Backyard mad scientist Peter Sripol turned a NERF rifle into a souped-up airsoft gun with a fairly large barrel. Then he loaded the gun with all sorts of improvised projectiles, such as AA batteries, 6″ nails, and fireworks. This guy’s going to be just fine in the apocalypse.
Percona XtraBackup 2.4.7 is Now Available
Percona announces the GA release of Percona XtraBackup 2.4.7 on April 18, 2017. You can download it from our download site and apt and yum repositories.
Percona XtraBackup enables MySQL backups without blocking user queries, making it ideal for companies with large data sets and mission-critical applications that cannot tolerate long periods of downtime. Offered free as an open source solution, Percona XtraBackup drives down backup costs while providing unique features for MySQL backups.
New features:
- Percona XtraBackup now uses hardware accelerated implementation of
crc32where it is supported. - Percona XtraBackup has implemented new options:
--tables-excludeand--databases-excludethat work similar to--tablesand--databasesoptions, but exclude given names/paths from backup. - The xbstream binary now supports parallel extraction with the
--paralleloption. - The xbstream binary now supports following new options:
--decrypt,--encrypt-threads,--encrypt-key, and--encrypt-key-file. When--decryptoption is specified xbstream will automatically decrypt encrypted files when extracting input stream. Either--encrypt-keyor--encrypt-key-fileoptions must be specified to provide encryption key, but not both. Option--encrypt-threadsspecifies the number of worker threads doing the encryption, default is1.
Bugs Fixed:
- Backups were missing
*.islfiles for general tablespace. Bug fixed #1658692. - In 5.7, MySQL changed default checksum algorithm to
crc32, while xtrabackup was usinginnodb. This caused xtrabackup to perform extra checksum calculations which were not needed. Bug fixed #1664405. - For system tablespaces consisting of multiple files xtrabackup updated LSN only in first file. This caused MySQL versions lower than 5.7 to fail on startup. Bug fixed #1669592.
xtrabackup --exportcan now export tables that have more than 31 index. Bug fixed #1089681.Unrecognized character x01; marked by message could be seen if backups were taken with the version check enabled. Bug fixed #1651978.
Release notes with all the bugfixes for Percona XtraBackup 2.4.7 are available in our online documentation. Please report any bugs to the launchpad bug tracker.
via MySQL Performance Blog
Percona XtraBackup 2.4.7 is Now Available
Google Earth feeds your wanderlust with ‘Voyager’ stories
There are two things you should never do if you want to maintain productivity: start clicking on links in Wikipedia, or open Google Earth. There are many, many other ways to waste time on the internet but the amount of work hours lost between those two is probably enough to make most managers weep. Your boss won’t be too pleased, then, to learn that Google Earth’s latest update, revealed today, ratchets up its time-killing potential several notches.
We’ve come a long way since the earliest versions of Google Earth that basically placed a virtual globe in your desktop with some basic mapping and 3D tools. Today’s revision sees a slew of new features that feel both exciting, and long overdue at the same time. The headline news, in my opinion, isn’t technically a feature at all, but the fact that Google Earth is no longer a standalone app for desktop and mobile users, and can be accessed right from a browser (perfect for Chromebooks and education).
There are, of course, a lot of new things you can do with Google Earth that will give even the most experienced virtual tourist something fresh to explore. The first change you’ll notice is the home page. No matter what machine you choose to open Google Earth on, you’ll be presented a menu offering a series of icons: A ship’s wheel, a die, a familiar highlight tag and a share symbol. The last two are somewhat self explanatory, but it’s the first two where most of the fun stuff is.
The ship’s wheel leads you to a section called "Voyager." As that name suggests, this is all about discovery. Google Earth has kinda always been about finding and investigating, but Voyager is about enabling that encouraging that with curated content. Yes, even Google Earth isn’t immune to the current trend for "stories," or in this case, curated tales from around the world (literally). These stories are essentially themed journeys around the planet peppered with rich media such as 360 videos, and Street View (including inside buildings and underwater).
