The 2017 Season
The Scores
| Date | Location | Standing | Sitting | Rapid Prone |
Slow Prone |
Aggregate | |
| April 9 | Bonfield | 90-1 | 99-2 | 87-0 | 195-6 | 471-9 | 94.2% |
| April 23 | Bonfield | 97-2 | 99-5 | 97-2 | 199-13 | 492-22 | 98.4% |
| April 29 | Milan | 98-3 | 98-3 | 97-2 | - | 293-8 | 97.7% |
| May 7 | Bonfield | 92-1 | 100-9 | 100-7 | 197-8 | 489-25 | 97.8% |
| May 13 | Bonfield | 194-6 | 200-14 | 197-6 | 200-9 | 791-35 | 98.9% |
| May 27 | Lodi | 99-3 | 99-8 | 100-5 | 183-6 | 481-22 | 96.2% |
| May 28 | Lodi | 191-3 | 199-10 | 192-3 | 381-14 | 963-30 | 96.3% |
| June 10 | Milan | 191-5 | 199-15 | 200-8 | 197-9 | 787-37 | 98.4% |
| June 11 | Milan | 93-1 | 99-3 | 98-1 | 197-4 | 487-9 | 97.4% |
| July 1 | Van Meter | 99-4 | - | 99-5 | 95-2 | 293-11 | 97.7% |
| July 1 | Van Meter | 99-2 | 100-5 | 99-4 | 191-5 | 489-16 | 97.8% |
| July 2 | Van Meter | 189-2 | 199-9 | 196-7 | 194-3 | 778-21 | 97.3% |
| July 4 | Bonfield | 198-7 | 200-13 | 200-15 | 199-7 | 797-42 | 99.6% |
| July 8 | Camp Atterbury | 99-3 | 100-4 | 98-5 | 189-4 | 486-16 | 97.2% |
| July 9 | Camp Atterbury | 97-3 | 99-4 | 100-3 | 192-7 | 488-17 | 97.6% |
| July 10 | Camp Atterbury | 195-4 | 199-11 | 198-7 | 187-2 | 779-24 | 97.4% |
| July 12 | Camp Atterbury | 197-7 | - | 198-12 | 194-7 | 589-26 | 98.2% |
| July 13 | Camp Atterbury | 190-1 | - | 199-14 | 200-11 | 589-26 | 98.2% |
| July 16 | Camp Perry | - | 100-2 | 96-0 | 92-1 | 288-3 | 96.0% |
| July 17 | Camp Perry | 95-2 | - | 99-5 | 95-2 | 289-9 | 96.3% |
| July 18 | Camp Perry | 96-2 | 100-6 | 93-0 | 196-9 | 485-17 | 97.0% |
| July 19 | Camp Perry | 96-4 | - | 97-0 | 95-2 | 288-6 | 96.0% |
| July 20 | Camp Perry | 97-1 | 98-4 | 98-1 | 190-4 | 483-10 | 96.6% |
| July 30 | Bonfield | 95-0 | 100-6 | 100-4 | 199-12 | 494-22 | 98.8% |
| August 7 | Milan | 197-6 | 200-12 | 200-13 | 195-5 | 792-36 | 99.0% |
| August 19 | Bonfield | 195-4 | 200-8 | 198-6 | 198-10 | 791-28 | 98.9% |
| September 2 | Milan | 197-8 | 199-11 | 198-5 | 194-8 | 788-32 | 98.5% |
| September 3 | Milan | 196-2 | 200-14 | 200-8 | 197-6 | 793-30 | 99.1% |
| September 10 | Bonfield | 97-2 | 100-6 | 93-0 | 200-12 | 490-20 | 98.0% |
| September 16 | Bonfield | 197-7 | 199-12 | 198-5 | 199-13 | 793-37 | 99.1% |
| September 17 | Bonfield | 195-7 | 200-14 | 200-8 | 198-11 | 793-40 | 99.1% |
| October 1 | Bonfield | 197-5 | 195-12 | 200-7 | 197-9 | 789-33 | 98.6% |
The Stories
After some experimentation at the end of last season, I have now committed to shooting a scoped service rifle starting this year. As I learned before, all those things that made up my process before will require a fresh examination. Hopefully I can come up to speed quickly and I won't have to throw away the early part of the season. But the reality is that there just isn't enough time to take care of all the little things before shooting starts.
April 9
The temperatures were warm for early April but the wind was gusting. Even though there was no sun, the light was pretty even all day.
Standing was certainly going to test my bore sighting abilities as these were going to be my first shots after mounting the scope. The wind certainly wasn't helping but I concentrated on having a good call so I could begin adjusting the sights. My first shot was called a 10 at 7 o'clock and came up an off paper miss. The pits radioed back that the impact was low so I came up 20 clicks and shot a called 10 at 5 o'clock. The shot spotter came back on the right edge of the frame. I turned the windage knob 25 clicks to the left and my first shot for record was a 7 at 3 o'clock. I was in the black after that except for a really bad shot at the end.
For sitting at least I could use my standing sight settings for a starting point. I came up 6 clicks and left 5 since that is a common change between these positions. My sighters were two 10's while I called the shots closer to the middle. My string was pushed towards the right edge of the 10-ring with one shot just off the line. Just a couple more clicks up and left would have gotten me a clean.
For rapid prone, instead of using a typical come up from sitting of about 10 clicks, I used the come up I used for the scope last year. This one was pretty odd as there were only about five clicks difference back then. This put my large, 10-ring sized group way too low to do me any good and I got nines and eights for my lack of attention to detail.
I had used an aperture cap for the objective lens on my scope in the previous stages. I now took it off for slow prone since I questioned if it was doing me any good. My position didn't feel good either and I shortened my buttstock length after my second record shot. I never really got centered up and my x-count was low. I'll have to work on getting more comfortable in prone and getting my stock and sling corrected.
| Standing: | 90-1 |
| Sitting: | 99-2 |
| Rapid Prone: | 87-0 |
| Slow Prone: | 195-6 |
| Aggregate: | 471-9 |
April 23
This was a really nice day to shoot. Perfect temperatures with plenty of sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. We did have a little breeze for the whole day that was mostly in our faces. I had adjusted my zero from last match and now the scope knobs were set so my zeros were only a few clicks away from the displayed zero position.
