That First Shot

 I didn't do as well as I wanted to in Kansas last week.  I'm not blaming anyone but myself.  It was a good match, run by good people.  I simply didn't hit the target enough to stay in the win column.  The CFDA uses an elimination system where if you win, you get a W in the scoring column, and if you lose you get an X in the scoring column.Generally, a sanctioned match will be a 4X match.  When you lose four matches, you are through.

The standard target these days is a 17-3/16th inch target at 15 feet.  The center of the target is 47 inches above the ground.  We shoot from 15 feet. The target is electrically powered, with both a start light and a hit sensor.  When the light comes on, the shooter draws, cocks and fires the revolver   If the wax bullet hits the target, it trips the sensor and give yo a time. Individual shots are normally in the half-second range. Three winning hits determines a match.

It's fast.  It's real fast, and the shooting is done from muscle memory. Sights are seldom used.

It is said that you cannot miss fast enough to win n the game, ad I proved that this weekend,

The first shot is vitally important, because it shows that you have set up properly on the target.  On the long drive home, I started thinking about that first shot in every match, and was intrigued enough to get our some old match score-sheets and do some digging.  When I got home this week, I took out the Monthly Match sheets from the last two club shoot, and the first two rounds from the Louisiana State Championship we conducted in April.

I asked the question, "If a shooter hits the target with his first shot, how often will that hit translate into winning the match?" The results were fairly compelling.  I learns that if a shooter hits the target with the first shot, in 63% of those matches, that first hit translates into a W in the win column.

There a number of things that might affect the outcome of an individual match,  Hitting the target with the first shot is not absolutely predictive, but I think that my limited analysis shows that if you hit the target on the first shot, ou are well on your way to winning the match.