TargetTalk

So I started shooting 10m Olympic Air Pistol this September. This is my first steps in the world of pistol shooting and I'm finding it quite fun and I really feel like giving it my all. When I started out I shot around 460 in a 60 shot session and today I just set a new PB in a local competition with 528 (BTW is this good progress or not?, feel like my clubmates tell me its good to keep me motivated).

When I started out I did two practice sessions a week doing a full match each session although some times training .22 . Unfourtunately due to conflict with rifle shooting practice I'm now only doing one practice session per week. If I want to get to a good level how much should I be practicing? Should I practice year round?

Bonus question:
What scores should I be aiming for in like a year?

In advance thank you all :)

Why should I tell you all my secrets so you can beat me at the World Cup?

Rover wrote:Why should I tell you all my secrets so you can beat me at the World Cup?

Well Rover the chances of me ever getting to the world cup are extremely slim :P

Do not say that you will not make a World Cup. That should be one of your goals and don't let anyone tel you that you can not make it. Don in oregon

At minimum a few minutes if dry fire each day, preferably more. Probably a half hour every other day would be enough to rehearse and improve the basics, at least enough so that you will see improvement in your live fire sessions. 528 is a respectable beginner's score, but it says nothing about your technique, about mistakes which are already taking root and obstructing greater progress. You need to read a lot about air pistol technique, watch the many videos of training and matches now available on YouTube. You need to focus if you are to make continuous progress. If you shoot once per week it seems unlikely you will rise beyond the level of 550 or so.

Gerard wrote: You need to read a lot about air pistol technique

Can you please provide a reading list? I will start AP soon (currently shooting standard pistol) and would like to learn the proper technique. Do I simply Google "air pistol technique" and read everything? Of course, ther are many good posts here that I have read already.

Google is your friend. As is our host, Pilkguns, which hosts a lot of excellent readings. But here's a zip containing a small assortment of good stuff to keep you busy for s while:
http://www.luthier.ca/other/forum/AP_tr ... adings.zip

Thanks for the answers Gerard, I'll give dry firing a go and see if I can up the number of practices a week.

Yes don one should always aim high :)

A 528 is an honorable, respectable score, especially after only one year.

I'd recommend training in some way as often as possible. Frequency is more important than sheer quantity - 10 shots per day is better than a 100-round session once per week.

Shooters like to talk about "mistakes", but such talk is often pointless. The beginning shooter often spends inordinate amount of time thinking whether a bad shot to 7 o'clock was due to jerking or 3 o'clock shot was due to thumbing, and so on. More often than not this is a waste of time. First of all, the arc of movement in a beginning shooter is way too big to make this analysis meaningful. Second, subconscious muscle control takes quite a while to develop. It just does not make sense to call a "mistake" something that is beyond one's physical abilities. As in any activity, a beginning shooter foremost needs to log in a lot of hours of practice. If you are serious about shooting, start with spending an hour a day dry firing and one or two hours a week live firing. As long as you 1) know what a correct technique is, and 2) make a serious effort to conform to that technique, you will see progress. Just don't over-analyze your bad shots or "mistakes."

As you progress the mental game will become even more important. Most higher level shooters will tell you at those levels it's 95% or more mental. Developing a consistent shot process is every bit and maybe even more important than dry fire or live fire training once you reach a certain level. Things will go easier if you began to develop your mental game sooner.

Lanny Bassham an Olympic Gold medalist (rifle) has some of the best material on the mental part of the game.

http://www.mentaltrainingshooting.com/

As Shaky Hands says always focus on how you got the 10 or X, never focus on why you got the 6.