Tell me about .22 Bullseye

[kiver]

A lot of good info here. And I wish I read this before my first bullseye competition last night at ARC. Three of us went and only brought two guns as my 41 is in the shop. A member there let me use his 41 so we could all shoot together. It was very laid back and not at all intimidating but my nerves were still in full force. I had a tough time seeing the target do to it being dark. Only scored 195, but now I know what to expect as ii have never shot one handed before

 

[Emoto]

If a shooter on the line is having a problem with lighting, that is something that should be brought to the attention of whoever is calling/running the line during the 3 minute preparation period, IMHO. They should then try to fix it for you. I had an issue at one club with floodlights behind the shooting position reflecting on my red dot - very distracting. They were kind enough to temporarily unscrew the offending bulbs.

 

[bbarer]

Lighting has always been an issue for me in bullseye. Every club has a different system, some have individual light controls at each position, some are lit like Fenway Park and others are as dark as Batman on Halloween. Best thing to do is train and practice under differant conditions. I have been a range officer for 25 years and never had anyone come to me complaining about the lights...my line calling uhh.... maybe once or twice...hey anyone can forget a range command now and again!

 

[Moderator]

I rarely bitch about the lighting. Remember there are 30 other guys who are shooting under the same circumstances.

 

[jar]

A lot of good info here. And I wish I read this before my first bullseye competition last night at ARC. Three of us went and only brought two guns as my 41 is in the shop. A member there let me use his 41 so we could all shoot together. It was very laid back and not at all intimidating but my nerves were still in full force. I had a tough time seeing the target do to it being dark. Only scored 195, but now I know what to expect as ii have never shot one handed before

Were you shooting irons or a dot? Moving to a dot has made the variable lighting much less of a problem for me that it is with iron sights. There are a few people in our league who shoot well with irons and my hat is off to them. I don't think I could.

 

[kiver]

Shooting dots. I need to see the eye doctor as I have trouble focusing with dim light. It is more a me thing then anything elae

 

[bbarer]

Those that shoot well iron are the older folks like myself that started in the sport when everyone shot iron sights. Remember dots only really became mainstream in the late 80's and early 90's..prior to that it was mostly iron... I am still ok with iron but no where near as competitive as I am with a dot. I still shoot centerfire with iron however to keep my hand in....

 

[Moderator]

There are a few people in our league who shoot well with irons and my hat is off to them. I don't think I could.

+1, The some of the veterans on my team talk about shooting in the old days with Don Hamilton (RIP), they tell me he was amazing and did it all with iron sights. Meanwhile I'm struggling to brake 270 with my Ultradot.

 

[dcmdon]

I don't think irons are the liability that people make them out to be. I'm 44 now and started shooting bullseye when I was 18 as something to do with my dad. He was about 45 at the time. He said he couldn't hit anything with the irons. So I took on of our Ruger Mk IIs and installed a good set of target grips, a very very early aimpoint (circa 1985) and a Volqhartsen trigger kit on it. His scores improved. It wasn't until years later that I knew enough to watch him shoot and saw his terrible trigger squeeze (jerk) and realized that the improvement he made was probably more from teh Volqhartsen trigger than anything else.

If you can focus close enough to bring the front sight into focus, you should be able to shoot irons well. I'm just saying that because we have dot sights available to us, we switch at the first sign of trouble rather than figure out how to make them work for us.

I'm still a huge fan of iron sights. Particularly aperture sights, which seem to mitigate much of our eyes aging. I'm still 20/15 in my dominant eye, so no complaints there, but my near vision is going to hell. For now my arms are long enough to still shoot irons well.

 

[jar]

I can shoot aperture sights on rifles reasonably well outdoors and I'm pretty confident I could shoot irons on pistol decently outdoors if I worked at it. The terrible light on many indoor ranges is another story though.

 

[bbarer]

+1, The some of the veterans on my team talk about shooting in the old days with Don Hamilton (RIP), they tell me he was amazing and did it all with iron sights. Meanwhile I'm struggling to brake 270 with my Ultradot.

I fondly remember shooting Bullseye next Don Hamilton outdoors at 50 yards when we used to have the USRA matches at Ames. He was shooting high 280's with iron sights pretty amazing when you factor in the windy conditions on a large open range..

 

[PatMcD]

My buddy just bought a used Hammerli 208 International from Larry C. He said we're going to start shooting Bullseye at some time in the future. We shot it a little at 30yds with both irons and a dot. The dot sure does take out all the sight alignment issues. The problem with us both sharing the same pistol is his hand fits it great; my hand not so much. I have to torque it to the left to get the dot on paper.

 

[Gastrok]

Has anyone else had/seen similar experiences with the Ruger Mark series?

I've had my MK III for about a year...thousands of rounds through it with very few issues. I ran about 400 rounds through it just last weekend with no problems and I'm pretty sure it was dirty from the 375 rounds I put through it a couple weeks before.