Google partnered with the likes of DigitalGlobe and the BBC at launch to provide some of the more detailed stories, but we’re told these will be regularly updated with new and increasingly more curious adventures. For now, though, the selection of around 40 available looks pretty good, with everything from touring Hemmingway’s favorite haunts to a chance to meet girl muppets around the world (yep, check it out, much fun). Each "voyage" is usually about ten "locations" long, complete with swooping transition around the planet as you progress to the next spot.
Two other features that come along with Voyager, depending how you view it, are "Itineraries" (basically city guides with points of interest), and the option to send a virtual postcard from one of these locations. The postcard feature is unique to mobile (on desktop you’ll just get a share link). A postcard is basically sending an image of a landmark from anywhere on the itinerary. Handy for showing people where to meet perhaps, or sharing a memory with family from a long-forgotten vacation.
Once you’re done diving with sharks or exploring Charles Dickens’ favorite pub, what happens if you run out of things to look at? Well, if you do, first, shame on you. Second the "I’m feeling lucky" feature (represented by the die icon) is for you. Google’s been serving up random webpages with a button of the same name since as long as most of us can remember; Earth’s version is much the same. Click the die, and you’ll be digitally transported to a far-flung corner of the globe where Google will also serve up (the now ubiquitous) "cards" with local trivia.
Google says it has identified about 20,000 locations so far, using its Knowledge Graph to serve up the info on "Knowledge Cards." Much like stories, these locations will also be continually refreshed, so expect the number of random places (deliberately chosen off the beaten track) to grow with time. It’s also possibly the best generator for spontaneous vacations we can think of. Especially if the location it takes you to doesn’t initially convince you, simply click the paper plane icon on the Knowledge Card, and you’ll be whisked off somewhere nearby with more info on that location as well.
Google Earth has always been a great place to quench your wanderlust. As one company representative said "You use Maps to find your way, Earth to get lost." This has never been more true than with the current iteration. In many ways it feels like the beginning of a constantly evolving, flexible version of Encarta. Right now you can’t add your own stories, but you can be sure those types of features will be coming soon enough. When I asked about the potential for a "Google Mars" or a "Google Solar System," one representative gave me the tortured look of someone that’s excited about something, but cannot say (both of these somewhat exist already though don’t forget).
There are, of course, a few things that the new Google Earth is not. And one of those is VR-friendly. It is still available on Steam, but given Google’s investment in this area (DayDream, YouTube 360 etcetera), many hoped that today’s announcement might have had even more of a virtual reality flavor. Alas, not this time, but again, you can be fairly sure this is somewhere on the roadmap.
For now though, Google Earth is growing beyond its position as a desktop curiosity, research tool and data hive, and into the world of original content, discovery and education. The fact that it now lives within your browser is no small thing. It’s Chrome only for now, but Google did say that the base technology (Web Assembly) will soon be fully supported across all four main browsers, at which point you can use Google Earth for web on whatever tickles your fancy.
On mobile you’ll still need to use a dedicated app, but you probably would prefer that anyway. And if you’re worried that the move to a browser tab might mean compromises, don’t be. Google claims about 90-percent of the codebase is the same, no matter how you choose to access it.
via Engadget
Google Earth feeds your wanderlust with ‘Voyager’ stories
The mysqlpump Utility
In this blog, we’ll look at the
mysqlpump utility.
mysqlpump is a utility that performs logical backups (which means backing up your data as SQL statements instead of a raw copy of data files). It was added in MySQL Server version 5.7.8, and can be used to dump a database or a set of databases to a file and then loaded on another SQL server (not necessarily a MySQL server).
Its usage is similar to
mysqldump, but it includes a new set of features. Many of the options are the same, but it was written from scratch to avoid being limited to
mysqldump compatibility.
The Main Features Include:
- To make the dump process faster, it allows parallel processing of databases and objects within databases.
