Olympic Pistol: What's The Deal?

[@BlokeontheRange]

AARGH, made a mistake I didn't catch in editing... Rapid Fire is 8, 6 and 4 seconds (not 10, 8, 6...) Sorry... 😭

[@tomwinterfishing9065]

You rotter!

[@fdr3898]

There is another funny mistake at 20:31-20:33. Anyway, thanks for the informative video!

[@MichaelJohnson-tw7dq]

Bless you my son. Say six Hail Marys, and go forth and sin no more.

[@SmithandWesson22A]

Rapid-fire is a good fun match.

[@captvaghunter]

I don't get it ,why is BBGUN AT 30 FT an event in the Olympics? I stopped playing with toys and using real guns at 10 .why don't they use guns ?

[@georgewashington92]

I always ridiculed this kind of pistol shooting, looked kind of weird and funny. Don't ask me why. However, when I switched to a new shooting club, I had to take a safety training which included roughly 90min of shooting such an air pistol. I have to admit, I feel like these 90min of shooting have taught me and improved my pistol shooting more than any previous training and I've been shooting for 18 years The targets are ridiculously small, trigger control has to be perfect, the slightest mistake and you are off , breathing, etc. It is super exhausting. I highly recommend trying this to anyone. You will certainly see your performance with any large caliber pistol improve. Whenever I see my performance with my 9mm decline, I go back to the air pistol range, it teaches you the fundamentals of shootimg more than any other discipline.

[@titter3648]

Your shooting in practical pistol shooting like IPSC or USPSA will probably not improve. Because there your grip is suppose to be so strong that trigger control has minimal effect.

[@Roddy556]

​@@titter3648it probably will improve

[@Rosseloh]

I'm not an experienced shooter but I know a bit about aviation so I get the idea - kind of like how gliding/soaring teaches you skills that are super useful for powered flight.

[@DaveEtchells]

I’ve only shot a little, but my biggest problem with larger caliber was a bad flinch at the report of the 9mm. I’m much, much more accurate with .22s. Maybe I’d get over the flinch if I shot a few boxes of ammo every few days for a year, but I don’t have the budget and it’s only ever been a minor hobby for me.

[@martinconnelly1473]

When I was in the forces a looong time ago I was in the rifle team, shooting .22 rimfire with a BSA martini action at 25 yard prone. Getting down towards 90 on a target card felt like failure. Then I had a try at 10m pistol and I don't think I troubled the target.

[@blackm4niac]

Yusuf just looks like a total G when shooting, which is probably why everyone hypes him up so much. Just look at that stance. You CAN'T look any cooler than that during a shooting competition.

[@Kmodoe]

Walked up like a dad about to show his kids how it's done in the olds days

[@drewcagno]

​@Kmodoe you win!

[@andybrown4284]

It's all about the hand tucked nonchalantly into his pocket

[@steve00alt70]

Looks like anime guy

[@andreassiegler2238]

Well, for a lot of shooters this is completely normal and not as outstanding as it is made to seem.

[@Harrier20153]

Rivals : Today is the most important day of my life to get a medal. This is the Olympics! Yusuf : Today is Wednesday

[@ArhainHainar]

It's a pity we dont have duelling anymore with the wax bullets that the olympics used to have

[@WarpGhost92]

I just googled it. Holy Molly it was so bad ass.

[@karlanthonymargate7362]

​@WarpGhost92 some kind of paintball event (without ramping and very limited balls) would also be nice.

[@SnowmanTF2]

Ironically what they are trying to go away from is vastly more watchable than what we have now.

[@TiBiAstro]

it's a pity we can't have people shoot each other for sport? ammosexuals are weird

[@TheFlutecart]

How about Archery Team vs Air Pistol Team?

[@Oldtanktapper]

The discipline I find most impressive is the winter biathlon, with combined cross country skiing and shooting. Going for full on physical exertion interspersed with bouts of target shooting is next level stuff, it’s hard enough shooting competitively when at rest, never mind with fatigue, high heart rate and hard breathing too.

[@willywonka4340]

because of the difficulty of it, the targets they're shooting at is GIMORMOUS as far as the precision discipline standards goes 😂

[@Rentta]

@@willywonka4340 Still smaller than torso, i mostly see it as a military exercise turned into a sport.

[@willywonka4340]

@@Rentta yes agree, it's still a feat when your heart rate is crazy high and gotta time your shots between beats! 👍

[@aximisu]

@@Oldtanktapper You should see how hard is to stay calm and your heart beating as crazy due to the competition level. Then try to lower your beats. This is really challenging. You fighting with your own mind. Is not for everyone but is something really really hard.

[@joetaylor486]

@@Oldtanktapper I hear you there mate. I am not sure how I would drop those target plates when my heart rate is upwards of 150 and I am gulping for air

[@werre2]

The turkish guy is a fashion setter and meme now

[@KingLich451]

❤🇹🇷❤

[@ruzil1973]

he's got a cute cat too

[@BladeWalker77]

He is a Legend

[@kddidit08]

And a FunkoPop!

[@fireblow44]

@@kddidit08 wait fr?? where to buy?

[@ManuManu-sd1yd]

10m Gold in Rio 2016 was also an 'older' policeman. He brought back the first ever olympic gold medal for Vietnam

[@joetaylor486]

I used to shoot 10m deliberate air pistol competitively and had respectable scores at county level. My high scores were around 545 to 550 after about 18 months of shooting. I found it to be meditative and still find the exhaled breath that was part of my shot cycle lowers my heart rate.

[@shenmisheshou7002]

I first learned about 10 meter air and pistol when the Olympics came to Atlanta in 1996. The gun shop/range where I would shoot had an Olympic 10 meter pistol and 10 meter air rifle (FWB-603) in the display case, and I was astounded at how beautiful and purposeful they were. The price for the FWB-603 seemed crazy expensive, but then I could shoot at home (no range time) and a tin of high quality .177 pellets meant I could shoot a tin a week and not feel bad about it. I fell in love with 10m. Later I added a 10m pistol (Baikial 46). Competition was tough and my average score was 565 or so with both, and as hard as I tried, I was not able to really devote the time to improve past this, but I loved shooting. I don't shoot in competition any longer, but I have a Maveric air rifle that I do shoot at least 3-4 times a week, something I could never do with regular firearms. People that have never had the chance to shoot high quality 10m target pistols are rifles have no clue as to how accurate and they are and how precise the triggers are. They are far more enjoyable to shoot than firearms.

[@willywonka4340]

@@joetaylor486 That's the technique I use for 3 sec. duelling stage as well as slow fire. trigger release while exhaling. The issue with that is exhaling "collapse" the ribcage and thus your shooting arm drops. That has to be compensated if you're shooting 3 sec. duel. This movement is natural for slow fire since your gun is lowered to the target but there's a bit of a difference in arm and shoulder muscle tone for the dueling series when the movement is from low ready 45° then arm raises up to the target because it feels as if the arm has to be raised a bit more higher to get to sight alignment on the center of bullseye

[@lesath7883]

As a photographer, I did not expect to see a chart for depth of field in a discussion about olympic shooting.

[@BariumCobaltNitrog3n]

Looks like someone's dad or grandpa had some view camera parts laying around, and a shutter was re-purposed.

[@AlanEvans789]

I'm both a photographer and a target shooter. I mostly shoot the Olympic rifle events, rather than the pistol and shotgun. Still it's funny just how much skills and knowledge transfer between photography and the shooting sports there is. I think the combined knowledge has helped me be both a better photographer, and shooter. Shooting flying aviation subjects with a 600mm lens, and being able to use shutter speeds down to 1/30s, even with image stabilisation is very much down to skills attained with firearms.

[@RMBlake007]

@@AlanEvans789 Yes....also, halting a breath before shooting a target / halting before taking a camera shot when my tripod isn't available....and several other comparable skills come to mind...

