<snip... open ring stuff...>
But I tell you what, as I am not doing anything else useful (other than work and that’s no fun at all), I’m giving an open ring another go. Started with a
Beiter but even with the extension pulled in it is very small. I did shoot two arrows out of about 30 where I forgot about aiming... they were very nice. Next session will be a bigger ring. Then I’ll put up a target face - so far just aiming at a target pin which for me was always easier than a target with an open ring.
So... I’ve been shooting a open ring for just over a month. Some ups, some downs... Not ready to discard yet but not wholly comfortable either. All of my shooting has been done at 30m. (And I was on holiday for a week and shot a lot of arrows). Open ring is a 14mm Titan with black housing and empty inside.
My best groups are still shot with a pin. Open ring and the groups look more like a pepper pot. Nice group but not smashed together either. However, when relaxed there is a consistency that has not been there of late with a pin.
On the downside my eye focus is not what it was. So I’m looking at the ten, through the ring, and my eyes twitch (for want of another term) towards the edge of the yellow ring and the pin follows. So that is a lot of good shots in the 9 and not so good when you get tense about it 8s. I don’t do that with a pin.
The biggest thing is that I cannot be thinking about aiming when aiming. The moment I think about it the 8 or 9 is incoming. If I think I start trying to line up rings (not deliberately!) and given the ring sits outside the 6 zone that is a long wander. The comfort has been coming and the groups are tightening.
So earlier today I probably shot my best 30m score in years - all be it still with one end that can only be described as a meltdown around my aiming. Six arrow ends 58, 59, 58, 59, 53, 57 - 344. The second last end was just a cacophony of discomfort which started with a aiming moment in the 8 and included 3 9s touching each other mid 9 at 12 o’clock. It also set up the last end to be a bit of a struggle but a 57 after a first arrow 8 will suffice!
The above was shot on a used target face. No raging holes but also plenty of marks. I changed the face for a new face and as expected my group location changed to high ten/nine. So there is an issue there that my eye is resting on something in the ten, not necessarily the middle of the ten.
So plus for me is that it is easier to focus on execution and the grouping is quite consistent.
The negative is that the best groups are less groupy and any thought about aiming while aiming is disaster.
As I am feeling increasingly more comfortable I’ll stick with it for a while longer. But there needs to be a trend in the closing of the group or at longer distance it will equate to 8s and 9s around the edges.
I do have some doubts about black being the best colour for the ring - in some lighting it just disappears and kicks in the “am I aiming” disaster process.
Stretch