Hi, I'm John Costello. Welcome to field targeting shooting, I've been doing it for eleven years,
we're going out to Germany tomorrow to shoot the World Field Target Championships and we're
just not going to be representing team England but Team Wild and Realtree as well.
Field targeting started for me when I was a kid, when I was eleven I started with an
AirArms S200, a really good gun at the time, and from that I did my first winter league
in the following winter because I started in the summer and progressed my way through
the ranks, won some big competitions, starting winning through the grids and then after classics
and then went on to come second in the world, or joint first, I ended up getting beaten
in the shoot off unfortunately but also went on to win the grand-pre series in the UK twice
now. Won the British master and the British champion and I've also done the NAFTA classic
and that was back in 2010 and I've just come back from Spain a few months ago, where I
went and won the Spanish open. It was really cool, it was the first time that anyone had
cleared the course in Spain and doing that was not just nice for me but for the guys
out there to see it as well. I shot the world championships and I came second in 2009 and
I got an 8th in Hungary which was in 2010. Last year I came 4th so what I wanted to do
was go out to Germany to get better luck this year.
So the two most important things about field target, one is getting your equipment right
and getting it to fit you really comfortable, and the second thing is making sure that all
your positions are right. So what I'm going to do today is go through my positions and
show you exactly how I am going to be shooting when I'm in Germany.
Okay so the kit consists of the new Sightron lens, 10-50x60 and with the John Harris side
wheel, which works really well, really smooth wheel. We've got loop hole quick release mount
which means whenever I am traveling I can take the scope in hand luggage because we
all know what baggage handlers are like. I take it separate which makes sure that it
gets there in one piece. I've also got a Steyr barely twist barrel off because one of my
older guns as it's just a little bit better with, you don't have to clean it as much which
for me is great because I'm not the type of guy who likes to clean things. We've got the
woodwork, this is all custom stock, we've the pistol with the cheek-piece and the for-end
the fore-end's been made a bit longer just so for, you know, uphill, downhill shots,
you get a better traction on the gun. And the gun itself is the new FT LG100 by Steyr
and I prefer this to the older just because of the cylinder and your chassisis longer
so it puts a bit more weight towards the front of the gun. So for me, standing, I'm locked
out a little bit better and it just feels a bit more comfortable, feels a bit steadier
for me. Butthook, we've got an Anschutz 456 and we've also got an offset backend, and
an offset pistol grip as well. And it will also push the trigger off to one side as well,
just so you can bring the weight of the gun more centrally over yourself. Just means you
get a bit better balance, not just in your sitting positions but standing positions as well.
So this has been done by Hydra Graphics in New York and I picked the Realtree AP snow
design and it looks really nice, it being white as well it might reflect a little bit
more of the heat which is why I don't think we have much, if anything, on the scope out
in Spain. The rest has all been painted by Hydra Graphics as well, they did a nice tangy
orange. Some say it's a little bit camp, I like it but yeah, he's painted all that out
for us and I think it looks pretty cool.
Okay so this is my kit and I've talked you through that now. Now I'm going to show you how I shoot it at Ebern.
Okay you've now seen the gear, you've seen the extra equipment I use in my positions
so tomorrow we're off to Germany. You'll follow it step by step and see how we're getting
on. There's gonna be daily updates as well so keep yourself looking on Team Wild TV and
see how things are going and see if I can put all this into practice.
No pressure!