Tips on Pistol Shooting

[dev]

While I agree that time constraints shouldn't dictate training the guys at the range charge by the hour. They are so mercenary that they will charge you as much as they can, even though they know you as a regular shooter.
This is one of the reasons that most of the time I train at home. I found that I improved more by doing the boring stuff of dry fire and holding.

[tirpassion]

While I agree that time constraints shouldn't dictate training the guys at the range charge by the hour. They are so mercenary that they will charge you as much as they can, even though they know you as a regular shooter.

Dev, I am literally shocked to know that you are charged on an hourly basis!!!! It is a shame! Which club are you in?

I would suggest that you install a pellet trap at home even at 5 m distance (if you have the possibility) and reduce the target size accordingly. You can do the live shooting also. But do not click to adjust. It will be a good exercise because you will train your trigger control without paying heed to the scores. You will know that the AP is not adjusted hence the result is not to be considered.

keep going!

tirpassion

[jitu sati]

a pellet trap at home. now that has some possibilities especially for people like me with transferable jobs. ranges are not available everywhere and this could help me improve even in their absence. however presently i am concentrating on the SA and fig 8s as advised with a shoot once a week
jitu

[tirpassion]

Hello dev,
I was just thinking about your jogging on the treadmill and still you are stuck at a certain weight.
The optimal speed of jogging to lose weight is 8kmph. It is not my theory. It has been scientifically established. If you run slower the reserve fat does not burn sufficiently and the energy is drawn from your daily food intake. You will feel more hungry and will tend to eat more. If you run faster, you end up building more muscles which compensates your weight. So the weight loss is minimal or insignificant in both the cases. The advantage of the treadmill is that you can programme it to 8kmph and run as much as you can. You can eat correctly and lose the extra kilos at the same time.
By the way, please avoid that 'All Protein Diet' to lose weight. You will have deficiency of many many essential elements the body needs to function properly.
Hope this information will be beneficial for you.

best regards
tirpassion

[airgun_novice]

Dear tirpassion, thank you for elaboration on Dev's treadmill issue. One more question - does one need to *run* at 8kph or would a *walk* at around the same speed also do ?

On shooting front - one 'error' seems to have crept in my technique. During dry fire I notice a slight dip in SA "during" the release that continues "after". Also I seem to deviate slightly to left. This is in spite of maintaining the SA "before" the release. However, I seem to hold fine during SA exercise. Is this error common after a long gap in training ? Due to some reason or the other I am unable to go regularly to the range these days - so what ever holding I do off and on now is mostly at home against the wall.

BTW, the last but one time I was at the range, I tried that "1 shot per card on 8 cards and repeat 5 times" technique and failed miserably. For some reason the average slipped down to 83. The next day was a repeat but with 10 shots per card on 4 cards and the average came up to 89 (89, 88, 90, 89) - surprisingly, the second set did *not* dive down as always. Hopefully I broke that jinx - though the one on crossing the "90" persists. Out of 40, 2 shots continue to visit the whites. May be if I could get some handle on that 'error' I could cross that Rubicon too.

[dev]

Dear Tir,

I have been doing live fire at home as a way out with an air rifle target. I used to keep all if not most within the black at 7 meters or so. 40 shots or 50 shots depending on time available. Last few months have been packed with family visiting, hospital visits for bro-in-law and now I need to shift house. So my whole routine is kaput. I was running ten km a week by doing two five km days. The speed was about a km in eight minutes, I would run a faster section, then slow down to a jog to get breath back and then again go fast. But since I have become irregular now I did five km only once last week, that also at about a km in ten minutes. Will crank up the juice some time next week after having shifted and getting rid of the other crap. I haven't scored myself in ages, but the rifle targets black corresponds to the nine ring, so I assume that one is not straying too far from the nine and ten ring.
Will train better once everything settles down, thanks for being so well-meaning.

Warm regards,

Dev

[tirpassion]

You are welcome friends! If I can be of any help to you all, the pleasure will be mine

Dear agn

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One more question - does one need to *run* at 8kph or would a *walk* at around the same speed also do ? 

If you can walk at 8kmph, I must say hat's off to you! This speed i something that needs a very light jogging. You will feel that the muscles are really working even around the waistline. Walk or run, 8kmph is important.

On shooting front - one 'error' seems to have crept in my technique. During dry fire I notice a slight dip in SA "during" the release that continues "after". Also I seem to deviate slightly to left. This is in spite of maintaining the SA "before" the release. However, I seem to hold fine during SA exercise. Is this error common after a long gap in training ? Due to some reason or the other I am unable to go regularly to the range these days - so what ever holding I do off and on now is mostly at home against the wall.