 

[marvelshooter]

Very glad to see this thread come back to life. Reading through it for the first time in quite a while I realize there is a lot of good info here. I also remember Don Hamilton and have shot with several members of this forum through the years. I am now shooting for the Acushnet team on Mondays and Tuesdays.

 

[jaypap]

A few things to think about if you decide to start Bullseye.
Practice before your first match. Make sure you are at least on the paper. Everyone is patient with newcomers but if you are crossfiring onto someone else's target, you aren't going to make any new friends. If you are shooting high and hitting the target hanger, that is very distracting to the other shooters and frowned upon in general.
Take your time in slow fire. Ten minutes is a long time to fire 10 rounds. Resist the urge to shoot quickly. Don't feel that just because you picked up the gun from the bench you have to fire. If the shot isn't there, put the gun down, take a few deep breaths and continue. Sometimes I may pick up my gun two or three times before I take a shot. Try to get a feel for the cadence of the timed and rapid sections. The 20 seconds you have in timed fire is actually a pretty long time, so don't go crazy trying to squeeze off 5 rounds as fast as you can. Rapid fire is fairly quick, that is when you want to be able to shoot every second and a half.
The simplest advice I ever got was this: Don't take the shot if its not a 10. That sounds simplistic, but once you concentrate and think about it, a lot of times you'll find yourself shooting "hoping" it hits the 10 ring. Don't squeeze until you know its a 10.

Great advice George, the best advice I got was slow down the target is not shooting back at you.

 

[GaryW]

Once I get my LTC I would definitely consider this...is there a place where I can see the rules, etc.? I'd like to get something like a S&W M41 with an Ultradot at some point, but I might see if I can lay myself on something less expensive to start. Does anyone know if Harvard has a bullseye competition?

 

[marvelshooter]

Once I get my LTC I would definitely consider this...is there a place where I can see the rules, etc.? I'd like to get something like a S&W M41 with an Ultradot at some point, but I might see if I can lay myself on something less expensive to start. Does anyone know if Harvard has a bullseye competition?

http://www.bullseyepistol.com/

 

[cstockwell]

Very glad to see this thread come back to life. Reading through it for the first time in quite a while I realize there is a lot of good info here. I also remember Don Hamilton and have shot with several members of this forum through the years. I am now shooting for the Acushnet team on Mondays and Tuesdays.

We are extremely happy to have him too. GREAT shooter and helps out the rest of us who are struggling to stay consistent. It is funny how having a few good shooters can really improve the team as a whole because now everyone strives to try to beat the team top dog. I never shot iron sights except for playing for a few weeks with my pardini when I first got it while the scope rings were being machined. It was surprisingly easy and accurate with the sights on it...a lot like the sights and setup on the baikail air pistol. I still wouldn't take the ultradot off it now though. Easily the best scope out there. At some point I am hoping to make a few of the 900 outdoor matches with marvel once I finish the 1911 he helped me setup.

 

[marvelshooter]

We are extremely happy to have him too. GREAT shooter and helps out the rest of us who are struggling to stay consistent. It is funny how having a few good shooters can really improve the team as a whole because now everyone strives to try to beat the team top dog.

At least one of you did take out the top dog Monday. What did you end up with?

 

[cstockwell]

I was our low man with 275. stupid slow fire. We had a practice last night with enough for two lines of shooters. I shot a 292...95 slow. I can shoot nice slows in practice fairly easy. I get in the match and my brain goes haywire. T&R are always consistent but slow is up and down. This is why I jump up and down from 70's to low 80's. When I finally do get my head straight I put up high 80s and have hit 90's. I am trying to figure out what goes through your mind when you shoot. You seem so even keeled. And it was only Tony that beat you btw and that was because you must have ran out of rounds and only shot 28. Team had a 1396 I believe so it was good overall. As long as we keep our team score up near 1400 we are OK

Oh yeah. I should have the replacement tshirts by the end of the week too and will hand them out next home match.

 

[marvelshooter]

I was our low man with 275. stupid slow fire. I am trying to figure out what goes through your mind when you shoot. You seem so even keeled.

As little as possible. Eye on the dot - not the target. Trigger straight back and get the first shot of sustained fire off as close to the buzzer as possible so the rest are not rushed. On a good night nothing else.

 

[dcmdon]

Once I get my LTC I would definitely consider this...is there a place where I can see the rules, etc.? I'd like to get something like a S&W M41 with an Ultradot at some point, but I might see if I can lay myself on something less expensive to start. Does anyone know if Harvard has a bullseye competition?

Gary,

At 44 years old, I've been shooting for about 30 years. These days I do everything from deer hunting, hi-power/cmp style shooting, local practical shooting events, trap, and sporting clays. The high point of my shooting was reaching Expert in IDPA in Stock Service Pistol.

