Laser pistols at the Olympics

[Glenn E. Meyer]

http://defensetech.org/2012/07/27/u-s-soldier-to-shoot-laser-pistol-in-olympic-pentathlon/

What's this all about, news to me?

So they just place a dot on target?

Anybody expert on this?

 

[PawPaw]

Heh! Trying to decrease the environmental footprint of a pellet pistol.

 

[g.willikers]

Maybe it's time to stop pretending to be PC, and the worlds shooting competitors just abandon the Olympics for some other venue.
Plenty to choose from.

 

[Stressfire]

Well - dance dance revolution type games convinced many arcade-dwelling young-uns that they could actually dance.

Now local laser-tag champs can be Olympians

“This test process removes one of the enduring concerns for athletes: that some unseen technical problem may affect their shooting.

So they went and made the process more technical to remove this concern?

 

[kraigwy]

I'm not a pistol shooter but I've shot some ISU (International Shooter Union or International/Olympic style) pistol matches.

I also shot lasers.

I tell tell you one thing, lasers are gonna such in International Rapid Fire Pistol Matches.

You might sneak a laser into the Free Pistol events but not rapid fire.

 

[pgdion]

“This test process removes one of the enduring concerns for athletes: that some unseen technical problem may affect their shooting.

IDK - Isn't that part of shooting? Compensate for it in the rules by allowing an alibi, take the best of 3 attempts, everyone shoots 5 matches and throw one out, whatever.

To me if it isn't a real gun, then you've taken something away from the sport and from shooting. I think there is a little more than just technique and there is a skill to shooting a regular gun that isn't necessarily tested by shooting lasers or air pistols. If you're really an athlete, then lets see you compete with the real deal.

 

[FlyFish]

I think there is a little more than just technique and there is a skill to shooting a regular gun that isn't necessarily tested by shooting lasers or air pistols.

No argument on the laser, but shooting an air pistol tests some skills that a "real" gun doesn't because the slower-moving pellet (about 500 fps) spends more time in the barrel, placing a much higher premium on good form and follow-through after the trigger breaks. Practicing with an air pistol has helped my Bullseye competition slow-fire scores considerably, though admittedly the lack of recoil makes it less useful for practicing the sustained-fire stages.

 

[benenglish]

Maybe it's time to stop pretending to be PC, and the worlds shooting competitors just abandon the Olympics for some other venue.
Plenty to choose from.​

Uh, no.

There may be plenty to choose from in the U.S. but in the rest of the world, there's only one shooting contest in existence. It happens every four years and it's called the Olympics.

All other shooting falls into four categories - trying to get to the Olympics, part of your job, training for something, or having fun. Sure, other diversions like benchrest rifle and cowboy action shooting happen all over the world but there's only one worldwide standard of shooting excellence - the Olympics. As far as pretty much the entire world is concerned, everything else is a meaningless sideshow.

Ralf Schumann, the multiple medal winner in Rapid Fire Pistol, can't walk down the street in Germany without being mobbed for autographs. In China, entire restaurants full of people will stop and hold their breath during a televised Men's 50M Pistol finals. Heck, the founder of the modern Olympics was a pistol shooter and the first medal of each Olympics, by tradition, goes to a pistol shooter. The world's shooters will NOT leave the Olympics, period, even though it's always possible that the Olympics might leave them.

As for the lasers in pentathlon, that was a result of politics and money. The people that make that expensive equipment are making a good profit and don't care squat about helping the shooting sports.

 

[darkgael]

Lasers

So they just place a dot on target?

Well....yes and no. If you are familiar with normal firearms lasers, the turn on and project a dot type, then no.
The laser pistol - usually an upper assembly that fits an otherwise normal .22 match pistol - emits a laser pulse for a millisecond or so when the trigger is pulled. The target system detects the laser pulse and where it hits the target and records the score. Very precise.
As to the Olympics deserting shooting......can't tell the future but it is a fact that more countries participate in Olympic shooting than in any other sport. We just don't get the coverage here. Kind of a great irony....the country with the most firearms has the least amount of exposure to the different shooting venues in the Olympics (and other arenas). One of my personal favorite sports to watch is Winter Biathlon......how often do you see that on TV?
Pete

 

[zippy13]

One of my personal favorite sports to watch is Winter Biathlon......how often do you see that on TV?

During the break when the Rhythmic Gymnasts adjust their hula-hoops. Oops, sorry Pete... wrong Olympics. Do the winter games include snowman and artistic angel making, yet?

 

[benenglish]

We just don't get the coverage here.​

At least this year people in the USA with a cable subscription that includes MSNBC and CNBC were able to log onto nbcolympics.com and see replays of all the shooting events.

Yesterday I re-watched the Men's 50M Pistol final. That one was a nail-biter.

USA residents can see all the shooting sports in good detail. All that coverage is available right now and no longer requires signin credentials since the Games are over.

Go to: http://www.nbcolympics.com/shooting/video/browse/index.html#ox=recent

Pick an event from the left side of the page and watch people who shoot better than most people would think possible. If you like the shooting sports, you owe it to yourself to watch some of these events.

 

[darkgael]

Coverage

Ben : you are, of course, correct about the availability of video in the present Olympics.
What I was referring to is lack of general coverage for ongoing events like the Biathlon series in Europe during the Winter (which includes American athletes).
Can't compete with our home grown pro sports.
Pete

 

[benenglish]

Pete - You're absolutely right. The crumbs we get during the Olympics are the only mass media coverage of shooting sports we see in the U.S. That's a shame. Shooting is the second most popular participation sport in the U.S. after running.

I don't place the full blame on NBC, though. The traditional shooting sports are as fun to watch as drying paint. The ISSF is twisting itself into knots trying to come up with exciting finals formats for their big matches in the hopes of getting some TV time. So far, it hasn't worked worth squat.

Until they scrap it all, start over, and shoot plates like the biathletes I don't think the rifle and pistol sports can possibly cross over the line into "watchable" territory. Of course, the ISSF would never do anything like that. Whoever controls pentathlon actually went the wrong way with their event, re-vamping the shooting portion so that it's even more abstract than it has been in the past and, thus, less fun to watch.