There I was last night, all confident, starting to practise for the new ‘league season’ and hoping to improve after an indifferent summer.

First 5 shots/sighters were 4x10s and 1x9. A great start and although I hadn’t intended to shoot my first set of cards last night, I thought that it would be foolish not to start after a better than expected result on the ‘practice’ card. All that home practice has been worth it.

Disaster. Dropped 18 on my first competition card, with one shot only scoring a 3! My worst card ever, and although I managed to pull the (4 card) total back to last season’s average – the thought remains just what it could have been if I hadn’t messed up that first card.

So, I have identified something that I had suspected for sometime. That trying too hard can mess things up.

I am not a particularly ‘serious’ 10m target shooter, but it’s a jolly difficult challenge and I do like how you can see/quantify your progress. It is also enormously helpful for improving my 'standing shots' in the field.

Any advice on how to replicate my good sighter card performance to my competition cards?!! Or, put another way, how to shoot straight under competition pressure?
Thanks in advance!