I hate to go on ( obviously I don't ) ...

... but that actually adds weight to my comments on how the Tin Chicken sports have gone over the last 30 years.

Both sports have concentrated on having stable holds for the majority of shots ( sitting and prone ). Equipment has been allowed to improve, whilst retaining those stable stances. In a lot of ways the equipment development has added to the stability ... or retaining stability when courses have tried to take shooters out of their comfort zone ( hamsters etc ).

So by keeping those very stable stances, and allowing equipment advancement, the only way to make the targets more challenging for the best has been to take targets out further and/or make kill zones smaller.

This then puts more emphasis on every pellet being of a high standard and available accuracy with each pellet paramount. So at 55 yards it's very important that each pellet is of a very high standard. Maybe too high a required standard than the pellet manufacturers can consistently produce at the rates that they need to.

Hence the target guys testing batch after batch looking for that magic sub 12mm batch at 55y ( every pellet ).

Add in a bit of wind and even the most stable of batches are flying all over the place and it can become guesswork.

Listen to a lot of the talk from the target guys about the importance of one target in an entire year. They will say that one target over a year can be the difference between Champ or Runner Up. Hence a lot of discussion about calling targets etc.

How many targets must be missed in a year by that rogue pellet that just isn't as good as the others. so it just misses that 40mm 55y target in a tad of wind, or that 15mm kill at 25y?

I've long since said that a better target sport would be one with closer targets and relaxed kills but with more shooting skill involved ... more proper kneelers and standers. That wouldn't rely so much on having the mega batch of pellets that will all do 12mm at 55y. There would be less wind lotteries. There would be more shooting skill.

Sadly, it won't happen because the sports have such low attendance numbers Nationwide that an emphasis has had to be put on volume of shooters rather than quality of shooting. Hence stable stances for the majority of shots ... and long courses/small kills ... and the magic batch of pellets.