Monday, June 1, 2020

Shot Timers And Their Uses

 photo of supplies needed for shooting at a gun range

A basic shot timer measures and records how long it takes to deliver shots—or audibly signal when shooting can begin and must end. The versatile tool offers much more than a yardstick for competitive shooters or SWAT teams, though. The applications are ideal for gun owners with concealed carry permits and they breathe new life into informal range sessions.

A Measurement Of Time

There is no denying the shot timer’s roots grew in competitive shooting, though. Stopwatches were the early scoring approach during matches, although accuracy hinged on the timepiece operator’s reactions and consistency through often lengthy events. Results were sometimes dubious.

An early remedy was moving time measurement downrange to minimize human error, when a stopwatch rigged to the final steel target stopped when a bullet struck the metal—the stop plate. It could also signal when time was up, allowing total hits on targets in that stage to serve as the score. It was an innovative solution, one still used to this day. Early versions didn’t offer the hundredths-of-a-second accuracy that typically separates top shooters, though. 

More @ Wideners

No comments:

Post a Comment