Today was a selection shoot for the World Championships in Munich this year. Qualification score is expected to be about 589. I'm not there, and won't make it, but would like to keep most matches above a 580, with a view to hovering around 590 next year, and possibly attending a world cup.
Since it was a while since I'd shot outdoors for more than a few brief training sessions (brevity due to insane cold) I wasn't expecting too much, was hoping for a 580+, but wasn't immensely confident. In the end I had a 570, which just wasn't good enough, to be honest. The range was tricky enough, but I had a very good handle on the wind conditions, and the light conditions weren't too difficult while I was shooting. It cost me some points, but not enough to have prevented me making the 580 fairly comfortably had my preparation been adequate.
The big issue I suffered from was that my cheekpiece wasn't locked securely enough, and slid very slowly down into the stock. This wasn't noticeable until about fifteen shots into my match, and so I was very reluctant to adjust it on the fly. As a result, my head was floating slightly, which led to fairly uniform dispersion of shots in all dimensions, and massive discomfort, to which I at least partially attribute some of my eights. In the end, I was forced to make several on the fly adjustments, as the discomfort was too much, and I more or less salvaged the shoot for myself, though there were some very poor periods within the match.
In terms of my technical shooting, I was very happy. Poor attention to sight picture cost a few points, probably between eight and ten, which isn't forgiveable, but it's something definite and obvious to work on. My sight picture was impeccable, really couldn't have hoped for better. Position was very solid and comfortable. Trigger control was very good. Follow-through could have been better; this is something I need to work on in conjunction with watching the uniformity of my recoil patterns for the next while. There seems to be a pronounced horizontal characteristic to the recoil at the moment which I've been noting for the past while. I'd like to eliminate that. My reading of the conditions and response to them was very good. There were very few wind calls I got wrong, and I shot good tens easily. The light caused some random scatter towards the end as a combination of its interference with my eyes and the discomfort in my neck caused focus to wane. I think I could have handled either on their own, however. The equipment issue is one to bear strongly in mind, as I completely feel that 585 is achievable for me this summer, if not better, and 580+ in the next match. Time to eliminate costly faults!
Incidentally, I was using a sample of R50 I hadn't tried before today as I don't like using Eley ammunition outdoors and it shot extremely well. I must pick up five hundred for further testing when I get back from the Isle of Man, with the view to buying a few thousand if it works as well as today indicates.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Training Update as of 19th March 2010
Training lately has been disastrous. Really not sure why it's going so wrong. Groups have opened up, sight picture is very unclear (may need to revisit my current lens prescription). The technical shooting feels great. position is very stable, consistent and solid, hold is excellent, trigger control is excellent, sight picture is difficult but not so bad I shouldn't be able to hold the ten-ring, and yet the results are woeful, with tight groups punctuated by wild flyers. My head position is extremely consistent, my zero is very good, and my recoil is nice and tight, and I just can't see where these shots are coming from. To tell the truth, I'm a little worried about sunday. I'll be using my own rifle for safety's sake. I don't trust the sights on the club rifle, since I was getting phantom clicks last night, where all of a sudden it would start grouping, tightly, a centimetre or more from where it had been grouping previously. I really hope some pillock hasn't dropped those at some point, as I never had that problem before. Hopefully sunday will be considerably better.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Match - Prone - RRPC - 7th March 2010
Today was hampered by a lack of sleep and a night out last night, so I wasn't expecting great things. The results were alright however. I had a 576, which I figure is about ten points less than I'd have had if I'd had a decent night's sleep and not been drinking last night, so I'm happy.
Had eyesight issues thanks to the aforementioned problems, but lots of blinking and resting my eyes let me complete the match with no major disasters.
The new experimentation with fast, aggressive shooting was a good result. It felt strong and clean. There were a multitude more nines than there should have been, but I don't attribute that to the technique, but to exhaustion and poor vision. Likewise, the firm grip on the pistol grip reduced recoil effect considerably and enabled the directness of the shooting.
I expect results will improve substantially with the improved comfort offered by the reduced duration of the shooting and the new technical solidity.
Had eyesight issues thanks to the aforementioned problems, but lots of blinking and resting my eyes let me complete the match with no major disasters.
The new experimentation with fast, aggressive shooting was a good result. It felt strong and clean. There were a multitude more nines than there should have been, but I don't attribute that to the technique, but to exhaustion and poor vision. Likewise, the firm grip on the pistol grip reduced recoil effect considerably and enabled the directness of the shooting.
