I think the idea is to provide consistency to the shooters without changing the spirit of the competition.
I’m going to use this post as my vehicle for a response to all this discussion as I think it properly captures the current thinking of many people, so please do not think I’m picking on you because I am, but by extension I am addressing everyone else.
Your initial belief is definitely what the delayers (that’s what I call them,) will stand behind. The words “consistency” and probably “spirit,” to which we will return shortly.
The idea is to simulate a competent target puller for all competitors every time without causing a shift in the equipment of the competitors towards shooting as fast as possible.
I’m not sure what you are trying to say here as the equipment rules for high power have been changing for a very long time, evolving with the times and the technology. The best example of that is the whole F-class thing that was added to High Power rules in 2007.
I assume you would not like it if the F-TR rules changed to have a limit of 16 lbs and reduced the bipod footprint to be 2 inches less.
These situations are more dramatic in the sense that they would force most people to change their rifles but if the result in no delay causes 90% of people to change their rifles then chances are people will be upset. Now I can't say for sure if it will actually cause people to start modifying their rifles to allow them to shoot faster or if the people who do so will end up winning more often or if there will be a trend where it is obvious that records will be broken more easily on electronic targets vs standard ones.
This is what we call a straw man argument. It has nothing to do with the discussion but the flawed analogy is used to stretch a point. I do not know if you have ever fired on an electronic target. Don’t feel bad, I wonder if most people who are expressing opinions on the subject have ever fired on an electronic target. I do know that several have so no need to get in a tizzy about that.
What I can say that as a programmer, adding a 7 second delay in the display of the shot or only showing the last shot is trivial, non-disruptive and seems to be what the majority of people want so why not do it? It basically comes down to, one scenario will absolutely make things better for people while guaranteeing that the spirit of the competition does not change and the other scenario may have consequences that change things that the majority of the people who participate in it feel that change is for the worse.
Note that I do understand that you don't actually think those changes you mentioned should be programmed in but it seems you are poking fun at people who want the delay and I figured I would try to put it in a way that might make you understand where people are coming from.
Now we get to the gist of the controversy and here is my position.
As I explained earlier, there is NO consistency in target pulling. There is NO “gold standard” in targets as soon as you hang the NRA certified target on anything other than a perfectly flat backer. Heck, I will even go further as to say there is no consistency in target lines or ranges.
At Bayou, we are at under 100ft ASL and the range is dead flat. At Raton, they are near 7000ft ASL and the target line is probably more than 100 feet higher than the firing line. At Lodi, they are at 1400ft ASL and the target line is below the firing line by probably over 100 feet. The range at Ben Avery is at 1500ft ASL, dead flat. Add in all the other ranges you can think of. None are the same.
On some ranges, the lanes are vastly different from others. (I’m looking at you Raton, THE NRA range.) The targets in the middle of the range are more favored than the ones on the far right (high numbers) and especially the ones on the far left (low numbers). This is actually unfair to the shooters at the same event. In Lodi, I remember that the target on the far left were in a swamp.
Trying to keep everything consistent between ranges, pullers and so is a pipe dream and anyone who uses that as a justification for anything is a fool. For me, the consistency is in how the match is conducted for all the people attending that event. A match is a discrete entity, it needs to be set up so that all participants in THAT match are on an equal footing. It is incumbent on the match director to make sure that a) the match is safe (safety first) b) fair to all participants c) enjoyable.
There are two aspects to a match: The range and the shooters. The range is set up to be similar from venue to venue by using similar distances, course of fire, target faces and so on. The shooters are set up in a same way with their equipment; rifles, calibers, rests, ammo, ancillary equipment and so on.
Having similar courses of fire, distances, target faces and so on means that people can go from one venue to another and they will be shooting the same way everywhere. This is good for safety, enjoyment and competing against one another on an equal footing. The NRA provides the rules for the shooters with respect to the equipment they can use and that’s why you don’t have somebody shooting in F-TR using a .338LM on a tripod. The F-class rules are still in flux as people bring in new equipment and toys.
By having these rules I can take my F-TR rifle that is legal at Bayou and go to Lodi, Raton and other places and it will be legal there also. Further, I will be competing against people who have rifles similar to mine, with the same limitations as to weight, caliber and so on. I do not have to worry about going to compete in Chicago against somebody who uses a .416 CheyTac in F-TR because it’s legal at the Chicago Range.
When I go to a match, they usually tech the guns and I know that everyone is legal. Of course, we have some ranges that only tech the guns of the winners, which means that I may be competing against someone who is not legal, but may best me in a single match and never have his or her gun teched. That’s unfair, but it happens. I happen to believe that ALL guns should be teched at a big match.
Now each range has their own unique way of conducting a match, as long as the target faces, distances and course of fire are respected. This is where you see wide variations in how people are squadded and how they get assigned to various targets, especially in venues where the target lanes are not all equal. These ranges make changes to fit their environment with an eye to Safety, Fairness and Enjoyment. A range does not want to get a reputation for being unsafe and they certainly do not want to be dinged for being systematically unfair or deemed to be favoring certain people. And ranges do not want to be known as a terrible place to go shoot. That’s where the NRA leaves a lot of discretion to the local match directors and that’s presented when matches are approved for the coming year.
So, if a club decides to install electronic targets that use the NRA target faces, course of fire, distances and enforces the equipment rules, while keeping the 3 goals in mind: safety, fairness and enjoyment, they have met all the requirements of a great venue.
If a club decides to use electronic targets instead of human-serviced targets, they are actually increasing the three main goals: safety, no one in the pits; fairness, all match competitors will get the exact same target service, for every shot, every relay, every match and every day; and enjoyment: pit duty is not one of my top ten favorite activities. Especially in summer, or during a rainstorm and as I get older. If it’s a big enjoyable part of a match for some people, I’m sure we can come up with a similar activity, just not in the pits and not impacting a shooter.
If a club decides to have zero delay, (actually for 1000 yards, you will have about 2 seconds of delay,) it will be the same for all the shooters at that event. It is far FAIRER than ANY match with human-serviced targets. Let’s talk about the one issue that everyone is so concerned about: national records.
On the line at Bayou, we have Target Rifles, Service Rifles, Scoped Rifles, Any/Any, Palma, F-Open and F-TR. If the objective is to prevent machine gunning the string down-range with a zero delay, the only ones that could conceivably do that are the F-Open folks. People keep thinking new records are being set right left and center all the time and that we have no history.