Guide for beginner

[megabites]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum and hope that I will learn something here.

I started playing the AP few days ago and I don't have a coach. May I know what are the important points to take note when shooting and how many times should I practice per week?

Thanks

[dflast]

For a basic introduction, may I suggest Warren's "Hitchhikers Guide to Shooting Glory" on our host's site www.pilkguns.com
Also, take a look at the late Don Nygord's "Nygord's Notes" at www.nygord-precision.com

-David

[megabites]

For a basic introduction, may I suggest Warren's "Hitchhikers Guide to Shooting Glory" on our host's site www.pilkguns.com
Also, take a look at the late Don Nygord's "Nygord's Notes" at www.nygord-precision.com

-David

okay... will look at it.. by the way, is praticing everyday ok?

[mikeschroeder]

For a basic introduction, may I suggest Warren's "Hitchhikers Guide to Shooting Glory" on our host's site www.pilkguns.com
Also, take a look at the late Don Nygord's "Nygord's Notes" at www.nygord-precision.com

-David

okay... will look at it.. by the way, is praticing everyday ok?

No, it will make you weird, especially if you are just starting. Practice match shooting one or two days per week, and train on the one or two other days. Train, as in Dry-fire, practice finding your natural point of aim, etc. On other days, run, walk, do sit-ups, play ball etc. "Turning Pro" should happen over time, because you enjoy the sport. By Turning Pro, I'm referring to being like the boys on some of our local little league baseball teams who have baseball practice year round, have games that are scheduled for 10PM on school nights, etc.

Weight lifting is helpful, probably until you get to the Expert (90%) level. Weightlifting will cause tremors in your muscles for a day or so after you workout, so benching 250 pounds Thursday night before a Saturday morning match is a bad idea if you want to shoot all X's.

Read A Treasury of Pistol Shooting edited by Gil Hebard. Great book, and still under $10.00.

Mike
Wichita KS

[megabites]

For a basic introduction, may I suggest Warren's "Hitchhikers Guide to Shooting Glory" on our host's site www.pilkguns.com
Also, take a look at the late Don Nygord's "Nygord's Notes" at www.nygord-precision.com

-David

okay... will look at it.. by the way, is praticing everyday ok?

No, it will make you weird, especially if you are just starting. Practice match shooting one or two days per week, and train on the one or two other days. Train, as in Dry-fire, practice finding your natural point of aim, etc. On other days, run, walk, do sit-ups, play ball etc. "Turning Pro" should happen over time, because you enjoy the sport. By Turning Pro, I'm referring to being like the boys on some of our local little league baseball teams who have baseball practice year round, have games that are scheduled for 10PM on school nights, etc.

Weight lifting is helpful, probably until you get to the Expert (90%) level. Weightlifting will cause tremors in your muscles for a day or so after you workout, so benching 250 pounds Thursday night before a Saturday morning match is a bad idea if you want to shoot all X's.

Read A Treasury of Pistol Shooting edited by Gil Hebard. Great book, and still under $10.00.

Mike
Wichita KS

okay.. quite useful piece of info. Anyway, any idea what should I start practicing with? Do I need a coach?

[Mike McDaniel]

I take a different position on daily training. I think it is an excellent idea - but limit the number of shots. Shoot 10 to 20 rounds, not a full match. And dry fire. Constantly.

[eskinner]

Divide your efforts into four mental categories, each of which is distinctly different: training, practicing, competing and fun.

Training is doing something very specific in one small area to try and effect a change or work out how to do something. Yesterday, for example, I did some experimenting with my grip to adjust to a slightly different stance and, once I found what worked, I practiced (repeated) it over and over. Training would also include specific exercises such as dry-firing, shooting targets from the backside to work on groupings and ball and dummy drills.

Practice is when you are following your shot plan and attempting to do everything right and "burn it in" to you body-memory. (Shooting is like riding a bicycle -- it has to become unconscious.)

