Rob Leatham on Bullseye

Comparing Precision Pistol to Action shooting.

In addition to his myriad accomplishments in action shooting, Rob Leatham is also a Precision Pistol competitor and earned the President's Hundred tab.

Click/tap to watch Rob Leatham on 1911 handguns:

“The performance that took the greatest amount of effort was to make the President's Hundred at Camp Perry in Service Pistol. I worked harder for that than I ever did for any national or world title shoot. It's because I'm not very good at that. And due to that aspect, the drive to work at it was harder than it might have been for other things. I don’t have great shooting skills for Bullseye. It became my great white whale and it took me a few years to do it. Bullseye is way out of my wheelhouse, but making the President's Hundred and the memory of Jim Henderson pulling the tab off his uniform and giving it to me is a go-to-the-grave memory for me.”
- Rob Leatham

Click/tap to watch video introductions to popular American Conventional shooting:

Project Rapid+Action

Some years ago, the National Shooting Sports Foundation sponsored Project Rapid+Action. Held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, numerous big-name champion practical/action competition shooters were invited to try out for Rapid Fire Pistol and other International shooting events held at the Olympics. These shooters included Jerry Miculek, Todd Jarrett, Bruce Gray, John Pride, Richard "Tequila" Young, Don Golembieski, Mike Dalton, Mickey Fowler, Bruce Piatt, and Matt Burkett. Walt Rauch authored “Top Action Shooters Try Olympic Rapid Fire Pistol” in Handguns magazine about it.

The result: all of these champion shooters shot well (no surprise!) but none put up scores high enough to qualify for an Olympic event during this session.

There is no doubt any of these champion action/speed shooters could have improved enough to qualify for the Olympics if they dedicated themselves to it, but none of them did. The same thing would happen if shooters from an Olympic shooting event competed in their first action/practical shooting match. It's very understandable why name, sponsored, champion shooters would not make the switch away from the competitions they're winning at.

Key Takeaways

• Nobody, not even an established champion, will waltz in and win a different shooting discipline at a high level without putting in considerable specific effort toward that goal.

• Conventional/Precision shooting is more difficult than just “slow down and get your hits” even for champion action/practical competitors.

• Cross-training is a great way to break out of your comfort zone and further your skills.

• A willingness to be a beginner again at something new to you is useful.