Foresights and Matches

I've been experimenting with foresight element sizes lately, and it's something I'd only heard of recently, so I think it worth publishing here, as it's proven very useful to me. I had been using a 3.3mm foresight element, and found I couldn't distinguish between sight pictures that would result in a nine and those that would result in a ten. This was bothering me, but I was struggling along, assuming as I got better, it would get more obvious, and I imagine this is still true to a large extent, but I read an article on the importance of the right foresight element, and after consultation with my more knowledgeable acquaintances, I decided to experiment a little.

I went down to Rathdrum with my box of AHG elements to see what worked. I began with a 4.5mm foresight, and found it very disorienting. The sight picture seemed to swim and I found myself snatching at shots. Groups were alright, but nothing I couldn't have achieved on a good day with my old foresight. I then switched for a 4.1mm foresight, and improvements were immediate and distinct. I shot some practice groups, then a match. I beat my personal best cards and match score. So it's definitely worth experimenting with foresight element sizes, and later in the post, I'll say more on it.

Yesterday saw the Fermoy 50m Open, and it was a good day. Despite having had five hours sleep in two previous nights, starting driving around a quarter to six in the morning and driving for rather a lot of hours to get there, I was looking forward to the shoot. (Madness prevails!) The range was lovely, really nice complex. Daniel Fleming gave us a quick tour before the competition, and the centrefire pistol range was impressively laid out and put together, as was the smallbore range and the benchrest and silhouette sections. It was very challenging to shoot however. I found the wind quite difficult, especially in the second card, which brought my score down, but I did okay. All things considered, I wasn't unhappy with my 552.

However, to return to my foresight point, I hadn't changed my 4.1mm foresight element for the match, and I didn't have quite the same distinction and definition of my sight picture as I had enjoyed indoors in Rathdrum. It was unquestionably better than my old element, but I intend to experiment with a 4.3mm and a 4.5mm foresight before the next DRC Open in two weeks, in order to see whether I can further improve on my outdoor results. It should be good.

So, to conclude, thanks to Fermoy for running a really enjoyable and efficient shoot on a lovely, but very challenging range, and it's worth anybody's time to experiment with their foresight elements and see whether they can eke out some advantage for themselves.