Newbie's experience

[edster99]

Hi all

this is what I have experienced since starting AP shooting, having begun about 2 months ago.

My background :
1) some mediocre target AR shooting about 20 years ago.
2) some decent target crossbow shooting (GB squad) about 18 years go
3) some decent compound archery shooting (1300+ FITA) shooting about 16 years ago
4) some intermittent general shooting up to now - sport AR, clays, etc

all you need to know is :

be humble enough to read the forums and believe that theres a lot of people that have some useful info, and you don't know jack.

Create a shot plan

Create a shooting diary - its great to see progress, and to note all the things that help. Also, as you meet targets (that you have written down) ticking them off is so nice !!!! Very motivating....

Believe in the basics : two breath cycles, settle, concentrate and focus on the foresight, squeeze...

Just to emphasise, concentrating and focussing on the foresight not the target adds points immediately.

decent equipment is a good investment (Steyr LP2 for me). Don't neglect optics, a decent pair of shooting glasses has made a real difference.

Believe that spending time on setting up your grip, sights, trigger finger position is time very well invested. Be prepared to try 6oclock and sub 6 aims until you find what works. Forget scores, perfect a pure process.

To do that, dry fire in a proportion at least 4 to 1 of real fire is well worth it.

I find that doing dry fire against an aiming point helps more than blank paper at this stage (sorry Steve S) but always concentrate on observing the process.

That's taken me from 480 to 540 in this time and I have belief that I can go further. (I seem to add 5 points to my PB ex 600 every week).

All in all I've really enjoyed my last two months or so, and big big thanks to everyone who has responded to my posts and helped me along.

regards

Ed

[Mark Briggs]

Keep at it, Ed. Sounds like you're on a fantastic trajectory!

Now if only we could convince a lot of other new shooters to read and head Ed's "lessons learned" statements above... ;-)

[motorcycle_dan]

I've just recently started a shooting diary. Looking for info on what you put in your diary.

[Capt. William]

Be prepared to try 6oclock and sub 6 aims until you find what works. Forget scores, perfect a pure process.

To do that, dry fire in a proportion at least 4 to 1 of real fire is well worth it.

regards

Ed

These are two things I really need to work on, Ed, thanks fir the ideas!

By the way, are you on the AirgunBBS forum? Lots of great UK shooters are on there!

Jim

[edster99]

Hi Dan

I've got a bit of everything in my diary :

First Page

A thing I saw somewhere else : a positive (bold!) statement at the beginning - mine says 'I am a 555 pistol shooter'. Something for the subconcious to chew on. When I reach 550, I'll up it to 565.

Short, medium and long term goals.

Details on grip and trigger finger position (how to establish them, and what they should feel like in case I forget).

Notes on things that have worked during a session. I always write what helps, not what went wrong i.e 'raising the finger on the trigger improves perfectly straight pull through' not 'finger too low, lots of shots pulled down'

Shot plan

Various drills I have accumulated

A format to analyse shots

A page with all the adjustments on (trigger, sights, velocity etc)

Purpose of a particular session, and any lessons learned.

Any changes (i.e. when I tested the trigger weight and found it was low so adjusted it to be > 500g...)

Big notes every time a PB has been achieved (card, x100, x300, x600) or a target met.

Scores, where appropriate.

It's a bit haphazard but the main thing is to be positive!!

regds

Ed