First of all, apologies for posting this a little late. But one of the disadvantages in shooting one afternoon to then shooting the nexrt morning is that you have precious little time to eat, get your next day in order and take care of yourself (shower BADLY needed, LOL!)
But if I have learned anything going to the WFTC's over the years is to take things in stride.
As heartbreaking, and distressing, and depressing, the scores may be, you are still here.
You owe it to yourself, and to your gun, to craft EACH shot to the best of your ability.
Sometimes it will seem the gun does not agree with you on this but, if you look closely you will find that you didn't fully supported her needs. More on that when we post the Day 3 entry, but for now, I will only say that to improve in FT you need practice and dedication, and one more important quality: you need to be truthful to your own self.
But, we're getting ahead of ourselves, let's take an overview of the Day 2 that is the first day of actual competition.
Day starts with another round of practice and sighting-in. After this, competitors concentrate at the entrance to the courses and await the safety briefing:

Up until today, weather has been favourable, tomorrow will be different, but for the time being, it has been a few days of very nice weather.
A bit windy, but that is in the nature of a country where no point is more than a 70 miles from the sea and there are seagulls everywhere, just to illustrate how "flat" it is.
​As explained yesterday, the courses had been set in the woods, which would offer some cover from the open wind.

This is a typical lane:

And you have to look real hard to see the targets.
As we have always maintained, FT at the World's level is a distance game.
Almost ALL targets are between 38 and 55 yards.

Apologies for the pictures but these were taken the full extension of the ExiLim telephoto.

Along the lanes, you find the Chrono station. All rifles get tested each day.
WFTF has taken the determination that the official Chrono for these events is the Czech Air-Chrony

A constant worry of  shooters, specially when you travel long distances is to stay "legal".
And so, there are always chronys available at the sighting-in range and at the equipment checkup.
It is per the rule book, in WFTC's, to number the targets so you have a correlation between the target you are shooting and the lane in which you are.
If you are on your first shot and you are in lane 19, then the first shot has to be on target 37 and the second on target 38
Shooting out of order gets the hit (if any) cancelled.

So, let's take a look:

A detailed picture reveals that the bunny is "floating" in a base that is attached to a diagonal fallen log.

Quite imaginative, and quite hard, because it is very hard to rangefind something that is backlit and has no "surroundings". Our eyes do not compute that very well.

The organization, again, was excellent in general, there were only two cold lines called and those were quickly and effectively resolved.

It called my attention that, for years I have been advocating using grass marking paint/survey paint for the targets, and that is exactly what the WFTC's is using:

One thing that needs to be continually improved is the Marshalling.
It is normal for Marshalls to revert to what THEY consider "good", in other words, what is done in their respective clubs or federations, that is human. But in the WFTF there are more than 35 countries, and there ARE comprehensive rules.
Marshalls should STUDY those rules, abide by them and not "invent" rules that are not in the Comprehensive Rules. Nor should they stop enforcing those rules that ARE part of the comprehensive rules.

IF the organizers consider something to be a "SAFETY" issue, then it should be part of the "safety" briefing. That is what it's there for.

As a common "tourist", if  you see that the pathways are narrow, the positions somewhat restricted and you want to be respectful of the shooter that is in the box, you do NOT approach the line to put down your rifle. You remain respectfully BEHIND, where you know you are not distracting him/her.
Well, after doing just that and watching a lot of people do that

I was "chewed" by a Marshall for not putting my rifle under the line of fire rope, and facing muzzle down-range.

I guess it's part of the cultural differences. We consider a cased rifle a "holstered gun", but here it is not considered "safe", even in a case.

I am not against each range adopting whatever safety measures they want/deem proper, that is what Marshalls are there for, BUT there should be more coordination and safety issues should be part of the safety briefing.

The other side of the dis-coordination is the non-enforcement of rules that have been discussed long and hard

A LOT of fuss was raised by some of the RGB's within WFTF about the foot position in the kneeling lanes.
Endless discussions about it ensued but in the end, a solution was decided upon and the rule was adopted that the foot needed to be vertical.
But this was not uncommon among the UK shooters:

It was also decided that the foot could not be covered by the jacket:

 to the extent that FT jackets are shorter than the Olympic counterparts.

​As I have always maintained, there is no rule more unfair than that which is not enforced.

Did I go looking for a Marshall? Nope. I'm an American, we are not snitches.

Did I present a formal observation or comment? Nope! I did that in Lisbon and never got an acknowledgement or an answer.

So, ¿Why worry?

Because in two years' time, there is a good chance we (the USA) could be hosting the WFTC's 2021

And if we want to do things well, we need to take note of all "the small stuff".

EVERY GP safety briefing I've been to, usually presents the question of the kneeling position, and so, it has become almost a habit to re-hash that. Expediency should not take the place of completeness.

