Today's the first day I've been able to shoot outdoors in a while, so have been looking forward to it. The original intention was to shoot a match, but it was too cold and I've got a cold at the moment, so couldn't put in a long session. Will hopefully get a chance to put in a full match tomorrow in Midlands however.
Started out well, got settled and grouped nicely in my sighters. First string of the card was a nice 98, though the tens in the first diagram were too loose for my liking, 10.1s and 10.2s; the second diagram was nice and tight however, with everything except one called duff shot going nice and tight to the centre.
Developed optical problems in the second half of the card however. DRC is unfortunately located in that the sun tends to shine on the shooters from high and right. This is immensely distracting and plays tricks on the right eye, causing the sight picture in the left to warp and distort. Despite this, I managed to hold the second string almost together, though there were some fluffy shots. I need to find a way to properly and consistently occlude light from the non-aiming eye. For prefernce, I try to avoid using a blind outdoors, as it allows observation of flags and indicators between shots while remaining in the aiming position. The visor I'm using has a tendency to slide up the back of my head rather than staying in place. This is the thing to work on outdoors. Technique is still good, with tens falling in comfortably, but making the experience easier is the next hurdle. Midlands doesn't really suffer the same light problems, so hopefully tomorrow will feature a more useful and comprehensive update with a full match result.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Training - Prone - DURC - 25th January 2010
Okay, haven't updated since last week, but things are still decent. Today, I had a SCATT session, which I hadn't done before. Was struggling to get the target size right in my foresight, and to get comfortable and shoot well. The hold displayed by the machine was atrocious. It'd hold the ten ring nearly all the time, but only just. Definitely needs work though I'm not sure how reflective it is, since I was so uncomfortable, and since my current shooting is going well. Interesting also was the groups that were appearing on the SCATT were decent however, well capable of holding the ten, despite a pretty poor trace. I'll do more work with SCATT when I get a chance to figure out how to use it best, and a setup that gives me a representative sight picture to work with.
After the session with the SCATT, I needed to regain my confidence, so switched to a couple of live-fire cards, since there's another postal deadline creeping up. These were as I expected significantly better than the SCATT results. Groups in the sighter card were nice and tight, holding the inner ten comfortably. Shooting on the actual cards was only slightly less good. My biggest problem isn't technique anymore, not by a long shot. My technique means tens when my head is in it, but my concentration lets me down. It might be a slight lack of attention to sight picture or zero position, but that's what costs me points now. The first card was a 96. After dropping the first two shots, moving across the target from the sighter card, I didn't spend enough time re-orienting my zero and dropped the first shot ever so slightly out. The next followed it and both were called as bad shots. the next five went in before I dropped the eighth and last shots, due to lack of attention to sight picture and too much haste, respectively. The second card was better, as I corrected myself from my notes and dedicated my time to obsessively zeroing and paying rigorous attention to sight picture. Having dropped the first two right in the middle, I had a nasty moment on the third, where I dropped an 8, the trigger breaking while I was still breathing on having decided not to take the first attempt. This being the fly in the ointment on my planned perfect card, I determined not to miss anything else, and didn't, with another seven nice tight tens falling well in. It's not a shooting error, but as the only thing marring a card that really should have been perfect, it'll remind me to back off when aborting a shot attempt in future.
Currently, I haven't touched my rifle setup in quite some time, as I'm currently entirely satisfied with it - thought still need new sights. My position is good, tight and solid, my sight picture is good and I'm comfortable. My trigger control has improved again from the last update, and barring that one incident was without fault, sensitivity having greatly increased from before. The rest of the points will be gained in my head, which is unfortunately the hardest thing to work on. I'm on course for my targets at the moment, and happy that there's no technical reason I shouldn't achieve them, bar inexperience if conditions go sour on the day. Hopefully, we'll get a few training days in Sinclair this year and then I'll be comfortably on course for the 585 I want there.
After the session with the SCATT, I needed to regain my confidence, so switched to a couple of live-fire cards, since there's another postal deadline creeping up. These were as I expected significantly better than the SCATT results. Groups in the sighter card were nice and tight, holding the inner ten comfortably. Shooting on the actual cards was only slightly less good. My biggest problem isn't technique anymore, not by a long shot. My technique means tens when my head is in it, but my concentration lets me down. It might be a slight lack of attention to sight picture or zero position, but that's what costs me points now. The first card was a 96. After dropping the first two shots, moving across the target from the sighter card, I didn't spend enough time re-orienting my zero and dropped the first shot ever so slightly out. The next followed it and both were called as bad shots. the next five went in before I dropped the eighth and last shots, due to lack of attention to sight picture and too much haste, respectively. The second card was better, as I corrected myself from my notes and dedicated my time to obsessively zeroing and paying rigorous attention to sight picture. Having dropped the first two right in the middle, I had a nasty moment on the third, where I dropped an 8, the trigger breaking while I was still breathing on having decided not to take the first attempt. This being the fly in the ointment on my planned perfect card, I determined not to miss anything else, and didn't, with another seven nice tight tens falling well in. It's not a shooting error, but as the only thing marring a card that really should have been perfect, it'll remind me to back off when aborting a shot attempt in future.
