I am often asked by shooters that are not "native" to airguns: "How can airguns be more fun than other arms?"

Answer is always the same: "Because they are incredibly accurate within their context"

And the next question is always: "¿Why is accuracy so important?"

To which, the only logical answer is: "Paraphrasing Warren Page: Only accurate rifles are interesting"

So, now the open question is ¿Where does one start putting together an accurate rifle?

And, as usual in the real world, the answer is another question:

"¿Accurate for WHAT?"

It is clear that the need for accuracy is different for the plinker, the hunter, the FT shooter, the Benchrest and the Match Shooter, in no particular order.

So, this week we will start a series of posts about some of the most common airgun pursuits and the guns that have suited myself or some of my friends for that specific pursuit.

Let's do a brief overlook of the whole subject and in the coming weeks, depending on how much interest there is in each specific endeavour, we will explore each one in succession.

Being and engineer, and a scientist, I cannot leave a section with some form of numerical assessment of what are the needs for each. And because I believe in scientific measurements, I will lay down the maximum size group a rifle should comply with, measured in miliradians.¿Why "mrads" and not MOA's? because they are part of the international standard units system and are widely understood in most countries. For the sake of "translation", always remember that 1 mrad is AROUND 3.6 MOA's (3.438 to be more precise).

So, let's start from the simple and then progress to the complicated:

PLINKING
A weekend plinker might be perfectly happy with "minute of soda can" at 30 yards. Or, he might want, literally, a "tack driver", meaning a rifle accurate enough to hit an upholstery tack from 25 yards. Or he might want to reach the mythical MOA group (1" @ 100 yards). It all depends on his definition of "plinking".

For general plinking endeavours probably the best suited gun is the breakbarrel. Simple, reliable, serviceable, it is the workhorse of airguns. Multiple examples can be found in the manufacturers catalogues, a few have been with us for a number of years and therefore are well known, like the Diana 34 of the picture:

When we, half-jokingly say "minute of can", what we are really trying to express is that at some reasonable distance, the average shooter will be able to hit a can at least 90% of the time.
The smallest can of common household consumption is about 2" X 4" (50 mm's X 100 mm's).
Usually, most plinking is done offhand; and, offhand, the average beginner shooter can hold about 1" (25 mm's) at 10 yards/meters.
With these values in mind a plinking rifle that is going to be used at 20 yards (common backyard range), will need to hold at most 1" (25 mm's) groups, to be able to tackle the round end of the mini-cans at 20 yards with good success rates. Important to keep the interest of the shooter up.
This translates into 1.13 mrads.

The tack-driver, usually a supported position game by definition, needs to hit a ½" (13 mm's) bulls-eye at 25 yards (23 meters), so that requires a rifle capable of  holding groups to less than 0.5 mrads

The long range plinker, bent on shooting small groups at 100 yards (or meters), needs a rifle that can hold about 1/8 (0.125) mrad in perfect conditions because he has to contend with wind and other disturbances.

HUNTING

A hunter may be looking for a gun to hunt pigeons inside a tin-roofed barn, something accurate enough to shoot pigeons in the head, powerful enough to penetrate pigeons' backs/sides, and of sufficient "anchoring power" to make pigeons, themselves very strong birds, to drop dead with one shot; while still not puncturing holes in the tin roof itself. 
For the purist hunter, there is little as fascinating as an outing with a pump-up gun. The ability to "vary" the power used, according to the prey at hand, plus the autonomy and the indisputable accuracy of a well tuned pump-up gun is definitely attractive:

Or he may be after the odd O'Possum, or Raccoon that is raiding the garbage cans in suburbia. 
Or he may need to dispatch larger prey. We all have our favourite definition of "pest" or "food".

