New to shooting

[B Lafferty]

In my case the two biggest causes of flyers to overcome have been and remain pushing to make the shot rather than aborting and follow through. The latter is now my biggest issue by far.....

[BobGee]

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

I think a more up-to-date book by a lifetime pistol shooter and 7-time Olympian, Ragnar Skanaker, is:

“Mastering Competitive Pistol Shooting” available from: https://sites.google.com/site/masterpistolshooting/ for just shy of US$30 (€25.00). There is also an eBook version out there for about US$15: https://www.lulu.com/en/au/shop/ragnar- ... pageSize=4.

This book covers all the Olympic disciplines, especially Free (50m) Pistol and Air Pistol, of which Skanaker is a significant exponent. He also shot Rapid Fire at two Olympics (1980 in Moscow and 1984 in LA) and won the 1978 World Championship in Standard Pistol. So the man knows of which he speaks. You may also detect that he is something of a hero to me. Once, when in a presentation in Australia, he was asked what training exercises he espoused; his answer was: “I shoot for 4 hours every day”.

Bob

PS Really cool that he can shoot in his own back yard!

[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

I think a more up-to-date book by a lifetime pistol shooter and 7-time Olympian, Ragnar Skanaker, is:

“Mastering Competitive Pistol Shooting” available from: https://sites.google.com/site/masterpistolshooting/ for just shy of US$30 (€25.00). There is also an eBook version out there for about US$15: https://www.lulu.com/en/au/shop/ragnar- ... pageSize=4.

This book covers all the Olympic disciplines, especially Free (50m) Pistol and Air Pistol, of which Skanaker is a significant exponent. He also shot Rapid Fire at two Olympics (1980 in Moscow and 1984 in LA) and won the 1978 World Championship in Standard Pistol. So the man knows of which he speaks. You may also detect that he is something of a hero to me. Once, when in a presentation in Australia, he was asked what training exercises he espoused; his answer was: “I shoot for 4 hours every day”.

127CB36E-54D0-41E8-B0D5-87165A039DAE.jpeg

Bob

PS Really cool that he can shoot in his own back yard!

There are a number of good books available on the market such as Pistol Shooting As a Sport by Hans Standal and Pistol Shooting by Heinz Reinkemeyer and Gaby Buhlmann. Unfortunately, what isn't available in many areas are air pistol/rifle shooting facilities with coaching.

Years ago the great Belgian bicycle racer Eddy Merckx was asked about his training regimen. His reply was, "Ride lots."

[Wouterdhoye]

Thanks for all the book suggestions. I’ll look into those

Now regarding keeping a shooting diary. Wha t should I pay attention to? How to properly record things? Are there some good examples?

Regarding coaching. I guess that is indeed a tough one. My club unfortunately has no real coach. Luckily we have two international level rifle shooters. So I’m sure I can learn a thing or two from them.

And regarding both the cannibal’s and mr Skanaker’s training. To get good you have to get the mileage. But i’d like to practise the good things and prevent myself from learning any bad habits.

Cheers,

Wouter.

[B Lafferty]

Thanks for all the book suggestions. I’ll look into those

Now regarding keeping a shooting diary. Wha t should I pay attention to? How to properly record things? Are there some good examples?

Regarding coaching. I guess that is indeed a tough one. My club unfortunately has no real coach. Luckily we have two international level rifle shooters. So I’m sure I can learn a thing or two from them.

And regarding both the cannibal’s and mr Skanaker’s training. To get good you have to get the mileage. But i’d like to practise the good things and prevent myself from learning any bad habits.

Cheers,

Wouter.

Yes. The good things. In my much younger days, I raced bicycles. In the early 80's I managed to sit on Greg Lemond's wheel in a NYC race for a bit until he decided to head up the road on his own. Back in those days training was regimented and based on getting in many miles that were in many ways meaningless. Then came the more scientific training modalities which a few years later included truly effective preparations such as EPO. One of the major trainers over here, Joe Friel, wrote the Cyclist's Training Bible in which he argued that Miguel Indurain's success was due to some weight loss and better training. Ha. When Armstrong's teammate George Hincapie won a TdF mountain stage in the Pyrenees we knew that pigs could fly. I would occasionally train with George in NYC's Central Park in the very early morning. We were both about the same height, 6'2" I weighed 171 pounds while George was around 164 pounds. Neither of us could be called a climber. But, with good preparation, George bagged a mountain stage with a solo breakaway.......BTW, I met The Cannibal in NYC at a trade show in the the mid-1980's when he was just building his bicycle frame business. Lovely guy. I have his autograph somewhere.

