Extrem...ER Field target???

[steve123]

Steve,

You said "Even though it sucks in Hunter not knowing the actual distance past 40Y(why I refuse to shoot the division anymore)," and that is why many of the best hunter shooters I know use bracketing to figure out the distances past 40 yards. They have a range card that shows the width in scope marks (mil-dots or hashes or whatever) of the 1 1/2" KZ size or the width of the standard 8" Home Depot cinder block from 45-55 yards. You shouldn't let the inability to range with parallax deter you from shooting FT if you really want to.

When attached bipods were allowed in Hunter I used to range/bracket the KZ's since we didn't use cinder blocks in our club at the time. I could hold the rifle pretty still down prone in this fashion. But as shone below there's approx a 4 yard difference between each tenth of a mil. 

Here's the math that my ballistic calculator gives for a 1.5" KZ being bracketed in milliradians - 1 mil = 42 yards, .9 mil = 46 yards, .8 mil = 52 yards, .7 mil = 60 yards.

Keep in mind the line thickness I used in the FFP H59 reticle is .05 mil, so to distinguish 2 yards difference is literally "seeing/ making out/ identifying", the difference in size of the thickness of the reticle line compared to the edges of the KZ. I've tried this off of sticks and to be honest I'm not steady enough to come out with a good read within 2 yards. 

I can do pretty well bracketing down prone off the attached bipod even on 12x and won lots of matches in Hunter doing so but off of sticks it's too much of a hassle trying. In other words it's not fun to me by then because of how much I wobble. I've been into FT for 23 years now, won state 7 times in Open, but never had the desire or emotional energy to try to win the nationals, it's not in me to do so, so I decided that in order to "enjoy" the sport again I'd shoot in Freestyle/Unlimited because I can shoot however I want too. Sure is nice knowing the exact distance which enables me to concentrate on wind estimation so if I miss it's entirely because I got the wind wrong!!! Also I like high a hit ratio, with my goal of getting a perfect score, which I've done a half dozen times. 

Yes bracketing can be used to great effect by some shooters but I'd rather not do it anymore.

 

[steve123]

In my late 50's in the twilight of a competitive shooting career I found FT. I was competitive in Hunter Class with a highly modified Korean $300 Evanix Rainstorm/Hawke combo, and was successful in Open Class with the same Evanix/Hawke "hold over" combo and later a Steyr /Sightron "clicking" combo. In my 60's I used the Steyr/Sightron to good results in the Open Class the following year. The next year I ditched the open class harness and turned the gun down to 12FPE and was still competitive. The truth is...... it requires a well rounded skill set to tune and maintain a "system" rifle /pellet/scope combo and all the requisite 3 position shooting, ranging, and wind reading skills to be successful. IT IS NOT EASY or other shooting disciplines and young shooters would transfer over and dominate and they do NOT. It is the MAIN reason the sport is slow to grow. It requires physical and mental resilience, and a host of other challenging shooting skills that most do not want to put forth. Sorry folks but you CANNOT buy a place on the podium in lowly "pellet rifle" competition. The absolute best equipment will not make up for a lack of skills, mental preparedness, and physical stamina to deal with the shooting requirements and outdoor weather conditions for 3 or more hours. Competitive minded but less experienced shooters will cleverly try to maximize rules and equipment until they develop all the skills necessary to compete head to head with the experienced "gentleman" competitors. Excuses and alibies are unflattering and nobody wants to hear them. The other truth is it is an older man's game because the absolute precision requirements are not there, otherwise it would be like the Olympics and only under 25 yro would be competitive. Us old farts time is limited, hopefully the sport is not.

Thank God we older folks can still have fun shooting, aye!!! 

Just this year I started tapering back on the more physical shooting sport of "Precision rifle/ Tactical match rifle" shooting. I'm just not quite as steady as I used to be and the younger shooters are distancing themselves away from me. And to think I used to win matches! Oh well it had to happen sooner or later. But at least I had my time in the sun.

I'll shoot FT for as long as I can.

 

[Centercut]

Hmmm, would usually post a group or target like this on the bench rest forum. But, my last 5 shots at 100 yards .25 Impact 43.5 NSA slugs from my EFT bucket and sticks position. It was a drop the mic moment and I put all my stuff away and went home to dinner after this. The 9 ring is 1.2 inches so I’ll call this MOA.