Tips on Pistol Shooting

[tirpassion]

Dear agn,

it is very normal that you want to score eagerly after a long break from shooting. The session is more of looking for the confidence, where am I after so long?
Please avoid doing a match of confidence building after a SA drill and figure '8's. You had already drained yourself out of your energy before going to the match.
Please do your figure '8's at home. The SA box drill (always dry and hold only, no need to squeeze the trigger) can be done at home also and on a blank target of adapted size. You can also do most of your box drills dry at home if you can not go to the range often. You can download the targets proposed by Rink grips and print it according to the distance you find at home and do dry training.
http://www.formgriffe.de/en/shpPfCnt.php?sCI=125
So, given the time constraints, please restrict to the live shooting part only (always with box drill) in the range.
If you achieve good % box drills at home on dry training, you should have enough confidence to achieve good results while live shooting.

best regards
tirpassion

[jitu sati]

hey tirpassion
it is nice to hear ivan lendls name after so long. i was a die-hard ivan fan in schoola and college. had tears when becker defeated him at wimbledon. somehow i always identified with lendl more than anyother tennis players at that time. probably because he seemed so ground to earth . thx for reminding me about him . i am sure i will extract some motivation from him to really work hard. i remember the articles on him which said that he had installed weight machines in every room of his house to ensure that he was constantly building his strength. now that is commitement

[dev]

How I would love to write that I went to the range, did some dry practice and then calmly proceeded to put all my pellets in the nine and ten and an occasional eight. But naaaa I am happy that I could find my Steyr again after shifting and know that where it is. I know the old jedi mind trick of making the light sabre jump into my hands...no luck with the lp 10 yet. Anyhoo all shifting, plumbing, electricity done. Hopefully will begin dry fire drills from easter Sunday. Till then burn the darn ten ring for me.

[airgun_novice]

Grabbed a chance to get to the range today and did 2 back-to-back sessions live fire. Simply to know where I settled in. Used same pellets and obtained similar scores 85-86 averaged out. Now had an interesting talk with Brihcharan yesterday about the Mastershot pellets. I found that they take better to my P34 and N25 than GSmith's. The reason I thought was due to the two "wings" that protruded from the two sides of the MS skirt. After all, I thought, the pellet shall travel like a missile with the "fins". But Brihji shed some light that it was precisely due to the two "wings" that the pellet shall wobble in its trajectory as it's spinning and hence sometimes go off the intended target spot (#10 for us ) Perspective/ extra gyaan anyone ?

BTW, the good doc had given the name of the "wings" - which I forgot. They are unintentionally formed due to the pellet die.

[jitu sati]

did a 40 shots shoot on sat. was not as desired. probably the swim in the morning had strained my shoulders. need to get fitter i guess. the SA% was 90,80,90,70. so overall it seems to be fluctuating.
as far as pellets are concerned i am able to get only P10s here so i am shooting with them. with my Izy i dont think it will matter that much.

[dev]

I have found p 10's to be way better than the master shots. Maybe the pistol likes em more.
Have shot several boxes of both but the gsmiths per pellet are more consistent in shape, the skirts are much more uniform than the master shots.

Regards,

Dev

[tirpassion]

Dear Friends,

Would you please tell me individually how exactly you do your SA box drill? It will help me to understand you better.

best regards
tirpassion

[airgun_novice]

I get in position and align the sights against a "spot" on the wall. There used to be a 0.75cm diameter ki bindi that I had flicked from Mom but one day she reclaimed it from the wall as she was not finding any of hers. The SA is then held for count of 1-10 - and again such for extra 2 times and then hand is lowered. This happens 20 times and I have completed my 60 SAs. Next to follow is Fig8 - still not completely clear on that but do the "8" CW and then ACW, also 20 times each thrice, thus totaling 60. Similar for LHS. Then I am done.

[sudhirkh]

hello there,
I would like to start .22 pistol shooting as a sport, can you suggest which companies are available in India ?

[tirpassion]

Hello sudhir,

I would suggest you to start with 10m distance with air weapons if you are a novice. 10m is the ideal discipline to learn shooting sport.

best regards
tirpassion

[airgun_novice]

Dear tirpassion, Any comments on my SA/F8 ? Slightly modified from what hvji guruji's put up. Is the direction right ?

[jitu sati]

my fig 8s are done on the air rifle tgt at home at 7 mtr or on a blank ap tgt on the range. 10 repetitions cw and acw with right and and then with left. six repetitions of this. my SA is done on the blank 10m ap tgt. do my soa bring the ap in the centre of the white tgt and hold for 10counts. if it is stable then i give a tick to myself. in live shooting i give a tick to myslef if the shot is in the 9/10 ring. thus calculating the percentage without scoring. the bindi ex is also done once in three days but not as a SA ex. just to chk my lateral mov

[tirpassion]

Dear friends,

I was just waiting to have the response of others before writing to you all.

