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The triumph of Mathematics.- Italy's WFTC's 2022      Special Entry

8/29/2022

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With this special entry we will close the series about the World's Field Target Championships 2022 in Italy, and I hope you see the reason for this very special entry.

I've known this person for a few years.
I first took notice when she was a Junior shooter from a faraway country.

I've seen her face-up and overcome challenges, change completely her life, and become a person that truly embodies the future of FT.

She has made airguns not only her sport, but her livelihood, and she is now embarking on a new phase where she will play a major role in shaping the sport, as she recently accepted an appointment to the highest authority in USA for FT with the American Airgun Field Target Association (AAFTA).

During the shoot she was a bit dejected the first day, when she felt she had not performed to her potential, but as all the rest of the scores started to trickle in, she realized that she had done well in the Ladies class.

Apart from shooting the Match, she took on the role of RGB Rep for the USA, delegated by Greg Sauve who could not come to Italy.

And she did a smashing job of all of these tasks.

So Lauren, THANK YOU!

Thanks for all that you do for FT and for Team USA.

Congrats on a well deserved "High PCP Lady" title earned with hard work that showed in a commanding lead.

Your insights and your way with people will surely play a good role when the Matches come to the USA in 2024.

Although we do not always agree, I see that you have FT's best interest at heart.

It was a pleasure and a privilege to shoot with you in Rome and to be part of Team USA with you.

As "the Old Man" in the team I can say this to you: Never change, always be yourself.

​
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Photo shamelessly pilfered from FB.
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The triumph of Mathematics.- Italy's WFTC's 2022      Part 3

8/27/2022

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Or "Resilience"

After an early, and light breakfast, we drove over to the Range.
Range was about 40 minutes away from the "Villa Tuscolana", and it was somewhat hard to navigate the small roads that made the most direct route, so we found out how to trick the navigation to take us along the main highways, in the end, it took the same time, and it was much safer.
Italians think they all drive like "Emerson Fittipaldi" / F1 drivers, and between the cars, the buses, and the scooters, small roads require a lot of concentration and dexterity in driving.
No reason to get to the venue all frazzled up, better to take the longer, but more peaceful and safer, route.
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It was nice seeing some solid support for FT from DIANA, and the new "motto" is indeed a strong commitment.

Day "Zero"

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With the mandatory "shooters meeting" the first day kicked off.
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A 180 degrees view of the courses.
The courses were set out in an  "Inverted U" geometry. 5-6 lanes on the left leg, 5-6 lanes on the right, and the rest across the top.
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In squads of three, here are my squadmates for day 1: Ferenc Toth (Hungary) and Alexas Jaunias (Lithuania).
We started towards the middle of the course, but after only three lanes, and constant "cold lines" called, we were notified that shooting for the day would be suspended until the strings could be changed and some targets replaced.
This was source of much discomfort for some shooters, but those of us that had been to New Zealand were not fazed too much.

So, we went for a light lunch and returned to the range.

After getting to the range, we were told that the rest of the day was cancelled and that we would re-convene the next day.
I was happy that we DID have an extra day planned for contingencies, and this was a contingency.


Organizing a WFTC's is a LOT of REALLY HARD WORK. And more and more, the "social" aspect has become the predominant task.
Personally, I find it contrary to common sense, but  I am not fighting reality. I am just very happy that we could have a WFTC's AT ALL!

People, let's see the reality: we're back from a pandemic that has strung the world to the limit of endurance on all aspects. Supply chains are still not recovered, cost of shipping and freight is still through the roof. Situation in Eastern Europe is not helping either. And the Italians made a huge effort to put on the best shoot they could.
Problems emerged and they were faced. Perhaps not to everyone's liking, but after all the difficulties, we WERE together, we WERE shooting, and solutions were in sight.

It also has to be said that the organizers received some poor advise.
Someone told them to buy kite string, and that is what they bought. Whoever provided the "spec" forgot to mention either a "# lbs Test" number for the kite string, or a material and thickness.
Also, they WERE told to NOT use new targets, but to use targets that had been TESTED under competition conditions. Well, receiving a bunch of targets in a single shipment just prior to the match is not the ideal condition for a small team of organizers to test all the targets to be put in the match.
Next thing that needs to be said is that the WFTF authority granted approval for the setup with enough time; at least a full day BEFORE the representatives of the RGB's that were present had a walk-through of the courses.
In OUR case (Team USA), it was Mat Brackett the one to do the walk-through and he called the string issue in advance; and I quote from his message to us all through Whatsapp:
"Strings are very thin and stretchy. But we tested them and they work OK. We are allowed to use them for wind, but they catch on all the grass stubble."

Being un-politely honest, while it's true that the strings were on the thin side, it was a combination of a lack of leverage on the pull-post of the targets what compounded the problem. A slightly longer pull post on the targets would have been useful.
On the three lanes we shot on day "zero", we were successful in pulling up all targets with a smooth, even tension from a standing position.

So, I will re-hash here what I said when it was time to publish the results of the New Zealand's Worlds:
Ranting does no one no good.
If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.
​
I offered help to the organizers, but they told me they had the thing in hand.

And so, we went to our hotel and slept till the next day.

