New to Field Target - practice questions

We use a chart ... TROYER SCALE to determine a rating for a KZ hole size to a relative distance.

baranjhn said:

Thanks! I’m familiar with the scale and the rules. I’ve been researching alot. I’m just wanting to know about the tough shots to practice on, especially off handed and how often they can be expected to be encountered

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Off hand shots generally don't go past 35y or get inside 15y too often .. at least what I've experienced over 10+ years in FT
BUT a Big Yes on the close shots 15y and less no matter how shot can be a BIG DEAL and unless having correct DOPE for them can be a huge struggle to score on consistently. Most matches will have you doing 4 offhand shots per day ... generally.

Why I'm a huge proponent of setting up my D.O.P.E. data using a VERY NARROW zero range window at .100" & In doing so the incremental hold differences really show up. Resulting in having enough hold information to do split yardage holds or when unsure of distance run the average of +/- hold off's into the KZ hole.

Yea I'm a bit anal ... but also a 2 time National FT Champion due in part to this extreme attention paid to having accurate hold information.

Every club is different in how difficult they set up positionals, even from match to match.

I practice on a 1.5" spinner from 15y to 30y and a 1" spinner from 10y to 15y. That covers all but the extremes.

If guessing I'd say 1.5" at 15y-20y would somewhat be a normal expectation??

Seems like a few matches I’ve shot, there is usually a 3/8 target at 10 or 11 yard. Usually not a problem to hit from bucket and sticks, just need to know the right holds for that distance. Usually 20 to 35 yard my gun shoots flat enough and the holes are big enough I don’t worry too much. Then past 45 it’s always difficult due to the pellet dropping off fast, but those usually have generous holes to hit.

Enjoy.

Motorhead is correct about having your dope right to 10-24 yds. Most easily missed. Practice 3/8” from 10-15 yds if you get good at that so long as your dope is good you will do well till you get good at reading wind at the far targets

When you practice, include shooting at paper as well. Your POI will change from seated to kneeling to standing using the exact same POA. At least mine do. Not long ago I shot a ten pellet group seated at 25 yards then shot a ten pellet group kneeling at the same 1" target dot. The kneeling group moved to the left about 5/8". I would never have seen that shooting at spinners or knock down targets.

Since you dont have a 3/8” reducer go to the hardware store and get a 3/8”&1/2” fender washer and tape to your target.

I use 1/2" KZ target from 10 to 25, 1" KZ target from 30 to 45, 1.5" KZ at 50-55. Off hand and kneeling I shoot a 1" KZ at 25 yards.
If I'm short on time, I'll just shoot a 1" KZ at 45 yards. That's typically the hardest shot you will see in a match (assuming your dope is good for everything else).
The close stuff is more about equipment setup. Once everything is dialed in properly for the close targets, I don't spend a lot of time shooting closer than 40 yards.

My current practice setup is to put a 1.5" reset target at 55 yards, a 1" reset at 45 yards, a spinner at 25 yards (for zeroing purposes) and a 1/2" reset at 15 yards. The reset targets with reducers have reducers on the reset paddles as well.

Then I shoot 3 times at each target, get all of my crap and walk forward 5 yards. So now I'm shooting at 50, 40 and 10. And I have the 20 yard spinner for offhand and kneeling. So do a rotation, shoot 6 standing, do another rotation, shoot 6 kneeling and you just shot 8 lanes of FT.

Sometimes I'll add an elevated target into the mix, but that requires effort and I'm pretty lazy.

baranjhn said:

I've been shooting airguns as an adult for 25 years now. Mostly plinking, some hunting and I used to shoot benchrest a little bit. I've decided that I'd like to give HFT a try and bought a few field targets to practice with. Right now, the smallest target reducer I have is 5/8" which I've been setting out at various intervals for practice with sticks/bucket, kneeling and off hand. As I understand it, the short game can really throw a wrench in the works so I'd really like to work there (10 to 15 yards). The nearest clubs to me are in Ohio about three hours away and I'll eventually get to one, but until I do what range, target reducer size and positioning should I concentrate on? What’s typical off hand, range and reducer size?

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3/8” - aim small miss small

Podna said:

When you practice, include shooting at paper as well. Your POI will change from seated to kneeling to standing using the exact same POA. At least mine do. Not long ago I shot a ten pellet group seated at 25 yards then shot a ten pellet group kneeling at the same 1" target dot. The kneeling group moved to the left about 5/8". I would never have seen that shooting at spinners or knock down targets.

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Muscles do interesting things when you force them to!