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This page is always under maintenance. Rules change regularly and it can always be improved. And I am not a saint as a trainer/coach.
No wisdom is absolute, but with this website you should be able to do pretty well at a competition.
First and most important rule in sport shooting
First and most important rule in sport shooting
Weapons should NEVER be pointed at anyone under ANY circumstances.
SAFETY must be the highest priority when handling a weapons, air or firearms.
The weapons MUST ONLY be loaded with ammunition on the range, with the weapon pointed down and when it is ready to fire.
Each weapon must be handled as if it is loaded at all times, even if you are certain that the weapon is not loaded.
The weapons must be transported safely both on and off the range.
When resting during a series, the weapon must have a flag in the chamber and for air weapons a cord through the entire barrel.
When transporting, a bolt-rifle must the bolt be removed and weapons without a bolt must have a flag in the chamber with the slide closed.
A trigger lock is recommended for ALL weapons.
Keep your finger of the trigger when not aiming.
Contents
ISSF Rules and Regulations
ISSF Rules and Regulations
Not everyone likes to read the rules, but if you want to continue in shooting sports and national and/or international competitions, it is important that you learn the rules for your discipline.
During Intershoot, an international air pistol and rifle event, I often experience that people do not fully understand the rules for their sport.
It is therefore advisable to take time to do this and read the rules.
Choice of weapon
Choice of weapon
Feinwerkbau-p85
Weapon choice, this is a subject that will be entirely personal.
The choice of weapon is not bound by rules, one will like brand A and the other brand G. So it is an entirely personal choice.
But I can help you make a choice.
First, try out as many different brands and types as possible. If possible and allowed, try a weapon from another shooter. But many gun dealers also have weapons that you can try out. But don't buy because you like it, this weapon will usually not meet your expectations.
Then we have the recreational weapons. We always say, nice to hang on the wall, but not suitable for sport shooting. So if you want to shoot fun in the garden, go ahead, but for sport shooting we will look at the competition weapons.
Brands most suitable for competition and ISSF regulation
Air Venturi
Feinwerkbau
Hammerli
Morini
Pardini
Steyer
Walther
short list, but there are more, but those are the most well known brands.
Pardini-K12
Morini-CM-200EI
Pistol grip
Pistol grip
Most standard pistol grips that come with the gun will do. Top international shooters will customize their grip to fit their hand, but it is usually an expensive job and not recommended.
When buying a weapon you should check if the grip is not too big or too small, you should be able to adjust it well. In addition to different sizes there is also the choice between left and right handed. There is a grip for everyone, even in different colors.
We also have to deal with the phenomenon weather. This means that we will also have to adjust the grip regularly.
Sounds strange, but it is true.
Summer: The hand expands and is therefore somewhat thicker.
Winter: The hand shrinks and is therefore somewhat smaller.
And then we have not even mentioned the autumn and spring with the changeable weather.
The different accommodations where we shoot can also differ in temperature.
So make sure that you are familiar with the operation of your grip so you can quickly adapt to changing circumstances. Top shooters are able to do this during the competition, although the range officers and jury will happy to this. Working on your weapon at the shooting point is not done! Most competitions have a separate room for this.
Target
Target
ISSF 10 meter air pistol
ISSF 10 meter air pistol
The 10 metre air pistol is an Olympic shooting event governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). It is similar to 10 metre air rifle in that it is shot with 4.5 mm (or .177) caliber air guns at a distance of 10 metres (11 yards), and that the match consists of a qualification round of 60 competition shots within 75 minutes. If an electronic scoring system (EST) is not available, 15 minutes are added to the time limit. Competitors are allowed to shoot an unlimited number of shots during the 15 minutes preparation and sighting time. Along with the 50 meter pistol, it is considered a precision shooting event. Thus, numerous shooters compete in both events.
There are some restrictions on the pistol regarding its dimensions, weight and trigger pull weight. It must be operated by one hand only from a standing, unsupported position. The shooter decides their own tempo as long as the maximum time is not exceeded.
Weight
maximum overall weight is 1.5 kg (3.31 lb)
Weight
maximum overall weight is 1.5 kg (3.31 lb)
ISSF boek: ISSF Rules pistol (PDF)
Chapter 8.4.2, 8.4.2.1 and 8.12
The trigger pressure is measured with a special weight. The image also shows how this should be done. For this I also refer to the ISSF document: Pistol rules book Chapter 8.4.2, 8.4.2.1 and 8.12
In this document you can find more about the air pistol discipline.