[@timobreitscheidt9382]

@@AlanEvans789 600mm? Where do you get lenses that enormous?

[@lawrencemartin1113]

The same 'humbling' takes place in small bore .22 target rifle shooting. Seeing people used to other sports rifle shooting and scoped rifle shooting try out pure target shooting is always fascinating. The margins are miniscule and it takes so long to get to a reasonable level of consistency. One tip we use with new young shooters, who are shooting prone, and who wear ordinary prescription glasses and who cannot possibly afford to buy specialist shooting frames at the start, is to add a large lump of 'blutac' to the bridge support of their glasses and get them to mould and adjust it to a point where, when lying prone, they are still looking through the exact centre of their lenses. Very often, we see people complain that the sight picture is not clear or they say there is a shadow across the rear sight picture.....nearly always it is caused by them looking through the wrong section of their glasses lenses and often so much so with modern rectangular or slim designed frames, they are actually seeing the frame in the sight picture. Shoving the bridge higher up their nose makes a huge difference as they get into the prone position with their heads now raised to see through the sights, and their glasses properly aligned. Cheap and very effective. If they take to shooting and continue on to a competitive level, they then will see a specialist optician and get frames and a lens fitted. So many of the points you make here are very similar in prone small bore and to some extent full bore target rifle shooting. Sadly, as you say, shooting sports are now becoming so marginalised and minimalist that the end of live fire and even possibly air guns is almost certain. When you live in a country where you cannot easily and conveniently own and shoot live fire pistols, the sport just withers and dies out. The same is happening to pure forms of small bore rifle shooting as young people seek more active and dynamic forms of the sport. So many UK clubs struggle to attract new young members, who do not want to spend time in the discipline of lying very, very still and learning the precision marksmanship techniques when they see gallery rifle as a possible alternative.....and, I cannot blame them at one level! I too, despite years of coaching TR, love the variation and fun of that style of shooting, with semi auto .22 rifles. It is heaps of fun! In order to survive, clubs need to diversify and attract membership.....things evolve and change. 😊 Thanks for another very insightful and clearly explained video. (That Turkish gentleman did look so cool though didn't he!? 😂)

[@federicopelizza9563]

I got to say this, why the fuck don't Olympic commentator provide this level of explanation when commentating?? I now want to actually watch pistol shooting, whereas, if i were to actually watch an olympic event, i wouldn't understand a thing and be bored. I understand not doing this in the finals or their equivalent, but commentating in the olympics is utter nonsense for people who do not practice this kind of more obscure sports. Fantastic video mate, keep it coming.

[@charlesshort6818]

Because unlike the major events where the lead commentators are backed up by someone actually knowledgeable in the events, shooting generally isn't afforded the same luxury as a minor, less TV friendly set of events. (One doesn't usually have to explain the finer points of track and field or swimming.) All that said, however, TV coverage of any shooting event is difficult at best due to the participant nature of the game. Like the Tour de France, all of the shooting coverage is dramatically better than it was only a few short years ago. So let's all hope and work to make your observation real in LA.

[@Ikxi]

Same with bow and arrow The pole dancing bow and arrow shooting twink from the youtube shorts (if you've seen him you'll definitely know who I mean) also talked about how lame the bow and arrow discipline is being showcased in the olympics where you just don't get any sense for how far they are actually shooting

[@TheLuci86]

Dikec is 51 years old, from militarry background, he is moroe likely to have learned that style of shooting early on, had good results and never felt the need too switch to a different style, as it would as you point out take time and practice with uncertain results.. Watching you i miss air pistol.. I must start training again.. And I almost forgot, Your scores are great. Even more so since i know that you are a very competent action shotter and rifle shooter. Also iit is quite refreshing to see somethiing about olympic shooting on YT, it is usually very hard too find.. And dont get me started od the ISSf..

[@charlesshort6818]

Dikec was also a club level shooter before he went to the military. He started well and kept to the highest art of the game as he went along.

[@thebernice6062]

My second year in college I had the opportunity to take a half semester length class in Olympic style pistol marksmanship (airgun and 22 rimfire) through our "Naval Science" department. It was VERY humbling for 19 year old me who had been firing my USP .40 and a friend's XD .45 at silhouettes at 7 yards and MOSTLY hitting in and around the 10 ring, to see an Olympic level shooter shoot a group that could be covered by a Nickle at 10 yards on a bullseye I could barely see. I've never done Olympic style shooting since, but it certainly motivated me to practice up on the fundamentals to improve my practical shooting skill level. As for the Olympics, I'm not watching until the old rules return. Wax bullets at 20 paces for dueling and first blood drawn from the torso for fencing!

[@mikebeard8505]

Feel free not to watch

[@SonnyCrocket-p6h]

in S Africa for a world championship combat shooting tournament i was on range with a guy teaching women to shoot free pistol, He stood there for 30 seconds, aiming a single shot 22 and hit a 3" disk at 50m. . I draw, went prone with a .45 1911 and hit it in about 8 seconds. The women all stopped looking at him in such awe :-)

[@AirborneMOC031]

@@SonnyCrocket-p6h Wow! Our Olympic pistol teams really missed out on an easy medal at the Olympics by not picking you up for the Olympic pistol team! What shooting discipline's competitors call their sport "combat shooting"? Isn't IPSC. Cool that you had those women looking at you with such awe instead of the coach you humbled in front of them. BTW, this guy who took the time to inform you he was coaching women to compete in international/Olympic free pistol... how did he plan on finishing the course of fire in the allotted amount of time to fire the course when he supposedly took 30 seconds aiming before firing each shot? I also can't think of a bullseye competition, ISSF competition, PPC competition I've ever competed in where competitors held their pistols/revolvers in the aim for 30 seconds before firing the shot. Most people who actually DO compete with handguns would realize that after even just ten seconds in the aim they'd be wobbling around like a crack whore on crutches, with no idea where that bullet would finally go. Surely this free pistol coach that you so successfully humbled knew that as well?

[@toseltreps1101]

Afterwards you took all the women home, impregnated all of them and became president of the galaxy. Well done!

[@charlesshort6818]

You hit it right on the head: the fundamentals never change. I coached a collegiate club team for ten years, shooting the ISSF events. Many of the new trainees all wanted to shoot action events and found what we were doing initially dull. Once they found out the depth of skill ISSF shooting gave our team members, a lot of that noise always went away. ISSF is pure skill, and those skills are transferable to virtually any other type of shooting you want to do. (And yes, I can shoot the action events very well too, thank you.)

[@kuglepen64]

And you have to hold your breath repeatedly. This requires excellent physical form. You’ll find this out when you start seeing stars and can hear the rushing of your blood.

[@ehsnils]

I agree - I was on a range this spring and that was the first time since I did my military service 35 years before that (Swedish K then). I wasn't the worst shooter but I realized that I actually came back to the shooting range habits automatically including holding the breath and that was a bit exhausting.

[@Shadow0fd3ath24]

most of them dont hold their breath from what ive heard...they breathe out and lift gun up, get steady as the breath finishes, then wait for pause between heart beats and then shoot

[@Guido_XL]

@@Shadow0fd3ath24 Makes sense. Even with my airsoft guns, I intuitively do the same to improve aim and trigger control.

[@maximilianmustermann5763]

@@Shadow0fd3ath24 Yes, it's "holding your breath" for just 2 or 3 seconds max because that's your aiming phase. The rule of thumb is, if you are aiming for more than three seconds, then abort, set the pistol down, relax and start again. Because aiming for more than three seconds will result in a horrible shot. This isn't like rifle prone with a bipod where you can aim for 10 seconds. You're holding a rather heavy pistol with one arm and you'll start shaking too much very quickly.

[@kongu6262]

Holding your breath being the most physically straining thing you can do is exactly why you losers shoot air guns. Cant handle a real one?

[@_f355]

I've sold my SP20 several months ago, glad to see it featured in the video. it was an X-machine, way more capable than I could give it.

