Hokus Pokus

[Greg Henderson]

The idea for this came from another thread. We were discussing a bore being "too smooth". Some of the folks here including myself thought that this may be some sort of target shooters head game.

Got me to thinking that it would be interesting to hear others "games" that they have used during matches. I used to ring a little bell over my ammo box when shooting service rifle, it was great, I could hear people chatting about it for the rest of the day. The best thing is that they were thinking about my bell when they should have been thinking about shooting!

One other thing was to "chat" with my spotter about shooting barefoot so that I could "pull the energy up from the earth through my feet and body and send it out the barrel with the bullet" :grin:

This has worked against me too though. I went to a ML match years ago and the guy next to me insisted on shooting in nothing but a breech cloth and shooting glasses... :barf: sure was off putting, LOL!

Let's hear your games!

 

[Supercracker]

Don't shoot in matches, but did some similar things when I used to race.

I used to road race motorcycles in a class that allowed very few modifications. I put a big carbon fiber print sticker on the inside of my bodywork then made a big deal out of not letting anyone see it. About ever 3rd race I'd get protested for having carbon bodywork. The inspector would see it was a sticker and I'd get to keep the $200 protest fee.

Then when I moved into sprint cars I would periodically put a random color of food coloring in the fuel (methanol). It had no effect other than to absolutely convince everyone else I was using illegal fuel and a huge amount of effort was expended trying to figure out what I was doing that the tests couldn't catch. lol

I also to an old amp from a car stereo and put 3 little LEDs through the body and had a 9V battery on the inside that powered them. When I was going to a race out of town I'd stick that on the inside of the cockpit of the car. You're not allowed any electronics like that on a Sprint Car. Once it got noticed everyone would have a conniption fit about it but I'd insist that the inspection be done in private. It was a lot of fun and everyone would be so focused on that box with the lights on it that you could do pretty much anything else you wanted to and they'd never notice.

:thumbsup: :grin: :thumbsup:

 

[rawhide]

can't say this worked in comp but me and a friend both got flinters about the same time. and we both had the flinch bad!!! well one day at the range just us there before he'd pull the trigger I'd say don't flinch... and he'd try not to. then he'd do the same to me. well I think it helped us both out. getting better at shooting the flinter now.

 

[Vaino]

Abra Kadabra in lieu of hokus pokus sounds better? When I'm shooting, I don't "play games" and instead concentrate on the target. I'm oblivious to other shooters and happenings...afterall, shooting is serious business and I certainly don't need any distractions. My club visits are not social affairs until I'm finished shooting and in the clubhouse.....Fred

 

[Robert Egler]

Abra Kadabra in lieu of hokus pokus sounds better?

Just for the trivia value: did you know that "abracadabra" is an 'actual' magical word from the Aramaic language, and not just an invention of modern stage magicians? First found in print in a Roman medical book from circa AD 200, but undoubtedly in use earlier, it is supposed to have healing powers when written or spoken.

So now you know. I'm just full of useless trivia! :haha:

 

[Rifleman1776]

I don't play any 'games' when competing.
But, I often see the most common attempts at fooling other competitiors.
One is to hide your shooter number tag so people can't identify your scores on the scoreboard.
The other is to hold all your targets until after the final relay then turn them in. That way none of your scores get posted until after the competition.
It is a mind game, don't know if it does any good.
However, I do recall one time I was winning a reentry match. And, some other competitor kept looking at my scores, he would buy another target and try to beat me. We both kept buying targets and shooting for better scores. In the end he edged me out.

 

[troutabout]

I like your colored fuel Supercracker and my Brother-in-law and I did the same thing racing go-karts in the 60's. We were the first to run fuel injection in Atlanta and we ran alcohol spiked with nitromethane and lubed with pure Baker's brand cooking castor oil. It took acetone to make all the ingredients mix together which gave it that banana smell so we told everybody we used banana oil as our lubricant. We used a few drops of red food color in one gallon jug (back when you could use the old Coca Cola syrup jugs) and green in another and the third was tinted with blue.

My BIL usually won everything so everybody watched us close. Some heats we'd comment on how good the red was running and we'd mix some into the blue jug for the 2nd heat and come up with purple. One time we filled one with cherry CoolAide and when a bunch of guys were eyeballing he drank it half down. Those were the good ol' days !

 

[Tumblernotch]

When we used to have our big 3 day reentry matches I found out that it was best to hold your good targets until the last minute, because someone was bound to look at your posted score and try to beat it. Once I caught on to this I held my targets and played their game. While wandering over to the concession stand for a hotdog or coffee I was glance at the scoreboard. If needed, I'd head to the scoring table and buy another target. Sometimes it paid off, sometimes it didn't. You can only shoot so good. And a common statement at some of the shoots is, "It's better to be lucky than good."

One thing that does affect my shooting is having a gun go off next to me just as I'm touching off my own. This ain't necessarily a game, but just one of those things that happens on a fairly crowded firing line. It happened earlier this month at a chunk gun shoot. A feller about 6 feet from me fired just as I was touching mine off, so close that the two guns almost sounded like one. But he was a split second ahead and the concussion was just enough to make me jerk just a little. I shanked it needless to say. Both guns were quite loud. I know the other guy wasn't trying to mess with me though. Both of us were concentrating hard on our targets.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

when I shot on an indoor 22 match league, I put a "gumby" figure on the huge redfield front sight and referred to it as a gyroscopic stabilizer. one of the coaches for another team went ballistic about it.

