In this issue: Re: Musings on IPSC and US Olympic shooting Re: Prone help Update on European veterans Re: 2013 barrel length Air pistol WWW page Pellet diameters Re: Musings on IPSC / Calling the shot / prone help Standing basics ******************************************************************** From: "Terry L. Friesz" I find the essay which opens your most recent newsletter to be quite offensive. The implication that there is something "wrong" with the individuals who are inclined toward accuracy sports like free rifle shooting, while there is something "healthy" about the action pistol crowd suggests that probably the writer has some latent power fantasies himself which olympic style competition could not satisfy. I would ask that he simply switch to his new found love, IPSC, and spare us his essays. [Editor - The writer was a woman for one, a now former member of the USST and past national air pistol champion. She briefly switched to rifle due to her disgust with the pistol team. I decided to publish her thoughts to give an often unheard of viewpoint from someone on the inside of UIT shooting in the US.] ********************************************************************* Reference tightness of prone position, I have found that less tight is better. I teach the cadets on the team here at West Point that, when building a prone position, start with a loose sling and then tighten it until it provides just enough support to take over from the muscles. In my experience, unnecessary sling tightness causes undue pain, especially during a UIT prone match. Undue pain makes it very difficult to relax and concentrate. An overly-tight sling also causes shot-to-shot variations in angle of recoil, as you noted. Because of the tightness and the pain, small variations in the muscles become hard to detect. Just as a bright light shining in your eyes makes it difficult to see, a painfully-tight position dulls your kinesthetic sense. A sling that is just tight enough will keep the so rifle steady that the only perceptible motion comes from pulse, but will not cause pain in the short term (20 shot target), or in a series of short-terms (1600 prone match). A little pain during the last several shots of a 60-shot UIT prone match is inevitable with any prone position. A comfortable prone position is especially important for 50 foot shooting, where the shooter must change point of aim every shot. All that moving around requires that the shooter really be able to feel their position each time they move. A too-tight position, combined with the moving, can mask lots of inconsistencies like cheek placement and butt position in the shoulder, causing several 9's every target. If your position is truly comfortable, you should shoot 100's all the time at 50 feet. At 50 meters, you should be able to wait out changes in the wind without ever thinking that you'd like to hurry up and finish so it stops hurting. In conventional prone, you should be able to go back and forth between the sighter and the record bulls repeatedly and know that the moving is not causing variations in angle of recoil. I don't understand the "bruised shoulder" part. The should relax into the rifle, the rifle should not be so long that it pushes the shoulder back. The right buttplate allows the shooter to feel that it's in the same spot every time, but it should never hurt. ******************************************************************** Hi Mike, Few week have been passed from our mail exchange. Though I am sending you following report on Veteran shooting preparation. We (mainly my wife Wila) are making some effort to organize the veteran shooting competition in Warsaw. The date has been already fixed for 7th September. Program is under construction. The unexpected problems appeared. We feel as we landed on another world. Our shooting club still exists, but recently (after we gained freedom in Poland) more and more peoples like to have or to apply guns. Most (700) of members of our shooting club are funs of shooting pistol, the bigger caliber the better. 10m ranges and equipment are not popular. The UIT rules are not common. Results are not taken into consideration. We have democracy in our club and it is difficult job to rework mentality of majority. „Another shooting" as we apply makes some fears for observers. The very first decision „to take or not to take" the gun after 15 - 30 year long pause most of us have already passed successfully. Now the most important problem is - as usual - money. To make training serious - one plan to spend 16 hours weekly at the first period - not necessary shooting, rather making preparation. The usual bill we receive for using shooting range is very high since the prices are oriented for most of our shooters spending usually 20 minutes weekly on the range making 20 shots to a single target not necessary made of paper. Though some of us have decided to reduce preparation period to one month. But, we will do it! -- Wiktor http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Field/8181 ****************************************************************** In regards to barrel length, a friend of mine asked a well known gunsmith about cutting a barrel short and adding a bloop tube. Were there any significant advantage in going that route? His reply was "If cutting a barrel down is so great, wouldn't everybody be doing that? Stick with a full length barrel." It doesn't make much sense if the reason for cutting the barrel down is to get the bullet out faster so it has less chance of barrel movement affecting the flight of the bullet. We are taking fractions of a second. Cutting a barrel down for weight and balance or maybe even barrel harmonics makes more sense. My opinion. Alan Tokumura [Editor - I would say fractions of a second COULD make a big difference at 50M when measuring tenths of a point.] ****************************************************************** Dear Michael, I have just created a homepage that is dedicated to 10 meter ISU air pistol competition exclusively. The Air Pistol Home Page is for shooters of all ages and abilities, and I hope that it will help shooters with information that they cannot find elsewhere. If you would add a link to this on your page I would be most appreciative. The url is: http://www.midcoast.com/~junebug/aphp/aphphome.htm Thank you for your help, and keep up the good work with the mailing list and home page. 10.9s to you, Patrick Rowling junebug@midcoast.com [Editor - I will add the link soon.] ****************************************************************** Dear Michael Pellets nominal diameters I have seen some shooters here in my country, giving too much importance i think on the nominal diameter of match pellets