TargetTalk

After searching and not finding any air pistol matches for adults in Wisconsin nor Minnesota I decided to run one. We will be holding a match this winter at the Bloomer Rod & Gun Club in Bloomer, Wisconsin. This is an exceptionally nice facility that has run .22 indoor pistol matches for several years.

Working on getting at least a couple of SIUS electronic targets/scoring plus paper target stations as well. Stay tuned!

I will be asking lots of questions as I have never run an air pistol match before. Exciting!!!

Chip Eckardt

Where is Bloomer Wisconsin?
You might look at the Orion scoring system, score with an optical reader right into a computer for match results. Probably a lot cheaper than the high end system. A few air pistol matches in Il. One or two a year in Iowa. Hope you get up and running. There are quite a few postal matches, CMP, Facebook etc.

Bloomer is about 90 miles straight east from Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. Thanks for the ideas.

Chip

ChipEck wrote:After searching and not finding any air pistol matches for adults in Wisconsin nor Minnesota I decided to run one. We will be holding a match this winter at the Bloomer Rod & Gun Club in Bloomer, Wisconsin. This is an exceptionally nice facility that has run .22 indoor pistol matches for several years.

Working on getting at least a couple of SIUS electronic targets/scoring plus paper target stations as well. Stay tuned!

I will be asking lots of questions as I have never run an air pistol match before. Exciting!!!

Chip Eckardt

Chip,

The CMP is replacing all of the Megalink system that we shot on in Perry with new KTS systems.

The MegaLinks are going up for sale. The systems are 7-8 years old but for the right price they might be worth a look.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Mega ... qpCKm3W4LM

- Dave

Thanks Dave. I will check! Hope to see you at the match. Tentatively it will be in March/April timeframe. Jim is going to help me.

Chip

Chip;

Please keep us informed of the match dates.
It is about 2 hours away for me but I would do that.
Paper targets are just fine unless you get a good deal on electronic.
May want to wait on participation before going too deep on electronics for the money.

Clarence

Sound advice from Perkins!

Just beware; Ye Grand Farkleer may bring his ever-so-gaudy display piece to the dismay and astonishment of the peasants.

ChipEck wrote:Thanks Dave. I will check! Hope to see you at the match. Tentatively it will be in March/April timeframe. Jim is going to help me.

Chip

I'll do everything I can to be there.

- Dave

Rover wrote:Sound advice from Perkins!

Just beware; Ye Grand Farkleer may bring his ever-so-gaudy display piece to the dismay and astonishment of the peasants.

Roger;
You cannot mean this ?



Clarence

Got it in uno, mi amigo.

I bet that one's fun when you need replacement parts. Very nice pistol! I would love to attend this but Wisconsin is a bit out of my neighborhood. Might be able to convince my wife to go on a cheese tour if you're holding this multiple years in a row...that just mysteriously coincides with competition time...

Ok Chip, This will be more than you ever wanted to know about a match and may not be exactly according to the rules. If not, Rover will correct me.
If you have a target retrieval system, the old string, carrier and some type of motor, just give the competitor 60 record targets, 4 sighting targets and 1 hour and 45 minutes of time and say START. The nice thing about this way, if you have a fast shooter, when he comes off the line, you can infiltrate a new shooter into that spot. That was the system in use at Rover's south mountain complex in 1989.
Next up, If you posting the B40/4 sheets, give the shooter two or all four bulls and 15 minutes for sighting. Then change out a complete sheet every 30 minutes, shooting 5 shots per bull. After 3 sheets, the competitors will have 60 record shots down range. Some shooters will take the whole time so there will not be the opportunity for early infiltration on the line. My understanding is you cannot set a national record with more than 3 shots per bull, but doing that is a scoring pain in the butt.
95 percent of the matches here in the Midwest use either the B40/4 or the Orion system and hang 4 single bull targets at the same time. Either way, its 5 shots per bull, 20 shots in 30 minutes. Time will vary a couple of minutes depending on how the match director reads the rules. Hope all this helps a bit. Do not worry if somebody shows up with a Styer, now if they come in with a FWB, just give them the trophy. Ha Ha

Five shots per bull is tough scoring only if you're shooting with the big dogs who chew out the 10 ring. Everyone else will have them sprayed all over the target (easy to score).

They will tell you at the match what to do, so don't get uptight. Don't rush; you have about 90 seconds per shot.

You can shoot all the sighters you want before you start shooting for score, but none after that. I personally like to take at least 15 shots to settle in. In practice I'll shoot 100 shots.

I put fresh targets over my sighter target. Your shots will cut cleaner holes and when you've fired 20 or 30 shots, you look at the sighter target to see if you have a good zero.

A SSP or FWB65 will usually win.

Rover wrote:A SSP or FWB65 will usually win.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone shake a gun's hand and hand ita medal before...although companies keep trying to advertise guns like they do....

I've seen companies shake a shooters hand after a win and then hand over a new gun.

Chip,

Thanks for running the matches. More matches is always better. You're doing yeoman's work.

As the "match wrangler", you're free to run matches however you see fit, regardless of what any of us well-intentioned Internet Idiots may say.

As an air pistol competitor, match wrangler, and range operations specialist of many years, my 2¢ (worth every penny) is:

1) Skip the B40-4 targets if at all possible. Those are a terrible experience for the shooter.
2) Single-bull targets are great. Buy Krugers if your budget allows. Edelmanns are nice but not necessary. Krugers are worth the price jump over the NRA B40 targets.
3) 1 or 2 shots per bull on single-bull targets. 5 per is too difficult to score. 3 per is too difficult to do stats on.
4) 1 shot per bull if you have electric carriers; 2 per bull if hand-crank.
5) Electronic targets are nice, but prepare for them to get shot up if you are attracting your target (heh) audience (i.e., new shooters)

Of course, money and time may preclude any of the above. The important thing is that you are running matches.

In summary: for a club match, if you have funds, 1 shot per bull on Kruger targets with electric carriers will give you the best value for your money and time, as a "match wrangler" and range operations specialist. (You may not realize it, but you've just signed up to be both of those things.)

Sincerely,

John Bickar
Match Wrangler and Range Operations Specialist, going on 9 years now for local club AP matches

Thanks John.

Chip

Bickar has it! And those 4 bull targets are the worst thing around...i despise them! ;)

My club (small club, almost 40 members) holds 6 air pistol matches per year. We have electric carriers and shoot 2 shots per single-bull target. We only have five lanes, so whenever a shooter is done we send in the next one.

Last weekend we had 13 shooters, ranging from 13 to 73 years of age. Results ranged from 488 to 566 for the 60-shot shooters and from 322 to 368 for the 40-shot shooters. The youngest shooters also shoot 40 shots, but they shoot seated with a foam support.

About 164000 people live in my county, and this year there will be a total of 18 air pistol competitions held by the 3 clubs that have air pistol competitions.

I don't know if you're thinking of running sanctioned matches, or who the sanctioning organizations is. If you're sanctioning through the NRA they'll be rather insistent upon B40 targets with the appropriate NRA approval logo on them (as I know from experience). Everyone is right about them being low quality. If you have to use them you'll find a good cardboard backer will help. Alternatively, if you're sanctioning with the NRA, you can just not mention your target choice in the match bulletin or match report.

You're a hero for running matches. In my experience the secret to building participation is regularly scheduled matches (even if it's only 4 to 6 per year) and competently administered matches. Plus, hopefully you won't get a problem individual, as they can drive other competitors away.

One last thought; if you want the matches to appear in the NRA publication you'll need to submit it (as I recall) six months in advance.

Good luck.