Day One

As our RGB delegate told us, after much discussion, on a vote of 10-11, it was decided to just continue the shoot.
I would have re-started the competition, but it seems some RGB's preferred to continue to keep the perfect / almost perfect scores of some of their shooters. Whatever the case, it was an agreement democratically achieved and so, we simply continued with the shoot.
What was really hurtful was that part of the agreement was that those shooters who had not protested targets would loose their chance to do so.
Given that the suspension was enforced without previous notice, it was not nice to see that the last targets that had not fallen to my shots on day "0" had been replaced.
Still, my Father taught me that a game is truly won by points, not by rules, and I just went along.
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Within the constraints of the land, there were some interesting shots. Behind the bales you can (not) see the "cliff" that dropped behind some of the targets.
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The lower numbered lanes were on the right of the Inverted U, and they were clear open to the wind that had not only a lateral component. Many shooters lost many points in this section of the course.
Personally, I was somewhat satisifed with the first day. Scoring just two points behind Ferenc (a World Class shooter in his own right), told me I was on the right road.
I did detect a few "unexplainable" misses, though and I decided to keep track of them.
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What I found out later, when talking to the team mates sbout scores was that I WAS in the "for score" section of the team. Sadly, one of our younger shooters (Nathan Thomas) had to withdraw last minute and so I was the next in line.
Nathan was missed.
With the day done, we returned to the hotel.

Day Two

On day two I was squadded with Alberto Martín, from Spain and Renie Scorfina, from Malta.

The day pretty much repeated itself for the first half. But after the first half I started to see more and more "unexplainable misses" and I started observing the ranging on the scope.
As the temperatures rose and as the day wore on, it was clear that the sun had affected the scope beyond all reasonable doubt. I started trying other methods of ranging (from pacing in my imagination the distance, to bracketing), but by the end of the day it was clear that not only the rangeing was off, the scope was not holding zero.
Since I do not click, it was fairly easy for me to define that. Targets that were exactly at the natural zero, would hit sometimes high, sometimes low.
So, scope was "toast", literally; something had melted inside with the temperatures that at times, reached the 48-49 C inside the scope, as it was hard to keep a hand on it.
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Some wind-flags are overly complicated, some are simple. In the end, the wind-flag gave little information
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See what I mean?
Pulling on all my experience I managed to finish with a relatively consistent score. But it really was an eye opener that results were better using other ranging methods and trying to figure out if there was some rhyme or reason to the wandering of the zero than in trusting the equipment, as from a line total of two I did manage to improve the other lines to 4. Not much, but at least I knew that I had to do something.
It was specially rewarding to do relatively well in lanes 1-5 that were where most shooters had real, serious problems.
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And so, on the way back I asked my team mates if anyone had a spare scope, but without luck.

I thought about my options real hard and then decided that, as part of the Team USA, there was ONE thing I could NOT do: Give up.

As soon as I arrived to the hotel and was able to connect to WiFi, I located a local gunshop and went there to look for a scope.

The best reticle I could find within the magnification desired in a reasonable budget was an Element Helix.

Because it was a 30 mm's body tube while the Tac Vector Continental was a 34 mm's, I had to buy some mounts. Mounts obtained had no droop, but I hoped that the scope could be adjusted to use the -5 mRad as the zero line.
​
The shop did not have a wheel that would fit, and so I decided to tackle the last day of the match with the sparse numbers in the knob (I hoped that the numbers were reasonably correct), and then use the now de-listed app (PP-Calc) to get as much solid information as I could in the brief time I had in next morning's sighting-in session.

I arrived back to the hotel with scope in hand, went to my room, and mounted the scope in the fixed mounts.

Somewhat troubled but totally decided to give my best, I went to sleep.
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Day Three

After the usual light breakfast, my team mates and I went to the range, I sat down, decided to do the best possible.
It was a great relief when I noted that windage wise, the scope was reasonably close to zero.
Sadly, it took more than a turn and a half to get the scope to shoot to the -5 mRad line we had set as a parameter.

But, in the end, with patience and serenity, we got to a workable situation.
It was very notable that the grouping capabilities of the gun/pellet combination had not suffered too much. This was a tribute to the stability and robustness of the DIANA 54 action on which the gun was based.
The heavy (9.56 grs) performed well with the 11.5 ft-lbs tune, even when the balance of masses had changed substantially.
MV's had been pretty consistent over the whole Match not changing more than a couple of m/s between days (and between chronos, as it was not the same chrono every time).

I was dismayed and disappointed by the complete lack of accuracy between the knob's markings and any kind of reality. So, I had to "calibrate" the markings with the marked distances in the sight-in range targets, and go by those numbers. I have no problem looking at the knob markings and estimating the ranges in between the marks using a log scale (thanks to my High School Mathematics teachers), but when the distance was 50 meters, the scope said "65"
SOOooooooo
​Once all the numbers were in, I clearly had a ballistic problem worthy of study:
- On one hand I needed the real distance numbers to calculate the right wind drift
- On the other, the knob markings bore no relation to reality.
A quick regression gave me a small table to "translate" between the knob markings and the real distances.

Then we had the problem of the lack of droop. Drops had to be calculated in relative terms and then that input into the app, so that the calculated drops were accurate. Then the reverse process had to be done so that the POA would have a physical correspondence in the reticle.