When I got into competing with muzzleloaders, I would wear cut off jeans and flip flops, and odd hats. I'd wear a bright orange hat that others would have the bright orange in their periferral vision. Or perhaps a glaringly white pith helmet on a sunny day.

The killer was when Ron Griffy showed up at a muzzleloader match with a bright green metal flake stock that glowed like kryptonite in the sun. The shooter looking down the sights couldn't see it but every body else could.

 

[trent/OH]

Here's one I haven't tried, but would like to:
A friend makes candy for church at Christmastime that looks like broken pieces of stained glass. With today food dyes, almost any color is possible. It wouldn't be hard to make a couple that look just like gunflints. Stash them in your shooting box, and when you have a flint go bad at the wrong time you slip the candy flint in your hand, act frustrated, and start chewing the "flint" with everybody watching. you'll have to be a good salesman, but it should un-nerve a few shooters.

 

[smokeum54]

get a practice target, hopefully put a ball right in the center. purposely throw the 2nd ball off the paper and say HEY! you see that, it went right thru the same hole!

one time i fixed and reworked a trigger on a club members cva hawken. he and his gun were very accurate. at the next club shoot he couldnt hit anything with it and he jokingly blamed me. so i put up a new target and started shooting it. he and five other guys watched all the balls hit all over the paper when my dad walked up, took one look at the target and started laughing. out of six guys not one realized i was drawing a smiley face. my last shot was in the ten ring to dot the nose, i turned looked at the guy and said i think it shoots fine.
not really a head game but a funny story this thread made me think of.

 

[Len Graves]

You people and your tricks are terrible!! I can't wait to try some of them!

 

[Supercracker]

Carroll Shelby once tried to bet a Ford Executive that if he glued rubber dog crap to hood of the race car and won 2 races with it there, by the third race there'd be at least one other car with rubber dog crap on the hood. IIRC the exec wouldn't take the bet.

 

[50cal.cliff]

I had a friend that had an ole dump truck that sounded like an ole Mack if you had her wound up and let off of it.

We were having a shoot at the range one day and one of the contestants I particularly didn't care for. Well.......lets just say my buddy in the dump truck made a few scheduled trips by the range that day!

His remarks was I don't know how that same truck keeps coming by every time I am about to shoot. I just set there :rotf: with the radio connection kind of like an FBI agent talking into my jacket!

I finally told my bud not to come back because he was so mad I thought he would take a shot at him.

That was hilarious he never did figure out what was going on but I think a couple of the other guys seen me talking into my sleeve but they wouldn't tell as the blow hard wasn't well liked by anyone.

 

Brown Bear,
My grandson knows the feeling of being "distracted" on at least two occasions. Pretty funny actually.
Mark

 

USP45th,
On a lark at one of our club shoots a couple of us put together a rather large package of BP and taped it to the target backer of one of the woman shooters. We put a 12 volt igniter into it and when she fired, we set off the charge. It was supposed to blow up her target buit it knocked down the whole 25 yard target frame work. Her face was priceless.
Mark

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Darn I almost forget the best. Back around 1972, My college rifle team was the only coed team in the league. We were to shoot against the Lehigh team, which was still an all guys school. We had this cute little blond with perky mammaries named Delores. We got Delores to go to the match braless in a white t-shirt as our silent cheerleader. She would jump up and down like a cheerleader but not say anything. Some of the Lehigh guys had trouble getting into prone position. It was the only time I ever came close to beating their top shooter, we tied that day.

 

[Rifleman1776]

There was an individual who lived in the Arkansas Ozarks in the early 1900s named Vance Randolph. Most folks in these parts still used only muzzle loaders.(I know one who still does) Ozarks are where I live. Randolph was a writer and documented local life in those times. One book was about magic and superstitions. He said when a mans wife was upset about him taking time to enter a shooting match she would 'hex' him so he couldn't shoot well. One of the most common ways was to stand behind him, at a distance, and tie a knot in her apron as he was about to shoot. According to Randolph, sure enuf the shot would go astray. Lots more in the book. A great read.

 

[Rifleman1776]

when I shot on an indoor 22 match league, I put a "gumby" figure on the huge redfield front sight and referred to it as a gyroscopic stabilizer. one of the coaches for another team went ballistic about it.

When I got into competing with muzzleloaders, I would wear cut off jeans and flip flops, and odd hats. I'd wear a bright orange hat that others would have the bright orange in their periferral vision. Or perhaps a glaringly white pith helmet on a sunny day.

The killer was when Ron Griffy showed up at a muzzleloader match with a bright green metal flake stock that glowed like kryptonite in the sun. The shooter looking down the sights couldn't see it but every body else could.

Our club has a shoot tomorrow and I'm using a Redfield globe on my rifle. If I had a Gumbie I would do that. Next time. :grin:

 

[Keb]

We had this cute little blond with perky mammaries named Delores.

What? Her perky mammaries were named Delores?