Shooting events, have they gone too far with technology?
- Thread starter mmj_uk
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Matt baker did a piece for the BBC where he had a go at Archery. He was not even able to hit the target, let alone the "6". I'd say that the average OCUK user would be lucky to even hit the target once after a days' practice. Maybe if the target was 5 metres, but certainly not 70m
Soldato
I just drew up a quick diagram on Autocad (3 lines, its properly professional), from 70m away if you were to aim 1 degree either side of perfectly straight you will completely miss a regulation 122cm target. The whole target, never mind the 5 or 6 ring. 1 degree is millimetres, and that doesn't take into account wind or arrow drop.
So even with the sights and stabilisers, what these guys are able to achieve consistently over 24 shots or whatever is nothing short of amazing. Especially given that they are holding a bow at arms length that probably weighs a couple of kilos, and pulling around 50lbs when they draw the string back.
Stick a stamp on your wall and fire an elastic band at it repeatedly from 2m away, see how well you do. Every time you miss that stamp you will have missed an archery target by a good few feet.
So even with the sights and stabilisers, what these guys are able to achieve consistently over 24 shots or whatever is nothing short of amazing. Especially given that they are holding a bow at arms length that probably weighs a couple of kilos, and pulling around 50lbs when they draw the string back.
Stick a stamp on your wall and fire an elastic band at it repeatedly from 2m away, see how well you do. Every time you miss that stamp you will have missed an archery target by a good few feet.
Man of Honour
The runner's shouldn't be allowed supportive shoes. They should have to run in bare feet.
Swimmers shouldn't have goggles.
Swimmers shouldn't have goggles.
Soldato
I suppose it's just testament to the skill these guys have. When you watch the best archers in the world doing it, they make it look easy. If you've never tried it, you probably dont realise how difficult it actually is.
They didn't use googles until the 1976 olympics (heard that on the coverage today).
Regards to swimming, they did ban the high-tech suits as they were causing people to swim too fast
I remember not all swimmers had them available though, making the ones that did have an unfair advantage.
Soldato
Correct. Only a few top teams had them so the other nations with smaller budgets didnt have them.
That was the problem. The athletes from the top nations can afford it, but ones from the smaller nations can't, hence the unfair advantage
Yeah but I did say after a few hours practicing, obviously nobody is going to pick a bow up and hit the target first time... but once you've practiced enough and got the hang of aiming down the sight and worked out how much you need to compensate for distance it should become a lot easier providing no changeable/high winds.
If the wind is calm then you're just going to be repetitively aiming at the same point all of the time and the biggest difficulty will be in keeping steady (these bows have stabilizers to help with that).
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you make it sound so simple, but it really isn't
The elite Archers have been doing it for years and years. it's just insulting to them to say you could do it after just 2 hours.
Yeah could be as it was just theoretical really.
My point really being that if you give darts players tools to improve their accuracy/consistency in throwing darts then it evens out the whole field, talented individuals like Phil Taylor no longer have their innate advantage and poorer players become better overnight, so it basically makes the sport easier for everyone else and punishes those with true ability.
Caporegime
OK, so plucking numbers from Google... A bow weighs about 6 pounds. If you think you can hold a 6 pound bow at arm's length and keep it steady while exerting sufficient force with the other arm to keep it drawn and consistently hit a target 70 metres away, then I suggest you enter the Olympics, as you're clearly our missing medal hope.
Honestly, it's a wonder it costs so much to train these archers. Just send them on an afternoon course and boom - Robin Hood reborn.
Honestly, it's a wonder it costs so much to train these archers. Just send them on an afternoon course and boom - Robin Hood reborn.
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A 6 pound bow isn't really much, and (dat ninja edit) 70 pounds to pull it back doesn't sound that high either.
Soldato
Oh really archery expert? Please enlighten us with your wisdom!
Caporegime
6lb isn't much, but to hold 6lb at arm's length is, particularly when you are aiming at something so far away that if your hand moves even a millimetre in any direction it's the difference between hitting the target and not.
And I removed the 70lb because I had been misunderstanding how that number factors into how a compound how works. It's less relevant than I thought, so I took it out. It's more like holding a force of a few percent of that, but even holding just 2lb or whatever at full draw is going to make it incredibly hard to keep the whole thing steady.
Associate
My compound bow weighs 3.7lbs, add in the stabiliser & we'll call it 4lbs.
Draw weight is around 38-40lbs with an 80% let off. So at full draw im holding around 8lbs unlike a 42lb recurve, where at full draw your holding 42lb.
So holding 4lbs out at arms length, wind is catching the stabiliser, trying to relax grip on the bow but actually pulling the bow into my hand(hard to explain), looking through the peep sight at the scope on my sight, at this very small gold circle 70yds down range that wont hold still & finding just the right time to release. Its a real challenge, thats why i love it. Plus it takes my mind of my MS while i shoot.
Draw weight is around 38-40lbs with an 80% let off. So at full draw im holding around 8lbs unlike a 42lb recurve, where at full draw your holding 42lb.
So holding 4lbs out at arms length, wind is catching the stabiliser, trying to relax grip on the bow but actually pulling the bow into my hand(hard to explain), looking through the peep sight at the scope on my sight, at this very small gold circle 70yds down range that wont hold still & finding just the right time to release. Its a real challenge, thats why i love it. Plus it takes my mind of my MS while i shoot.
Associate
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I doubt most ocuk'ers would have the strength to draw back the string on one of these bows.
You don't really have a clue to be honest. Even after shooting for 2 years I couldn't consistently hit red at 70m. Recurve is a lot more than just judging the wind...