Today reader Vana2 whose name is Hank, tells us about the uses of different paper targets.
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Take it away, Hank
What sort of targets do you shoot?
by Hank, Vana2
This report covers:
- Target selection
- The classic archery target
- The competition target
- 100-yard sighting target
- Specialty targets
- My tuning target
- Report Card target
- Summary
Target Selection
Instead of asking what sort of targets do you shoot at, a better question might be why did you choose that target format.
A quick Google on “Target” will show hundreds of different formats for every imaginable use. But even with all the targets available for sale or download, I still design my own custom targets tweaked to my needs. So now you are asking me WHY?
Why?
The why is because each target type is designed for a specific application and use. I’d like to discuss some typical targets before I get to the specific one that I want to show you.
The classic archery target
An archery target.
An archery target can be a couple of feet in diameter, the yellow is the target, the rest is for reference.
If you ask the average person to describe a target they will inevitably describe the multi-color concentric band archery target. This seemingly simple target is actually carefully designed to be visible at long distance, and to aid in drawing attention from the large target face to the aim point. Even the traditional colors – white, black, blue, red and yellow, are selected to help with focus.
Concentric bands of color can be a visually powerful tool. The artist Claude Tousignant did some interesting studies using alternating values of complementary colors in innovative ways in his circle/target paintings.
The competition target
This is a typical concentric ring competition target.
The competition target is the next most popular. It consists of concentric rings with scoring values and a black area as the visual aiming point.
The scale of the target, the size of the aiming point and the number of targets on the sheet vary with the type of competition. The size of the aim point is depends on the sights being used (iron sights, aperture or scopes) and the range at which that the competition takes place. Sometimes multiple shots are taken per target. Sometimes there are multiple targets with only one shot taken per target.
These targets are meant to be scored to determine the winner of a competition or keep stats to see how well we are doing that particular day.
By ignoring the scoring ring, the competition targets can also be used as simple aim points for shooting groups.
100-yard sighting target
A typical sighting target features a couple of aim points, scope reticule alignment bars, and a coarse grid.
Hunters and people who shoot at longer ranges use a sighting target with a predominant aim point that is designed facilitate scope alignment and a grid (usually one inch spacing) to assist on making adjustments.
The scope might be zeroed to the aim point or just referenced to it using the grid. For example, if a suitable range is not available, adjusting to hit 2 inches high at 100 yards could mean on target at 250 yards. Of course that depends on many things like velocity, ballistic coefficient, etc.
Specialty Targets
There are target designs to check specific things. An example would be a “Tall Target” which consists of a vertical line on a tall (3 or 4 foot) backing board with an aim point at the bottom. The rifle is zeroed on the aim point and the turret is adjusted up some distance and more shots are fired.
The distance between the first and the second group is measured and the empirical data is compared to the theoretical offset from the turret to determine if the turret is tracking accurately or is a bias factor is required to be applied in the ballistic calculator.
Sometimes, a simple mark or dot on a backing board as an aim point is all that is required to determine if the zero is still true or what “Kentucky Windage” is required for a particular distance.
My tuning target
My tuning target is a 5 by 5 grid on cardboard that takes under a minute to draw using a Rafter Square.
This is the Notes Sheet that ties all the session information together.
Then there are approaches that can be very helpful. Late last fall a friend asked to use my range to tune his airgun. The range was free so no problem and I left him to do his thing.
After several hours of frustration (and a couple of tins of 20-cent .30 caliber pellets) he asked for help. He had hundreds of holes in targets and couldn’t relate the groups to the settings to the stats. I gave him the grid target I use for testing pellets and tuning PCPs. Then I introduced him to my Notes Sheet and explained how to use it.
The notes sheet references the grid intersections of the Tuning target (labeled A1, A2 etc.) so that all the details can be tracked. I use the grid intersections as needed depending on how/what I’m doing. Usually I’ll shoot 5 per grid, sometimes I’ll abandon the grid if it’s not going well, sometimes I’ll shoot a dozen or more shots just to see what develops.
My notes sheet is suitable for all of the things that I track for different airguns so what is filled in is dependent on the particular rifle. The thing is that all the data is captured in a consistent format.
Most of the fields are self-explanatory so I will be brief in describing them. The A1 to A5, B1 to B5 etc. are the grid references. SERIES refers to the shot strings on my LabRadar, I frequently refer to the velocity data when tuning. You can record the velocity information on paper if you have another type of chronograph.
AMMO is obvious. STABILITY is what I see from the pellet and the point of impact. I note the magnification of the scope and reference the sub-tends to get a number to describe how poorly a pellet might be spiraling.
FPS and FPE are average data points for the group. dB is the maximum decibel level for the group and helps me when fine tuning for efficiency (excessively noisy PCPs are wasting air). FILL and REG monitors the current settings and air usage. TP, MACRO, MICRO, and VALVE are all the adjustments I have available. COMMENTS are always useful when trying to remember what you were thinking about at the time. Your needs and notes may be different.
A career of working in an engineering environment has taught me that keeping detailed notes can be a cover your a$$ (CYA) life saver when someone asks, What happened and why?
Report Card target
Report Card target.
A report card is useful when monitoring performance of the equipment and the shooter. If you are competing there are the targets mentioned above for that but often I want to keep track of how well the airgun, ammo and shooter (mostly the shooter) are doing. For that I shoot a report card. I shoot five groups of 5 and 25 single targets (a 5×5 array) to give me 50 shots on one target face to evaluate.
The groups are measured in the conventional way (center-to-center); the group sizes are added and averaged to give me a number for reference that I call AG (average group).
I measure the single targets from the POA (point of aim) center to of the POI (point of impact), total up the row values and average them. Then I average all the rows to give me a number (AR – average radius) that represents the distance that I’m “off the mark”. Just for giggles, I’ll double the radius for the AD (average diameter) number that, theoretically, should be similar to my average group size.
All this good stuff is recorded on the report card and a digital copy is filed for the airgun.
Shooting a card gives me a decent sample size (50 shots) and presents all of the impacts on one target face so that I can see what is happening. Is the airgun shooting consistently? Are there lots of fliers? How is my trigger control, focus and follow through? Am I canting the rifle (again)?
The card gives me a good idea of the performance I can get from that airgun, at that distance with those pellets. It’s nice to see an improvement, its also good to know if you’re slipping.
Summary
So there’s lots of target option available and any decent aim point is usable. Sometimes having something specific to your needs can be a big help.
Be safe, shoot straight!
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