Justin
Moderator Emeritus
Oh for crying out loud.
Emmons' strategy for getting on target, starting at 12 o'clock and coming down into the bullseye is not risky, nor is the action of placing one's finger on the trigger as you're moving into the bullseye in order to take up some of the slack.
This is something that is done by competitive shooters the world over, ranging across disciplines from 50 meter rifle to IPSC.
Guys like Emmons fire more rounds in a year than most people on this forum will shoot in a lifetime, and much of the uninformed criticism in this thread reflects the difference between an Olympic-caliber competitor and your average gun owner.
His technique had nothing to do with what happened, and I'll explain why:
Emmons is shooting at the absolute peak of competitive rifle shooting, at one of the most prestige sporting events in the world of competitive shooting. Competing at that level is one of the most mentally demanding tasks undertaken by any human being, and maintaining the discipline to make shot-after-shot-after-shot, the majority of which must hit a ten ring the size of a period at the end of a sentence, all while the entire freaking world is watching places levels of stress on the shooter that are, frankly, mind boggling.
On top of that, Emmons was dealing with an added burden of stress from his mistake at the Olympics four years ago when he accidentally cross-fired on another target. In essence, he had all of the stress from both this year's Olympics, as well as the games four years ago weighing very heavily on his mind, and all of it resting on one freaking shot!
The worst day that you've ever had at the office multiplied 100 times pales in comparison to the stress that Olympic-level competitive shooters are expected to manage.
Long story short: This has nothing to do with the physical technique he employs for shooting the rifle, nor does it have anything to do with the equipment he's using.
He had four years of stress weighing on the outcome of a single rifle shot, and unfortunately the result was a bad shot.
Matt is to be commended for being one of the best in the world. The least the American shooting community can offer him is a bit of sympathy, rather than puerile and ignorant arm-chair "analysis."
Emmons' strategy for getting on target, starting at 12 o'clock and coming down into the bullseye is not risky, nor is the action of placing one's finger on the trigger as you're moving into the bullseye in order to take up some of the slack.
This is something that is done by competitive shooters the world over, ranging across disciplines from 50 meter rifle to IPSC.
Guys like Emmons fire more rounds in a year than most people on this forum will shoot in a lifetime, and much of the uninformed criticism in this thread reflects the difference between an Olympic-caliber competitor and your average gun owner.
His technique had nothing to do with what happened, and I'll explain why:
Emmons is shooting at the absolute peak of competitive rifle shooting, at one of the most prestige sporting events in the world of competitive shooting. Competing at that level is one of the most mentally demanding tasks undertaken by any human being, and maintaining the discipline to make shot-after-shot-after-shot, the majority of which must hit a ten ring the size of a period at the end of a sentence, all while the entire freaking world is watching places levels of stress on the shooter that are, frankly, mind boggling.
On top of that, Emmons was dealing with an added burden of stress from his mistake at the Olympics four years ago when he accidentally cross-fired on another target. In essence, he had all of the stress from both this year's Olympics, as well as the games four years ago weighing very heavily on his mind, and all of it resting on one freaking shot!
The worst day that you've ever had at the office multiplied 100 times pales in comparison to the stress that Olympic-level competitive shooters are expected to manage.
Long story short: This has nothing to do with the physical technique he employs for shooting the rifle, nor does it have anything to do with the equipment he's using.
He had four years of stress weighing on the outcome of a single rifle shot, and unfortunately the result was a bad shot.
Matt is to be commended for being one of the best in the world. The least the American shooting community can offer him is a bit of sympathy, rather than puerile and ignorant arm-chair "analysis."