- There are more options to customize your dumps and choose which databases and objects to dump (tables, stored programs, user accounts), using the
—include–* and
—exclude–* parameters. - User accounts can be dumped now as
CREATE USER and
GRANT statements, instead of inserting directly to the MySQL system database. - Information between the client and the server can be compressed using the
—compress option. This feature is very useful for remote backups, as it saves bandwidth and transfer time. You can also compress the output file using
—compress–output, which supports ZLIB and LZ4 compression algorithms. - It has an estimated progress indicator. This is really useful to check the current status of the dump process. You can see the total amount of rows dumped and the number of databases completed. It also reports an estimate of the total time to complete the dump.
- Creation of secondary indexes for InnoDB tables happens after data load for shorter load times.
Exclude/Include:
This feature provides more control over customizing your dumps, and filter the data that you need. Using this feature, you can be more selective with the data you want to dump (databases, tables, triggers, events, routines, users) and save file size, process time and transferring time while copying/moving the file to another host.
Keep in mind that there are some options that are mutually exclusive: e.g., if you use the
—all–databases option, the
—exclude–databases parameter won’t take effect. By default,
mysqlpump will not dump the following databases unless you specify them using the
—include–databases option:
INFORMATION_SCHEMA,
performance_schema,
ndbinfo and
sys.
Values for these options need to be declared by comma-separated listing. Using a “%” as a value for any of the exclude/include options acts as a wildcard. For example, you can dump all databases starting with “t” and “p” by adding the option
—include–databases=t%,p% to the command line.
For users, routines, triggers and events,
mysqlpump has
—include–* and
—exclude–* options with similar usage. Some specific notes:
- Triggers are dumped by default, but you can also filter them using the
—include–triggers/
—exclude–triggers options - Routines and events are not dumped by default, and need to be specified in the command line with
—routines and
—events, or the corresponding
—include and
—exclude options - Keep in mind that if a stored procedure and a function have the same name, then include/exclude applies to both
Parallel Processing:
This feature allows you to process several databases, and tables within the databases, in parallel. By default,
mysqlpump uses one processing queue with two threads. You can increase the number of threads for this default queue with
—default–parallelism. Unless you create additional queues, all the databases and/or tables you elect to dump go through the default queue.
To create additional queues you can use the
—parallel–schemas option, which takes two parameters: the number of threads for the queue and the sub-set of databases this queue processes. As an example, you could run:
|
mysqlpump —include–databases=a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h —default–parallelism=3 —parallel–schemas=4:a,b |
so that schemas c, d, e, f, g and h are processed by the default queue (which uses three threads), and then tables from schemas a and b are processed by a separate queue (that uses four threads). Database names should be included as a comma-separated list:
|
$ mysqlpump —parallel–schemas=4:example1,example2,example3 —parallel–schemas=3:example4,example5 > examples.sql Dump progress: 0/1 tables, 250/261184 rows Dump progress: 24/30 tables, 1204891/17893833 rows Dump progress: 29/30 tables, 1755611/17893833 rows Dump progress: 29/30 tables, 2309111/17893833 rows ... Dump completed in 42424 milliseconds |
User Accounts:
User accounts can be dumped using this tool. Here’s a comparison of our Percona Tool
pt–show–grants versus
mysqlpump to check their differences.
By default,
mysqlpump doesn’t dump user account definitions (even while dumping the MySQL database). To include user accounts on the dump, you must specify the
—users option.
