What is the theoretical (not practical) purpose of the "sighter" shot or shots allowed in competitions?

I get the practical reason; it allows the shooter to set their DOPE for the existing conditions, get a read on the wind calls and foul the bore. But to my way of thinking, that should be an element of the competition, not a "freebie" for set up.

If marksmanship is a test of skill, mastery of one's equipment, and reading the conditions, shouldn't that cold bore first shot be part of the game? It seems to me that the skills necessary to make a good first shot are part and parcel of the make-up of the best shooters, and could well be a point of differentiation between the real masters and the also-rans.

To further make the point, in the "real world" neither a hunter nor a sniper gets a sighter before being all in with the first trigger pull.

Please understand that this is not a criticism of the practice. I am in awe of what you long range guys do, and I am no one's definition of a fine rifleman, but I am curious about why this practice evolved in competition, rather than scoring from the initial, and probably hardest, shot.

Thanks for your insights.

A

"Sighters" serve several purposes.

First, gives you an on-the-spot reading of how your sights are set, how the local temperature affects your ammo and what may need adjusting.

Secondly, it'll give you an idea of wind conditions downrange, and how to adjust for it.

Thirdly, they act as "fouling shots" to heat the barrel and start a layer of "accumulation" inside the barrel.In many case, your zero may change between a clean barrel and one that's had a few shots thru it. In some cases, it may take a few "fouling shots" for a barrel to settle in and group reliably.

I've beaten a few competitors who didn't warm up their barrel with enough fouling shots before the match, then ending up shooting 8 or 9's early on and could never catch up.

Some comps do not allow sighted. You shoot and get what you get. Cold bore, clean bore, whatever. I shoot a PRS field match that is show up, and shoot. Cry later.

RMD

You have identified just one of several differences among the various shooting disciplines.

There’s nothing wrong with any particular practice as long as the practitioners recognize that they vary and don’t presume to believe that there are no differences among the demands of different disciplines. Unfortunately, that last is not always true. It’s a common human trait to assume that the things we are familiar with are the same for everyone everywhere. It’s not even true, for example, that military snipers never have the luxury of “sighter” shots. When we read about many incidents, we learn that many exceptionally long range kills involved several missed shots at first that were just that: sighters.

Good question, BTW.

to add to sigfreund's post,

even in disciplines, it is not consistent,

I shot high power for years, most matches were 2 sighter's for each position,

but not always, as in sometimes the match director would not allow them, (for what ever reason, usually time since we did not have pits)

and some national comps, I think President's 100 may be one, do not allow them at all,

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
What is the theoretical (not practical) purpose of the "sighter" shot or shots allowed in competitions?

I get the practical reason; it allows the shooter to set their DOPE for the existing conditions, get a read on the wind calls and foul the bore. But to my way of thinking, that should be an element of the competition, not a "freebie" for set up.
A

You answered your own question, they are one in the same.

Different disciplines have different rules. NRA high power has sights. CMP rifle matches do not. NRA smallbore used to not only allow unlimited sighters, but you could switch back to the slighter target in the middle of the match.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
What is the theoretical (not practical) purpose of the "sighter" shot or shots allowed in competitions?

I get the practical reason; it allows the shooter to set their DOPE for the existing conditions, get a read on the wind calls and foul the bore. But to my way of thinking, that should be an element of the competition, not a "freebie" for set up.

If marksmanship is a test of skill, mastery of one's equipment, and reading the conditions, shouldn't that cold bore first shot be part of the game? It seems to me that the skills necessary to make a good first shot are part and parcel of the make-up of the best shooters, and could well be a point of differentiation between the real masters and the also-rans.

To further make the point, in the "real world" neither a hunter nor a sniper gets a sighter before being all in with the first trigger pull.

Please understand that this is not a criticism of the practice. I am in awe of what you long range guys do, and I am no one's definition of a fine rifleman, but I am curious about why this practice evolved in competition, rather than scoring from the initial, and probably hardest, shot.

Thanks for your insights.

A

The NRA High Power manual states this about sighting shots (sighters.)
Sighting Shots—Shots fired at a target provided for that purpose and used to obtain desired information relative to adjustment of sights for the match which immediately follows.


I've competed in Palma, Fullbore, CMP and NRA High Power (Service Rifle, Target Rifle and F-class.) There are various rules for sighters and even with that, they are implemented differently by various match directors.

The first thing I would say is that apart from Service Rifle competition, there really is no "real world" equivalent to something like Palma or Target Rifle or F-Class. There is no "real world" equivalent to putting 15 or 20 shots on the same target at long range. It's not hunting, it's not snipering. This is long range competition; for score, not groups.

It's been decades since I've shot Palma competition and they have their own rules and course of fire for International Palma. Target Rifle and F-Class have the same course of fire in the US (NRA rules.) In international competition, ICFRA rules prevail and the sighters are handled differently.

In NRA competitions, you have unlimited sighters for the first match and then 2 sighters for every match after that. On the second day of multi-day competitions, you are usually restricted to 2 sighters for all matches. They sometimes allow a 1 minute blow off period into the berm prior to the first match on the second and subsequent days. But sometimes they don't.

ICFRA does it differently. In summer 2017, when I competed at Connaught in the World's, we followed ICFRA rules. I shot in the Canadian Nationals just prior to the Worlds and they follow ICFRA rules for that also. We have a blow off period first match of the day (700 meters.) For each match they allow two convertible sighters. You can elect to keep the second sighter or both sighters and then you shoot the rest of your 15 shots.

When you get to a certain level of competition, you treat sighters somewhat differently than when you first started. I like to figure out what the correction needs to be PRIOR to the first sighter and I put in the adjustment on my scope. My first sighter is usually in the black, a 9 or better. At the recently concluded Nationals in Raton, y very first shot on paper, my first sighter on the first day of the Mid range, after driving in the night before, was an X. I had calculated the difference in density altitude properly and I gauged the wind just right and got an X at 600 yards on the very first shot.

I should have gone home at that point, because that was the highlight of my performance that week. But that's another (sad) story.

I see a lot of people use up all the unlimited sighters trying to get on target perfectly before going for record. That is so wrong. It's a waste of ammo, a build-up of heat and I don't think they really figure out the conditions.

At 1000 yards, I will usually take 5 sighters on the first match, if the rifle has been deeply cleaned. If it has not, I'll take 3 to bring up the barrel to temperature. In the subsequent matches, I will only take 2 sighters. The thing that I look for in sighters is to confirm elevation, because even during the day, the elevation setting will change as it gets warmer. I also want to see what the wind does to my call when I see the flags or mirage in the conditions I want to shoot.

Under ICFRA rules, I really try to get convertible sighters, especially the second one, because that reduces the number of shots you have to make. You can't gain points with each shot, you can only lose points or stay even. Also, the less you shoot the less heat in the barrel; the number two cause of point loss.

Sighters are just part of the game and it's not a "real world" game.

Thanks very much for the comprehensive response. As described by you, the sighters are integral to and can be part of the competition. That does make sense.