[@_f355]

that said, I'm actually surprised that none of the athletes used Feinwerkbau AW93s, Pardinis all around. I personally think AW93 is a more modern, superior pistol.

[@thatsquidwardfeel5567]

@@_f355 The Feinwerkbau AW93 is an obsolete and inferior design as far as ISSF sports pistols go by virtue of the magazine well being integrated into the grip, which significantly limits the adjustability of the grip in terms of angle, cant and rotation. That said, the SP20 is even worse in that regard - for some odd reason, Hämmerli decided to design the entire lower assembly - grip, trigger guard and magazine well - from one single injection-molded piece, which means it's fixed in position and allows no adjustment at all beyond what you can do with grip putty and a Dremel. If you're going to shoot Olympic Rapid Fire Pistol, especially internationally, the Pardini SP-RF (and, if it proves itself, the new Hi-Tech) are the obvious best choice as the market currently stands. Other models, such as the Match Guns MG2RF, may offer minor theoretical improvements, but there's no pistol currently on the market which offers the same level of adjustability, reliability, recoil mitigation and - importantly - immediate technical support at international events.

[@petergaskin1811]

@@_f355 You're lucky, I used an Original 3G, we didn't have the luxury of CE pistols

[@Skinflaps_Meatslapper]

I have two SP20's with serial #21 and #22, upgraded from a Pardini as soon as there was a better option. The AW93 has a trigger pull like no other firearm ever made, it's pretty unreal.

[@_f355]

@@Skinflaps_Meatslapper Pardini has a pretty long evolution of pistols all called SP, newer ones are typically better. regarding the trigger pull, I'd say "like no other _mechanical_ firearm", Walther SSP-E's electronic trigger is marginally better than AW93's - at least to my liking :)

[@LeBarondeRais]

One of the things about shooting with an air pistol is that it is more demanding than any firearm, and is less forgiving of the shooter's mistakes. I think that air shooting is a great school when it comes to learning how to shoot (if you are interested on precision shooting disciplines). Great content, as always 😊

[@kongu6262]

Considering you freaks use air guns BECAUSE you cant handle recoil demands of a genuine firearm, its laughable you think an airgun, in any capacity, is more demanding than a real one. Pipe down, genuinely

[@concerninghobbits5536]

What makes it more demanding and less forgiving than just shooting a regular pistol, out of curiosity? I'd like to try both sometime, I've only shot pistols a long time ago like one or two times and haven't done anything with air pistols.

[@mikas2051]

@@concerninghobbits5536 Even just the fact that the projectile spends quite a bit more time in the barrel (slower speed)

[@nirfz]

Really liked that explanation for your "weak" eye dominance. Now i finally understand why i was never able to keep both eyes open. (not even with the 1.5x optic of the AUG) i seem to have the same problem as you.

[@henrihamalainen300]

I'm right handed with dominant left eye. It was extremely difficult for me to see the sights on RK both eyes open when i did my service. Perhaps i should have shot from left shoulder but i'm totally right handed.

[@David_randomnumber]

​@@henrihamalainen300same as you but as a traditional archer it somehow works. I should have switched to left hand years ago but it always just felt wrong. Maybe next year.

[@Z1ckendeT1ghtb0mbe]

Same for me with the G36 optics. Shooting with the iron sighted FAMAS worked brilliantly though.

[@davidf2244]

​@@henrihamalainen300could have been the Kyrie Irving of assault rifles

[@saccorhytus2728]

I think this is the first time I've heard someone talk about mild eye dominance. Thanks!

[@myparceltape1169]

It made me compare the leaves on a sycamore tree with each eye.. They moved and changed shape.

[@MJA5]

@@saccorhytus2728 it’s definitely a thing … mild would describe focus being tennis balled from one eye to the other with both eyes open, which I think happens to everyone to some degree, but strong dominance would minimize this behavior. Because this shooting activity heavily depends on front sight focus, this explains why some competitors cover one eye and some do not.

[@BlokeontheRange]

Some people have such strong eye dominance that if they concentrate on something, the brain stops registering the image from their non-dominant eye. Lazy eye is an extreme form of this, where the brain stops bothering with its muscles too.

[@purplepenguin43]

I have it, basically everytime someone gave me an eye test as a child i had to explain to them that i see two of either the non focused object. For the classic test make a hole with your hands and look through them at a object far away, i see two holes in my hands side by side. It really made a lot of fud instructors mad when i didn’t subscribe to their norm of “one eye is dominant” and i got diagnosed as left and right eye dominant multiple times. Tldr when a kid says they see two holes in their hands in a vision test maybe their’s something going with how opitics and physics and biology works and they aren’t “just a little lier” or “trying to cheat” or “being difficult” or “smart ass” Thanks for awakening some memories that looking back explains why i stopped believing and trusting that adults knew whats best before a most of my peers (at least the ones without proper trauma)

[@BeTeK11]

there is also some other stuff also that can be a problem. Me for example I have right eye dominance BUT with my glasses I see better with my left eye. So what happens some times my brain switches to left eye dominance for a second losing my depth perception for a short while.

[@tangero3462]

Having fenced sabre semi competitively (low level stuff, got a USFA E like everyone who's barely competent, was in my high school conference for four years), I see how the parallels form with HEMA-style practical swordsmanship as with ISSF vs IPSC. As you point out, even sanitized it's a massively difficult undertaking and requires discipline, attention to form, and great conditioning. Smallbore practical marksmanship has become a growing pursuit of mine. Recently acquired an excellent Remington 540X, got a Thune sling for it, been really enjoying printing tiny groups with the most expensive .22s I've ever shot. It's odd but the discipline and focus to it is relaxing to me

[@MrBlueBurd0451]

I'm firmly one of those people who criticizes the Olympic shooting disciplines, but I've always criticized them from the point of view that they shouldn't be the *only* representation of marksmanship at the Olympics. It's very impressive stuff from a precision shooting perspective, but I've always found it starkly limited for there to be no actual medium or long-range disciplines, let alone action-style or longer, timed-course shooting.

[@Mockingmob]

It's really hard for long range PRS to make it into Olympics. At longer range, like 1000 yards, environmental factors play too much of a role on where your bullets land, which are very random and unpredictable. But I would definitely like to see IPSA or IDPA matches make their way into the Olympics.

[@wurfyy]

As an IPSC shooter, I want it to stay as far away from the Olympics as possible. With high level competitions come people whose sole purpose in life seems to be to suck the fun out of everything. It's already a thing with existing high level competitions. Probably half the rulebook is stuff that crybabies at top levels thought up to justify a reshoot or excuse their poor result. The more seriously people take it, the less room is left for fun. I suppose on the flip side this would be a step for better gun rights worldwide, but how much and at what cost?

[@CaptainComatose]

@@wurfyy and the risk to make it sponsor-friendly. As Bloke said in the vid: "sanityzing"

[@purplepenguin43]

@@Mockingmobi think wind should be taken as a skill in long range, the problem is how to score it. The closest idea i had was the higher and more varied the wind the higher the score or score bonus for each shot. If you try to get wind to zero i don’t think its going to work as in something like a 1mile indoor range its big enough that its going to have its own air currents indoors. The only practical way to achieve zero wind is in some kind of capped tube like a wind tunnel just big enough for the bullet arc. And the compitition at that level would be almost entirely how precisely you can make the barrel and bullet, and the olymics are really about human skill not outrageously expensive equipment. If you can figure out a way to score wind as a skill. And then figure how to score when the wind is different competitor to competitor. Then i think you might have a chance at getting LR into the olympics As for me, i think the top shot tv show was the pinnacle of shooting sports entertainment. Cause thats the thing about the Olympics, its not about whats most entertaining, its about showing who’s best. And i don’t really care who’s best i care about what is fun.

[@sixty2612]

If anything, having something like 3-gun would be far more entertaining to watch.

[@Gagis]

This made me want to try some more technical pistol shooting... but I'm gonna have a STEEP learning curve.