ISSF Rules pistol (PDF)
Of course there is enough to find on the internet, but the rules are adjusted every now and then by the ISSF. Check regularly whether you still meet the ISSF rules.
When you participate in official competitions, you will usually have to pass the inspection with your weapon(s), clothing and accessories. Everything must comply with the ISSF rules, so take your time to read them and make sure your equipment is in order.
The photos below were taken during Intershoot, an international air rifle and pistol competition in the Netherlands.
The photos were taken by various volunteers who help during this international competition.
Frank Streng, Arno Brinkman, Walter Jaegermann and Ab de Jong.
The legend in shooting
Ragnar Skanåker
Ammunition
Ammunition
Match pellet
Match pellets
Match pellets
Match pellets are used for the 10 metre air rifle and 10 metre air pistol disciplines. These 4.5 mm (0.177 in) calibre pellets have wadcutter heads, meaning the front is (nearly) flat, that leave clean, hole punch-like round holes in paper targets for easy scoring. Match pellets are offered in tins and more elaborate packagings that avoid deformation and other damage that could impair their uniformity.
Most match pellets are made of soft lead (a lead alloy with low antimony content), but some companies offer lead-free versions. The antimony content is used to control the hardness of the soft lead alloy. It is a very soft alloy, which makes it easy to process. Since the soft lead alloy is prone to strongly deform when striking a bullet catcher, it rapidly loses its kinetic energy and will not easily bounce off. Lead is toxic and hazardous to the environment, so precautions should be taken if shooting with lead pellets. For this reason, many shooters use lead-free match pellets, produced by H&N Sport, Predator International, JSB, RWS, Olympia Shot, Gamo, or Daisy.
Match air gun shooters are encouraged to perform shooting group tests with their gun clamped in a fixed rest in order to establish which particular pellet type performs best for their air gun. To facilitate maximum performance out of various air guns the leading match pellet manufacturers produce pellets in graduated weight variants (the light/high speed variants are often marketed for air pistol use) and with graduated "head sizes", which means the pellets are offered with front diameters from 4.48 mm (0.176 in) up to 4.52 mm (0.178 in).
Eyes
Eyes
Always shoot with both eyes open, why?
Light has a great effect on the eyes, so the pupil will always react to the light by becoming larger or smaller. On a shooting range there is usually a lot of light and the pupil will become smaller.
If you close the non-dominant eye, the pupil will be in the dark and will become larger while the open eye gets a lot of light and becomes smaller.
In this case, the brain sometimes cannot process the effect properly. One person will not suffer from this, but another can get a splitting headache.
Is there a solution for this? Yes!
Invest, especially if you also wear glasses, in a pair of shooting glasses. There are special models for pistol shooters, but just start with a base.
For the non-dominant eye, you can put a blinder. Don't take black because then the effect is on the pupil again. But a somewhat translucent blinder is the right choice.
When purchasing glasses, make sure that the focus is on the aiming aids and not on the target.
Position
Position
This explanation is for right handed shooters, left handed shooters can perform the opposite stance and actions!
This describes the method by which you hold the pistol and align your body naturally with the target. The pistol is held in one hand, with the arm outstretched.
If this is tried with your feet too close together, you will find that you tend to overbalance. To overcome this undesirable effect, it is necessary to spread your legs apart, about as wide as your shoulders.
You now need to find a comfortable position facing the target and then gradually move the position of your feet to gain a stable position.
The non-shooting arm with the thumb on the belt or a strap around the waist that the arm with the thumb can hang on.
Keep the rest of the arm in full contact with the body.
Hand in pocket may cause imbalance
Position of the feet in the drawing is a starting point. The correct position must be found by aligning. The position is entirely personal, but make sure that the muscles at the front and back of the collarbone have approximately the same tension. This position provides the best resting point in the shooting arm and will therefore acidify less.
Also keep the sholders as straigt as possible, it can also have effect on your shooting and your mussels.
How to align to find the right position.
To do this, stand in the starting position. Then do the following steps to get to the best position for you.
Assume the aiming position and close your eyes.
Swing your arm from left to right, but do not exaggerate so that the entire upper body rotates, it must remain in a fixed position. So only with the shooting arm!
Find the most relaxing point for the muscles at the front and back of the collarbone and hold this position.
Open your eyes and look where the line of the aiming device is located. We do not look at too high or too low.
If we aim too much to the left, then move the left leg a little bit forward.
The right leg remains in the same position!
By a little bit we mean millimeter work. A small displacement can already push the shot in the other direction.If we aim too much to the right, then move the left leg a little bit backward.
The right leg remains in the same position!
