McNally’s Sure-Fire Approach to Games : Shooting: He missed in the Los Angeles and Seoul Games in pistol, but hopes to return for third Olympics.

A week ago, Capt. John McNally of the U.S. Army was in Barcelona, testing the new Olympic pistol range.

He may be making a return trip this summer.

McNally is a favorite to win one of two Olympic berths on the U.S. shooting team’s roster in rapid-fire pistol.

The second trials match starts today in Chino, with McNally nine points ahead of Roger Mar of Colorado Springs, Colo. The top eight shooters from the U.S. national team were invited to compete for the two positions.

“A lead like that is a fair lead, but not a fat one,” pistol Coach Arnold Vitarbo said. “Based on his past experience, the fact that he doesn’t make many mistakes, a nine-point lead is a good one for John.”

McNally, 36, may have the best chance of any American to win a gold medal in pistol competition.

McNally, a second-generation Olympian, has been shooting competitively since he was 13 and is in his eighth year as a rapid-fire specialist for the U.S. team.

His father, James, is his real coach, with Vitarbo providing advice when necessary.

“I got started pretty young, just watching my dad practice,” he said. “When he’d go out and practice, my brother and I would go with him.

“Even though we weren’t shooting competitively yet . . . we’d always be out there, just trying with our BB guns or whatever.”

He became accurate with more than BB guns.

McNally was soon a marksman in rifle competition and the captain of his high school rifle team in Columbus, Ga.

His father competed in the 1968 and ’72 Olympics, finishing 10th in rapid-fire at Munich in ’72.

John’s brother, Ken, won a gold medal in rapid-fire at the 1982 Pan American Games.

“He had a lot more natural talent than I did,” McNally said. “There are natural shooters, and then there are shooters like me, who really have to work at it.”

McNally finished seventh in the 1988 Games in Seoul but is no stranger to winning medals.

In 1989 he won a gold medal at the U.S. Shooting Gran Prix, took three golds and a silver at the Championship of the Americas, then set a world record while winning the gold medal at the Mexico World Cup.

Last year, he won individual and team gold medals at the Pan American games and was a silver medalist at the Seoul World Cup.

He also knows the frustrations of his discipline, though, having twice missed Olympic medals. He particularly struggled in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, finishing 26th.

“The pressure (in rapid-fire) is much greater than in other pistol events,” he said. “The free- and air-pistol shooters rely a lot more on accuracy and less pressure, whereas in rapid-fire you have to deal with a lot of pressure and still be accurate.”

In rapid-fire competition, a shooter must fire 60 shots within 72 seconds at a target 25 meters away. A free-pistol shooter has 2 hours 30 minutes to fire the same number of shots from 50 meters.

“The shooters who like rapid-fire have very quick reflexes and like to be in a situation where they have to think fast,” said Vitarbo, who became the national pistol coach April 11, when Dan Iuga resigned.

When he isn’t competing, McNally also is a coach. He instructs other soldiers in proper shooting techniques as a member of the Army’s Marksmanship Unit at Ft. Benning, Ga. The international team in his unit also instructs foreign nationals and armed forces of other countries in proper combat use of the pistol.

Because of military cutbacks, however, his unit has not been traveling much.

“Our budget has been cut in half, but we haven’t lost manpower,” he said. “Things like travel have been affected; that’s one of the reasons I’ve only been in one World Cup this year.”

But when he does travel, he knows he has the respect of his competition.

“It used to be, when you were going to compete against the European (pistol) shooters, you knew you were up against the big guys,” he said. “Now it’s evened out. . . . They’ve come up to our level in the rifle shooting, and we’ve come up to theirs in pistols.”

Vitarbo agrees.

“Right now in the world, there are probably a dozen people who could win the gold medal in rapid-fire, the level of competition is that close,” Vitarbo said. “But we expect John to be there in the medal count.”

McNally’s target pistol is a precision tool. He shoots with a .22 caliber FAS 601, an Italian model with custom grips designed for this event.

Staff Sgt. Larry Leutenegger is McNally’s chief mechanic, making sure that all the moving pistol parts work smoothly. Another assistant, Dave Mattice, services the trigger.

A properly maintained pistol makes a difference, but so does the range.

On his recent trip to Barcelona, McNally shot in a competition to certify the range according to International Shooting Union standards.

“The lighting conditions at that range were perfect for my style of shooting,” he said. “The range here in L.A. must have been originally designed by a rifle shooter. You have to be in the dark, shooting into the light, when you really want light that’s balanced equally.”

So, a range he likes might help him if he returns to Barcelona. In any event, he figures he is a much better shooter than in 1984 or even ’88.

“I’m a whole lot more mature now . . . and pretty much respected among the top European shooters,” he said. “I’ve been real competitive the last few years. I feel I could really (win the gold in Barcelona) this time.”