I was shooting bullseye pretty diligently for awhile. Pardini 22LR, Ultradot. Worked out issues with eyesight, even brought my pistol into the optometrist so she could get the astigmatism correction just right - otherwise the “dot” looks like a “comma”. Started to make progress on stance, breath, grip, sight, hold, release, and the internal mind game.
Was going to get really into it, got a Caspian 1911 built by a known bullseye smith, and a S&W Combat Masterpiece and had my local smith fit an Ultradot, ergo grips, and work the DA trigger. Joined a local pistol club that specializes in bullseye. Gave up coffee. On a good string on a good day I could score 90. Too often in the 70s.
Then I spent April - Sept stripping a century of (lead) paint off the siding of my house and sanding, patching, sanding . . . no time for shooting and my shoulders, arms, and fingers were getting beat, numb, and trembling from the work and power tools. Holding a Paintshaver and then belt and orbital sanders at and above head height for hours, twenty feet up on a ladder, it was challenging. Spent the next couple months rehabilitating my right shoulder.
And then it was ski season.
I’m going back to the range this summer but I think I’m going to spend more time at the larger outdoor range, maybe learning IDPA, maybe learning shotgun clays.
Bullseye is ridiculously hard. From one side of the 10 ring to the other side is about 1/10th of 1 degree of angle. You need to get most of your shots in 10, or at least 9, to be some version of “good” at bullseye. I’m a good pistol shot. But by bullseye standards, I suck; on rare good days, I can half-suck for a string then revert to full-suck for the rest of the session. I decided I’m too old and too mentally soft to feel bad about myself most of the time.
I still drop by the bullseye range occasionally and shoot the regulation bullseye targets, but I don’t score, don’t care. Sometimes I get to where I know when releasing the shot, before scoping the target, that the shot went high-left or low-center or whatever, and that’s fun. I rarely any more get the sensation of the 10 ring pulling your shot into it, like Luke and The Force, and that’s too bad.
Was going to get really into it, got a Caspian 1911 built by a known bullseye smith, and a S&W Combat Masterpiece and had my local smith fit an Ultradot, ergo grips, and work the DA trigger. Joined a local pistol club that specializes in bullseye. Gave up coffee. On a good string on a good day I could score 90. Too often in the 70s.
Then I spent April - Sept stripping a century of (lead) paint off the siding of my house and sanding, patching, sanding . . . no time for shooting and my shoulders, arms, and fingers were getting beat, numb, and trembling from the work and power tools. Holding a Paintshaver and then belt and orbital sanders at and above head height for hours, twenty feet up on a ladder, it was challenging. Spent the next couple months rehabilitating my right shoulder.
And then it was ski season.
I’m going back to the range this summer but I think I’m going to spend more time at the larger outdoor range, maybe learning IDPA, maybe learning shotgun clays.
Bullseye is ridiculously hard. From one side of the 10 ring to the other side is about 1/10th of 1 degree of angle. You need to get most of your shots in 10, or at least 9, to be some version of “good” at bullseye. I’m a good pistol shot. But by bullseye standards, I suck; on rare good days, I can half-suck for a string then revert to full-suck for the rest of the session. I decided I’m too old and too mentally soft to feel bad about myself most of the time.
I still drop by the bullseye range occasionally and shoot the regulation bullseye targets, but I don’t score, don’t care. Sometimes I get to where I know when releasing the shot, before scoping the target, that the shot went high-left or low-center or whatever, and that’s fun. I rarely any more get the sensation of the 10 ring pulling your shot into it, like Luke and The Force, and that’s too bad.
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