Equipment

GUNS

Guns for bullseye shooting can be expensive, very expensive. You can also use bone stock guns and compete effectively. To compete in most tournaments you need at least two guns, a Rimfire and a 45 caliber. The 45 can be used twice, once for the center fire portion and again for the 45 portion of the match.

There are plenty of rimfire guns to choose from and some of the more popular ones are:

• Ruger Mark III Ruger Mark III

• Browning Buckmark Browning Buckmark

• Smith & Wesson model 41 Model 41

• Hammerli X-esse Hammerli

• Pardini Sp1/SP1 RF Pardini

• 1911 conversion to 22, Marvel Precision

Center fire is dominated by 1911s as is the 45 category. Nearly all gun mfgs. make 1911 type guns, but here are some links to those that provide customized guns for Bullseye or other competitive shooting sports.

• Les Baer Les Baer Bullseye

• Kimber Kimber Gold Match

• Clark Clark Bullseye

Selecting a gun is not something to jump into without due consideration. If at all possible, I highly recommend shooting the gun prior to purchasing. The best way to do this is to ask other shooters if you can shoot their gun. Many shooters don't mind letting you shoot as long as you demonstrate some level of competence. Guns all have a very different feel and you have to be comfortable with the gun to shoot it well. The used market is a great place to find very good guns for Bullseye competition and at good prices. Don't expect used guns to be cheap though, quality guns hold their value very well.

MY GUNS

As of March 2012, I shoot with 2 primary guns: S&W model 41 and a custom 1911 by Clark which I believe to have been customized in the late 70s or early 80s. I also have a S&W model 52 which is a treasure but I don't shoot as well with it as I do my 1911 so it doesn't get to participate in tournaments much.

The model 41 is a stock unit with a few add-ons. It has different grips which are suppose to be similar to the 1911 grips - not even close but they work for me. I also installed an Ultradot, Matchdot II sight to it.

The model 52 is a stock unit with trigger shoe to help get the trigger closer to my finger, Pachmayer grips, and an Ultradot L/T sight which is slide mounted.

The 1911 has recently become my favorite gun. I wish I knew all the details about it and what all Clark had done to it, but I don't. The only thing I changed so far on it was switching out a Tasco red dot for an Ultradot, Matchdot II sight. The rest of the gun is a mystery to me and that is fine - it works and it shoots good.

RED DOT SIGHTS

Red dot sights are almost a standard accessory in Bullseye competition. This is not to say that a person cannot shoot good with iron sights! Good quality iron sights are adjustable and very accurate so don't feel you have to jump into a red dot right away.

Selecting a red dot sight is something you want to spend some time at. There are many choices on the market and there are some features that you may, or may not want. At the range, ask other shooters if you can look through their scope, at the store, try to hold the scope as you would if it were mounted on a gun. Some scopes have blurry dots, some have poor optics that block too much light. One of the more popular brands right now is Ultradot. Another brand that is popular is Aimpoint. There are also many other brands available, some very inexpensive but be careful as you may get what you pay for.

There are two styles of red dots on the market, tube style and open style (reflex). The reflex style, or open style, does not have a tube,rather it has only one lens. These are very popular for other types of guns but not so much for Bullseye shooting. In my comments below I have a specific example of the good and bad of one I have used. The tube style looks like a conventional scope with the elevation and windage adjustments in the middle section. These types of sights provide a better protection against the ill effects of sun light reflections.

Here are some links

Ultradot West

Aimpoint

MY RED DOT SIGHTS

I prefer red dot sights for one reason only, my eyes are old and I can get a suitable sight picture that I can work with. Part of the problem with getting "old eyes" is a lack of depth of field in the "near" range. I wear bifocals and with them I have to have the object I am looking at, to be at just the right distance or it is blurry. For my far vision, my depth of field is pretty good, but anything within 3 or 4 feet, I have a very narrow depth of field. If I shoot iron sights, I cannot focus on the front sight and I cannot see much detail on the target it is barely recognizable as a target. If I tilt my head back and try to look through the bifocals, the target is nothing more than a blur and the front sight isn't much better.

With the red dot sights, I can focus on the target and bring the dot into view and I can focus on both at the same time. To my eyes, the target and the dot appear to be at the same distance as they are both clear and crisp.

The drawback with a red dot is that you have this fine, red dot bouncing around the center of the target. It is very easy to allow yourself to get into the problems of trying to grab the 10, which as we all should know is usually a jerk on the trigger and a 6 or 7. Irons sights don't seem to feed this instinct as much because you are doing more of an area aiming. You balance the ball (black on target) above the 3 pins of the sight. You are not aiming at a very specific point, but rather in close proximity to that black ball. To be honest, if my eyes would allow me to see what I want, I would probably shoot iron sights.

As I cannot shoot irons sights anymore, I don't give it much thought so I have adapted my shooting to only red-dots.

I have tried a number of different red dots since getting back into shooting, most of them were cheap ones. One of my first that I bought was a Tru-glo and it was the open style (reflex). I really liked that sight, the dot was just the right size, perfectly round, and I could adjust the brightness. I would still be using that sight if it were not for one problem, when shooting into the sun, it is next to impossible to see the dot. I believe I also had problems when the sun was behind me. After trying a number of different tube style red dots I started to see and understand what I liked and what worked for me.