The breeze didn't really affect my hold in standing. I think my hold still would have been sub-par even if it was dead calm and the gun really only settled on target on one shot. Where it did affect me though was in my shot timing. The timing of mounting the gun, approaching the target, and breaking the shot. On some shots I had to wait out the wind, on others I could start whenever I wanted. The trigger control was fair but it was hard to tell since I've been away from the rifle for so long.
I was much more confident for sitting simply because I had something resembling a zero. What hurt that confidence was the wobble I was seeing through the scope. It wasn't huge, but still a little disconcerting as there was too much pulse transmitted to the sights. The rifle felt tight but afterwards I was considering loosening my sling a little just to see if that would make any difference. My group was towards 7 o'clock and certainly small enough for a clean except for a wild nine that was on the edge of the black.
My rapid prone position felt better than it has in a while. I only used my glove and the rifle didn't feel like it was dropping. The problem, though, was that with each shot the sling was pulling the rifle to the left and consequently brought the magazine in contact with the side of my support arm. Since the magazine can't go through my arm, the rifle began to twist around. As I worked my way through the string I could see and feel the rifle canting. The result was a very narrow group starting in the center of the X-ring and going out to the edge of the 9-ring towards 2 o'clock. Part of this misplacement was also a zero that was too far to the right.
After the canting in the rapid, I was really trying to avoid this in slow prone. I set up my position to keep the magazine from touching the side of my arm and watched the horizontal line of the reticle to see if it was running through the adjacent targets. The rifle position made me feel like my head was tilted to the right but it seemed to work. I used a glove and a mit and for some reason, my hand was snug against the sling swivel. This wasn't the case last year. The rifle felt solid in my shoulder and no sling adjustments were necessary. I shot a nine on the right for my first sighter and kept coming over to the left the next few shots. With the scope I could discern the shot breaks so much better and while I didn't call many X's, they were showing up on the target. Things went well until shot 18 when I lost a nine on the left side right after I shot an X. With no sight changes my next shot was back in the X-ring.
| Standing: | 97-2 |
| Sitting: | 99-5 |
| Rapid Prone: | 97-2 |
| Slow Prone: | 199-13 |
| Aggregate: | 492-22 |
April 29
The weather forecast didn’t look good for the
entire weekend as I drove out for this match. When morning came the
skies were dark, the winds were active, and it was quite chilly. We
started shooting in the hopes that we could get the entire course in
before the rain came. Unfortunately, it started raining as we were at
the 300 yard line and we decided to stop things there.
It was in the 40's this morning for standing and I didn't want to take off my winter coat to put on my shooting jacket. I don't really care to shoot in the cold but I muddled through it. My hold was about the same size as it has been so far this season. That is, not terrible but not great either. My NPA seemed good though and it didn't take a lot of effort to bring the sights to the target, at least at the beginning. My first two record shots were X's and I didn't drop any points until shot 7. I felt like I was running out of time for the last shot and let it go before I was ready and paid the price.
My takeaway in sitting was that I was muscling the gun too much. It seemed like the reticle wanted to drift to the right and I was pulling it back into the middle. Part of this was that the rifle felt like it was on my right side instead of in front of me and my head was leaning on the right side. Predictably, the group was on the right side. It would have comfortably fit inside the 10-ring if it was centered.
The rain had begun to fall as my relay went to the line for rapid prone. There was only so much I could do to keep my gear dry but it was a lost cause. My main concern was my rifle scope as I am not sure how well it will hold up to these conditions. My position showed just a little bit of cant as I am still trying ways to eliminate it completely. I called my first sighter at the bottom of the X-ring and it came up just off the 10-ring at six o'clock. After coming up two clicks, my second sighter had the same elevation as the first. I just left the sights alone for the string because I wanted to see if the group would wind up in the same place. It was a little higher but not much with three 9's down low.
| Standing: | 98-3 |
| Sitting: | 98-3 |
| Rapid Prone: | 97-2 |
| Aggregate: | 293-8 |
May 7
There was a cool start to the morning but the sun was out all day and that brought the temperatures to a comfortable level. It was decided to run only two relays and to set up on every other target. This wouldn't bother me too much except I was given the radio to call the line while I was shooting. So I had to yell out the range commands when I was in position as well as call for target marks.
There was a little breeze for standing but it was having the radio that broke my concentration. I was thinking more about what was going on around me than I was about my shooting fundamentals. My hold was certainly too big and the reticle never really settled. My NPA was too low so I had to spend far too much time bringing the rifle up to the target.
After some sitting dry-fire work this week, I went into this stage with the buttstock the same length as I have in standing. My position felt good but it was definitely different than how I worked on it at home. As I was firing the string I noticed that at least half the shots were breaking when the dot was sitting right in the middle of the black. This tells me that not only was my NPA good, my trigger control didn't yank the sights away from the target. A lot of times I shoot a rapid string with a certain cadence. This means that I am pulling the trigger based on a particular rhythm instead of based on sight picture. The consequence is that I am letting shots go when the sights are not correctly aligned. I need to be more disciplined in deciding when to fire.
I decided to go back to the mit and glove combination for rapid prone. Even thought the mit isn't as grippy as the glove by itself, I feel that the larger volume of material at the end of my arm provides an advantage when I can get my hand out to the sling swivel. My sighters were on call. The string felt alright and I was careful about the shots I was breaking. I took my time, focused on the reticle, and only let the shot go when the dot was right in the middle of the black.
To avoid a cant in slow prone, I found myself rotating my head clockwise over the stock. That put my eye behind the ocular lens and my cheek firmly against the stock. Initially, I just started shooting without much thought to the conditions. Early on I lost two points to a wind that was mostly in my face but would still move left and right.. So I would watch the mirage in the spotting scope and then favor with the rifle scope. This worked pretty well and the only other point I lost was due to bad trigger control that yanked the rifle down low.
| Standing: | 92-1 |
| Sitting: | 100-9 |
| Rapid Prone: | 100-7 |
| Slow Prone: | 197-8 |
| Aggregate: | 489-25 |
May 13
I was running today's match so that made things a lot more hectic. The weather was going to be great so we had a very good turnout. With some late entries I was delayed getting out to the firing line to get things started. That put everything behind and I felt like I was slowing everyone down.
