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

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.

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".
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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.

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.
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​We started in lane 9:

Here is a zoomed in picture of the targets:

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:

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:

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:

And here is a detailed look at the long targets:

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:

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:

Of the six shots, I missed the last one. Ah, well .  .  .
After shooting lane 1, we could advance to lane 3:​

And the detailed look:

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:

And this is the detailed view:

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:

And here is a detail of the targets:

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:

With its detailed view:

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:

This is John shooting his (very well) home tuned HW97. And here would be a detailed view of the targets:

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.
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We closed the match at lane 8:

​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:

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:

And make sure that totals match, LOL!

After all the shooting was done, some of the shooters pitched in to "take out the course":

It's the least we can do to help the FTRPA crew.
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After the cleanup, awards were given and conversations got started

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