OK, its come up in the Air Capacity post, so lets get it out there. Sighters.
In my previous topic on air reservoir capacity on page 2, it came up about shots per round, sighters and air efficiency. When I mentioned "100 sighters" some of you probably thought I was exaggerating. I wasn't. I've seen many top pros shoot so many sighters below the target line that they ran out of space, and this includes previous EBR winners. So 100 is not an exaggeration.
Its been mentioned by Bob Corcorran, one of the best shooters I know, that the initial EBR design was to get shooters to shoot "long range" with guns that most likely represent what they'd be hunting with. And to go along with that hunting philosophy, how many "sighters" do you get when shooting at a wary ground squirrel at over 100 yards? The answer is a big fat none. I for one think the number of sighters shot is starting to border on ridiculous, but its within the rules, so its done legally.
So how do we change (or don't we?) the rules to increase a shooter's skill factor? If you could only shoot five sighters per card, you'd actually have to learn to judge the wind. I don't see wind reading being done at these tournaments, what I see is 3 or 4 sighters per shot(s), then stop, shoot some more sighters, then a few target shots, rinse and repeat. We aren't judging the wind, we're learning to shoot sighters. If we limited it to 5 sighters per card, shooters would truly need to learn wind reading and judgement - much more like real world hunting! FYI, I'm just as guilty of lots of sighters as the next shooter...
This was evident at the Western National Long Range Championship in Temecula California on 31 March 2019, won by Bob Corcorran. We shot at 115 yards, across a canyon, at clay pigeons, in breezy conditions, no sighters. and because of the hay bales behind the targets, you couldn't even see where your pellet hit (.22 and under only). That was shooting, judging the shots in the wind, and judging how the wind affected your shot in its purest form. We had shooters that had done very well at 100 yard BR competitions (two EBR winners and one EBR runner-up) where unlimited sighters were allowed that didn't finish in the top 5. Food for thought...
Link to Western National LR Airgun Championships
In my previous topic on air reservoir capacity on page 2, it came up about shots per round, sighters and air efficiency. When I mentioned "100 sighters" some of you probably thought I was exaggerating. I wasn't. I've seen many top pros shoot so many sighters below the target line that they ran out of space, and this includes previous EBR winners. So 100 is not an exaggeration.
Its been mentioned by Bob Corcorran, one of the best shooters I know, that the initial EBR design was to get shooters to shoot "long range" with guns that most likely represent what they'd be hunting with. And to go along with that hunting philosophy, how many "sighters" do you get when shooting at a wary ground squirrel at over 100 yards? The answer is a big fat none. I for one think the number of sighters shot is starting to border on ridiculous, but its within the rules, so its done legally.
So how do we change (or don't we?) the rules to increase a shooter's skill factor? If you could only shoot five sighters per card, you'd actually have to learn to judge the wind. I don't see wind reading being done at these tournaments, what I see is 3 or 4 sighters per shot(s), then stop, shoot some more sighters, then a few target shots, rinse and repeat. We aren't judging the wind, we're learning to shoot sighters. If we limited it to 5 sighters per card, shooters would truly need to learn wind reading and judgement - much more like real world hunting! FYI, I'm just as guilty of lots of sighters as the next shooter...
This was evident at the Western National Long Range Championship in Temecula California on 31 March 2019, won by Bob Corcorran. We shot at 115 yards, across a canyon, at clay pigeons, in breezy conditions, no sighters. and because of the hay bales behind the targets, you couldn't even see where your pellet hit (.22 and under only). That was shooting, judging the shots in the wind, and judging how the wind affected your shot in its purest form. We had shooters that had done very well at 100 yard BR competitions (two EBR winners and one EBR runner-up) where unlimited sighters were allowed that didn't finish in the top 5. Food for thought...
Link to Western National LR Airgun Championships
