TargetTalk

How far can a Baikal take you, in terms of being competitive?
Any thoughts are appreciated!

You can score 570-573.

http://www.midwestshootingacademy.com/article7.shtml
Rouslan

I recently posted an essay here about my experience with the IZH46M. While the Izzy was not a good fit for me, there is nothing about the gun that will necessarily prevent you from shooting good scores. In spite of my difficulties with the gun, I frequently shot targets that scored in the upper 80’s to low 90’s, and I do not shoot competitively, nor do I train like many of the other shooters in this forum.

One issue with the IZH46M is its weight and muzzle-heavy balance. The Izzy is perhaps the heaviest air pistol on the market. If you can handle that weight and balance, then you have no problem. In fact the weight may even be an advantage because it can help to damp out any tremors. Many of the more expensive air pistols have extra weights that you can add for just that purpose. It’s just that the Izzy doesn’t give you a choice. The weight is there-like it or not.

Another possible issue with the IZH46M is the need to manually cock the gun before each shot. I found that cocking the gun became second nature and was not difficult, but then I never fired it in a 60 shot match. Competitive shooters may tell you that the added effort of repeatedly cocking the gun over the course of a match will put you at a disadvantage.

Then there is the IZH46M grip to deal with. The Izzy grip is over-size by design. You will have to modify it or replace it in order to make the gun comfortable to shoot. After market sources for grips are very limited, so you almost have to do the grip work yourself. My attempts at woodworking were not very successful; perhaps you will do better.

The bottom line is that the IZH46M is capable of taking you pretty far into competitive air pistol shooting if the ergonomics of the gun suit you. Fortunately with the IZH46M, the ante isn’t very high to find out-less than $300. I took that gamble and it didn’t work out for me, but I am not sorry that I tried. I say “go for it”.

I took the gamble and have found that it works for em. Sure I would like to have an extra 1500 bones to lay out or an LP10 but for me, now, the IZZY is what I have.

I just started with Izh-46M ( before I used Smith & Wesson 8" just for fun ) and here are my first results from 40 shoots

91 + 93 + 88 + 94(95) = 366(367)

You're a good shooter (better than I am), especially considering you're not even used to the gun yet. Congrats!

I wander around in 350 land with my IZH, but I haven't been able to blame the gun yet. When I pull the trigger cleanly and follow through, I can watch the hole appear at the top of my front sight post every time.

Of course, I made my own junky grip, and am making another one right now. I put a new palm shelf on the other day, and my scores jumped about 6 points, so I think once I can get a decent fit on the gun, I'll use it until I'm consistently shooting 93% or so, then I'll start competing. Once I'm shooting about 93% in competition (needless to say, I'm expecting to score much worse when I step off the home range) I'll look into buying a world-class gun.

H.

Houngan wrote:I wander around in 350 land with my IZH, but I haven't been able to blame the gun yet. When I pull the trigger cleanly and follow through, I can watch the hole appear at the top of my front sight post every time.

Of course, I made my own junky grip, and am making another one right now. I put a new palm shelf on the other day, and my scores jumped about 6 points, so I think once I can get a decent fit on the gun, I'll use it until I'm consistently shooting 93% or so, then I'll start competing. Once I'm shooting about 93% in competition (needless to say, I'm expecting to score much worse when I step off the home range) I'll look into buying a world-class gun.

The sooner you start shooting in matches, the better. You will dsicover all kinds of little things that will make you a better shooter. Mid 350's is nothing to be ashamed about and is good enough to win sharpshooter class in an NRA match.

If you can see the hole appear in the target, then you are not focussed on your front sight.

Nicole Hamilton wrote:You're a good shooter (better than I am), especially considering you're not even used to the gun yet. Congrats!

Thanks ! Though I must admit I made ~ 100 shots to zero-in Izh before these 40 shots. Normally I use red-dot sight on S&W, so Izh's iron sights were quite new for me.
Also it's worth to mention that starting from February I was practising hard with S&W preparing for match ( non-sport pistoles ) in April. I made ~ 1500 shots up to now.

S&W is a pretty good school, since it weights ~ 1.6 kg ( with red-dot sight ) and has trigger weight I beleve a few kilogramms. I got max scores 357.

After S&W sport pistoles seem as light surgeon instruments.

