August Postal Match

[Seth Isaacson]

We have been doing a lot of shooting from the standing position, but this month, we are going mix things up a bit and sit down. We’ll keep the range at 25 yards, but this time we’ll be shooting from the seated position.

Your butt should be on the ground, but if getting up and down from the ground isn’t feasible for some shooters, sitting on a stool, stump, etc. that doesn’t provide any extra support seems fair. You can support your arms with your knees and body, but do not use any other form of support (no benches, shooting sticks, other barrel supports, back support, etc.). Any caliber, smooth, rifles, flintlock, percussion, etc. is fine but traditional iron sights only please (no peeps).

As tomorrow is my 11th wedding anniversary and my wife is an avid gardener, we’ll be shooting this flower target.

Submit targets in pairs. Submit two targets you shot back to back rather than your best two out of a group of targets. Feel free to color the target to make it easier to see, but try to keep all of the original lines visible to make scoring easier. Please show them with your guns if you can. I’m guessing I’m not the only one who likes to see what everyone is shooting.

You get 3 shots per target.
Scoring: The center of the bloom is +10 points. The petals and leaves are +5. Breaking the stem is +15. The pot is -5 (those things can be expensive!). The max score would be 3 shots through each of the stems for 90 points.

https://www.targetz.com/targetzlib/20030.pdf

[alacran]

Congratulations on winning the July match Seth.
Though I will feel silly shooting a 25-yard target anything other than offhand. I will print some and shoot them.
The sitting position is one of my favorite military shooting positions. Glad you didn't say kneeling.

[Seth Isaacson]

Thanks and great shooting as well!

Shooting at 25 yards sitting might make things a bit easier this month, but I'm hoping that it encourages more people to attempt to break both stems multiple times rather than just plug away at the "bulls-eye" on the flower. That should be a good challenge for most of us, especially since I'm sure I'm not the only one that rarely shoots from this position.

[Daryl]

Seth - if a ball cut the stem and a leaf of petal, wouldn't that shot score 20?
Thus each target has the potential of scoring 60. Not that I could do that, but
it seems possible for someone.
Interesting match indeed.

[Seth Isaacson]

Let's keep it simple and say that breaking the stem trumps any points scored by hitting a leaf or petal, so even if it hits a leaf/petal and the stem, the shot would still be 15 points not 20. When we shoot normal targets, a shot mostly in the 10 ring but partially in the 9 ring counts as a 10 not a 19, so that seems consistent.

[Nessmuck]

Good target for .610 ball.....

[Seth Isaacson]

Good target for .610 ball.....

I'm trying to be inviting to as many people as possible. Some don't have more than one rifle to choose from.  Feel free to shoot with whatever you want, but if your goal is to challenge yourself and get better, I'd think shooting one of your smaller caliber guns would be more appropriate. I'll be trying out my .38 caliber rifle again and maybe an attempt or two with my .45 pistol. All that is on the line is pride and picking next months target.

[Daryl]

Let's keep it simple and say that breaking the stem trumps any points scored by hitting a leaf or petal, so even if it hits a leaf/petal and the stem, the shot would still be 15 points not 20. When we shoot normal targets, a shot mostly in the 10 ring but partially in the 9 ring counts as a 10 not a 19, so that seems consistent.

Tks for the clarification, Seth. Good luck with your shoot.

[taterbug]

just to clarify for me, does 'cutting the stem' mean cutting BOTH sides of the stem, or both lines?  is so, might be a bit of a challenge with the smaller calibers?  Sorry to be picking fly dirts out of pepper, but I'm sure it will come up...

[Seth Isaacson]

The stem is very narrow, if you get one side cut, you are very likely to cut both sides I would think even with a pretty small caliber. One of the uncommon .25 cals would still be able to cut the stem completely, but let’s say you have to cut at least half the width for it to count. Barely grazing the outer edge won’t count.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

We have a horizontal string cut on our trail. The string must be cut into two pieces that are obvious.  I would suggest the same is true for cutting the stem of a flower.  f you don't hit the string with the centre of the ball, it simply moves out of the way, jiggles a bit, and sustains a grey smudge where the ball passed.

[Seth Isaacson]

We have a horizontal string cut on our trail. The string must be cut into two pieces that are obvious.  I would suggest the same is true for cutting the stem of a flower.  f you don't hit the string with the centre of the ball, it simply moves out of the way, jiggles a bit, and sustains a grey smudge where the ball passed.

Sounds good to me.

[Seth Isaacson]

 No one has been out to give it a shot yet? I’ve been out of town, but hope to try it out this week or weekend.

[oldways]

  I did get a chance to shoot it the other day. Haven't had a chance to post pictures yet, it is very challenging. I need to have more of a contrast to see the target better. At 68 the eyes aren't what they use to be.                                                                                                                 Walt

[oldways]

[Nessmuck]

Old ways….percussion of Flintah ?

[oldways]

 It is a TC percussion kit rifle that was given to me that was already finished.

[Seth Isaacson]

So I score the top target 15, and the second target is a 5 for 20 points.

[Seth Isaacson]

  I did get a chance to shoot it the other day. Haven't had a chance to post pictures yet, it is very challenging. I need to have more of a contrast to see the target better. At 68 the eyes aren't what they use to be.                                                                                                                 Walt

My kids and I sat down and colored the petals, center, and stem different colors to give it some contrast. We'll see if that makes it easy enough to see later this week hopefully. Both of my kids got COVID while I was out town, so hopefully I don't get sick too now that I'm home.

[Mike Brooks]

No one has been out to give it a shot yet? I’ve been out of town, but hope to try it out this week or weekend.

I don't have a gun.

[Seth Isaacson]

Not my best shooting for sure. 5 points.    The details on the target are difficult to see, at least for me shooting at sunset. I thought this would show up better than it does once colored. I tried for the stem for the yellow target trying to use the flower or the leaves as a point of reference.

[taterbug]

Mike, you want to borrow my 45 year old CVA ugly-tucky?  It's what I'll have to use since it's the only complete gun I have round balls for. 

[Seth Isaacson]

We are running out of days to submit targets! Aside from my sad outing on the 18th, it looks like Oldways is the only one to have submitted targets and is in the lead currently with 20 points. I plan on shooting at least one more set of targets sometime this week or maybe on Monday.

[Jakob]

Lymans Great Plains, .54 cal percussion.

This target is deceptively hard.

I thought I cut the stem on the second target, but no.
I'll try to get to the range again this week.

[Seth Isaacson]

Agreed Jakob! The early comments on the post had me concerned I made things too easy, but clearly not so far. I found it challenging and also thought I had more good hits than I actually did. Nicked the edges and whatnot, but not score-able shots.

Looks like yours adds up to a 5 like mine but with the rest of your shots close to scoring hits on the stem. Definitely try again! I'm hoping to get out and shoot a couple more times. Maybe one target or a pair of targets still hunting for the stems and the rest going for the flower which is easier to score on.