FIELD TARGET SHOOTING

Field Target Shooting is a sport that has grown in popularity in recent years, it combines the outdoor field conditions of a rough shoot with the target precision of competition shooting. A course is laid out outdoors with a route to walk round and at set points a shooting point with a knockdown target at any distance from 7.5 metres to 55 metres away.

The knock down target will only fall if you hit the bull which is typically 40mm diameter, for beginners this is a maximum 2 point score, hitting the target but not the bull gets 1 point and a miss no score. Once you get to top competition standard, you only get a single point for a bull, and the bull can be as small as 25mm, 18mm, or even 12mm. The targets can be up in trees, in hollows in the ground, half hidden in pipes or behind objects etc anything to make it a challenge to the shooters skill to hit the target.

There is an active competition circuit with local, national and international competitions as well as the local clubs where shooters can just practice their skills and have fun.

Field Target Shooting has developed the techniques for steady shooting stances and most are based on a Three Point sitting or semi-kneeling stance with the rifle rested on the crook of the arm or on top of the hand as opposed to being held in the hand.

The development of sophisticated range finding and bullet drop compensating telescopic sights has come on to satisfy the field target market. With those you can accurately estimate the distance to your target and then set your sights so the cross hairs are dead on for that distance, however you still need skill to allow for wind sheer and your shooting technique needs to be spot on every time to actually hit what you see through your sights.

Field Target Shooting is a precision sport, you need to be able to hit a small target, typically 40 mm diameter or an even smaller 25mm diameter for some of the top level competitors, and hit it every time, at any distance from as little as 7.5 metres to a distant 55 metres, up hill and down dale, up in trees and through various objects, out in a field or more typically in a wood, in all kinds of weather conditions, 40 times in a row and you win the competition.
Easy isn't it.

It is a fact that modern air guns will out shoot their shooters, ie the rifle is capable of putting every single pellet through the same hole if only the shooter could hold the gun in the same position every time. This is where the field target community has developed the stable shooting techniques used in the competitions. These are especially necessary when high magnification range-finding telescopic sights are used, as the higher the magnification, the greater the wobble seen through the scope. And if your target is wobbling about you will not be able to focus your rangefinding scope to judge the correct distance hence the greater the chance of miss-calculating your shot, let alone missing the target completely because the rifle is not being held steady enough.

The basis of the field target position is a tripod, formed by your two feet and your bum - on a beanbag cushion for comfort if you want. You then brace yourself across your knees with one arm, elbow and hand on respective knees, and rest the rifle on the elbow of that arm, or on the upturned hand on one knee as an alternative rest. You then have a very stable platform and the movement you can see through your scope is the effect of your own breathing and indeed heartbeat as the rifle moves in time with your pulse. That is why it is better to have thick enough clothes to eliminate the pulse effect, and the breathing becomes part of your shooting technique. However, clever course designers will make sure that at least one of the targets cannot be shot from a sitting position and will have to be taken with a standing shot.
The targets used for Field target shooting are made of metal and are shaped traditionally to look like typical airgun prey, Rabbits, Rats, Pigeons, Squirrels, and nowadays more fun shapes such as skittles or plain circular targets. They all have a hole in them with a metal disc behind which is linked to the prop that holds the target upright. When a pellet hits this disc it knocks the prop allowing the target to fall down. The target has a cord attached which is used to pull the target upright again which resets the prop ready for the next shot.
You might think that Field Target shooting has no relevance to a hunter who is shooting live prey but the discipline of being able to hit a 40mm diameter disc at 55 yards means that a hunter can learn to shoot accurately at greater distances than before, therefore extending the amount of prey in his shooting range.

It is a golden rule that hunting is a one shot business, you always shoot to kill quickly and efficiently with just one shot. That means you must always hit a kill zone, the main one is the head, the secondary one the heart / lungs area. You must never shoot at the body as this is liable to just injure them with out killing them.

The effective range that a hunter must not exceed is the distance that he can put all his shots in a 40mm diameter group. For most people that would be 25 - 30 metres but with the discipline that field target shooting gives that can be extended to 40 - 50 metres. So you can see that field target techniques can help the hunter.

I have heard recently that some clubs are holding hunting field target competitions, where hunting rifles in .22 with ordinary - non rangefinding or bullet drop compensating telescopic sights are used and the proper field target stances are not allowed. You can stand, kneel on one leg or lie down but not sit in the field target position. These are being held by the members themselves rather than the Field Target Association and are done just for enjoyment, but hunters still benefit from the practice it gives.
To return to OUTDOOR PURSUITS page, close pop-up window or use links below

SITE MAP

e-mail: webmaster(at)jonger(dot)co(dot)uk