6yd trgt shooting ,the challenge

[red bob]

since bob somehow got me to take up the challenge of the 6yd trgt shoot albeit informally by post ive already discovered that its taken me to a different place in terms of the discipline of shooting ;i know my choice of pistol not being a dedicated trgt piece makes for an interesting challenge,but this is where the fascination took hold.in the first instance i noticed during that brief few moments before the sear releases i could just hear the faint grate as she was just about to let go, being a single stage kicker i was concentrating on every clue the pistol could feed back to know when she was going to release,amazing what you can pick up when you have to.the other point being the trigger pull is quite heavy so ive been very carefully trying to get the optimum point of my finger to get adequate pull without loosing feel ,none of that light pull through to slight hold then release of the hw75 i love and spoilt by.also that nice relaxed hold one can have with a trgt pistol has to be compromised a touch to overcome the extra trigger weight.
then theres the moment of truth when that comp card is slid into the frame!! theres a world of difference between those practise cards and the one you put your name to.ive come to a routine where i warm up by shooting practise card till [hopefully]the grouping just starts to close up then in goes the comp card and with luck ive timed it right [lol]. the test of my grit is when a shot goes off pist so to speak, depending on how wild it was and how many shots to go ;is there a chance that a couple of inspired scores could pull the average back up!.now before anyone says anything im not taking it to seriously and its proving to be alot of fun yes seriously.
the fact that ive had to turn all my r/h pistols to l/handers just adds to the errr fun ..

[Hares Ear]

I've never really shot pistols of any sort, until recently. I shoot a variety of rifles ranging from Victorian powder burners to modern centrefire's and air rifles.

As far as pistols are concerned, they've never really interested me, although since my teens I've always fancied shooting an FWB 65, but when I was a teenager I couldn't afford one.
Skip forward a few decades.
An old friend of mine picked up a 65 from the widow of a friend of his. My eyes were green with envy. Especially when a few weeks later he had sold it for the princely sum of £120. I was gutted. He said he had no idea I was interested. I was really fed up, and promised myself I wouldn't pay more than that for a 65. I had to bite the bullet so to speak, and ended up paying double that for my pistol.

The shooting club that I am a member of has two 10 metre ranges, one with 6 yard facilities as well.
I started shooting at 10 metre with my 65. After a lot of cursing, swearing and self teaching, I eventually scraped an average of 79. I was happy.

Imagine my horror when after reading another thread on here, I found a site that gives instuctions on how to shoot an air pistol. It turns out I'm lucky I can hit anything.
Here's my method of shooting a pistol.

Tip ten pellets onto the top of the target changer unit
Cock the 65 and shove a pellet up the spout.
Shuffle my feet about until I'm facing about 20 degrees to the left of the target.
Take a deep breath, and hold it.
I grip my 65 that tightly the circulation to my fingers ceases.
I Lift my 65
Point it at the target
Take up the first stage
Then unlike any one in the Airgun Magazines, I shut one eye. (incidentally something I do with any rifle or pistol that requires a steady aim)
By now, my lungs are bursting.
I then focus on the target, not the foresight.
By now my face is turning blue.
At some point, my foresight passes through the black part of the target. When it does I jerk the trigger.
If the pellet lands in the black, I'm chuffed to bits.
I now start to breath again, panting like a chap on 60 woodbines a day.
Drop the pistol to the bench
Repeat the above another nine times.

[RobinC]

I've never really shot pistols of any sort, until recently. I shoot a variety of rifles ranging from Victorian powder burners to modern centrefire's and air rifles.

As far as pistols are concerned, they've never really interested me, although since my teens I've always fancied shooting an FWB 65, but when I was a teenager I couldn't afford one.
Skip forward a few decades.
An old friend of mine picked up a 65 from the widow of a friend of his. My eyes were green with envy. Especially when a few weeks later he had sold it for the princely sum of £120. I was gutted. He said he had no idea I was interested. I was really fed up, and promised myself I wouldn't pay more than that for a 65. I had to bite the bullet so to speak, and ended up paying double that for my pistol.

