Perfect practice #7

[X-ring]

Know your equipment Have you ever shot with a partner either informally at your range or at an organized shooting event? If you are the spotter, what you communicate to the shooter can affect how well they do. Example. Your buddy is shooting at a gong at 200 yards and you are spotting. The smoke from the black powder or B.P. sub prevents the shooter from seeing his misses. He misses. You say "miss high right. Come down and to the left". How much? one inch. 10 feet? Information like that is useless unless you also give them a specific sight correction. You have to know the distance to the target to give good corrections. If the shooter is using a M.O.A. scope or vernier sights, you should give the correction in MINUTES but you have to completely understand minutes of angle. If you are using a mil-rad scope, you both have to understand that system to make good calls. It is easy to understand and use M.O.A. at different fixed distances. Using a typical 1/4 M.O.A. scope, 4 clicks on a turret will move the bullet impact the following amounts: 1 inch at 100 yds. 2 inches at 200, 3 inches at 300, 4 inches at 400 yds. etc. easy peasy. But don't think in inches or feet. Think in minutes and relay your corrections in minutes. Once you have your most accurate load figured out, you should have your "come ups" written down in your dope book for each distance you shoot at. A ballistic program will get you close as long as you feed it good data but you still have to confirm these estimates by firing at the distances you intend to shoot. If you are teamed up with a shooter of known ability, you can be assured that they know how to make a sight adjustment off your calls. On the other hand, you may be helping a new shooter at your range or squadded up at a match with a new shooter of unknown ability [commonly done at a formal match]. It is pretty common to give a new shooter a sight correction in minutes and they give their scope turret 2 clicks or just give the turret a big twist and hope for the best. If they don't know how to accurately make sight adjustments from your call, their next shot usually impacts the target randomly. It can be frustrating for you both! Understand your equipment! Relay good info to your shooter. Give them exactly what they need to know such as wind pick-ups or let-offs, or direction changes of wind and mirage to make a good shot. Don't give them information overload! If you have ever shot next to someone who can't shut up you know what I mean. Relay good info and then be quiet and let your shooter focus on the wind and mirage [which is probably driving him nuts anyway!] X