Once all the numbers were processed, I ended up with a table that had two "distances" for range, and one elevation point that started from -6 mRad, went up to -5 mRad (zero line)  and then dropped down to -7½ mRad again to describe the trajectory from 9 to 50 meters. Wind drifts had been calculated for a "unit" wind of 5 kph at "full force", meaning winds from 3 or 9 O'Clock, while I knew that, for the most part, we would be shooting in 15 to 25 kph winds coming from different quarters, as the lanes traversed from right facing to left facing as the lane number went up.
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My range card for the third day. The first column is the correlation between scope knob markings and real distances, the second column is the elevation POA, the third column is the drift needed at 5 kph
 And so, with a firm decision, I joined Team USA for the group picture and decided to have a good time.
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From left to right. Standing.- Myself Rear row: David Alsup, Peter Brooks, Manuel Morales, Garrett Kwakkestein, Edwin Tubens, Son Lu Front row: Matt Sawyer, Leo Gonzales, Lonnie Smith, Matt Brackett, Lauren Parsons, Jay Hannon Kneeling.- Cameron Kerndt
 The day was if anything, even more punishing than the previous two days.
The sun felt like a rain of molten lead.
The wind was relentless and constantly shifting.

I was putting all my attention to the match, every single shot became a one shot match. Did reasonably well in the first standers, and then also in the kneelers, but the longer shots with wind on the back still eluded me.
Lanes 1 to 5 were, for me, reasonably good. A tribute to the choice of pellet.
But lanes 21 to 25 were not so good. The broken winds that came from the left had me holding too much, rather than too little.
So, it WAS a hard third day for everyone.

Even under those conditions, Team USA performed admirably.

Worthy of note was the effort by Matt Sawyer that had suffered a relatively mild sunstroke on the first day and had somewhat recovered, but by the third day the fatigue overtook him and he was affected again. To the point that he could not hold down even room temperature water.
Luckily, one of his squad mates (from France?) knew what to do and gave him iced water, which permitted him to "muscle through" the day and shoot a very creditable score of 30.
With Cameron in the lead with an amazing 40, and the great scores posted by Matt B and Leo on days 1 and 2, the Team could almost overcome a bad second day.
​By three points (about 1%), Spain retained the lead to place first in Springer Team.

I shot a rather consistent 21
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On one side I was happy to have kept some semblance of consistency, even under hard conditions.
On the other, my mind went to those geniuses that gave us the basics to understand ballistics; how they worked also under hard conditions, conditions and situations that sometimes required secrecy.

Above all, it was, IMHO, a triumph for Mathematics.

If there ever was a reason for kids to really pay attention in Maths class, this is one.
Maths will enable you to keep on fighting, even when it seems that the world conspires against you.

After a few beers (more than I care to admit), I was almost putting away my gear when I was notified that I would be in a shootoff! 
Shootoff?? For WHAT?

It turned out that in the Veterans class, my friend Herbie Von Der Stein (English, believe it or not, and there IS an interesting story behind it!) had taken first, but my friend and squad mate from the first day Alexas Jaunias and I were tied for second.

Alexas was also surprised, but a shootoff was in order  and so, we took our positions, I "ranged", consulted my table, took aim, took down the long target, "ranged" the near one, checked the table, and took it down.
Alexas hit the long one, but missed the short one.

And so, I placed, as one good friend put it "the second best old man in the springer world". LOL!

With the shooting now really done, we all went back to get cleaned and spruced up for the ceremony and the dinner.

We had some time to fool around as a Team
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Jeeze how serious! Photo Courtesy of Rose Alsup
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Photo courtesy of Rose Alsup
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Naaah! Not really, LOL! Photo courtesy of Rose Alsup
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We even commandeered the ceremonial balcony! :O Photo courtesy of Rose Alsup
And just as we were being called to the Ceremony of closure Frascati gave us one of the best sunsets I have seen
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Photo courtesy of Rose Alsup

Epilog

After all the speeches and formalities, the awards were announced and granted.

I have to say that every airgunner in the US should be proud of what Team USA accomplished.
​
On the General Springer Scoreboard Cameron K came in 3rd just 2 points behind Jan Homan of Germany. First place went to Ismael Sobrino from Spain, with an amazing score of 112 points for the three days.
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The Top Ten Lineup: Konstantin Maximov (DE 4th), Matt Brackett (USA 5th), Istvan Fejes-Toth (HU 6th), Emilio Palomares (ES 7th), Luiz Barreiros (PT 8th), Marek Godlijevski (LT 9th) , Leo Gonzales (USA 10th) . Photo courtesy of Rose Alsup
On the PCP  side, Paul Cray placed 10th overall
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Photo courtesy of Rose Alsup
And David Alsup placed second in the Veteran PCP's.
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Photo courtesy of Rose Alsup
I was very happy to be part of Team USA, it has been years of hard work that have paid off.

Re-capping the history, Team USA has placed :
2nd in New Zealand
1st in Poland
2nd in England
and
2nd in Italy

There is still work to be done, there always is.

We'll see how things go for next year, it is scheduled to be in South Africa. But the world's economic situation is getting trickier by the minute.

For 2024, it is scheduled to be at Phoenix's Rio Salado shooting range in Arizona, USA.
So, if you have a springer, dust it off and start practicing.
Performing well at an international level in the name of one's country is an honor and a privilege that requires single-purposed minds committed to doing their best.

