So I was going to the local strip club to help send one of the girls to college. On my way I stop for gas. The amount came to $ 18.25. I handed the guy a $20 and he proceeds to go to his phone to calculate the change. I am not shitting you. This is a colossal example of laziness and dependency on electronics. So why do I bring this up?
I am new to precision shooting, but am quickly seeing that many people are dependent on rangefinders, ballistic weather meters, and phones with ballistic apps. I understand that these items make us better snipers, but also dependent ones. Take for example the latest Cabelas Optics catalog. On the rear page there is a scope that accepts data inputs from a rangefinder and automatically moves a lighted dot on the vertical crosshair up and down to compensate for holdover. They market it as a hunting product, but really? If turning an elevation knob is todifficult for you, you might want to reexamine your decision to take game. I bet the gas station guy would be giddy about this one.
Match directors and range operators go through great lengths to make stages challenging. They build rooftops, drag cars to the location for us to shoot out of, obtain drainedge pipes, build barricades, light fires (thank you Guardian). Then they hump steel all over so we are required to dial or hold. But these efforts do not force us to think as much as we should. At the beginning of a stage out come the rangefinders and ballistic calculators that give us our holds and allow us to be unthinking. I bet that if a match director banned all electronics at the beginning of a match without prior warning, scores would drop by 25 percent. Probably 50- 70 percent for the gas station precision shooter who did not have a backup range and wind card. Our sport is a craft. Electronics numb the craft.
So here is what I am thinking:
How about stages where no distance is given and no target size is given. Just your best judgement of distance with your naked eye and then work off of your splash?
How about a stage where no distance is given and no target size is given, but a common item such as a car tire or a door is placed next to the target for you to range with your reticle? And no calculators, just pen and paper to do your math ON THE CLOCK. If you knew that the average residential door is 80" your impact is coming. Watch the "I don't get my hands dirty" millennials struggle here.
Instead of round or square plate targets, how about ground hog, coyote, and deer targets? How tall does a groundhog stand? How tall is it from the ground to a coyote's back? A deers back? Many of us are hunters, but we never think of these dimensions. If we know these dimensions, ranging your game with your reticle is as easy as hitting the cat with a spitball.
I hate 1 k tripods. How about a stage where three sticks and a bungee are provided and you have to make a hasty tripod with the supplied stuff ON THE CLOCK. Fieldcraft matters. Once again, watch millennials struggle here. There is no tripod app.
OK, my beer is running low. The point of this post it to suggest ways to challenge the shooter even more. Eyeballing and estimating prop sizes will keep shooters thinking critically during stage downtime. Yes, you will need to brush up on pencil and paper math. The next time you see a 55 gallon drum, you may want to measure how tall it is. The next time you go to the out you may want to take your rangefinder to verify your guess as to how far that building is. If you can range effectively with your eye, no pencil and paper is needed. Advantage you. Do you know the formula to range with your reticle without looking it up? And just think of it, everything I am suggesting can make anyone a better shooter at little or no cost. A mid pack shooter can move way up if the guys above him spend more time with strippers than doing their homework.
I assure you that I am in no position to tell match directors how to do what they do. I could never organize a match. I am not a top level shooter. Every match I have been in I had a great time. Just food for discussion here. I just want to challenge the shooter more and see a more dynamic component to the sport. And no, there is no irony that I posted this in the EQUPMENT section. What do you think?
BTW, I just shot a match with a full size Sasquatch target. Anyone know how tall a Sasquatch is?
Bang
I am new to precision shooting, but am quickly seeing that many people are dependent on rangefinders, ballistic weather meters, and phones with ballistic apps. I understand that these items make us better snipers, but also dependent ones. Take for example the latest Cabelas Optics catalog. On the rear page there is a scope that accepts data inputs from a rangefinder and automatically moves a lighted dot on the vertical crosshair up and down to compensate for holdover. They market it as a hunting product, but really? If turning an elevation knob is todifficult for you, you might want to reexamine your decision to take game. I bet the gas station guy would be giddy about this one.
Match directors and range operators go through great lengths to make stages challenging. They build rooftops, drag cars to the location for us to shoot out of, obtain drainedge pipes, build barricades, light fires (thank you Guardian). Then they hump steel all over so we are required to dial or hold. But these efforts do not force us to think as much as we should. At the beginning of a stage out come the rangefinders and ballistic calculators that give us our holds and allow us to be unthinking. I bet that if a match director banned all electronics at the beginning of a match without prior warning, scores would drop by 25 percent. Probably 50- 70 percent for the gas station precision shooter who did not have a backup range and wind card. Our sport is a craft. Electronics numb the craft.
So here is what I am thinking:
How about stages where no distance is given and no target size is given. Just your best judgement of distance with your naked eye and then work off of your splash?
How about a stage where no distance is given and no target size is given, but a common item such as a car tire or a door is placed next to the target for you to range with your reticle? And no calculators, just pen and paper to do your math ON THE CLOCK. If you knew that the average residential door is 80" your impact is coming. Watch the "I don't get my hands dirty" millennials struggle here.
Instead of round or square plate targets, how about ground hog, coyote, and deer targets? How tall does a groundhog stand? How tall is it from the ground to a coyote's back? A deers back? Many of us are hunters, but we never think of these dimensions. If we know these dimensions, ranging your game with your reticle is as easy as hitting the cat with a spitball.
I hate 1 k tripods. How about a stage where three sticks and a bungee are provided and you have to make a hasty tripod with the supplied stuff ON THE CLOCK. Fieldcraft matters. Once again, watch millennials struggle here. There is no tripod app.
OK, my beer is running low. The point of this post it to suggest ways to challenge the shooter even more. Eyeballing and estimating prop sizes will keep shooters thinking critically during stage downtime. Yes, you will need to brush up on pencil and paper math. The next time you see a 55 gallon drum, you may want to measure how tall it is. The next time you go to the out you may want to take your rangefinder to verify your guess as to how far that building is. If you can range effectively with your eye, no pencil and paper is needed. Advantage you. Do you know the formula to range with your reticle without looking it up? And just think of it, everything I am suggesting can make anyone a better shooter at little or no cost. A mid pack shooter can move way up if the guys above him spend more time with strippers than doing their homework.
I assure you that I am in no position to tell match directors how to do what they do. I could never organize a match. I am not a top level shooter. Every match I have been in I had a great time. Just food for discussion here. I just want to challenge the shooter more and see a more dynamic component to the sport. And no, there is no irony that I posted this in the EQUPMENT section. What do you think?
BTW, I just shot a match with a full size Sasquatch target. Anyone know how tall a Sasquatch is?
Bang
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