Month: January 2010

ISSF to ban new composite materials for jackets and trousers?

From Stirton.com and shooting.boards.ie and TargetTalk, the following disturbing bit of news comes from Rajmond Debevec:

Shooters, coaches!

Please read the attachment. I call you to comment mostly the proposals of new equipment restrictions.
I was shocked reading those irrational ideas of the committee members. If the ISSF accepts something like that, we all can throw away our jackets, trousers, boots…we ‘ve just bought, worth thousands of Pounds or Euros.
I can’t find out the interest which suppose to lead them to bring out such ideas. On a first glance it looks like some producers with good conections want to increase their income on this way, but I simply can’t believe it.

My personal opinion is clear for a long time – we don’t need any changes without reasonable cause. Any change should serve only to comercialisation and increasing the professionalism of shooting sport. So called ‘experts’ from the committees have many ideas but I really can’t see development getting for example thinner trousers without padding on butt and knees and other proposals.

Best regards,

Rajmond Debevec

Attached was the following set of minutes from the ISSF technical committee. In short, the proposals are for the ISSF:

  • to ban shooting boots which rise above the ankle or which do not flex at the ball of the foot
  • to ban the use of the new composite materials in jackets and trousers and to require all new materials to be pre-approved by the ISSF
  • to reduce again the thickness of shooting trousers and the shooting jacket (from 2.5mm/5mm to 2mm/4mm)
  • to remove all pads from the shooting trousers, but allow seperate pads between heel and seat and between knee and ground when in kneeling
  • all changes to take effect from Jan 1, 2010

Here’s the PDF file of the minutes to download and read.

Some of the other minor points from the document:

  • Floppy hats, visors and the like definitely may not touch the rearsight as part of your shot routine
  • The pocket on the jacket gets to stay
  • No more reinforcement on trousers – they must be 2mm/4mm thickness all over
  • Undergarment thickness limits are also reduced from 2.5mm/5mm to 2mm/4mm
  • Kinesio taping is banned
  • The ISSF technical committee needs to create its own private internet forum to host discussions as emails with salient details are being lost
  • No sponsor/manufacturer marks permitted on rearsight (or foresight) blinders anymore
  • The deduction of 2 points for applying any kind of sticky substance to the jacket, pads, shoes or floor is now removed and rules 6.10.6.5.1 and 6.10.6.5.2 cover everything (prior to this, it was 2 points deducted for rifle, but not for pistol – now it’s all down to the Jury to issue warnings and deduct points)
  • No removable inserts in boots – so no more odour eaters? Kitbags are going to reek even more than they do now.
  • New finals procedures were proposed (but not decided upon), which are almost the same as for Olympic Recurve Archery, where after the qualification round, you have a pairs knock-out tournament for the medal places

UCD 10m Airgun Open, Jan 3 2010

The last qualifier for Intershoot 2010 (and the first for the European Airgun Championships) was this sunday, and UCD held it as an Open shoot (though the weather acted to close it right down again, with most people snowed in). I knew going in I hadn’t found and fixed the problem I was having over the last few matches, so I made sure to charge both cameras to get video footage of the match and John was kind enough to send me the raw data from the Megalink targets as well, so I was able to do a bit of analysis afterwards.

Mind you, when the raw data says you’re all over the shop, analysis isn’t going to be terribly precise!

First up was to go through the video, taking freeze-frame snapshots on every shot. I’d set up both cameras to record video, the high-def camera in front and the new camera to the side (in retrospect it might have been better to do it the other way round…). Of course the high-def camera’s battery died only an hour in (WTF? Maybe the cold…) so I didn’t get full coverage there, but the new camera lasted through to the end. Looking at the highest scored shot both recorded (a 10.6 on the second shot), the position looked like this:

It’s not too bad looking, but how consistent was it over the match? Here’s a composite image of every one of those screenshots, superimposed. The blurrier the image, the less consistent it is…

When you look at the images as a stop-motion video (after the fold, along with more analysis and graphs), it’s even more apparent: Continue reading “UCD 10m Airgun Open, Jan 3 2010” →