putting on a good match, Target types

[bigbrowndog]

On to targets, first off, every target should be able to be challenged by a competitor. As for paper I

don’t care which you use NRA, IDPA, IPSC Classic, IPSC Metric, ½ size etc. just keep them all the same

basic type per stage. Have proper patching material, and do not skimp on changing to new targets.

If you shoot slugs at paper, have 5/16” plywood backers as a minimum and change them out routinely,

probably with every second target change is good, also have slug tape. Do not put brown paper in front

of a brown background, for long range rifle targets or slug targets, it’s just mean!! It also goes along

with the knowing where your target is and seeing it idiom from a few paragraphs back. As for clays,

your basic clay is 4” round, and makes a great shotgun target, most of the time. It does an admirable

job as a pistol target, and an OK job as a rifle target. With a rifle the bullet can blow through and it can

be hard for a competitor without optics to tell, but it’s a static target so it’s easily challengeable.

With a pistol the bullet is big enough and slow enough that the blow through tendency is quite rare, and

again it’s a static target and easily challengeable. With a shotgun it makes a great static target for all

ammo types, slugs out to 20yds., buckshot out past 15yds., and of course regular birdshot, again they

are all static targets and all are challengeable. It’s when birds get in the air that the trouble begins, it

continues when there are multiple birds, and gets worse when inexperienced RO’s and helpers are

pressed into service, and continues its downward spiral when on occasion the sun is low on the horizon,

and finally explodes in a fiery ball when our clay is struck by the “golden BB” and all proof of the hit lies

smashed on the ground. So how do you refute the competitors tale of dead-eye prowess, do you put a

call into NASA for the latest digital satellite imagery? NO!!! The burden of proof, unquestionable proof,

should be on BOTH the match staff and the competitor. So how is that done with little pieces lying on

the ground. Just don’t use them in the air; it’s the fairest thing to do at this time. People like them and

I’m one of them, I’ve used them, but I don’t like the fact that you can’t challenge the target, and I like

being fair more than having a target people like but can’t challenge. Now for steel, plain and simple

ALL steel should fall to score, just like clays, every target should be challengeable. If it’s up, it’s unhit or

challengeable and there is no RO/shooter communication. The RO does not need to know which targets

the competitor is engaging or call hits or argue with the competitor after the stage that all targets were

hit. This can be accomplished with self resetting targets or send people to reset them, which if you do

that, then paint them at the same time. I’ve covered this earlier but it’s important enough to say again.

This is just general steel target info for rifle, pistol or shotgun as for steel for particular guns, good

practices to use are as follows, for shotgun, all no shoot steel needs to be painted every time its hit,

every time!! All other steel should be painted at least for every squad, Painting the stands is also a

good practice because at times it can get confusing as to which target was on which stand. For shotgun

and pistol it’s easy enough to touch up all the steel as it’s usually close. For rifle it should be painted for

every squad as a minimum, for every shooter is best.

Target presentation is next,..............thanks