Please tighten your wrist lock to avoid the dip. Please check the following.
Do you have the natural sight alignment when you hold the gun? It means that the front sight falls naturally in the middle of the rear sight and you get your perfect SA image when you bring the gun to the target.
Is your trigger finger rightly placed on the trigger blade?
Is the trigger blade too much to the back side?
Do you pull the trigger or do you squeeze it? (Squeeze = crushing the pulp of your finger tip against the trigger blade) You should SQUEEZE the trigger and NEVER PULL it. Pulling the trigger will in all probability deviate your shot laterally. Your head should NOT MOVE once you have turned towards the target.
A long gap should not play any role in shot deviation due to angular error.
There is nothing wrong in training at home. But BE SURE to be as if you were at the range. Tell your dear ones that you are going for training and hence you are mentally absent from home both for them and yourself. Switch off your mobile phone, do your warm-up, do box drill and do stretching at the end of session. Please DO A BOX DRILL ALWAYS. It is quantification of the quality of your work.

The main goal of doing 5x8 is not to have any notion of sets and to avoid counting the score. It is very fine if you can do otherwise. But I will always suggest that you shoot less than 10 shots on each target. Why? Your satisfaction during training should come from the BOX Drill and not the score. During a match, you will very likely be carried away by the scores you have done earlier and you will not think of applying your technical abilities thereby resulting in a poor performance.

Best regards
tirpassion

[tirpassion]

Dear Dev,
I understand what happens after the birth of a child. What is important is that you have the will to go. The DETERMINATION, and sticking to it by DISCIPLINE. Define your training schedules and plan them according to your time. Shooting at home is perfectly all right but you should respect the discipline as explained to agn. BOX DRILL, I repeat.

For the physical training part, do whatever your time permits now. Even if you can manage 4km x 2 days on a treadmill set at 8kmph, it will be beneficial for you. Well you should always continue with the rest; figure '8's, push-ups, sit-ups.

keep going mate!

tirpassion

[airgun_novice]

Thank you, tirpassion, for the clarification.
The natural alignment seems to be 'displaced' now. The wrist needs to be rotated a bit clockwise, i.e. to the right. The wrist lock also does appear to have slacken a bit. The reason I could come up with - a bit too much of travel (driving car/ riding scooter) last 10-12 days; hence the fatigue and the pain. No travel till 11th of April for me now - so ought to pull back on that front. To BD it is then.

[tirpassion]

The natural alignment seems to be 'displaced' now. The wrist needs to be rotated a bit clockwise, i.e. to the right.

ABSOLUTELY NOT agn! The wrist must not be moved a bit once it is locked. You lift the gun after locking the wrist and you do not move your wrist again. If you are not finding the natural alignment, your head position may have changed. Did you have that perfect natural alignment earlier? Please verify your position (stance), the position of your head and write back.
THIS HAS TO BE PERFECT BEFORE ANYTHING.

best wishes
tirpassion

[jitu sati]

hey tirpassion
after reading yesterdays post i went and checked my wrist lock. even with my wrist lock seems a bit displaced. need to look into it myself. because invariably after shot release the wrist seems to mov towards the left like mov by torque.
jitu

[airgun_novice]

Thank you once again tirpassion. The process would take time primarily for two reasons - Monsieur Vishwajeet is travelling and hence no one to observe me and due to domestic commitments I can visit the range at leisure only after April 11th.

Don't I dare seek wife's opinion - I suspect she thinks I am a looney tooney ding-dong bin anyway - pointing empty AP at the wall and holding and staring; doing nothing for a few seconds and repeating the same thing again.

========== Added the following note on Mar 28, 2012 @2245 HR=============
tirpassion, you were absolutely right on one point - the trigger was way back. In fact it was as back as it could be, so now have pushed it up to mid-way. Will try at the range at the first chance and then shall revert. I have already noticed the difference that the SA does not drift towards left "during-after" as before. Could be placebo effect ? Will check again tomorrow and revert if the error reverts. This experimentation followed my talk with FF2003 about NPA. BTW, now the rear screws appear a bit stiff; so have sprayed some WD40 there. Hope it's gonna 'turn' OK (pun). I consciously squeeze the trigger but I suspect during "mid-shots" when I settle in I might actually be pulling the trigger. Shall keep greater awareness henceforth and keep measured shots. Bonne nuit a tous.

[jitu sati]

hey guys i seek ur bestwishes for my birthday today.
i am putting in special efforts to prevent the wrist lock torque so that the ap stays correctly aimed after the release of the shot. hope my efforts pay dividend
hey agn were u able to spk to vishwajit
jitu

[dev]

Happy B'day Jitu,

Here's wishing you a vice-like wrist lock and grip.

[jitu sati]

thx dev. those wishes are really needed
jitu