Well, as I have understood, Jitu is doing the right thing on the SA drill.
Lift the AP with the perfect SA image against the blank target (size adapted to the distance at home and the normal AP blank target at the 10m range). Count 10 secs. You can surely have arcs but the SA image should not distort. The perfect sleeping 'E' should be there. Bring down the pistol. Tick if it was perfect. Any imperfection including blurred image deserves a cross. Do 50 to 60 repetitions and calculate the %. Please remember YOU MUST ACHIEVE 100%.
This exercise is not so easy and demands a lot of concentration. As a result it takes away a lot of your energy. So please take rest in between and drink a lot of water.

For the figure '8's, this is what I do. I am in doubt about the clockwise and the anti clockwise movements because I understand that I do both of them while drawing the 8 in one action. Guruji, please correct if I am wrong.
I lift the pistol with RH against the blank card, draw five '8's very slowly trying to achieve small '8's (thereby working on reducing the arcs and accepting the natural movement), bring down the AP, breathe & follow my SOA and restart.
I do 5 repetitions of the same as above and change to the LH. 5 repetitions with the LH and change to the RH. This way, I would do 12 x 5 reps (6 x 5 reps with RH & 6 x 5 reps with LH) = 60 reps in total.

While shooting live, work only on ONE THING at a time. But before everything, you must work out your SEQUENCE OF ACTION (SOA), point by point what you do to shoot a '10' and more importantly STICK TO IT RELIGIOUSLY. Jitu had once sent his SOA. Are you following it strictly Jitu? Have you done a box drill on the SOA?
It will be nice if you post your SOA also agn. We will be able to work on it all together if you so wish.

These are the things to be achieved first on a priority basis.
- 100% in SA hold box drill
- Work out the SOA
- Box drill on SOA during live shooting and achieve 100%

Please IGNORE THE SCORES and for God's sake, do not even look for it. Someday, you will have to sacrifice the scoring part to achieve better results consistently. So if you can transform that 'someday' to today , it will be an awful achievement. Judge yourself with the % you would achieve in box drills. Scores will follow.

An example of where we stand today and what efforts we need to do to move ahead.
Somewhere in the first two lessons Guruji said that he learned to grip the pistol properly after 2/3 years of shooting in the national level. I assure you that I am still learning the proper grip since 3 years and gripping the pistol is a VERY BASIC THING.

best regards
tirpassion

[airgun_novice]

Haven't got around to a developed and steady SOA yet. ;-( Just a 3 shot set.
For every 10 shots I go 3 shots-(short break)-3 shots-(short break)-4 shots (slightly longer break, including water sip). Repeat 4 times for 40 shots. Before starting the set and after every break, I like to "set" position of legs and adjust weight, grip and eventually Natural Point of Aim.

[tirpassion]

Dear agn,

Ths is the SOA which Jitu posted. I am quoting it without his permission. Hope jitu will not be annoyed .

Postby jitu sati » Fri Dec 30, 2011 1:48 pm
hvj sir ur advice being followed totally. will carry out the 3 back to back sessions and come back for advice on the faults noticed.
wow tirpassion it is really an eye opener that each step of the SOA is being timed. i will try to get it timed too.
presntly my SOA is as under
1. send the card
2. cock the IZH and load the pellet.
3. take one deep breath and let go to identify if any muscle gp is strained and relax.
4. take a deep breath . chk for grip and finger on the trigger and turn head
5. let go off the breath and lift the butt and get hip lock and wrist lock. first pull on trigger completed
6. lift while taking a breathjust above the aiming area.
7. half exale while bringing down. SA fixation in aiming area and start of the second pull on the trigger
8. shot breaks and follow through. am yet to start calling my shots
9. descent andbring the card back.
chk and analyse
hey hvj i am literally doing the breathing on a mantra. it helps me to keep the breaths and time standardised.
is the SOA ok. tell me. then i will get it timed and come back with the complete timing
jitu

This is an an example. You will need to work out your own. Write down what exactly you do, step by step to execute a perfect shot. Please note that an internal scan / check with eyes closed reveal a lot about your physical state. Hence, it helps you to find and release unnecessary muscular tension which otherwise would have gone unnoticed.
Eyes along with the brain are the highest consumers of oxygen and energy in our body. So keeping the eyes closed for some time helps to conserve oxygen and energy in body which in turn is very helpful for our sport.

I would request you to take some time, think and write down step by step and post the same. We will work on it and improve it if necessary.

BTW, Jitu, have you done any amendments in your SOA or are you still following the same as above? SOA can be improved and amended with experience. Your inner self will guide you to do so.

best regards
tirpassion