​Thanks to my Team mates for making such a wonderful memory possible.
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Photo courtesy of Rose Alsup
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The triumph of Mathematics.- Italy's WFTC's 2022      Part 2

8/26/2022

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Or "Resilience"

Let's continue then

Preparing the shoot

As I wrote before, Team USA had contacted Lazio Airguns with a view to have some "quiet time" to prepare for the WFTC's. We had done the same in Germany, New Zealand, Poland, and England; so we knew it was important.
​When we arrived, we saw a very well setup field. Mostly for HFT, but perfectly adequate to our needs.
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Targets were out, but strings needed to be run. As you can see they remain spooled at the gates.
Here are some more pictures of the excellent Lazio Airguns field:
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A permanent and well used Podium, clearly signaling to all who can see that the field is used often
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Some lanes are shaded
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Some are transitional
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Some lanes are in the open sun
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Positionals
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Some challenging locations due to wind and light differences along the pellet path .Do observe the "mast" target at rear.
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Shooting under 230 kV lines was particularly amusing for me, as an EE I have built a number of these lines, LOL!
For the next three days, this would "FT Shooting Home" and we were very grateful to have this opportunity.
Sadly, some of the members of the team were experiencing extreme delays in getting to Rome. Some shooters even arrived without a rifle to shoot, and so, some agonizing trips to the Fiumicino Airport ensued, trying to get hold of the guns.
In then end, "with a little bit of Luck" all shooters and guns showed up, in time for the official "Zeroing/Practice range" to open.

The two terrains

As originally planned, the shoot was going to take place in the mountainous region of GrottaFerratta.
GrottaFerrata is a small town in the "Parco dei Castelli Romani" that basically houses all the "Summer Manor Homes" of the most powerful families in Rome.
Next to GrottaFerrata is the well known (and famous for its wine) town of Frascati. Where the new "Social Venue" was located, Villa Tuscolana.

But the terrain between GrottaFerratta and Frascati is pretty similar:
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Mountains and trees, old orchards and vineyards. There is not a in² that is not owned by someone, and the region has a long history of agricultural development.
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The towns themselves, sit atop hills and are more distributed vertically than horizontally.
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From town to town, from Villa to Villa, deep ravines and manicured 100' tall trees show that the hand of men has been actively stewarding nature for centuries.
Now, compare the region originally intended for the match to the one that had to be used, given the difficulties encountered:
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Once moved to the final shooting venue, gone are all the possibilities of interesting shots. Only the challenges presented by the sun, the temperature and the ever shifting wind, remain.
As a long time Piston shooter, I have come to the conclusion that you should not fight reality. For sure, you are going to loose; and spend much energy doing so.
As soon as we could register our equipment and get it approved for competition at Villa Tuscolana, we adjourned to the range and took some time trying to learn the conditions.
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The sighting-in range line had a number of gazebo's.
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As time passed, the line filled up.
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And temperatures started rising. This picture is interesting because it shows how heat enters a scope through the objective and moves towards the erector assembly. ¿Do you REALLY think that an erector assembly that is subject to a few degrees difference between front and back is going to range with absolute consistency?
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It would have been difficult for us to travel across the Atlantic with an "umbrella'ed seat", those that were able to drive to the matches, and had more experience than us, did.
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We even had some celebrities around. For those that do not know him, this is Alessandro DiMaggio. He is a well known Italian blogger under "AleDiMaggio" handle.
Once the first day of "practice and zeroing" was done, and somewhat satisfied that everything was doing what it was supposed to be doing, we adjourned to Villa Tuscolana for a night's sleep and the first day of competition.
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The triumph of Mathematics.- Italy's WFTC's 2022      Part 1

8/22/2022

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OR: "Resilience"

I have always been an admirer of the Italian "Rinascimento" (Renaissance).
The two and a half centuries that span the 1400 to the 1650 saw a number of absolutely genial minds come to grips with nature's mysteries.
We could write a book about the advances in Medicine, Anatomy, Astronomy, Physics, and Military Sciences, but the essence of this Blog is not so wide and the audience would get bored to death, so let's center on the basic knowledge base that is pertinent to us here: Ballistics

