AIR PISTOL is great for beginners and advanced shooters alike. It is great for the teaching of handgun shooting fundamentals as the highly accurate handguns, with their minimum allowable trigger weight of 500 grams are easy to control and have no recoil. This is a slow fire match demanding similar levels of precision to Free Pistol. It is shot at 10 meters on a target with a 12mm Ten-ring. The match consists of 60 shots for the men and 40 shots for women - the airpistols are very economical to shoot and are practically noisless compared to the cartridge firearms. The pistols themselves can be very expensive. Second-hand pistols can be picked up for as low as $200 which is a great way for beginners to get into this sport, or can be as expensive as some of the latest Steyer and Feinwerkbau that are on offer at $2,500.

But you don't need to shell out for one of those just yet. Ballarat has Club air pistols that are taken to the club on Monday nights for anyone who needs one. This is a very social match with a relaxed atmosphere. Beginners will find this match great for talking to the members and learning about the club whilst starting out in a no-pressure environment. Ballarat has inter-club competitions with the Castlemaine Pistol Club where they come to Ballarat to compete or we go to Castlemaine for the evening. It's a great night with supper provided afterwards for a chance for more relaxing and discussion.

Air Pistol Links of interest:

The AIRPISTOL Home Page -http://www.pilkguns.com/aphp/aphphome.htm

Hermann's Guns - http://www.sportingguns.com.au/Pistols/Steyr/Steyr.html