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Shooting at a World's Match, exactly what is it like?

10/2/2013

4 Comments

 
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:
Picture
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. 

Picture
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:
Picture
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:
Picture
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:
Picture
And once you have handed in the squad scores, you can relax, either alone or with friends.
Picture
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
4 Comments
Dave Bartlett link
10/2/2013 07:08:04

Do you have a sense of whether or not most countries use WFTF target sizes and color guidelines in their domestic competitions?

Reply
HECTOR J MEDINA GOMEZ link
10/3/2013 03:34:54

Dave;

I can only speak first hand about 5 countries (USA; México, Venezuela, Norway and Germany), and from reference, about a few others (Holland, Austria, Spain and France), mainly European.

I would say that MOST European countries DO abide exactly by the WFTF Comprehensive Rules. This means faceplate figures, KZ sizes, colours, layout, etc. SOME countries have added "guidelines" of their own, for example, England has specifically discouraged the use of red for faceplate color. Green you cannot use because it could be argued that green targets are not "Fully Visible" in the European sense (unaided eye). Since Green and Red are the colours most colour blind people have problems with, it is a clear intent to make the sport agreeable to all. Black targets are harder to range than white, light blue, yellow, orange, or light tan targets (especially in the shade of the "Black Forest"), so for a top-notch competition, you SHOULD expect a number of black targets.

Mexico's and Venezuela's rule books were written to comply fully with WFTF rules, but also to allow some "local flavour". You will not find "flower", "bee", "pineapple", "soda bottle", "beer can", etc. faceplates in a World's Match, but you will definitely encounter them in Latin America. With all sorts of colours and KZ sizes.

If we look at the American Airgun Field Target Association (AAFTA's) "Handbook", we see that the KZ sizes is much more varied, and that target's distances, while roughly following the spirit, can and do vary.

Another interesting point is the prohibition of simulated hit zones absent from the AAFTA rules, but also the lack of target numbering (at target AND at lane markers / reset strings).

Now, that does not mean it is wrong. It is, simply, different.

Part of the fun of going to a World's Match is to be prepared to be surprised; and to roll with the punches.

It is as much a test of adaptability as it is of shooting ability.

To keep our sense of wonder is one of those attributes that keep you young.

See you on the lanes!




Héctor

Reply
Dan Brown
10/2/2013 11:15:25

How did you stay fed and hydrated during the shoot?
Dan

Reply
HECTOR J MEDINA GOMEZ link
10/3/2013 03:49:21

Dan;

First of all, of capital importance is a good breakfast.

A German breakfast is some slices of cheese, some slices of cold meats, a little bread, one or two soft-boiled eggs, coffee, tea, milk, and some jam or other spread on a little more bread.

At home, a bowl of my own mix of "granola" with a banana and honey is just as good.

That will tide you over till 2 / 3 PM (14:00 / 15:00 hrs.)

After that, some "Trail Mix" (either self made, or bought) and water will take you over in good condition till 5 / 6 PM (17:00 / 18:00 hrs.)

Our personal trail mix is composed of very slightly salted cashews, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, a little edamame; dried cranberries, cherries, blueberries and raisins. Not too salty because you do not want to go thirsty. Not totally devoid of salt because you DO need to keep the Sodium/Chloride equilibrium.

A banana somewhen between 10 and 12 also works wonders.

BDS made available lunch packets, but we opted to keep "vegetarian" during the Match.

One of my squad mates, Jörgen Klockner, had some sausages that he ate with particular relish ;-)

Verónika always took a "Nutella" sandwich with her.

It is really up to whatever you feel like needing.

Long shoots are like hunts. You need to take a knapsack with all your "possibles" (Water and Food are definitely possibles).

Keep things simple and keep things familiar and you will see that you do not miss those "comforts".

Un abrazo!





Héctor

Reply



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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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