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.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Gil Simkovitch Article Provides Marksmanship Insights

About 3 years ago this article appeared in the Jerusalem Post on Israeli rifle competitor Gil Simkovitch. It is interesting in several ways, but most of all how the author's misconceptions about target shooting were corrected. Here is a portion I like:
While some would think of a sport involving rifles and ammunition as aggressive, even violent, for Simkovitch it is an exercise in Zen-like tranquility. He enjoys the peace when he is shooting, calling it "a meditative experience." Since his rifle, a 1913 Anschutz, is ultra-sensitive to the extent that his pulse beating against the barrel shifts the aim, he must be patient and sufficiently aware of his body to time his shots between heartbeats. "It's hard at competitions, when your heart is racing from excitement," he says. "It's a conflict in shooting, because there is pressure to shoot well, which makes it harder. It's easy to shoot a 10 [a perfect score] when you're indifferent, but you can't be indifferent." He therefore engages in a constant dance to achieve equilibrium. "If you try too hard, you will eventually fail," he says. "You have to find a balance. This sport is very much about balance.
Although my #1 training excercise at the moment is simply to find time to practice...#2 is developing the mental skills to shoot as well under match conditions as I do during practice. Gil's observations are 110% b'emet (truth).

2 comments:

  1. So glad I came across your blog. I am a young Jewish woman who hunts, shoots and collects guns. I'm currently building an AR-15 that I hope to complete in the next week. My grandfather was a well known Police Competition shooter back in the 80s. His love of firearms rubbed off on me. Glad to see there are other Jews as active in shooting as I am.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Candace-
    Glad to make your acquaintance. Please email me at jewishmarksman@gmail.com, I would like to learn more about you and your grandfather.

    As to the AR15:
    http://jewishmarksmanship.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-jews-should-own-ar-15.html
    http://jewishmarksmanship.blogspot.com/2010/06/scatt-ar-15-rifle-and-scene-from.html

    I built my lower from a stripped receiver with the help of youtube videos, the upper I bought complete for Service Rifle competition.

    ReplyDelete