About the Blog

Educating fellow Jews about the sporting and defensive use of firearms. Especially Jews in North America, too many of whom are instilled with the belief that guns aren't for nice Jewish boys and girls.

If you know of notable Jewish shooters that should be documented on the blog, even if it is only at the local club level, I am happy to report and profile them. And don't be shy if that person to be documented is you! Please drop me a line at jewishmarksman at gmail dot com. Also follow me on twitter @JMarksmanship.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Jewish Marksman Returns to 10m Air Pistol

I explain to American Jews unfamiliar with shooting that precision marksmanship is actually a mental sport--a combination of chess and poker that you play against yourself. I recently decided to return to practicing 10m air pistol, and by occasionally blogging about my progress, I'll establish a record that others can examine for my mental approach.

About a year ago I made the decision to transition from pistol to rifle, primarily because there are more rifle competitions in my area. I wanted to spend a year focused on rifle shooting only. It has worked out well, and now I feel I have time to keep shooting rifle and get back into pistol. I'm going to focus on 10m air pistol. 10m air is, in my opinion, the ultimate in pure slow fire pistol. No wind, no expensive equipment needed, no nonsense.

I sold my PCP air gun to finance a competitive Service Rifle. The air guns I have now are a FWB65 springer, and a Tau-7 co2. Both were world-class guns about 20 or 30 years ago, and can be picked up today between $300-400. Each will still shoot one-hole at 10m and have excellent triggers, which is all I need to get started. I put a lot of work into restoring the FWB65, so I'll start with that gun.

When I left air pistol I was shooting between 550 and 560 (out of a possible 600...to even consider any kind of regional competition, you need to be shooting in at least the upper 570s) or approximately 92%. My goal is to hit 560 within six months.

So I hit the range today. The results:

10 9 9 8 8 44
10 9 9 9 8 45
9 9 9 9 8 44
10 10 10 9 6 45
9 9 9 9 8 44
10 9 9 9 7 44
9 9 9 8 8 43
10 10 9 8 6 43
9 8 7 7 7 38
10 10 9 7 7 43
9 9 9 9 7 43
10 10 8 8 7 43
519
8.65
Distribution:
10 12
9 27
8 11
7 8
6 2

Well, a 519 is not horrible (86%). I can see that I started strong, shooting closer to 90% for the first 20 or so shots. But I definitely felt my hand, wrist and shoulder fatigue after that. I tried making some adjustments, like gripping harder and trying to get off quicker releases, but right now I don't have the crisp muscle-memory to rely on. I forced shots I should not have. I also felt my sight picture was not consistent, which tells me my head position and stance are inconsistent shot-to-shot. Looks like I have my work cut out for me!

I can see that simply eliminating the sixes and turning them into 8.5s will get me four or five points, and turning those sevens into 8.5s will get me another ten or so. By just eliminating my bad shots, I can pick up fifteen points. When I don't see what I like, I'll put the pistol down and begin the sequence over, rather than force a shot.

The major thing I need to work on is rebuilding my grip, wrist, arm and shoulder endurance and strength. For now, that is all I will focus on. The reason being is that my first twenty shots showed me that I can still execute when my hold is steady and my arm feels good. By just getting a little stronger, it will improve my ability and confidence, leading to better shots.

This task is fairly simple. I'll just use hand grippers, a wrist roller and a 5lb. dumbbell for 10-15 minutes a day.

Wish me luck and mazal tov!

1 comment:

  1. I set up a 10M AP range in the backyard after confirming its legality with the local PD. I can "go to the range" and shoot a 300 in half an hour, "transportation" included. And when family or friends are here for an event, I can introduce new shooters to the trigger. Some do quite well.

    I have two APs including a Crosman 2600-S (CO2) on which I did a "long roll trigger job" by lightly smoothing the trigger engagement areas with some 2000 grit sandpaper from the automobile refinishing supply store.

    But a Baikal IZH-46M is my favorite. I'm still Dremeling the grip to get it to my liking but, even so, it's a tack driver.

    If you're out this way (to Phoenix), stop by and we'll shoot to see who has to tend the BBQ. (No pork ribs, I promise.)

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