amarinder wrote:to senior members and shooters,
While shooting, If I lock my knees then I get better stability but knees start to hurt after sometime. And if I don't lock my knees, then my body is not stable. WHAT TO DO?
Hi amarinder,
> Here's some food for thought ... Hope it's of some help
http://www.bullseyepistol.com/joyner.htm
Some Thoughts on Pistol Shooting
All elements of pistol shooting such as position, grip, sight alignment, breath control, trigger control, physical condition, and psychology of shooting, when perfected simply enable, the shooter to score well consistently.
BODY POSITION OR STANCE
We are all constructed differently and have different natural positions. To find your natural position, face away from the target 45 degrees. Look at the target by turning your head and eyes only and raise the pistol to the eye, target & line. Close your eyes & raise your pistol and arm several feet and allow it to fall relaxed, and naturally to the horizontal. If it falls right down the center of the target, you have your natural position. If it falls to one side, shuffle on your feet, keeping the body axis from the feet to the shoulder the same, until the pistol is aligned on the target again. Several tries such as this one will readily show you how far to face away from the target. This test need only be made during one shooting session. At all following sessions start out with the position that you have decided is natural for you and stay with it. The feet should be spread apart about the width of your shoulders or a little more. However, if you spread your feet unnaturally at first, you will have to exert undue muscular effort to maintain balance.
The objective is to be well balanced and comfortable. The legs should be straight, but not stiff. Allow the knee joints to fall into a locked position, but still be relaxed. The thigh muscles should be relaxed. If you are tense anywhere, it is a sign of strain and will show up in your trigger control.
The hips should be level and in an easy, natural position & the abdomen relaxed. Allow the shoulders to hang naturally and relaxed. Your head and neck should be in an easy natural position & must look at the target by turning your head and eyes slightly without moving from the neck down. The simplest way to do this is to face your entire body away from the target at the angle you have selected and then turn your head and eyes only to the target before raising your pistol to the firing position. While looking at the target from this natural position, raise your pistol until you can align the sights on the target.
The important thing is to make your pistol arm fit the body position instead of ruining a good body position by craning the neck and shoulders trying to get behind the pistol. The body position must be selected first, then use the pistol arm only to bring the sights in line with the eye and target.
The pistol arm should be extended directly toward the target. The wrist is locked without strain, (this requires practice) the elbow is locked also but with no sense of strain or tenseness. You should feel that the pistol is hanging from above, and not that you are pushing it up from below.
BREATH-CONTROL
The object of breath control is to enable the shooter to hold his breath with a comfortable feeling long enough to fire. It is recommended to take several deep relaxing breaths immediately prior to extending the pistol, and as you extend it, take another breath and exhale until your lungs feel normal. Hold until you fire the shot.
If you have too much air in the lungs, you will feel the pressure and it will interfere with your ability to hold. If you completely empty the lungs your arm will begin to shake in about 5 seconds. You are likely to have more trouble in the timed fire stage than the others. In order to be comfortable for 20 seconds, you must time your breathing just right and prepare for the string beforehand by taking several deep breaths.
PHYSICAL CONDITIONING
Many shooters discount the element of proper physical conditioning. They think that so little effort is required to extend a two pound pistol and fire it that they need no exercise. The real payoff for good condition lies in the score. It is good to undergo a mild weight-training program and some road work to put you in a good general condition, then some special exercises for the shooting arm. These special exercises consist of dry firing with a weight weighing several times more than the pistol. A bottle full of water or a six pound dumb-bell can be used for practicing. Extend the weight just as you would a pistol and line it up on an object and try to hold it steady until your arm starts throbbing. Rest for a few minutes and repeat the exercise. 10 minutes of this each day that you do not shoot on the range will enable you to hold steadier and longer than before.
TRIGGER CONTROL
The word "squeeze" in connection with trigger control is definitely not proper trigger control. The pressure put on the trigger must come from the trigger finger only. The gripping fingers and base of thumb do not move. Get a proper grip on your pistol and keep the pressure constant, align the sights on the target properly, then with the trigger finger only, exert a steady, constantly increasing pressure, straight to the rear, until the shot happens.
There is a slightly different method of trigger control that master shooters employ that too with extreme caution. The difference is that while the sight picture is not perfect, the trigger pressure is maintained, but not increased. When the picture becomes good again, the pressure is continued. This method when used correctly ensures that all shots go off with a perfect sight picture. The danger in this method is the tendency to flinch.
FLINCHING
Flinching is the convulsive movement made, that causes shots to miss the target, or strike anywhere from the 5 ring to the 8 ring. Many shooters suffer from this malady at one time or another. Your progress in the competitive field of target shooting depends largely on your ability to overcome flinching.
Here is exactly what happens: If you know the exact moment your pistol is going to fire, your subconscious mind orders you to brace your body against the recoil, and you do so, resulting in a flinch. The remedy is to never know the exact instant when the shot happening.
PSYCHOLOGY OF SHOOTING
This is a serious problem to many shooters and to some degree a problem with all shooters. It’s the building up of pressure inside the shooter that makes him shoot like a novice when he is capable of shooting match winning scores. It prevents the shooter from shooting in matches, the scores that he shoots in practice. The best cure for this feeling is self confidence.
The match shooter has a complicated problem. He wants to win and when he sees a chance to win because of some good strings, his breath quickens, and his heart beats so fast that he can feel it in his trigger finger.
As a result he usually blows a five shot string. If we could just go to a match and be satisfied with our practice score; refrain from counting up our aggregates as we go; refuse to speculate on how much it will take to win; refrain from comparing competitor's scores, we would probably shoot much better. Here again experience strengthens our ability. The match shooter who has been to match after match and been disappointed time after time soon finds that it just doesn't seem so important to win. Then he begins to shoot his best scores in matches.
Well these are some random thoughts that occurred to me after listening to what my AP shooting friends keep experiencing & expressing about failing to get match winning scores. On a philosophical note “It’s better to enjoy the journey & let the destination turn out to a pleasant discovery”.
HAPPY SHOOTING!
Briha
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