[@trioptimum9027]

I mean, the good news is that the people who would be most likely to mock you for being bad at first will have stopped paying attention because they got bored at the very idea. So there's that!

[@JohnTBlock]

Much like our 2700 "Bullseye" competition here in the States...one-handed, slow-fire, timed, and rapid-fire, shot three times - once with .22, center fire, and .45.... plus, if you wish to shoot "National Match", you need a G.I. 1911 with minimum 4 lb. Trigger pull, and shoot the same course of fire with military match hardball...

[@charlesshort6818]

ISSF Standard Pistol was created to draw US "900" shooters to the International Rules events. But as optics took over the 2700 shooting world, many competitors no longer had a .22 that would pass control, and the "great migration" that ISSF and Olympic Training Center had hoped for didn't happen. Shooting ISSF is comparatively like driving Formula One or IndyCar, and 2700 is more like Nascar. ISSF has a much tougher target set and to me, was always a better challenge. There's room for both, but you don't shoot 2700 at the Olympics! Best, C

[@Yupppi]

People complaining/criticising olympic shooting must be the same people wondering why 100m dash and marathon are olympic runs because they like running on the forest track that goes up and down. Sports are sports, fun business happens elsewhere. The video was fascinating. I knew nothing about olympic shooting details before.

[@bewawolf19]

My issues with it is the same thing with fencing. It is taking something that was suppose to be based on a real and martial practice, and turning it into something that outright looks ridiculous and lose much of the connection and factors that doing the authentic version had. HEMA has shown you can have actual safe fencing using proper technique with practice weapons that have the same performance and characteristics as an authentic one. It isn't perfect but it tries to get as close to the real thing as it is safe too, whilst Fencing has ignored any basis of reality down to the fact that if you trade blows thus meaning you both die, but the other guy received his death blow a fraction of a second sooner, somehow you win from it. Likewise it encourages the use of a weapon that inherently at the high levels you can't use a sword if you wish to win despite the activity calling itself fencing. Whilst there is some crossover, over time there is becoming increasingly larger separation between Olympic fencing and the martial art it is supposedly representing. When you look at Olympic shooting and then compare it to the martial tradition it is pantomiming, ultimately it starts encouraging tools and practices you don't see in the common use of firearms when used outside of it, and if how fencing is an example, I imagine you will continue to see the Olympic sports get further from the practice it is suppose to represent. Since the pragmatic use of firearms is still very much alive today unlike fencing, to laypeople (Such as myself) it is hard many to view it seriously as even a person who never shot a gun before can easily see how the conditions and tools being used isn't the same to the actual uses of firearms. I am aware it still takes great skill, but just because it takes skill doesn't mean people will or should inherently respect it.

[@SpaghettiEnterprises]

@@bewawolf19 Well yeah but shooting people is kind of barbaric, just like stabbing people. I thought sport was supposed to be a reasonable alternative to assault.

[@bewawolf19]

@@SpaghettiEnterprises I will choose to believe you are not straw manning and genuinely think there is no way to have a better alternative then actually shooting and stabbing people. Wow, yer dumb.

[@necrogressive466]

Used practice 10m airpistol and a young women would come and shoot for about an hour and then go, Her scores were respectable top 80s and low 90s. Chatting with after her shooting and she said came to de-stress after a working week, she said it Zen like with the breath control with a little pop at the end.

[@MrHeebieJeebie8]

I shot 10m air pistol and 50m free pistol (no longer an Olympic event as of 2016) through high school and early college. As a U21 and collegiate shooter, I was a top competitor in the US and participated internationally. I'll also add the experience of my older brother Will, who is the best shooter the US had in these events in the past 10 years, who finished just points out of the finals in Rio and was a resident athlete at the US Olympic Training Center right out of high school having already set records and won an international event. I have a lot of thoughts, but I will boil them down to this: if you are a young person or you have young kids, I cannot recommend shooting these disciplines enough. You will be forced to hone your shooting fundamentals to a level that will serve you indefinitely. Compared to other types of competition shooting, it is fairly inexpensive. If you do well enough, there are opportunities to travel the country and even the world at no cost. It's also a very controlled range environment, so as far as safety goes, it much better than most alternatives. As an adult, there's just no incentive compared to other types of shooting competitions available. Maybe if you're a brand new shooter, you could start here to learn fundamentals like I said, but there's no path beyond that to anything worthwhile. I'll finish with this: the lower your expectations if you ever deal with USA Shooting (governing body for Olympic Shooting events), the better off you'll be. Whether it's attending national events, running local or state matches, being on a team or the parent of a junior on a team, just be prepared and proactive with planning and communication and keep your ducks in a row because they cannot. Hopefully, the new president can turn things around, but USA Shooting has been run into the ground mostly by incompetence over the past decade, and it'll be a long climb to get out of it.

[@spairus4492]

I really enjoyed learning about this from someone who's primarily a practical shooter. I only do ipsc myself, now I am very intrigued. Thanks for giving us your perspective and introduction, and thank you for not assuming we know more than we do. It was very clear and informative as an introduction to what it is and what we're seeing!

[@flyboyjoey]

I remember doing a lot of 10m air pistol shooting for a cut-down Modern Pentathlon before the lasers came in. One funny story I had from my grandpa was when he and couple others carpooled to get to a range with turning targets on the other side of the county, they always met up in the same pub carpark before transferring their pistol cases to the same car and driving off before returning after the practice and taking their cases back to their own car. You can guess what eventually happened...

[@campandcook3118]

What happened eventually

[@flyboyjoey]

@@campandcook3118 Police got called, they set up a watch on the pub car park. Next time it happened and the police see three guys meet up before two of them take cases and put them in the third and set off. Once they heard the explanation, they understood and had a laugh afterwards.

[@jimlongley9531]

Many years ago I was pursuing my NRA Distinguished Marksman award and my mentor told me that my problem with my offhand and kneeling segments, I had completed prone and sitting, was that I was tensing up. I was mystified until I watched him makes the shots that I was struggling to make in a very relaxed pose, something I had not noticed before. No time constraints, wearing "Bondage Jackets" (I love it!) and flat but flexible shoes, trying to score a minimum of 16 on the NRA 50 foot target ON ALL FIVE BULLS and I was consistently dropping at least one bull. Once I finally internalized what he was doing I was well on my way to finishing when life got in the way and I never did finish but know in my own mind that I could have and have my own internal satisfaction. Don't know if I could do it now, 32 years later, but know I could have.

[@richardlawton1023]

I shoot rimfire bench rest. 50 meter. Bull is half size of a pencil eraser. Very difficult. In the 80,s I shot air rifle. Unfortunately I have macular degeneration. It's not really safe for me now.

[@ferexx]

Great video. social media being a toxic place as it is, there are so many people who criticise the korean lady for using "gadgets" or even accuse her of cheating while simping for the Turkiye shooter. i dun understand why liking one shooter means having to condemn the other when both ain't even in the same event. my understanding of pistol is arguably limited as i only watch some time to time, but I am a cross dominant archer and understand the general mechanics of precision sports. i left many comments explaining the eyewear, cross dominance, etc to those unfairly calling the Korean lady a cheat but it irks me that people who do not know anything about shooting sports or know that ocular dominant is even a thing go on to accuse athletes as cheats for using eyewear and blinders.

[@WayOfTheTrigger]

Wonderful note at the end. We do a lot more of this style of shooting in the BDMP association here in Germany. Of course mostly high caliber handguns, but we are shooting different stances under time pressure from 50 meters. People do not get how small the target really is from those kinds of distances.

[@kevinj9059]

I remember in the Marines we had an old Warrent Officer that shot like Yusuf. We had these targets with a guy holding a revolver. At 10 yards with the M9 he would hit each of the exposed cylinder chambers, then shoot down the barrel. He said he used to compete. Unbelievable talent even when you see it in person.

