Tips on Pistol Shooting

[jitu sati]

lesson 2 noted. minor adjustment on the left screw carried out. the sight appears centered to my untrained eye
jitu

[hvj1]

Dear Shooter,
You Know who I am? You are gonna blackmail me ? Hell man, I dont have a cupboard, I have a whole bloody Graveryard FULL OF SKELETONS. You know what I am REALLY worried about? Its WHICH skeleton, you are gonna pick on.
Now coming to serious issue of rifle coaching, Long time back, I took a decision, never to coach in Rifle shooting. You know why? Because, untill unless , somebody (that applies to me) has shot on the firing point for at least 5 years at the National level, he/she should not attempt to coach anybody,becuase there is a very good chance that one may do more harm, than good,with half knowledge. Hence....
BR

[dev]

That's one round of applause for all the aspiring pistolero's HVJ 1 is ours.

Dev

[shooter]

dear hvj, please get a rifle shooter friend of urs to jion ifg and to post a the thread.
thanks.

i will blackmail u about ur identity

[jitu sati]

hey hvj waiting for the next lesson
jitu

[hvj1]

hey hvj waiting for the next lesson
jitu

Dear Jitu,
Just got back from a wedding in the family. Will get on it tomorrow.
BR

[hvj1]

Lesson No.2 Contd..
The next aspect of adjusting your pistol is the grip adjustment, in relation to your dominant eye and also the foresight.
(a) Dominant eye:
Specifically in cases, where the left eye is dominant (LED), the shooter, tends to bend his wrist in the horizontal plane, so that the fore sight is correctly aligned with the rear sights. ANY ARTIFICIAL correction in the wrist is never recommended, simply because the muscles in the wrist will try to strain in the opposite direction of the 'bend'. When the shot is fired, the shooter tends to mentally 'switch off', thus allowing the muscle to spring back to normal position, this results in the shot going to the left. Therefore, the correction must be made in the sights or in the grip,so that the normal (natural) extended position of the hand gripping the pistol is under the least amount of 'corrective' strain.
(b) In most advanced competition air pistols, the barrel of the gun, can be seated within the grip, allowing a slight deviation in the horizontal plane. This deviation can be made towards the left or right. In case you are LED, then remove the grip,re insert the grip by holding the barrel at a slight angle to the grip. SOmetimes, a small thin piece of folded paper may be used to get the desired angle. Once again do not FORCE the grip too much.
(c) Having made the adjustment, lift the pistol up and see if the sight are naturally aligned. Repeat the procedure till you are absolutely satisfied.

(d)Foresight adjustment through the grip.
Raise your pistol up, if you have made the necessay corrections, as explained in Lesson 2, then focus on observing the relation of the top edge of the foresight, with edge of the rear sight. Do you feel that the top edge appears consistently raised or depressed, in relation with the edge of the rear sight? If so, then remove the grip of the pistol, you will observe, that there is a slight 'play' in the metal shaft of the pistol and the wooden grip. This play allows the 'seating' of the grip to move in the vertical plane in an arc either towards the shooter or away from the shooter. Adjust the arc in such a way that the foresight edge is always 'naturally' in line with the edge of the rear sights.

Finally: Trigger Position:
A screw at the base of the trigger shoe, allows you to extend the trigger shoe. The centre of the last digit of the trigger finger, must be placed on the centre of the trigger shoe. Some air pistols have the centre marked with a groove. Having adjusted the trigger shoe as mentioned above, check by dry loading your pistol and observing the sights carefully, that the sight alignment does not move either to the left or right when you are squeezing the trigger. Also, while you are sqeezing the trigger, your grip must not tighten or relax.
BR
BR

[hvj1]

Lesson No.2 (Notes & Personal experience)
In lesson 1 &2, we have covered all the aspects of correct gripping and adjusting the pistol to the shooter's requirements. Do you know, that I learnt all the above aspects only after 2-3 years of shooting the pistol at the national level?
Advantages of following the above instructions:
1. First and foremost, you will improve your performance much quicker.
2. Secondly and most importantly, you will be able to MAINTAIN your performance.
How so?
1. Chaps who are not aware of the above points, usually make very basic mistakes in gripping their pistol. They twist and bend their hand and wrists to adapt themselves to the gun, rather than the other way around!
2. As a result, the shooter develops a faulty technique,which leads to heavy fluctuations in performance.One day you will shoot 370/400 the next day you will crash down to 340/400.
3. This wide disparity in top and bottom scores, is a sure shot signal, that somewhere the shooter is going wrong in his basics.
4. The WORST part is, that the shooter himself cannot explain, or correctly identify, where he is going wrong. This leads to the WORST disease in shooters, which is - the shooter starts BELIEVING that he is NOT A GOOD SHOOTER.
5. The shooter however hard he works, will eventually be frustrated and develop a poor SELF IMAGE (due to the above points). This then is the PLATEAU at which he finds himself.
BR

[hvj1]

Lesson No.2 (notes on relationship of Grip, natural adjustment of pistol to 'follow through'.
What is follow through ?'Whatever you were doing before the shot continue the same, during and after the shot.'
"Maintain all the elements before ,during and after the shot" - So what are the elements ? Broadly, these are as follows;
1. Grip
2. Wrist lock
3. Stance
4. Breathing
5. Hold
6. Trigger pressure.
Grip: The pressure exerted by your hand, i.e. fingers, thumb on the grip of the pistol, must be maintained consistently bda (before,during after)the shot.
Wrist Lock: Once your wrist is locked, it should remain so bda the shot.
Stance: The stance provides 'balance' and 'stability', hence your stance must be maintained consistently bda the shot.
Breathing: Breathing should be stopped preferrably, half breath, bda the shot.
Hold: 'holding' indicates - aligned sights (front & rear) within the same 'aiming area' bda the shot.
Trigger pressure: Maintain the same trigger pressure bda the shot.

