What is Retro in Shooting

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  • Apr 12, 2001
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    I have to write an article this week and the issue topic is retro

    So I was thinking Databook is retro, maybe iron sights are retro,

    What topic for Long Range and using Retro, would you like to read if you were so inclined to read it

    Give me a Retro idear
     
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    How do you "write" retro with an old flintlock

    Just repeating the fundamentals and talking the same way except with a different picture?

    Trigger control, manipulation of the trigger without disturbing the lay of the sites,
    1588698125007-png.7317474


    It's not a picture book where you are just looking at pictures
     
    Honestly, when I think "retro shooting," what comes to mind is my days walking through our deer lease when I was a kid. Remington 700, wood stock (270 win, but caliber doesn't really matter), leupold scope with duplex reticle- no bipod, no tripod, just a carry sling. Well, there's the target (a mature hill country white tail buck). What's the range- I don't have a range finder. What's the wind doing- no kestrel. Do I wing one out there off hand? What's the most stable position I can get into with what I have? Can I use the environment to get stable? Can I get closer? Can my reticle tell me something about the range and/or where to hold?

    So, back to basics. No gadgets. No gamer plates. No game changer bags. No games. Shooter, rifle, target. Make the shot.
     
    So, it is obvious that "retro" is vast, and means different things to different people. Who is the target audience for the magazine? Who is the target audience for the article? Who are YOU trying to reach with the article? Maybe start there...
     
    How do you "write" retro with an old flintlock

    Just repeating the fundamentals and talking the same way except with a different picture?

    Trigger control, manipulation of the trigger without disturbing the lay of the sites,
    1588698125007-png.7317474


    It's not a picture book where you are just looking at pictures

    It was jut off the top of whats left of my head but I would think discuss changes from the early firearms , how theyve affected shooting, accuracy, spped of repeat shots, etc. Seems like a world of things to discuss, with diagrams of early triggers vs Jewel. Regardless congrats on getting the opportunity.

    W
     
    So, it is obvious that "retro" is vast, and means different things to different people. Who is the target audience for the magazine? Who is the target audience for the article? Who are YOU trying to reach with the article? Maybe start there...
     
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    Retro 1000 yards, using a 10x optic, a .308 rifle, with 168/175's, in a 15 mph wind from 3 or 9 O'clock -- then going to a match with same rifle,,,
    Fundamentals of positional shooting with that same rifle, slung up.
    Retro location for your shooting thumb on a rifle stock, not on the side of it,,
    Shooting with a hot barrel - before we had 'barrel coolers' buzzing on the firing line
     
    Legacy skill's,
    Operating at night w/o night vision.
    Ranging a target using irons with the front sight post
    Ranging a target with nothing but a cross hair or ret post.
    High angle shooting w/o modern aids.
    Knowing your danger close range.
    Radio operation w/o freq hopping, or encryption, ability.
    Calling for support to a 8 digit coordinate, with nothing but a map & compass.
    Land nav 10-12 weigh points at night, with nothing but a map & compass. Once in the correct FFP, finding the correct target with nothing but a range to target & compass azimuth.
     
    I began long range shooting when the standards were iron sites, shooting jackets, wind flags, and arm loop slings. That's what comes to mind when I think retro. All of these required "legacy" skills that are almost totally forgotten. Who even trains to use a 1907 sling anymore?
     
    I write for Gun Digest,

    It's an older publication or older crowd in many cases

    I went and read that article and think it is a great jumping off point for an article for retro shooting. For example, before reading the article I was thinking something along the lines of "High level competitive shooting is the incubator where new ideas are tried, new gear is perfected, and where there is an ever evolving "arms race" between match directors and shooters over stage difficulty and "gaming the stage." In your article you wrote- "Thanks to the excellent training provided by the competition circuit, we recognize the tools and shooting positions to execute these shots under time and using various types of support. We have adapted bags and tripods to quickly and effectively engage targets from an alternative position with a high level of success." You also state that "I often tell people that if you wanted me to hike across varied terrain with the potential of targets of opportunity along the way, a single tripod would solve every problem I encounter. There’s a reason why I have invested more than $1,500 on a tripod. It works." I would argue that "retro" shooting is that which does not take advantage of those gear advancements that have been brought to us through the competitive shooting sports over the past 30-40 years. In many respects, a retro shooting article is the antithesis of the article you posted.

    How would that article have been written in 1980?
     
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    For a different spin on "retro," how about "What was old is new." What ideas, concepts, gear, etc are thought to be new but are, in fact, really old but have become popular again after falling out of favor. For example, I was watching Forgotten Weapons this morning and learned that the Italian M91 Carcano (that's 1891) was made with a gain twist barrel...
     
    Straight up "range estimation" What was used, how it was used. What shooters did to deal with uncertainties (point blank Zero?) Sight types for range estimating (irons?, mildot). Was there any old Training for range estimation? Up hill down hill tricks?
     
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