Local league shoots precision pistol

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - Alaska is home to a large shooting community including a successful collegiate rifle team, but there are many more shooting sports available in the interior. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game Indoor Shooting Range is host to a local pistol league that competes twice a week in spring, fall, and winter.

The Bullseye or Precision pistol league is a part of the Alaska Interior Marksmanship Committee which works to promote shooting sports in the interior as well teaching proper handling and improving shooting skills. This is done by holding training, and competitive leagues and other events.

For the shooting leagues, the spring and fall leagues only shoot .22 caliber pistols at a distance of 50 feet. Each match consists of shooting 9 targets total, three slow fire targets, three timed fire targets, and three rapid fire targets. For the slow fire, a shooter has ten minutes to place ten shots on the target. For the timed fire, a shooter has 20 seconds to place five rounds on the target which is repeated twice for each target. Meanwhile the rapid fire targets and tackled in ten second intervals of five shots.

This means that a perfect score would be 900 points which “no one” in the league has ever accomplished according to Paul Maki the pistol league coordinator. Maki says that the best shooters in the leagues tend to shoot around 850 points total but most shoot a much lower score due to the difficulty of the sport. Unlike rifle, there is no special gear worn buy pistol shooters, and they only shoot one handed decreasing accuracy. There are a large assortment of qualifying models to choose from, and each participant can use a red dot sight or open sights.

The leagues have been in existence for about 20 years and have had a healthy number of participants usually ranging around 40-60 members in a given league season. Maki also mentioned that the leagues often become a “family activity” as they have had participants as young as 12-years-old join. For those interested in the sport, they can visit the range on a Wednesday or Friday at 7 p.m. or visit their website at https://aimcomm.org/web/.

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