Poor Day at the Range

[pirk56]

Hey yall, went out to lubbock's indoor range this afternoon, didnt shoot all that good, i was real nervours for some reason im not sure why, i was sweatin like a pig, trying to do every thing correct. Its like a place you see in movies, (lethal Weapon) im not use to that, im use to middle of the woods with good buddy shooting. I had problems at the begining with the bullet not being seated in the fire position, it was my fault, i wasnt pulling the slide back and releaseing all the way, also my grip wasnt tight enough. It was my second time to shoot this gun, first time didnt have ne problems, but agian i wasnt nervous, at a deer lease, relaxed. The manger of the range was nervous bout me i think, he asked me if ide ever shot a pistol before, ive shot pistols, but most were revolvers, owell i lived and learned, only shot 50 rounds, heres a pic of one of the target, if ne one has ne tips or hints please feel free to post them, i dont come from a gun /hunting family, everything ive learned i either picked up from watching other people, or my uncle has tougt me, thanks Pirk

[nbender]

Hey Pirk, depending on your distance to target that doesn't look all bad to me.

A bad day at the range is still better than ....

[stibnite]

Indoor ranges can be intimidating. Sometimes I don't feel too comfortable in the one I go to, especially if there's lots of people shooting.

It's easy to imagine that the range manager is watching you, just waiting to bust you down for the smallest infraction; and that everyone is looking at you wondering what the heck you are doing (probably no one is - in fact they're wondering what YOU think of THEM).

The fact is, the range is a place that people go to try out new/repaired pistols, new ammo, different ways of gripping a weapon, etc. so things don't always go smoothly. As long as your number one priority is safety, I wouldn't worry about it. It's nobody else's business.

Always go in with a plan and be organized. You'll gain confidence and be more comfortable.

[dolang1]

Pirk, I agree with what nbender and stibnite said. Just have fun. Hell, I've taken targets back to the desk that didn't have any holes in 'em. Later Don

[p64]

Here are a few tips:

#1 - Be Safe
#2- Have Fun

The rest of the tips aren't as important as # 1 and 2 at this point.

#3 - Keep a high grip (a bit difficult with a P-64)

#4 - Keep a tight grip with wrists locked, actually try pushing forward a bit with the firing hand while pulling back with the support hand.

#5 - Try practicing your breathing so that to momentarily hold your breath just as you fire is natural.

#6 - You're probably anticipating the recoil a little bit, normally I recommend a few randomly inserted snap caps to correct this but don't know of any in 9x18.

#7- If firing single action, try placing just the pad of your shooting finger on the trigger and pull to the rear and completely through the triggers range of motion.

#8 - and this will help alot - Place a dime on top of your gun and practice dry firing, aim at a target with no ammo and practice keeping the sights (especially front sight) on target as you pull the trigger and practice till the dime don't fall off. This will help alot with trigger control.

BTW- The Big 3 things are #1, #2 and #8, besides, for someone who doesn't shoot alot the target doesn't look too bad.

Hope this helps.


Have fun,
George

[pirk56]

Thanks guys, i appreciate it, i no i was jerking, nice guy next to me told me i was, ive learned to inhale, fire, then exhale, done alot of rifle shooting, and hunting, i was about 10 feet from the target, i did feel everyone was watching me, it will be a while before i go back, due to lack of ammo, i bought 2 boxes of wolf 9x18, shipping and all was lil over 20 bucks, it was the best deal i could find on the net, i need to get a lil 22 and take that to the range and learn to hangle a pistol and become more comfortable with it, using one of them, i can use alot of rounds and not break my bank, it also sucks becasue i wear glasses, and the safty glasses made my glasses fog up, so i was fightin with that the hole time to, but again thanks, yall made feel like today wasnt such a bad day there, oh also, i started off useing silver bear 95 gr, and the wolves were 100 gr, i could tell a big difference in recoil, i was supprised about that, Pirk

[p64]

Yeah, ammo isn't cheap.
I just put 1200 rounds through a new gun in 2 weeks, I wanted to test it for reliability and function. Thank God it was 9mm luger the cheapest ammo you can get besides .22.
Take your time at this stage of the game and concentrate on accuracy, it'll help conserve ammo till you're ready for rapid fire

[papabear]

Pirk56,

Don't give up, keep going, keep shooting, it' like learning to ride a bicycle, the longer you ride the better you get, these are great shooting little pistols, all mine shoot POA at 7 yards. This is just a suggestion, but some ranges have rental guns, maybe try a .22 to get use to shooting, .22's are a lot cheaper, and they don't have much recoil, you may also be experiencing some perceived recoil, just try to relax, hold the pistol firm in a comfortable stance and squeeze off a round, keep repeating that till you get comfortable, in other words take all this in steps. I was on a .45 pistol team for years, back in the 60's and 70's, I had an instructor once that told me to get as good as I could with what I had and then improve the gun I was shooting, ie., new trigger, then get as good as I could with it, and then improve it again, and to keep repeating that till I got as good as I could and then get a better pistol and start all over again. Within 2 years was I was the next to best guy on our team, my instructor taught me all I knew, but I don't think he taught me all he knew, I will always grateful for him for helping me.

Papabear

[nbender]

Maybe ammo will be cheaper on September 18 - that's the date of the sale at Makarov.com.

[vinnie]

Try here. Good prices and the checkout gives you shipping costs. They ship cheap.