SA Queens Ranges

[RDavies]

I,m going to stand with the yokels, armed with pitch forks to ban the 900 range. In the QLD Queens, how many points did you drop Alan in the 4x 900 ranges in the not so great conditions? 3 points I think.
Ban the 900 and bring in more 300s.

[IanP]

Ian, not shooting 900 at Lower Light is not so much a matter of being testing for the shooters as being a matter of the very serious safety issues for the markers. Anyone who has marked at Lower Light will know what I mean. With high winds, particularly coming in from the coatal quarter, the target gallery is like a wind tunnel and can be extremely unsafe. I gather things have been improved but my understanding is that marker consideration is still more an influencing factor than shooter preference when it comes to the long ranges.

Lynn

Hi Lynn,

Looking forward to catching up on Saturday at the Kapunda RC!

How is it anymore dangerous for the markers when shooting at 900m as opposed to 800m, please explain as I think I'm missing something in the translation. If its safe to shoot 900m in the "Hunt" why is it an "OHS" issue for the markers in the Queen's event?

I think its a pity that 900m is not being shot in the Queen's event and dont follow or understand what problem the markers experience when they are in the same safe pit for all the ranges being shot.

Please explain the problem as I'm sure I must be missing something obvious here but cant for the life of me work it out!

Ian

[RAVEN]

Ian the larger frames are prone to blow out of there retaining frames when the wind blows from a particular direction.
And I certainly wouldn’t want to be in the path of one that was heading east.
when we used to use the paddle these can also be a problem with young ppl not having the strength to control them in gusting conditions.
RB

[AlanF]

Richard,

I think Ian's point is that the 800 and 700 targets will also use the 8 x 6 frames, so changing from 800 to 900 is not increasing the hazard. However, if it was being considered to replace say one of the 600s with a 900, then I guess that would increase the likelihood of problems. But surely its just a matter of stopping the range and changing to a shorter range with smaller frame if marking is judged to be hazardous.

I'd better pull my head in, as I probably won't be there this year.

Alan

[Lynn Otto]

But surely its just a matter of stopping the range and changing to a shorter range with smaller frame if marking is judged to be hazardous.

Alan

Yes Alan and this has had to be done on more than a few occasions.

Ian, I don't claim to know why in particular 900 is not being shot on any particular occasion, I was simply pointing out why this has been the case in the past and unless you have marked down there you may not appreciate just how bad it can be. I have no problem with shooting 900, we shoot it frequently enough at the club. I don't like it but then I don't particularly like 800 much either, but that's a personal thing and nothing to do with whatever ranges are decreed for the Queens. Personally I would rather see them do away with 300, I usually shoot ok there but the targets end up crappy to aim at.

However may I hypothesise that if you have a larger number of long ranges then if the conditions are bad that is a larger number of ranges you need to re-organise. The other factor for the queens from an organisational perspective is that they have traditionally had 2x800 on the last day - you don't need to move between ranges and therefore the proceeding happen faster, shooting finishes earlier and presentation can begin sooner giving, in particular the interstate shooter, an earlier finish to head for home.

I am simply speculating on the reasoning and since I won't be shooting it I don't have any particular preference.

Lynn

[BATattack]

yes the velcro scoring discs left on the target worked really well at the teams shoot richard.

not just for the markers but i think it made things much easyer when scoring

[IanP]

yes the velcro scoring discs left on the target worked really well at the teams shoot richard.

not just for the markers but i think it made things much easyer when scoring

+1 for using velcro markers everywhere, great idea!

Ian