Here’s an example on how use
mysqlpump to get only user accounts dumped to a file:
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 |
$ mysqlpump —exclude–databases=% —exclude–triggers=% —users — Dump created by MySQL dump utility, version: 5.7.8–rc, linux–glibc2.5 (x86_64) — Dump start time: Thu Aug 27 17:10:10 2015 — Server version: 5.7.8
SET @OLD_UNIQUE_CHECKS=@@UNIQUE_CHECKS, UNIQUE_CHECKS=0; SET @OLD_FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=@@FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS, FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0; SET @OLD_TIME_ZONE=@@TIME_ZONE; SET TIME_ZONE=‘+00:00’; SET @OLD_CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT=@@CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT; SET @OLD_CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS=@@CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS; SET @OLD_COLLATION_CONNECTION=@@COLLATION_CONNECTION; SET NAMES utf8; CREATE USER ‘msandbox’@‘127.%’ IDENTIFIED WITH ‘mysql_native_password’ AS ‘*6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747’ REQUIRE NONE PASSWORD EXPIRE DEFAULT ACCOUNT UNLOCK; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO ‘msandbox’@‘127.%’; CREATE USER ‘msandbox_ro’@‘127.%’ IDENTIFIED WITH ‘mysql_native_password’ AS ‘*6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747’ REQUIRE NONE PASSWORD EXPIRE DEFAULT ACCOUNT UNLOCK; GRANT SELECT, EXECUTE ON *.* TO ‘msandbox_ro’@‘127.%’; CREATE USER ‘msandbox_rw’@‘127.%’ IDENTIFIED WITH ‘mysql_native_password’ AS ‘*6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747’ REQUIRE NONE PASSWORD EXPIRE DEFAULT ACCOUNT UNLOCK; GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP, INDEX, ALTER, SHOW DATABASES, CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES, LOCK TABLES, EXECUTE ON *.* TO ‘msandbox_rw’@‘127.%’; CREATE USER ‘rsandbox’@‘127.%’ IDENTIFIED WITH ‘mysql_native_password’ AS ‘*B07EB15A2E7BD9620DAE47B194D5B9DBA14377AD’ REQUIRE NONE PASSWORD EXPIRE DEFAULT ACCOUNT UNLOCK; GRANT REPLICATION SLAVE ON *.* TO ‘rsandbox’@‘127.%’; CREATE USER ‘furrywall’@‘localhost’ IDENTIFIED WITH ‘mysql_native_password’ AS ‘*AB8D50A9E3B8D1F3ACE85C54736B5BF472B44539’ REQUIRE NONE PASSWORD EXPIRE DEFAULT ACCOUNT LOCK; GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO ‘furrywall’@‘localhost’; CREATE USER ‘msandbox’@‘localhost’ IDENTIFIED WITH ‘mysql_native_password’ AS ‘*6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747’ REQUIRE NONE PASSWORD EXPIRE DEFAULT ACCOUNT UNLOCK; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO ‘msandbox’@‘localhost’; CREATE USER ‘msandbox_ro’@‘localhost’ IDENTIFIED WITH ‘mysql_native_password’ AS ‘*6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747’ REQUIRE NONE PASSWORD EXPIRE DEFAULT ACCOUNT UNLOCK; GRANT SELECT, EXECUTE ON *.* TO ‘msandbox_ro’@‘localhost’; CREATE USER ‘msandbox_rw’@‘localhost’ IDENTIFIED WITH ‘mysql_native_password’ AS ‘*6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747’ REQUIRE NONE PASSWORD EXPIRE DEFAULT ACCOUNT UNLOCK; GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP, INDEX, ALTER, SHOW DATABASES, CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES, LOCK TABLES, EXECUTE ON *.* TO ‘msandbox_rw’@‘localhost’; CREATE USER ‘root’@‘localhost’ IDENTIFIED WITH ‘mysql_native_password’ AS ‘*6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747’ REQUIRE NONE PASSWORD EXPIRE DEFAULT ACCOUNT UNLOCK; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO ‘root’@‘localhost’ WITH GRANT OPTION; CREATE USER ‘testuser’@‘localhost’ IDENTIFIED WITH ‘mysql_native_password’ AS ‘*6E543F385210D9BD42A4FDB4BB23FD2C31C95462’ REQUIRE NONE PASSWORD EXPIRE INTERVAL 30 DAY ACCOUNT UNLOCK; GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO ‘testuser’@‘localhost’; SET TIME_ZONE=@OLD_TIME_ZONE; SET CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT=@OLD_CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT; SET CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS=@OLD_CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS; SET COLLATION_CONNECTION=@OLD_COLLATION_CONNECTION; SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=@OLD_FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS; SET UNIQUE_CHECKS=@OLD_UNIQUE_CHECKS; — Dump end time: Thu Aug 27 17:10:10 2015 Dump completed in 823 milliseconds |
As you can see, above the tool makes sure the session uses known values for timezone and character sets. This won’t affect users, it’s part of the dump process to ensure correctness while restoring on the destination.