The earliest modern ideas/theories on trajectories

Towards 1495 Leonardo Da Vinci was writing in his peculiar "mirror image script" about what he thought the trajectories of projectiles were. He differentiated between "natural motion" (drop), and "accidental/violent motion"  (propulsed).
His incredible mind and eye for reality is astounding, even today, if we pause to analyze the correspondence of his graphics and reality. Let's just take a look at it:
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At first these do not seem to be too breathtaking, but let's see a quadratic parabola overlaid and the mirror reversed so we are more in tune with the "normal" left to right form of writing:
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Picture taken from: https://www.luminosoa.org/site/chapters/10.1525/luminos.79.f/download/3764/
As you can see Leonardo's curves always fall SHORT of the perfect parablola.
Which means that  Leonardo KNEW that a projectile is slowed down by air friction.
Leonardo never published these ideas (probably fearful of the consequences of contradicting the accepted Church and Inquisition concepts), though it is probable that his results were used by the Sforza's and later by the French King Francis I (both patrons of DaVinci at different points in his life).
Peculiarly, about half a century later than Leonardo, Tartaglia would publish the first ideas of the trajectories of projectiles.
In his mind, the "violent motion" of a projectile would come to an end, and when that happened, the projectile would follow the "natural motion" it had to follow, according to Aristotle, and then fall straight down to earth. This rendered some very peculiar trajectories:
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A bit more than a century after Leonardo, Galileo (1638) would pose a more formal explanation and in his theories he clearly outlined that projectiles with "Natural" motion would behave different from projectiles with "Violent" motion. And, not only that, he would lay the borderline at what we would call, in modern terms, about 400 fps.
He would, however, NOT take into account air friction and his tables published for bombardiers would be most helpful to those artillerymen who shot at very high angles and slow speeds (large caliber mortars were called bombards back then).
Galileo's experiments were conducted using inclined planes to "propulse" balls that would later fly off flat planes, while the trajectory was recorded.
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So, it is quite astounding that the most accurate depiction of reality was hidden from humanity because of fear of reprisals from the establishment.
Even Galileo, quite famous in his own time, was processed by the Inquisition for postulating that the earth moved around the sun.
But that is a different story
What is important here is that the three scientists that we are analyzing here understood that in the "human reality" things cannot appear and disappear, they move along under a CONTINUOUS motion. There are no breaks/jumps or discontinuities (it would take 300 years more of scientific development for humans to get into the quantic realm).
The next BIG THINKERS in Science's evolution would come 50 years after Galileo:
Newton would develop the differential calculus needed to describe in all precision the trajectory of a projectile around the 1690's and the first edition of "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" would establish the mathematical relation between physics and mathematics. We all learn the Three Newton's laws, but we seldom stop to think that the three laws are just specific aspects of the conservation of energy in a closed referential system  (and there is an equation for that).
Leibnitz would "invent" Integral Calculus (1675) and it was up to Euler (works in the 1734-1738 time frame) to use that (with improved notation to simplify things) to develop the tools to do the reverse calculations needed to find a drag curve and a BC from a trajectory.
So, when we say that we can only look far into the horizon because we are standing on the shoulders of giants, we truly mean it.
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The WFTC's 2022, the first World's FT matches after a two year hiatus

A few months after the 2019 World's in England (just 'google' the following string: https://www.ctcustomairguns.com "2019 World's"), CoVid struck. I was just returning from Germany when the World was shut down; in fact, if I had planned a return just two days later, I would have gotten stuck en route.
When the time came to hold the 2020 WFTC's no one was prepared, travelling was severely curtailed, and some countries were simply closed to all international visitors.
It was therefore, impossible to hold the 2020 WFTC's and the SouthAfrican's very properly asked if we wanted our registration money back.
I found no sense in getting the money back and decided to donate the funds to the clubs.
The world went into hybernation.
 A year passed, and then two, it seemed as though time had frozen.
So, when news came that the Italian FIDASC (Federazione Italiana D'Armi Sportivi et Caccia) was willing to put up the 2022 WFTC's we all jumped at the opportunity.
Details started to trickle in and when the initial venue was announced, I was somewhat surprised.
Anyone who has been in Rome during the summer knows that the heat is pretty high on the scale, going from "uncomfortable" into "unbearable". And a few kilometers distance didn't encourage the idea of a much fresher climate.

To the credit of the organizaers, they very clearly stated that we should be prepared and able to shoot at temperatures that exceeded the 35 C.

I took contact with the organizers and started arranging for some trigger time for Team USA that had to deal with the jet-lag, as well as all the other changes in a trip that takes you 7,000 kms, and 6 hours biorythm) from home, at the very least.
And so, we agreed to access a private range in the Lazio province.

As time approached the FT Team USA Whatsapp group started buzzing with flights and hotel information and as some members came on board and others dropped out, the final group was formed.
All in all, 15 shooters would be traveling to Italy under the US Flag.
I considered myself VERY fortunate to be able to go.

All of a sudden, we were informed that the venue had to change. As it usually happens, the rumors started flying and all sort of information and dis-information circulated.

When we finally got solid information, I was completely taken aback, Google World's topo map showed a plain, with barely 50 meters difference between the summit of the lonely hill and the lowermost point on the side of the match, and about a 100 meters to the BACK of the plot of land designated, where there was a "cliff".
A VERY challenging place to shoot airguns.

All the terrain research done over Villa Cavalletti, went out the window; the venue we expected with groves of old vines and some old orchards (the Agricultural preserve of Villa Cavalletti) where we would be shooting among century old trees over quite interesting differences of level, were gone; and in its place a plain. As flat as it could be.

Information from the local airgun club where we had arranged to practice, also revealed that the winds would be "vicious".

Preparations begin

Given the drastic change of conditions I decided to make a change of pellet, and shoot with a slightly heavier pellet, a decision I would later be very happy about.

I had also been working on turning the new DIANA 54 AirKing "Pro" stock into an FT stock, with some success. The addition of an adjustable cheekpiece; a better, target-oriented buttplate; ended in something that felt good in all positions.
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Shooting local matches showed that a hamster would be a good idea and so, it was added:
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I had also worked extensively and intensively with an interesting scope: a Tac Vector Optics Continental.
The 34 mm's body posed an interesting challenge.
On one hand the erector tube was not really "spring-piston compatible" Loss of zero was evident. This was solved with a custom made ZR Mount. I had to go through four iterations of the mount till I finally got all the points solved.
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What makes the scope very interesting is the reticle. With 1/5 ths mRad hash-marks, a "Xmas tree" geometry,  First Focal Plane, and a notable optical train built with German ED glass, it is truly an outstanding scope. It does have its limitations which we will talk about later.

