SSAA Nickol Bay
Getting Started in Pistol Shooting
New to pistol shooting and not sure where you should start? We've got you.
To help you decide how to tackle getting into the world of pistol shooting, we've provided some broad guidance around the skill level requirements for our most common Pistol disciplines, and what you can expect of each one.
Beginner: Mandar
Mandar is easy to learn but hard to master competition that is perfect for the beginning pistol shooter while a fun and engaging challenge for seasoned veterans of the sport.
It is comprised of five stages, with stages being shot at various distances, for a total of 48 shots on target. Your score is determined by number of shots within each scoring zone on the target with 480 being the maximum possible score.
This discipline is key in helping you to learn and refine pistol basics such as safe handling, grip, control, target acquisition and reloading.
Beginner to Intermediate: Steel Challenge
Steel Challenge is, you guessed it, a discipline where your targets are steel plates.
There are 8 stages in total with each stage having a different configuration of 5 steel plates. The premise is to engage all 5 steel plates in the quickest time possible, with the one condition that the STOP plate (which is identified by red paint) is engaged last.
Steel Challenge builds upon the basics established in Mandar, while introducing target transitions. That is, instead of pointing at a single fixed target, you are now having to aim at different targets in the stage, "transitioning" your point of aim between them. This helps you to quickly recover your point of aim between targets to get shots down range as quickly as possible.
In one stage, we introduce movement during shooting, where the participant engages two steel targets from one box, before safely moving to another and engaging the two remaining two steel targets and the final "stop" plate.
Intermediate to Advanced: Practical Pistol
The real challenge however begins with Practical Pistol. Everything you have learned between Mandar and Steel Challenge comes together as you engage targets and reload while moving through a stage.
Stages are set up in any configuration (as the rules may allow), containing targets of paper or steel, as well as moving targets. Participants must navigate through the stage engaging each target as safely and accurately as they can in the shortest time possible.
Each stage has a number of "points", with all points being awarded to participant who had the highest "factor" for that stage. The Factor is a number calculated from the total time taken, and the accuracy of the participant. The rest of the participants are awarded points based on their own "factors" for the stage, as a % of the stage winners factor. It's a bit tricky but members will be happy to explain to you in detail.
What to expect when shooting Practical Pistol!