13 « September « 2022 « Daily Bulletin

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September 13th, 2022

European F-Class Championships at Bisley in UK — F-Open Top 3

European F-Class Championships Bisley England UK

While American F-Class shooters have been getting ready for the 2022 U.S. F-Class Championships in Arizona next month, European F-Class aces were busy this month at the European F-Class Championships at the famed Bisley range in the UK. And a few Yanks were at Bisley as well. Our friend and Team Lapua-Brux-Borden member Erik Cortina shot great to take second place overall in the F-Open division, after Germany’s Alexander Kreutz. Past GB/Euro National League Champ Gary Costello took third in F-Open. We congratulate all three men. Erik had new hardware for this match — a prototype SEB NEO-X front rest. Erik told us: “I used the new SEB NEO-X. This was the first time using it in a match. It is truly amazing.”

British shooter and TargetShooter.co.uk editor Vince Bottomley sent this note:

“We were honored to have Erik Cortina over for the 2022 European F-Class Championship. In addition there were shooters from South Africa, Canada, Australia and of course Europe.

Erik acquitted himself amazingly well with second place overall in the F-Open category. The photo shows him with winner, Alexander Kreutz from Germany (center), and Brit Gary Costello in third place (right).

In addition to the usual ‘gongs’ the winner took home a Victrix F-Open gun plus a March scope.

Shooters Respect Passing of Beloved Queen Elizabeth II
After the sudden death of our Queen, participants stood down for a day. This meant that the Teams event couldn’t take place on the final Sunday.”

European F-Class Championships Bisley England UK

The UK’s Richie Jones, who helped organize the event, noted: “With Vihtavuori supporting us this year and celebrating 100 years of excellence, we [went] all out to attract our biggest attendance to date and promise all our competitors, six days of extremely competitive, long range shooting on the world-famous Stickledown range at Bisley, UK.”

European F-Class Championships Bisley England UK

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September 13th, 2022

Flatlined ShotMarker — Hey What’s Wrong with This Picture?

Adam McDonald Shotmarker sensor wires

A Canadian F-Class shooter (who shall remain nameless) was surprised when he saw this “flat-line” target displayed from a ShotMarker system. That’s 30 shots with almost no vertical at all. So what gives? The ShotMarker uses acoustic sensors to plot shot location. It is normally accurate to within a few millimeters. The shooter posted: “I’ve never had this happen before with a waterline. This is myself and another shooter, 30 rounds total, including four sighters at 900 meters in super strong winds that twitched back and forth every minute.”

So what happened? It turns our that the system’s wires were not connected correctly. AccurateShooter IT expert (and top F-Class Shooter) Jay Christopherson posted: “The wires are connected incorrectly… you’ve got the sensors crossed”. This ShotMarker system error can be diagnosed by doing a “tap test” as explained by Cal Waldner: “Thats a crossed sensor wire! That’s why a tap test needs to be done every time you rig the equipment. If a wire is crossed then you will catch it on the tap test.”

Other folks who viewed this target photo on Facebook said that they have seen a similar problem, so this is NOT an uncommon fault:

“Yup, my club had the same issue (and results) in an early outing with one of our ShotMarker units. The system reads the target area as a horizontal rectangle not as a square.” — Laurie Holland.

“I have seen this exact same result with the sensors plugged incorrectly.” — Dino Christopoulos

“This happened to several people at one match early on. Sensors crossed.” — Jen Bondurant

“I thought I was shooting a great waterline once [but the] wires were crossed — [a mistake from] setting up in the dark.”– Jerry Stephenson

The ShotMarker System — Technology and Performance

The ShotMarker was invented by Adam McDonald, a brilliant young Canadian who also created the AutoTrickler. The ShotMarker is an advanced system for plotting shot impacts on targets using acoustic sensors placed in the four corners of the target frame. The central Sensor Hub at each target transmits to the Access Point at the firing line using LoRa, a low frequency RF protocol. Unlike Wifi, this power-efficient design works at over 2 miles and provides hassle-free connectivity even without direct line of sight.

Adam McDonald Shotmarker sensor wires

The sensor unit in each corner of your frame contains two precision MEMS ultrasonic microphones which are capable of measuring a supersonic bullet within 1mm – when the frame is perfectly still.

Adam McDonald Shotmarker sensor wires

Real-world accuracy will be limited by motion of the sensors and the air while shots are being detected. Typically, every shot will be reported within a few millimeters, with ideal performance being realized on a stable frame in calm conditions.