New to shooting

[Wouterdhoye]

Hi,

Let me first introduce myself. I’m Wouter and live in Belgium. I always had some interest in any target shooting related sport, archery, shooting,... But it never really got to it.

That is something I’d like to change and i set my mind on the 10m air pistol shooting discipline.

So it comes as no surprise that I have many questions:

What equipment is advised for starting out? Which pistols are good, any required or recommended acessories?
How to train, any resources on training and shooting technique,...

I tank you for reading this post and am grateful for any responses.

Kind regards,

Wouter.

[Rover]

The best advice I can give is to do a Search on any topic of interest here. It will save you much abuse.

[Azmodan]

orientation video for the discipline: https://youtu.be/a8FapV7KpdE

[Ade C]

You'll get a few people telling you to spend a fortune. This really isn't necessary to learn the basics. A single stroke pneumatic like the Gamo Compact is all you need to learn the fundamentals. Technique is 90% of the discipline

[Morini162]

Wouter, I live in India but have been working for Flanders International Trade and the Port of Antwerp for over 20 years. I know there is a pistol range in Dendermonde and a lot of good friendly people who can help you with your questions.
In Holland there is a shop called Krale which has good prices for airpistols and the .22 match pistols are almost free of cost compared to US prices. I have seen a Unique .22 for less than 250 Euro. This was the pistol used by the legendary Doc Darius Young to win many matches.

I think there is someone in Belgium who writes a blog called Olympic Pistol whom you can also contact for some information.

[Ramon OP]

I think there is someone in Belgium who writes a blog called Olympic Pistol whom you can also contact for some information.

That would be me :)

Forget about buying a pistol for a while. First go to a shooting club and see how they do the introduction to shooting. To my knowledge all Belgian clubs lend pistols to their new members to learn to shoot.

Depending on where you are in Belgium you will deal with the Walloon or Flemish federations.

The Flemish shooting federation has a the clubs on a map here: https://www.sportschieten.be/nl/clubs-l ... s-in-kaart

The clubs of the Walloon federation are here: https://urstbf.org/ You have to click on the left menu item "Les Clubs" and choose the province that suits you. These are the ones in Brussels: https://urstbf.org/articles.php?lng=fr& ... &tconfig=0

The club will give you some basic instruction unless you get very, very lucky and land into one with coaching.

I post a lot of pistol resources and info on https://www.olympicpistol.com/ and even more through social media (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter links on top left of the website)

[Wouterdhoye]

Hi,

Due to the whole covid pandemic getting started with pistol shooting got delayed a bit. However a couple of weeks ago me and my girlfriend visited a shooting club and enjoyed ourselves very much. She fell in love with rifle shooting. I’m still in doubt between pistol and rifle. Attached my first result in pistol shooting. At the club I was told this was pretty good as the majority of the shots were in the black. What do you guys think. Total amount of shots is 76.

Kind regards,

Wouter

[Rover]

I've been to actual matches and seen worse groups. You show promise.

[BobGee]

Apart from 6 real “flyers” the rest are within the 5 ring. Your “score” works out at 423 for a 60 shot match. All very good for a first attempt. Cure those flyers and you’ll start going places.

As a new shooter, actually for all shooters, the size of the group is the most important thing. Tight groups can be “moved” to the centre of the target (and consequently higher scores) by adjusting the sights.

An important aspect of shooting is to know when to abort (stop) a shot and to start all over again. Don’t hold too long (6-8 seconds in the aiming area); if things don’t feel “right” stop and start over.

There is a great thread going on at the moment which you should take time to read through - currently 13 pages but worth every minute: Newbie Shooting Question.

Bob

[nmondal]

I've been to actual matches and seen worse groups. You show promise.

What Rover sir means.. is that was excellent.
Rover and William are acquired taste like beer.
Welcome to the forum - and yes they are excellent.
And if you more than 30 years old or nearing 30.. pls shoot Pistol.
The spine is not going to take the rifle.

[nmondal]

...
There is a great thread going on at the moment which you should take time to read through - currently 13 pages but worth every minute: Newbie Shooting Question.