By a little bit we mean millimeter work. A small displacement can already push the shot in the other direction.We can repeat these steps until we are in line with the center of the visual.
The same applies to left-handed shooters, but then we move the right leg.
Once you have found the right position, the idea is to take it up at every match or when you have been away from the shooting point for a while. A handy trick is to put something down at your feet so that you have the same posture/position as soon as you enter the shooting point again.
Check this, because you have been in a different body position, so your posture can influence the position.
Aiming
Aiming
Aim with your dominant eye. Aiming with both eyes is next to impossible, so you need to take aim with your dominant eye. Your dominant eye presents a more accurate picture of your surroundings than your non-dominant eye.
Your dominant eye is usually lines up with your dominant hand, but this is not always the case.
To determine which eye is your dominant one, form a 1-inch (2.5-cm) circle with your thumb and index finger. Hold the circle at arm's length and look through it to a distant object.
Gradually bring the circle toward your face with both eyes open, but do not look at it. You hand will naturally move toward your dominant eye.
Align the front and back sights. A pistol has a rear sight and a front sight. When aiming the gun, the post of the front sight should be evenly centered in between the two posts of the rear sight.
The front sight consists of a single post and the back sight consists of two posts.
There needs to be an equal amount of space to the left and the right of the front sight.
The top of the front sight should also be flush or even with the tops of the back sight posts.
Focus your eyes on the gun. As you aim the pistol, you will need to look at the rear sight, front sight, and the target. It is physically impossible for your eyes to focus on all three objects at once, though. In order to aim the gun properly, you need to make sure that your eyes are focused on the gun sights and not the target.
The target should look a little blurry. You should still be able to see it, but it should fall to the background and look much less crisp than the gun sights appear.
More specifically, you should be focusing on your front sight. The front sight lets you know what your gun's relative position to the target is.
Concentrate. Aiming a pistol requires patience and concentration. Sloppy aim will result in a sloppy shot.
Before firing the pistol, make sure your shots are correctly aligned.
Be patient when pressing the trigger. If you feel anxious about firing the gun and concentrate on applying more pressure to the trigger, even for a moment, you will lose concentration on your aim and will probably have a poor shot.
To analyze your shot pattern, click the button. >
To analyze your shot pattern, click the button. >
Special training in aiming and alignment
Special training in aiming and alignment
When I was still training the youth, we also did some alignment training.
Turn the target around so that you only see a blank target. Take 10 shots and see what happens. If you are aligned correctly, you will see a group. If they are spread out, you need to work on your alignment.
Only the more experienced group sometimes did it with the light off.
If the shooter is aligned correctly, the shots will also be groups. You can also try this once, provided that it is possible to make it really dark, you should not see the target.
Once you are aligned and have taken a few shots, have someone turn off the light and then take 5 or 10 shots. Then see where you end up and if you are aligned correctly, they will end up as a group in the right place.
The shots may end up somewhere other than in the middle, but they should be a group.
If they are very spread out, you can practice your alignment.
Trigger
Trigger
Focusing on the target and using the breathing technique, slowly increase the pressure on the trigger until the shot is released. If you can maintain a steady aim during this process, the resulting shot placement should be on target.
And you repeat this process every time you want to take a new shot.
But of course, a lot precedes this.
Air pistol triggers come in various shapes and sizes. Here too, what you find most comfortable applies. Never take a trigger that everyone likes so much, if it doesn't fit well and you don't like it, this will be reflected in the results.
The best way is to start with the standart trigger, later you can always decide to take a fancy one.
Howe to place your finger on the trigger.
Howe to place your finger on the trigger.
Always place the trigger finger perpendicular to the trigger and make sure the grip places the finger at 90 degrees. This is possible because the trigger can be moved forward or backward. Sometimes it may also be necessary to adjust the position of the grip slightly, but make sure that the weapon still fits in the inspection box.
If the finger is not placed correctly on the trigger, you are pushing or pulling the weapon in the wrong direction.
Also do not put too much pressure on it, you only build that up when you are aiming and are start with the procedure build-up for the shot.
The trigger pressure can also be set. But be careful with this, there are also rules attached to this.
The trigger pressure may not be less than 500 grams. It is recommended to set this a little heavier as the ambient temperature has an influence on this.
Shooters who also shoot fire disciplines will set the trigger pressure considerably heavier.
Trigger pressure:
1500g max.
500g min.
The trigger pressure is measured with a special weight. The image also shows how this should be done. For this I also refer to the ISSF document: Pistol rules book Chapter 8.4.2, 8.4.2.1 and 8.12
In this document you can find more about the air pistol discipline.