[@charlesshort6818]

I've done that trick at a local range for the amazement and amusement of a fellow that was having a very hard time. He had just bought a new 92 and was having the usual teething pain, figuring out the trigger and sights. He thought there was something wrong with the pistol, So I asked if I could try it on his target and shot it. Reassured him that he made a great choice in the Beretta. By the way, Its not as hard as it sounds from 10 if you know what you're doing. The fundamentals never change.

[@adamkilroe9840]

Thank you! Sensible views on eye dominance! I'm an archer, and so much guff is spewed about eye dominance, including shooting with the other hand to match your dominant eye! There is a huge drive to shoot with both eyes open, why? Dogma and doctrine,it's certainly not based on reality. I'm a left-handed archer, which means I hold the grip on my right hand, the string in my left and sight with my left eye. I have right eye dominance, so I simply close my right one, job done. My level of eye dominance is not high, but I simply can't be arsed to deal with mentally blanking out the input from my right eye. Surely it should come down to which stance is more comfy, and I've always shot left-handed, because that's my pistol hand. For reference, I hold 64lbs without any strain as a lefty, and I can shoot 72lbs with some minor strain, but right handed? Max draw weight is about 36-38lbs, but prevailing “wisdom” says this is better because I have slight right eye dominance. Pah! What a load of clap-trap. Stance is also an issue in archery, unlike pistol. When I started, we had an upright stance, with vertical finger positioning on the string, vertical hand positioning on the grip and pronated (and very unrelaxed) bow elbow to stop the string whacking it. It was uncomfortable but you didn't get bow cant. Now, they've gone for a hunched over, arse out, lean forwards stance which hurts your shoulders and lower back causing lots of soft tissue damage (the amount of Ibuprofen the Korean archers use is ridiculous) but far more sensible hand positioning on both the string and grip....but the grip shape remains the same and doesn't reflect the pronated wrist, causing cant..... Grrrrr. You have no idea how refreshing it is to hear sensible views on stance flexibility and eye dominance. ❤❤

[@billj5645]

I like to see actual marksmanship in shooting. Almost all shooters you see on youtube are focused on making noise as fast as they can without regards to hitting anything. Of course this could be put into the olympics really easily because they could use blanks, or they could use an electronic device with a speaker. I watch shooters on youtube and they never show their target, or they show their target and there are holes all over it, at least from the few times that they actually hit it. If you can't hit the target then why bother? It doesn't matter how fast you can shoot if you can't hit the target.

[@charlesshort6818]

100%. You cant miss fast enough to win. wink

[@StockTrader]

I used to have a Hammerli 280 .22LR and shoot at 25 meters. But then I moved to the UK, and....game over. I miss this sport so much 😞

[@theslingandjacket2337]

Excellent overview and insights. I think nearly all you said can also be said for ISSF 10m and 50m rifle (and 300m). Many people disparage the rifle shooting suits. My comment to them is go shoot 60 shots standing trying to hit a ~1 MOA target every shot with a 5+ kg rifle and see how their lower back feels after. Although the suits provide support they actually play a bigger role in helping to protect the shooters from overuse injuries that can actually occur quite rapidly. Although the ISSF/Olympic events are very “min/max”, as you say, I argue there really isn’t a better way to learn and perfect the fundamentals, build “shooting” strength, and improve your mental conditioning. Three gun and PRS shooters could learn a lot if they would pick up an air or SB rifle/pistol and cross-train 10m, 25m, and 50m. You instantly learn how important things like NPA and follow through are and how much those fundamentals mater even when shooting from artificially supported positions.

[@fleurdelispens]

I think there's room in sports for super min-maxed specialist stuff and more practical and realistic stuff. Makes for really neat innovation across the board, and cool bits of tech trickling from one discipline to another

[@aritakalo8011]

Thing is Olympics are bloated as they are already. Getting impossibly big to organize. So I think it's more "Gonna add IPSC to olympics? And where will we find the IPSC shooting range *and the additional accommodation for IPSC athletes and their entourage* " Olympics is more on cutting and replacing disciplines, than adding. Yeah modern sports have been added, but that often comes with. For example olympic shootings are low caliber and weak power and very stationary, since *it's simpler to organize* . They used to have full caliber military rifle shooting, but that would be ever more harder to organize with more and more events and competitors. You can fit whole multiple hall and lane 22 and air shooting center in the room taken by single 300 meter shooting lane and it's olympics, one shooter lane isn't enough. You need multiple shooting lanes for the various disciplines. So have both, but people should understand: Not everything is going to fit in Olympics, since it is a crowded event. Heck one would maybe have to do 22lr *practical shooting* , if it was ever for olympics simply for the range size needs. Plus the whole thing of "olympics is a spectator event". There on olympic shooting there is a full spectator ledger handfull of meters right behind the shooters. How are you going to organize that with enough spectator safe, even for one seen situations, failures etc. for something like IPSC. Yeah everyone is to follow 180 rule.... is to follow, you have to be prepared for "How likely is ND out of the 180 and how damaging can that be, someone slips, stumbles and 180 rule fails, how many spectators can we have there?". There is lots of sports that don't fit olympics in lots of sports categories for their size and safety demands. Heck Olympic/field javelin throwing is *artificially hampered* with intentionally badly flying javelin, since throwers got so good they started risking throwing javelin out the back edge of the throw field. Which obviously one can't grow, since it has to fit inside the 400 meter run track as is tradition for field sports stadium. Infact people shouldn't be so hang up on is sport olympic or not. Hold your own world championships and don't worry about the olympics. How IOC corruption and so on goes, heck better for sport potentially to not be mired in that public relations mess.

[@Silasssssssss]

@@aritakalo8011 Having 300m three positions at the Olympics would be a blast though

[@maximilianmustermann5763]

@@aritakalo8011 It's like with snowboarding - they added it to the olympics but nobody really wants to watch it because the X-Games are much cooler. The X-Games can just add something new and even cooler every year while with the olympics, every fun sport slowly dies and becomes an outdated, formalized thing.

[@hamingnu6610]

I imagine the Olympics already has its criteria for taking in certain categories of sport and not others. I do definitely agree that we should have big categories for ultra-technical vs. more practical and down-to-earth sports, but it seems most of the people here are arguing that - that should apply to the Olympics, which, in all honesty: The Olympics can only host so many events, and I don't think any of the Olympics organizers are gonna say that they're picking events to represent the entirety of their adjacent sports categories. "Olympic Shooting" clearly isn't here to encompass all high-level shooting sports the same way Fencing is clearly different from HEMA, thus in all honesty, I really don't care. If the Olympics picked its sports based on what's the most middle-in-the-ground solution either, then they might just land on an incredibly niche sport that hasn't reached its competitive peak yet (and all incoming athletes are gonna have only like 4 years of training). As long as both sides of the coin with shooting sports exists on a high enough level with big enough organizations (even if they don't participate in the olympics), it's fine.

[@williestyle35]

22:17 the "nerdy" content such as this is what I'm here for! I have liked the Olympic shooting competitions of various types, and had a fascination with the air rifle competition since I first saw them as part of the 1984 Summer Olympic games in Los Angeles. Look forward to seeing Bloke at the 2028 pistol competition in Los Angeles (again, yay!) 😊

[@jamesford7182]

Front sight focus has always been the most important aspect of open sights. I used to compete in combat style (IPSC) shooting for years and did extremely well. The name of the organization's magazine was "Front Sight".

[@AirborneMOC031]

I used to compete in IPSC as well; including for a few years during my 30 years in airborne infantry. Training for REAL combat situations involving a sidearm cured me of any foolish belief I might have developed that IPSC shooting was "combat style".

[@elberttanner6189]

Suggestion: Prior to any tactical shooting training event or exercise, go and do 25 to 50 rounds of Handgun Bullseye training. It reinforces Front Sight Discipline. Back in the 1970's when teaching tactical/cqb drills, I found that on the days after Students had been on a bullseye course their tactical drills tighten up considerably.