When doing "Pest Control Duties", very specialized tools may be required:

But between these two extremes, any hunter may find something that is just right for his style of hunting.
Hunting with an airgun is an endeavour that is not too well understood:
Manufacturers stress Muzzle Velocity because MV sells. Writers stress "hitting power" because, usually, writers are under the sponsorship of some commercial establishment, either manufacturing or selling something to somewhat experienced airgunners that have realized that supersonic speeds seldom, if ever, go hand in hand with accuracy.
True airgun hunters stress accuracy. ¿Why? because it takes an astonishingly small amount of energy to drop a critter, IF that energy is well placed. 4 ft-lbs of energy at the target is, more often than not, sufficient for a quick, clean, humane, harvesting of food, or elimination of pest.
If you go for big game, then the situation is different, but we can come to that if there is enough interest to warrant it.
Most small game prey and pests will need an accuracy of about 1" (25 mm's) at up to 55 yards (50 meters), but the range in hunting is inversely proportional to the ability of the hunter. A good hunter will reduce the range as much as is humanly possible. That is why it is "hunting" and not "sniping".  ;-)
So the typical hunting rifle should be able to hold groups of around ¼ (0.25) mrads because, again, in the outdoors, wind, light and the weather can play with the projectile.
Here comes another aspect: Real Airgunners will develop a hunting kit that will be completely impervious to weather. After all, if it rains, you do not quit and go home.

FT Shooting 

The Field Target shooter might be wanting something for his home range, where shots are well known and courses' capability for change may be limited to a few yards more or less here and there.
In this case, if he shoots within the American Airgun Field Target Association (AAFTA) rules of "Hunter Piston", he might be using a breakbarrel, a sidelever or an underlever rifle:.

If the shooter is interested in WFTF (World Field Target Federation) Spring-Piston Class, then he might opt for a TX-200, an HW97, or a Diana Mod. 54, though odds are in this case, that the guns will be heavily modified everywhere you can modify a gun: Stock, buttpad, adjustable riser, etc, etc, etc.

Personally, I like my Diana 54 and have modified it very little:

There is much more variety in PCP rifles and, truly, the sky is the limit.

If we go by the WFTF rules, the most challenging non-positional shot is the 25 mm's KZ at 35 meters; now, because of the way Field Targets work, in reality the "hole" should have its diameter reduced by at least 90% of the pellet diameter, assumming an 0.177" cal pellet (4.5 mm's), then the KZ's "real size" is 21 mm's, this yields a real HitZone of 0.6 mrads, but ideally the rifles should hold better than 1/2 that, so WFTF guns should hold groups to less than 1/3 (0.30) mrads.

If we go by AAFTA rules, then the most challenging non-positional shot is the 1/2" (12.7 mm's) at 30 yards (27 meters) that, taking into account the caliber, yields a real Hit Zone of  0.32 mrad, again you want your rifle to hold to half of that (even though under AAFTA rules you can use a harness to brace your body into a more stable position), and you come to an ideal number of about 1/6 (0.16) mrads.; in "American Parlance", this is a 60 Troyer target, and is as hard as they get. It must be added here that AAFTA does have a "WFTF" division with the two powerplant classes: PCP and Spring-Piston.

Long shots, inclined shots, steeply declined shots, windy shots, positional shots, all are harder than they sound when the light and the weather enter the equation, but seldom are FT shoots in the US held "rain or shine".

BENCHREST

Benchrest shooters are a breed of their own and what they truly want is to experiment. So they need "platforms", not rifles. Platforms so that they can change barrels, power, MV, caliber, rest, sights, stocks, etc. It will all depend on the class they want to shoot, under which rules (American Rules are not exactly the same as International Rules) and how often they can go to Matches.
An added complication is that there have been at least 3 different BR organizations in recent times, some of them supporting airguns and others that don't. Currently, the Organization that makes the most efforts in the international arena is the World Rimfire and Air Rifle Benchrest Federation.
One of the companies actually making a dedicated Benchrest model is Steyr Sport:

