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(BOS), I watched Brian Enos run oneof the courses. The start positionwas sitting at a table. On the signal,you drew and engaged several targetsbefore moving on to completethe course. Brian had one of the topfive times for this course, but he didnot look fast at all.Brian and Tommy Campbellwere among the first to seriouslystudy the mental game. They haveoften recommended The Inner Gameof Golf (or The Inner Game of Tennis)to aspiring shooters to learn more ofthe internal focus needed to competeat the upper levels. Brian hassince authored a book on the mentalaspects of shooting titled PracticalShooting: Beyond Fundamentals.Outside of a Guns & Ammo specialby Jeff Cooper (often referred totoday as "The Red Book"), the earliestbook I am familiar with that focusedspecifically on practical shootingwas James D. Mason's CombatHandgun Shooting. Mason went intothe physiological, psychological andmechanics of this sort of handgunning.One interesting tidbit from thebook was the comparison of reactiontimes. According to the informationin Mason's book, clinical studieshave shown that people respondmost quickly to sound.More recently, J. Michael Plaxcohas produced both a book and avideo, and Lenny Magill, of Mail OrderVideo, has an extensive selectionof tapes he has produced over theyears of many of the major matchesalong with others such as How ToShoot Fast, in which several prominentshooters are interviewed andtheir techniques examined.Jerry Barnhart also has a videoseries showing methods for increasingyour shooting proficiency. Myriadother tapes are available althoughmany are oriented more towarddefensive training, such asthose from Gunsite or the series byBill Wilson and Ken Hackathorn.The latest book I have seen is thePractical Shooting Manual by MattBurkett. I am preparing a more indepthreview of Matt's book, but,suffice it to say, it is an impressiveaid to learning and improving yourskills in practical pistol competition.Added to all these books andvideos are the schools. 'There areseveral schools located around theUnited States which teach either defensiveuse of handguns or competitiveuse of handguns. Actually, Ishould merely say guns, since mostoffer courses in rifles and shotgunsas well.With so much information available,the need to assess what youwant out of your shooting is reinforced.If all you want to do is shoot,there is little need to spend moneyon books, tapes or schools. If youwant to improve your shooting, themeans to do so are available. Yourproblem, then, is to decide what sortof shooting you want to do. Is yourgoal purely with respect to competitionshooting where you just want todo better in matches or advancewithin the classification system, orare you concerned with the defensiveuse of the handgun?As I pointed out in an earlier column,there is considerable overlapbetween sport shooting and defensiveshooting, but an awful lot of itis in the mind (remember the bookson the mental aspect?). Only youcan decide what you want out ofyour shooting. There is no lack ofinformation or tools to help.TRIANGLE SHOOTING SPORTSBenny Hill, A-19374USPSA Grand Master, National 3-Gun Rifle & Shotgun Champion, Master Pistolsmith,Handgunner Top 100 Club and Head Pistolsmith at STI Int. 1994, 1995 & 1996NEW NITRO COMP -The only one made withtrue 180 radiused floors,5 port absolutely flatshooting. The mostimportant things aboutthese guns are that theyrun and are accurate.JUST A FEW TOP SHOOTERS WITH GUNS BUILT BY MYSELFJoe Kessler - Grand MasterDick Burkhardt Grand MasterTodd Salmon - 1997 3-Gun National ChampKevin Coats • MasterJ.P. Denis, Past IPSC PresidentLayne Simpson - Shooting Times MagazineDavid Cupp - MasterDoing work on AR-15's andshotguns. Building state-ofthe-artcomp guns, Limitedguns, carry, or what you want.Each one is built by me, notsomeone working for me.Built to your specs. I havebuilt over 600 hi-cap andcarry guns.5.1 Inch - $1695.00 5.1 Inch Heavy Dust Cover - $1750.00 5.1 Short Block - $1150.005.1 Short Block Heavy Dust Cover - $1250.00 5.5 Comp Gun - $2700.005.5 Comp Short Block - $1600.00Reliability packages & SM work about1-3 weeks. Call for info. I am here tomake your shooting a real pleasure.Check my low prices before youpay too much.10837 LEOPARD BLVD.CORPUS CHRISTI TX 78410PHONE: (512) 241-4498FAX: (512) 241-4441Dealer inquiries welcome on guns & comps.Reliability packages on yournon-running gun, $200+smallparts on most guns to make themtotally reliable.Shooting classes available on pistol,rifle and shotgun. Call for class dates.50 FRONT SIGHT • May/June 1998