TargetTalk

This past February at my local Air Pistol match, I came down with a severe case of anticipation/trigger jerk. It started from the first shot, and continued on through most of the following 59 shots, and I could not stop the anticipation wiggle.
I could hold the sights in my normal sub-six area as well as usual until I began to press the trigger. Then my wrist would wiggle, mostly left and right in anticipation of the shot. Some shots as far off as the one ring, but many in the 5-6 area. I eventually shot a score of 428 that day.

I am not a very good shooter any time, I usually score around 480, but in this match I could actually see what was causing my poor shots.

So I started a new training program at home. Since my Izzy 46M has a such a bad dry fire trigger, ( no doubt because of my tweaking all the settings ) I did not dry fire, but instead shot basic (cheap) pellets at a blank target, with the only goal of making non jerked trigger pulls, so long as my sights were on paper.
I did not shoot a lot, between 10 and 40 shots EVERY day, between two rooms at the longest distance available ( about 28 feet ). but that was enough to cure my anticipation/jerk.

Now this, I think is the good part. I began to suspect that the sights/muzzle was moving more than it should (from recoil ) at firing, so I tried to fix/control this by squeezing slower, and holding a bit after.
I believe that helped a lot. Now about 2 out of 5 shots have only a slight tic ? At firing.
Normal air pistol recoil I think.
And since I am holding better, and not wiggling much, I am starting to think that the gaps between front and rear and top of sights need to be more uniform, so I am working on improving that as well.
My shooting is improving now, and looking back, I can’t believe how poorly I shot without knowing why.

So...all in all, I think my horrible wiggle at the match, and my ongoing house arrest have helped me be a better shot. That is all I’m trying to do anyway. At 78 years old, I’m not going to get much better anyway.

Long story short...training with thought out, reachable goals, helps. I hope this post helps someone else..Jim

Obtainable goals and training to reach them=priceless.

Great writing, great mindset. Thanks!

Thank You for sharing your experience in training with us.

Izzy, I am just slightly younger than you and also have used this time to practice indoors. I can and do shoot at 50' at my house, which is the Bullseye distance we use for our indoor league. I have a LP5 so I began practicing sustained fire in mid-March and continued until Saturday. I would shoot 100 pellets a day in sets of 30/40/30. Nothing magic about that, it is just the pellet shaker box set up.

I do use a red dot. The trigger feedback is wonderful with no recoil. I was able to make steady and significant progress in the 30 or 40 shot groups until last Friday. Then the groups started to open up. I renewed my efforts to concentrate and focus on trigger work, but I found the arc of movement, to borrow a rifle term, became larger and larger. It seemed like physically I couldn't keep the dot steady and in the black. I tried for three days with the same results. I concluded I over did it and decided to rest for a couple of days.

My goal to was to improve my trigger control and to build up strength/stamina by having 20 gun mounts a day. I did achieve the former and am pleased with that progress. But I guess 70 year olds don't actually build up strength but actually get worn down. Bummer.

But shooting the LP5 is an absolute pleasure.

Regards to all.

Mike

Mike, my progress has made a U turn also.
I think everyone improves, then hits a plateau, and maybe even backs up, before they improve some more.
In my case, I think I was getting too aggressive on the trigger ( jerking when the sight picture was just right ), so I went back to a blank backwards target that makes me work the trigger without the distraction of a fuzzy black ball. Now the trigger is getting better, and most groups are shrinking a little.

I get 4 groups to the back of a 6X8 target by aiming at the center of the blank target, My sights are set for a sub 6 hold so my group hits above the center. Then I turn the target a 1/4 turn for the next 10 shots.

I wish I could help you with your opening groups, but all I can say is you were making slow, and significant progress before, so you must have been doing something right. Try to go back to what you were doing right.

Ahh, to be 70 again...Jim