ISSF Rules pistol (PDF)
Breathing
Breathing
Breathing in shooting sports is also important, it doesn't seem like much, but it is also an important part of the whole process.
First, breathing is done through the nose and out through the mouth. Breathe over the belly and not the chest. Breathing over the chest affects aiming.
The picture shows that the build-up of the shot is done in the exhaled state. Hold your breath for a maximum of 5 to 10 seconds but let the shot fall before the 8th second. Longer has an effect on the muscles. Your muscles use oxygen and if you aim for too long, acidification occurs. If that happens, it has an effect on the rest of your series. So be sensible, if you don't succeed within 8 seconds, take off and start the aiming process again after a short rest.
During the 8 seconds in which the shot must be fired, you build up the pressure on the trigger. Many weapons have a dead point. Find this point and set the pressure for the aiming process to the dead point. But be careful, too much pressure and the shot will go off at a moment when you don't want it to.
Once you have found the dead point, practice a lot on it so that it becomes automatic.
Finally, shooting
Finally, shooting
Now that you all know how to do it, we can fire the first shots. I know it's a lot, but you can train bit by bit on components.
Don't go for those 10 points right away. Then the concentration is in the completely wrong place. The concentration should be on handling the weapon correctly to get a good shot.
Beginner shooter, take your time and make meters. That means shooting a lot, but in the right way. We always say, after 1000 shots you will see a big difference compared to the first shots.
Another piece of advice for training. Shoot 10 shots on a visual. Make sure the group gets smaller and smaller.
BUT NEVER correct by moving the weapon. The aiming devices on the weapon are adjustable for this, learn how this works here too. During competitions it can happen that you even have to correct the aiming devices halfway through.
But during training with 10 shots on a card, never turn the aiming devices. We want to try to make the group as small as possible and do not go for points.
Even if the group is at the top left or elsewhere on the map, that's no problem, as long as the perimeter of the group becomes smaller.
To analyze your shot pattern, click the button. >
To analyze your shot pattern, click the button. >
Clothing and shoes
Clothing and shoes
In shooting sports, demands are also made on clothing. Fortunately, these are not too bad for the air pistol discipline. Only the shoes are subject to strict demands.
It doesn't have to be fancy shoes, most injured sports shoes also meet the requirements in most cases.
Only low-sided shoes that do not cover the ankle bone (below the medial and lateral malleolus) are permitted. The sole must be flexible in the entire forward part of the foot;
To demonstrate that shoe soles are flexible, athletes must walk normally (heel toe) at all times while on the field of play. A warning will be given for the first offence, a two-point penalty or disqualification will be given for subsequent violations;
Shoe Sole Flexibility Standard. The soles of athletes’ shoes must bend at least 22.5 degrees when a force of 15 Newton-Meters is applied to the heel area while the shoe is clamped in the testing device.
Do not wear jeans for shooting, they can chafe and irritate. A nice, loose, fit pants like training pants are the most comfortable.
Training exercises
Training exercises
The Dutch sports care foundation has set up a number of video training courses that are extremely suitable for shooting sports, among other things.
The training videos are in Dutch, but the essence of the training is easy to follow.
These training courses are suitable for all aspects of shooting sports.
Copyright and all rights belong to the sports care foundation.
Training, tips and tricks
Training, tips and tricks
Be aware that every change can have a downward effect. Don't change all the time but keep going for a while after a change. Eventually the results will come back and in most cases they will be better.
Here are some tips to help the beginning shooter.
No wisdom is absolute, but with this collection of Tips & Tricks you should be able to do pretty well at a competition.
There are a few tips for air pistol training. But for everything, too much is not good either, so train with friends.
Keep a record/journal so you can keep track of your shooting and training. A record of little adjustments can be gold in the future.
Swimming is a very good overall training, you can certainly strengthen the strength arms and upper body here.
Dry practice, all weapons have a position where no shot is fired, but this position is very suitable for the trigger technique.
Hang a visual on the wall at the right height, and use it to train during dry firing.
1 liter plastic bottle. Fill the bottle with water. This will improve the strength in the shooting arm. Hold the bottle in your hand at the neck of the bottle. This will allow you to imitate aiming with weight. Of course you can also use training weights from the gym. But make sure they are not heavier than 1kg.
Make sure that between aiming you have a table where you can rest with the bottle after 8 seconds.
Watching television in the evening? Then do it standing with your legs set as you shoot, so your feet are as wide as your shoulders. Try to build this up to 90 minutes. Then a series won't be so tiring.
I hope this will help to practice the shooting sport and and result in a better shooting.
Wish you all a good shot.
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