Shooting in several local matches with the final configuration and having achieved good results, I decided to take this final configuration to Italy.

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Months before I had secured my plane ticket using miles, so, in essence the ticket costed little. The outgoing AA flights connecting through Charlotte proved a good decision, I arrived into Rome on time.
When I arrived, I went through passport control, and then directly to baggage claim, expecting to find the baggage services office there. I waited and waited and waited, and the gun didn't come out, so I went looking for it at the oversized baggage claim, but nothing was there either.
I inquired about where the BSO was and was directed to an AA  employee, who told me there wasn't any.
Somewhat reluctantly, I asked then where could my airgun be and I was told to look for it at the Police office which was, you guessed it, BEFORE passport control.

So, back and forth, I finally was able to find the police office and as I was going in there, I found Garett Kwakkestein.
So we shared the misery of having to get our guns through their own "passport" control.
Police issued new papers with stamps, seals and signatures all over and told us to go through the police office BEFORE checking our bags with the airline.
Getting to the rental car agency was an ordeal. A LOOOONNG walk through the airport, then two flights of stairs and finally I found the SIXT agency.
Of course they tried to "upgrade" me, but I refused. Italy is a conflictive country for driving, probably only third to India and Egypt (in my opinion), so I had purchased additional insurance.  By taking precautionary steps, the rental was not all that bad. In GENERAL, it is a good idea to look into supplemental insurance for many parts of your trip. From delays and cancellations to driving and baggage.
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After taking delivery of the car ( FIAT 500 G), we documented the state of the car (in case of future claims by the rental agency), and tested brakes and steering in the parking garage.
I then took to the road to find my lodgings.
For navigation I had decided to use my phone, but I had no local data service, so I prepared offline maps.
What I didn't think about was that map applications also take into account traffic, without traffic information, the app reverts to the most fuel efficient route, which usually means the shorter distance.
So, traffic and very narrow streets it was for a while.
After many turns, I arrived at Frascati and after an even bigger number of turns, I found the place where I should be staying.
Contrary to advertised features, the place had no onsite parking and that was a BIG problem.
So, after trying for a day to make it work I decided to forgo that reservation and move to Villa Tuscolana.
And here comes another lesson: If the place you get does not fulfill the specs you contracted, do NOT take delivery. Once you take delivery, you're stuck for the duration unless you want to forfeit the total cost.
I was so furious that I decided to forgo the contract and forfeit the full value. Yes it was THAT bad.
Another lesson: Do NOT use the booking apps in the market (from TriVago to Booking, and all of them in between); WHY? because you are not their customer, their customers are the hotels and lodgings that hire them to get your business. So, once you make a booking, the apps will not help you at all.
By all means use them to find out what is available, but for the final, actual, contractual, reservation try going directly to the company. And ask all pertinent questions before you make a reservation that cannot be cancelled or modified.
Anyway, there was a World's to be shot and we needed to get our act together.

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Simple Field Target #3.- FTRPA July 18th 2021

7/23/2021

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Preamble and Acknowledgements

This "Simple FT" thing' is becoming a habit (or is it an addiction?) ROFL! a good one at that.
It forces you to always start from the basics, if you forget the slightest thing, BOING!  there goes a shot where it should NOT have gone. And you only have yourself to blame.
Demanding? Yes! but we spring-piston shooters love the challenges!

So, when the Falls Township Rifle and Pistol Association (FTRPA) FT team posted that they would be hosting a shoot in July, I quickly obtained permission from the "High Command" and got my license for "R&R", LOL!

Hotel booked and everything settled, the trip started after a Saturday full of activities with the kids and wife.
The drive was somewhat annoying. Gone are the days of little traffic due to Pandemic's partial lockdowns; statistics say that we are back, if not above, Pre-"Year of the Masks" levels of travel and traffic; the Hospitality Industry has even coined a term: "Revenge Travel" where people travel just to travel, to feel free and unfettered by quarantines and isolation rules.

SOooooo.... After three different traffic jams and an almost 5 hours drive, I arrived into Ewing, NJ to spend the night.

Morning after, I headed to Fairless Hills, where FTRPA is located, just 17 minutes from the hotel.  Funny how some states have much better economic policies than others, and it is a pity that PA does not realize how much business is lost to NJ simply because taxes for travel and leisure are lower. But that is another discussion.

FTRPA is easily one of the prettiest courses/venues in the USA. It's been going strong for MANY years. The first time we (Veronika and I) attended a match there was 2011. MUCH has happened since. Venue though, is still as beautiful as ever.

Between the woods and the lake, scenery is calming and serene.

Range is shared between Airgunners and 3D Archers, and the effort that the Airgunners take to "put the least  possible footprint" into the woods is more than commendable:
ALL tree bases get removed after the shoot.
ALL concrete bases and pavers get taken out
ALL stakes/gates also are taken out
NOTHING remains of the shoot

So, EVERYTHING has to be set out again for the next shoot. You will never shoot the same course twice at FTRPA!

