American Handgunner Jul/Aug 1981 - Jeffersonian

.22 SILHOUEnES
THE
.22 PISTOL
A word on shooting
techniques 6 how to tune your
production .22 for IHMSA
competition
By Bert Stringfellow
In the last issue we introduced many ofour
readers to rimfire silhouette shooting. In
Part II the author gives some tips on shoot- .
ing and tuning some ofthe morepopular .22
handguns.
SHOOTING TECHNIQUES
A match is won or lost before the
shooter arrives at the match. That is to say,
proper preparation will provide a competitor
the experience, expertise and confidence
in himself and his equipment which
will put him in a position to win his match.
The competitor should always sight in
his match pistols on paper targets so that
he may evaluate his pistol-ammo performance.
He should test many different manufacturer's
ammo and use only the cartridges
which group well at 100 yards
(Ram distance) for competition and
practice. .
When sighting-in a revolver, the shooter
should fire separate groups from each
chamber in the cylinder to determine if
one chamber groups better than the others.
Ifone chamber does group better than the
rest, use only that chamber for competition.
Always carry a notebook to record sight
settings and ammo performance. Shoot
your pistols under different light and temperature
conditions and record type of
ammo used during each practice session
along with the sight setting for each target
distance and the point of aim, so that you
will have sighting information available
for any match or range conditions you
might encounter. After sighting in, every
practice session should be shot following
match procedures. Always shoot the targets
in their proper order. Ifa shooter does
not practice following the match procedure
of shooting the targets in order
from left to right, there is a good possibility
that he will shoot a target out of order in a
match and that is a miss.
Prior to the 1979 Regional Championships
I had been practicing on single targets.
At the Championships I missed the
first ram, my spotter gave me the sight
correction, I made the sight correction and
dropped that first ram with my second
shot. Zero number two on the score oord!!
Remember that consistency is accuracy,
the shooter must do everything the same
way for every shot. During practice sessions
concentrate on grip, breathing, pistol
position (cant), sight alignment and then
press the trigger. Be sure and call each shot
before looking at the target; this will help
establish the concentration required for
good marksmanship.
In freestyle competition the rear reclining
(Creedmoor) position has proven to be
the most stable position to date. Freestyle
Standing allows a two-hand hold and the
(Continued on page 54)
Gunsmith John Bosch is well-known for
work on silhoueHe pistols like S& W
M J7, T/ C, and High Standard shown.
53