9 replies to this topic

[crazyhorse]

Storm coming in,so thought I would do some POI checks on my 850 CO2 .177 (temperature related) and work on some more trigger squeeze practice...the red ones were three days ago...this morning it was 59 F (Blue)...lol...25 yards...A neat trick is using a clothes pin to build muscle memory in your trigger finger...just gently squeeze with your trig finger towards your thumb...at least I think it may work...lol...I may go out for some more squirrels with the Disco later...not raining yet...

[Mr Del]

Years ago when I was pistol shooting, I got to talk and ask a questions of an Olympic shooter. I ask him what the most imporant part of shooting was. He told me two things. First was sight picture and then trigger squeeze. He said ," If you have a 4 pound trigger, learn to pull the trigger to three pounds and hold it. Then when you have the propper sight picture, you then have a one pound trigger. He also stated that you could shoot a *box car full of ammo* to achive that feat. That is where lots of practice and time comes in.

[crazyhorse]

Good advice...I'm trying to isolate on techniques...breathing,trigger squeeze,etc....when I played golf,I was to "mechanical.." trying to think of two many things at once...lol...

[A17Shooter]

Practice, practice & more practice! When I was dedicating most of my spare time to conventional pistol, it was about 2 - 300 rds per week for practice and a 270 rd match every other week. And some recreational shooting for relaxation.

[crazyhorse]

When I shot with the Marine rifle team (1964),we practiced every day...biggest chore was doping wind....that is something that is taking alot of my time now with my air rifles as I have to do that in the field...I've simplfied the process somewhat by focusing on our local prevailing winds of 5-8 mph...which come up around 10 am where I hunt..I hunt till 10 am then set up target to get some data using the "clock" method..At home I can practice trigger squeeze,breathing etc on my test targets...

[Mr Del]

When I started pistol shooting in the early 60's, I was very lucky. I learned from a *dis-ting-witched pistol* shooter. (top 10 per cent in the nation.) We went to the range 5 days a week two hours per day, and after three weeks he loaded my first live round. All this time was... 1. think trigger squeeze the think sights only. The mind will keep your finger squeezing until you think NOT squeeze the trigger. When the hammer falls, I had to tell him where the bullet went (remember, I am dry firing a .45 cal pistol.) I had to learn to really watch the sight picture. After three weeks he said, "today you are going to shoot live ammo. You hand me the weapon by raising your right hand and I will take it from you (he was standing behind me) and either load one round or not. Either way you must tell me where the bullet went. First round was "no" round. It was a 3 O'clock ,9 ring. The next round was live. "Where did it go?" I said, "It was a good shot. "How good was it?" I said," It was inside the 10 ring." He said, "Look." When I looked at the target through the scope, the bullet was inside the X ring. (I was shooting from the 50 yard line at North Island.) He then said, "You are now a pistol shooter." Lots of work to learn two things. 1. trigger... and 2. sights.

[crazyhorse]

To qualify for the Marine Rifle team at Pendelton in 1964 I also had to qualify expert with the 45 cal pistol as well...not just the rifle...I practiced for three days with a match condition 45 and shot a score of 310...one point over for expert...just made the the team...they had a shortage of pistol shooters and imposed that rule for the 45 cal pistol...my big issue to overcome was anticipating the recoil of the 45 pistol...I kept hitting at 7 o'clock...finally I got it down...Anyway...it was more fun shooting the M1 match rifle with peep sights at 600 yards than that pistol at 25 yards....

[A17Shooter]

While stationed at the Naval Base Great Lakes IL during 1972, I was shooting pistol on the intramural league. Spring came and it was time for the Ninth Naval District matches. The Navy had cut back it's marksmanship program considerably at that time so qualifying for advancement to the next stage of the annual shooting program wasn't a problem. The kicker came when the SAMMI (Small Arms Marksmanship Instructor) informed the pistoleros that there was a shortage of rifle shooters and we were expected to pickup our M1 match rifles and get them sighted in as we were going to the All Navy match to shoot both rifle and pistol. Fortunately, most of the pistol shooters had been shooting small bore rifle that winter so we had the basics down anyway. That was my only experience in the subculture of Navy match shooting. After that I went back to the shooting program that was my real job, medium range surface-to-air missiles.

[crazyhorse]

After that I went back to the shooting program that was my real job, medium range surface-to-air missiles.

Gawd...we were lucky just to have a 60mm knee mortar in RVN.....

[A17Shooter]

Always admired you guys that were in-country. Didn't wanna swap places though. During the period from '65 to '68 my ship spent a lot of time in the gulf, waiting for some pilot that needed a pickup.