The purpose of the “Shooter Spotlight” is to help shooters get to know their fellow competitors a little bit better. We cover a wide range of shooters from “Marksman to Master.” This is the second interview in the series.
Kim Chrostowski
Rockville, Rhode Island
How long have you been shooting?
I have been shooting for about 12 years.
How did you get involved in shooting competitively?
My dad took my sister and I to the Rhode Island state games where we got to shoot smallbore and sporter. I got a silver medal (out of two people) in the tyro sporter event. My sister and I had a great time so later my dad signed us up for a sporter air rifle program run by Michele Makucevich at Newport and from there we joined a junior team.
What is a little known fact about yourself that your fellow competitors might not know?
When I was younger I was a cheerleader, I was also in a lot of school plays. For one play in 8th grade I had to play an old lady and I borrowed my grandmothers wig, when I passed my dad in the auditorium he didn’t recognize me.
What do you consider your finest shooting achievement.
Back in November 2005 I competed in my first international match at the Championship of the Americas in Puerto Rico. And I actually won which was great because it gave a quota slot to the US. It was a really good experience and I was glad to be part of the US team that did very well down there.
What is your favorite pre-match meal?
Definitely a big bowl of pasta with marinara sauce and lots of garlic bread.
What is your favorite post match drink?
Well at Camp Perry its usually blue Gatorade and lots of water.
Do you have a favorite shooting range?
I am a fan of the range at the Olympic Training Center out in Colorado Springs. I like the upstairs air gun range even though the floor shakes when people walk behind you.
Do you have any short term and/or long term goals?
I just graduated college so the immediate short term goal right now is to get a job (if anyone is hiring please let me know…) before getting married next November. Long term goals would be balancing work and family and still being able to shoot.
What shooting skill are currently focusing your energy on?
Right now I am focusing on how I take the shot. I tend to shift my mind away from concentrating on the ten to pulling the trigger and in that time that the focus breaks I find my hold isn’t as good. So in short I’m trying to make trigger pull automatic when I see the ten.
Thanks Kim for sharing a little bit about yourself with the pronematch.com community!
Kim, nice job in England on the Roberts Team!
Hi Kim,
I enjoyed your interview! Here's some ideas that might help you on that trigger. 1) Adjust your trigger so it has maximum amount of overtravel. This wll allow you to be very aggressive on the trigger and pull it fast without worry of it slamming into the stop and making the rifle move. 2) Shoot the first 10 you see t even if it is an edge 10 appearance, especially if rifle moving towards center. 3) Don't think about pulling trigger, by the time you start thinking of that, the wobble is starting to get worse. Instead, make the pull instinctive based on what you see. My mantra is "see a 10 shoot a 10". 4 ) Use a big front aperture so movement, less apparent 5) Shoot the shot within 3-5 seconds of holding breath. I start routine over again if shot doesn't release in that 5 second window 6) Accept nothing less than perfect NPA and be very critical of NPA when changing from one bull to the next (not an issue on electronic targets). Good luck and I hope you find at least one tidbit in my words that helps you.
Kim, I enjoyed your interview. Kent, thank you for your insight on taking a shot. I will work on incorporating your suggestions and see how that help my shooting. I do have one question. I hear many people talk about having a large front aperture, but no one qualifies that. How big is large and how do I know if it is too large? What do you use as a reference to pick the size of the front aperture? I appreciate your input.
Joe, for prone, I like a line of white equal to radius of aiming bull. For offhand, I is about 1/4 again larger. Dan, all my rifles except one are single stage. IMO, all the time spent carefully pulling the first stage of a two stage trigger – and make no mistake, one must be careful not to pull through it – is a waste of time. By the time most shooters milk the first stage, I've already got the bullet going downrange. Additionally, the time spent on the first stage is time ticking away while holding air and that is counter productive to my goal of not holding air for more than 5 seconds.
Dan, if your trigger is Anschutz 5018 model, it allows adjustment of first stage travel. I can't remember which screw does this adjustment but try adjusting it so there is minimal first stage travel. And completely remove the overtravel screw (if I remember correctly) to get maximum overtravel. Good luck.
Kent, thanks for the insight.
Nice interview. I am glad to see that there are some capable "younger folk" that have an interest in, and are pursuing the shooting sports.