Pellet selection in spring pistols

[ptdunk]

Iv'e found that 'follow through' has brought the biggest improvement in spring pistol accuracy for the least effort to perfect. You just need to stay on aim and do nothing for a few seconds after releasing the shot.
Brian

That’s very good advice Brian....I do it for rifles as well.

To take that a step further, I’ve recently learnt from 10m air pistol that perfect follow through is not simply staying on aim after the shot, but continuing to do everything you we’re doing before the shot (ie, consistent grip pressure, good sight alignment and trigger pressure) before the shot, during the shot and after the shot.

This was a bit of a revelation to me as I used to just hold the gun on aim after the shot for a few seconds but relax my concentration a bit, now I try to maintain all those aspects all the way through.

Cheers,
Matt

[Abasmajor]

That’s very good advice Brian....I do it for rifles as well.

To take that a step further, I’ve recently learnt from 10m air pistol that perfect follow through is not simply staying on aim after the shot, but continuing to do everything you we’re doing before the shot (ie, consistent grip pressure, good sight alignment and trigger pressure) before the shot, during the shot and after the shot.

This was a bit of a revelation to me as I used to just hold the gun on aim after the shot for a few seconds but relax my concentration a bit, now I try to maintain all those aspects all the way through.

Cheers,
Matt

Hello Matt,

Another tip I picked-up during my 10-metre competition shooting days was to occasionally shoot groups on a blank card i.e. with no aiming mark.
Not having to place the sight picture in the correct place relative to an aiming mark means concentration on the perfect trigger release can be increased.
Theoretically the groups should probably be a bit vertically strung, but in practice the brain seems to compensate for not having an aiming mark and very tight groups can be achieved nearly always centralised on the target.

Brian

[Josie & John]

Hello Matt,

Another tip I picked-up during my 10-metre competition shooting days was to occasionally shoot groups on a blank card i.e. with no aiming mark.
Not having to place the sight picture in the correct place relative to an aiming mark means concentration on the perfect trigger release can be increased.
Theoretically the groups should probably be a bit vertically strung, but in practice the brain seems to compensate for not having an aiming mark and very tight groups can be achieved nearly always centralised on the target.

Brian

I used to do the same Brian when concentrating on sight picture and it is amazing how tight a group can be shot on a blank card. This makes for excellent training.

John M

[trajectory]

My experince with recoiless springers is mainly with a 6M & FWB65 & is that H&N Match were pretty good, Hobby were not far behind & better than some of the other Match pellets I tried in them. All of this was single handed grips at 10m.
Just wondered what you might think about two handed v one handed shooting with a recoiling springer. Single handed is tiring but its not unstable in as much as it is possible to shoot very small groups single handed with it with recoiless pistols at any rate. I wonder if two handed grips with a recoling springer introduces an extra varriable into the equation making it harder to achieve a 'repeatability' of technique with some pistols being very sensitive to hold.
Dont really know if it was me or not but I could shoot better groups with a LP53 single handed than with two, but maybe it was lack of practice on my part.

[ptdunk]

Just wondered what you might think about two handed v one handed shooting with a recoiling springer. Single handed is tiring but its not unstable in as much as it is possible to shoot very small groups single handed with it with recoiless pistols at any rate. I wonder if two handed grips with a recoling springer introduces an extra varriable into the equation making it harder to achieve a 'repeatability' of technique with some pistols being very sensitive to hold.

With recoiless springers I think the ergonomics of the pistol might dictate which hold is better for me.
I won a few pistol HFT comps shooting my FWB90 two handed, as it has quite a vertical grip. My FWB 100 on the other hand has a grip with a much steeper angle which is fantastic to shoot one handed, but if I use a two handed hold it’s natural aim point is pointing slightly upwards.
I’m not good enough to shoot pistol HFT one handed!

When it comes to recoiling springers to be honest I shoot them all two handed, with quite a light grip. I know what you mean about the LP53, it does feel much more natural to shoot that one handed.


Interesting Brian & John to hear about the blank cards with pistols. I’ve only ever done it when setting up my FWB 602 to adjust the fit of the rifle to bring my natural aim point to the centre.

For pistols is it only to practice sight alignment and trigger technique?

Cheers,
Matt

[Josie & John]

For pistols is it only to practice sight alignment and trigger technique?

Cheers,
Matt

Hi Matt,

That's it in a nutshell as for me, it used to imprint the sight picture in my brain. I'd simply go into the zone and fire shot after shot without giving it any conscious thought, losing myself in the relaxation of going through exactly the same motions time after time. The sight picture then became embedded for when I moved on to a competition target with a sticker.

Kind Regards,

John

[Abasmajor]

With recoiless springers I think the ergonomics of the pistol might dictate which hold is better for me.
I won a few pistol HFT comps shooting my FWB90 two handed, as it has quite a vertical grip. My FWB 100 on the other hand has a grip with a much steeper angle which is fantastic to shoot one handed, but if I use a two handed hold it’s natural aim point is pointing slightly upwards.
I’m not good enough to shoot pistol HFT one handed!

When it comes to recoiling springers to be honest I shoot them all two handed, with quite a light grip. I know what you mean about the LP53, it does feel much more natural to shoot that one handed.


Interesting Brian & John to hear about the blank cards with pistols. I’ve only ever done it when setting up my FWB 602 to adjust the fit of the rifle to bring my natural aim point to the centre.

For pistols is it only to practice sight alignment and trigger technique?

Cheers,
Matt

Hello Matt,

As with John, I have the 'Epsilon' sight picture burnt into my subconscious, so I use the blank card training routine with both pistols and rifles every so often to practice my trigger release technique.
Of the six basic elements associated with pistol shooting, improving trigger release and follow through have yielded the maximum return in terms of accuracy for me, so I tend to concentrate more on these without of course neglecting the other four.

Brian

[trajectory]

Yes, blank card, remember that. Anyone tried a sheet of paper on the wall at target height, take up your 'correct stance' with eyes closed, raise the shooting arm to mark the paper with a single pen/pencil line on the up. Then hand down to the side of the body, relax & raise again to mark the paper. Repeat & see if the lines coincide......or not.
Good old school stuff

[hwtyger]

Cant say theyre pellet fuzzy. Ok I only use them at 6 yrds mostly but all but 1 are on a JSB diet. Thats LP5 Magnum, LP6M, Tempests, Hurricane, Typhoon.
Only the 5.5 Tempest wants 5.5s FTT
Pistols are just harder to shoot than rifles. And springers in general as well. And theyre harder to test cause not easy to benchrest for pellettesting etc.
CO2 is more accurate cause it doesnt move You dont need much skills to shoot accurate with recoilless stuff