TargetTalk

I just shot my free pistol for the first time tonight and am not sure how to judge my scores... I shot a 501 on b35 targets at an indoor range. How do the b35's correlate to the full 50m targets? How much should free pistol scores be different from air pistol? For those that shot rifle, is it a lot like the difference between smallbore and air rifle?

I know not to harp on scores, but it's metric I would like to keep track of. It felt pretty good, but there is a lot to get used to compared to air pistol, and I've only been shooting that for 6 months >,<

Your free pistol scores will be a lot lower than air pistol, namely because of the increased impact of angular errors due to the distance. My competition record in AP is 553 and in FP 501 (although I hardly ever train FP). Humbling and very enjoyable :)

For the target comparison my calculator may be useful: http://olympicpistol.com/calculator

If you are shooting with the target at less than 50m you cannot trust the points result, as the impacts are bigger and the errors smaller. I usually practice at 25m but use a scoreless reduced target I made (just a black circle). My focus then is on sensations and process, and I look at the grouping as an indicator.

Someone told me, free pistol is like air pistol on steroids.
I started shooting free pistol last winter. I began training with the B-35 target as it was more convenient on my home range. I didn’t have to put on snow shoes to go out to 50 meters to change targets. I’d say I learned a lot on the B-35. In the spring I switched to the 50 meter target and was able to do quite well with it. My scores were slightly lower at first but came up as I continued to train. I entered a postal match in which the scores were sent in for classification and received an expert card.
I believe free pistol to be the most difficult of the pistol sports. As Ramon said, “humbling and very enjoyable”.
Hold hard and good shooting!
Jim

When I was very young I had the fortune of knowing an old shooter in my country who happened to have suceeded as World Champion in both Free Pistol and Free Rifle 3 positions in the first post-WWII WCH, and after, with many gold medals in other international meetings.

He was a very knowledgeable fellow (in spite of his advance age at that time) and very kind, and when I asked him about the subject he told me (and I must assume he knew what he was talking about) that he thought Free Pistol was the most demanding event in shooting.

Later (after Melentiev's Moscow 581 score) I took up FP. My PR was 543 (nothing to write home about in international competition) and It costed me lots of work and training, yet the satisfaction at the accomplishment I do remember today, when I can barely scratch 520 in my good days.

To make a decent score in AP, SP, Standard or CF you must have a lot of 10's, so you become accustomed to the fact that a center hit is the only acceptable outcome of a well executed shot.

Free Pistol teaches you (at least, in my view) that you can do everything you learnt to do, youur pistol may be specially made for you by the best minds conjoined, your ammo selected batches of Tenex, and still what you saw as a 10 is a 9, close to the line. As it was said before, FP humbles you, and it dispels any illusion you may have of papal infalibility at shooting.

On the other side, when you shoot what you call as an X, and the scope shows it's an X, the elation you feel can't be compared (at least in my experience) to the same accomplishmet in other events; you feel you're close to perfection at least then, for once.

I wouldn't change it for anything.

Free pistol is mathematically more difficult. If the targets are scaled for the same distance, you are shooting at a smaller 10 ring in FP. Typically, my FP scores were approx 20 points lower than my AP. To be competitive, they are equally challenging.