MAC1 USFT Analysis/Overview

[Franklink]

Dawned on me a few weeks ago that I already have a simple version of a hamster. It came with a different gun, but was easily attached to the USFT, via a UIT to picatinny adaptor, that I also already had. Gotta say, the walnut and walnut and black and black almost makes this look like it was supposed to be. This is a big improvement over the heavy MAC1 hamster. For Open class, yeah, id prefer the MAC1, but when all that weight is otherwise a liability, and the adjustment isn't necessary, or helpful, or allowed ( Hunter class) than this simple riser is the better of the two options.

Here was the first attempt ..

Realize I needed it back a couple more inches for balance point/preference/ergonomics so did just that...

Had a little session with it this evening, shooting 3x10 or 11 shot groups at 30yards, from offhand position. Nothing to be too horribly proud of, and certainly some room for improvement. There's an interesting point where muscles get fatigued and the sight picture becomes more and more of a drive by. I'm embarrassed to say that was less then the 30ish shots I took from offhand during this session. I'll need to get in offhand shape for the summer matches.

The orange stickers are 1" if I remember right. Lol, yeah, nothing to be proud of here.

 

[Franklink]

This weekend I had my third match with it in Hunter class and as a .20....

But first, the silhouette from field target position on Friday evening before the field target match. 40 shots, 1/10th scale silhouettes out to 70 yards. out of the 6 guys we had shooting that match, the USFT was overall high score, with a 37/40.

Wind conditions were really challenging, for both the silhouette match on Friday, and the FT match on Saturday. This was taken from the Mormon Lake weather station, just a few miles from the match site, and felt like about what we probably dealt with....Far right is wind speed, pink is the gusts.

So, sustained wind speeds around 15mph, gusts up to 30.

Not only was it a lot of wind, but it was extremely variable wind. Big gusts, and then it would die, right before another big gust. Time your trigger break wrong and....miss. Some of the gusts contained blasts of cooler air. Me and my squad-mate talked about whether the chillier air was from the next over shady spot in the woods, or from downdrafts from stratified air higher up. Not sure which was right. And on top of the wind speeds, the course was a big U-shape, so we had to account for a slightly different angle to the predominate winds for each lane. Due to the wind, it was a very challenging day of field target.

But it was a fun day of field target.

The .20 USFT was good for 45/48. First miss was when I held high on a shot that was a direct head-on angle into the wind, expecting the pellet to get pushed down slightly, nope, it hit on the upper edge of the kill zone, right where I was holding. Second miss was on the opposite side of the U, with mostly a tail wind, but also an angle slightly quartering away from the right shoulder. This one was on the side of a tree, about 4-5 feet high. Reset string was limp and hanging straight down on the first shot, held dead in the middle and target went down. Seemingly same conditions the second shot so I repeated what I did the first time, and missed, not being able to see where the miss went. Not sure what happened, but I think I may have caught some wind that wasn't appreciable. Third miss was on a looongg target, most of, it not all of 55 yards. And this one had the predominant wind at a 90 degree angle to pellet travel. I held off, and had the first shot lift up and left, impacting the edge of the kz at about 1030-11 o clock. I adjusted accordingly and knocked it down on the second shot.

That 45/48 was good for second place in Hunter, and overall second. @steve123 also shot a 45, but in the Unlimited class. The overall high score was shot by Kent, with a phenomenal 48/48. Due to the wind, one of the most impressive clean scores that I've seen at a field target match.

So that makes 3 matches with the USFT as a .20 in Hunter class. And my knockdown rate for those three matches works out to 135/148, or 91.2%. I averaged more in the 95% + range with the USFT as a .177 in Open class over a couple years. While I prefer the stability of the Open class shooting aids over the shooting sticks, I don't feel at much of a disadvantage in Hunter versus Open, And the slight difference in knockdown percentage is likely more due to small sample size and pretty windy conditions in 2 of the 3 Hunter matches.

I'm still quite fond of my unregulated USFT, I've just had too many field target successes over the last 8 years to feel otherwise. Some call it being a fanboy. I suppose if choosing to shoot a gun that gives me the best chances at winning is being a fanboy, then yep, fanboy it is.

 

[steve123]

This weekend I had my third match with it in Hunter class and as a .20....

But first, the silhouette from field target position on Friday evening before the field target match. 40 shots, 1/10th scale silhouettes out to 70 yards. out of the 6 guys we had shooting that match, the USFT was overall high score, with a 37/40.

Wind conditions were really challenging, for both the silhouette match on Friday, and the FT match on Saturday. This was taken from the Mormon Lake weather station, just a few miles from the match site, and felt like about what we probably dealt with....Far right is wind speed, pink is the gusts.

View attachment 572815
So, sustained wind speeds around 15mph, gusts up to 30.

Not only was it a lot of wind, but it was extremely variable wind. Big gusts, and then it would die, right before another big gust. Time your trigger break wrong and....miss. Some of the gusts contained blasts of cooler air. Me and my squad-mate talked about whether the chillier air was from the next over shady spot in the woods, or from downdrafts from stratified air higher up. Not sure which was right. And on top of the wind speeds, the course was a big U-shape, so we had to account for a slightly different angle to the predominate winds for each lane. Due to the wind, it was a very challenging day of field target.

But it was a fun day of field target.

The .20 USFT was good for 45/48. First miss was when I held high on a shot that was a direct head-on angle into the wind, expecting the pellet to get pushed down slightly, nope, it hit on the upper edge of the kill zone, right where I was holding. Second miss was on the opposite side of the U, with mostly a tail wind, but also an angle slightly quartering away from the right shoulder. This one was on the side of a tree, about 4-5 feet high. Reset string was limp and hanging straight down on the first shot, held dead in the middle and target went down. Seemingly same conditions the second shot so I repeated what I did the first time, and missed, not being able to see where the miss went. Not sure what happened, but I think I may have caught some wind that wasn't appreciable. Third miss was on a looongg target, most of, it not all of 55 yards. And this one had the predominant wind at a 90 degree angle to pellet travel. I held off, and had the first shot lift up and left, impacting the edge of the kz at about 1030-11 o clock. I adjusted accordingly and knocked it down on the second shot.

That 45/48 was good for second place in Hunter, and overall second. @steve123 also shot a 45, but in the Unlimited class. The overall high score was shot by Kent, with a phenomenal 48/48. Due to the wind, one of the most impressive clean scores that I've seen at a field target match.

So that makes 3 matches with the USFT as a .20 in Hunter class. And my knockdown rate for those three matches works out to 135/148, or 91.2%. I averaged more in the 95% + range with the USFT as a .177 in Open class over a couple years. While I prefer the stability of the Open class shooting aids over the shooting sticks, I don't feel at much of a disadvantage in Hunter versus Open, And the slight difference in knockdown percentage is likely more due to small sample size and pretty windy conditions in 2 of the 3 Hunter matches.

I'm still quite fond of my unregulated USFT, I've just had too many field target successes over the last 8 years to feel otherwise. Some call it being a fanboy. I suppose if choosing to shoot a gun that gives me the best chances at winning is being a fanboy, then yep, fanboy it is.

That was great shooting both days on your part!

Yeah it was tough to keep up with those switches, which I think was got me. It was a fun weekend and just interesting to try our luck guessing where to aim.

IMHO Kent's performance was "THE" top in FT shooting of all time that I've seen because of those silly Hellacious winds we had!