Exercise with S&W, gentlemen ;)
( For ladies I would not recommend - too heavy )

Hmm. Excuse wild russian bear if I said something wrong - I meant quite well.

I am very new to competitive shooting and I was advised to join this forum - now I know why. Thanks for all of the replies.

Fred Mannis wrote:
If you can see the hole appear in the target, then you are not focussed on your front sight.

A question about that: I came to this from action shooting and a lifetime of general plinking, and of course in USPSA/IPSC you lock onto that front sight with both eyes, put it in the middle of the target blur, and let loose.

However, when we're talking about precision shooting, I'm a little confused about what focus implies. Are you supposed to have two eyes focused on the front sight post, and put it in the target blur? Or, are you supposed to only engage the sight with one eye, and concentrate, more than focus, on it? After all, without binocular vision, "focus" is a weird term.

Here's what I do, and by no means do I know if this is correct, so comments are welcome. I take a 90 degree stance, mas o menos, look at the target, imagine a good sight picture, then bring the gun up. There are two sight pictures due to parallax, so I suppose my actual point of focus is on the target. However, my point of attention is on the front sight and the overall sight picture, which I see quite clearly. (I'm cross-dominant, so my head is turned more than normal. I know I'm supposed to train the other eye, but I'll save that for later down the road.) So, visually the target is quite clear, but I'm not paying attention to it, I'm "watching" the sight picture and starting my squeeze.

As far as acuity goes, I cut a tiny notch in the top-middle of my front sight, the width of a dremel cut-off wheel, say half a millimeter. The entire front sight is probably 2-3mm wide, and I can clearly see the notch. My vision is roughly 20/15, so perhaps I'm taking advantage of good vision and doing it wrong?

When I was seeing the hole, it was because I printed some targets on an inkjet printer, which came out light gray, so the hole was evident, even without my attention on the target.

H.

GaryBF wrote: The Izzy grip is over-size by design. You will have to modify it or replace it in order to make the gun comfortable to shoot.

Fortunately with the IZH46M, the ante isn’t very high to find out-less than $300. I took that gamble and it didn’t work out for me, but I am not sorry that I tried. I say “go for it”.

I'm thinking I like the IZH46M.

I just tried one, sort of.... I'm left handed and tried a right hand gun so of course my main goal was just not to hit the people standing in back of me. But my impression was that the grip was to small for me. I'd need to work it with file, dremmel or sandpaper. Then I was told a common method was to use automotive body filler (Bondo) and a latex glove to mold a fit. Not much wood working skill required but I'd imagine the result would look ugly.

As for making a $300 gamble. I think it is only a $100 gamble because you could quickly sell it for $200.

To build up areas, Warren told me to use plastic-wood, someone else used a 2 part putty epoxy. Both methods work fine. Plastic wood takes a long time to cure and get rid of the smell...pwew... For that reason I recommend the putty epoxy.

I would not grab it with a gloved hand for one reason. You may want to build UP a section that otherwise would be low. Example maybe the lower back of the backstrap. The weight of the AP would cause your hand to depress the material here, where instead you might want to build it up.

If you don't have an experienced grip guy helping you, expect to have to redo the grips a few times. I think I redid my grips about 5 times before I got it right. Cover the mechanism with saran wrap, to keep the grinding dust out. Dremel, files, sandpaper...and LOTS of patience.

GaryN wrote: Cover the mechanism with saran wrap, to keep the grinding dust out. Dremel, files, sandpaper...and LOTS of patience.

I play it safe and take the grips off the gun befoe doing any sanding or grinding.

Fred

Because of the dust I try to do as much of the work w/o the action in the grip.

But at the end, some of the fitting requires you to bring it up to position where the weight of the AP has an effect on the fit. I got tired of removing/installing/removing/installing...... the action from the grip. Being my first grip, there was a LOT of trial and error. More error than trial :-)

Gary

GaryBF wrote:Then there is the IZH46M grip to deal with. The Izzy grip is over-size by design. You will have to modify it or replace it in order to make the gun comfortable to shoot.

Actually, my hand fitted the grip perfectly from the first time I picked my Izzy up. I guess I have Russian farmer's hands...


(Or are the EAA polishing down the IZH grips before selling them on?)