We'll  see what happens in the future. It is always good to learn from each day we live.

And on this note, let me confess that I did badly.

I CHOSE to believe what the sighting-in range was telling me. And just as the Long Island (NY) sighting-in range, it fools you (this is another lesson for when it is time for us to organize it.- providing a GOOD sighting-in range is more than putting a lot of paper targets out there.)
People will travel thousands of miles if they go to the US to shoot, as we all know, things happen to airguns when we travel. The least we can do is provide a good sighting-in range.
Luckily, I had obtained enough ballistic data from BlackBrook and that info is solid, but the zero was simply not where it should be.
The first half of the day was terrible, but I could recover some by the second half. Missing only two in each of the last two "decades".

Yes, it was a hard lesson.
And we are already thinking of ways to overcome this, part of it is, of course, practice more and test less. I am always testing things, but I need to concentrate on "perfecting", which in latin means "finishing", a system to shoot.
That will be the mission, and the trip will be most interesting.

Keep well and shoot straight!






​HM

I have to congratulate the Organizers of the 2019 WFTC's

The registration procedure was absolutely painless.

Greg Sauve (as AAFTA Rep for WFTF), got all the badges and meal tickets, and we met at the venue to receive them. With Lauren Parson's and Tyler Patner's help, it took less than a minute to get mine.

The whole team had all tickets and badges in less than 10 minutes. Great job and thanks!

We proceeded to the sight-in range.

​Due to WFTF's regulations, this time the sight-in range was paper. LOTS of paper.

Sighting in day is also the day when most strange things happen. We usually see a lot of tinkering with airguns during this first day.

And this year was no exception. Jay Hannon had problems with his gun but, in true "Team Spirit", Cameron Kerndt offered to help and using his own spares repaired Jay's gun and got the "engine" runnning.
Matt Brackett contributed some stock parts that had broken and in less than one hour Jay was shooting again.
With Matt's help, a new trajectory card was made and Jay feels better about his shooting.

Way to go, Team!

Now, some of you may wonder how 450 shooters look like, this photo of the procession to take the group picture should give you an idea:

And this is only a fraction of the whole lot.
I am sure you can find other pictures taken from the other side showing the whole group (that in itself is not ALL shooters because some simply don't care), but this photo is interesting, as it is the photographers photographed (at least some of them):

Welcome dinner was good, but a little short, by the time I got to the table, there was no food left in this one, had to wait a while and go to another table to get some more:

Actually, I don't much care for food, as I need to loose a few pounds, LOL!

Anyway, I'll try to post a few more pictures tonight / tomorrow.

What is important is that the atmosphere is much closer to what I like than the World's at Lisbon; much closer to what Poland's and Lithuania's were.
Whatever craziness drives us to shoot Field Target, one common denominator (and I say this all the time, so if you have heard it, or read it, before please excuse the redundancy):

The greatest part of this sport is the people that participate in it.

As an airgunner you owe it to yourself to at least try to meet the challenge that FT poses because you will meet a lot of nice and interesting people, you will travel places, and you will have your faith in humankind renewed.

Keep well and shoot straight (but always into the wind)  LOL !





​HM

With the Motto of "Field Target comes Home", the World's is this year being hosted by England in a venue called (quite appropriately) "The Heart of England.
It's near Birmingham, and there are enough airgunners here from all over the world that the customs agents at the airport just hear "pellet rifle" and they smile.

Coming here was an interesting trip, my new case is performing well, all items arrived in their proper place without a scratch.
I have to say that, even though they are expensive (as any custom case would be), MASCo, and Bel-Air cases came through with a very good case for our purposes:

Case was designed to conform to the maximum dimensions allowed by airlines (62" max when adding length, width and height).
It compares favourably with our old drop-down duffle bags that were made redundant when TSA demanded hard cases for airguns:

We like this style of case because it does not advertise to all in the baggage handling/service areas of airports that there is a rifle inside and therefore an item of considerable value/rarity.
I bought the case empty, and then used KaiZen foam to make the interiors:

After TWO three hour delays in Dublin, I was finally able to get to Birmingham, and rent a car.
It had been 40 years, almost to the date that I had not driven on the "M6"
Some things never change:

Works and bumper to bumper traffic in the section I would be doing most of my travelling! LOL.
A friend, 40 years ago, said that the M6 would be a fine road . . . when they finished it.
;-)
Obviously, it is a process that is still going on 40 years later.

Anyway, after settling in and finding all the friends, I decided to go shoot a little.

In this occasion, the organizers were good enough to establish a connection with a local FT club, Blackbrook Country Sports and they have done a fantastic job; a big shout out to Darron and Chris for their hospitality.