Much of the foundation for doing any of these things, I attribute to shooting in a .22 bulls eye league from the time I was 18 to 22. Your trigger squeeze when mowing down bowling pins is the same as your trigger squeeze when shooting slow fire in a bulleeye league, just faster.

If you want to be a good shooter in almost any shooting discipline, you should have some bulls eye experience. A used buckmark or Mk II will shoot better than you can. You don't need to spend a lot. Like others have said, be safe, be on the paper, bring enough ammo and enough mags to keep up and most importantly check your ego at the door. The things you learn to do instinctively shooting bullseye like natural point of aim, a good trigger squeeze, good follow through, sight alignment, grip and stance are the foundations on which other shooting skills are built.

Most competitive shooters will bend over backwards to help a novice. By novice, I mean someone new to that discipline. You can be an IDPA grand master, but if you've never shot sporting clays, then you are a novice on the sporting clays field. I've never started in a new shooting discipline and not been thoroughly amazed at how much help was offered to me.

 

[cstockwell]

Very well said. Bullseye is a great way to learn the disciplines for shooting. It is also very humbling too. As we like to say when we shoot badly though it is better than sitting home. Really fun to be out with a great bunch of guys enjoying yourself and having some competition. I am still thankful that Arthur Plante talked me into trying it out when I first joined the club and I went out and bought a MKII with a aimpoint 1000 and thought it was the best thing ever. I still like that gun a lot.

 

[GaryW]

Thanks Don... sage advice. I have been shooting off and on since firing my uncle's .38 Special about 25 years ago. I have been doing more practicing and can shoot pretty well to at least 35 yds with a S&W .22LR pistol. I haven't tried 50yds since I did my qualification for BFSC but I did well with a Ruger .22 SA which I may go with. I have heard they are b**** to clean though. I have had my eye on a MkII for a while.

 

[Terminator03]

I somehow missed this thread when it was active the first time through. This is something that I would really like to try but at this point the only .22 pistol I have is a Ruger SR22. Is that even worthwhile to try to use since it is considered to be more of a plinker than a target gun?

 

[dcmdon]

Thanks Don... sage advice. I have been shooting off and on since firing my uncle's .38 Special about 25 years ago. I have been doing more practicing and can shoot pretty well to at least 35 yds with a S&W .22LR pistol. I haven't tried 50yds since I did my qualification for BFSC but I did well with a Ruger .22 SA which I may go with. I have heard they are b**** to clean though. I have had my eye on a MkII for a while.

Well, it sounds like you are on your way. The MkII is a piece of cake once you figure out the tricks. Again, anyone who has shot one for a while would be happy to share with you the tricks. (pull the trigger and point the gun down so the hammer drops, then point the gun up so the hammer strut is aligned with the divot in the mainspring . . . )

This is just my personal preference, but the Mk IIIs have a magazine disconnect that is a real pain in the butt. I'm told you can modify them to remove the magazine safety. But it involves buying stuff from Volqhartsen or Power Custom.

rimfirecentral.com is your friend for all things .22

 

[marvelshooter]

My wife has an SR22 and it is a really fun gun. It would not be my first choice for a bullseye gun. I suppose it would work well enough to try out the sport. I don't mean to sound discouraging but a much better choice would be a Ruger MKll if you can find one.

 

[Terminator03]

My wife has an SR22 and it is a really fun gun. It would not be my first choice for a bullseye gun. I suppose it would work well enough to try out the sport. I don't mean to sound discouraging but a much better choice would be a Ruger MKll if you can find one.

Thanks, that's kind of what I figured. I will keep my eyes open. I have passed a couple by that I now regret because they seem to be getting a bit more scarce than in past years for some reason.

 

[Glou01930]

This was my 2nd week in bullseye and im loving it ! Just go try it out with any .22 you can get your hands on you will have fun either way

 

[dcmdon]

Terminator - marvelshooter's username has reminded me of another option.

If you happen to have a nice 1911 with a good trigger, you can end up with a very nice .22 target gun by buying a target style .22 conversion.

Bob Marvel has produced similar designs for several companies. They vary in price, but all are more accurate than you are going to be for a long time.

1) Advantage Arms Target Model - Cost less than $300. Works great. Mags are cheap.
2) Marvel Precision Unit 1 - About $500. Company is no longer owned by Bob Marvel
3) Marvel Custom Guns - This is an accurized Advantage Arms conversion. I dont think its made anymore
4) Nighthawk Custom Marvel Conversion - this was cooperateive effort between Bob and NHC. After some initial teething pains, its shipping now. I'm not sure how much better it is than an advantage arms conversion.

So. If you have a decent 1911, less than $300 will get you a nice AA conversion. You can get mags for $15. Here's a pic of mine on top of my Les Baer.

Don