By the time I got up to the line for standing, I already felt very rushed. My body was shaking and I couldn't relax. During prep my hold was really big and it was difficult get the gun to settle. The reticle was moving all over the target and in my first 5 shots I had four 9's. As I was shooting I was able to focus more and more on my process and I felt more comfortable. As I relaxed, my hold got smaller, but it was still bigger than what I wanted.
My wobble in sitting was very disconcerting. I tried to get some kind of stability during prep but I was stuck with what I had. Because of all that extra movement, I had to be really careful about when to break each shot and make sure that the dot of the reticle was in the middle. Not only that, but I had to concentrate on just squeezing the trigger. My first string had six X's but there was one 10 that was right on the line. The second string was just as wobbly as the first but I actually shot this one faster except for the last couple of shots.
I am starting to see a challenge in my rapid prone that is difficult to fix. In each string I have the tendency to hold my breath for far too long. It might be a function of the enhanced ability to see through the scope, but I am breaking shots much faster and not taking the time to breathe. I get to a point just past the half-way point in the string where I feel like I'm running out of air. Today this was more of a problem on the first string than the second but I need to find some way to take in air while not feeling like I'm running out of time.
In slow prone I have the opposite problem from rapid prone. I can see so much better that I am afraid of letting the shot go. This happens a lot in standing but now it happens in prone. I see the wobble and I am afraid of taking the shot because I think I will not break it when the dot is exactly in the middle. It worked out fine today but I need to have a system where I fire within my wobble and I'm not thinking about it so much.
| Standing: | 194-6 |
| Sitting: | 200-14 |
| Rapid Prone: | 197-6 |
| Slow Prone: | 200-9 |
| Aggregate: | 791-35 |
May 27
Today's team match for this weekend's Regional and we're shooting on electronic targets all weekend. They worked much better than they did last year. There were six of us there so we split up into two three-man teams. That way we could do some experimenting even though the target system won't let us pair-fire.
My fundamentals were decent for standing. There was the usual chit-chat with the coach but today we were talking about how the hole on paper did not match the shot on the display screen. I did notice that whenever I put the buttplate in my shoulder and brought the gun down to the target, it seemed like the buttplate was in a different spot. The placement felt different from shot to shot. On some shots I could feel the butt start to slowly slide out of my shoulder.
Sitting is now becoming an exercise in wobble management. I just couldn't find a way to get rid of the movement. I would adjust my leg position and my elbows but the trembling was still there. The string was fired five clicks higher than my normal zero. There was a great group of eight shots on the left edge of the X-ring but I also threw a nine at 11 o'clock.
I made an effort to breathe in rapid prone but got the timing all wrong. I was shooting the string just fine but after the 7th shot I realized I was holding my breath. So I paused to inhale and exhale. I actually don't think I helped myself very much because I still felt like I was out of breath plus now I was worried I was running out of time.
As I was getting ready to shoot slow prone, I noticed something in the image in the scope. If I brought my head down so that I was looking through the lower part of the ocular lens, the horizontal crosshairs seemed to bow downwards from the middle. When I raised my head and looked through the upper part of the lens, the crosshairs bowed upward. I'm not sure what this meant but it told me that I should try to keep my eye in the middle of the lens. I also tried to keep the rifle from canting and the horizontal crosshairs through all the targets. The problem was that none of this averted the disaster that was to follow. With my sighters and first two record shots all around the X-ring, I though I was on track. But then shot three was a 9, four was an 8, and nine was a 7. Afterwards I was in and out with mostly shots out the bottom.
| Standing: | 99-3 |
| Sitting: | 99-8 |
| Rapid Prone: | 100-5 |
| Slow Prone: | 183-6 |
| Aggregate: | 481-22 |
May 28
After overnight rain the weather turned out great for the day. The electronic targets worked pretty well but the biggest problem was that they didn't match my zeros all weekend. This had to do with the way they were calibrated but you really had to pay attention to your sighters. Otherwise, a shot that was called in the middle might be interpreted by the software as way out.
We started at the 600 yard line and after yesterday's train wreck I decided to use my magazine length 77's instead of my 80's. My firing point was a little low in the front and it was tough to get good NPA. As I was laying there the dot would drift to the left with sling tension. The sighters were a little low so I adjusted and my first record shot was just off the X at 2 o'clock. The next two shots were X's and I thought I was good to go. Then the fourth shot was a 7 out the top. I don't know how I can put one out that far and not see it. Without making any adjustments my very next shot was another X. For 22 shots, my windage was only 6 clicks wide but the elevation for a couple shots really hurt me.
For the second slow prone I was trying to be more discerning with each shot and make sure that I was seeing everything alright. I started with the same elevation that I finished with just a few minutes before but my first sighter was on the edge of the 8-ring at 12 o'clock. I came down a few clicks but it wasn't long before the shots were going all over the place. My sight picture looked really clear and I could see the scoring rings on the target but I was shooting elevation 8's. I was getting so frustrated that I wasn't watching mirage and started to lose points because of wind as well.
If I hadn't shot slow prone yet, I would have had more confidence for my rapid prone. But because of the problems at 600 I wasn't really as focused for 300 as I should have been. Poor shooting can be contagious. My first sighter was out at 4 o'clock. I came up three and left three to get a 10 on the left side. My position felt like it was dropping during the string which has been a chronic problem over the years. I tried to at least center the wobble on the target but it would always fade to somewhere else. I did try to breathe more but it never really helped me. The target system missed one of my shots on the second string so I had to shoot another 10 shots.
Now that we were back to the 200 yard line in the afternoon, the wind was present. It was pushing us around and that meant that this was going to be more about strategy than pure holding. In these situations I try to be efficient with my shots and not take too much time in between. I would load and mount the gun so that I could spend the most amount of time finding an opportunity to fire. This takes a lot of concentration and stamina because I spend so much time getting the sights close to the center to only have to start again when the gusts blow me out again. But this is the way for me to find the windows to shoot in. The first half was windier than the second and I did have one eight. On the back half there was lull in the wind from about shot 12 to shot 18 but I felt quite tired by the time I finished.