Competing is when you test your skills -- and don't forget to "grade" your test so you know what you need to go back and train on and then practice. By this I mean to think back through the competition and figure out what did and what did not work. Write down items in both categories, both good and bad. Pat yourself on the back for the good ones and, for the bad, decide if you need to train and/or practice and/or compete to correct them, and then write down a plan to do so. (And then come back to that plan and work it.)

And for fun, my personal preference is to find a place where I can legally and safely go plinking and, once there, shoot a gallon plastic bottle full of water, a couple of cans of shaving cream and a bunch of white paper picnic plates with MacDonald's ketchup packets taped to them. (Don't forget to clean up the mess as well as your brass afterwards.)

--
Ed Skinner, ed@flat5.net, http://www.flat5.net/ (more shooting notes)

[megabites]

Divide your efforts into four mental categories, each of which is distinctly different: training, practicing, competing and fun.

Training is doing something very specific in one small area to try and effect a change or work out how to do something. Yesterday, for example, I did some experimenting with my grip to adjust to a slightly different stance and, once I found what worked, I practiced (repeated) it over and over. Training would also include specific exercises such as dry-firing, shooting targets from the backside to work on groupings and ball and dummy drills.

Practice is when you are following your shot plan and attempting to do everything right and "burn it in" to you body-memory. (Shooting is like riding a bicycle -- it has to become unconscious.)

Competing is when you test your skills -- and don't forget to "grade" your test so you know what you need to go back and train on and then practice. By this I mean to think back through the competition and figure out what did and what did not work. Write down items in both categories, both good and bad. Pat yourself on the back for the good ones and, for the bad, decide if you need to train and/or practice and/or compete to correct them, and then write down a plan to do so. (And then come back to that plan and work it.)

And for fun, my personal preference is to find a place where I can legally and safely go plinking and, once there, shoot a gallon plastic bottle full of water, a couple of cans of shaving cream and a bunch of white paper picnic plates with MacDonald's ketchup packets taped to them. (Don't forget to clean up the mess as well as your brass afterwards.)

--
Ed Skinner, ed@flat5.net, http://www.flat5.net/ (more shooting notes)

Pardon me but I don't really know what's my shooting plan. I only go to the range and shoot and shoot and shoot everytime. Maybe you could guide me on this particular one?

[Steve Swartz]

Megabites:

Not "shooting plan," "Shot Plan." In other words, the specific sequence of events leading up to the release of a shot. But never mind that now- you'll get there.

The answer to your question is "It Depends." How much time training? 0 hours per week and 30 hours per week are both right answers. How gfrequently to train? Three times a day and three times a month are both right answers.

Let's just consider "training," "practice," and "plinking." Do you ever intend to enter formal competition? What are your personal objectives for your participation in shooting? Are you just shooting for fun and relaxation? Do you have any desire to improve your skills? How much time and effort do you intend to devote to improving your skills?

These are really just "rhetorical" questions for now. Please understand that the answers to just about any of the questions you need to ask for a while probably depend greatly upon what you intend to do with the shooting sports.

For example, if your sincerely honest answer is "I want to represent my country in International Competition and Win" vs. "I want to shoot rats out my back yard window on the weekend" the type of equipment, amount of time spent training, what activities you perform during training, what you think about before, during and after training, whether you monitor and carefully moderate your diet, what foods show as flase positives for USOC banneed substances, should I quite smoking, stop drinking coffee, lift more weights, less weights, hours on treadmill vs. hours listening to self-hypnosis tapes, and whether or not you need to do any training at all- these answers will all be very different depending on your goals, objectives, and desires.

I apologize in advance if I- or any of my colleagues- give you answers to your questions based on one set of assumptions (Win Gold in London 2012) if what you are really looking for are answers to questions based on an entirely different set of assumptions (win all of my club matches).

Welcome- A Sincere Welcome!- to this most marvelous of pursuits!!!!!!

