Airgun training is more about mental discipline than technique

I was only 13 years old when I learned the most important lesson I have ever learned about BB gun shooting. If you really want to improve your scores, you can’t “just shoot”. You have to practice.

You have to really focus on what you do on the pitch and at home. The fun part is racing, as you can relax and let everything you’ve learned in practice happen.

Airgun training is primarily about learning the correct techniques. Right doesn’t necessarily mean something other people tell you. More important than doing things like others, is doing them the way you feel comfortable. Of course, there are guidelines and best practices that are universal. But there are also many things that you can adjust according to your own tastes.

When you are practicing airgun techniques, you should practice only one thing at a time. Stance, grip, aim, and trigger pull are the main elements, but can be broken down into more detailed processes. For each practice session you choose an element to focus on.

There are two main reasons why you practice only one thing at a time.

1. Airgun shooting is quite a complicated process as there are many small things going on simultaneously. If you don’t focus on one thing, there’s simply no way you can perfect your process because your brain can’t register all the things that happen during a take.

2. In order to shoot easily in competition, you must have your shooting process stored in your muscle memory. Of course you know that muscles grow when you rest after a workout. The same applies to muscle memory. If you first practice one thing and the other in the same session, your muscles remember only the last thing you were practicing. Muscle memory will not develop for the first time.

I started airgun shooting when I was 12 years old and soon made it to the Finnish junior national team. Then I stopped for many years but came back a few years ago. In my first competition I shot only 543 and my old shooting buddies kept asking me if I had a problem with my gun. Then I remembered the most important truth about airgun training, I designed a training program for myself and three months later I shot 575 and 577.

So I know what I’m talking about when I say: you can’t just shoot, you have to practice. If you’d like to learn more about airgun training, go ahead and request your copy of my free Airgun Training Tips eBook. You’ll find it at www.airpistoltraining.com.