seamaster wrote:You shot average 570's in practice, competition 574.
How could you be new to the sport?
I rather will ask how you could not score 570 if you involved in this sport over 2 years.
I have perfect example of one gentlemen in his 60's who made his practice score of 572 in 2,5 months after proper assessment of his shot plan over two days of privet lessons. His initial level was around 540 AP.
570 is perfectly normal performance if you understand what are you doing during your practice.
I picked up .22 and air gun (p34 used) for the first time in 2011-08.
I think I just have a quite stable hold and that helps a lot + decent trigger technique. Perhaps the first comes from that I did a lot of weight training 4-5 years ago with good focus on back and shoulders. I think that is one reason at least. But now I only do cardio exercise.
I also read a lot of material from pilkgun.com, Anatoli's articles + the excellent essays about mental aspect - On the firing line.
then I bought a case of pellets and started to shoot 50-100 pellets a day in the beginning. Now Im more focused on hold exercises and repetition lift (You know, Skanaker 15000/month - Im not near that however )
Basically, I think it is a good learning experience to just talk and examine other shooters technique. I'll try it if it sounds reasonable to me, and perhaps my own technique or mental aspect will be fine tuned once I find parts I can agree on.
At first I started with .22/25m but my heart actually leans towards 10m AP. As the club I just joined have some prominent FP shooters, Im very excited to try that this coming spring.
The 574 score was from my first AP 10m registered competition. But I would say Im in desperate need of some good coaching. My stance could most likely improve a lot, but perhaps just because I need to modify my grip to allow for more right rotation. etc etc etc
Your post mattswe is the nice food for thoughts for majority of members of this forum, as well it is another great example that quantity of posts are not related to the quality of the performance. ;)
Nice job! I hope you will get professional assistance soon, at least you are looking in the right direction.
My best wishes!
Our Swedish friend got to where he is now by self reading, and learning from his buddies on the range. Everyone in this forum with a passion for this sport is self reading, and learning from our buddies. I applaud for his talent and passion. He must be very critical of his individual shot process/ plan. One analytical, critical slow fire at a time.
He can qualify for Canadian, and possibly US Olympic team with those scores now.
"The 574 score was from my first AP 10m registered competition. But I would say Im in desperate need of some good coaching. My stance could most likely improve a lot, but perhaps just because I need to modify my grip to allow for more right rotation. etc etc etc"
"What would "professional" help get him?"
First, he identified the area of his current concerns. He understood those issues lie above his reference group level of expertise and should be directed to the new level of expertise.
Second, he understands that an occasional 574 is only the beginning for any national level of the performance.
Third, he got to this level with self education and directing his specific questions to someone who is more knowledgeable (He can identify those people in his club by their performance and level of expertise, not by names online and quantities of posts).
Fourth, I see many examples of people who are making a respectful performance; they are making different decisions from the majority of forum members. They have not too many posts here.
I set my goals early and just basically "to hold the 9 ring".
After that, try to get the groupings tighter and the 10s will come by them selves. 570 is just that in my mind, holding 9 (540p) and half the shots in the 10 (+30)
Perhaps I can improve further on my own. I still need to lear how to focus harder and without distraction. I also need to shape up on my trigger technique. But I think a trained eye would help find those quirks that is hard to see for your self when your behind the trigger. And also, having a constructive discussion with someone on the topic is half the fun.
For instance, I had an experience this summer with my shots being pulled right. I thought I did everything right, but apparently not so. I remembered one statement from an American athlete in the 70's (from a pilkguns article). She did not get any kickback to buy ammo, so she dry fired once, loaded one round, shot it focused, dry fired again. And so on. Doing that I realized that I was pulling the trigger microscopically to the right. Poor trigger pull. Unfortunately harder to do with my AP as it is mechanical (no distinct dry fire as on the electronic Morini). With a scatt or trained eye, I guess this would have been caught much earlier.