for UIT air rifle. They think that your performances will be affected by shot with a "wrong" set of 4.48, 4.49 or 4.50mm thins of pellets. Our average scores in Brazil is between 570-580 for the national team, so with this standards Can the "wrong" diameter of the pellets really afect the results? When level of results really become affected by the correct choice of pellets? Thanks and sorry for bad english! Fabio Coelho fjc@mandic.com.br [Editor - I say every little bit helps. I would think that you should be able to notice a difference at that level. Just like bullets in a smallbore, pellets need to be matched to a rifle also. I have seen test groups of all 4 sizes of R-10 and Finale Match pellets, with widely varying results in some guns and very similar results in others. Thus, you should benchtest your guns and see which ones perform best for you. Elevation also plays a big role unless you are using a compressed air rifle. What shoots good at sea level may not perform well at all at 6,000 feet.] ****************************************************************** Hi, Michael! I hope you had a good 4th of July. I have a few comments on Issue #34: Re: IPSC musings, etc., I have heard similar comments directed at smallbore position shooters from hi-power shooters, and at smallbore prone shooters from position shooters. The complaint is, essentially, that one particular discipline is too specialized, the competitors too serious, and that this particular event is not any fun. It seems to me that this is a matter of preference: Not every shooter likes every discipline. This does not make one event better or worse than another, only different. We do well to remember that the essence of any shooting sport is to fire the perfect shot. The details of this change with each event, but in the end the shooter is competing against the target and himself. As for making judgements about the psychological health of individuals based on the events they favor, well, I'll just leave that for others. Re: Calling the shot. Maybe it is just a matter of definition, but it seems to me that calling the shot is a constantly developing skill that even the best shooters use. Not every shot is a 10.9, in fact, some are not even 10s. When the shot is not perfect, don't all shooters pause to evaluate? A novice might be most concerned with sight alignment and follow-through. As kinesthetic awareness developes and a shooter perfects his positions, calling the shot might refer to sensing the tension in a muscle group. At the highest levels it might refer to a completely mental activity. My point is this: Calling the shot is the ability to predict the point of impact based on the shooter's awareness/impressions at the time the shot breaks. Reviewing and evaluating this information is essential to mastering precision shooting. It only becomes a detriment to success if the shooter's focus remains on "what went wrong" to the exclusion of the necessary steps required to fire a perfect shot. In my opinion only, of course! [Editor - The reason Chet says you shouldn't call the shot is that mentally every shot is a 10.9. If you call the shot, you now have an image of a non-perfect bullseye even if you don't look through the scope.] Re: Sling tension in prone. My experience is that sling tension is inextricably woven into the totality of the position and can only be changed within narrow limits without changing the rest of the position. If you have a good position that works for _you_ the sling tension is probably about right. It might be a good idea to evaluate your position and scores based on your indoor performance first, as this may eliminate any variation caused by wind, light, ammo, etc., before progressing to 50m or 100 yd scores. Also, if you have access to a telescopic sight you may want to work with that a bit to visualize the degree of movement inherent in your position. Regarding pain and bruising, it seems to me that while some discomfort is unavoidable, if the position is frankly painful or causes prolonged numbness after firing, then something is wrong. I have noticed that I will have marks (very much like "stretch marks") on both my sling arm and shoulder beneath the buttstock, as well as petechiae distal to the sling, following a match. But the position is fairly comfortable, and the marking is probably due to the peculiar nature of my platelets rather than the tightness of my position. Great newsletter, Michael! Good luck. Tom ****************************************************************** Shooting Athlete: This is an update on the standing position. While much of the information was examined some time ago, slight differences can be noted from what I place into the book. As the difference is small, I wish to correct it and give all of you the chance for consideration and change or not... The standing position is adjusted in the following manner. The feet pointing 90 degrees to the right or left(left or right handed) of the target line from target to firing point. Rifle positioned across the chest without the trigger hand touching the chest or any other part of the body structure for assistance in the hold position. For left handed shooter using a right handed rifle, this is a problem as the bolt handle will become a problem or obstruction for the athlete in achieving the correct standing position. The spine is not excessively twisted as in the older position setup but compressed by the exhausting of the lungs only. A small turning of the upper body will or may occur in position but is OK as long as it does not over stress the bottom of the spine/pelvis and associated muscle groups. Recap: Feet 90 degrees to the line from the target to the firing point. Rifle firing across the chest with out the trigger hand touching any part of the body during the position firing sequences. The spine slighly twisted and compressed by the exhausting of the lungs only. Head straight up and down so balance is locked. Head may be moved forward as long as the head is not canted to either side and excessive stress is not generated by such a positioning of the head. The head pushed forward in some cases has improved by firming the standing position for the athlete. Of course as is the case in all positions the adjustments by the athlete will be that which is needed for the position to accommodate the athletes body build and physical structure. Questions....? Chet Skinner Coach meecin@tnproweb.com ****************************************************************** End of UIT Mailing List #35 Michael Ray - Systems Engineer Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech. Rifle Coach UIT Shooting Page - http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/1190/index.htm