TAJ
I've only been shooting since about 2000, but have had to lay off for the past few years for a variety of reasons. And I'm aching to get back to shooting.
I do not have access to wide open spaces like many of the guys here so I concentrated on 10 meter target shooting which I can do at home.
I shot primarily 10m AP (with an old CO2 Walther CPM-1) and some 10m AR, to give me a break from the AP. I shot primarily on my own, with a few AP matches thrown in.
My early days shooting 10m AR was a disaster. I had trouble just keeping all 10 shots inside the 1 ring (and a few completely missed the target), and this was with a 10m match rifle not a sportster. Out of frustration and despiration I got some AR coaching, which rebuilt my foundation and got me to shooting 80% average. As AR was always secondary to AP, I did not spent the practice time to get my AR scores higher.
Although not having shot for a while, when I start up again both my AP and AR scores will surely take a nasty hit.
Shooting an AP60 (60 shot match), I averaged about 530-540/600. 88-90%
Shooting an AP40, I averaged about 350-360/400, 88-90%
Shooting an AR40 (w/o shooting outfit), I averaged about 320/400, 80%
Shooting the old AR Req30 (w/o shooting outfit), I averaged about 240/300, 80%
Since I do not shoot AR competitively, I don't have the shooting outfit (jacket, pants and boots).
I've taught/coached a few individual junior training sessions, and my own rather rocky start, which is where I got my opinion about the difficulty for casual shooters to shoot the regulation targets.
Example, right now for my training/starter rifle I use a Daisy 953 with a red dot sight shooting at 10m AP targets. The red dot sight is very easy for a new shooter to see and use (compared to both iron and scope), and the 10m AP target is big enough that shooter confidence is not shaken. I'm planning to modify my home range to allow for a 5 or 6 meter shooting position to give me more options. Right now I'm fixed at 10 meters.
One of my beliefs is that you have to keep the new shooter interested to keep them shooting. One way is to not get them frustrated. I do this by using an "easy" target to give them the self-confidence, and as they get better migrate them to harder targets. In fact I use a large 2 ring starter target, the black bull and the outer white. The first goal is to keep all shots inside the white ring (not always easy) and then practice to get at all shots inside the black ring. I also use a swinging target for some "action" fun to break the tedium of shooting paper.