Bullseye

The Newport (Rhode Island) Rifle Club has “Rapid Fire” and “Fun Shoot” events on Monday and Wednesday evenings at their indoor 50’ range. These events are Bob King’s doings and, largely if not completely because of his enthusiasm and twice-a-week support, they are quite a success.

Step 1: Check the local laws for where you are going and make sure you are 100% in compliance.

First things first.

I called the City of Phoenix Police Department and asked if it was OK to shoot air pistols within the city limits.

I’m cheap.

The less I spend on other things, the more I have for bullets. And as any Bullseye shooter will tell you, to get good, you have to push a lot of lead downrange and, as most of you know, lead is not cheap anymore. Gone are the days of three or four cent heads. Today, you’re probably looking at eight to nine cents for a 200 grain LSWC, and if you buy in 5000 unit quantities, that’s not small change.

From those of us who have …

Steve Reiter, national champion Bullseye shooter many times over, is a stack of rocks.

Shiney brass makes for more Xs.

It works like this. A shiney piece of brass will press a smoother surface onto the sides of the bullet. When such a bullet is then fired, it becomes subject to external forces and one of those is the impact of photons being reflected from the target face.

Shooters learn Bullseye much the same way they do any other sport. They study, they experiment, they practice, they talk to others, they get coaching directly and indirectly. They commit things first to memory and then to body actions and, if everything goes well, they become as proficient at the sport as their abilities permit.

Brian Zins has won the US national bullseye (Conventional Pistol) competition at Camp Perry Ohio more times than most of us have shot Xs in a single target. Understandably, when Brian speaks, bullseye shooters listen.

It’s working.

Six weeks ago I removed the red dots from all my guns because, with the dot, I found the urge to snatch a shot as the dot approached the “X” to be irresistable. Invariably, I would jerk the shot elsewhere on the target. No amount of self-talk was able to sway me into an ignore-the-target smooth trigger pull.