There was more wobble in my sitting than I have had recently. It just never seemed to want to settle down. As I was shooting both strings I found myself breaking shots on a rhythm that I established rather than where the reticle was pointed. This wouldn't be so bad if my hold was small. But because of the wobble I was squeezing the trigger even if I wasn't pointed in the middle.
| Slow Prone: | 195-8 |
| Slow Prone: | 186-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 192-3 |
| Standing: | 191-3 |
| Sitting: | 199-10 |
| Aggregate: | 963-30 |
June 10
The forecast called for temperatures around 90 today for our state highpower championship. But that wasn't what was on my mind this morning. It seemed like so many people were shooting well recently that I felt like I had to perform at a high level to keep up. Competition can bring out the best performance in people but it can also be a heavy burden.
Standing took me by surprise and I felt like I was behind during prep and the start of shooting. I can normally keep a good rhythm of shooting, loading, and shooting again. But today I would shoot and then have to take a break to catch my breath because I felt overwhelmed. Despite this I didn't drop any points until shot 10. On shot 12 my mind wandered and my body shook right before I fired. This gave me a 5 but I just soldiered on. My hold and NPA were fair but I thought that my trigger control was good and I was breaking shots without pulling the reticle off target.
My wobble in sitting was very disconcerting. I tried to get some kind of stability during prep but I was stuck with what I had. Because of all that extra movement, I had to be really careful about when to break each shot and make sure that the dot of the reticle was in the middle. Not only that, but I had to concentrate on just squeezing the trigger. My first string had six X's but there was one 10 that was right on the line. The second string was just as wobbly as the first but I actually shot this one faster except for the last couple of shots.
I am starting to see a challenge in my rapid prone that is difficult to fix. In each string I have the tendency to hold my breath for far too long. It might be a function of the enhanced ability to see through the scope, but I am breaking shots much faster and not taking the time to breathe. I get to a point just past the half-way point in the string where I feel like I'm running out of air. Today this was more of a problem on the first string than the second but I need to find some way to take in air while not feeling like I'm running out of time.
With my slow prone problems recently I was very apprehensive about today's 600. When the target went down after each shot, I was silently hoping that the resulting shot wouldn't be an elevation 8 or worse. I concentrated on keeping my support arm relaxed and my eye in the same place behind the scope. I would aim by placing the reticle dot over the spotter depending on where it was on the last shot. A spotter in the 10-ring at 4 o'clock meant the dot would go over the upper left edge of the spotter. I wouldn't try to get the dot perfect on the target. I would just put it in the right spot and try to squeeze the trigger smoothly.
| Standing: | 191-5 |
| Sitting: | 199-15 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-8 |
| Slow Prone: | 197-9 |
| Aggregate: | 787-37 |
June 11
Today was a little bit hotter than yesterday and it just felt more oppressive than yesterday. This was a Leg match and I don't shoot very many of these. But I was pretty relaxed for most of the day despite the high temperatures.
The good news about standing was that I only shot one nine. My last shot. The bad news was that I threw a couple of sevens in there as well. In retrospect it was really because of faulty NPA and my inability to recognize it. I kept having to force the rifle to the target. My opportunity to fire kept closing before I could get to the middle. A couple of times I was anticipating breaking the trigger but just like yesterday's five, I took the rifle down mentally and still fired the shot.
After so many years of having to stand up for rapid fire, this seems like a foreign concept now. I should have indexed my sitting position in prep better because as the targets came up and I sat down, I thought I was in the right spot. The truth was, as I was firing the string I noticed that my NPA was slightly to the right. I kept trying to pull the reticle back to the middle. After eight shots a gust of wind came through and I paused to let it dissipate. I then fired my last shots. The group was off to the right with the only nine just past the line.
In rapid prone I just wanted to keep my group small. There was wind at our backs but I thought it was going mostly downrange. I shot the string with my no-wind zero but the group was on the left side and I should have had two clicks right.
After yesterday's slow prone I had a bit more confidence for today. The wind was blowing about 5-10mph, with some gusts maybe a little faster, towards 11 o'clock or closer to downrange. Because of this angle, the mirage was very hard to see through my spotting scope. I felt like the wind was going to be pretty similar to yesterday in that it wasn't going to move me around too much so I put on 5 clicks of right for the first shot and got an X. For each shot I would make sure my support arm and shoulders were relaxed and that my eye was centered in the scope. I'm still not quite sure how to get my eye position consistently. I'm doing it based on cheek placement and image. Things were progressing well and I hadn't dropped any points until shot 11 when I fired a low-right 8. I had stayed on the right side all string because I didn't want to get pushed out if the wind got stronger so I never shot many X's.
| Standing: | 93-1 |
| Sitting: | 99-3 |
| Rapid Prone: | 98-1 |
| Slow Prone: | 197-4 |
| Aggregate: | 487-9 |
July 1
With hot and muggy conditions being the norm in Van Meter in July, today was quite pleasant. It was warm but nowhere near as hot and unpleasant as we've seen in year's past. In the morning we were shooting a 2-man team match.
I spent most of my preparation period struggling to get a good NPA. I would shift and move my feet but nothing seemed to be helping. Then I twisted my torso in relation to my hips. This rotated my NPA to the target and kept it there because of the shooting coat. I would bring the rifle down and the sights just wanted to find the middle. For each shot I stayed disciplined and only took the shots on my terms.
My rapid prone position actually felt good even though I saw wobble in the reticle. I'm still struggling with proper breathing during the string and I held my breath for most of it. The group wasn't spectacular and was just a bit low.
I felt a little rushed in slow prone. My team mate finished his string and then I brought my stuff to the line. I took my time because that's what I'm used to. The timer showed 10 minutes left and I still had to go through prep and shoot 10 shots. That was still enough time but it made me feel like I needed to hurry. My sling tension was probably tighter than I wanted and I should have adjusted it but I just pressed forward. Overall, my mental focus wasn't really on the task at hand and I wasn't dealing with the details like I should have.
| Standing: | 99-4 |
| Rapid Prone: | 99-5 |
| Slow Prone: | 95-2 |
| Aggregate: | 293-11 |
July 1
After the team match this morning we went back to the 200 yard line to start the Leg match.