Though under US Rules there should be a place for Sporter and Production Class to allow for spring-piston, SSP's and other powerplants to have fun, those two classes do not exist in International Rules.
The trick here is to start with some basic platform for which parts and literature are widely available and go from there, the AA S-400 and derivatives can be a good starting point, as can be the EV-2's, the USFT's and others.
These basics usually qualify for the Light Varmint International Class and therefore have some freedom of movement.
Rifles for the Heavy Varmint class are usually custom built from the action up.
Production and Sporter Classes seem to be not as popular as the other classes, but most clubs in the US active in BR will open their arms to shooters trying the game with either a production or a sporter gun.
At least one organization in the US, mainly dedicated to RF benchrest still has a "Plinker" class that accepts all comers but has a "claim" rule. If the rifle wins, then any shooter can try to purchase the rifle for US$200.00 (or more if there are several interested parties). Of course, the owner can deny the chance to sell and thereby forfeit his score and place, but it is an interesting way "to keep things honest". Not all Bench Rest Associations have this, but it is an interesting aspect of USBR rules.

Edition Note: One of the Deans of airgunning, recalled to my mind that BR targets are scored with a "gauge" or "plug". The gauge has a tapered probe that gets inserted into 0.177" and 0.20" cal. holes and a flange with a magnifying element that is 0.22" cal. This allows shooters to shoot different calibers and still shoot together. The following paragraph has been corrected to reflect this oversight on my part (Thanks, LD!):

The more prevalent BR target has a 10 ring that is 2 mm's across (with line width), to count as 10, the flange of the plug (or gauge) must cut the ring. To count as "X", then the gauge (or plug) flange must excise completely the 10 ring. An excelent note on how to use a gauge in Benchrest is given by the WRABF.

"X"s (the Roman 10's) are better than the simple 10's, as everybody knows, and those are used to break ties. Since the matches for these targets are shot at 25 meters, this translates  the need for accuracy to better than 0.26 mrads. You may argue that because this is a rested type of shooting, you cannot demand your gun to hold to half of what the theoretical requirements are, but in this game of perfectionists, there is no such thing as "excess".
Weigh every pellet? Sure!, Measure every pellet's head? Sure! Roll the pellets to sort them by conicity? Of course! Invent a machine to measure the pellets without touching them? Naturally!

Besides, BR has its "indoors" and "outdoors" versions, so there is some room there for the shooter to use his abilities, it is not all about the gun.

In the more rarefied sectors, BR can be an exercise in frustration, so if you want to go there, you have been warned.

Match

Match Shooters are a heavily regulated bunch, with the current rule book going 466 pages, of which pages 316 to 337 are used to define the rifles and auxiliary equipment; the equipment list that is "legal" is pretty specific. The pellets used are few and far between. The targets always at known distances and the sights relatively simple in their principles, but extraordinarily complicated in their execution and construction. Everything going towards the optimum ergonomics that will afford the shooter the best possibility to repeat the perfect shot 60 times (40 in the case of girls) to qualify and then 10 more to win, last three on a "duelling" basis.
The Olympic target is shot at 10 meters and the 10 "ring" is a dot 0.5 mm's across. To count as "Inner 10" (same as "X"), the dot needs to be completely punched out of the card by the pellet (which is a good reason to use wad-cutter pellets), you still need to hit a dot with the edge of your pellet to be counted a "normal" 10. Inner 10's are useful as tie breakers. (Thanks to my friend Sergio R2 for pointing out to me the change in the rules)
While Olympic style rifles seems long and nose heavy, the better part of that "barrel" is hollow and is only there to allow the longest legal sight radius possible.
Latest rules have made illegal the use of spirit levels, but in the older sights you might still find them.

So, given the size of the target and the distance, the actual "Hit zone" is 5 mm's, that over 10 meters yields an equivalent to 0.5 mrads. If you want your rifle to hold to better than 1/2 the theoretical size, then an off the bench accuracy of 0.25 mrads would be sufficient.

