Top Shot

[280plus]

There was a study done with a computer. (So you know it has to be good. (Your sarcasm meter should have pegged just then.)) Anyhoo, they tracked the POA of a shooter holding a pistol at a target for an extended period of time. The resulting pattern looked not unlike a spirograph drawing with a big blob in the middle and "petals" if you will, around the edges. The program calculated that 95% of the time the POA was in the 10 ring. So, if you release the shot without disturbing the gun with your trigger pull you will hit the ten ~ 95% of the time. YMMV of course but not by much unless you physicality somehow prevents you from holding a pistol as steady as the next guy. Some rifle shooters will time their shots in relation to the movement of the barrel in offhand, they insist this is necessary and proper and as a matter of fact I was taught to do the same thing in the beginning BUT I have found that if I concentrate on squeeze rather that aim I can put most of them right in there with a rifle offhand as well. Or I could anyways, been a while since I shot any rifle. I'd need to brush up a little maybe.

I remember one time I hooked up with a guy on THR out in the Scranton area. We were out in his "backyard" shooting lots of stuff including a Savage 45/70 and a nice S&W 500 Mag. 

He had steel silohuettes(sp?) and this very sweet .38 revolver, smooth as glass. So I'm shooitng the plate and hitting no problem shot after shot not really even thinikng about it and later his wife says, "I could tell there was someone else besides my husband shooting out there. I could hear, "bang, tink, bang, tink, bang tink" and it never sounds like that back there when my husband is shooting. 

Cool people Cortezkid I think his ID was. Lost track of him. I emailed etc he didn't email back after a while so I left him alone. He had moved from California to Cortez Rd in PA. 

[HankB]

Last night's episode started with shooting a Sharps at a 10" bull at 200 yards - only one of 16 shooters hit it. No practice - just pick up the rifle and fire one shot for the record. Most shots were low - I'm guessing the rifle wasn't sighted in properly. Also not sure whether or not any of the shooters knew how to use the double set trigger. (I'm not enough of a history buff to confirm that the rifle they used was the exact type used during the Civil War as a sniper rifle, per the host's assertion.)

Second shooting contest was a 1911 vs. billiard balls at ranges from 25 to 50 feet. Granted, it CAN be a challenge to pick up a strange gun with NO idea of how the sights are aligned and hit a small target, but the second team did far worse than the first . . . and they were supposed to have some top notch pistol shooters on the squad.

Elimination round was a shootoff against moving plates, suspended from cables and starting at 80 feet; the plates "charged" the shooter and had to be shot before they were dropped by a release. Gun was an S&W .44 Mag. Hard to tell how fast things were moving with all the editing, but at least they got to practice with the gun and figure out sight settings beforehand.

Coming attractions seemed to play up the "interpersonal mandrama conflict" of the next episode . . . 

[280plus]

Coming attractions seemed to play up the "interpersonal mandrama conflict" of the next episode . . . 

Ooo, I can't wait! 

[AZRedhawk44]

Evidently one of the guys this season is an Appleseed Instructor.

http://www.garnercitizen.com/2011/02/08/garner-native-jamie-franks-represents-navy-on-top-shot/

[TommyGunn]

Last night's episode started with shooting a Sharps at a 10" bull at 200 yards - only one of 16 shooters hit it. No practice - just pick up the rifle and fire one shot for the record. Most shots were low - I'm guessing the rifle wasn't sighted in properly. Also not sure whether or not any of the shooters knew how to use the double set trigger. (I'm not enough of a history buff to confirm that the rifle they used was the exact type used during the Civil War as a sniper rifle, per the host's assertion.)

One complaint I heard about this on another forum was that the rifle used was a cartridge rifle.  These were not correct for the civil war, the Sharps they used then were percussion rifles using musket caps.  The double set trigger was something that existed at the time but they would only be used in more specialized weapons -- which is something that might be employed by a professional sniper.

[Perd Hapley]

   I recall reading that Civil War snipers used at least two very different sorts of rifles.

[griz]

I watched this years first show.  I guess I have the same complaints, no sight in on the rifle and a focus on the personality issues.  I guess they want to introduce some randomness to the outcome with the focus on running instead of shooting (sprint 30 yards, one shot, sprint thirty yards, etc).

Some of the teaser clips showed some interesting shots such as shooting while falling from some height, and I would like to see that.  So I'll probably record it and skip ahead 15 or 20 minutes through the process of selecting who to eliminate.  I can do without the false drama, just tell me who is shooting next.  Overall an interesting half hour show squeezed in to 60 minutes.

[HankB]

  I recall reading that Civil War snipers used at least two very different sorts of rifles.

Weren't British Whitworths popular with the Confederacy? IIRC, they used hexagonal rifling and hexagonal bullets . . .

[T.O.M.]

I really enjoyed the first season, and I'm DVR'ing this season.  Yeah, there's some of the wasted drama crap, but for the most part the competition comes down to ability.  Even if you're "voted off," you're actually voted into a head to head match where the loser goes home.  Some of the shooting secnarios looked like a ton of fun. The bar set up last season with all of the bottle targets?  Are you kidding me?  A blast!  My favorite was when they had all of the guns set out, and a bunch of targets, and they played a shooting version of the basketball game "HORSE."  Choose the gun, call the shot, make it or lose a point.  That would be a blast.

As for being unfamiliar with the gun/bow/knife, each team gets a practice session with the weapon fo choice prior to the competition, so it's not completely cold.

Given all of the crap on TV these days, this one's a keeper, IMO.

[Scout26]

In the Pictures of Me section of my FB page, there's pics of me with Tara and Kelly from Top Shot Season#1 at the Aurora Sportsmen's Club.  Nice people.  She has the Mad Pistol Skillz and he has Mad Rifle Skillz. 

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

Don't watch it. Stupid drama, reality *expletive deleted*it.