[@Hammerli280]

The combat shooting books from the 1970s and 1980s all recommended a strong grounding in Bullseye.

[@WaterZer0]

Shooting the front sight is objectively wrong in action shooting. Always target focus. Yes, with irons. If you disagree, go tell Ben Stoeger he's wrong on his youtube channel.

[@BlokeontheRange]

It's wrong... for Ben. I dislike the absolutism around it for action shooting. It's different for each person and I will usually target focus, until I need to front sight focus, e.g. on a small plate or a tight no-shoot.

[@AirborneMOC031]

@@WaterZer0 Tell us when Ben Stoeger, Rob Latham, etc can shoot precisely enough with a handgun to even place in regional competition scoring. Captain Obvious needs to stop at your house to do an intervention with you and explain that these are two very, very different things.

[@dkclow]

I have shot IPSC for over 25 years competitively and get the "sanitized" comments, I mean fencing? You're trying to poke someone to death! But to your point about "hard" vs. HARD shooting, I dabbled a bit many years ago in rimfire metallic silhouette shooting and loved it! But due to range availability and at the time, age and my desire to "go fast", IPSC became my thing. Then when an injury looked like my IPSC days were over I got a full-on standard class silhouette rig. Turned out I had a really good orthopedic specialist and my IPSC days continued. Then, this summer, I finally got some time on a silhouette range with a former national champion instructor, shot a match and LOVED IT. Trying to hit a three-inch target at 100m off-hand with a rifle is I would argue similar to 10m off hand with a pistol. So much mental energy and focus + being in the right body position to be steady yet relaxed. It is CRAZY hard, way harder than pounding A's at 25m with an open IPSC rig and I learned so much from it. Think you're good, go and try something really hard.

[@AlternityGM]

His stance in air pistol shooting is actually classic for target pistol since the 1930s. It’s not combat shooting. It’s precision shooting on a small target. The fundamentals for Olympic shooting are the same for all handgun shooting: sight picture and trigger control. If you don’t have both you’ll miss or score low. It’s that simple but doing both on every shot that is the hard part.

[@theshinken]

If you're interested in ISSF style shooting after this video and you're in Germany, there's a good chance a shooters club (Schützenverein) will be in your village/district or the next. They're probably more than happy at the prospect of a new member, you'll get free training and you can use club owned weapons and gear so you don't have to ruin your bank account and worry about storing a weapon at home with the very strict laws that are in effect in Germany. Also, you don't have to participate in the "tradition keeping" activities of those clubs and don a costume while marching - those are usually seperated from the shooting sports teams and it's not uncommon to have members participate only in one of those sides and not in the other. I can imagine it's similar in many other countries even with different gun cultures all around the world but it's particularly easy to get into the sport in Germany (or at least west Germany - I heard it's a bit different in the east) as Schützenvereine are almost as widespread as soccer clubs.

[@memitim171]

What kind of costumes do they wear?

[@erick4498]

Thanks, Bloke for explaining it in easily understandable terms.

[@kongu6262]

“Olympians use airguns because they cannot have pinpoint precision with a real gun, given non Americans are terrified of them. Olympians do not use real guns because they are terrified of the horrific recoil kicking back and misfiring or something!!!!! They just cant control such extreme recoil!!!!!!! So scary!!!!!!!!!!!!”

[@trefod]

Once I shot a 276 out of 300 at 15m with a .22 Hammerli on a 2lbs trigger. That was my best group ever and a freaky outlier from my regular 220-240 range. Later I switched to Service pistol discipline, shooting with both eyes open, and all went to hell. I discovered I was right eye dominant, but I am left handed. -So enthusiasm waned and I haven't shot regularly for about 15 years.

[@Rohan4711]

For shooters with unmatched hand and dominant eye there are two decent choices. Either use a patch to block the view for the dominant eye and shoot with your weak eye or you get a grip with a 7 degree sideways tilt. The Hämmerli SP20 is one of the few target pistols where the 7 degree grip is tricky since it has a grip built into the lower frame as default.

[@soffici1]

And I thought I was a nerd… Great video! It brought me from knowing absolutely nothing about pistol shooting to being utterly confused about the discipline Seriously, thanks

[@FedericoStivan]

Video idea: you should visit Morini competition arms in Ticino! They produce a lot of the pistols that are used in the olympics games.

[@rsecosse6634]

New to your channel. Excellent description of the Olympic pistol shooting, of which free pistol is no longer part. That was difficult 50m on the same size target as the 25m. Just a easy way to illustrate how steady the hand has to be, pick up a straight edge(ruler) between thumb and forefinger hold it at arms length and see how it wobbles.

[@bloodspatteredguitar]

16:52 I just had to laugh at this point. It's like the old joke: come forth, and win eternal life; but John came fifth and won a toaster. Thanks for talking us through your sport. It's fascinating stuff.

[@Blackstone9x19]

Starting my shooting 'career' with 10m air pistol really helped build a solid foundation for the future, even though I'm now a mostly dynamic shooter

[@BlokeontheRange]

Likewise. It really makes you nail the fundamentals.

[@wulfila99]

As someone who practices both fencing and shooting, I really like your comparison at the end. I would never compare 10m air/laser pistol/rifle to 300m rifle or 50m (9mm) pistol, nor would I compare modern olympic fencing (any of the three disciplines) to a Mensur... I've done all of those, each has its own pros and cons, and each is interesting in its own way.

[@michaelwhite9199]

YT won’t let me edit my previous comment but thank you for covering this topic.

[@rainsilversplash4376]

First, I'll say I am NOT a competitor, but I do shoot air pistol, .22, and 9mm, competition style targets, at 7M, 10M and 25M. For starters, I am right handed, but left eye dominant, so a left eye blind is particularly useful, though I usually simply just close my left eye.. Next if I wear my EDW glasses, I can see the target, but I can't see the front sight, nor even the rear sight, however if I wear my computer glasses I have a perfect view of both sights and a reasonable sight picture on my target. I have never tried an iris, but I might do that as well

[@JaredAF]

Glad the traditional disciplines are having their time in the lime light right now. People do not understand the level of skill it takes to perform at the level the Olympians do. Also always a great season filled with fudds who think because they've shot a .45 one time that they're not impressed with air pellets

[@kongu6262]

“Who can hold their breath the longest” competition 😂😂😂😂😂 no recoil = half the skill

[@AirborneMOC031]

@@kongu6262 For you, there's The Dump Olympics: held at the local dump, shooting at empty liquor bottles while sitting on the rusty tailgate of your truck with a clapped out surplus 1911, loaded with the handful of steel cased ball ammo you have in your pockets while holding a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels in the hand not gripping the pistol. Clearly, you'd be a natural.

[@AirborneMOC031]

@kongu6262 My, my... you must be harder than woodpecker lips and killed more people with REAL guns than AIDS and the Spanish Flu combined. We're so grateful that you held yourself back from enlisting so you didn't humiliate us with your legendary shooting skills showing us how you'd do it on the two way rifle range! Somebody should tell your mommy to stop giving you her vibrator collection, hair dryer, and the kitchen toaster for your bath toys.

[@jonathanwarchild]

The only exposure I’ve had to this style of shooting was your video with Calvin. I was hoping you’d do a video about the Olympic shooting and this has been very informative. Very cool that this is what you’re into.

[@davidbrayshaw3529]

Fantastic video. I keep procrastinating about joining our local club. It shoots Olympic disciplines only. I've been out to the club a few times and shot the various disciplines and can attest to how much of a challenge it is. I'm not ashamed to admit that I've had a few shots that didn't score on the 10 metre air pistol.