Comparing it with
pt–show–grants from Percona Toolkit, we can see that
mysqlpump dumps the
CREATE USER information as well. The statements produced by
mysqlpump are the right thing to run to recreate users (and should be the preferred method), especially because of the
sql_mode NO_AUTO_CREATE_USERS. If enabled, it renders
pt–show–grants useless.
Here’s an example of
pt–show–grants usage:
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 |
$ pt–show–grants —host 127.0.0.1 —port 5708 —user msandbox —ask–pass Enter password: — Grants dumped by pt–show–grants — Dumped from server 127.0.0.1 via TCP/IP, MySQL 5.7.8–rc at 2015–08–27 17:06:52 — Grants for ‘furrywall’@‘localhost’ GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO ‘furrywall’@‘localhost’; — Grants for ‘msandbox’@‘127.%’ GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO ‘msandbox’@‘127.%’; — Grants for ‘msandbox’@‘localhost’ GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO ‘msandbox’@‘localhost’; — Grants for ‘msandbox_ro’@‘127.%’ GRANT EXECUTE, SELECT ON *.* TO ‘msandbox_ro’@‘127.%’; — Grants for ‘msandbox_ro’@‘localhost’ GRANT EXECUTE, SELECT ON *.* TO ‘msandbox_ro’@‘localhost’; — Grants for ‘msandbox_rw’@‘127.%’ GRANT ALTER, CREATE, CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES, DELETE, DROP, EXECUTE, INDEX, INSERT, LOCK TABLES, SELECT, SHOW DATABASES, UPDATE ON *.* TO ‘msandbox_rw’@‘127.%’; — Grants for ‘msandbox_rw’@‘localhost’ GRANT ALTER, CREATE, CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES, DELETE, DROP, EXECUTE, INDEX, INSERT, LOCK TABLES, SELECT, SHOW DATABASES, UPDATE ON *.* TO ‘msandbox_rw’@‘localhost’; — Grants for ‘root’@‘localhost’ GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO ‘root’@‘localhost’ WITH GRANT OPTION; GRANT PROXY ON ”@” TO ‘root’@‘localhost’ WITH GRANT OPTION; — Grants for ‘rsandbox’@‘127.%’ GRANT REPLICATION SLAVE ON *.* TO ‘rsandbox’@‘127.%’; — Grants for ‘testuser’@‘localhost’ GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO ‘testuser’@‘localhost’; |
Some Miscellaneous Notes:
- One of the differences with
mysqldump is that
mysqlpump adds
CREATE DATABASE statements to the dump by default, unless specified with the
—no–create–db option.- There’s an important difference on the dump process that is closely related: it includes the database name while adding the
CREATE TABLE statement. This causes a problem when trying to use the tool to create a duplicate.
- There’s an important difference on the dump process that is closely related: it includes the database name while adding the
Related
Classic Mac OS and dozens of apps can now be run in a browser window
-
An in-browser version of System 7.
-
Take a tour of the days when you needed to manually fuss with memory and cache sizes.
-
MacPaint. There was a time when this was really impressive!
-
Typing up my magnum opus in MacWrite.
-
Playing some Solitaire.
-
Silicon Beach’s original 1986 Dark Castle game.
-
Getting some Lode Runner.
-
Developing the next big app in Microsoft Basic.
The Internet Archive is a great resource if you’re looking to play with older PC apps and operating systems—thanks to a JavaScript port of DOSBox, you can run stuff like Mario Teaches Typing and Windows For Workgroups 3.11 right in your browser, giving you a quick and easy way to get some idea of what it was like to use a computer 20 or 25 years ago.
Now, the Internet Archive has some retro computing offerings from the other side of the great Mac/PC divide. Using a version of the PCE PC Emulator that has been ported to JavaScript, people interested in the Mac’s early years can run System 6, System 7, and dozens of old apps, including MacWrite and Microsoft Basic using their browsers.
