RobinC wrote:. . . . . If its any compensation 30 years back when I used to average 370+ air pistol I shot 360 ex 400 in a match with all 9's! not a single ten or eight! I was really pi***d, as as you say just luck you would expect some tens by holding the 9 until some one said that must be nearly as difficult as shooting a 400!
Get some coaching, its the answer.
Have fun,
Robin
That's funny Robin! Along the same line; when I shot NRA conventional prone matches we used to speculate how hard it would be to shoot a 400 with no Xs {center shots}. I never heard of anyone doing it. (There were a number of the most annoying 399-39X)
I hope you saved your targets, it's probably a record.
Ben
Thanks again for the responses. I finally got my new air rifle and managed to spend more time than usual trying to work out the bugs in my shooting. I figured out that I simply wasn't holding the rifle steady enough (like duh, everyone says!)...Anyway I made some changes to my position which seems to be working better for me now. Still working on it, but things are definitely starting to look up!
Dave
One more thing. You said you often start "mini-groups" away from the center of the bull. That means that *you* are doing something consistently when you release those shots, but *you* are also simultaneously doing something different from when you shoot the center ring (spot). Loose screws and floppy sights are less likely to go off, and stay consistent through several shots than is the shooter.
I am speaking from experience which I have to fight every day. I typically get about 85/100 pts on a string, going down to 80/100 when I start mini-grouping. Then it becomes a head game to figure out what has changed, often why, and a bit of analysis to think how to drag those mini-groups bak where they belong.
But, hey, if you could just shoot exactly 10 9-score shots in each string, over a full sixty shot match, why then you would have a score of 540 which in most circles below the elite is not too shabby. But you would probably be happier with 8 nines, 1 eight, and 1 inner 10 for the same 540. Right?