As we said in the begining, Olympic Match shooting is more about ergonomics than about accuracy. Accuracy IS important, but nowadays that most Olympic style airguns and ammo have achieved the needed level, ergonomics is what makes or breaks the design of the Match rifles.

As a curious aside, there is a Match version that is shot with Crossbows, these are capable of the same accuracy as the best airguns; as the same bolt is shot repeatedly, one of the elements of the accuracy uncertainty is eliminated, it IS the same projectile over and over and over again. Target is the same as the 10M Match target and rules are pretty much the same. It is great fun and a great joy to see your bolt travelling to the target and then getting stuck exactly in the center. The retriever then brings back the target with the bolt, the paper is exchanged and the carrier goes forward.
Since there is no expense for pellets nor for high pressure air, nor other expenses, 10M Crossbow is very economical to shoot and some European schools use it as their shooting form of choice.

So, coming back to airguns and speaking in all sincerity, the first question you need to ask yourself is: 


"¿What do I want this airgun to do?"

;-)

Till next time!









Héctor Medina

Much has been written and said about the 2014 FT Match at YAGC.
But perhaps most important of all is to make a FACTUAL assessment of what went on, what was a success, and which areas can be improved upon.
It is always hard to be completely objective, and the writer "pleads the Fifth" wherever it can be done so, but the writer also expresses his best intentions to make this post something fun and constructive from where other shooters, MD's, and other organizers can draw experience and ideas from.
Having said that let's get started:
The AAFTA 2013 National Matches at Somerville Texas were avidly anticipated and eagerly expected. The original "preparation match" of the ROTC was a good pointer at what the shooters could expect. Travelling had already been "scouted", but since in the meantime two airlines had merged, a few things needed to be changed last minute. Instead of AirTran we flew Southwest.

Every adventure starts with the packing, and this one was no different.
Having had the experience of going to three National Matches before and Two World Matches, we already knew how to pack light.
The drop bottoms of our wheeled duffle bags have been converted into rifle-carrying cases that have five hard sides and the side that is not hard is under the whole rest of the equipment that is stored in the upper/large compartment. Because Airguns, and specifically piston airguns, are separated by the TSA from PCP and firearms, we can get away with carrying only one piece of luggage.

The top compartment holds bum-bag, shooting jacket, soft case, spare scope, some tools, etc. Side pockets hold , boots, toiletries, electronics, small clothing, etc.

We try to make our clothes double up as sightseeing clothes, jackets are light and we layer for all weather possibilities.

Overall, bags usually weigh at exactly 50# and they are handled like any other piece of luggage:

This is how they come out of the baggage claim carrousel, just like any other bag. Even when some airports insist on putting big red labels that say: "FIREARM" on the outside! LOL!
No extra feee, no extra charge, just one simple bag. The Duffle bags do not exceed the 62" added length height and width, and therefore are not subject to "oversize" treatment $$$.
On our return from Germany, the Prague Airport tried to charge us an "inspection fee" for our bags, as if they were firearms. Upon written  complaint to SAS, our fee was returned a few days ago.

So, whenever you fly for sporting purposes, make a point of asking via Email, if possible, if there are extra fees for transporting airguns, if there will be a special luggage charge or handling charge for the size of YOUR case, and ask what are the policies regarding sporting items/equipment BEFORE buying the ticket.

One important, little known, aspect is that  riflescopes (even with mounts), can be carried in the carry-on case. Usually most airlines will allow you one carry-on piece and one personal item. Laptops and other electronics usually constitute the personal item, but in the carryon you can take just enough stuff to get over the first night in case your main luggage piece is sent to Alaska when you are landing in Arkansas

When we checked out of the hotel after the ROTC, we reserved the stay for the nationals. So, hotel reservation was taken care of well in advance. Flights and hotels are best reserved between 270 and 90 days in advance of your travel dates. in the case of group travel, the dates can be even earlier.