The hardware that this old black-and-white software would have run on is wholly different from modern Macs—it hearkens back to the pre-PowerPC days when Macs still used the same Motorola 68000-series processors as the original 1984 Macintosh. Even so, the user interface is recognizable even if you’ve only used Macs in our current post-Mac OS X, post-Intel era. Showing mounted volumes on the desktop, the idea of a “trash” can that could hold deleted files until you were sure you wanted to delete them, and the persistent menu bar complete with Apple logo are all still hallmarks of modern Macs. Names like “Finder” have also persisted, even though the modern-day Finder has little in common with the one in System 6 or 7.
The Internet Archive’s sampling of Mac software can be found here. Take a look, even if only to appreciate anew how much more capable today’s computers are compared to what we had three decades ago.
via Ars Technica
Classic Mac OS and dozens of apps can now be run in a browser window
Dilbert 2017-04-15
Getting Started In Long Range Shooting
By Tom McHale
Tom gives us an introduction to the sport and what it takes getting started in long range shooting.
USA –-(Ammoland.com)- What’s hotter than Captain Gastroplasty at a Texas Chili Cookoff? Long range shooting that’s what!
While we throw around the term ͞Long Range Shooting like it’s a discrete sport, it’s really a collection of multiple gun games of varying styles. Sure, they all have extended distance in common, but beyond that, the styles diverge. At risk of offending everyone, I might describe long range shooting as two general types of disciplines.
- The methodical and precise ballistic science game. That would be NRA High Power F-Class Shooting.
- Running, gunning, and math-based winging it. That would be PRS or Precision Rifle Series.
So let’s clarify those two very broad and probably unfair generalizations by taking a look at these two long range shooting sports. Just to be clear right up front, both rely on shooter skill and consistency, they’re just different regarding which specific skills are most important
Last weekend I had the opportunity to compete in my very first F-Class match. I’ve done lots of long range shooting in all sorts of flat and mountainous conditions out to about 1,500 yards, so I wasn’t overly concerned about my ability to land at least a couple of rounds in the same zip code as the target.
On the other hand, I expected I’d be facing a bunch of grizzled veterans who know this particular game inside and out. As it turned out, both expectations came true.
Getting Started In Long Range Shooting
The match was held at my local shooting facility, Palmetto Gun Club. Carefully checking the online information in advance, I saw the magic words – “Bring what ya got. Come out and shoot!” You see, like most shooting sports, those grizzled veterans like to win, but most of them like to help rookies get involved even more. I quickly determined that there are two classes for NRA Long Range shooting: Open and F/TR. If you choose F/TR, you have to shoot either .223 Remington / 5.56 NATO caliber, and you’re limited to total rifle weight of 18.15 pounds including optics, bipods, and such. You also have to shoot using a sling and/or bipod – no fancy ground-based shooting support devices allowed.
On the other hand, if you want to just give the sport a try and you don’t have a suitable service caliber rifle handy, you can simply enter Open Class. That allows any caliber up to .35 and you can rest your rifle on just about anything.
I have a loaner rifle in from Masterpiece Arms chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor that will shoot a mosquito off a gnat’s elbow, so I chose to enter Open Class. While I could have used a stationary support rifle rest, I simply added a Caldwell Bipod up front, topped the Masterpiece Arms BA Lite PCR Competition Rifle with a Burris Veracity Riflescope 4-20x50mm and proceeded to load up some ammo. I had a couple of boxes of Sierra’s 130-grain Tipped Matchking (TMK) .264 bullets, so I cranked up my press and made a hundred carefully constructed rounds.
Since I hadn’t shot this particular combination of rifle, projectile, and optic before, I did some advance ballistic planning using Ballistic’s AE smartphone app. After entering some basic information about the projectile type, velocity from the MPA rifle, scope height, zero distance, and atmospheric conditions, I determined that my bullet would drop exactly 14.89 feet over the 800-yard distance set for this day’s competition. That works out to exactly 21.33 minutes of angle. On the Burris scope, 85 clicks brought me pretty darn close.
The elevation or bullet drop part is pretty easy to deal with because gravity is constant. If you put in good numbers, a ballistic program will tell you exactly what adjustments need to be made to get you close to the bullseye, at least vertically. You’ll have to fire a few test shots to account for slight variances in scope precision and such, but that’s fairly easy and unless you have a terrible scope, you’ll be close to start.
