Hello !

It is one of those times of the year where we have the excuse to treat ourselves to some pistol related gifts. You may even be thinking to buy them for a special shooter in your life :)

Here are some links and ideas to get you started (no commission on any of them) including a freebie towards the end:

Coaching

Give yourself at least one session with a professional coach. You can find the contacts of 60 here. Prices vary from country to country and depend on having an individual session or a group training. I pay

€50-€75 per hour of personal coaching and about €90 for a full day of group coaching (it is great to be with other shooters nerding out).

Training plans

If you cannot afford a coach or there are none available close to you, try the training plans available for the Olympic Pistol supporters. $15 (only three left) or $20 give you instant access to all of them.

New pistol

... or pistols :) It may be the time to increase your arsenal or swap guns. Check out these manufacturers for buying ideas:

• Feinwerkbau
• Pardini
• Walther
• Morini
• Steyr
• Match Guns

Which is your favorite brand and model?

A new grip

You may not want a new pistol, but you probably want a custom grip :)

• Rink
• Nill
• Match Guns

Pellets and ammo

What good does it make to have a pistol if you cannot use it? Dry fire is not enough!

• JSB
• RWS
• H&N
• Qiang Yuan
• SK
• Elley
• CCI

Which other brands do you recommend?

Air

But air is free! Yes, it is free. How are you going to shoot your air pistol without getting it into the cylinder? Easy, with a compressor or a pump :) With the corona restrictions and having tasted shooting also at home we can never have enough air.

These are the two compressors we are currently considering buying for my range in Brussels:

• Bauer Junior II
• Coltri MCH6

When it comes to pumps I can recommend the Hatsan brand. I got one that was abandoned in a friend's garage and it works great (plus, you get a workout). I have not tried other brands.

Spotting scope

Now that you are going to do all that extra 25m and 50m shooting with your new pistol and ammo, you may want to get a spotting scope to evaluate your impacts. The one I've settled for is the compact Bushnell 78-7345, which you may find second hand (it works great). This is their current line of scopes.

Shoes

I've just reviewed the Sauer Easy Top. A couple alternatives are Corami and Adidas (yes, weight lifting shoes!). Reviews coming soon.

Targets

Time to buy yourself an electronic target? Here are a few to choose from (cheaper as you go down the list):

• Sius
• Meyton
• SCATT training system: not exactly a target but can be used as such for dry firing and to improve your shooting (all my SCATT posts and reviews)
• Inband (review here)
• Sport Quantum (review here)
• freeeTarget (super cheap for the handy DIY shooters)

Target holder

A cheaper and easier alternative is just a simple target holder with a pellet trap. You can use it with regular targets, reduced, or flipped targets. It is hard to find one for ISSF targets, so I add rifle targets to a non ISSF target and shoot at 5.13 meters. Krale makes a bunch of them (skip the thin flat ones, pellets bounce back), but they are easy to find in sporting goods stores and online.

Paper targets

Electronic target or not, you are going to need paper (targets, masks, and roll). Kruger is my go to brand and trusted by many of the ranges I shoot at.

A shooting journal

Start your own with a notepad, or make your life easy with my Target Shooting Journal or this one pager.

Shooting books

Insightful pistol shooting knowledge for competitive pistol shooters like us is hard to find. These books help. If I had to choose only one it would be Master Competitive Pistol Shooting.

Range bag

I don't like most range bags because they are heavy and not comfortable to walk big distances with. I use this Hot Tuna travel backpack and love it: light, inexpensive, and plenty of space with zippers I can lock to comply with firearm regulations. My pistol boxes (Pardini and Steyr size) fit perfectly in one side and I can add my shoes to the other one (plus water bottle, glasses, belt, pellets, ammo, tools...) I owe you a review and a look into what I carry in it.

A trip to a competition

To participate in it! Find an open competition within a range that you are willing to travel to and save the money needed to go there, sleep, eat, and shoot. You train damn hard, you deserve the treat of a bigger competition :)

A gift from the sponsors

Free shooting psychology book

Paul has worked with some of the world's best Olympic shooters during his time as Great Britain's Lead Psychologist. Download his free ebook, with some of his top insights and tasks to further your psychological thinking, by clicking here.

Inband air Bluetooth electronic target

Become a sponsor

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What can I do to help you improve your shooting?

Looking forward to hearing from you (reply to this email with your advice) :)

May the automatic and unconscious perfect trigger never leave you!

PS: I've removed all the advertising from the website and will change the theme to try to improve your experience. Please give feedback and if you can support.

Ramon Suarez

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