Car rental is usually best obtained through the multiple websites like Carrentals, Hotwire and others. In our specific case, we had already obtained a "meeting" rate from one of the major rental agencies. So we stuck with that.

It is always wise to take your GPS system well loaded with all the destination points and the maps of where you're going to drive. Be it Norway, Germany, or Texas, make sure that you have your GPS up to date and that it has stored maps and addresses/locations of the places you're going to.

In this way, once you hit the destination airport tarmac, you are already equipped with a place to spend the night, the conveyance to get you there from here and the knowledge base to get there in comfort.

We always pay a visit to the local department store. We usually can get rooms with a fridge and a microwave, in Germany we lodged at a beautiful apartment with living room, kitchen, separate dormitory and 3/4 bathroom (no tub), so we are usually able to concoct a decent breakfast (eggs, waffles and milk) to last a full day of shooting. In Somerville, we had the pleasure of hosting Greg S for breakfast on Saturday because he needed some protein and we were making "poached" eggs w/ cheese. By Sunday, he was already prepared, LOL! 

When we arrive to a location, we make it a point of driving to the range. It takes a few minutes and it saves an awful lot of stress in the first morning of the event. Since we had already been to YAGC, this time it was not needed and we managed to arrive Thursday night and by Friday we were at the sight-in range.

And here is where we had our first extremely agreeable surprise.
YAGC had provided for TWO sight-in ranges. While one was crowded, the other one was fairly empty and we could toy with our distances and settings to our heart´s content.
We shared the range with some of the Hunter crowd: Don, Scott and Alan IIRC, so we had  a ton of fun.
Towards the end of the day, we had a severe problem with one of our guns, but we were able to make a good one of the two we had and with the Rifle MD's approval, we prepared to share the rifle.

Early Saturday found us re-checking the trajectory and when time was up, we were at the shooter´s meeting.
Here we found our second very nice surprise. "The Handbook" had been included as part of the "goody bags" handed out to all shooters. Now there was NO excuse for not knowing the rules. Everyone had them in hand.
Meeting went smooth and there was no time lost in defining what was a kneeling or a standing position.
Shooters were advised to take their squad clipboards from the scoreboards and to take a timer, the timer was to be left at the lane, not carried from lane to lane, and the scored cards were to be left in their place at the scoreboards when the shooting was done. No need to hunt for the score gatherer! Brilliant!
Scoreboards had clearly marked hooks with the starting lane number, so there was no question as to the consistency of the procedure. I repeat: Brilliant!

We were enormously lucky to be squadded with Terry Almond.
Not only is he a good shooter, he has the traditionally British sense of humour and he lives very near where I spent a few years in England, so we had some common things to share.
He was shooting an action that belonged to Cliff Smith, but this time he had brought his stock, so that part was more familiar than last year's gun. Alas, the mounting of the scope did not prove to be as easy and Terry had some issues with his numbers and his trajectory. But to the lanes we went and we did the best we could.

When we reached the lanes we realized that the shooting range was ONE range. And that alternating lanes were designated by color so as to have TWO courses, one with the odd lanes and one with the even lanes. Cards were also colored. So there was no way anyone could mistake himself and shoot a lane that was not on his assigned course, and still the alternating lanes for the two courses over adjacent land and terrain, ensured that the climatic conditions were as even as could be made. Again, a very agreeable surprise! Simple, effective and efficient.