[@WayStedYou]

Didn't expect to find out why I can't do both eye open through scopes from a pistol video

[@Skinflaps_Meatslapper]

550's isn't bad at all. I hit a noticeable plateau in my training at the 540's and it took quite a while to get past it. Once I did, my scores steadily improved over the next month until I hit another plateau in the 560's, with a personal best of 572 when I quit (I was a teen, girls and planes had my attention and I was tired of training every other day). Had I continued training, by my own estimation I probably would've reached the mid 570's, maybe 580's before I hit another plateau, and who knows how much after that point, really. Each time you reach a point where it seems like you can't go further, it's because you're lacking a technique or understanding or motivation or perhaps you're just not meshing well with your gun and need to change something up with it. You just have to keep riding that struggle bus until you find what's holding you back. Sometimes it's a completely fundamental technique that you've been compensating for with other exceptional talents, and to implement that new technique, you have to relearn just about everything and work your way back up to where you were. At that point, you'll breeze right past that best score and continue improving.

[@mahbriggs]

Your explanation of what and why made what I watched make sense! I am not a competition shooter, just an occasional weekend at the range, so this type of shooting is all new to me!

[@marcusott2973]

Much awaited, much appreciated looking forward to excellent insights as always from you.

[@jamesbromstead4949]

US media hasn't covered Olympic shooting sports in decades. I think the last shooting sport I saw on OTA television was part of a Men's Winter Olympic Biathlon in the 84 games.

[@SnoopReddogg]

Any mainstream media is shit for showing shooting sports, especially at an Olympics. Fortunately internet is a thing, so you can bypass that roadblock.

[@maximilianmustermann5763]

@@SnoopReddogg But let's be real, air pistol shooting or 25m pistol shooting is not a viewer sport. I'm shooting 25m pistol myself and I know how demanding it is, but I don't want to watch it. It's boring as hell.

[@kongu6262]

Probably because olympic shooting is a joke. Skillful shooting in the real world includes accounting for recoil, olympians do not 😁

[@mirieshii1948]

they gotta think that Korean lady for the attention. the viral video started with her. she made it look cool when in fact it is boring.

[@onpsxmember]

I'm glad you took the opportunity to shine more light on this while the metal is still hot. Everyone should try different disciplines making for more well rounded shooters. It's kinda sad that the mixed 10m air pistol match only Dikec is pushed online. Both women that made those medals possible get no appreciation as it was with male/female teams taking turns. That it gets that social media attention overall is imo partially artificial. It is sad that they not simply added mixed matches but kicked out other male matches like free pistol at 50m. But hey...quotas. Couldn't just add more variants.

[@charlesshort6818]

Well said, I'll go a step further: ALL of the ISSF World Cup events should also be in the Olympics. Period. Free Pistol was Baron DeCoubertain's creation as a five-time French National pistol champion! International Centerfire is super fun to shoot, too. Make it mens, womens, mixed teams, purple hats, I dont care. Just bring back the mix of events that made Olympic Shooting the Real Deal, and that's ALL the World Cup and Grand Prix level events.

[@yop_cholo]

Thanks a lot Bloke. Not only this was very interesting, but that's also more shooting than I could catch during the whole first week on French television.

[@TaterPictures]

I'm blessed I got to do competitive air rifle during high school. Even got to get coached by a former Olympian. Definitely drilled me on the basics.

[@donaldmorgan5265]

Thanks for your efforts! I shoot Air Pistol in the 530 class with an M46, and yes, I wear shooting frames, normally with an iris and always with I ISSF blinder. Over my non shooting eye I also have a non perception lens with a stick on bifocal so that I can see to load and adjust my sights. Getting old is hard, but it beats the alternative!

[@chadkhl1690]

That was a fascinating breakdown and deep in the nerdy weeds of a topic I didn't particularly care about. I enjoyed every second of the video! Thank you

[@MobilMobil-kv5ke]

Great Content!!! I know NOTHING about this sport. You did a great job explaining and educating me about the sport.

[@MrBendylaw]

Yusuf: "You have offended me sir. I shall see you on the morrow at the bridge east of town; choose your second wisely. They must be able to carry you back." You: "Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry..."

[@chrisstrobel3439]

My Morini 10m air pistol cost more than any of my firearms except my 1911’s, and I’ve come to enjoy 10m air pistol shooting more than any firearm discipline, and I can practice any time having set up a 10 meter range in my house. Plus after you pay the initial cost of the pistol, scuba tank and adapters, and proper eye wear .. it practically cost nothing compared to the cost of firearms ammo and range time cost. 10m air pistol is no joke!

[@kimmosabe]

It's always very entertaining to see a good nerdout. Excellent stuff.

[@JustaMuteCat]

The tension thing is also deemed an important part of self discipline for archery. Unnecessary tension can make or break a pull.

[@jodelboy]

Mike you're absolutely spot on about one-handed sports-pistol-shooting being like 90% psychology. There are so many factors that influence a good mindset while standing there holding the pistol and trying to let the hammer hit the primer at the right time. I learned the basics when I joined my local pistol's club here in Switzerland when I was just 11 years old. They gladly took me on, and the president/trainer/good soul of the club was really happy to finally have someone young again in this small-ish and going-extinct club. I think they started me off with a few days of air-pistol shooting in the winter-training-spot (which is in the roof-area of a public school, fun fact) but very soon I had my hands on a Hämmerli 215 (owned by the club, but early on I kind of "adopted" it which also meant I serviced it myself down to the sear & hammer) which I pretty much used until the end of my sports shooting "career" although I switched to my private Hämmerli 280 at some point. Both great pistols. My absolute pet peeve in shooting was and still is: Pee before you shoot. There's nothing more distracting and detrimental to your concentration (and thus the final accuracy of your shots) than the basic bodily functions. If the urge to pee comes up whilst you're in a shooting match, you're done for. ..which carries over to many many other activities where concentration is key. In this day I'm climbing rocks, walking over highlines (slacklines high above ground) or paragliding - And the same principles as in shooting apply in so many of those activities aswell, e.g. Breathwork. I'm glad I shot competitions for some years, it gave me a solid understanding of my own psychology and/or body. Absolutely great video!

[@More-Space-In-Ear]

I've always wanted to do target shooting but, back then as a teenager there wasn't a club anywhere to me, strangely you could buy a gun out of a clubbook, like Freemans & Kays, not long after it was banned to sell any firearms, even bows and arrows were off the pages. Now 50 years on I had a go at rifles and really enjoyed it, some good scores too but nowhere near as good as you people. Thanks for explaining everything here, I've learnt a lot.

[@ArmeVechi]

nice! very good presentation of the ISSF olympic pistol disciplines

[@chriswarren1618]

Hmm, I remember giving my son a Pneumatic Target Pistol with Custom Grip and Shoulder about 25 years ago. It improved his target shooting dramatically. But not pcp multishot like available in recent years. Great Video, I got a lot out of the Optic corrections, thanks.

[@DFogify]

Rapid fire seems genuinely fun and challenging

[@Hammerli280]

Rapid is a riot…if you can find a RF target bay. They’re rare.

[@kursantstrzelecki2958]

Also it's extremely expensive. You need large aounts of very good ammunition. And proper shooting range (one with a lot of equipment just for one person).

[@maximilianmustermann5763]

@@kursantstrzelecki2958 It will take you many years to become good enough that you'll need "very expensive" ammunition. For everybody outside the olympics, some normal "target pistol" ammo for like 5-6 Euros per 50 rounds is more than good enough. It is very training intensive though, those 4-second rounds are a bitch.

[@charlesshort6818]

@@Hammerli280 Go to Texas. They have all our Indiana RF bays now and are doing fine.

[@mattc.310]

Thanks for the upload. Explains a lot.

[@ruiantunes766]

Rapid fire pistol is 8, 6 and 4 seconds strings. Not 10, 8 and 6 seconds.

[@BlokeontheRange]

Oops 😬 Sorry!

[@gasgaslex_photos]

I always wanted to compete in the Olympics but the best i managed was my countrys 1998 Commonwealth games squad however i did have the pleasure of representing my country and my state for many years and still hold one state record, good times.