I first had to understand that my eye sight changed throughout the day. I call it "allergy eyes". As the day goes on my vision gets blurry and some of the time I can see the target with clarity and at other times, not so much.. This is where the brightness adjustment helps me as well as when shooting under different lighting conditions such as indoor or outdoor. I like that adjustment and find it of great value.

The next thing I discovered I liked and liked a lot is the adjustable dot size of the Matchdot II (I assume other red dot sights have similar adjustments). I used to think I wanted a very fine point for the dot, very small and very crisp. Seemed logical at first but under shooting conditions, that little dot provides too much detail for me. It makes me want to perfectly center that little dot on that big black dot and then go for the trigger. Well, we know that isn't a good thing, "grabbing tens" usually results in sixes and sevens.

When shooting normal targets for competition or practice, I have the dot setting on the BIG dot. With that setting I don't chase the red dot around trying to get it perfect on the 10 ring. Rather, as it bounces around on the black, I try to keep it in the black (which isn't much bigger than the red dot) and if I control the trigger properly it is going to be a 9 or 10. Using that large dot, I am forcing myself to perform area aiming which allows my brain and body to focus more on trigger control.

Some folks say you don't need all 4 dot settings which may be true for them but not for me. In another section on this website I explain my training style and methods and in there you can see why 4 dot size settings are very handy.

Another thing I find important is that both of the guns use the same red dot sight. When I am aiming, I want that sight picture to be the same. I don't want to have to go through the process of changing how the target looks when I switch guns. It is one less thing to have to think about during competition.

SIGHT/SCOPE MOUNTS - MY THOUGHTS

I have long, thin arms and wrists and I often have troubles getting the parts of my arm to lock up where I want them. The more power a gun has, the harder it is for me to keep my wrist from breaking, no, I don't mean breaking as having to go to the doctor to get a cast put on it. Rather, the wrist flexes as the gun goes off. This can be a big problem which shows up in different ways. With the model 52, you will get a LOT of stove pipes (fail to ejects). You will also be prone to wild shots that go in the direction your wrist breaks with all guns.

Because of this, I don't like a lot of mass on my slide. This additional mass, even with lightweight modern red dot sights, causes more of a rolling action in my wrist with a slide mounted scope. I prefer to keep that additional mass on the frame where it actually helps reduce the problem. So my preference is with frame mounted sights/scopes.

I realize there is the potential for accuracy issues with a frame mounted scope versus a slide mounted scope. The slide, on many guns, is more in control of locking up the breach end of the barrel than the frame is. As such, it being more closely associated with where the barrel is pointing, it makes sense to mount the sight on the slide. I am willing to accept this problem as a trade off for my long skinny arms and what they can and cannot do well.

TRIGGERS

The trigger pull is a critical attribute of a gun. The pull, measured as weight, defines the amount of force required to pull the trigger. You cannot just have a trigger modified to be as lite as possible, there are rules that dictate what the trigger pull should be. For 22 caliber guns the weight is 2 pounds, center fire guns is 2 1/2 pounds and 45 caliber guns it is 3 1/2 pounds.

Triggers have two distinct "feels": Crisp and Roll. A crisp trigger is one where as you pull the trigger back, you will take out the slack, then you feel the resistance as the trigger engages the sear. From that moment, there isn't anymore movement on the trigger until the hammer drops. There should be no creep and it should not feel gritty. A roll trigger on the other hand has more movement after the trigger mechanism engages with the sear. After the resistance is first felt, the trigger will continue to move and the force to pull increases until the hammer drops.

Few triggers on a stock gun are perfect in pull and feel. Most often guns are send to a gun smith to have a trigger job performed on them to get the as close to perfect as possible.

TRIGGERS - MY THOUGHTS

Regarding crisp or roll triggers, I would like to offer up some really solid advice on which is better or even what I prefer, but I can't. My guns would be considered crisp and clean but certainly not roll triggers. I felt a number of guns with roll triggers and I honestly could not tell enough of a difference to make me modify my guns to have a roll trigger. In reality, I would have to shoot a couple thousand rounds through a gun with a roll trigger to know if I wanted to change. Perhaps I am a slow learner or perhaps I just don't have that refined feel. I do, however, know that if I do my job on trigger control, I can shoot a ten with any of my guns. At some point in time I will probably setup a gun with a roll trigger and get enough rounds through it to decide for myself if it is a benefit.

Being that trigger control is very critical to shooting high scores, it is something you want to understand well. When I hear other shooters talk about how they shoot with a roll trigger, I see where there could be an advantage. Let's greatly exaggerate the motion of a roll trigger, let's say it moves 1 inch during that period of tension. As you pull the trigger, your hand's position relative to the target will change because of all the muscles and tendons moving around in your hand. A roll trigger will allow you to compensate for that as the tension in your hand builds and you will have a better opportunity to maintain sight picture. With a crisp trigger, it is more of a ON-OFF, there is no transition between pull and bang so you will not have that extra time to adjust for the change in sight picture. Please keep in mind that in this description I am way over exaggerating what is happening (distance of pull and time).