The hard part is accounting for the wind. Your ballistic program can also tell you how much your specific bullet will drift based on the wind direction and speed. As an example, the load I used at 800 yards will drift just under 53 inches SIDEWAYS with a 10 mile per hour crosswind. Fortunately, we only had to deal with one to three mile per hour winds coming from the ten to eleven o’clock position that day. As the wind varies shot to shot and can be completely different at any point between shooter and target, wind estimation ability is the skill that separates the rookies from the pros. Even with our very mild conditions, the wind alone could move your shot about three inches give or take. When shooting rifles capable of four-inch groups at 800 yards, that puts the burden on the shooter as much as the equipment. Not only does your sight picture and trigger press technique need to be precise and consistent, you need to make a really good guess at what the wind will do to each and every shot.
So let’s try to sum up the key points of the NRA F-Class long range sport. You can get started with most anything you already have because the Open Class has a lot of leeway regarding rifle and caliber. You can even start with store-bought ammunition. Got sandbags or a bipod? Then you’re good to go from a shooting rest standpoint. Since F-Class deals with known ranges and target size, many repeat competitors quickly start to optimize equipment. To get the most out of your rifle, you’ll soon want to reload your own cartridges. You’ll also want a purpose-built scope that offers somewhere above 20x magnification with great clarity and a fine reticle for precise shot placement. Oh, NRA F-Class doesn’t allow muzzle breaks or suppressors, so be sure to just use a standard thread protector if your rifle has a threaded barrel.
If your rifle has a flash suppressor installed, I doubt anyone will give you any trouble, but you might find your rifle will shoot better groups if you remove it.
The bottom line getting started In long range shooting is this: If you enjoy precision and tinkering, F-Class will be a great sport for you. While skill is always the ultimate determinant for collecting medals, the right equipment will help you get there too. At your first match, you’ll see all sorts of accuracy enhancing gizmos. If you enjoy playing the equipment game, then F-Class might be for you.
The other major style, Precision Rifle Series, is a bit more like tactical golf with time limits. Competitors have to engage multiple targets at varying distances, and from unusual positions, while the clock is running. You might find yourself shooting from a rooftop or from behind common environmental barriers. While you have to have equipment up to the task and know your ballistics, there’s a lot more emphasis on speed and adaptation to different target scenarios.
We’ll take a closer look at PRS in a future article.
About
Tom McHale is the author of the Insanely Practical Guides book series that guides new and experienced shooters alike in a fun, approachable, and practical way. His books are available in print and eBook format on Amazon. You can also find him on Google+, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
This post Getting Started In Long Range Shooting appeared first on AmmoLand.com Shooting Sports News .
via AmmoLand.com Shooting Sports News
Getting Started In Long Range Shooting
Ohio State salary database for year-end 2016
Here is our annual update on Ohio State University salaries.
Some notes on the data:
You can search by employee name, department, title, total pay or year. Searches by dollar amount will return any results at that level and higher. The results column you likely want is Total, which includes pay from all sources. The Regular column, according to OSU, "represents the pay that comes from base salary. It represents standard hours (full-time equivalent) worked plus paid leave taken according to our…
via Columbus Business News – Local Columbus News | Business First of Columbus
Ohio State salary database for year-end 2016
Ohio State salary database for year-end 2016
Here is our annual update on Ohio State University salaries.
Some notes on the data:
You can search by employee name, department, title, total pay or year. Searches by dollar amount will return any results at that level and higher. The results column you likely want is Total, which includes pay from all sources. The Regular column, according to OSU, "represents the pay that comes from base salary. It represents standard hours (full-time equivalent) worked plus paid leave taken according to our…
via Columbus Business News – Local Columbus News | Business First of Columbus
Ohio State salary database for year-end 2016
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Teaser)
Our first glimpse at Episode VIII picks up right where The Force Awakens left off, with Rey on a mysterious island, and hints at her learning to use her powers much like Luke learned from Yoda. But perhaps her role isn’t to be a Jedi, but to restore order to The Force.