The shooting club that I am a member of has two 10 metre ranges, one with 6 yard facilities as well.
I started shooting at 10 metre with my 65. After a lot of cursing, swearing and self teaching, I eventually scraped an average of 79. I was happy.

Imagine my horror when after reading another thread on here, I found a site that gives instuctions on how to shoot an air pistol. It turns out I'm lucky I can hit anything.
Here's my method of shooting a pistol.

Tip ten pellets onto the top of the target changer unit
Cock the 65 and shove a pellet up the spout.
Shuffle my feet about until I'm facing about 20 degrees to the left of the target.
Take a deep breath, and hold it.
I grip my 65 that tightly the circulation to my fingers ceases.
I Lift my 65
Point it at the target
Take up the first stage
Then unlike any one in the Airgun Magazines, I shut one eye. (incidentally something I do with any rifle or pistol that requires a steady aim)
By now, my lungs are bursting.
I then focus on the target, not the foresight.
By now my face is turning blue.
At some point, my foresight passes through the black part of the target. When it does I jerk the trigger.
If the pellet lands in the black, I'm chuffed to bits.
I now start to breath again, panting like a chap on 60 woodbines a day.
Drop the pistol to the bench
Repeat the above another nine times.

Brilliant!!! You've made my day!
Good shooting
Robin

[I. J.]

Brilliant Robin. Ive learnt a lot mainly how not to do it.

When I did the last round of the 6yd MPL postal I had to put the target holder on my desk very near to my computer monitor and shoot down my hall way (not my back passage ) with my back near to the front door. Twice I nearly had a magazine suppository from the post man. It doesn't help your shooting stance or concentration.

Good shooting.

ATB
Ian

[p.m.h]

....... and you blamed all your bad shots on being pushed forward by the afternoon mail delivery.

That said, you do have an enormous, shiny trophy of great value as a reward for all your efforts.

The Victoria and Albert Museum have shown an interest in borrowing this for a summer exhibition if you can bare to part with it for a couple of months.

Kind regards,



Phil

[Hares Ear]

Brilliant!!! You've made my day!
Good shooting
Robin

'Ey Up, Robin, (from another Robin) It's looking like Christmas with all these Robins about.

Brilliant Robin. Ive learnt a lot mainly how not to do it.

When I did the last round of the 6yd MPL postal I had to put the target holder on my desk very near to my computer monitor and shoot down my hall way (not my back passage ) with my back near to the front door. Twice I nearly had a magazine suppository from the post man. It doesn't help your shooting stance or concentration.

Good shooting.

ATB
Ian

Mr. Jones, Just one question if I may? If the magazine suppository was, 'erm, supposited but the other end was still stuck in the letterbox, would this be illegal anchoring/supporting of the body?

I'll get my coat.

[red bob]

i heard it once said that coral divers can hold their breath with training for three minuets, so in the 6yd comp all you have to do is take a shot every 36 seconds and the whole card can be done in one breath!! good idea to have an oxygen tank ready if you turn a funny colour

[I. J.]

That said, you do have an enormous, shiny trophy of great value as a reward for all your efforts.

Kind regards,

Phil

This is the trophy mentioned: http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Airs...tml?sort=6&o=4
Im just waiting for the price of lead (and Abasinian Privot) to rise then I can sell it an retire.

'Ey Up, Robin, (from another Robin) It's looking like Christmas with all these Robins about.

I dont know about Robins but theres plenty of t|ts about.

