Help me be a Crack shot

Thanks for all the great advice.

It is nice to hear as well that I don't need to burn up 200 rounds every time I go to the range, wife will be happy to hear that too :D
 
I take exception to the notion that taking a class constitutes "cutting corners." Take a class and learn to do it right... THEN practice, practice, practice what you've learned more than the average bloke.

MDA shooter,

what I meant by that, is that in a club you will get instructions, too, but usually in smaller doses and at a slower pace. I learnt shooting a handgun in a club after having served in the military. Taking a short cut would reeally have been the correct term, I agree with you.

The problem that I see with instructors is that there are quite a few out there that are not qualified, either missing knowledge of pistolcraft or not being talented to teach. Clubs often have an experienced instructor that doesn't just teach for the money but wants to get his students into competition.

Also, shooting for ultimate accuracy and for speed are distinctly different.

Good sites to assist in improving skills are the Brian Enos site and Target talk.
 
Bullseye first

I started shooting handguns when I was very young, Air Guns, Webly & Scott, in England. These break open barrel Air Guns were single shot, and very simple.

I had no one to show me anything, it took a long time of trial and error to learn the skill required, my first .22 pistol was a Spanish Star, with the worlds worst trigger, like pressing one packed in sand.

But in the end, constant use wore some of the roughness off of that trigger, and I learned to break the shot.

There has been some good advice given here, by some very knowledgeable people, soak it up. In been given instruction by a good shot, is sometime not from a good teacher, if you find one who is both, you have a gem.

You will hear from many "It is all trigger control" whilst this is not exactly true, it is close.

The bullseye discipline I learned most from, in Canada, was known as ISU, .22 and Center Fire, Slow/Timed/and rapid fire.

When you master, or get close to it, in for instance, Center Fire, Slow fire, in watching the front sight, and exerting pressure on the trigger, the gun fires on it's own! It just goes off.

Moving in to combat style competition from Bullseye is so much easier when you can shoot not so bad, mastering the fundamentals has already been said, it then takes you in to IPSC,USPSA and IDPA, shooting from the holster!

Good luck in your journey through your shooting skills, it has given me great pleasure in my all most 75 years, 27th of this month, and I still do well (12th out of 61 in an IDPA match, last month!) if you are going to carry a defensive pistol under your shirt/jacket, knowing how to hit things with it is not a bad thing.
 
purpose

Go to www.uspsa.org

Use the club finder function.

Go visit your nearest club.

Decide if what you see makes any sense.
If it does, join, ask, watch, learn, compete. You will get better.
Absolutely.
 
Taking a class is one way to cut corners but to be really good, you will have to practice more than average to elevate you above the average shooter.

I've taken a number of classes. Nary a one was taken so I could cut corners--in fact just the opposite. With good instruction you actually learn how to practice so you don't cut corners.
 
So I want to be down right surgical with a pistol.
You either have it or you don't.

Practice - done right - will get you close, but, "surgical precision" is something you let happen, you don't go out looking for ways to make it happen.
 
I've taken a number of classes. Nary a one was taken so I could cut corners--in fact just the opposite. With good instruction you actually learn how to practice so you don't cut corners.

Well, maybe you got so upset with my remark, that you did not read my correction to the statement. I meant short-cut, it was badly worded, as I have to admit.

Even I make mistakes...
 
Wow Pax, what a great write up! That's why I love this forum. Geeze should have read that a couple years ago. Now I'm gonna need 4000 rounds. :eek: Does make me think about taking a formal class though, might get that score up over 550.

g.willikers has a good tip too. It's slightly off topic so I won't waist time but I want to add if you practice with an air pistol, BB's are no good any more. Pitifully inaccurate (bad manufacturing on most brands makes them fly like a curve ball). You'll need to use pellets in a rifled barrel. Beretta actually has a pellet clone of the 92FS (see, tied it back in ;-) ), it's great for practice at home.
 
Dry fire, Dry fire, Dry fire, Dry fire. Learning how to properly work the trigger is a huge part of it imo. I do dry fire drills all of the time at home using snap caps.
 
I think you should aspire to be an aspirin shot. Those things are tiny!

Aspirin? Psshaw! I worked with a guy that could cut playing cards in half with a .22 at 25 yards. Lost $5 on the bet too, but in hindsight it was cheap for the experience. He set up 4 cards paced off 25 steps and cut 3 of them in half in a row. Missed the 4th because "someone" was disturbing him... Yeah, I was gob-smacked as they say.

If you want to shoot expertly, you have to invest in continuous quality instruction, a quality gun and a lot of uniform ammo. Not that I've followed my own advice :o But then again, I don't have the eyes or the steady hands or the iron will to get to the level of an expert. Reality bites.
 
Well, maybe you got so upset with my remark, that you did not read my correction to the statement. I meant short-cut, it was badly worded, as I have to admit.

Even I make mistakes...

LOL, even you, huh. Who woulda' thunk? LOL,:D

Hey I wasn't upset. Just took a sip of Red Bull and thought I'd clarify.:)
 
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