Currently, I haven't touched my rifle setup in quite some time, as I'm currently entirely satisfied with it - thought still need new sights. My position is good, tight and solid, my sight picture is good and I'm comfortable. My trigger control has improved again from the last update, and barring that one incident was without fault, sensitivity having greatly increased from before. The rest of the points will be gained in my head, which is unfortunately the hardest thing to work on. I'm on course for my targets at the moment, and happy that there's no technical reason I shouldn't achieve them, bar inexperience if conditions go sour on the day. Hopefully, we'll get a few training days in Sinclair this year and then I'll be comfortably on course for the 585 I want there.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Training - Prone - DURC - 20th January 2010
Well, today's my first live-fire session in over a month. The snow over the holidays rendered all my shooting plans null and void and I was confined to dry-firing at home. This evidently didn't prove too bad for my shooting however, as today was better than expected for going so long without live firing.
Result was 388/400, which isn't bad for the recent past. Was expecting somewhere between 380 and 385. There's definitely a lot going for me at the moment, and the mechanics were starting to fall together better. I spent too long shooting that forty-shot string, but at the end, I had four rounds left over in the box, so I went back to the sighter target and shot those with a deliberately quick rhythm and knocked them all into a tight little group in the centre of the ten. Clearly, things are looking good. The mini-match itself included an 8, due to just really poor concentration and shot judgement.
The most noteworthy aspects of it, in a critical sense, were poor concentration over a long session and inconsistent trigger control. Sight picture was very good, hold was very good, position needs some consistency work, but is solid. Concentration was the major issue, and trigger control will be a product of regular shooting.
The strings were 96, 99, 96, 97, with the second 96 featuring the dodgy eight and a nine that was also poor shot judgement. The first 96 felt better, but featured some errors as I was still settling back into a shooting rhythm. The 99 was very tight, with the only nine just edging out, and the groups nicely formed. the 97 was a product of fatigue, with at least one and possibly a second shot the product of a loss of concentration.
I can however definitely see forty shot scores creeping up further towards 395/400 in the next few months, as I was very pleased with today's session. The comfort of my revised position is paying dividends as I can shoot under time pressure without my focus being unduly affected by discomfort. This will be of great benefit towards the end of matches, and will doubtless save me what might otherwise be lost points and places.
My current short-term focus is the Isle of Man at Easter, with the target being 585 under relatively easy conditions, or 580 under trying conditions. I'm currently on course for this with regular training opportunities. The longer term focus is of course the World University Shooting Championships in Wroclaw next September. This will be a far more challenging match and I aim to step up the standards to match, with my score goal being 595 and a 104+ final. That should hopefully secure a win, which is the goal at the end of it. Mike Dunne's expressed interest in shooting it as well, and with the facilities in Munich at his feet, I'll need to work hard to keep up. Could be a good team effort though.
Result was 388/400, which isn't bad for the recent past. Was expecting somewhere between 380 and 385. There's definitely a lot going for me at the moment, and the mechanics were starting to fall together better. I spent too long shooting that forty-shot string, but at the end, I had four rounds left over in the box, so I went back to the sighter target and shot those with a deliberately quick rhythm and knocked them all into a tight little group in the centre of the ten. Clearly, things are looking good. The mini-match itself included an 8, due to just really poor concentration and shot judgement.
The most noteworthy aspects of it, in a critical sense, were poor concentration over a long session and inconsistent trigger control. Sight picture was very good, hold was very good, position needs some consistency work, but is solid. Concentration was the major issue, and trigger control will be a product of regular shooting.
The strings were 96, 99, 96, 97, with the second 96 featuring the dodgy eight and a nine that was also poor shot judgement. The first 96 felt better, but featured some errors as I was still settling back into a shooting rhythm. The 99 was very tight, with the only nine just edging out, and the groups nicely formed. the 97 was a product of fatigue, with at least one and possibly a second shot the product of a loss of concentration.
I can however definitely see forty shot scores creeping up further towards 395/400 in the next few months, as I was very pleased with today's session. The comfort of my revised position is paying dividends as I can shoot under time pressure without my focus being unduly affected by discomfort. This will be of great benefit towards the end of matches, and will doubtless save me what might otherwise be lost points and places.
My current short-term focus is the Isle of Man at Easter, with the target being 585 under relatively easy conditions, or 580 under trying conditions. I'm currently on course for this with regular training opportunities. The longer term focus is of course the World University Shooting Championships in Wroclaw next September. This will be a far more challenging match and I aim to step up the standards to match, with my score goal being 595 and a 104+ final. That should hopefully secure a win, which is the goal at the end of it. Mike Dunne's expressed interest in shooting it as well, and with the facilities in Munich at his feet, I'll need to work hard to keep up. Could be a good team effort though.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
