In this issue: Re: Rifle torque settings Re: Rifle torque settings Re: How to use polarizers? Where to focus / match nerves Correct iris position Inexpensive shooting jackets Electronic/laser trainers ******************************************************************** Coachs and shooting athletes beware... When adjusting the torque of the bedding bolts or screws a quality assurance monitor is necessary to insure the bolts are adjusted correctly. During my collegiate days I had a very knowledgable shooting athlete do adjustments on the bedding bolts of his rifle prior to a competition. In adjusting for the perfect bullet flight and so on, the bolts were adjusted to a point that the rifle fell apart in the middle of the shooters Kneeling position in competition. This could have been very bad as the rifle was loaded and not yet fired when the rifle seperated from the stock. Here was a shooting athlete in competition with a rifle stock and no rifle receiver group. The loaded receiver was on the floor beside the shooter. So take care as such accidents can happen again. To much torque and the bolts snap or to little and the receiver group seperates from the stock in live fire conditions. This time no one was hurt... Good shooting. Chet Skinner cskinner@dol.net http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Midfield/1245 ****************************************************************** With respect to the torque topic: > David Lee wrote: >shot. We start at a low setting and commence tightening screws >alternately and firing groups. Whether in inch pounds or newtons it >doesn't matter. But we have been able to get a little more accuracy out >of our rifles using this method. And in many cases, the torque settings >the rifle(s) are most accurate at do not match front to back. Hope I >wasn't too wordy. I am new to this topic and I am looking for clarification on a couple of points. Maybe I misunderstand what you wrote but I have some questions. Have you found that the screws should have equal torque or should they be different? If different, what procedure do you follow for tightening each screw? It would seem to me that *if* the torques are different, trial and error tuning could be a long and tedious activity so is there a systematic method to follow? I guess these questions don't apply if the torques on both screws are equal. Also, this may be a dumb question but, what effect does the torque have on air rifles? Would the same principles apply to air rifle as to .22? I would think so, but I know very little about this topic so there may be a lot of details that I am overlooking. Gary [Editor - while the effect is not as great, torque will affect air rifles as well.] ****************************************************************** Michael, Polarizers are one of the best inventions since sliced bread (wholemeal of course). A previous contribution alluded to the fact about the filters eliminating reflections. They are useful for "seeing fish below the water". The effect is not quite so pronounced in shooting because the relfected light off a vertical target is nowhere near as polarized as light reflecting at a shallow angle off water for instance. But there can be an improvement in the contrast of the target image in some cases. These seem to be bright days with a bit of haze around. Placing one filter in the eyepiece cuts the light by a little more than 50 %. That is, around 45% of the light gets through. this is because the polarizer only lets through half the light - only the light "vibrating" in one plane. When 2 polarizers are placed so that they are aligned about 40% of the light gets through. Once one filter starts to be rotated the light is progressively dimmed to practically nothing. So the filtering effects are thus: No filter - 100%; one filter - 45%; two filters - 40%; then everything down to 0%. Getting back to the contrast improvement. By putting one filter in the eyepiece and then rotating, it will enable you to see if there is any polarized reflections off the target. Rotate for 'best' contrast. If the filter is still too light then bring the other one in and align it parallel ie max light throughput - Do not move the first one. Then adjust the second one for the brightness you require. To see some good anti-reflections effects, try looking at sunlght being reflected off car bodies. Use your polaroid sunglasses for this and rotate them around and notice the considerable effect they have. Reflected light can be practically fully polarized at one special angle. This is called the Brewster angle. Remember the first BIG Lasers that were around? they had "Brewster Windows" on the ends of them. This was to enhance the polarizaation effects of the laser. There is an Anschutz Eyepiece with polarizer, adjustable peep and coloured filters available (Gold paint on it) I had one once - it got wrapped up in a paper towel for transporting and was mistaken for a wrapped apple core!!!! Oh dear...The thing I liked about it was the iris peep was nearest the eye. No change of eye relief compared to the type where the filters etc are stacked on the back of the iris. Regards Ross Mason ****************************************************************** I agree with Ross Mason that it is better not to focus on the front sight. When I try to focus on the front sight my scores are worse. I focus on the bull which I have been told repeatedly not to do, but so far it has worked for me. Does anyone have any suggestions for dealing with nerves during matches? I choke during big matches and it lowers my score a great deal. ****************************************************************** I have just read the latest instalment of the news letter. Several people have recommended that the iris be used on the inside of the lense for pistol shooting. Why is this so ? there was no theory given. thanks kathy [Editor - perhaps George will enlighten us on this. In my impromptu experiment, I discovered that without wearing my shooting lens, the further away I moved the iris, the smaller the image, which makes sense. However, when I was wearing my lens, I really couldn't tell much of a difference in clarity or size until the iris was quite far away. I felt it should still get smaller (based on geometric optics) but be clearer since I had my nearsighted correction on.] ****************************************************************** I shoot sporting rifle (Ans 1422) @ 50 & 100m, mostly prone. Limited funds mean that my equipment is being acquired on an ongoing basis. I am now looking to buy a shooting jacket. Some of the double canvas jackets I have seen for sale on the Internet have very attractive prices (sub $100). Do you have any opinions in general or on specific suppliers ? Can these jackets be used in all 3 positions ? Also I will probably travel to Toronto Canada soon, do you know of anywhere in Toronto which might deal in jackets, & other equipment ? Sorry for bothering you, any help will be appreciated. Best regards, Joe [Editor - where are you finding double canvas for that price? Used? Anyway, the cheapest new jackets I know of are ~160 USD, which are the generic fit Anschutz or Gehmann. The cheapest custom fit I know of are over $250.] ****************************************************************** Hi Michael, I am interested in buying one of the following training analysis tools available on the market: 1. SCATT 2. Noptel 3. SAM Trainer 4. Rika I'd like to better understand the pros and cons of each of these systems, and get input mainly from actual owners/users. Eitan Barazani Eitan@ytd.com http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Dugout/2862/ [Editor - #1 and #2 were discussed in previous issues so I'd suggest looking through the archives. Someone asked about SAM earlier but I don't recall seeing any responses. The RIKA is too new here in the states. They were supposed to ship in Sep but now it's Feb. It appears to be a nice unit.] ****************************************************************** End of UIT Mailing List #12 Michael Ray - Systems Engineer Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech. Rifle Coach UIT Shooting Page - http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/1190/index.htm