HUGE effort, so VERY COMMENDABLE!

THANKS! therefore to the FTRPA crew that spends many hours setting up the field for us to come and shoot!

It is also clear that the Field Target group gets serious support from the Association's Directives. So THANKS also go to them.

The Shoot

At FTRPA, there's a nice sighting-in range, that is also shared with the Archers, so, if you go, do NOT shoot at the foamies! Targets are too big to have any real meaning when shot with a precision airgun at under 55 yards!
The FTRPA crew puts out a more than reasonable sighting in range with targets every 5 yards in plentiful supply.
Also some spinners, some "shoot to reset", and once in a while even some FT's.
Get there early and you will have a ton of fun just shooting at paper.
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FTRPA sets out a 60 shot match. They believe this is a good balance between costs (travel, time, money) and enjoyment for other shooters to come and shoot, and they are right, it's a darned good "bang for the buck".
​

These 60 shots are laid over 10 lanes with 3 targets each lane and two shots per target.
Shoots are not "impossibly hard" usually in the 28 TDR average, in recent times only ONE shooter (and a truly top one at that) has cleaned a Match. So, it takes a LOT of skill and dedication to get high numbers even in a relatively "simple" shoot.

Another aspect that is common at FTRPA is the assistance of new shooters. A lot of it obeys the clear familiarity and friendliness that all the members exhibit, and the atmosphere that prevails and pervades all the shoots. It is an excellent course to get started, and you never stop learning . . .   ;-)

One most important part of any shoot is the Shooter's Safety Meeting. Make no mistake, we have shortened the name to SM (Shooter's Meeting)  but the real purpose is to re-instill the principles of safe gun handling in all the present shooters, especially the old timers.
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Make no mistake (have I emphasized that before?), the first timers are usually VERY aware that they are newbies, it's the "experienced shooters" the ones that need reminding of the safety basics. As in many things in life: "Familiarity breeds contempt", so if you ever need to give one of these, make notes and stick to the notes. Be thorough, be precise, be detailed. The worst series of target failures and cold lines would be a minor imposition/nuisance in the face of an accident.
As a shooter, be aware, be conscious, be courteous, but above all, be SAFE.

Among the WFTF MD's there is the acronym: SFC (no, it does not mean Sargent First Class; it stands for SAFE, Challenging and Fun), which is the aspirational goal of all shoots.

I was paired with Johnathan, a first time shooter, and it was very pleasant to shoot with the young man (I double his age). We proceeded at a good clip and he clearly had done as much of his homework as was possible without actually having gone to a match before.
​
​We started in lane 9:
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Here is a zoomed in picture of the targets:
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I was fairly confident of my "simple" system (a DIANA 430L shooting H&N "Baracuda FT" pellets: 9.57 grs. / 4.51 mm's at around 734 fps) and proceeded to bring down all targets on both shots.
Apologies that you cannot see how small that long target KZ is. If you locate it on the general picture above, you will only see a black dot where the KZ is and, while I cleaned this lane, the impact on the paddles were all clearly visible, perfect elevation, but to the right.
Hmmmmmm Wind? ... mental note.
John proceeded to shoot his stint and we moved to lane #10:
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This was one of the long lanes, I ranged the middle one at 45 yards (41 meters) and the far one at 53 yards (48 meters), and while the near one came down twice, I missed the two shots on the middle one, with impacts clearly one to the right . . . . mental cogs turning . . . and then excessive correction to the left. I hit the long one on the first shot, but under the stress of the SSS (Second Shot Syndrome), missed the second shot.
Here is a zoomed in view:
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I decided to adjust my scope 5 clicks to the left before moving to the beginning of the course. John finished and we moved back to Lane 1, but found it busy, and so, I decided to shoot lane 2 and then return to lane 1, this is lane 2:
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And here is a detailed look at the long targets:
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Before starting to shoot, I took two shots into the ground to settle the scope, since I had clicked 5 clicks between the last lane and this one. It was not a difficult lane at 18 yds (16 m), 22 yds (20 m)  and 37 yds (34 m);  and all 6 shots found the KZ.
After John took his shots, we moved back to lane 1:
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This is another long lane, the near target was already 26 yards (24 meters) away, and from there my rangeings were 35 yds (32 m), and 47 yds (43 m). Here is a detailed view of the long targets:
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Of the six shots, I missed the last one. Ah, well .  .  .
After shooting lane 1, we could advance to lane 3:​
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And the detailed look:
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Got the woodpecker at 20 yds (18 m)  twice, then missed second shot at the near squirrel 44 yds (40 m), and missed both shots at the long one 54 yds( 49 m) . And the problem with grey and brown targets is that it is VERY hard to spot your misses.
After John shot we moved to Lane 4:
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And this is the detailed view:
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Viewed from the standing position, it seems that the short porky is clearly visible, but if you locate the porky in the panoramic picture above, you will see there is a "hump" in the ground that obscures part of the target.
In my, very low, sitting position, the pellet grazed the ground and didn't even touch the faceplate! So that was a miss!
I had to scoot back almost to the limit of holding the muzzle in front of the gate to get the second shot to count.
Distances were not that long:  18 yds (16 m), 27 yds (25 m) and 35 yds (32 m).
After John's turn, we moved to Lane 5 which was the offhand lane:
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And here is a detail of the targets:
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I ranged 10 yds (9 m), 22 yds (20 m), and 27 yds (25 m), so all were doable, but missed the last two shots.
Arghh . . . need more practice!
After John shot his turn, we moved to lane 6:
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With its detailed view:
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Dropped all 6 targets. Ranges were not long: 12 yds (11 m), 19yds (17 m), and 22 yds (20 m).
After John shot we moved to Lane 7:
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This is John shooting his (very well) home tuned HW97. And here would be a detailed view of the targets:
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Got twice the near and mid targets, but the long one eluded me. I suspect that at 49 yds (45 meters), with the sun on my back and a hat made out of rattan that is very airy, but also allows passage of light into the ocular, the budget/simple Diamondback 6-24X50 was having problems giving me the acuity needed to range correctly. I really cannot fault the scope, it is not a "high end scope" and, for the price (under $400),  performs admirably. I will have to remember and get some sort of solid hat that precludes the sunshine shining into the ocular, OR an I-cuff or other similar device (but then we start getting away from the "Simple" in the Simple FT concept.
​
We closed the match at lane 8:
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​Which was the only lane towards the lake. USUALLY, the wind from the lake plays goofy tricks with the shots, but this time I was lucky and I had some calm.
I had shot the two shots on the first target when John told me:
-There is a person in the lake beyond the middle target, not that you are going to miss, but just to make you aware"
WHAAAT???!!!!
Stood up and tried to locate the person, but he had rowed past, so I deemed safe to shoot again.
I calmed myself down, breathed real deep a few times and asked John which was the next shot.
John informed me that I had to take my first shot on the second target, so I started there and the rest of the shots went well.
Enough to close the Match with a clean lane that is always very nice.
By now, I'm sure some of you are thinking: "How can he remember EVERY shot?"

