AusPistol has 5 minutes with Bruce Favell

When did you start shooting?
I started when I was 14 in 1979 as a Junior, introduced to pistol shooting by my father, Neil. The whole family became involved and it was a big part of our life travelling around to Open Shoots and the Nationals each year.

You took a 7 year break from shooting during the 90's, why was that ?
I had recently got married, changed jobs, moved to Brisbane and bought a house. I was tending to think about other things that I should have been doing at home while I was training and it was not as much fun as it should have been. I always said that if I was not enjoying my shooting that I would stop and have a break. Since starting again in late 1999, I have really enjoyed my shooting and look forward to going out to the range to train as often as I can.

Have you ever had a full time coach?
Not really, the first few years it was more trial and error. I did a couple of weekend coaching camps but it was probably shooting with the family and getting little hints and tricks from mum and dad that helped most. It could not have been too bad, I still remember the day at Glen Innes (a club of about 40 shooters) when a visiting shooter shot 581 in Centre Fire but only managed to come in 5th place off gun. When I moved to Tamworth (1984), Peter Mazoudier (a NSW State Team member at the time) was a big help. He would make me think more about my shooting and prompt me to concentrate on my basic technique. It was with Peter that my shooting matured and my approach to my shooting became more professional. Since resuming shooting in 1999, my training scores have been the best and most consistant that they have ever been - I am still working on building up my 'competition' scores but with the recent addition of Terry Anderson to the Brisbane Club, that might just do the trick. (Terry is a Rapid Fire shooter who has been on the US team for quite a number of years and has just moved back to Australia.)

Rapid Fire is your favourite match, what brand of pistol do you use?
I have used a Walther OSP since 1986 and currently have a 'Match' version. It is actually an old frame with a new 'top' and my own buffer system and lightened slide. I had a grip custom made for me in Germany after the 1986 World Championships, and have not needed to change it since. When I took my 'break', I sold my pistols but kept the Walther grip. I figured that having the old grip would save me having to go through the process of getting a new one to fit me properly and it would save a lot of trial and error. It was like coming back to an old friend.
I was using Fiocchi ammunition, it was very consistant and grouped really well out of my gun - now I use RWS R25 but need to test each batch of R25 to make sure it groups ok in my gun.

What about some advice for Juniors just starting out?
Shoot the other matches but spend more training time with Air to get the best results. It is good to get a bit of variation in you shooting, but you can't beat the basics that Air Pistol will teach you. Another hint is not to get burnt out trying to do heaps of 'dry firing'. I work on the theory that 10 minutes of quality time with dry firing will always beat 30 minutes of doing it for no real reason.

If you get the chance to watch or talk to other 'top line' shooters, don't be afraid to ask questions - not just on technique but ask what and why they enjoy their shooting - they will be more than happy to talk to you after they finish shooting. Ask about overseas trips or being in the State team - hearing their stories it is a great way to get motivated to achieve more. Also, being around shooters who get good scores helps make good scores easier to achieve.

How do you motivate yourself to reach your goals?
That is a tricky one, but having the backing of your family plays a big part. Making them part of the overall plan helps in gaining their support and appreciation for what you are doing.
One thing I remember from my early shooting career was getting the 'Bulletin' (the Pistol Australia magazine) in the mail and reading about the scores and overseas travels of junior shooters in the Australian Teams of the time. It was great incentive to go out to train so I could get on one of those overseas trips one day. It took me 7 years to make my first overseas team but it was well and truly worth the effort.

Do you do any additional fitness or strength training?
Prior to the last two Nationals and leading up the the World Champs / Comm Games trip, I swam about 1km a day, 5 days a week, for two months before the shoot. I don't know if it helped my fitness, but it did seem to get a bit easier to do the sessions as I went along, and I felt good (mentally) about making the effort to do the extra physical work. Other than that, it is pretty much just shooting.

What was your funniest shooting experience?
At the last World Championships, Linda Ryan asked Emil Milev from Bulgaria if he would like to come out to dinner with the rest of the Aussie pistol team. (Emil was the number 1 ranked Rapid Fire shooter in the world at the time.) We got to know him quite well and, as it turned out, I shot my second half of Rapid Fire next to him the following day. After we had finished, I had beaten Emil by a couple of points in that half, so I went over to talk and gave hime a little kick in the backside for not shooting so well as a joke. Turns out, some of the other Bulgarians were watching and later stirred him about how one of the Aussies 'kicked his arse' at the World Championships.