CubCouper
Gold $$ Contributor
To clear up a few details... the benchrest community long ago decided that it was important to have a source of paper that was very consistent in the way it recorded bullet holes. The NBRSA bought a massive amount of this paper and had it stored and printed at Orville Printing in Ohio. I can't tell you the exact details of how the IBS also ended up using what I think was same paper for long time... but ultimately that stockpile dwindled down. A few years ago Orrville printed some IBS targets on a new stock that was available and folks were not impressed. The specifications were the same, but the paper blew out the holes completely different that the old stock. I bought about 2000 sheets of that blank stock for printing my own practice targets and have the same problem. Not skookum.
Knowing this, about 2-3 years ago as the last of the original NBRSA paper was used up, they went searching for a new vendor. Nothing wrong with Orrville, just that the old paper was gone and the new stuff that Orrville was getting in wasn't going to work. Lots of things were tried and they settled on a company in Omaha (http://www.targetsonline.com/ I believe). The new stuff feels 'plastic-coated', kinda like a new deck of playing cards. It has received mostly mixed reviews -- bullet holes are "too clean" -- a 6mm bullet leaves a .22 caliber hole. This is a problem for scoring where people (incorrectly) measure edge-to-edge and subtract instead of center-to-center. Also that plastic coating only catches a faint grey streak instead of the thick, black carbon ring of the old paper -- which messes with folks who fine tune their guns by analyzing that carbon track. Last I heard, that organization was still on the hunt for yet another perfect paper.
So... Orrville is a great printer, but the old, good paper is gone.
I've tried card stock and several flavors for office supply papers with disappointing results. Personally, I like the new plastic-coated paper. It definitely holds up in poor weather. And compared to 10 year old targets on my wall, I think it looks better. Just don't expect your range-measured world record to stand unless the scorer really knows how to find center of the bullet hole and not just an edge.
Rod
Knowing this, about 2-3 years ago as the last of the original NBRSA paper was used up, they went searching for a new vendor. Nothing wrong with Orrville, just that the old paper was gone and the new stuff that Orrville was getting in wasn't going to work. Lots of things were tried and they settled on a company in Omaha (http://www.targetsonline.com/ I believe). The new stuff feels 'plastic-coated', kinda like a new deck of playing cards. It has received mostly mixed reviews -- bullet holes are "too clean" -- a 6mm bullet leaves a .22 caliber hole. This is a problem for scoring where people (incorrectly) measure edge-to-edge and subtract instead of center-to-center. Also that plastic coating only catches a faint grey streak instead of the thick, black carbon ring of the old paper -- which messes with folks who fine tune their guns by analyzing that carbon track. Last I heard, that organization was still on the hunt for yet another perfect paper.
So... Orrville is a great printer, but the old, good paper is gone.
I've tried card stock and several flavors for office supply papers with disappointing results. Personally, I like the new plastic-coated paper. It definitely holds up in poor weather. And compared to 10 year old targets on my wall, I think it looks better. Just don't expect your range-measured world record to stand unless the scorer really knows how to find center of the bullet hole and not just an edge.
Rod