[@simonjones6128]

I still have a steyer manlicher five shot semi automatic model Lp5 air pistol

[@TheSrSunday]

Excellent video. Used to read a lot about that 40 years ago, but things have changed.

[@mrchiefbs]

Excellent explanation! I feel like I've learned a lot.

[@Thermolizer]

Great comprehensive breakdown of the sport. Been wanting more insight after watching Yusuf at the games

[@AnvilAirsoftTV]

Very interesting. Thanks for the explanation.

[@Drawfield]

Did 10m air rifle all through high school through our schools JROTC program and thoroughly enjoyed it, ended up going to university of kentucky after and saw the first few requirements for qualifying for their team was to list your regional and national competition wins… which was not even close to the level my school competed in, we had hand me down to the hand me downs for equipment . Cool to watch Will and Mary of the UofK rifle team win at the Tokyo olympics though.

[@charlesshort6818]

I shot open matches at UK for years. Solid program. Ohio State too. I coached the Purdue R/P Club for ten years, but we had a more meritocratic approach: shoot good scores consistently, get on the team. Old School, baby.

[@TheOz91]

It's that pupil reflex that is why when you need to get to the restroom at night, you can close one eye when you turn on the light so that you won't get blinded and your pupils adjust. And when it comes to tension, it seems that yoga routines are useful for shooting, too. Since it's a mental thing at a high level, definitely meditation. Also, if one were to dope in this kind of event, it would definitely be stimulants (I think according to WADA, you can take stimulants if you have something like ADHD, it's just that the doses would be monitored and signed off.) One thing I find interesting about the Olympics is that I don't think that most people who participate take up other forms of shooting. Memes are being thrown around about how America hasn't taken any medals for shooting right away, never mind that Team USA don't tend to send people for most of the pistol events anyway and Americans have way more options in terms of shooting sports--only the rifle and shotgun events are close enough to the Olympics/ISSF rules that they can participate. Meanwhile, in other countries, trying to join IPSC or IDPA, at least as a civilian, has a very high bar to entry if not impossible, so the only way tends to be ISSF which goes to the Olympics, especially when private ownership of even air/pellet guns is restricted. Can't say I am surprised why the ISSF has insane beef with the IPSC (I wonder if they also hate IDPA with the same vitriol). "Combat shooting" is in the same political words category as "assault weapon" as far as I'm concerned, and my hypothesis is that the ISSF wants to make sure that marksmanship is "free from violence" in a nebulous pursuit of world peace and they are definitely of the arms control type of people where they see the mere existence of things like AR-15s and Glocks--perhaps practical shooting in general--to be the anathema of peaceful existence since sports is a tool of unity and peace sort of thing. Anyways, thanks for the insights to how this style of shooting works. Yusuf Dikec said that he shot the way he did because he is a "natural shooter." And that his participation of the Olympics is down to wanting to prove his ex-wife wrong and to impress his kids (who are more likely adults now). Dikec Bey's skills is perhaps because he had a wide range of firearms training.

[@kursantstrzelecki2958]

" it seems that yoga routines are useful for shooting, too. Since it's a mental thing at a high level, definitely meditation" - Dry fire excercise IS meditation. (Controlled breath, repetition of movements, focus). "ISSF has insane beef with the IPSC" - It doesn't. At least not on the ideological grounds you mentioned. It's about business. (Quick reminder: all those international "sport" bodies only pretend not to be businessess).

[@TheOz91]

@@kursantstrzelecki2958 It's also meditation from the traditional way of doing it because it opens things up mentally. I don't disagree with you but there is more to meditation than just doing what you mentioned. Then why did the Bloke mention ISSF's slanderous articles about IPSC if they don't have beef on the ideological grounds? Sure, it's business, but you don't have to resort to slander to promote yours.

[@avp5964]

For me the just reinforces the importance of shooting fundamentals. You did this. funny Ian from FGW did .22 bullseye in college, etc. Fundamentals of marksmanship always apply that's why they are fundamental.

[@davidholmes3323]

Excellent work. Can you do a similar explanation on the rifle discipline?

[@andreeadobre3190]

Thanks for all the info! I went to a shooting range once (regular pistol, not this type) like 10 years ago and really enjoyed it but forgot about it until Yusuf mania happened these days 😅 It got me excited to go try it out again and maybe make it a habit. I'm a photographer, initially studied cinematography and trained on old school film cameras, I find all the technical aspects of this sport really fascinating and not too far from my field, the concentration, how you control your breathing and every muscle, how clothing and shoes affect precision etc. In film school they forced us to use the right eye since old cameras' viewfinders were set up this way and keep the left closed, pretty sure my left is dominant even though I'm right handed, it's gonna be cool to experiment with both eyes in the range and find what works best for me.

[@burhanbudak6041]

Yusuf Dikeç can be pronounced Yusuf Dikech, Jandarma, like the Army, Navy, Airforce, Police is trained to shoot with both eyes. But after this Olympic, drip will be king. Still all who where in the gun/dueling competition looked drip.

[@SPIKESPIEGEL1969]

drip??

[@joemorton9217]

I just got into air guns about a month ago and I’m loving it very much! This is a great video with a lot of good info 💖🙏💖.

[@lifepolicy]

The most difficult part is to do that shot 60 times in a row.

[@phil20_20]

This is one of those things like firberglass poles for the polevault. Time goes by, and technology always wins out.

[@Skusty]

Thanks for the insights, very informative.

[@glenmorrison8080]

I caught the women pistol event and was shocked to see that they DONT SHOW THE TARGETS - the camera angle is facing the shooter head on. Absolutely baffling decision for broadcast.

[@BlokeontheRange]

It's electronic targets so there's no reason not to.

[@kylehippchen1677]

Great video. Is there any chance of getting a similar video on the rifle competitions?

[@BlokeontheRange]

Thanks. It's not so much my thing cos I've never competed in any of the Olympic rifle disciplines myself, but possibly.

[@thatsquidwardfeel5567]

@@BlokeontheRange Perhaps a collaboration with Freesport/Dufaux (Gilles Dufaux, one of the owners, shoots 300m ISSF, 300m CISM, 50m Rifle and 10m Air Rifle at international level)? I've been at their shop a few times and they've always seemed more than happy to explain stuff even when I wasn't there to spend thousands.

[@timdinch5598]

Excellent explanation of competitive pistol shooting. Back in the day, when Feinwerkbau 65's and 80's ruled the Olympic roost, you also had to factor in reload discipline as they were single shot.

[@OzzieKev]

The modern air pistols still are single shot. There are some multi shot air pistols, but the match rules only allow single pellet loading.

[@BobyourUncle]

I've always found this sort of competition far more rewarding than clanging on a gong the size of a dinner plate. Group size = accuracy and accuracy = group size and the only way to measure that is with paper or electronic targets. Thanks for this Bloke - I thoroughly enjoyed this one! How about something covering the Olympic rifle disciplines next?

[@MJA5]

@@BobyourUncle a dinner plate is not an easy target at 500 meters.

[@BobyourUncle]

@@MJA5 Granted, but imagine if you were so good that you could halve the size of it! You'd only know if that was possible if you bought a smaller gong or used a paper target ;)

[@maximilianmustermann5763]

Have you tried IPSC or USPSA? It's not about clanging on a gong, it's about hitting that steel as fast as possible without missing and then moving to the next targets as fast as possible. It's much more complex than "just shooting". You always have to correctly judge your speed depending on the distance of the target, and your overall time is immensely important. I'm not saying the 25m bulls eye is boring, I do both. I also do .45 ACP and 9mm and .357 mag bulls eye at 25 m. It's all interesting and rewarding for me.

[@atavax311]

if you're right handed and left eye dominant, is it feasible to use a stance where you shoot with your right hand and aim with your left eye or would you likely have to shoot left handed for best results?

[@BlokeontheRange]

Yup, perfectly normal to shoot pistol cross-eyed.