Perishable

There are very few skills as perishable as shooting a pistol. I've been shooting pistols since 1975 and without constant practice your skill level deteriorates to a point where it's almost unrecognizable.

It's easy to tell that I haven't been doing much pistol shooting this past year. Most of my shooting has been done with rifles, shotguns, and single action pistols. Hunting guns. Not fighting pistols.

I'm paying for it now. With a deatth of suitable ranges today I went to the Alexandria Indoor Range and gave them a try. It's a very nice facility with an indoor 25 yard range, perfect for brushing up on the combat pistol work. Our Sheriff's office is hosting a Special Olympics pistol tournament in two weeks and I thought that it might be time to piddle around a little bit and decide which pistol I was going to sue for the match.

If you're going to shoot a combat pistol and want to see how you're skill level is progressing, post the target at 25 yards. All the problems come into glaring definition at 25 yards. Mine certainly came into focus.



You can click on the picture for a larger version, but be sure to suppress your gag reflex first.

For the record, that's a standard B-27 target. I was shooting my Smith and Wesson Model 66 using a load of the TL358158 over 4.3 grains of Unique. Any time I can't keep all the shots in the 9 ring at 25 yards, I know that my skills are in need of a tune-up. Any time I can't keep all my shots in the 8 ring at 25 yards, I know that I need to so some serious work.

That's the best target I shot today. I won't go into detail about the two 1911's I took to the range, nor the Model 28-2. I know how to shoot each and every one of those pistols and today wasn't my best day. Not by a long shot.

I really need to start spending more time on the pistol range. That's embarrassing.