Saturday, April 14, 2018

Saturday Shooting

The Peacemakers moved to the new, 17-3/16th inch targets at 15 feet.  That is the format we'll be shooting at the US Nationals at the end of May, and I thought that it might be prudent to practive on them for a month or so.

According to the CFDA, it is exactly the same to shoot a 17-3/16 inch target at 15 feet as it is to shoot a 24 inch target at 21 feet.  I suppose that someone has done the math.  But, bullet flight time is less because we're closer to the target.  I managed to hit a 0/613 and Zach hit a 0.420. 

What amazed me, more than anything else, was how much more space we had in the range with the shooters 6 feet closer to the targets.  Belle is already postulating that we might have to move the scoring table closer and change the spectator seating area.

After Louisiana State, the shooters hit me hard today.  My stocks of wax and primers are almost depleted.  It's time to make another order.

3 comments:

Old NFO said...

Just out of curiosity, why the change?

Pawpaw said...

Old NFO.

I'm not sure why the Association adopted this originally, except that our Director thought that it would give options to clubs that are strapped for space. According to all the research, the math is the same, the cone of fire for the small targets is supposedly exactly the same as for the large targets.

What the clubs have found is that it is a huge space-saving factor. It gives a lot more room for spectators. I didn't believe it either, until today. That extra 6 feet is HUGE.

From my conversations with other clubs, it looks like many of them are going to the smaller targets, and our club seemed to like them today. Times were lower, and hit percentages didn't really change.

Old NFO said...

Interesting... I guess 'optically' they appear the same size, and the space savings was something I didn't think about. Hope it works out!!!