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Experience Level:

Advanced

The Grandaddy of Colt 1911 Competition: NRA Bull’s-Eye

There are, as you might suspect, numerous sports one can shoot with a Colt 1911 or one of its many current day variations. But if you want to stay in keeping with the history of the gun itself, look no further than National Rifle Association (NRA) sanctioned bull’s-eye events.

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Intermediate

First Shots Shooter Profile—Meet Rimfire Challenge Competitor Cheyenne Dalton

At eight years of age, Cheyenne Dalton took her first shots with a firearm. She admits that she was apprehensive at first, but the nerves quickly gave way to excitement.

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Intermediate

Shooting Leagues are the Places to Be

If you’re wondering how to get motivated to pack up your gun and gear and head to the range, one of the easiest ways is to join a shooting league. Some of the best advice for starting any new habit is to do it with other people, who in turn come to depend on you to be there to shoot with them.

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Advanced

Learning Progressive-Position Air Pistol

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

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Intermediate

Dry-Fire for Handgun Shooting Success

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

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Novice

Shotgun Shells Explained

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

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Novice

Holiday Gun Buying: Things to Remember

With gift-giving season approaching once again, we remind readers who intend on purchasing a firearm as a gift for a family member or friend that there are many laws and regulations, from federal to local, to consider. Read the full blog post on holiday gun buying to make your gift memorable for all the right reasons and not the wrong ones. Looking for some wish list ideas? Here’s a trio of holiday gift guides to get you started: HandgunsMag.com, ArmoryBlog.com, BassPro.com.

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Intermediate

New Shooter Profile: A Conversation with USA Shooting’s Jessica Delos Reyes

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

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Novice

Hooray for Hollywood

I grew up with guns, but they were always the two-dimensional type. I still laugh every time I see Bugs Bunny put his finger in the barrel of Elmer Fudd’s shotgun and it blows up in Elmer’s face. Also, I never understood why Sgt. York licked his finger to wet his front sight, but it still made me giggle. From cops and robbers to absurd car chases and unrealistic explosions, I am a fan of it all. I thought Cowboys & Aliens was the best combination since peanut butter and jelly.

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