The afternoon wind was gusting as we got ready for standing. It was going downrange so I didn't correct for it but it was still moving me around. When the lulls provided me with opportunities, I tried to get shots downrange and save time for when I had to wait out the gusts. The part I was surprised by was that all of my shots were inside of call. It felt great but it also felt like I wasn't really in control of my shooting. I let my ninth shot go just a little lower than I would have liked and it was my only dropped point.
When I have to stand up for sitting rapid, I tend to come down in a position that shifts my NPA slightly to the right. I adjusted for this today after I flopped down on my mat and was able to shoot a well centered group.
The wind going downrange didn't leave much to correct for in rapid prone, so I shot straight away. After firing the first shot, I was starting to line up the second one. My finger came completely off the trigger and then started to come back and take up the first stage. It kept coming back and the gun went off before I was really ready. The reticle was a little high but it wasn’t too bad so I didn't think this would hurt me too much. The whole group was high so at least that single shot didn't ruin my day.
By the time we were shooting slow prone I was pretty tired. It was a long day. In an effort to fix whatever problem I am having here, I tried to focus on the reticle dot and break shots when it was sharp and pronounced. My position felt a bit strained as I feel like I'm bringing my head to the right to see through the scope. Despite my efforts I just kept shooting nines. Nothing worse than that but it was still tough to throw away those points after shooting decent stages earlier.
| Standing: | 99-2 |
| Sitting: | 100-5 |
| Rapid Prone: | 99-4 |
| Slow Prone: | 191-5 |
| Aggregate: | 489-16 |
July 2
The weather forecast wasn't promising for the individual today. Rain was predicted and so we hustled along to get all four stages in today before the rain came. Although the last couple relays shot in drizzle, it wasn't too bad.
My problems in standing started with my firing point. It sloped backwards. That meant my rear foot was lower than my forward one. This brought my right hip down and my rifle support felt unnatural. My NPA kept pulling the rifle to the right and as much as I tried to adjust it, it didn't work. I just kept shooting nine after nine.
In prep for sitting the wobble in the sights looked small and controlled. As soon as I loaded the rifle though, it's like my whole body started moving. With all that movement, now I was snatching at the trigger as the dot flashed past the center of the target which just made everything worse. I'm not sure what happened in the second string as the movement decreased a little and I was able to break better shots.
Any wind we had for rapid prone was going downrange and there wasn’t much to speak of. My first sighter was to the left of call so I came right one click and that's what I used for the first string. Shooting it actually felt pretty good. The position was tight and I even tried breathing during the string. This didn't work out very well as I still felt out of breath. My impression after the targets went down was quite positive. Disappointment came quickly though as my group, even though the overall size was just larger than the X-ring, was low and to the right. I came up one and left one for the second string and got a better centered group with two shots out the bottom.
The rain started for slow prone and I knew I was going to get wet. The wind was almost non-existent so I felt like I could get through this without touching my windage knob. I started with the same elevation zero I finished with yesterday. My first sighter was a low nine and I started the process of bringing my elevation up. I then spent a lot of time shooting nines out the bottom. When I wasn't doing that I was shooting 10's at seven o'clock or five o'clock. In fact, only four of my shots were above center and I finished four clicks higher than I did yesterday.
| Standing: | 189-2 |
| Sitting: | 199-9 |
| Rapid Prone: | 196-7 |
| Slow Prone: | 194-3 |
| Aggregate: | 778-21 |
July 4
Temperatures climbed into the upper 80's today and it was a "wet heat". There was a lot of humidity in the air and it felt oppressive. I'm glad I brought a water jug to the range as I drank most of it over the course of the match.
I was a little worried in my prep for standing as my hold wasn't very good. The reticle didn't want to slow its movement and that didn't seem like the path to a good score. Both sighters were 9's but I stuck with it and just kept trying to put the middle of my hold in the center of the target. Trigger control was good though and I also stayed disciplined and brought the rifle down plenty of times when the shot didn't want to go.
For the most part, my sitting position was decent above my legs. From my legs down though, I was getting movement. My sighters were a little off-call and I held my breath for most of the 1st string. That one came up with six X's but a far wide 10. I actually had more wobble for the second string than the first. My calls during the string had a couple shots being on the line. When the target came up it was a very nice group with the 10's just off the X-line.
By the time we got to rapid prone I was looking forward to taking off the coat and sweatshirt. My first string actually had poor trigger control as I didn't feel I was really squeezing. On one shot I actually pulled the trigger through the 1st and 2nd stages. Despite the lack of fundamentals, the group was a 7X clean. My forward arm on the second string felt like it was introducing a little muscle tension which worried me. But I just tried to be patient with the shot and only squeeze it when it wasn't fading to any particular side. I also gave up on breathing correctly and held my breath for a good portion of the second magazine.
My slow prone position felt good today. The rifle was snug and my neck didn't feel strained. I had mounted a different right-hand bolt release on my rifle and I was trying it out. I started with a click left as I thought that was the appropriate correction. After a few shots I fired a nine on the left so I came back to zero. For the rest of the string I was trying to focus on the reticle, put the wobble in the middle of the sighting black, and then increase pressure on the trigger until it went off. On a few shots I caught myself trying to time the trigger release according to the reticle movement.
| Standing: | 198-7 |
| Sitting: | 200-13 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-15 |
| Slow Prone: | 199-7 |
| Aggregate: | 797-42 |
July 8
It feels really weird that driving to the Nationals means not driving to Ohio. Today's match is a two-man team and we had good weather for it with sunshine and light breeze.
The firing points here are very wide with plenty of room for pair firing. The downside is our point was quite lumpy and I had a hard time finding the optimum place to put my feet. In prep my hold was really good. That went away as soon as we started firing. Nothing really bad, but still a wobble size that was only average. My NPA was pretty good because after I mounted the gun and brought it down, I was already in the black and I hadn't taken up the first stage on the trigger yet. The calls were good and I tried to stay disciplined and not force the shot.
