TargetTalk

Hi All!
It has been a while. This year, I tried again for state meet to score 345/400 and could manage to score only 334.
50 mins of time were given to shoot those 40 shots. I actually shot last 16 shots in last 10 mins.
Which were really much better than the previous 24.

Hand started shaking and .. well the scores were as follows: 85, 80, 82, 87.
I am 43. I have eye problem use shooting glass - yellow coloured.

Now for all the helpful folks out here who would say - "Give up" I am not. Till I die I am not giving up.
This is my 4th time failing in last 6 years, one year it was not there due to Corona, and another year I was bedridden so could not participate.

It is evident that what I score and how I shoot in the ranges does not matter - like at all.
Can some helpful soul help me out here?
Thank you all.

You already have the answer. Shoot faster! I'm 72, and every year, I need to concentrate on getting my shots off sooner. This does 3 things:

1) You are less likely to try to make things perfect, hold until your wobble increases, and then force the shot off with poor trigger control.

2) It's less tiring on your arm

3) It's less tiring on your eyes.

Most of all, don't focus on your score. It will be there when you are done. Your concentration should be on your shot process, and executing the NEXT shot as best you can. There's nothing you can do about all the previous ones, except possibly learning what part of your shot process needs more attention.

If you are shooting indoors with decent lighting, ditch the yellow lenses. They filter out UV, and enhance contrast in low light conditions. Neither of which should be a concern. They DO reduce the light getting to your eyes, which may actually make things worse. I have a bunch of yellow glasses & lenses, and haven't used them in 30 years.

+++ to Gwhite's advice, as always. With AP, RF, CF, I do better getting shots off sooner - right after settling on aiming area. Taking up most of the trigger while dropping into the aiming area helps this.

More generally also agree it is not about your score, but about your shot process. Each one, every time. And at the end of the day your performance is less about you vs others and more about improving yourself.

Thank you all!
I am trying to get it done from last 6 years.
And failing.
Thank you all for the help.

Where you are today, is a great place. It is your starting point. Where you are tomorrow is a step. Take the step.

It's hell getting old! Just ask William.

https://i.postimg.cc/q7kMnjYc/image.png

GWhite's advice (as usual) to me looks spot on.

I'm close to 54 with several health issues myself and only started "serious" pistol shooting some 4 or 5 years ago, air pistol only last year. So I recognize your suffering... ;)

Pistol shooting: it's simple, but it sure ain't easy...

On the bright side: you're scoring 8+ on average so you are certainly not terrible - there will be better shooters but also many, many more who are doing worse than you. Hang in there!

Part of getting better is studying your targets. Most of the time, there are a small number of wide shots that are inflating the size of your groups, and really dragging down your scores. Those indicate some sort of breakdown in your shot process. Identifying what is lacking and working on fixing that has a lot of leverage in terms of shrinking your groups.

Worry about tightening up your nines into tens once you've eliminated the sixes COMPLETELY.