Are you having any fun?

First topic message reminder :

I've been at this for a few years.. told myself that if I didn't make Sharpshooter last year that I would hang it up.

Didn't do either, but it's occasionally occurred to me that the weekly matches feel more like an obligation than something I can't wait to do.

Two weeks ago my dot was loose, so I took the mount apart, reassembled with Loctite, went to the range, set up a target at 25 yds and shot a group you could have covered with a Quarter.

Then at last week's match I could barely keep it on the paper.

Don't know if it's anxiety or what the heck is going on. 

I guess my question is, what do you do to keep your interest up in this sport, and are you actually having any fun?

Thanks

Fun is when non-shooting friends ask how I got the weird callouses across the palm of my hand, and I tell them it's from shooting my 45 caliber pistol at 50 yards with one hand.  The look on their faces is priceless - even if they think I'm insane.  

I stopped shooting for about 8 months because I wasn't having fun.  Not even practice with a friend was fun. Scores weren't moving despite my desire.  In fact they seemed to be getting worse.  I was flailing.  So despite having plenty of time I let other interests take over.

About a month ago I got the itch and decided to just go shoot for fun.  Scores weren't any better but some things about how to shoot well had gelled in my brain.  And told myself "Dude, it's not that complicated.  Grip. Align. Front sight. Smooth consistent trigger pull without disturbing the sights.  Let the aligned sights wander where they will as you squeeze and wait."  Took each one and worked it separately for a fee sessions.  Ignored the target results, just execute. Just do the specific part. Grip and grip pressure only.  Eyes closes or open.  Same pressure, no change.  Check, done.

In a matter if a few weeks I'm shooting noticeably better.  Better as in as good or better than ever.  Like a quantum leap in understanding occurred. Shooting well became almost effortless. 

Maybe a true break, like a good night's sleep, will allow your brain to reorganize and experience things differently?

Yield and overcome as Ed Masaki used to say

Just my 2 cents worth....I don't shoot bullseye, my wife does, but, I compete in a couple different shooting sports.  I have always been ultra competitive and, as many here knows, that can take the fun out of things when you are struggling.  To start having fun again, I decided to remain being ultra competitive....with only myself.  I actually started shooting better and became very competitive against others too.  

I stopped caring about how anyone else was shooting, I stopped looking at scores between matches, and, I stopped focusing on competition related chit chat between matches.  Instead, my chit chat was focused primarily on non shooting related topics.  When I wasn't on the shooting line, I would relax and think, not so much what I did wrong but instead, what I did right.  I would visualize the next match and think about how to do the RIGHT thing every time.

I think that, when I was concentrating so much on competing with the other shooters, I lost sight on the fact that, I can't control what they are doing, I can only control what I'm doing and worrying about them was a distraction that was affecting my scores.

In reality, all I can do is make the next shot as perfectly as possible and, at the end of it all, see how I did against myself.  I have shot some very low scores that I was ecstatic about and I have shot some outstanding scores...even winning scores, that I was unhappy with.  I think you just need to concentrate on beating yourself and that could bring some of the fun back into it.  Then you can get to know the people you shoot with as friends instead of "that b$&tard that beats me every time".

Cave…you have a good book to read.

Shooting well is easy, shooting poorly is hard work.

From Feeling Center

bruce martindale wrote:Cave…you have a good book to read.

Shooting well is easy, shooting poorly is hard work.

From Feeling Center

She has read it a couple times now and really liked it.  Once you have the basics down, the rest is all in your head.

I have always wanted to feel the best/perfect shot in my hand and body.  And see it in the sights.  One shot at a time.  All this at the gun.  Thats the enjoyment I always have gotten out of this game

I decided that since I'm not having any fun, that I would treat it as a serious endeavor.

Don't wanna jinx myself, but it seems to be working. Our Winter league has a long way to go, so I'll check back and tell you how it went.

I'm also about halfway down the Pardini rabbit hole right now...

Shooting isn't fun. All you're doing is lining up the sights and pulling the trigger. My brain gets the same level of "fun" from dry firing as pulling the trigger on a hot range. That's not to say that it isn't enjoyable, but it's not really "fun." Sometimes challenge shots can be fun, tracking my improvement can be fun, novelty guns with stupid recoil can be fun, interactive targets can be fun, but shooting, which is the act of lining up the sights and pulling the trigger, is not fun. 
I will say that the main source of fun for me comes from interacting with other people. Whether that's seeing how others came out in the match or just BSing/socializing with them. Now I can get that from any type of match, but Bullseye seems to have a fair share of like-minded individuals with the same sort of brain wiring so I find it more enjoyable. 
tl:dr life is suffering, we dont pay you to have fun in fact we don't pay you at all, just line up the sights and punch x's

As we get older... maybe just being there IS a major part of the sport. 

Whether any of them are 'friends' or not.

'Comrades' maybe ... or at least...

Totally off topic ... other than psychological...

I'm living in a 'fly in' community. My Dad flew for years, Piper Cherokee, then a Beech Bonanza, E-33. First year they dropped the 'Debonair' name ...

I hear them taking off across the street and run to the door to see if my guess is correct ... the 2 blade Bonanza having a distinctive sound. .. the tips of of the blades being supersonic ...

Neighbor across the street ... airport manager ...  'You know your airplanes' ...

Also THE first time in my life I've seen an Ercoupe fly... and I'd been to the Reno air races a number of times... never mind far more at Watsonville, and a few at Eagle Field in Dos Palos... Firebaugh actually.

Friend's Dad had been a Primary Instructor during the war.  And hiked out on the Hetch-Hetchy pipeline where it popped up from 'underground' in the middle of the bay ... 'Geographical' ... mud... sediment ... solid rock... Had to listen to his stories  ... over and over ... but each time there was a new 'tid-bit' of info ... Amelia Earheart ... he waved a flag for her turnaround 'trans-continental' flight... His Mom ferried planes, trainers, during the war ...