Target Lighting

[MSC]

Is there any (reasonable) amount of lighting which will let you see pellet holes at 10m with the naked eye? I don't need a spotting scope for the range (each station has one attached), but I practice a lot at home. What DO most folks do at home? Walking up after each shot obviously isn't realistic.
Thanks for any advice...

[Bill Poole]

lift up a pair of binoculars with your non-shooting hand and look when you need to

or better yet

don't look at the target....

look at the sights

just concentrate on alignment, hold, squeeze, follow thru, check the target when you change it every 5 or 10 shots

Poole
http://arizona.rifleshooting.com/

(now, if I could just convince MYSELF to do that!)

[Denis]

I've got to chime in here.
I know that some will shoot me down for this BUT;

I think every shots placement should be analised.
Whats the point in looking at your group after 5 - 10 shots?

How do you recognise a good shot from a bad?

How do you fault-find a poor shot on the card if you dont know which shot put it there?

With electronic scoring, every shot placement is shown, and you can't tell me they don't look!!

Thats my opinion,
Others?

[Spencer C]

I'm with Bill

Q
How do you recognise a good shot from a bad? How do you fault-find a poor shot on the card if you dont know which shot put it there?

A
By analysing the shot that you fired BEFORE you look at the target. Once you learn to do this, the shot on the card will usually be not as bad as the shot you THOUGHT you fired.



When coaching, one of the techniques used is to have the shooter call the shot before they see the target (monitor for EST) - invariably they can call the shot placement correctly, but most times the shot is a better value than they think...
Sometimes your mind is your worst enemy. The trick is to use it properly.

Regards,
Spencer C

[RobStubbs]

Ditto Spencer and Bill.

You should only be using the shot placement to verify what you experienced. You should know where the shot went and why. If shots are a suprise to you then you are almost certainly not focussing on the sights correctly. Even a snatched trigger etc shows up as a sight movement.

I do generally look at shots but that's because it's easy to. If I'm shooting paper targets at longer distances then I quite often forego scoping the shots until the end of the series. I know if I did a poor shot, I don't need to scope it to see that.

Rob.

[K5Tangos]

I won't touch the subject of IF or WHEN you should spot, but here's my solution to actually SEE the holes from 10m:

I have a small strand of rope light inside my pellet trap, around the perimeter so it won't get hit. I ran a remote switch back to my firing point, so I can light up the inside of the box trap on demand. The holes light up, making them very easy to observe.

Total cost from Home Depot/Lowe's: $18

Just my two cents.

[MSC]

Thanks for the replies, and K5, your solution. I've got the little Beeman trap that needs a piece of cardboard behind the target, so I don't think that'll work for me. I'm always amazed at the creative solutions people have on this site, though!

On the spotting topic... I'm a relative newbie and initially was fine with "spraying" the target and looking at it 10 shots later. Now I've settled into the black and often place a few shots touching (9 ring if I'm really "on"). I'm down to 5 shots/card so that I can distinguish each. I'll often fire a string that feels pretty consistent, but I'll have a (moderate)flyer and not really know why. I'm sure you seasoned guys can tell which one it was, but I'm not quite there yet.

Long-story short, I think for me it would be very helpful to spot.

Oh, I tried the binoculars, but they just wouldn't focus right. Lighting maybe, distance maybe, who knows...

[Denis]

After reading replys, looks like we're all barking up the same tree.

I failed to mention (thought it didn't need saying) that to visualise the shot placement before actually looking was critical.
That said, a look at the shot placement helps reinforce your thoughts about how the shot was executed.

Like I said before, what is the point in firing 5-10 shots blind to the target placement, then trying to figure out which went where (and how come) later on?

[RobStubbs]

Like I said before, what is the point in firing 5-10 shots blind to the target placement, then trying to figure out which went where (and how come) later on?

The whole point is that you should know for each shot where it went and why it went there. It is equally of little use knowing "that shot was a low 7" if you have no idea why. You need to be able to read the shots to be able to spot errors and correct for them - that is the main purpose of scoping and shot calling.

If you have trouble seeing the holes in the card then check your on card lighting. If it is anyway near correct you should be able to easily spot the hole - even black on black. I would therefore suggest your lighting is inadequate or your binoculars are not up to the job. I would suggest you also consider a scope at home. Lastlyif your pellet trap back plate can be painted white then (until it wears off) you will see the pellet holes by eye. Lastly remember you only need the shot placement not the actual individual shot score.

Rob.

[GaryN]

I use an old Bushnell 20x scope. I have a pair of glasses with prescription modified as recommended by Warren on his page on glasses, so I CANNOT see the target clearly w/o magnification. The problem here is many scopes will NOT focus down to 10m. And most of the specs don't specify close focus distance.

I use the scope to verify where I call the shot. Although in my case since I'm still a "novice" many times the shot is nowhere near where I called it, so I'm still learning to call my shots.

gud luk
Gary

[p7willm]

I'm a new shooter too. I was trying to call my shots and I would fire five shots and then go down to look. Sure enough, just like I called it, there were shots all over the card. I had no way of knowing the shot I thought was up and left was the hole that was up and left. I got a spotting scope, $155 from our host, and spent a while calling the shot, looking at the shot, and figureing out what I got wrong with the figuring out. After a while I started to get better at calling my shots. Now I have to work on changing how I take the shot.

For example, early on I would call all the shots left and go down and see 3 left and two right. I had no idea which shots I was wrong on cause the front sight was to the left for each shot. When I started checking every one I would think left and see right. At that point I would go over the shot in my mind and try to figure out why it was right. Finally figured out that where the front sight was in relation to the rear sight was FAR more important than where it was in relation to the target.

[Denis]

Hi Rob,
First of all, it has been a great insight and pleasure to read your posts.

We seem to be agreeing on this subject without you knowing it.

[The whole point is that you should know for each shot where it went and why it went there. quote]

For your average, trying to get ahead shooter, calling the shot, then re-afirming it with a look, must be better for analizing shot placement (both good and bad) than firing 5-10 shots then having a look and wondering why?

[RobStubbs]

For your average, trying to get ahead shooter, calling the shot, then re-afirming it with a look, must be better for analizing shot placement (both good and bad) than firing 5-10 shots then having a look and wondering why?

Denis,
Yes I would certainly agree with the above and of course a lot depends on the shooters skill level. We all get odd shots when the result is a suprise. I guess my point was that we shouldn't and when we do they indicate an error in some aspect of the shot (process). In some respects there is a benefit in scoring each shot as well as shooting a series unscored / unscoped. Both serve a different purpose - with the latter it should help the shooter concentrate more on each individual shot than the series.

Rob.

[jlochey]

http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/

Look for the: Porhammers Illuminated Target Trap


I love mine.



John

[David Levene]

Look for the: Porhammers Illuminated Target Trap

Give us a clue. I just went looking out of interest but got bored trying to find it. Maybe it's just me being thick.

[jrmcdaniel]

Look for P.I.T.T under the Targets section on the left frame of the page.

[David Levene]

Look for P.I.T.T under the Targets section on the left frame of the page.

Thanks

[MSC]

Thanks for the PM jlochey :)

[TomF]

Have you got an old video camera with a 10x zoom laying around?

I got this one from my mother who never used it and hooked it up to an old TV. My father has two that wont record, but the video output works. You might have one of these laying around too. Some cameras need a modulator to hook to the TV. They are about $10 at Radio Shack.

Works great for my AP/AR 10m kitchen, breakfast room, den, fireplace shooting range.

[RobStubbs]

You can do exactly the same with a (somewhat cheaper) webcam.

Rob.