TargetTalk

I'm nearing the end of a 10m AP postal league comp, just wondering if any other poor sole has to go through what I'm going through.

The range at the club I use is in the basement of a 150 year old ware house, it's so cold that I took a hair dryer to warm my hands up but it blew the lights so can't use it anymore, I now have to put my hand through my jacket and leave it in my arm pit to try and get some warmth in it. My breath condensates as I exhale.

Another thing, I thought the target looked a bit far away so I measured it with my 10 metre construction tape. From the back of the bench (part nearest me) to the target, it measures 11 metres, is that correct?

TommyH

No, the back of the bench should be 10 metres from the target.

Most of my training is at home with reduced targets at 5 metres. No real hardship. I spent some time scaling a black dot with scaled rings, no rings outside the black, until it finally printed to the correct reduced size to appear exactly the same from 5 metres as the proper targets do at 10. Then I arranged them in a PDF such that they print in the 4 corners of the back of my full size Kruger targets. I print these on the backs of my used targets, running them through my printer after quickly scraping off the loose paper tags on the backs, then cut them to size in stacks of 10 or so with a utility knife. No scoring, just shoot for groupings. I have a 10 metre trap at home but in winter the lack of leaves on trees mean my many neighbours could too easily hear the regular *pop* sounds then look over to me when I swap targets... the trap is outside and of course it is not legal to discharge any type of gun within the city, so I wait until the leaves come back to absorb sound and block sight lines. It would not be possible for a shot to hit anyone as I block everything outside the target paper at the window I shoot through with plywood, which I have never hit in over 50,000 shots. But I don't want to upset neighbours and get into trouble.

TommyH wrote:From the back of the bench (part nearest me) to the target, it measures 11 metres, is that correct?

The horizontal distance from the target face to the edge of the bench closest to you should be 9.9m (+/-5cm). The firing line should then be a further 10cm away from the targets.

I can empathise with the cold bit, my club shoots balck powder, muzzle loaders etc. so the air vents behind me to clear the smoke blow directly on me as I shoot 10m pistol in my lane. I shoot on a 25m lane but put 10m stand with my targets on but I have no lighting but there is on the 25m targets in the distance making the target very difficult to make out. I take a portable LED work light which helps a bit. It's a good club with salt of the earth types so no real complaints. I'm working on the pretext that when I start to go to matches with the pistol it will give me an advantage.

Bring on the summer
Thirdwheel

Those little air activated hand, foot and toe warmers are a big help to warm up the hands. I've also used the old Jone type hand warmer which is filled with lighter fluid. It works very well.

For cross-country skiing we use vinyl pouches filled with some mystery amber gel, simmering them for a few minutes to liquify the media, then activating to release the chemically-stored heat with a little stainless steel click-disc inside. Got them at Mountain Equipment Co-op, here:
http://www.mec.ca/product/5012-687/toas ... ater-pack/
Seems they've gone to a rectangular model a bit bigger than the small discs we have from a few years ago. We've only used them a few dozen times, but there are no signs of wear, should last a long time. I'm sure you can find something similar in most outdoor gear stores. Much more economical then burning up one-time hand warmers. Easy enough to re-activate even camping, just boiling for 5 minutes.

As for lighting; I think the same rule applies to this as for everything else in AP, meaning consistency is the most crucial ingredient. Consistency of stance, grip, mental attitude, and of course target lighting. I don't see any advantage in training with bad lighting then competing with good lighting. Try to find some sort of lightweight light you can mount above and in front of the target to illuminate it as close to the ISSF specification as possible. There are innumerable multi-bulb LED flashlights/work lights available, most very cheaply, which could be mounted on an armature, even on a couple of coathanger wires fixed to the target stand. If it has to be lit from below because of your stand so be it, just try to get the target well lit from about a 45 degree angle.

Thanks for the replies, appreciate it

TommyH

In light of these challenges, I've been consistently averaging 92 points per 10 shots and the pattern is like this: 4 tens, 4 nines and two eights. I'm only getting to shoot once per week but this should increase during the summer days when I can top up my practice at home.

I am finding that I have a lot of 'impulses' of the arm/ wrist when my brain tells my finger to squeeze the trigger. These were really strong when I picked up a pistol for the first time in 30 years when I decided to start shooting again since my army days, my whole arm sometimes swung about 15cm to the left from the target, hence it's a lot more under control now after one year but I'd love to eliminate them.

Any ideas?

Thanks

TommyH

TommyH wrote: I am finding that I have a lot of 'impulses' of the arm/ wrist when my brain tells my finger to squeeze the trigger (...)
Any ideas?

You are probably gripping the gun too hard. It's an air pistol, so it has little or no recoil. Try relaxing your hand a little and see if it helps. Like you were giving a handshake to a girl. Firm but not bone crunching.

Hope this helps

Gerard wrote: Most of my training is at home with reduced targets at 5 metres. No real hardship. I spent some time scaling a black dot with scaled rings, no rings outside the black, until it finally printed to the correct reduced size to appear exactly the same from 5 metres

You find them ready to print in the web page of German grip maker Rink
http://www.formgriffe.de/shpPfCnt.php?sCI=125

David Levene wrote:

TommyH wrote:From the back of the bench (part nearest me) to the target, it measures 11 metres, is that correct?

