TargetTalk

Knowing and anticipating time during a match is critical, thus a stopwatch is essential to a shooter. There are two kinds of stopwatches, digital and mechanical. With digital you can do a lot more stuff than just keeping time and the price is relatively inexpensive. However mechanical stopwatch is very expansive but it gives you the ability to visually anticipate time as the hands move.
Here is a link to some mechanical stop watch
http://www.fsiwebs.com/shopcart3/SC_Pro ... egoryID=12

I plan to get a mechanical stop watch any suggestions or comments?

Jay

Your link has died, but never mind. Some thoughts...

I agree that mechanical stopwatches allow you to "see" time in a far more human way, but apart from their higher costs, there are a few things to be aware of.

1) Make sure that the watch does a 360 degree sweep per minute. Some higher quality mechanical stopwatches beat at twice the rate of more basic models (10 beats per second rather than five) and the second hand does two complete revolutions per minute to increase accuracy. This will make it much more difficult to check how much time has elapsed with a quick glance.

2) Ideally you want to have as large a minute counter as possible. This is where most mechanical stopwatches fall down as their minute counters tend to be small sub-dials. When timing a race this is not an issue, but when timing (say) the 2.5 minutes of the precision section of Standard Pistol, you need to be able to tell with a very quick glance exactly how many minutes have elapsed. When concentrating on a match, it is too easy to lose track of the minutes (e.g. "is that 1.08 or 2.08?"), so your attention may turn to study the watch face for longer than you would with a digital stopwatch.

3) Mechanical stopwatches (and the same goes for all fine mechanical timepieces), need to be serviced regularly or the mechanism will wear and the life of the timepiece will be dramatically shortened. Mechanical watches normally need servicing at five-year intervals and the same would apply to a stopwatch. If the stopwatch is not used that often, it should be serviced more often as the lubricants in the mechanism will get gummy and lose their effectiveness. Expect to pay $50 - $100 to get a stopwatch serviced by a watchmaker.

how about a count-down timer, or two for the 25m shooters?

most electronic stopwatches and timers can be easily de-beeped - open the case, locate the beeper, cut one wire.

Spencer C

I like my older stopwatch with a full sweep for one minute. I bought my wife a brand new stopwatch and that has a 30 second sweep. That can be a little confusing if your not use to it. Anyway, mechanical stopwatches are cool and scoring targets and hearing shooters digital timers beeping is annoying. Actually, in the slow fire stage in Standard pistol, I like "seeing" how much time I have left. Probably dos'nt make sense but I feel more comfortable looking at clock hands.

Cutting the wires on electronic stopwatches can mess up the electronics - I've lost a couple of stopwatches through doing so. I believe the beeper acts as a resistor as well and that throws out the system (although I'm no electrician). If you can bend the beeper or disable it with out cutting the leads then it should last indeffinatelty.

Stopwatches used in ISSF events are meant to be silent - although you still hear them at the end of a match. And of course most models count up as well as down so you can set them up to suit your preferences.

Rob.

RobStubbs wrote:Cutting the wires on electronic stopwatches can mess up the electronics - I've lost a couple of stopwatches through doing so. I believe the beeper acts as a resistor as well and that throws out the system (although I'm no electrician). If you can bend the beeper or disable it with out cutting the leads then it should last indeffinatelty.

Stopwatches used in ISSF events are meant to be silent - although you still hear them at the end of a match. And of course most models count up as well as down so you can set them up to suit your preferences.

Rob.

Live and learn. Was not aware of this as a potential problem, all the stopwatches I have de-beeped have survived - maybe just lucky!

Regards,
Spencer C

jjjjjjjjjjjjj wrote:Knowing and anticipating time during a match is critical...

Jay

I am somewhat surprised that nobody has questioned that this premise requires a stopwatch.

In a slow-fire series I doubt any 'criticality'; in the faster stages there is not time to waste checking a timer?

S

Spencer C wrote:In a slow-fire series I doubt any 'criticality'; in the faster stages there is not time to waste checking a timer?

150 second series?

Just as important, what about the 1 minute load period?

David Levene wrote:Just as important, what about the 1 minute load period?

That is the only time when I do think a stopwatch with a second hand would be useful. I used to use my watch but since I changed it I no longer have a second hand. I now rely on the watch function for rapid fire type events and the shorter times in standard (I don't care about as much in the 150s series - I find timing the 150s is more important)

Rob.

David Levene wrote:

Spencer C wrote:In a slow-fire series I doubt any 'criticality'; in the faster stages there is not time to waste checking a timer?

150 second series?

Just as important, what about the 1 minute load period?

150 seconds series - no sweat to an old rapid fire shooter, never seem to get anywhere near being overtime.
But then, I've been shooting Standard for some 30 years.

the 1 minute load - seem to be finishing my final sight picture just as the RO calls ATTENTION every time without a stopwatch... (and I have not been doing that for 30 years)

S

Spencer C wrote: 150 seconds series - no sweat to an old rapid fire shooter, never seem to get anywhere near being overtime.
But then, I've been shooting Standard for some 30 years.

You beat me by 5 years Spencer, but in my "limited" time I have seen too many late shots in the 150s from experienced shooters. At 10 points per time I think I'd rather use a stopwatch.

Spencer C wrote:the 1 minute load - seem to be finishing my final sight picture just as the RO calls ATTENTION every time without a stopwatch... (and I have not been doing that for 30 years)

IMHO you should be ready to go into your "away" breathing rhythm at the moment the targets edge. Since the ISSF did away with the ridiculous "ABOUT 1 minute" the easiest way is to just use a stopwatch. This also allows you to do a dummy raise in the rapid stage of CF so that your first shot routine is as similar to the others as possible.

Spencer, I havent been shooting standard nearly as long as you have but I agree that with a little practice, you develop a rhythm and really dont need a timer. This internal clock works well MOST of the time when nothing out of the ordinary has interrupted the rhythm.

BUT, when something extraordinary does occur - like dropping a round while loading, having a misfire, aborting a shot or two during the 150 seconds series or making a last minute sight adjustment, or any of the other million and one things that can happen - a timer is an absolute necessity.

In the end, it's llike carrying a spare tire. Most of the time you dont need it -but when you do - you will need it in the worst possible way.

F. Paul in Denver

I have a mechanical and electronic. I agree with Rob, the wire cutting bit did cause an issue with one unit but the “beeb” in the electronic is not discernable and less than the click in the manual!

A 75s countdown would be handy for finals. The only snag is the random time for the loading from the command load to the beginning of the “attention, 3-2-1” part, leaving you having to hit the start. I like to be well ahead in the shot sequence (breathing etc) and usually start the timer on the command load and visually note the second sweep at attention. A kangaroo method but would be interested in views of others!

Paul,
I don't have much experience with finals but I start my timer on 'attention'. Means you lose a second or two getting your left hand back in place but I'm doing my start of sequence two breaths then anyway so it doesn't alter things for me. I do notice however the majority of shooters raise on the word 'attention'.

Rob.