Well, well it’s been an interesting month for me shooting. It started with a trip to the famous “Dasher Dome” in northern Tenn. some of you that visit “Accurate shooter” forum mite have seen a write up of my visit I know of At least one from RB did. On the trip I shot the best I’ve shot in five years. Capping it off with two hit on “the Finger” which is I believe is 1” l wide by 7” long at 700 I hit the 2 by 2 bracket holding it 3 times before connecting on the finger, the fox and ground hog at 800 along with hitting the other targets as Randy aka Birdog said I hit everything the Dome had to offer and did it with a 16” “handgun”. then I was ask to shoot some of their rifles I tried to get out of it saying I was allergic to shooting rifles but I gave in I think I shot the two rifle a total 4 or 5 times I guess it was fun one was a 338 Lupua and the other was a 6 BrX shot both at 800 and connected. BUT how does that have anything to do with 1K at Reese Bottom very little other than I was testing an old load that was my go to load years back and a bag added to my rest set up. 1st. Let’s look at the load. After trying to unload a not fired round last match I had bullet stick in the lands I made up my mind I’m no longer going to hard jam my bullet after doing some testing I found a load that I was happy with that was basically just just touching the lands and two tenths lighter in powder this was as I said a load I shot years back. What I found interesting the higher vs. lower charge was 25fps. different in speed so in my mind the lower charge is optimizing the powder burn in my 16” barrel and gives me that “flat spot”
The second was my rest set up. I found that placing a bag under my shooting arm elbow it raised my arm more level with grip hand which I believe lets my arm and gun recoil more consistent and I have less influence on the gun. I had tried this on bigger tables at both the range I test at and the bench at the Dome BUT I was not sure this would work on the smaller tables at Reese Bottom. No way to know until match day! I’m also sporting a new scope a NF competition with fine crosshairs what I have found is with me eyes I’m having trouble seen the crosshairs on dark targets so that’s another wait and see at match time.
Match day
Me and Mr. Allen got there early and I was able to play with the rest set up I was somewhat able to set the rest up with the added bag but really didn’t feel comfortably but hey let’s take it as it goes and adjust as the match wears on it’s not like I’m going to shoot a 200 relay anyway. The more I shot the better it felt
When they got the targets up I was happy that I could see the cross hairs pretty good. So let’s just say I was feeling better about the day
That all changed on relay one
First Sighter a center but high 8 so down one MOA should be no problem Right, wrong next shot exactly were the first shot was. That had me scratching my head thanking the new scope broke. I shot a total of 14 shots with Mr. Wynne watching the screen with me aiming at different spots and all popped up you guessed it 8 in the same place. Then he had some else to shoot my target and yes the some old 8 in the same old spot. So Houston, we have a problem. After the relay was finish it was determined wires were crossed at the sensors which prove that my wires were not crossed.
So now I get to shoot the relay ALL BY MY SELF which is like the whole world has got their eyes on YOU and all ready for you to get finished so they can shoot.
Boom 1st Sighter a 10 followed by 2 9’s then another 10 ok so now thinking let’s get this over with and go for record. First six shots were all 9’s but at least they were in different spots. Finish with a 184 1X but happy to get that relay behind me and know me and my gun was not the problem.
Rely 2
This rely started a little shaky with with three 7’s in my sighters
But when I shoot a relay has two 8’s and still shoot a 189 3X I feel fortunate.
Relay 3
And I have 24 rounds left, I always like to have at lest one spare round just in case so I was ( if you read this far leave a commit) limited to 3 sighters and they went 9 10 9
And the first shot for record was an X so take you time and drive this bus
And I drove it to my best relay of the day even with one 8 I finish with a 190 2X
All in all I saw some improvement today and also saw something’s to work on which is also good. Very happy to see the somewhat new to us shooters come back to Reese Bottom. These guys have helped bring RB to a new level not only in their shooting skills but sharing their knowledge. I known the V2 is part of the reason but I hope they will become regulars.
Stay safe, and remember 10’s are good but the X is even better. Like always just read this as a story of my day spending time with friend at Reese Bottom it’s also part my mental therapy happing with memory loss issues til next month be safe and enjoy your family