Every individual shot is a unique experience that must, if it is to be accurate, employ some number of fundamentals, e.g., grip, sight picture, breath control, trigger control, etc. Even when we are firing multiple rounds in a more rapid sequence, all of the fundamentals must be employed on each shot.
I can relate this to a sport I once enjoyed: racquetball. My game became much better after I realized that every racquet swing was a unique experience based on returning trajectory, timing, shot placement and swing mechanics.
Using the author's golf analogy, have you ever watched the pros as they line up a shot? Doesn't matter if it's the drive from the tee or a putt on the green, preparation for the stroke takes as much, if not more time than the actual swing.
Finally, I can relate the need for repetition to my experiences in Aikido. My Sensei drilled into us that one must practice a given technique 10,000 times before one can truly become proficient -- in that one move. We start off learning a technique in very slow-motion in order to understand the fundamentals. Over time, we increase the speed of execution but always being mindful of correct fundamentals. If we start to err in technique, we slow it down again. With repetition, muscle memory becomes fixed and the technique can be performed correctly at speed.
Seems to me the same is true of shooting. In the beginning we concentrate on the fundamentals. The more often we shoot -- with proper results -- the more "shooting memory" we build. Eventually, most of us can squeeze off multiple rounds employing the proper fundamentals without having to think about it -- sometimes called "unconscious competence."
And that's why we shoot...