HFT, Hunter Field Target. Outdoor airgun shooting sport using knockdown targets.
Aim, pull trigger and shoot!
It seems easy when you are looking through the scope with high magnification but it isn't
Welcome to the Slovak village Skycov near the city of Zlate Moravce.
Skycov hosts a two day long international airgun competition.
Competitors from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary shooting in Open, Ladies and Junior Category.
Let's see how this competition goes and get to know more about this interesting sport.
The practise shooting is already going on behind me.
It's a last chance for a shooter to try and set their guns up before the competition.
Targets are situated from 7,5 to 41 meters which is the same distance as on the course.
All the components of the airguns - like gun stock, barrel and scope
have to be perfectly matched to each other and become one with the shooter.
Everything has to be checked even though it was alright the last time.
The temperature or careless handling can make the shooting inaccurate.
Test shooting can reveal potential discepancies before competition
and the shooter has the last chance to correct discrepancies.
He or she have no chance to correct his scope or rifle during competition because it is strictly forbidden in rules.
Safety is a priority in every shooting discipline.
There is a safety briefing, mandatory for every shooter before each competition.
Shooters are reminded of safety rules and get important information about the course.
Participants are divided into groups and shoot together go on course.
And competition can begin!
Fall flat target is an animal silhouette target.
If the pellet passes through the killzone in the middle,
then hits the yellow point it's for 2 points.
If you hit just the silhouette it's for one point.
Missing the faceplate altogether results in zero points.
This time - 2 points!
Before we go on course.
Let's look through the scope.
Because the airgun is preset and correction during competitions isn't allowed,
the riflescope has to be set on a specific distance.
The distance is optional and it's the shooter's choice to what adjustment he or she uses.
Very close or very distant targets are blurred when viewed through the riflesope.
It also causes parallax error.
If the image is not correct with the reticle
then the crosshair moves on target even a few centimeters.
And that's one of the hardest point of accurate shooting.
It's necessary to be extremely focused in shooting competitions and shooters don't like any distraction.
So I'm really thankful to one of the best shooters
that we could do a part of the competition with him.
And he shared some thoughts and shooting mysteries.
It is not mystery.
It is all about estimations and,
of course, about some experiences.
But everything is clear - after the shot.
I estimated this one to be about 8-9 meters,
and it dropped down when I shot it, so that was a correct estimation.
A correct estimation of distance is one of the main factor to get the perfect shot.
When there are natural or added obstacles, which are often used by the course builders,
it is really hard to estimate the distance.
Accurate estimate significantly increases the chance to hit the target.
I combine more factors mostly,
aiming via scope, some experiences, size of the killzone.
So I combine more factors always.
Here is more or less clear that the right one is on maximum distance
and this one is at 25 – 27 meters, no more.
So at least I know what I am going to shoot.
A lot of us have know airguns from our childhoods,
when we shot from a classic Slavie 630, 631 or the old 620.
Now these days, we are shooting using PCP airguns generally.
The construction of these guns is totally different.
It is not the classic break barrel airgun but PCP guns use compressed air.
These air cylinders are usually built here under barrel.
They usually have a working pressure 200 bar.
Otherwise it is rifle in the classic concept.
Wooden stock, reloaded by handle.
There can be a magazine for shooting several times on one fill .
An important part of this gun is a shooting scope, so called riflescope.
It must be fixed by a mount.
However, in competition people often use more sporty guns.
Here you can see this has gone really hi-tec already.
That gun is made from aluminium alloys generally, aluminium frame
as well as the body, riflescope, mount and trigger are customized specially for the shooter's hand.
The adjustable butt stock is very important, because every shooter has got another physical disposition.
So you can adjust your butt stock as you wishe.
This is a competition gun that fires just one shot.
Open breech, load the pellet, close the chamber and I am ready to shot.
Guns in the competition has to meet the requirements of the law of the energy limits.
The shooting chronograph is used to measure velocity of pellet in meter per a second and in joule.
What was your plan?
My plan was to get minus two points, today.
And how did it go?
I didn't get the first point at the standing position and then wind blew my pellet at the second point. This sometimes happens as well...
But you have got minus two allready, right?
Yes, after close 15mm killzones...
The feeling when the target falls is amazing.
The hardest thing about this is
to get calm at the shooting station.
And just concentrate where to aim and forget about everything else.
If I should evaluate the ratio between men and women,
I would guess there are only 10% of women in this sport.
So it is not a surprise we love to see new women shooting with us.
However, we are few still...
Sometimes I am lucky enough to shoot better than men in my group.
They are trying to take it bravely and they do not show dislike or something similar.
Guys are usually nice and the wish us women the best of luck.
When this unsupported standers are located high and on uneven ground
I have a hard time to concentrate.
So I spent a long time on this lane
and fortunatelly I shot it down. But it wasn't easy.
I set my trigger as two staged. First stage is free.
Than I feel higher resistance and I know that shot is comming.
The will not supprise me and must be controlled.
Sometimes I am pressing my trigger several times until shot.
Sometime in 2006 we arranged the first reunion of gunners.
There we were shooting at targets and cans or just stuff we found.
How the time went our reunions started to get bigger and we repeated them often.
Then we got an idea that we could organise some kind of competition.
We got inspired in England.
I had heard about some "Field Target" shooting. Here nobody ever had heard about it.
We only suspected that the purpose of it was to shoot at some falling targets,
so, at this times we bought a few of them
and organized the first competition
It was in 2009 if I remember.
In the beginning everyone had break barrel guns.
Yep, break barrels mostly.
When we started the competition for the very first time most of us had pistons
and maybe a quarter had CZ 200.
Yeah, there were just a few pieces of CZ 200 so we were peeking at it curiously.
Today the break barrel gun is almost unrepresented at the competitions.
However we can see some extraordinary artworks in the form of airbrush paintings on the gun-stock.
One of the most beautiful ones belongs to Jakub Bradáč.
I like our national emblems so my intention was to show them off.
The design is suitable for international competitions as a good way to differentiate from others.
My gun shows the coat of arms of the Czech Republic and a roaring lion as one of the symbols.
Then there is a latin quote:
Where is the unity, there is the victory!
This all is related to my shooting which we do in teams
and even as individuals at local and international competitions.
What I love the most about this
are the people around.
We are a great bunch of friends and I'm always looking forward to seeing them.
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