From: [j d p] at [atl.hp.com] (John Pierce)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Olympic Shooting Report (long)
Date: 1 Aug 1996 10:12:44 -0400
Olympic Shooting Report
(And I didn't even pull a trigger)
Enough lurking! I haven't seen any reports from the olympics, so I'll
have to step into the breach.
Thursday, July 25. I was exhausted after working the previous weekend
and pulling long hours Monday and Tuesday. The new revision went in on
Wednesday, so I had some relief. I decided to take off and take the
kids to the olympic shooting venue!
------------
I have been to Wolf Creek skeet & trap range several times (I'm no good,
but hey, it's fun!). I even saw the Olympic setup while under
construction. So knowing where it was, we drove on down...traffic was
not too bad...and parked and got tickets.
My wife declined to make the trip, and Mary (13) was babysitting, so it
was myself, Ben (17 year old gun nut) Sam (15) and Evie (11). We opted
to leave our lunch, umbrellas, etc. in the car, presuming we could could
run to the car and get back into the venue later. This turned out to be a
fatal assumption: thank you, ACOG, for your Olympic cheapness. Just
about every other place in the area will let you, but not not ACOG.
ASIDE: There have been Goodyear blimps floating around Atlanta, but one
has the Goodyear logo painted out. ACOG made them take it off, because
Goodyear is not an official sponsor!
We walked from the upper Wolf Creek skeet fields (the parking area) down
to the sidewalk for the lower fields, by the clubhouse. There was an
open tent set up, where they were handing out free souvenirs and ice cream.
The souvenirs were clay pigeons, with "Wolf Creek...Fulton County" molded
into the top. Cool. I fondly gaze at mine, even as I type.
Walking over to the venue, one of our burning questions (Will we see
skeet?) was answered by the building volume of 12 ga pops. We went
through the metal detectors, they hand checked my 10x50 binox, and there
we were: inside the Olympics.
We drifted over to watch skeet practice for a while. I wanted to
get oriented, so we went over to the 50m building. It was crowded.
There was a final for the Men's 50m prone going on. But we couldn't see
the shooters. There were massive bleachers, but none had a view of the
line itself, so we stood in the walkway to watch.
The prone position diagram from my college marksmanship class came to
mind...the one where there is a straight line through the rifle, through
the body, through the right leg, which gives you perfect form. Apparently,
not one of these guys had ever seen that diagram. They all had their own
form, and what I had been taught was not it. Oh, well. I guess they know
what they are doing.
After a bit, volunteers started herding everyone into the bleachers, where
you couldn't see anything but the ranking and tote boards. For my money,
this setup is just plain bad design. OK, it was more of a spectator event
then in the past (thanks to the Suis-Ascor system...more later), but it
would not have taken a big change to let us actually *see*, for crying out
loud!
We sat for a while, watching the tote boards and rankings, but decided this
was Not An Interesting Place To Be. Off to next door, the 10m building.
No finals here, just the Qualifications for 10m Running Target air rifle
(Men's only...no women's in this event). The view here was GREAT! We
worked our way into some 3rd row seats and settled in for a while. First
we saw a fellow from the Ukraine. Then a country I couldn't place. Then
Australia. Then came a fellow from China (Ling Yang?).
This was real treat. This man was the picture of relaxed concentration,
a veritable shooting machine. He racked up 10 after 10. There were
blind bovines that day, because he nailed many bulls right in the eye.
Later, I looked at the fact sheet for the event. This shooter is the
current World Record (not olympic) record holder for this event.
We were impressed by all the shooters, tracking that seemingly teeny
target with butter-smooth motions, firing at just the last moment
before it disappeared. I overheard someone say, "I'd be happy to get
straight 7's in this." He was wearing a polo shirt with "NRA certified
instructor" embroidered over the pocket.
This gave us a good chance to see the Suis-Ascor scoring system in
action. Each target is mounted in a metal frame, which has four
"microphones" in the corners. The system can place a shot to 0.1 mm.
A computer snarfs up the data and produces a real-time graphic that shows
the scoring rings, current hits with a circle (bullseyes have radiating
concentric rings, like the waves when you throw a rock in a pond), and
previous shots marked as a "+". There's a large score indicator, and a
shot summary. Way cool.
The judges collect a hardcopy and send it to scoring after a shooter is
done. In the meantime, there's a large projection screen that updates
ranking in real time. This goes a long way to making shooting a
spectator sport.
Next, over to the 25m building for the final of Men's Rapid Fire pistol.
When we walked in, there was music playing: they had a DJ running CDs,
announcing the pieces and providing light banter between songs. When
they were to start the match, they announced each shooter in English and
French. It went something like this:
At bay one, representing the United States, <name>.
<Brief Bio>.
(Applause as his fans cheer him on).
At bay two, representing France, .....
Wow. Was this Olympic competition, or a party?
Then came the first stage. The announcer gave the range commands, complete
with countdown. Poppopopoppoppoppoppop, with a background of .22 brass
skittering across the concrete floor. Then it was over.
I noticed that more than one shooter put his left hand in his pocket,
contrary to what my pistol instructor told me 20 years ago. (He
relented and let me do it, while making clear that *proper* form is
to place the left hand on the hip.) Oh, well. I guess they know what
they are doing.
About this time, the troops starting agitating for food. Due to a mixup,
we had only three dollars between us, once we got in. So we went to the exit
to inquire if we could, pretty please, get back in if we ran to the car
for a few minutes. The reply: no way. Gotta buy new tickets to return.
So, while some of the crew took a Porta-Potti break, the rest of us browsed
the vendor tents. (So *this* is an RWS Diana 200? OOOOhhh, I want one!)
Then it started: the deluge.
We took refuge in the 10m building. The events were over, so this became
essentially a giant umbrella to shelter the masses. We sat next to a
Polish athlete and his family (his kid was poring over Power Ranger
trading cards) and a couple on the row in front of us snoozed. We
spread out our catalogs and brochures to dry. We salvaged the Beretta
catalog, but the Walther flyer was a write-off.
Pretty soon, the rain stopped, and we took a vote on what to do. The
unanimous decision was to go outside and watch skeet, as the Rapid Fire
competition (inside) was instantly jammed to capacity when the rain
started.
We brushed the water out of the plastic seats and sat down to a super
practice round. Since it was practice, there were no names posted.
I did make out a USA contestant (Roy?) with a wild blue plastic stock
emblazoned with "Browning." Check out that crazy rib! It looks like
he's shooting skeet with a trap gun! Oh, well. I guess he knows what
he's doing.
I really enjoyed watching him while he was not shooting. He went over
to the stands and talked with his wife. When it was his turn again,
he shot, then went back to talk with his wife. It was pleasant to
him so comfortable and to see such a good marital relationship.
We watched for quite a while before the rain started again. Ben had to
go to work, and I had work waiting, too. We decided to bail out. We
picked up ice cream and souvenir clay pigeons on the way out.
What a day! I can't believe how much we all enjoyed ourselves, without
pulling one trigger.
--
#################OPINIONS#HERE#ARE#MINE#ALONE####################
John Pierce
Atlanta Technology Center
[j d p] at [itpg004.atl.hp.com]
(404) 648-8389