We shot our course and it was a blast! The elevated targets were more than challenging for medium magnification scopes, the pond shot (opening picture) posed the usual challenge of rangeing against a very reflecting surface. There were enough long shots and quite a few up close and personal reducers. Terry and I discussed the merits / demerits of reducers and, while we did not reach a conclusion, we did arrive to some finer points:
1.- Reducers allow MD's to test the shooters at all possible distances. The elimination of reducers conditions the MD's to almost exclusively long shots.
2.- Reducers have to be designed and placed wisely. A thick reducer (1/2" to 5/8" in thickness) is like shooting through a tube that is not aligned to the shooter or the pellet path. Not only is the shape of the KZ changed from circular to oval (something that happens even in thin reducers), the size is drastically affected when reducers of 1/2" diameter and 1/2" thickness are located at 30° of inclination. Perhaps the maths can be done elsewhere but Terry did comment that in their matches that style of reducers have to be inclined towards the shooter.
In these targets, those scopes with large magnifications (35X and above) had a clear advantage.
This is an important area of opportunity for improvement. Reducers are useful to MD's, but when located in elevated or steeply declined positions, they need to be made appropriately and / or oriented correctly. Not all targets work in non-horizontal positions, so the call falls on the MD what to do. 
Still, the variety of targets, placements, ranges and conditions made for a VERY agreeable course, even if it was very challenging.

All along, we had been planning a surprise, with Scotty York's help, for Terry and Ray. We knew it was their birthday, but I made as if nothing was afoot. In fact, when Terry mentioned that it was his birthday, I immediately attributed his misses to that and told him not to tell anyone because birthdays were bad luck days.  When I want I can keep a poker face, LOL!  ;-)

After we had shot our course with less than stellar results for all of us, we headed back to the HQ, hung our clipboards in the correct hook positions and sat down to chat and eat.
By the time desert time came, we coordinated with Scotty, who had asked George Hamilton to keep the cake in his fridge and the cake was brought out. Thanks, Scotty and George!

Food was good, better than good, but one thing that worries me is that, perhaps, too much attention is paid to the food. Organizers are under enormous pressure to serve the best food possible when, in reality, we are going to shooting match, not an eating match! We, as shooters have this area of improvement to consider. If we demanded a little less on the food side, perhaps other things more substantive to the shoot itself could be better dealt with, as more resources could be available to deal with those other things.
The other areas where much is expected is in the raffle/door prize and the auction. Again, I think we are stressing the unimportant part to the detriment of the substantive part.

As much as we waited, the scoreboards were not posted the same day. It could have been done as shooters came in, but it wasn't. A lot of shooters started looking into the clipboards to get a grasp as to how the scores stood. We went off and helped Terry re-sight and re-trajectory his system, when we returned, there were still no scoreboards posted. 
Also on the score, Team scores in the end were finally posted with only 4 persons per team. As per AAFTA rules, teams must consist of five shooters.
And then, at the Shooters Meeting for Sunday, the boards were up and it was then evident that not all shooters within a Division/Class had been squadded in the same course, also no mention was made as to which, where, how or why points were awarded when targets were taken off.
To this date, I still do not know which target was taken off the white course, nor why, and where the target was located. I know about the blue course because I asked, but this is an interesting area of opportunity for improvement: Transparency and clear accounts are important in a match.

Another area of improvement is the chronographing of ALL guns. It was joked about by Scotty himself that some shooters were running at 24 ft-lbs, but without a formal, intermediately located chrono with the corresponding officials and stamps/stickers to check ALL guns, the joke left in my mind a strange feeling. As Chaucer once made his Monk say: "Many a true word is spoken in jest".

Before I am remiss, I have to emphasize my sincere appreciation for Scotty York, the fact that he did NOT shoot to be attentive to all the match is a shining example of dedication. MD's have a ton of things to worry and think about and if they try to shoot, then one of those masters is going to be displeased.
As Sunday wore on and the decision was made to cancel the second day "leg", the raffle and auction took place and then the prize awards were given.
Here it is important to mention how closely Yegua Airgun Club worked with the local authorities, chamber of commerce and local establishments to make this event possible for all of us. 
How the FT clubs are perceived in the communities where they operate can have a hugely positive impact if when an event such as this one with almost 90 registered shooters from three different countries meet in those communities with the corresponding boost to the local economy in hotel rooms, restaurant bills, purchases in local stores, etc. As the modern world advances and moves away from the former rural settings, it is important to convey to the local authorities and local economic planning bodies how important an event  like this can be. The raffle of a few prizes using as tickets the receipts of local purchases was simple, effective and fully convincing. Another brilliant stroke!

