For struggling A & AA shooters what is the value of a spotter? Will it make a difference?

Pete A.

Pete,
No matter what the class of the shooter is, having a spotter working with you calling where the bullet is hitting helps you determine if your NPA is off (common for new shooters not to watch this across a bank of animals), if the environmental conditions such as wind/mirage is causing a consistent bullet impact that you may not be aware of, or just the scope not being set correctly.
Keep in mind that position of a spotter has some effect on what he/she sees. Lining up with the barrel of the rilfe is the best position to observe bullet impact.
Working with a higher class shooter tends to improve your scores.

Hope this answers your question.

mary

A spotter is invaluable short term for the instant feedback and long term for the training effect. You will make corrections in your shooting during the match, but also learn things about shooting and proper style that you cannot learn any other way.

Particular thanks to Kitty and James.

I don't think there's any way I can overstate how great it is to have a good spotter helping me while I shoot. I always shoot a little better scores, but more importantly I understand why my bullet impacts aren't where I thought they would be a lot better. This has been true since I was a AA shooter, and was probably true the whole time but I had never had a good spotter before then.

You have to have a spotter that knows what he's doing. A miss called shot can do more harm than good. If you have good follow-through you know where the shot went.

That said, a good spotter can help you by calling the wind and calming you down when you screw-up. It is also nice to know you arn't alone there on the line. Moral support goes a long ways.

I love having a spotter that shoots better than me. That said, I can't stand a spotter that doesn't know wazzup.

I will only call where somethig went if I know, if in doubt I usually say so ("couldn't tell if it was behind or in front of the neck", etc). When shooting with a new guy, or someone (rare) that shoots worse than I, I'll ask them where they broke the shot, then tell them where it went. Good shooters did that to me to train me on my call and follow through....

Make sure you and your spotter have good communication.

So..... when you are at the State Championship HOA shootoffs and he calls a "High Left" on your first target and you wrongly assume he meant "Miss, high left" and you proceed to the third target (with a hit) instead of the second one. Two lost animals in addition to the first target miss.

Ask me how I know. Second place was a kick in the shin that year. I learned a lot. The very next match I got a whiteboard with critter outlines. After every shot my spotter puts mark where the shot impacted at. It also shows me trends in my shooting. Most matches not a word is spoken between us while shooting. So far in IHMSA I am running straight 40x40s for the past six years both half and full size unlimited. Smallbore rifle? Not anywhere close to that. Lots of room to improve there.

I always shoot better/more consistent with a spotter.

The question if a spotter is of value for struggling A and AA shooter depends on whether or not the spotter makes the mentioned shooter nervous.

I have seen many shooters that can hardly miss when they are practicing and are shooting by themselves without the benefit of a spotter but as soon as somebody stands behind them they get overly self-conscious and all of a sudden they seem to forget all their shooting skills. Having said that I will express some opinions I have regarding the value of a good spotter.

A good spotter can enhance a shooter

I will note that there are different styles of spotting. Kitty likes calling spots on the animal for the shooter to focus on ("Good dark spot dead center.") while James calls conditions and suggest compensating strategies ("Last shot was low, windage good, so aim top of back in the middle.") and you may have a preference.

A good spotter should also remind the shooter which animals he or she should be shooting.....i.e. Blue bank top row chicken number 2 or something.....

Pretty important when the shooter use a 36x scope where you can only see one animal at a time.It should minimize cross fires.

Also letting the shooter know how many seconds left on the fourth and fifth shots, especially for slow shooters like me.

Another essential function of a spotter is to help you carry stuff around,

A good spotter is worth his weight in gold when you are having problems or the conditions are constantly changing, Kitty, Dawg, Duckgumbo, Mary, Clarence Johnson and of course Robert Massey are some of the best around. They each have their own way of spotting. All of these have spotted for my son and myself, I have shot some of my best scores with their help and so has my son. So my many thanks for the spotters out there, they are hard to find, they make us shooters look good and never really get the thank's they should get. So when you get a good spotter, hold on to them for as long as you can. That' my 2 cents worth, so thake it for what is is worth.

So we all agree spotters are invaluable.

It then is also recognized that only actual spotting will allow the experience to be come a "good' spotter, right?

We ONLY do single relay matches at our club. We also don't have the list of great shooters ya'll speak off available to spot for us.

So if one has promising son (who shot one AAA score last Sat) then for him to get a spotter (good or bad) I have to leave my gun in the rack. I get the practice to become a "good' spotter (though he'd never have the opportunity to become this either) but no shooting for me.

IMHO a pretty sad choice. Though it does offer the chance to save on rising entry fees & ammo prices.

Pete

Screw spotters, like I need someone telling me I missed! I can see I missed the target is still on the stand isn't it?

I have not had a spotter nor done much of it but it is something I am interested in finding out more about.

Usually I have no problem calling my shots but it would be nice to have someone to give you insight as to impact point versus hold/break point and to alert you to environmental conditions and time remaining.

Guess this means I need a SPOTTING SCOPE TOO NOW! Jesus do the pieces parts of shooting ever end!
Dee

Pete A. wrote:So we all agree spotters are invaluable.

It then is also recognized that only actual spotting will allow the experience to be come a "good' spotter, right?

We ONLY do single relay matches at our club. We also don't have the list of great shooters ya'll speak off available to spot for us.

So if one has promising son (who shot one AAA score last Sat) then for him to get a spotter (good or bad) I have to leave my gun in the rack. I get the practice to become a "good' spotter (though he'd never have the opportunity to become this either) but no shooting for me.

IMHO a pretty sad choice. Though it does offer the chance to save on rising entry fees & ammo prices.

Pete

Pete,

We can shoot 2 relays at PSC I run my match a little different than Bayou Rifles. I don't care myself if I have a spotter but I think it is the right thing to do for the Junior shooters. Not sure why we shoot a single relay at the club level but that is what most do I guess because of low turnout. Come shoot at PSC and I will make sure you get to shoot and still have time to spot for the boys. Remember I don't charge for juniors at PSC never have never will.

Paul

Pete, at one of my local clubs they run the SB matches same as yours with all of us shooting one relay and afterwards we reset the targets and do it again. Since we are all in the same boat it does not make that much difference, its all just practice or training no prices or trophies are given and that way we some times shoot as many as three 40 round matches in one day. Occasionally they may have two relays and then instead of spotting for another person I shoot another rifle class on the second relay and that way I get to do twice the shooting in one day.

At important matches like state and Nationals is where spotters come in really handy because instead of shooting one 40 round match every 45 minutes or so we then sometimes have to wait more than one hour to fire 10 rounds. During that time weather, temperature and light changes and if you do not have a good spotter telling you where your shots are going you will mis more shots.

HP is different and they run two relays so that we can spot for each other, shooting HP without a spotter is basically a waste of time and ammo and I would not do it unless the wind was very calm that day.