Best answer:
I spent decades teaching 12-17 year olds how to shoot, we used 22 rimfire rifles. Any experience is good experience - however - practice does not make perfect unless you find someone to mentor you. Buy a small note book and keep track of your scores. You should see them move up quickly at first and then raise...
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Best answer: I spent decades teaching 12-17 year olds how to shoot, we used 22 rimfire rifles. Any experience is good experience - however - practice does not make perfect unless you find someone to mentor you. Buy a small note book and keep track of your scores. You should see them move up quickly at first and then raise slower. Eventually your scores will flat line - assuming you are not shooting a piece of junk air gun, the reason for not getting better will be you. This flat line will be your 'cue' to start taking it more serious. Develop a routine - wear the same comfortable clothing, look for any distraction and remove them, tighten or lighten the sling, try different color safety glasses, etc. Best to find someone better than you to give you pointers - failing that - there are tons of articles and books online you can read about competition shooting........for some folks, just skipping morning coffee can make a difference. Go online and find out when the next matches are in your area and attend - you can learn allot by watching others. Pay attention to everything - range commands, what folks do to prepare, and especially how they get into firing positon. After you have watched a match, if you can enter the next matches - do it! Jump right in!!!
Something you need to consider though. When I was a military instructor - the hardest thing was getting people to rid themselves of bad habits - like flinch, anticipation. I expect the army is used to taking in green troops and training them in a time proven way. I cant image any bad habbits you could get from an air rifle, however, as you meet people at the range, dont let someone hand you anything bigger than you feel comfortable with.
Good luck