The horizontal distance from the target face to the edge of the bench closest to you should be 9.9m (+/-5cm). The firing line should then be a further 10cm away from the targets.

From the rules book:

6.4.5 Shooting Distances
6.4.5.1 Shooting distances must be measured from the firing line to the
target face.
6.4.5.2 Shooting distances must be as exact as possible, subject to the following allowable variations.
6.4.5.3 In combined 50m rifle, pistol and running target ranges, the allowable variation can be increased to +2.50 m for running target.
The opening must be accordingly adjusted.
6.4.5.4 The firing line must be clearly marked. The range distance must be measured from the target line to the edge of the firing line nearest to the athlete. The athlete’s foot or, in the prone position the athlete’s elbow may not be placed on or in front of the firing
line.
300m range
+/- 1.00 m
50m range
+/- 0.20 m
25m range
+/- 0.10 m
10m range
+/- 0.05 m
50m Running Target range
+/- 0.20 m
10m Running Target range
+/- 0.05 m

therider wrote:

Gerard wrote: Most of my training is at home with reduced targets at 5 metres. No real hardship. I spent some time scaling a black dot with scaled rings, no rings outside the black, until it finally printed to the correct reduced size to appear exactly the same from 5 metres

You find them ready to print in the web page of German grip maker Rink
http://www.formgriffe.de/shpPfCnt.php?sCI=125

Or, just get some air rifle targets. Perfect for pistol at 5m.

therider wrote:

David Levene wrote:

TommyH wrote:From the back of the bench (part nearest me) to the target, it measures 11 metres, is that correct?

The horizontal distance from the target face to the edge of the bench closest to you should be 9.9m (+/-5cm). The firing line should then be a further 10cm away from the targets.

From the rules book:

6.4.5 Shooting Distances
6.4.5.1 Shooting distances must be measured from the firing line to the
target face.
6.4.5.2 Shooting distances must be as exact as possible, subject to the following allowable variations.
6.4.5.3 In combined 50m rifle, pistol and running target ranges, the allowable variation can be increased to +2.50 m for running target.
The opening must be accordingly adjusted.
6.4.5.4 The firing line must be clearly marked. The range distance must be measured from the target line to the edge of the firing line nearest to the athlete. The athlete’s foot or, in the prone position the athlete’s elbow may not be placed on or in front of the firing
line.

Can I suggest you look at 6.4.10.b as well.

David, thanks.

6.4.10 Range and Firing Point Standards for 10m Ranges
a) The firing point must be a minimum of 1.00 m wide;
b) The nearest edge of the bench or stand must be placed 10 cm forward of the 10m Firing line; and
c) 10m ranges that are not equipped with ESTs must be equipped with electric-mechanical target carriers or changers.

therider wrote:You find them ready to print in the web page of German grip maker Rink
http://www.formgriffe.de/shpPfCnt.php?sCI=125

Well thanks, I guess. But as I said, got it worked out for myself. Looking at that German page (sorry, I read no German) I see air pistol and other targets scaled for 2m, 2,5m, and 3m. No 5m, which is what I'm set up for at home. And having downloaded the 3m PDF and looked at it, can't say I really understand what to do with targets in that layout. With what I print it's laid out so that 4 circles are printed in the corners, easy to cut out as squares and slip into a card backer with a little glued-on holder for them. The idea is to get 4 or 5 times as much use out of a single target, since I only mess up the middle at 10 metres anyway. No sense wasting new paper for home practice at closer range.

Hi Tommy
It seems to be the UK way, there are a lot of clubs with poor facilities. But also some good clubs, our air club was formed by a small group 40 years ago and has been steadily developed by the hard work of an even smaller group, we have 12 electric points and are just ordering our first two electronics.
The UK problem is the meanness of the majority of shooters who want to do it on the cheap, they will pay a couple of thousand pound for their own kit but will not pay a decent sum for membership to provide good facilities, the result is decrepid ranges that no one wants to use.
My wife and I travel and shoot in Europe and see many little village clubs and ranges that are as good as our olympic range (smaller, but the are still there, unlike the olympic range!).
We have always modelled our air club on the European model, and we have tried in our other clubs to get them into the 21st century, but the majority of members want cheap, and cheap is what they get.
We also shoot at home and have an easy set up 10 mt range, from our garage/workshop into our conservatory, with an electric carrier changer.

The very best of luck and I hope you manage to find better facilities.
Good shooting
Robin

The very best of luck and I hope you manage to find better facilities.

Hi Robin

This the second club I have used for AP, the first one had snow coming in through the roof (Last year). No one there took the shooting seriously, they were telling lots of jokes during the shooting and my laughing threw my shots very wide. The owner of the club I'm in now told me he advertised for lots of members to join the club and that it was his intention to develop a state of the art 10 metre AP facility but the take up was non existent.

TommyH