How to break into Olympic competitive pistol shooting

[Dmaryakh]

Stick with a pistol if on a tight budget :)
And if you are not - do not bother buying any of the cheapie suggestions and go for a real competition pistol (either economy model or a used one). Saving the buck is not worth getting started with bad habits (like breaking a grip each shot to charge the spring-loaded pistol).

[ojh]

fc60 wrote:

> Buy a used Air Pistol. The type that has a lever to compress the air.
> Feinwerkbau 65 comes to mind. There are also offering from Pardini.
> Even a Baikal IZH-46. Avoid the ones that require charging with SCUBA or CO2 tanks for now.

beepbbeeb: if you get into a situation to choose between a FWB 65 and (say) an IZH-46, please note that the FWB 65 is not pneumatic but spring operated, and requires a relatively heavy sideways cocking effort which is difficult to do without having to break one's grip between shots. It also lacks the very important dry firing ability, and the trigger position can't be adjusted. All in all it's a 60 years old design that was once the best one could get, but nowadays there are way better alternatives for getting started. Like the IZH-46 which I think is a very good beginner's AP. Of course a modern PCP pistol would be best choice if your economics allow. A scuba tank or a compressor is not a necessity, a pistol tank can be pretty easily filled with a hand pump.

[Scrimshott]

fc60 wrote:

> Buy a used Air Pistol. The type that has a lever to compress the air.
> Feinwerkbau 65 comes to mind. There are also offering from Pardini.
> Even a Baikal IZH-46. Avoid the ones that require charging with SCUBA or CO2 tanks for now.

beepbbeeb: if you get into a situation to choose between a FWB 65 and (say) an IZH-46, please note that the FWB 65 is not pneumatic but spring operated, and requires a relatively heavy sideways cocking effort which is difficult to do without having to break one's grip between shots. It also lacks the very important dry firing ability, and the trigger position can't be adjusted. All in all it's a 60 years old design that was once the best one could get, but nowadays there are way better alternatives for getting started. Like the IZH-46 which I think is a very good beginner's AP. Of course a modern PCP pistol would be best choice if your economics allow. A scuba tank or a compressor is not a necessity, a pistol tank can be pretty easily filled with a hand pump.

Thanks, yeah I would prefer a PCP. I won't buy a CO2 or cartridge pistol, and the pump pneumatics are economical, but I agree it's not worth breaking your grip once you get set. I've seen conflicting opinions on the Hammerli AP20, and I'm even more conflicted regarding the availability and cost of smallbore and centrefire versus AP. Is it more costly to buy a centrefire or smallbore pistol? I assume the skills are more or less transferrable, but are there any appreciable differences besides recoil and PPE?

[JamesH]

I have one gun club in my city, and another in the next city, 147 km from me. The nearest gun club that does ISSF shooting is 1155 km from me (717 miles). Am I doomed to never compete?

You can compete all you like - A good aspect of shooting is the scores can be directly compared wherever you are.
There ought to be a zoom shooting league really.
Most people have to travel for a real competition while training at a club alongside the gun nuts.

A good place to start is get an AP first, then a .22 . Go back and forth until you can shoot the .22 as well as the AP.
Then you should be able to shoot anything.

[ojh]

Competition grade pneumatic APs like the IZH-46 and the FWB 100 series have their charging levers under the barrel. The lever moves vertically and there's no difficulty in keeping the grip while charging and loading the pistol.

As for the prices, where I live new top notch centerfire and rimfire pistols cost about as much as the best new air pistols. But someone in your home country must know this better, because it depends on availability, market, license policies etc. When you consider the economics and your desire to develop as a pistols shooter, note that a centerfire pistol in .32 or .38 is quite expensive to shoot with factory ammo for any significant number of training shots. You might have to learn to reload and invest for equipment, and with the current cost of components even reloading is far from cheap. With an AP you can shoot as much you want without breaking the bank. And I'd say that in the framework of non-action-style shooting everything you learn with an AP will make you a better shooter with rimfire and centerfire pistols.

[Harsha21]

I'm very interested in the competitive Olympic pistol shooting too, and want to get into this sport and start training for it but I can't find any clubs or ranges near me that do Air Pistol Shooting. I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. There's one club (Team Shooting Stars) I was able to find but they are full at the moment are not taking in any more shooters, I requested them so many times to take me in but it was a no. So I do not know what to do, there aren't any Air Gun centers near me so that I can shoot on my own. I would appreciate any suggestions on how I should get started with shooting Air Pistols and start competing in competitions. I'm currently 21 and will be a senior in college, there aren't any shooting clubs at my college either, I searched.

[m1963]

Postal matches are a great way to start. The CMP runs the ACES postal- open to anyone, any age.

https://thecmp.org/youth/aces-postal/

Also the Competition Tracker and club listings are helpful-

https://ct.thecmp.org/app/v1/index.php