[Rickenbacker]

since bob somehow got me to take up the challenge of the 6yd trgt shoot albeit informally by post ive already discovered that its taken me to a different place in terms of the discipline of shooting ;i know my choice of pistol not being a dedicated trgt piece makes for an interesting challenge,but this is where the fascination took hold.in the first instance i noticed during that brief few moments before the sear releases i could just hear the faint grate as she was just about to let go, being a single stage kicker i was concentrating on every clue the pistol could feed back to know when she was going to release,amazing what you can pick up when you have to.the other point being the trigger pull is quite heavy so ive been very carefully trying to get the optimum point of my finger to get adequate pull without loosing feel ,none of that light pull through to slight hold then release of the hw75 i love and spoilt by.also that nice relaxed hold one can have with a trgt pistol has to be compromised a touch to overcome the extra trigger weight.
then theres the moment of truth when that comp card is slid into the frame!! theres a world of difference between those practise cards and the one you put your name to.ive come to a routine where i warm up by shooting practise card till [hopefully]the grouping just starts to close up then in goes the comp card and with luck ive timed it right [lol]. the test of my grit is when a shot goes off pist so to speak, depending on how wild it was and how many shots to go ;is there a chance that a couple of inspired scores could pull the average back up!.now before anyone says anything im not taking it to seriously and its proving to be alot of fun yes seriously.
the fact that ive had to turn all my r/h pistols to l/handers just adds to the errr fun ..

Webleys... I've been trying to analyse my 'wild' shots into the white.

They can be left at 8-9 o'clock, or right at 2-3 o'clock. But nowhere else

I though it was slack grip, but I've just been practicing with a very loose grip, and the results are the same as before... most shots in the 9 or 10, yet approx one out of five is off in the white (at 8-9 o'clock).

Don't think I'm shooting badly enough for it to be angular sighting errors, or trigger, so I'm stumped TBH

I notice you've ordered some nice wood grips from Andy. Funny, I was thinking the same thing myself


ATB - Phil

[...]
Here's my method of shooting a pistol [...]

Tee-hee... This is my 'Bible' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSW1sFMCMCs The best 12 minutes you can spend without a pistol I find it has the right balance of austere soviet repression + sexual tension + special effects - to put me in the 'zone'...

[red bob]

hi phill,we have very similar probs here, and from what you say under or over compensation for trigger weight can give the lateral variance.
thats why for myself i try to get the trigger finger position so balanced between enough leveridge and not loosing feel for the let off; my average scores are improving slowly .i have noticed that any lengthy break in practise means i forget the optimum hold and grip i had found successful so i then spend frustrating cards recounting my old shoots till i get it back .a major point i discovered is that i tended to zero the sights according to the way i was shooting and as i have improved, my groupings were getting appreciably tighter but off the mark .so im in the process of gently finding the new zero point ;im finding the whole deal very for filling as i can see where technique yields results.
andys wood grips do give a nicer warm feel rather than the hard angle of the plastic std ones ,any discomfort can be a distraction so im well pleased with them and just ordered another set for the .22.
regds bob.

[thirdwheel]

Couple of additions to shooting instructions I've found useful:
after "drop pistol to bench" is pick up scattered tin if pellets off the floor.
after "cock gun" if using a ssp - discharge pistol safely somehow as pistol is now attached to your jumper, then retry.

rest of instructions seem just about spot on

George

[I. J.]

They can be left at 8-9 o'clock, or right at 2-3 o'clock.

ATB - Phil

Try shooting around noon!

HTH
Ian

[mikec4]

Webleys... I've been trying to analyse my 'wild' shots into the white.
They can be left at 8-9 o'clock, or right at 2-3 o'clock. But nowhere else

I thought that was a benchrest test group for a Webley

[Hares Ear]

Tee-hee... This is my 'Bible' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSW1sFMCMCs The best 12 minutes you can spend without a pistol I find it has the right balance of austere soviet repression + sexual tension + special effects - to put me in the 'zone'...

'Muscular sensations are co-ordinated with the visual image'

That bit certainly put me in the Zone.

[Rickenbacker]

Try shooting around noon!

HTH
Ian

Simply brilliant!

Phil