Sitting was pretty standard and there isn't much to say about it. I shot straight away, had a centered group, but with a wide 10 on the left side.
We got the wind right in rapid prone but my technique let us down. I had plenty of X's but there were some low shots as well. Normally I am used to firing a shot and then letting the trigger out just enough to reset it. Today I let go of the trigger and pulled it through the first stage until it went off. These aren't usually wild shots but they do make me think about how I handle the shot sequence in rapids.
In slow prone I felt like I threw away the advantage I built up earlier. My position wasn't terrible but I would not call it ideal either. There wasn't a specific thing that seemed bad but the whole string just seemed "off". If I had to point to something, it would be that rifle felt too low. It was like I had to bring my head down a bit to get to the stock. My elevation problems struck hard with nines, then eights, and even a seven. Very frustrating.
| Standing: | 99-3 |
| Sitting: | 100-4 |
| Rapid Prone: | 98-5 |
| Slow Prone: | 189-4 |
| Aggregate: | 486-16 |
July 9
Today was the 4-man team match and the weather was perfect for it.
It was a good day to shoot standing with no wind and clear conditions. My calls weren't as good as yesterday and I would call a 10 at nine and it would be a 10 at two. I could see the reticle fade in a particular direction when the shot broke but sometimes the spotter would be somewhere else. Like yesterday, I came down into the 10-ring before I had taken up the first stage on the trigger. So I had to take time to get the trigger ready. By the time I did this the sights had already moved out and I had to start again. My discipline was still with me and I tried to pick and choose the shots I wanted to take.
Sitting just did not feel tight today. I was getting quite a bit of movement from my legs but I couldn't get rid of it. There was no wind and we shot it straight away but I still wound up dropping a shot out the bottom.
For rapid prone I tried to be slower and more deliberate with my motions to try to avoid pulling through on the trigger. I didn't have that problem but the group was a little big and used up a good portion of the 10-ring.
I now have increased apprehension about slow prone because of the wild shots I have been getting. I started with the same elevation I finished with yesterday but quickly had shots out the bottom. So I started clicking up with the knob. I had a hard time getting good contrast between the dot and the sighting black. Sometimes the dot would disappear and I couldn't tell where it was. On shot 5 I had a corner seven. It was so frustrating.
| Standing: | 97-3 |
| Sitting: | 99-4 |
| Rapid Prone: | 100-3 |
| Slow Prone: | 192-7 |
| Aggregate: | 488-17 |
July 10
Today is the first day of the NRA Championship and there was a 40% chance of rain. The air felt like it was going to rain any minute but the sprinkles held off until we got off the range.
Getting a good NPA in standing was a struggle. It never seemed correct and I kept coming down to the target on the right side. I felt rushed at the beginning because I wasn't quite ready for prep and had to use some of my firing time for that. I had a poor hold and I think that was due to my vertical NPA being too low. This caused me to shoot a lot of low 10's and I had to push to get the sights up to the middle.
We got some wind in sitting and I wasn't going to be able to shoot this straight away. I still shot my first sighter with no wind to see what it was worth and got an X on the left side. So I put on two clicks of right and called the second sighter an X at 4 and that's exactly where it was. During the first string I had the same large wobble that I have had here at Atterbury for the last several days. My shot squeeze was also lacking and nothing looked centered. The second string was just as sloppy and I considered myself lucky that I only dropped one point here. Although I was still mad at myself for losing points sitting.
After a long stint in the pits, we came out for rapid prone. There was rain coming in and the wind was preceding it. It would come towards 7 o'clock for a while then change to full value. I put on 5 right for my first sighter, called a 10 at two and got an X on the left. I put on one more click, called an X and got a 9 straight out the left side. Obviously the wind swung around to full value at that point but it was hard to judge what the predominant condition was. By the time we were ready to shoot our string I was down to the 5 clicks right. At the magazine change I tried to hedge my bets on put on two more clicks of right. During the string I tried to watch the flag in the pits to see if the wind value was decreasing and I would favor based on that. It did and I had to shoot X's on the left side to compensate. This wasn't enough as I lost two nines on the right side. I went with 4 right for the second string and was centered with a tall group. I did notice that on the second string I had a hard time getting the reticle in focus and picking it out of the sighting black.
| Standing: | 195-4 |
| Sitting: | 199-11 |
| Rapid Prone: | 198-7 |
July 12
Yesterday we barely started the matches when storms moved into the area. This brought lots of rain cancelling the day's matches. Today, we would shoot three matches with the additional 600 from yesterday. That would make for a long day in the heat and the humidity.
I was really nervous in standing. I knew I shouldn't be, but I couldn't help it. Thinking about something else didn't help. Breathing didn't help. I just had to push through and shoot my best. My hold was bigger than usual and the reticle would dart around quickly. This made it tough to decide on when to pull the trigger. Because of this, I tried to be very discriminating with my shot selection. If I couldn't get the shot to go, I started over. Sometimes taking the rifle down, sometimes just looking away and breathing before coming back into the target again. Some shots just went quickly but others took several tries to break.
The wind was mostly back in our faces for rapid prone so I didn't have to correct much. Just two clicks of right on the first string and only one click on the second. As I was shooting the first string I noticed a lot of vertical wobble in the rifle. I didn't have time to fix this so I just tried to time the shot to where the dot was crossing the middle. The second string had a better hold but each string had one shot out the bottom.
We were making up the cancelled 600 from yesterday. With the problems I've been having in slow prone, I approached this stage with some doubts. The wind was switching from uprange to full value out the left. I just wanted to get comfortable, focus on the dot, and squeeze smoothly. But it didn't take long for my elevation problems to start. In addition to the 9's, I threw a couple 8's and a 7 into the mix. I was just disgusted with my shooting.
After that trainwreck, I had another slow prone to fire. I could either do the same thing that I was doing and hope for the best or I could blindly change something and hope for the best. I went with the latter. Instead of shooting the 80 grain bullets that I normally do, I shot some magazine length 77's. The result was better with much better elevation. I will have to see if this holds true in the future or if this was just an anomaly.
| Standing: | 197-7 |
| Rapid Prone: | 198-12 |
| Slow Prone: | 187-2 |
| Slow Prone: | 194-7 |
July 13
It has been decided to just cancel the two unfired sitting matches and just shoot today as scheduled. There was a forecast of rain coming in and the skies were overcast all day. In addition the humidity also made things seem warmer.
