How does a Pair Fire work ?
Rather than one shooter having an entire 'block' of time to fire a 'string', while another shooter sits by and scores (normal NRA High Power Rifle format in the USA, aka 'string fire'), both shooters set up side by side on the firing point, and exchange score cards.
Traditionally the shooter on the right goes first. Fires the shot, and when it comes up (electronically or otherwise), the shooter on the left will call out the score "First sighter is a 10". The first shooter acknowledges the score, or challenges if there is a discrepancy. Assuming the score is accepted, from that point it's now the turn of the shooter on the left: they have 45 seconds to fire their shot. Back and forth, until all shots have been fired.
There are only ever two sighters (though there may be a 'blow off' period before the first relay of the day for shooters to foul their barrels), and they are convertible. After a shooter fires their second sighter round and the score is shown, they may 'convert' either the second or both sighters to record shots. Example: if you fire a 9 and an X, you can convert the second shot (X) and that becomes your first record shot. But if you shoot an X and a 9, you can't keep the X without also taking the 9 with it. Or you can convert neither, and proceed onwards. And yes, there have been times where the conditions were bad enough where I've seen people take 9's for sighters and convert them - because it was that *was* the calm condition.
If a shooter continually takes more than the allotted time, the other competitor can call the range officer who will start timing the shots. Excessive time can result in a warning, then potentially docked points.
You can't wait out the bad conditions, you can't run the good ones, you shoot the condition you get - good, bad or otherwise. And you can't chase the spotter, as the spotter you see is from the *other* shooter's last shot, not yours. It gets really entertaining when they throw a third person on a firing point, to handle an odd number of shooters.
Generally speaking, barrels stay a little cooler, and last longer. It becomes a wind calling game again. If the conditions are just completely dead, you can still see crazy high scores. Had one string @ the 2017 FCWC where I shot a 75-12X @ 700 meters - which didn't win much other than an 8-way tie for 4th place