Truth is: I don't. LOL!

When Veronika started shooting, she made it a point to keep notes of every shot, and so we designed a D.O.P.E. card that I try to keep for all shoots. It is a source of experience, as sometimes after thinking things over a day or two, I come back and find something that needs to be learned.
It is something I would highly recommend:
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For example:
Clearly, the long shots are harder than the short ones.
Clearly I have problems with the second shot: 8 of 13 misses were second shots.
Need to work in my offhand shots (usually, real top matches are decided on the "discipline" - forced position -  shots).
In this way, you can "coach" yourself to improved scores.

Of course, I always take a picture of the official score card:
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And make sure that totals match, LOL!

After all the shooting was done, some of the shooters pitched in to "take out the course":
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It's the least we can do to help the FTRPA crew.
​
After the cleanup, awards were given and conversations got started
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After a while, I was reminded that I hadn't brought the wife, LOL!
So I took leave from my friends and started heading home.
​The drive home was easier than the one out.
Quick refuel, snack, and in 3 hrs and change I was home.
When you analyze the scores of the match, it becomes clear that the course was not THAT hard (measured as TDR), yet the scores were not THAT high.
There is much more to a course difficulty than the TDR, and even when the MD's think it is one of the easiest they have set, results tell that it was not so easy after all.

As far as equipment is concerned, I am still very happy with my "Simple FT rig" the DIANA 430L is a "good" gun to start with, but with some engineering and the right accessories, it is approaching the "great" status.
The combination of the scope, the mount, the gun, and the pellet has proven that FT'ers should not be afraid of running at slow speeds. It's the accuracy, precision and consistency of a system that are most important.
It is also important to have fun and, if your system is becoming too complicated, take a step back, re-think the whole thing, see into yourself and decide what is what makes you truly happy. Then simplify.
You may loose a few points in the first few matches, but if you were honest with yourself and the simplification gives you more enjoyment, then you will practice more, be more proficient, and in the long run, you will score better.

FTRPA's July shoot is now done, it has become part of the collective memory, some things learned, some things re-learned; it was a hoot and I deeply appreciate Larry's, Rick's, and Jim's knowledge, cooperation and efforts on behalf of the sport.
Good times and good memories are created from this.
AND...
Best thing was to meet old friends and make new ones, I've said it many times, but the best part of FT is the people that shoot FT.

Keep well and shoot straight!






HM
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    Hector Medina

    2012 US National WFTF Spring Piston Champion
    2012 WFTF Spring Piston Grand Prix Winner
    2013 World's WFTF Spring Piston 7th place
    2014 Texas State WFTF Piston Champion
    2014 World's WFTF Spring Piston 5th place.
    2015 Maine State Champion WFTF Piston
    2015 Massachusetts State Champion WFTF Piston
    2015 New York State Champion WFTF Piston
    2015 US National WFTF Piston 2nd Place
    2016 Canadian WFTF Piston Champion
    2016 Pyramyd Air Cup WFTF Piston 1st Place
    2017 US Nationals Open Piston 3rd Place
    2018 WFTC's Member of Team USA Champion Springers
    2018 WFTC's 4th place Veteran Springer
    2020 Puerto Rico GP Piston First Place
    2020 NC State Championships 1st Place Piston
    2022 Maryland State Champion WFTF 
    2022 WFTC's Italy Member of TEAM USA 2nd place Springers
    2022 WFTC's Italy
    2nd Place Veteran Springers

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