Steve Swartz

[Russ]

@

[megabites]

Megabites.
How about Midwest Academy of Target Shooting?
www.midwestacademytsusa.com
100% satisfactions guarantee!
580 in air pistol my last score... at August 21, 2005
Bay City, Michigan

If you looking for coach, I can help you.
Sincerely
Rouslan Diatlov

Hi there, appreciate your help but I'm not in USA.. Asian country.. tough luck for me..

[megabites]

Megabites:

Not "shooting plan," "Shot Plan." In other words, the specific sequence of events leading up to the release of a shot. But never mind that now- you'll get there.

The answer to your question is "It Depends." How much time training? 0 hours per week and 30 hours per week are both right answers. How gfrequently to train? Three times a day and three times a month are both right answers.

Let's just consider "training," "practice," and "plinking." Do you ever intend to enter formal competition? What are your personal objectives for your participation in shooting? Are you just shooting for fun and relaxation? Do you have any desire to improve your skills? How much time and effort do you intend to devote to improving your skills?

These are really just "rhetorical" questions for now. Please understand that the answers to just about any of the questions you need to ask for a while probably depend greatly upon what you intend to do with the shooting sports.

For example, if your sincerely honest answer is "I want to represent my country in International Competition and Win" vs. "I want to shoot rats out my back yard window on the weekend" the type of equipment, amount of time spent training, what activities you perform during training, what you think about before, during and after training, whether you monitor and carefully moderate your diet, what foods show as flase positives for USOC banneed substances, should I quite smoking, stop drinking coffee, lift more weights, less weights, hours on treadmill vs. hours listening to self-hypnosis tapes, and whether or not you need to do any training at all- these answers will all be very different depending on your goals, objectives, and desires.

I apologize in advance if I- or any of my colleagues- give you answers to your questions based on one set of assumptions (Win Gold in London 2012) if what you are really looking for are answers to questions based on an entirely different set of assumptions (win all of my club matches).

Welcome- A Sincere Welcome!- to this most marvelous of pursuits!!!!!!

Steve Swartz

Hi there, I really hope to advance in this sport but I'm not sure where to get started.. Maybe I shall read up more online from the websites given.

[Steve Swartz]

Megabites:

Great references given already; do read up. And don't be bashful about asking for help from this forum. Some of us get occasionally prickly but we're really not bad sorts!

Steve Swartz

[eskinner]

A friend of mine once owned a bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans many years ago. He told me that late at night when only a few regulars were left, they would lock the door, sit on the customer-side of the bar, wait for the rats to come out behind the bar and then shoot at them with 22 pistols. I think that qualifies as plinking, not hunting.

On a serious note, the Olympic shooting sports are well worth looking into. They range from air pistols to conventional pistol shooting (gunpowder), to rifles and cross-country race and shoot events. But perhaps you already knew that -- this is the right forum for such.

I've been to a couple of places in Asia and have always benefited from the education it brings.

Best regards!

[mikeschroeder]

I take a different position on daily training. I think it is an excellent idea - but limit the number of shots. Shoot 10 to 20 rounds, not a full match. And dry fire. Constantly.

Hi

Other Mike is also correct. Practice is defined in the NRA coach books as shooting a match, but at home (more or less). While Training is something you do to help you shoot well, but isn't match shooting. For example Dry Firing is Training. The reason that I stated "It will make you weird", is that you started out with a life that didn't include shooting. Now it does. Taking two hours per day for shooting is a new 14 hours per week that you used to do something else. For the first year of so, don't do any shooting related activity every day. Be athletic every day, but don't make all of your athletics be shooting.

Dry fire more than you shoot though. Now if I can only get myself to follow that advice......

Mike
Wichita KS

[cdf]

Try to make dry firing fun and a challenge , you are afterall competing with your tuffest adversery-yourself . Plinking is good , find out how well you can perform without pressure , then perfect your mental focus . If you've laid out large coin on a primo pistol , you owe it to yourself to have some fun .

Chris