First Shots News – November 2014

A basic part of human development is learning and growing. We grow as we get older, we grow from experience and we grow from our mistakes.

A huge part of our growth is through repetition; yes, practice. Let’s look at one of the greats, Julie Golob. Captain of the Smith & Wesson Shooting Team, Julie’s a pretty decent shooter. Of course, I am kidding—she is a great shooter and wonderful ambassador for the shooting sports. Julie, like all of the greats, practices a lot—dry-fire practicing away from the range and live-fire practicing on the range—along with reading about shooting techniques and discussing shooting with instructors and fellow competitors.

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Looking for a sport for a budding young pistol shooter? Check out Progressive-Position Pistol (PPP), designed to take a new youth shooters from beginner to competitor. With no minimum age restrictions and with the allowance of some supportive shooting aids during competition, PPP caters to air pistol sports, with minimal investment in equipment.

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If I told you there is one technique that, once mastered, will allow you to hit your target every single time, you’d probably write me off as one of those infomercial con guys. But, believe it or not, I speak the truth, and there’s no trick, no gimmick to it.
What is the technique? Perfect trigger press. A bad trigger press is the top reason shots go off target when shooting a handgun. Why? Most handguns require between four and 12 pounds of trigger pressure to fire. Most handguns also weigh less than three pounds; some these days weigh less than one. Now, if I remember my high school physics correctly, when you apply 10 pounds of pressure to a two-pound object, that object is going to move. Therein lies the problem. For you to hit your target every time, you have to press the trigger, with its four to 12 pounds of required pressure, without allowing your handgun to move at all.

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The shotgun is designed to throw a group or “pattern” of many small pellets called “shot,” which makes hitting a flying or moving target much more feasible than using a single projectile, as fired by a rifle or pistol. Because it utilizes numerous pellets instead of a single bullet, a shotshell is constructed differently than a cartridge for rifles or pistols. So, instead of the rifle or pistol cartridge’s brass case that contains primer, powder and bullet, the shotgun’s shotshell consists of a hull that contains the primer, powder, shot wad and an amount of shot. There are many different shotgun bore sizes or “gauges” (much like rifle and pistol caliber size), and gauges of differing shell length, and all can be loaded with a wide variety of shot sizes. Let’s break down some of these terms so you can better understand your shotgun or make a well-informed and safe purchase the next time you head to your favorite gun store or range.

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Jessica Delos Reyes is the Media and Public Relations Manager for USA Shooting, the national governing body for the Olympic shooting sports, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A relative newbie on the job—she started on April 1, 2013—Delos Reyes is discovering the finer aspects of the sport of shooting from the finest shooters in the world.

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Thank you to all who entered the drawing for the $25 Bass Pro Shops gift card. Congratulations to Rachelle M. of Evansville, Indiana drawing.

To enter the drawing for the $25 November Bass Pro Shops gift card, fill out the entry form and tell us, do you practice? What do you practice? How often? Remember there is no right or wrong answer. One entry per person, please.

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