The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Weather will be shyyteeee and the company worse cos I is coming toooooooooo!!!!!!!!
:lol:

Weather will be fine, we have Heather to drive the dark clouds away

Are you running the plotting session Heather, and if so do we have to hold our hands up and address you as Miss?

Oohhh sherbet - I owe Heather chocolates!!!
:shock:

I was just going to bring an apple....

We are not attending the plotting course...

Only the wind course.

The Wind course is the true diamond course there and the plotting course is to help build "excuses"
"... you see here the wind did this and then this :-P "

I truly need to do both - but I will bring BILTONG for ovenpaa, you and me!

Then Ovenpaa and I will proceed to it it all :cheers:

ovenpaa wrote:Weather will be fine, we have Heather to drive the dark clouds away

Are you running the plotting session Heather, and if so do we have to hold our hands up and address you as Miss?

Yes, I will be doing the plotting session, hence why it is cheap as I have donated my time.

Address me how you wish but just remember that I can then respond in a like manner!! :lol: :lol:

Heather

EagerNoSkill wrote:Oohhh sherbet - I owe Heather chocolates!!!
:shock:

I like people who owe me chocolate - I like people even more when I get them :lol: :lol:

Heather

Plotting definitely paid off for me last weekend. After indifferent performances over 6 short-range (300-600) shoots in our club championships I was resigned to a disappointing meeting, especially after getting knocked out of the main Championship (for the first time). Still, I'd hardly shot all year, was exhausted by travel back and forth to the UK, and highly stressed and tired from organising and running a meeting for 40 people, so my expectations weren't high.

Come the long range shoots. At 900 yards 3 of us were tied on 50.7, but in detail 2 there were two 50.9's, which were decided by an awesome 25.5 in the tie shoot that would have been the same score on a 600 yard target. But at 1000 yards people seemed to be struggling. When the flags were dropping everyone was losing shots far upwind. Against my instinct and better judgement (which Bill Richards will tell you to follow), I decided to ignore what I could see on the flags (and there was barely any visible mirage) and to strictly stick within the bracket defined by the plot. It was a tactical decision that gave me the only 1000 yard possible on the range, and therefore the trophies for the 1000 yard shoot and the long range aggregate.

Several comments here imply that plotting is mostly to do with wind. The first, and easiest, application of plotting is to centre the elevation group as accurately as possible, and to keep it cantered as it moves over time so that you have the maximum width of the target available to accommodate errors in wind judgement. Even if you subscribe to Bill Richard's view that wind plotting is merely an exercise in recording historical data, it is still a very valuable skill for elevation. Whether for wind or elevation though, being able to plot in an absolute minimum of time is a very useful skill to have in the toolbox. I'll start most shoots plotting both wind and elevation. Which ones I'm still plotting at the end of the shoot is a different story depending on the situation. When Bill tells you not to bother plotting wind, remember that he is doing so from the perspective of a world class wind coach. Mere mortals (like me) still get value from it, and until you are a world class wind coach you might too.


Here's my top-tip for plotting wind graphs:

Immediately after you fire the shot you record your windage setting on the scorecard (you already do that, right?). After doing this, make a tiny 'x' (cross) at that point on the wind graph. When the target comes up, if the shot fell 1/2 a minute right of centre, you plot the 'blob' 1/2 a minute right of your little 'cross'. No mental arithmetic required (so you can plot much more quickly), and the difference between the 'crosses' and the 'blobs' can helps you identify if (for example) you are routinely under/over calling, and by how much.

..

Just bumping this as we have 4 places left on each course this weekend if anyone else is interested.

Heather