The incoming weather brought some breeze with it for standing. While this did affect my hold, it was more mental than anything else. My NPA was on the right side of the target and any adjustments weren't working. Or at least not working for many shots. In addition, my trigger control seemed delayed so that my trigger break was behind my hold. In other words, I would decide to shoot and there was a longer-than-normal delay before the gun went off. During this delay I tended to move out of the 10-ring.
The one thing I had on my mind for rapid prone is to not drop any shots out the bottom like I did yesterday. My position felt very good with the rifle tight in my shoulder. Only a couple clicks of right were needed for the limited breeze. My first string had a good group nicely centered in the X-ring but I must have held too high on one shot because that was just off the line at 11 o'clock. When the targets came up for the second string suddenly my NPA was about two targets to the left. I had to adjust and start shooting. As I shot, the smoke from the targets upwind from me would slightly obscure the target through the scope. This made the reticle more pronounced and easier to see.
I decided to go with my magazine length 77's again in slow prone. The overcast skies provided very even light and the wind wasn't changing much. I would center the dot on the target, focus on it, and try to squeeze gently. It was a good feeling to see the spotter come up in the middle shot after shot. Towards the end I had some really low 10's and came up a click of elevation.
| Standing: | 190-1 |
| Rapid Prone: | 199-14 |
| Slow Prone: | 200-11 |
July 16
I arrived at Camp Perry a couple of days ago and had a very relaxed acclimation period. Very unlike the last ten years or so when I had to shoot the day after I came in. This was a new match the CMP was running and since I was already here I gave it a go. While the day was really nice, the match started at 11:00 so we started to get mid-day winds.
The wind was moving along toward 2 o'clock for sitting. My guess was six clicks of left and that's what I put on. During the string I just saw so much wobble in my scope. Part of that was my position but part of it was also the wind pushing me. There was only one shot that broke really well and the sights were waving all over the 10-ring. After I finished and the targets were being scored, the tower announced that there was some timing problem on some targets. That string would be ignored and we would fire again. The refire string felt better than the first but certainly not great. I thought I put the last shot out the bottom but I got a clean out of it. The group was on the left side and I had about two clicks too much wind on.
Based on other shooters I felt like I had to be bold with my wind correction in rapid prone. My guess that 10 clicks was the appropriate amount was too much. Six clicks would have been better. I shot the first two shots having to muscle the rifle into the middle and I held my breath for most of the second magazine. The group was a decent size but my bold correction put me out on the upwind side.
Being too bold in the previous stages hurt me so I wanted to get the wind right for slow prone. I put on 15 clicks of left and got an eight out on the right side for my trouble. I added five clicks, got in the middle but my technique was lacking. I was rushing too much to try to beat the wind I wasn't dressing up the shots to point them at the center. Pretty soon I was losing shots on the left side as the wind let up and I always felt like I was behind the wind.
| Sitting: | 100-2 |
| Rapid Prone: | 96-0 |
| Slow Prone: | 92-1 |
| Aggregate: | 288-3 |
July 17
I usually get very nervous before shooting the President's Rifle Match. There were a few butterflies this morning but overall I was much calmer than I have been in recent years. The weather was great with a few clouds and lots of sunshine.
My firing point for standing was just flat dirt but at least it was flat. I am still having a problem with my NPA being too far to the right and not being able to fix it. I would adjust my feet but the rifle still wanted to be out on that side. Ten shot standing stages really throw me off since the flat 10 minutes makes me feel like I don't have any time. Being discriminating with my shots doesn't work as well when I feel like I have to get the shot away so I can keep moving through the string. My trigger control also wasn't as good today with a slight rise in the sights as the shot was breaking.
Rapid prone is such a critical part of this match because you shoot a third of it in one go. The wind was light, my call was two clicks of right. I had to scoot around a little bit to re-acquire my NPA after dropping into position. Things felt good when I was shooting until the last shot. I released the trigger after shot 9 and then just pulled through and the tenth shot went downrange. The sight picture didn't seem too bad when I shot it though.
After yesterday, I didn't want to go too bold on the wind correction in slow prone. The wind was running out of 1 o'clock so it wasn't worth a lot on the gun. I just wanted to take more time to break good shots. After losing a nine on the first shot, I stayed in the middle through the eight shot. Shot nine came up as an 8 at about five o'clock. I don't remember doing anything that would cause it drop out like that. As I was scratching my head about that one, the mirage let up to almost a boil. I held off on shooting to see if my condition would come back and, after about a minute, it did. When I was ready I sent the last shot downrange but was rewarded with another 8 straight out the bottom. I was so frustrated that I finished that poorly.
| Standing: | 95-2 |
| Rapid Prone: | 99-5 |
| Slow Prone: | 95-2 |
| Aggregate: | 289-9 |
July 18
The weather just keeps getting better and better. Clear skies for almost the entire day. It was warm but not really hot and quite comfortable. A long day but I was off the range by 3:15.
I was actually, kind of, looking forward to standing this morning. My left foot seemed to be a little lower than my right foot and that made my vertical NPA more difficult to acquire. My hold, though, was huge. The reticle was bouncing all over the place and even when I brought it into the middle, it would bounce right out. It was so tempting to pull the sights into the center but I tried to fight that despite the clock in my head telling me I am going too slow. Even though I wanted to be discriminating with my shot selection, my large hold kept me from being able to break clean shots.
It seemed like my wobble in sitting was as large as it was in standing. I tried to have less tension in my support arm and hand but I was still getting pulse from my legs. During the string I was just trying to hold on to the rifle and squeeze shots off when the dot would wobble around in the 10-ring. I thought I broke a few shots high but the group was well centered.
By the time I was going to shoot rapid prone, the wind was starting to come across the range. But it didn't seem to have a lot of velocity so I went with a correction of four clicks right. I took more time during the string since I was trying to avoid dropping shots out the bottom. As I was shooting I became aware of the crosshairs tilting as the rifle was beginning to cant more and more. Towards the end I rushed a few shots since the range was getting quieter and quieter. The group on the target was strung out from the left side of the 10-ring all the way out to a lone 8. I didn't think I missed the wind by that much so was it the cant that put the shots out there?
