Some range success

Got some quality range time with my S&W 22A yesterday. My best was an 85 (4-10's, 1-9, 2-8's, 2-7's, & 1-6) on slow fire, which is darn good for me!

Things I learned...

- Zero-ing is important! I know... this comes from the galactically obvious file. The range has a public bench rest - just a simple homemade rest (no clamp) with sandbags. So I propped it up and made a 5-shot group. Yep... low & to the left, so I dialed it in pretty well.

- Grip & arm position: I've been reading the Army Marksmanship Unit pistol manual. Boy! I think I could read that 5 times, and still learn something new each time. I worked the grip as instructed, using as much force as possible, and I could see my wobble zone tighten up. As for arm position, I don't think I was locking my elbow before. Now, before the shot, I rest the pistol on the barrier in front of me and make sure the elbow is completely locked before I raise the gun. This, in conjunction with my new grip discipline, significantly improved my overall shooting.

- Calling my shot: This was one of the more intriguing tips I got from the AMU manual. After every shot, I mentally figured out what happened and why. Then, I looked through my spotting scope to confirm/deny my call of where the shot went. This was a great way for me to actually learn what my body was doing and why I was screwing up my shots. I'm definitely doing this from now on.

Things I still need to learn....

- Breath control: Following the AMU manual, I take a deeper breath, and exhale as I raise the pistol. That technique helps, but it feels a bit unnatural. I think I need to work on it.

- Trigger control: This, I think, is the leading contributor to my inaccuracy. Either I press too lightly, causing my shot to take to long, or too strong, causing the gun to jerk. I just need to find the balance.

- Grip strength: I try to visualize myself crushing the grip, but not to the point of trembling. This helps, but now I wonder if my grip is just naturally weak. For my occupation, I design microchips, which doesn't really lead to hands-of-steel. Anyone use those cool grip trainers on bullseyegear.com? Any other tips?

- Eyeball control: For this, there's nothing in the AMU manual that I found. So, slowing and control-ably looking down the barrel at the target, I get the occasional reflex blink (not from firing , just looking) which throws me off a bit. Part of it is from the range's exhaust vent blowing. Part is just from eye fatigue (I think). Regardless, it's kind of messing me up, especially later in my range session. Anyone ever had this or know what to do?

- Timed & rapid fire: I'm going to get a timer (actually, someone made an Android app!), and try it out. I thin I will have a ton more to learn after I try that!

.... Time to get back to the range!

Are you useing open sights or a dot ? If you are useing open sights you want all of your focus to be on the front sight ...let the target blurr...dont let your eyes go back and forth from the front sight to the target focus wise....This is harder to do than you would think but needs to be learned to be able to maintain proper sight alignment. If you are getting eye strain ....wear your glasses if you wear them and what I find that helps is a merit optical attachment and a blinder over your non-shooting eye ..shoot with both eyes open ( reason for the blinder).....Grip....you dont really want to grab it very hard but rather firmly so the gun doenst move around during recoil...Try some grip tape it helps alot.....keith.

Are merit optical attachments allowed for the service pistol matches?