Another important and very interesting aspect was the attendance of Rossi Monreale and his American Airgunner crew.
Sure it is not easy to shoot when the cameraman is almost in your face, but the more we, FT shooters, make the best possible effort to popularize our sport, the better off we will all be.

The shootoffs, were a very interesting aspect of this Match: Sudden death, shooting side by side, simultaneously within the time allotted, at IDENTICAL targets. GREAT idea! Seems simple, but Scotty, Leo, and Ron had the forethought to have the needed targets well painted, and in hand for the shootoffs. And I emphasize: FOUR IDENTICAL targets.

I will not comment further. The YAGC October Match will be a memorable event in many aspects. Some of them VERY positive, and these are the ones that need to be stated and re-hearsed. Those that present opportunity for improvement need to be addressed in a collegiate form so as to have better National Matches in the future.

My many, many, thanks to all of YAGC's volunteers! And especially to two very important persons:

See you in the lanes!






HM

In my previous post, I wrote about the beautiful human experience that is going to a World's Match.
On this occasion, we will touch upon aspects that are directly related to shooting itself.

For starters, we need to say that the Rules that apply to a World´s Match (or WeltMeisterSchaften as it  would be called in German, the host country's language for 2013), are the "Comprehensive Rules" as adopted by the World Field Target Federation (WFTF).

These rules deviate a little from the WFTF Division Rules adopted by AAFTA in the 2013 Handbook.  AAFTA's  "WFTF DIvision" rules are the rules to follow in National events held in the USA, but World's Matches use the Comprehensive Rules above linked. A detailed comparison is out of the scope of this post, but the reader is encouraged to read them and compare them at his leisure.

Once the Rule framework has been defined, World Matches usually are three day events that get stretched out to 4 days because of the "Suggestion" from the WFTF to all the Host Countries to make the range available the day before, for sight-in purposes and to setup a "practice course" that should reflect the typical shots to be encountered over the three day formal match, albeit on a much smaller scale. Usually practice courses are around 20 shots; not long, but they do reflect the variety and general terrain conditions of the formal match.

After the day of sighting in and the practice run, the opening dinner is held (look at my previous post for pictures), and the Match is formallly started, usually on a Friday.

The FIRST thing a shooter needs to do is to look up which course he will shoot (there are usually three courses in a World's Match), with whom he is squadded, and which is his starting lane. No one is going to bother calling out missing shooters, and shooters that do not arrive to the starting point in time, may end up loosing complete lanes to their tardiness.

A very common squadding sheet is like this:

As you can see, the list tells the Course (Black in this example), the Day (Day 1), and it lists lane by lane (Starting lanes, that is) all the members in a squad.

In this instance, the squads were initially planned as 4 gun squads. In practice, a number of shooters did not show up and a lot of squads ended up being 3 gun squads.

If you consider that the BDS had to turn away more than 150 shooters for lack of space, it is somewhat sad that there were so many no-shows. BUT, this is not an airline flight that can be safely, statistically, oversold. So this points out to the need of EARLY PLANNING and strong commitments.

Once the shooter has noted his starting lane, his Squad mates and the course he is in for that day, he needs to head to the sight-in range assigned to that course. BDS, very providently, set 3 sight-in courses, so that everyone could have at least one 15 minute session at the sight-in targets. Some range officers enforced complete line changes every 15 minutes, others simply requested fairness and reason. 

Here you can see John Estep and Keith Knoblauch at the Yellow sighting in range for day 1.

After the always too short sight-in time, a shooter's meeting is called.

At least in Norway and Germany, the shooter's meeting has been mostly about news and noticeable items or information. Both MD's for the last two World's have stated that they will not go over the safety rules because all shooters there are experienced shooters.
While that may sound strange, that is the way it has been for the last two years.