90% of the shooters, neglect the importance of correct grip, correct adjustment of the pistol and the wrist lock. These are also the first three elements of 'follow through' which a shooter MUST master, if he/she has to achieve high performance.

Now a few simple exercises to 'strengthen' the elements are:
1. Figure of '8' exercise, done as slowly as possible, clockwise and anti-clockwise on a ISSF Air Pistol target (white side)
- This develops all the above elements quite well, especially the 'wrist lock'.
- This exercise must be done a minimum of 60 repetitions per day. In sets of 5 reps (trace the fig 8 as slowly as possible,both clockwise and anti-clockwise, rest for a few seconds, then repeat four more times) . Pay attention to the grip pressure. Neither must it tighten nor slacken.
- For the beginner, begin doing reps of 3, rest shootng hand, switch pistol to non shooting hand, reps 3 times, rest , switch to shooting hand. STOP, when hand begins to vibrate.
-DO NOT neglect the non shooting hand. Why? In the long term, the body tries to compensate for the eccentric load (lifting the pistol) by straining the musceles of the upper back, neck, lower back and leg. Over a period of time, the muscles of the body parts mentioned before, develop while the opposite side muscles are not developed, this results in spondylitis and gets severly chronic. My own career was cut short, due to lack of attention to this aspect. As a result I had to undergo a major operation, wherin a bone was removed from my hip and inserted in my spine! So if you wish to avoid long term injury, please follow my advice.
2. 'Holding' for a few seconds within the 'aiming area' of the AP target. (Left and Right hand)
3. The number of repetitions must be duplicated by left and right hand, to develop both sides of the back muscles and to maintain centre of gravity correctly centered.

[jitu sati]

dear hvj
sorry was in mumbai for some family death. back now will read and try to emulate the lessons above. one clarification. is this grip adjustment available in a izh.
jitu

[hvj1]

Dear Jitu
Sorry I could not pick up the phone, since I was on the highway. Request you to type all questions on the forum so that others can also benefit. About the IZ grip, you will have to check it out yourself, since I dont have one.
BR

[jitu sati]

have checked does not look like the IZH has facilities to shift the grip to suit cross dominant shooting. but have to make do with what is available
jitu

[dev]

Hi Hvji,

Can you tell me if a specif kind of shoe is used and manufactured for ap shooting. I once felt my balance actually go during an extended practse session. Have seen some pistol shooters wearing a very flat almost rectangular soled shoe.

Regards,

Dev

[hvj1]

Hello Dev,
Yes, for all types of pistol shooting (ISSF), the SAUER brand of shoes are quite popular, they are flat soled. However, there is a shoe maker in Mhow, who also takes orders for the same.The other person is Nilesh Rane in Mumbai his number is 09869005299. Shoes from Nilesh are pretty good and well within budget, only problem is you will have to chase him real hard.
By the way, ask a friend to stand behind you, say 10 ft and observe whether your head is tilted. If it is, then that is one of the reasons, you lose your balance.
Regards

-- Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:18 pm --

Dear Jitu
If thats the case then dont think too much about it, later on when you have bought a better pistol we will revisit the matter.
Regards

-- Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:37 pm --

Dear Jitu,
Lesson No.2 (Notes & Personal experiences)
Every beginner,wants to get on the range and start shooting, this despite the fact, that his sights (sight alignment) is not steady. While this is natural, what should be avoided, is getting used to shivering sights! At such times you must CANCEL THE SHOT take rest and begin fresh. You must NOT allow your sub conscious mind to accept shaking or shivering sights. If you follow the exericse mentioned before, then you will overcome this problem quite quickly.
Regards

[hvj1]

Lesson No.3 Sight Alignment.
Down load the file and make small copies of the same on the white side of an air rifle target. Make sure, that the edges are very sharp and the sight picture resembles your pistol's sight picture. Make about 5 such pictures, cut them precisely and stick one on your left or right hand side of your mirror. Stick the balance on doors, walls, specifically paste one at eye level in your bedroom, such that each time you wake up or go to sleep, your eyes should see the sight picture.
The size of the picture should be 10 times the size of your normal pistol sight picture.
Warning: Do not be sloppy in cutting the edges, the picture must have SHARP and CORRECT dimensions, sloppy image will lead to sloppy image in your mind and subconscious.
How this exercise helps.
1. There is no need for you to stare at it, just a casual glance now and then or while you are combing your hair or shaving, will IMPRINT THE IMAGE in your mind and sub conscious mind.
2. After a few days, you will find that your hand has become steadier.
3. This exercise will prove to be of immense benefit, when you move on to rapid fire events.
BR