What would the illegal training methodology be for air pistol? Meds to slow heart rate? ADD meds to improve focus?

[BobGee]

Now regarding keeping a shooting diary. Wha t should I pay attention to? How to properly record things? Are there some good examples?

A shooting diary need be no more than a notebook to record what you are trying out, what works and what doesn’t, what your training aims are and some sort of progress record. Especially using club guns which are not fitted to you, try to avoid keeping scores, instead record your group sizes (ignoring obvious flyers). It is useful to have a transparent foil printed with the rings from an AP target that can be overlaid onto the target to help determine group size. Also note if the group wanders which is usually a grip issue. Try to analyse your bad shots - why each one happened, also what resulted in good shots. Gwhite posted a really good shot analysis chart just recently here on TT - ignores Rover's version! Analysis of what you are doing is key.

Please be aware that sometimes, when you change something in your shooting process, it can take a while for the benefit (if there is one) to become apparent.

Bob

[spektr]

My shooting notes include a few other things.... Im diabetic so my hand is a bit more sensitive to water retention changing grip feel,so I write that down as well as the temp, which shoes Im wearing..... Whatever you think helps you, helps you

[BobGee]

Doug White's (Gwhite's) chart:

Rover's:

Bob

[B Lafferty]

Doug White's (Gwhite's) chart:

60F9E83B-F3B9-4991-82BF-02DBE2464FE2.png

Rover's:

32AA4CF3-B354-4099-88E7-512ADADD2062.jpeg

Bob

LMAO! Thank you. I needed that this morning. Leaving my hall range now for a cup of tea...... :-)

[Wouterdhoye]

Thanks agin for the valuable information. Especially the diagram looks quite useful. I guess these two pages have learned me a lot already. I got the shooting training book.. was quite cheap on apple books. I guess that if i can successfully apply those techniques I would be well on my way to become a proficient shooter. And eventually get my own pistol. I agreed with myself not to rush into that (not that I don't want to) Currently I am in no way capable enough to decide on what pistol would be right for me. But we'll leave that discussion until the time is right.

Thanks everybody for the input so far.

I'll keep updating this thread though as i progress and get better at interpreting my shooting.

Cheers,

Wouter.

[Wouterdhoye]

Hi,

Yesterday I was lucky that the club pistol was available.

The above target is 60 shots. I’m quite happy with it. Still some flyers, but I was able to call all of them as a bad shot upon trigger release. The biggest improvement is that the “bad” shots are not as bad as the bad shots from previous sessions. Mean shot radius has improved significantly. From 29mm to 21mm. General aim seems fair enough as all shots seem to be scattered rather evenly around the middle.

So all in all I’m very happy with my session.

Also need to mention that I did 60 rifle shots too before I could pick up the pistol. Which were not bad either

Cheers,

Wouter.

[BobGee]

Wouter,

Are you using an old or trial version of TargetScan? The version of the app I have (6.8.0) gives you the offset of your match shots from centre (Windage and Elevation), as well as showing the Mean Radius and Max Spread, so you can get an idea of how your group is placed in relation to the centre.

BTW the last target shows steady improvement. Whatever your doing is moving you in the right direction.

Bob

[Wouterdhoye]

I have a recent version. All the info is displayed in the app. But when i make a screenshot on my phone the file is too large for this forum to send as an attachment

Windage 4.3mm to right
Elevation 0.5mm down
Mean radius: 21.4mm
Max spread: 87.5mm

Kind regards

Wouter.

[Wouterdhoye]

Hi,

new update. A bit later than planned. Result is a bit less than previous session. However I did learn a few things. Like: when shots get lower and lower don't aim higher, refill the co2 tank. I Alos learned that if the holes in the target are not clean that is also caused by too low pressure in the tank. So result is not too good. but a few valuable lessons learnt.

Cheers,

Wouter

[divingin]

Looks like decent progress.