Two steps up, and a long flat stretch before each one

This shooter's standing didn't climb in a smooth line. It went up in two steps, with long plateaus in between where the average barely moved and single sessions swung by a point or more per shot. Those plateaus weren't wasted. The SCATT history shows the bad days getting better before the average did.

Steps, not a slope

Each dot is one session's points per shot. The line is the running median of 15 sessions. The shaded bands are the three levels.

• First plateau, July 2025 – February 2026: 64 sessions over 7½ months. The average stayed at 8.36, and single sessions ran anywhere from 6.7 to 9.2. On the score alone, this looks like no progress at all.
• First step, March 2026: up to about 9.0 within a few weeks. It came when the shooter changed to a scope with a larger reticle, and started taking the rifle down 2–3 times per 10 shots instead of almost never.
• Second plateau, March – July 2026: 56 sessions at 8.95, flat again for five months.
• Second step, August 2026: up to 9.23, with no equipment change. It came as practice picked up, to 22 and 35 sessions a month in August and September, against 4–8 a month earlier in the summer.

Waves inside each plateau

The average only tells part of the story. Look at the spread of sessions at each level:

• The floor rose fastest. The best session gained 0.75 points per shot from the first plateau to the third. The worst gained 2.0.
• The waves got smaller. The session-to-session swing dropped by almost half. Consistency improved even while the average sat still.
• A bad session is part of the plateau. The low points sit right next to good ones, week after week, and they never set the trend.
• The bad days carried the signal. The clearest early sign of improvement was the worst sessions getting better. A history with the bad days left out would have hidden exactly that, which is why a report needs every session, not a selection.

The hold moved the same way

Each dot is one session's median hold: how far the aim point wandered in the last second before each shot. Lower is steadier. The line is the monthly median.

• The hold sat at about 2.3 MOA for ten months, then dropped to 1.7 in one step, then kept easing to about 1.5.
• After each step it didn't fall back. Each new level became the starting point for the next stretch of work.

Trying something new on a plateau

During the second plateau the shooter started coming onto the target a different way, down from above, alternating with settling first. These are every record shot of one session in each style, over the last 3 seconds. Colours follow SCATT: green from 3 s to 1 s before the shot, yellow from 1 s to ¼ s, blue for the last quarter second, red for the follow-through, and a grey dot at the shot. Up is high.

• From above (33 sessions since July): the rifle comes down onto the target from 6–15 MOA high, and the shot goes about 5 s after the rifle comes up. 9.19 points per shot.
• Settled first (33 sessions): the rifle settles in the middle before the shot, about 7 s after it comes up. The hold looks steadier (1.45 MOA against 1.65), and it scores 9.24 per shot.
• The experiment cost nothing, and the second step came while the shooter was trying it. Without the traces, an approach from above is easy to mistake for a fault.

What gets measured

Levels and steps

Where the running average changed level, how long each plateau lasted, and what else changed at each step: equipment, practice volume, approach.

Floor and spread

The best and worst sessions at each level, and how much sessions swing from one to the next.

Hold

How far the aim point wanders from its own average over the last second before the shot (SD radius).

Takedowns

Approaches of at least 1 s continuously in the 8 ring that ended without a shot.

Approach style

Where the rifle comes from in the last 3 seconds, how long it takes, and what each style scores.

Points per shot

The SCATT app's session score divided by shots. The climb in spring 2025 is partly an off-centre zero being corrected, so the plateaus start from July 2025.