Target shooting for the blind was first seen in this Country in 1948 when some fairly basic equipment was installed at St Dunstan’s near Brighton. This equipment vanished many years ago and apart from some old photographs very little is know about it.
In 1994 the National Small-bore Rifle Association obtained a sighting system made by an Austrian Company called Swarovski Optik which enables blind shooters to achieve a level of accuracy very close to that of sighted shooters.
To the casual observer the sight, which is designed for use on an air rifle at a range of 10m looks like a conventional telescope sight and is mounted on the rifle in the same way. However, that is where the similarity ends. The sight is designed to collect and measure the level of light reflected from the target using a photo-electric cell which is then converted into sound. The centre of the target is brilliant white and then moving outwards from the centre increasingly darker levels of grey are encountered until off the target is matt black. The closer to the centre of the target you are aiming the greater the level of light reflected and hence the higher the frequency of sound which is heard by the shooter via a pair of headphones. The sights are adjustable in the normal way to alter the mean point of impact.
For the system to work effectively it has been found that the target requires extremely bright illumination. A 50w 12v halogen lamp with a very narrow beam angle of 10º is ideal. This is sufficiently bright to work in all surrounding light levels and there is no need to have the area surrounding the target painted matt black as was originally the case.
Apart from the special sight all that the shooter needs is an assistant to ensure safety and to help them “find the target”. The rest is up to them! A sighted shooter does not appear to benefit using this system, In fact the opposite may be the case since the blind shooter will not be confused by visual images and may quite possibly have a better developed sense of hearing.
Recent years have seen a tremendous increase in the number of centres where these facilities exist with 20 such centres currently offering shooting for the blind and visually impaired all over the country. They are:
With in excess of 100 active shooters in Great Britain the future for this sport is bright and numbers are increasing each year; and as this sport develops more centres will be available.
Please go to contact details make that call and find out where the nearest club is to you!