Bob

Thanks Bob - and that would be something I did for all the new shooters - :D - it was selfish interest - now it looks like all these information is helping a lot of people including many cross eyed shooter in my own range!

And here is the link:
http://targettalk.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=63530

[Wouterdhoye]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

@nmondal: I read through your entire thread. Some great info there. For sure a couple of things I can take with me on my next training on Tuesday.

Cheers,

Wouter.

[william]

Concentrate on the basics.

When the thought comes into your head to spend time on things like pellet testing, DON'T.

Go back to basics.

When your handyman instincts tempt you to bodge up something to hold your pistol so that you can test its ultimate accuracy, STOP.

Go back to basics.

It may not always be easy, but it is simple.

And whatever you do, don't get discouraged.

[nmondal]

Concentrate on the basics.

When the thought comes into your head to spend time on things like pellet testing, DON'T.
Go back to basics.
When your handyman instincts tempt you to bodge up something to hold your pistol so that you can test its ultimate accuracy, STOP.
Go back to basics.
It may not always be easy, but it is simple.
And whatever you do, don't get discouraged.

Those are real Golden words - YES. But You are not encouraging emre nur @william sir. :p

[brent375hh]

Do whatever makes you feel confident.
This is a mental game. If you feel like something will give you an advantage, go for it. If it helps, great, if it doesn't, go back to where you were scoring highest.

There are some very subtle nuances that put you on your game for any different day.
The trick is remembering what they are the next range session.

Trying the same approach that isn't working, but only hoping for better, is the only road to despair.

[william]

Concentrate on the basics.

When the thought comes into your head to spend time on things like pellet testing, DON'T.
Go back to basics.
When your handyman instincts tempt you to bodge up something to hold your pistol so that you can test its ultimate accuracy, STOP.
Go back to basics.
It may not always be easy, but it is simple.
And whatever you do, don't get discouraged.

Those are real Golden words - YES. But You are not encouraging emre nur @william sir. :p

Not encouraging? Is this better? (Reassuringly holding hand) everything is going to be OK. Just keep doing what you're doing because you know best and you are the best. And the smartest. And the handsomest. Etc.

[B Lafferty]

There is also a basic book on rifle and pistol sport that comes out of Germany. I have it in English translation and have found it quite helpful.

https://www.abebooks.com/9781841263052/ ... 263052/plp

[Wouterdhoye]

Hi

Second session yesterday. No dramatic improvement compared to the first session. I guess that’s to be expected. However I tried to focus on getting a consistent shooting, like for instance not move my feet between shots etc, following through after the shot… also took one of my older glasses (same prescription) and covered the left glass with translucent tape. This proved to be considerably less straining during the aiming.

Total shots: 56 (didn’t keep count otherwise I would have gone till the full 60.

The really bad hots (far out of the black) I usually could call as a bad shot. Now learning to pinpoint what I did wrong :-)

One thing that is a bit annoying is that i need to use a club pistol which is offcourse not perfectly set to myself. I hope to get a pistol for myself in the next few months. But first get more familiar wit shooting guess if i do well with this one I can only get better with a pistol fitted to myself.

Cheers,

Wouter.

[Wouterdhoye]

There is also a basic book on rifle and pistol sport that comes out of Germany. I have it in English translation and have found it quite helpful.

https://www.abebooks.com/9781841263052/ ... 263052/plp

Thanks for the tip. Seem to be available digitally too on ibooks

[BobGee]

Do whatever makes you feel confident.
This is a mental game. If you feel like something will give you an advantage, go for it. If it helps, great, if it doesn't, go back to where you were scoring highest.

There are some very subtle nuances that put you on your game for any different day.
The trick is remembering what they are the next range session.

The “trick” is the important thing. It’s called a Shooting Diary - very important, especially when starting out so you can record what works and what doesn’t AND remember it.

Looking at your target Wouter, 6 more loose shots (same as last time) [edit: sorry, 7] but the rest are essentially within the 6-ring. Last time it was the 5-ring. See, improving already!

Try and rid yourself of the wild shots, i.e. don’t continue with the shot if it does not feel “right” or you have held too long. Learn the art of aborting a shot. Also, remember the three things to focus on during the shot process: front sight, front sight and front sight.

Bob