Learning From A Bad Day At The Trapshoot At The Cardinal Center.

You would think that shooting at Wright Pat and New Port, I would have learned to shoot in the wind. You start trying anything you can do to minimize the wind effect on the target. It like putting shaving cream back into the can. I actually broke a target out over the weed field waiting for the damn target to stop knuckling. You guy that have been in really tuff shoots, how do we take something positive away from this bad outing? All the way back to Dayton I thought about shooting a bit slower or maybe quicker. Nobody on our squad was setting the world on fire. When I left, there was several 94s and several 95s but nothing better. So help me out, what do I need to do to learn from today's shoot? I love to shoot at the Cardinal Center and feel horrible for all the poor vendors that made it though hell week at the Cardinal Center. God Bless Them All! Thanks for all the help, and congrats Dave on shooting in tuff conditions yesterday.
Flinch King - Brian Seibert

 

Brian, your own personal timing to the moving target is what it is. Some people are naturally quicker, some may be even slower. Any attempt at changing that timing is ill advised even in a stiff wind!

My advice? Pattern your pet loads at your target breaking distances during windy conditions as if you were sighting in your rifle, from a stable rest. MANY times will tell you how those winds are affecting your shot pattern and how far the wind is drifting it.

A clay weighs approx. 4.xx ounces and will be somewhat more stable in winds out a decent way, about to where you'd normally take the shot. From that point on the wind will drift it tremendously depending on wind speeds. Your shot pellet is very light and wind will act on the whole as a group drifting on the wind and it must travel farther in the wind to catch up with the heavy target.

Even a slight breeze of 10 MPH will drift the pattern several inches at 40 yards!!

Good luck!

HAP

 

Hap

Do you think the shot drift is more than the target drift. If it is the same then isn't it a wash? Just wondering.

 

Saturdays singles event was down 20+% due to weather conditions, but 2 shooters managed a 200 straight, and received a nice payout.

A lot of my friends stayed home after looking at the weather Channel.
It was lousy weather for June, cold and windy and rainy.

I heard a lot of shooters talking in the Food Pavillion, it was cold in there eating,
winds blowing drinks over, scooting sandwiches across the tables.

Hope things will be better next year.

GB DLS

 

Herb Orre told me years ago 7.5s drift the same as the target in the wind,

Britt Robinson said the wind is my friend.

GB DLS

 

Long term, the wind blown missed target may wind up two traps down the line in a west toeast hard wind!

FG, the only way to know exactly how winds of varying velocities affect your shot patterns is to research for effect. The wind works on the shot pattern first because of the individual pellets weight. If you shot a full 1-1/8 ounce SLUG, drift at target breaking distances would be minimal yet still move with the wind. Shot charges will move as a group. The target is much heavier and it takes longer for the wind to overhaul the centrifugal forces and weight in play but wind will eventually win and cause the target to take the free ride downrange.

Gary, it pretty evident that Herb Orre wasn't nearly as good at guessing as he was a gunsmith!! I know first hand because I've done that years ago! Yes, the wind is your friend but only if you know how it affects your shot charge as Britt did!

HAP

 

I think one of the answers is in the post concerning banks 5-6-7. I drove over from Dayton, and I wanted to just get put on a squad and shoot the handicap event. I have always shot on either corner Cardinal Center and never really paid much attention to the background. When I got to bank 6 and watched the squad in front of me, and noticed frustration from missed targets. I thought it was due to the winds and weather conditions. It was not until I actually got on my post that I noticed the trees in the background. I tried to block that thought, telling myself that I should be use to trees since I shoot at New Port and Wright Pat. Here I don't have to deal with that damn hill or the huge airplanes. I still should of shot a lot better that I did. I have learned to focus and not let conditions affect my concentration. I believe it was a shell speed issue. I think it's interesting about the background though.

 

Maybe a better idea would be to plant trees behind all the banks

 

I still don't know why there are not more shot screen used by all the clubs. I was talking one night about an indoor trap shooting facility and was talking about a slanted back wall. Put it far enough back not to interrupt target flight, but close enough to have your shot string hit it. At the bottom is a trench on a slight angle that would catch all the shot to be reclaimed and empty it into a collection point. No mess and should be fairly clean and little work. Paint it a color that would make the targets easy to see and that would take care of the tree background issue.

 

Cost estimate?
GB DLS

 

I not sure if a shot curtain is the answer or if something a little more permanent to collect the shot. If a black or dark green background shot curtain could be raised behind a trap field it would fix bad back ground problems. If a club wishes, it could be taken down or slid on a cable wire after a event took place to preserve the condition of the curtain. I haven't research what these curtains cost. I think that if a system could be developed, it would pay for it's self pretty quickly in recovered shot.