Spring gun revival (again.....)

[bozzer]

I was trying to be kind ... He's much bigger than me.

I totally agree that a National course should be tougher than a club course. So people can cut their teeth at club courses and maybe never move out of that level. Those that wish to can move up to Nationals and should notice that they are tougher.

I would word it slightly differently. I don't see the point in there being any targets that 'no one' can get. I also don't see there being any point in targets that are probably a lottery. So in some decent variable wind no one can 'guarantee' getting them. There will always be some luck but try and minimise it.

I would say that I would have on a 30 target HFT course ... A number of targets that are well within the capability of youngsters/newcomers and non 0.177 PCP OPEN shooters. So these will be targets that I expect the top shooters to get virtually 100% of the time and they will get them if they get that shot off better than 60% ( including position/hold/breathing/release/follow through/wind/range ). These will give the lower end shooters some points on the board and some encouragement.

There would also be a number of targets that I would hope really tested the top end 0.177 OPEN shooters. So they have to range these correctly ( within a couple of yards ) and get the wind right AND wait for the wind to be right on release ( so wait for the lull ), and do all the shooting stuff 90%+ correctly. So hard work targets even for the Elite of the 0.177 PCP OPEN group. However, these are still not beyond the capability of a springer shooter. If that springer shooter gets that shot off perfectly ( near as ) and has judged wind and range well then that target will go down. A 90%+ executed shot means that target is going down EVERY time. So it's a total test of shooting ability.

... and as you say ... a whole mix of targets in between those extremes around the course.

The point I've been making is that with modern top end courses like Nationals etc ... the rock steady HFT prone and the majority use of 0.177 PCPs means that courses have been pushed such that in even a moderate amount of wind some targets aren't Quality shot = Guaranteed kill ... and that's for the PCPs ... it's even worse for the springer shooters. This is the price we have paid for a rock steady stance and 'Dead' very accurate rifles. If this was indoor shooting then we could take the range out a tad further or reduce kills even more. However we are using rifles and a stance that is capable in the right hands of half inch accuracy at the max range of 45 yards, hence the reductions in kill sizes ... but outdoors in wind, that can mean no matter how well someone can judge wind the spread will take some pellets outside the kill ... and with rifles like springers, the variation in body/rifle positions will open groups any way. So Quality shot doesn't guarantee a kill. Sometimes with a springer a near perfect shot doesn't guarantee a kill. Once you start getting a reasonable amount of wind more and more targets fall into that category. Two people aim at exactly the same point and release the shot perfectly well, at the same lull in the wind ... one goes down ... the other doesn't.

I think the stance ( driven by the initial desire to make this a sport that is easy to get some points at an entry level ) and very accurate and easy to shoot 0.177 PCPs, have created this. Bigger kills and tougher positions, requiring more shooting skill, gets you closer to that Quality shot = Guaranteed kill. Newcomers and lower shooters ( their choice ) continue to use the easier rock steady stance until they reach a standard where they can move up, so that keeps their scores high at the beginning and keeps them coming back for more.

Maybe it's shooting springers for all those years and seeing courses evolve that made me feel that courses had gone that way, as I started to notice that my scores started bouncing all over the place on tougher courses, despite me feeling I was still shooting the springer quite well. No matter how much extra work I put in at the range I couldn't stop that happening. Maybe it's not so easy to notice when shooting 0.177 PCPs because if you shoot well on a tough course in not too unreasonable wind then you still score highly and about where you'd expect to be. It's only on quite windy days that you see the top 0.177 PCP OPEN shooters scores start falling apart. I'm convinced that starts happening to springers at a much lower ( and more average ) wind level on tough courses. When I look at HFT scores I don't just look at the top 0.177 OPEN PCP scores on that day. I look at the springer scores and the lower end scores too. You notice that on days where the top PCP shooters have slightly lower scores ( so I presume a tough course or a bit of variable wind at play ) the springers scores ( and blokes I know can shoot ) get crushed and there are a lot of very low scores at the bottom of PCP too. Those people can't be really enjoying turning up and spending 3 hours shooting 30 pellets and only knocking a few targets down.

T'is what it is and it's great. Just my ramblings from a springer point of view. Neil commented on StB that he was scoring consistently well with his springer so maybe I'd just reached my peak level as a springer shooter.