Help with Fundamentals

[Dr.J]

Good Afternoon - I shot in my first .22 rimfire Steel Challenge competition this past Saturday and have questions regarding establishing sound fundamental skills necessary to be competitive. For the time being, I will be shooting a 6-shot S&W 617. I've been told the 6 shot capacity is a limitation, but this is the gun I have and will force me to focus on a combination of accuracy and speed. My questions are:

1) Are there books or videos that focus on shooting a revolver in competition, e.g., proper grip, trigger pull, etc.?

2) Which books or videos do the best job of explaining the basics, e.g., when starting do you focus on the sights and raise the gun to the target or focus on the target and raise the gun to the target? When transitioning from plate to plate, do you move the eyes to the target then the gun or focus on keeping the sights aligned and move the gun to the target? Like I said real basic, but important skills that apply to all the games Steel Challenge, IDPA, USPA, etc.

3) When they become available, I'd like to purchase a S&W 929. Would it make sense for me to shoot Steel Challenge drawing my 617 from a holster to practice the basic skills?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Dr.J

[ZackJones]

Shooting steel challenge with a revolver is a lot of fun. Having only one extra shot makes you really concentrate on your accuracy. I've shot matches with my Model 10 and 625, both of which are 6-shot revolvers. I'll take a stab at your questions:

1 - Jerry Miculek has some videos on shooting revolvers as well as doing trigger jobs, etc. YouTube is the first place I would start though. Just look for videos of other folks shooting revolvers in steel challenge to get some ideas how they do it.

2 - There's lots of good information here on Enos regarding obtaining sight pictures, etc but basically I focus on target and bring pistol into alignment. When indexing between targets I look first and then follow with pistol. Assuming you have access to a range where you could set up stages setup some of the steel challenge stages using paper plates as targets and try different methods of indexing between targets to see which method feels more natural to you.

3 - I don't think you'd be permitted to draw with the 617 in competition because the start position for rimfire pistols is spelled out in the rule book. You can certainly practice drawing from a holster at home though.

[Andreas]

2) Which books or videos do the best job of explaining the basics, e.g., when starting do you focus on the sights and raise the gun to the target or focus on the target and raise the gun to the target? When transitioning from plate to plate, do you move the eyes to the target then the gun or focus on keeping the sights aligned and move the gun to the target? Like I said real basic, but important skills that apply to all the games Steel Challenge, IDPA, USPA, etc.

For a beginner: Look at the target, then bring up your pistol into your line of sight, pull your focus back to the front sight, line up the sights, and crank back on the trigger. Then move your eye to the next target and repeat the process until done.

You need to be able to do this before you move beyond it. A big part of the skill development process is learning what you need to see to make each hit, which is generally much less than a textbook sight picture. On the first four targets of Smoke & Hope, my focus never leaves the targets and I'm only dimly aware of my my sights. I can't reliably shoot the stop plate with target focus, but others can.

I'd suggest starting with Ben Stoeger's dry-fire book Champion Shooting: Guaranteed Results in 15 Minutes a Day.

Steel Challenge will put you in a good position to shoot USPSA classifiers, but you'll get destroyed running field courses.

[RammerJammer]

For fundamentals:

Ben Stoeger "Practical Pistol: Fundamental Techniques and Competition Skills" available in his pro shop and Matt Burketts first video available here in the shop. Both cover everything from grip to shooting on the move.

[Dr.J]

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. Dr.J

[benos]

Some fundamental info here.