DARTMOOR BR ROUND 2 - 11.4.26.

Today's weather forecast was worrying - 18mph winds with 45mph gusts. The direction was west southwest, meaning that it came predominantly from behind the benches. This always provides some of the most challenging conditions encountered during our benchrest matches, as it gives rise to those 'fishtailing' winds which are continually changing from left to right.

And, sure enough, the sea of flags was experiencing a serious difference of opinion - most of us couldn't extract any useful information from this confusion of oscillating pointers and whirling propellors. So, 'poke and hope' became the default setting for wind evaluation. A notable exception was Mike Smith; he has recently designed and engineered his own set of sophisticated flags - these incorporate up/down paddle type windicators to be read against a scale. This arrangement can provide a much more reliable idea of wind speed than a simple vaned direction indicator.

Mike attributes today's winning score of 724:21x to the information gleaned from his wind flags - although his usual flawless technique undoubtedly played a part. Second place was gained by Andy Holcombe - returning to competition after a protracted layoff. His 715:17x was achieved with the usual rather basic arrangement - a Daystate Wolverine shot off a pair of rice filled bags. Andy simply ignored the flags, relying instead upon a combination of watching the flailing tree branches and listening to the sound of the wind passing through them.

Sighters weren't much use today as the conditions were changing so rapidly that any information gained from them immediately became worthless. Shooting had to be suspended at one point due to a particularly vicious hailstorm, but despite the appalling weather we all enjoyed the match - which provided the usual combination of frustration and elation - perhaps with the emphasis on the former!

Today's card averages from the 17 shooters present were - 235, 233, and 231. This reflects the gradually strengthening winds.

Dartmoor recently held a BR 'scoring workshop'. Several members had expressed an interest in helping to mark the cards on shoot days, so we wanted to ensure absolute consistency during the process.

Several of the participants had never scored a card, so the first exercise was to pass around five cards which had been shot during the previous week. Everyone was asked to estimate the scores based upon visual observation alone. These estimates were written on a flipchart alongside each name. This was followed by each participant marking one of the cards using a .224 gauge and a digital microscope + screen. These (correct) scores were added to the flipchart.

I had expected to see some small discrepancies, but the difference in the estimates was alarming - far greater than anticipated.

It was an extremely useful exercise, the main conclusion being that we should be making far more regular use of the gauge. Unless the shot is very obviously in or out, the gauge should always be employed - it costs nothing, takes very little extra time, and removes the unreliable element of guesswork.