Canadian Airgun Forum

Oh yeah - I get a lot of questions about why all the bear? For those of you who haven't tried it, bear makes about the best stew, chile and sausage there is. And bear liver is the best of all! It's actually my game meat of choice (along with rabbit.) And their lard, rendered down, makes pastry that is beyond belief. The best!

I usually take a small, stupid 2 year old bear that weights in the neighbourhood of 150 pounds. But they've come as large as 7'4" and 480 pounds. Not bad for this neck of the woods. It ate well, too, but for 3 years! I stuck with the "burger bears" after that one!

But you all know I'm just saying this because my scores suck.

I have recently discovered something about target shooting which I should have known but somehow thought I was exempt.

You have to keep in practice or your skills will deteriorate. I know mine have and I don't think it is age either. From a rest I can shoot as well as ever but off hand is a different story.

I have never been into formal paper target shooting but was once the best shot in my gun club. I never shot against real pros but I could always beat everyone I knew with one exception. I could never beat Daddy. He was an exceptional shot but I think it was partly psychological. It really irked me sometimes.

BTW, I read about your problem with shots going to a different point of impact when shooting off hand as opposed to a rest. I have thought about it and can't offer any help. If we were talking about heavy recoiling guns I would have an opinion but with air pistols I have no idea what is happening.

I have never tried bear meat but have had a lot of other wild game. One thing I recall is mule deer from Kansas tasted almost like beef. Whitetails in Florida have a much more game flavor. Florida wild turkey is just plain good.

That site is full of great animations and info!

Interesting site! Thanks, cisco!

Problem is, Yardo, that when I shoot with TWO hands, the shot goes where it is aimed. I am definitely twisting my left hand and I'll have to work on it to eliminate the problem. ie the gun shoots accurately, the placement is MY problem.

OK here are a few more ideas:

#1 Dry fire for a SMOOTH trigger pull.
A very old trick is to put a coin on the front sight, and pull the trigger. If you have a GOOD SMOOTH pull, the coin will not fall off the front sight. The idea here is the less you affect the sight picture with your trigger pull, the less your shot will be affected by your trigger pull.
This depends on the pistol and if you can dry fire it so just the hammer falls, and if the front sight has a level top to put the coin on. If you cannot dry fire, you can simulate it by not charging the AP and just working the trigger. The trigger may not have the same feel as when it is cocked, but it is the best you can do.

#2 Cut out the coffee or strong tea, caffine does not do your hold any good.
#3 Excercise your arm using a can of soup for a weight to strengthen the muscles that hold up the arm.
#4 Make sure that the shoe you are wearing has a FLAT bottom. I have some shoes where the heel is worn from walking and I can easily rock backwards if I shift my weight to the back of my foot. You want your feet as steady and solidly planted to the floor as you can.

#5 Make sure that you are FOCUSING on the front sight. I had to change glasses, cuz my normal glasses made it very hard to focus on the front sight, so my eyes were focusing on the target.
#6 Make sure that your sight picture is consistent from shot to shot. Lighting of the target (strength and direction) can affect how easily you can see the sight picture.

#7 Separate the target picture from the trigger squeeze.
7a Get a target picture
7b Start pulling the trigger.
7c HOLD the target picture as you pull the trigger.
7d Hold the sight picture for a second or two after the hammer falls. This is follow through.
The logic here is you want to hold an area, not for a precise 10 because it is IMPOSSIBLE to hold ROCK STEADY. The more you shoot the pattern should look like a shotgun pattern, with the hits somewhat evenly spread in the area, sometimes a 7 sometimes an 8, sometimes a 9, sometimes a 10.
If you jerk the trigger when you have a perfect sight picture, by the time the pellet leaves the barrel, the sight will have drifted off the perfect 10.

#8 When you settle down to shoot, get the shot off within 6 seconds. There is a point where you will have the least amount of wobble, and that is inside of 6 seconds. Longer than that and your wobble gets worse and worse and worse.
#9 If at any time you feel the wobble in your hold getting worse put the gun down.
> The mental decision to put the gun down is is a lot harder to do than people realize.

#10 Try experimenting by shooting at different times of the day. I used to think I was better in the evening, but after recording my practice scores, I found that I shoot better in the morning. I am NOT a morning person, but I shoot better in the morning.