THE GUNS, WHAT MAKES THEM WORK GOOD FOR ME

I used to think that the most perfect gun for my hands was the S&W model 52. The only exception being that the trigger is too far back. When I got back into shooting and borrowed the 1911 for that first match, I knew there was something "special" about that gun. It didn't take long for it to find a happy spot in my hand that just felt right and I could easily re-grip the gun and get it back into the same spot. I suspect a LOT of other shooters have also found the 1911 to be the perfect fitting gun for their hands. Brian Zins has written about his concept of how to hold the gun and if you are not familiar with it, I highly recommend you visit his website http://www.brianzins.com/ to learn it. It may or may not work for you depending on the size and shape of your hand, but I do know that a lot of people have tried it and liked it, myself included.

I used to have those fancy grips on my model 41 that would allow you to put the gun in your hand as if it were a glove. It had the adjustable heel rest on it along with a thumb rest on the left side (I am a right handed shooter). I used to really like that feel, sometimes I would have that adjustable heel so tight, my hands would hurt like crazy after shooting. I was told to get rid of them by Brian Zins at one of his clinics. I frankly didn't like that advice at first, but then he showed me why and it was a very important lesson. With my left hand, he had me pinch the web of my right hand (the area between the thumb and the trigger finger) while making the motion of pulling the trigger. If you dig in there good and pinch it good, you will notice very quickly that there is a bad thing going on. You can feel all the tendons and muscles getting bound up in that area which really screws up your trigger finger control. You may also notice your wrist making a jerking motion as you do this. Either one of these is very bad for precision shooting!

With those grips that really force that web area of your hand high up into the back of the gun (below the hammer on a 1911), you are really making it very hard on yourself to control that trigger finger. If you don't have good control of the finger, how the hell are you going to precisely control that trigger? Since that lesson, I have not only changed the grips on the 41, I also changed the way I grip all the guns. Long ago I was told to really push the gun into that web area when gripping the gun, I no longer do that.

The ammunition you use for Bullseye shooting is important in two factors: Accuracy and Reliability. For Rimfire guns, they can be very picky about which ammo works for both reliability and accuracy. I shoot a Smith & Wesson model 41 and the standard go to ammo for the is CCI Standard velocity. All other brands that I have tried have excessive numbers of duds resulting in fail to fire. I don't want to deal with that in practice or especially at a tournament.

For center fire guns, most shooters reload because purchasing ammo for Bullseye guns is "special" by comparison to regular hardball ammo. Nearly every shooter has his or her own load that works for them. Most all loads used are based on published examples found in many of the reloading books. I have found the best source of starting loads was to talk with other bullseye shooters. With a baseline to start from, I would adjust up or down to suit my gun and my shooting style. I continue to experiment with my bullet choices and my loads but the changes I now are very small. My current load and bullet for everything up to 75 feet is a 185 grain lead hollow point semi wadcutter with 3.9 grains of Bullseye powder. I used to also use a 200 grain lead semi wadcutter for slow fire but found that it was not as accurate and I had to adjust the zero on my scope between the two different cartridges.

Whether you buy your ammo or reload it, focus on reliability first and accuracy second unless you are a very high level shooter. Ammo, as with guns, are often more accurate than the shooter.

SUPPORT EQUIPMENT

RELOADING PRESS

As you grow into the sport of Bullseye shooting, you are going to learn that you have to shoot a lot of ammo. You can certainly cut down on the amount by doing more dryfire, however, you still need to get to the range and shoot real bullets at real targets. You can buy ammo that is specifically made for Bullseye shooting, however, few stores stock it so you will be buying mail order (perhaps that phrase needs to change to internet order). As this isn't mass produced ammo, it can be expensive. As you get better and better, you will have the desire to change something about the ammo to gain an edge. With factory loaded ammo you are not afforded that option so reloading becomes a very big part of your shooting efforts.

Arguments have been made as to whether reloading is actually more cost effective than purchased ammo. One argument states "yes it is cheaper, but because of that you will just shoot more so you don't really save". Well, I shoot a lot and would shoot more if time allowed and it is because of the amount of range time I get, I have improved my scores.

There are plenty of companies making reloading equipment and plenty of choices. If you are starting out with reloading, I would advise you get some handle time on some presses before buying one. Ask around with other shooters to see if they would let you see their setups. You want to understand firsthand the pros and cons of various presses. Here are some links to various companies that manufacture reloading equipment:

Dillon Precision

Hornady

Lee Precision

RCBS

MY RELOADING PRESS

After returning to shooting I was able to find my old loading press but it was rusty and in bad enough shape I didn't want to mess with it. For its replacement I selected a Dillon press and so far like the decision and even obtained a second press. I have a square deal press setup for reloading the 38 special rounds for the model 52. For the 45 ammo, I have a 550 press which also works very well. There are a couple of plastic parts on the presses that I have to change once in a while and they are low cost so I just buy enough to make sure I have them on hand. As for dies, I use the standard Dillon dies, they seem to do what I want so I don't see the need to tinker around with other choices.