The setup range is an interestin aspect of how they do things here and something we should consider for the USA
It is basically blank metal plates set permanently at fixed distances in the ground.
You pick a spot, put a mark in it with a pellet, then a group, and then simply get setup by repeating at all distances.

Simple, economical and reliable. Truly something worth considering.

Yesterday we shot a practice course, that gave us a lesson or two of what the wind can do in these latitudes, but I am fairly confident in my pellets this time, and so, today, we go to the real venue.
Get the registration done and re-check the trajectory and data obtained at Blackbrook.

I'll try to post pictures as we go along the days.

Keep well and shoot straight!




HM

For some time now, I've been wanting to post this entry, but had been unable to find the time.
Courtesy of our friends at Aer Lingus, that delayed my departure from Washington (Dulles) and made me loose my connection to Birmingham (and the World's FT Matches), I've had to sit in the airport then attempt a boarding, only to be denied boarding on account of my "firearm".
You see, there are planes in the Aer Lingus fleet where you can access the hold, so in those planes, "firearms" cannot travel.
It doesn't matter that it is a single shot, pellet rifle, disassembled, and unloaded (obviously, who in their right mind would carry a cocked springer without a stock and with an exposed trigger?!)
The computer terminal says it cannot travel and the employees cannot exercise neither judgement, nor criterion, they are not allowed to think.

We'll limit ourselves to the metal (steel) coiled spring for this entry. If there is enough interest, we can talk a little about gas springs, but the metal spring is complex enough to warrant a complete entry on its own.
Let's start with some clarification of concepts:

A steel spring is a series of coils. You might say that is obvious, but the truth is that what is not obvious is that each coil behaves more or less independently and in those things where they act together are those factors that affect the interlinkage of the coils and have the most effect in the long term life of the spring.

Like a train, if a spring is not properly "loaded" it will get de-railed.
Experienced railroaders know that if you put the light cars in the middle, and the heavy ones in front and in back the train "stretches" and cannot follow the tracks (like "Tootle").
So, trains are "loaded" in certain order and then locomotives are inserted at strategic points in very long trains (in excess of 100 cars).
It is not uncommon in the US to see long haul cargo trains with up to 16 locomotives distributed along the beginning, the end, and both(1st and 2nd) thirds of over 170 cars.

An airgun mainspring is not that different.
Its relation of Overall length (OAL) to Outside Diameter (OD) renders them very "slender", and so, prone to "derailment" (kinking), stretching and knocking (twang), and even bumping (buzzing or vibrating).

So, how could we build a better spring?

​SOME improvements could come from the science of materials.

In the automotive industry the effect of different alloys, heat treatment, methods of heat treatment, surface finishes and even coatings has been studied in depth.

Those of you that are old enough will remember that valve springs would hardly last 10-15,000 miles without loosing some of its "oomph", this required constant "tuning" of the engine. Usually, every 3-5,000 miles, and then change of springs.
Modern valve springs will last well over 100,000 miles.  Even "racing" springs can now last at least a season (not an interesting aspect in high budget racing, like F1, but interesting in other forms).
Up until 50 years ago, High Carbon steel spring as produced by the US or Swedish firms was the top material. A concerted effort on the part of Japanese car makers brought a full range of innovations: Chromium was added, then Silicon, then heat treatment prior to winding, then Vanadium was added to the wire (not as an alloy), lastly Cobalt; and very serious studies have been conducted about what is what TRULY defines the fatigue and temperature resistance of springs, to this date, most (by volume) truly high quality spring steel is produced in Japan.

Of course, given the vertical integration of the Japanese economy where the same "group" is composed of companies ranging from mining conglomerates to car making (Mitsubishi is a good example), or where the close alliances between industry, banking and commerce create de-facto groups (Sumitomo), it is not complicated to setup an institute to research these things.

Luckily, they are generally open with those things that are at least 5-7 years old, and we can take a peek into what it is the current, published, state of the art.

So, let's compare how successive generations of valve spring steel compare to "piano wire" or "conventional steel":

Do note that this table is courtesy of Sumitomo Electric, so the names  of the steel are "commercial":

This is how the Japanese standards call and classify the steels used:

Do note that, by now, the Carbon (C), Manganese (Mn), Nickel (Ni), Chromium (Cr), and Vanadium (V), have reached pretty uniform compositions, and the difference between one "normal" grade (SOTHN) and the "super" grade (SWOHS) is a small further addition of Silicon (Si) 

And this is where Sumitomo is currently, adding Cobalt (Co):

Now, if you are wondering why the complication in adding more and more materials to the alloy, and also to the metal itself, it is mainly because the current, complete process of spring fabrication is a lot more complicated than just "winding":

Those of you that have some experience with materials and heat treatment will wonder why the quenching shows a higher temperature than the drawing or the tempering, and this is something that is peculiar to these very complex steels:

Pulling the wire through dies creates some work hardening as it is "drawn", but then this hardening needs to be quenched in molten baths (either lead or salt composites) at a higher temperature than that of the drawing.
Steel at this point would have little hardness and little tenacity/toughness, so it needs tempering.
After tempering, then the spring is wound or coiled.
But this tempering process, even if it is conducted at relatively low temperature, requires some annealing in order to make the spring less fragile.
Then the surface is treated with Nitrides in order to create a "case" that exhibits superior resistance to the starting of cracks and fissures which are the weak spots where the spring breaks, while still retaining a "core" with tenacity and toughness.
But while niitriding creates the chemical aspects conducive  to surface hardness, it also stresses the surface itself. So these stresses need to be relieved and the most economical way to relieve them is to "shot-peen" the spring (some manufacturers use small bits of wire to shot peen, not actual spherical shot).
Finally, the spring is subject to a certain portion of maximum allowable stress and "aged" by the strain this stress creates (what we would call "setting", though we set the springs by compressing the FIRST time to fully solid condition).

There are techniques to strain-age airgun springs, but not all airguns are suitable for them.

After all these processes, the resultant spring is capable of MILLIONS of operations within the design parameters, and here we note that NO AUTOMOTIVE spring reaches the compression ratio of airgun mainsprings.

Would an airgun spring manufacturer be able to buy these super-special steels?

Maybe, I really do not know. My calls for information went somewhat unheeded as to what material each manufacturer uses, so I cannot tell you who uses what and what processes are applied to our airgun springs.
I am sure that they all do the best they can within the constraints of the costs they can face. And this is an important consideration.
An OEM spring costs between $0.50 and $4, an aftermarket spring costs about $10, some VERY special aftermarket springs can cost up to $25, most of them are sold for between 2 and 3 times the cost, not all of them are truly worth the price the consumer pays but, when you consider that a gas spring, in industrial assembly quantities can cost between $5 and $25, it is clear that extremely advanced steel springs will never make it to the OEM piston gun.

We said in the beginning that a spring is a series of coils that act more or less independently from each other, and that is a good way to start to understand springs.
The first coil supports and pushes the second that in turn does the same with the third, etc. BUT if we think about this closely, we will understand that the first coil is pushing ALL the next coils, and that in the other extreme, the last coil is pushing the piston itself. 
Yes it receives the support and push from all the previous coils, but this difference make the "distribution of labor" different for each coil depending on WHERE that coil is in the spring.
This concept also clarifies that the WEIGHT each coil is pushing, depends on the position in the spring.
And lastly, this concept also helps us understand that once the whole length of the compression chamber has been run by the piston, and the piston itself suffers the pushback from the pellet's inertia/resistance and high pressure thereby developed, a whole mayhem of disorderly conduct ensues. Some coils go back while others go forward, and some stay more or less stationary. These "travelling waves" of steel actually make the spring perform several compressions and decompressions for every shot cycle.

The most common way to solve that is to use a tight fitting guide.
A tight fitting guide will provide some coils with enough friction to dampen their movement.
And so, we eliminate the twang and the buzz.
We also reduce the double and triple duty cycle that some coils perform.
But, as much as we would like to reduce completely this aspect, we cannot. We cannot introduce so much friction that the extra movement of the coils is completely arrested. We would not get the speed we need to drive the pellet.
So, we need to accept that as long as we use a coiled steel spring, we will need a tight guide, or accept the twang and the buzz.

The natural question here is: Why don't manufacturers use a tight guide from the start?
Answer lies in the cost, of course.
And the REAL answer is that to make the springs, the steel needs to be coiled (remember the 4th step in the manufacturing process?). 
How do we do that?
Some of you may answer that you take a mandrel, and coil the spring around the mandrel. 
Well, that was true in the old days.
Fairly elaborate mandrels were turned to set the "pitch" of the spring, and the diameters had to be not only calculated, but then rectified by actually making a number of springs.
Because, depending on the force you use to restrain the wire from winding freely, the spring will always be fatter than the mandrel; more force, less difference between mandrel's outside diameter and spring's inside diameter.

Nowadays, springs are wound using mandrel-less machines that simply start bending the wire along an adjustable curve and the spring wire is "pushed" into form, not stretched.

This means that you are not limited by the length of your mandrel. You can make REALLY long springs. And you can also adjust the dimensions to a fine degree: Inside Diameter (ID), Outside Diameter (OD), Pitch (P).
​
Some aspects that are seldom questioned are:  What is the INTERNAL geometry of the spring, and why, where and how does the spring accumulated energy?

To understand that we need to look into what is the "Neutral Fiber", "Neutral plane", or "Neutral Axis"