“wind”

There’s a lot more to competitive shooting than sending rounds downrange. There are the private aspects we don’t see—building guns, loading our own ammo, dry firing in our living rooms, selecting gear—and for most of us, focusing on our shooting means shutting out all distractions and all other shooters, and maybe putting on our game face.

Creedmoor Sports, which has been providing competitors with shooting gear since 1979, is getting deeper into the ammunition side of the business.

Legendary Marksmanship Unit Coach Retiring

I made the comment to Chip Lohman, the editor that "I lost my connection to the wind" when asked about how I did in a match. He asked what I meant by that and this article is the result.

The term “zero” means finding a sight setting that, under some set of conditions, results in a centered shot group. Those conditions include distance, ammunition, and event. Other variables that factor in include rifle, temperature, atmosphere, place, yet the list can continue.

There really is a “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow on the Emerald Isle, both literally and figuratively, at least for F-Class rifle competitors.

We generally agree that “shooting is 90 percent mental,” but apply it in very personal ways. When a coach emphasizes the need to focus, for example, one shooter’s interpretation may be to bear down and think harder, while the next may visualize “living in the moment” and relaxing.

2015 NRA 3-Position Air Gun Championship

The effects of different primers on ammunition accuracy is a topic that interests many, but which relatively few can easily test with precision. Most competitive shooters are limited in their access to a 1000-yard range and a quality accuracy-testing facility. Thus, experimentation with primers is often done at shorter ranges, relying heavily on chronograph results to help select primer brands or lots by velocity uniformity and accuracy testing.