I expect results will improve substantially with the improved comfort offered by the reduced duration of the shooting and the new technical solidity.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Training - Prone - DRC - 4th March 2010
I've been snowed under with work for college this last while, so I haven't had a chance to do any training in about a month. Got to do my first bit of shooting since my last match tonight though. I suppose the first thing should be a report on that match, then I'll go through tonight's training.
The match was a new personal best of 584. My sighters took a long time to settle down and I just wasn't as comfortable and confident about the shots as I should have been. Once I figured out the rifle was sighted, however, I went to the match. The first shot was an 8, low and right. Horrible swearing and proclamations that it was going to be one of those bloody days ensued. However, the next few shots were decent tens and I dropped one more in that card. I followed it up with two very good 99s, good and tight groups with a nine each just sneaking out to the side. The second 99 was a 104.5, with two 10.9s in it. At this point, I should have stopped, but was very pushed for time after my hesitant start. As such, I persevered, and dropped four points in my fourth card. I decided to take a break at this point, rather than drop a shedload more points. When I got back down, nothing worked quite as well and my last two cards were a 96 and a 97. The 97 had a very tight group of central tens and three looser nines than I was happy with and the 96 was just stringy and frankly dodgy. So a 584, and 295 at the halfway point, with an 8 in it. Clearly there's the potential for far better, but I can't help feeling like that was just a golden day where I picked up on a lot of karma shots. I suppose the coming sunday's match will tell me much more, but I really wonder whether I'll be able to repeat my performance.
On now to tonight's training. I was experimenting in two areas; one physical and one psychological. From a psychological perspective, I was forcing myself to be direct and aggressive with shots, not holding on target for a long time. From a physical perspective, I was trying a new grip tension. From speaking with a far more proficient shooter at an air rifle match last week, I gathered that a lot of shooters would use a reasonably firm grip in their trigger hand. Now, I personally have always used a very loose grip, more or less just sitting it on the stock and operating the trigger that way. Tonight I was firm, holding the rifle solid, and the results were very good. The shooter in question had explained that it decreased the effect of recoil on the displacement of the shot from the centre. This was certainly my experience, and the first ten-bull card I've shot in over a month was a 98. The trade-off with the firm grip is that I have to relearn how to sensitively apply trigger control, as the tighter grip complicates this. Still, it's an excellent addition to my technical knowledge, and hopefully sunday will be the better for it. Hoping for a 585 plus, but I expect I'll really have to fight for that. With a more aggressive, direct approach however, I think there'll be a lot more tens for me.
The match was a new personal best of 584. My sighters took a long time to settle down and I just wasn't as comfortable and confident about the shots as I should have been. Once I figured out the rifle was sighted, however, I went to the match. The first shot was an 8, low and right. Horrible swearing and proclamations that it was going to be one of those bloody days ensued. However, the next few shots were decent tens and I dropped one more in that card. I followed it up with two very good 99s, good and tight groups with a nine each just sneaking out to the side. The second 99 was a 104.5, with two 10.9s in it. At this point, I should have stopped, but was very pushed for time after my hesitant start. As such, I persevered, and dropped four points in my fourth card. I decided to take a break at this point, rather than drop a shedload more points. When I got back down, nothing worked quite as well and my last two cards were a 96 and a 97. The 97 had a very tight group of central tens and three looser nines than I was happy with and the 96 was just stringy and frankly dodgy. So a 584, and 295 at the halfway point, with an 8 in it. Clearly there's the potential for far better, but I can't help feeling like that was just a golden day where I picked up on a lot of karma shots. I suppose the coming sunday's match will tell me much more, but I really wonder whether I'll be able to repeat my performance.
On now to tonight's training. I was experimenting in two areas; one physical and one psychological. From a psychological perspective, I was forcing myself to be direct and aggressive with shots, not holding on target for a long time. From a physical perspective, I was trying a new grip tension. From speaking with a far more proficient shooter at an air rifle match last week, I gathered that a lot of shooters would use a reasonably firm grip in their trigger hand. Now, I personally have always used a very loose grip, more or less just sitting it on the stock and operating the trigger that way. Tonight I was firm, holding the rifle solid, and the results were very good. The shooter in question had explained that it decreased the effect of recoil on the displacement of the shot from the centre. This was certainly my experience, and the first ten-bull card I've shot in over a month was a 98. The trade-off with the firm grip is that I have to relearn how to sensitively apply trigger control, as the tighter grip complicates this. Still, it's an excellent addition to my technical knowledge, and hopefully sunday will be the better for it. Hoping for a 585 plus, but I expect I'll really have to fight for that. With a more aggressive, direct approach however, I think there'll be a lot more tens for me.
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