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.
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