Shooter's Meetings have lasted less than 20 minutes, so promptly after the meeting, everyone starts trekking to where they will start their day.
In Norway, the walk was short from the Meeting to the starting line, but in Germany, some ranges were at least a mile away, and shooters had to walk with their gear all the way up, then around the course (about 1½ miles)  and then down for a total of 3½ miles walked during the day. It is not really a sport for those that have mobility issues.

As to the ranges themselves, one of the things that strike our attention, always, is the steep angles of some shots:

Another interesting aspect of a World's Match is that because there are only THREE Kill-Zone sizes (15, 25 and 40 mm's,) and because there is a limit to how many reduced KZ's the MD's can use, MOST of the shots are REALLY long shots.

Verónika, my wife, keeps a record of all the distances she ranges, and using that valuable source of information, I can tell you that out of 50 shots in the first day that, for us, was the Yellow course, with lots of angled shots like the one above, I can count:

11 targets between 9 and 19 meters
10 targets between 20 and 29 meters
7 targets between 30 and 39 meters
22 targets between 40 and 50 meters.

Most of the short targets were positionals (Kneeling or Offhand), some of them were "reduced" (25 or 15 mm's) and some of them were at quite an angle. Not a few combined all three complexities.

As to how many steep angles there were, each course had a different setting and therefore the terrain varied, but in the Yellow course, where most of the steep shots were encountered, HALF the shots were steep angles of varying degrees. Per my rifle's inclinometer, the steepest angle we found was 40° and the most common (and bewilderingly hard, BTW) was 20°.

During the shoot, and at the call of the Marshalls, EVERYONE is chrono'ed, they can ask you to be chronoed on the way up, or on the way down, and they can even interrupt a shot if they suspect foul play in order to check the rifle's MV with the actual pellet that the shooter is using. 
Sadly, at least in one instance, their suspicions were true.
In Verónika's case, since she uses Barracuda Green pellets by H&N, her MV is a little bit unexpected, so it always causes other marshalls to come near and observe:

Shooting the course, with reasonably fast squad mates, took about 6½ to 7 hours with walking to the ranges and back to the HQ's. And this poses a peculiar question: ¿How can you keep your concentration in this conditions?

Verónika likes to take notes, it helps her keep focused; I prefer to take short walks around. Isolate myself and allow the other three to reset, score and bicker. Sometimes I also score, or reset, or bicker, but it's all in the fun. You need to decide how best to keep your mind to the task at hand.

After all the shooting is done, you need to find the score-gatherer:

And once you have handed in the squad scores, you can relax, either alone or with friends.

Keeping up this degree of effort and concentration for three whole days in a row is what makes shooting at a World's Matches so demanding.
Our most demanding Matches are all the Grand Prix events and the Nationals (itself a GP event) that are two day affairs, but we do not have any three day events.

Also on the shooting side, it has to be said that the brain can easily see what we WISH it to see.
And that this is VERY notable when we are tired or stressed.
Since shooting is basically a "seeing" sport, this stress and tiredness need to be watched over carefully.
Further: most physiologists admit that it takes the body about 1 day per hour of Jet-Lag to adapt. So, if you are thinking of shooting in Europe, you would do well to think of allowing yourself at least 5 days previous to the shoot for Jet-Lag. And shooting in New Zealand, with its 16 hours difference in the time zones is going to pose a VERY interesting problem.

As some sort of conclusion: Practice your long shots, practice your steep shots, go to all the long Matches you can. Try shooting Saturday and Sunday whenever possible. Learn to shoot in all conditions of weather, light, wind and target colors, learn your gun and develop a rig that is consistent, reliable and that fits you.
Make sure you take plenty of pellets (we spent about 2,000 pellets each in the shoot) and stash away plenty more for pre-practice.
Scopes fail, so take a back-up.
And, regardless of your results, remember that you are there to enjoy yourself!

See you on the lanes!








Héctor Medina