A lot of my motivation abandoned me after the last stage so I went to shoot slow prone without much worry. The wind was full value now but it seemed pretty constant. My call was 22 clicks or right and that's what I went on with. That was a little too much and I started with a 9. I took two clicks off and kept that correction on for the entire string. The remaining three 9's were all at one o'clock but I'm not sure what I am doing to put them there.
| Standing: | 96-2 |
| Sitting: | 100-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 93-0 |
| Slow Prone: | 196-9 |
| Aggregate: | 485-17 |
July 19
This was a 2-man team match and the weather just seemed hotter than it has all week. It was a short day but I felt run down already by mid-morning.
The way they graded the Viale firing line meant that any firing point I was on, standing wasn't going to be ideal. The area where I put my feet was sloped forward so my front foot was going to be lower than my rear foot and there was nothing I could do about it. It sounds more drastic than it really was but I could definitely feel it. Bringing the sights into the target was a struggle at first and I broke some bad ones. All my points were dropped in the first four shots, and one of those shots was a ten. In the end I had to work too hard for the score that I shot.
I added a click to my elevation zero for rapid prone because I've been shooting a little low recently. Today that seemed unnecessary as my group was high and a little left. My position didn't feel as tight as it has and after the string I found out why. I forgot to extend my buttstock one notch for prone. I was mentally lagging behind today and it just slipped my mind.
Pair firing slow prone is required in this match. With only two team members that makes it hard to watch conditions but we tried. One of us would shoot and the other would be on the scope. The wind wasn't much but it was dropping off while we shot. It decreased to a boil at one point and then reveresed by the time we fired our final shots. I didn't help matters with some elevation error.
| Standing: | 96-4 |
| Rapid Prone: | 97-0 |
| Slow Prone: | 95-2 |
| Aggregate: | 288-6 |
July 20
The National Trophy matches culminate with one of the most important matches I shoot all year, the NTT 6-man team. As a shooter and team captain, I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform and not let down my team mates. It was a warm day with rain forecast for the afternoon.
As I was getting ready to shoot standing, I noticed that my hold was pretty good. That only lasted until I put a round in the gun. Then the hold got a little bigger. Still, it was better than I've seen the last few days. Because of the block time for six shooters, I had plenty of time to stop and restart my shot process. I broke a few without a call because I think I closed my eyes as I fired the rifle.
The wind was picking up all morning and it was pretty strong for sitting. I really couldn't find a good position that kept the rifle still in the 10-ring. Between the wind and my own wobble, my hold was barely the size of the black. If I had a better trigger squeeze this wouldn't have been so bad. But I seemed to squeeze the trigger with the sights on the way out of the X-ring most of the time.
The wind was really blowing for rapid prone and we went on with a correction of 14 clicks left! That's more than I typically use for 600 back home. I guess it must have been the firing point but after each shot I had to reposition my right elbow because it kept coming loose. This made it difficult to let the dot settle in the middle of the target. At the same time the wind was letting up and I tried to favor towards the right side.
I was on the last pair of shooters and the wind was getting lighter now. Since we pair fire, I was in position for a long time so I had to take the rifle out of my shoulder. I tried to focus on the reticle and break good shots but I still had some elevation problems. Even if we missed a wind change by a little bit, my elevation would turn an outside 10 into a 9.
| Standing: | 97-1 |
| Sitting: | 98-4 |
| Rapid Prone: | 98-1 |
| Slow Prone: | 190-4 |
| Aggregate: | 483-10 |
July 30
This match caught me off-guard a little bit. I didn't know about it until the last minute and in some ways I felt like I was just going through the motions all day. I was definately making an effort but my performance wasn't reacting to the environment. It was more like I was throwing out a particular level of performance and seeing what happens. A better way to describe it would be like this. If I hadn't known my score and someone asked me what I shot at the end of the day, I would tell them about mid-480's.
Now that I'm back at home, I felt like I should be able to shoot a good standing. But finding that perfect NPA still eludes me. There is still a lot of bias toward the right side of the target. I tried shifting my torso in my coat because that has helped in the past but it still didn't fix everything. My trigger control today was also lacking. I was deciding to break shots and then there would be a pause until the gun went off. I had fired a couple of 10's and then the sights darted to the left when the rifle shot. I hate it when I am hoping for a nine when the target is being scored in the pits. Sure enough, it was an eight. I kept things in the 10-ring for a while but then it got more and more difficult to get the shot off. I finished the string with three 9's.
I haven't been able to improve my sitting position at all. Every string I shoot seems so loose. It's disconcerting because I never feel like I can break the shot in the middle. The rifle goes off on the fly. That makes it seem like my trigger control is bad because I see the shot go off when the reticle is moving out.
Mentally, I was distracted in rapid prone. I don't know where my focus was, but it wasn't where it should be. Or at least my focus was lagging behind. During sighters, I was still in prep. During the string, I wasn't sure if my elevation should be a click higher. Then, the string was over before I realized it. I was fighting my position a little bit as things were shifting during the string. Despite the distraction, I did try to fire each shot with that dot in the X-ring. If it wasn't there, I paused and let it get there. This is pretty hard to do when you're holding your breath. The group was shifted up and to the left with several shots right on the 10-line.
Determined to have a good showing in slow prone, I made sure that I was confortable and relaxed in position. I took extra time to get things right but I put my spotting scope too close to my arm and after each shot it got moved off of my target. I tried to reposition it after a few shots but just gave up. Only a few shots required me to actually see the location through the spotting scope. On each shot I would put the dot in the middle and only squeeze the trigger. This is what I always do but today I spent extra time on each shot to make sure things looked and felt right. Shot 13 was a wild 9 that was very much on the outside of the ring. I followed this up with an X and not knowing how the nine got there.
| Standing: | 95-0 |
| Sitting: | 100-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 100-4 |
| Slow Prone: | 199-12 |
| Aggregate: | 494-22 |
August 6
I almost gave up on this match because the weather forecast looked rather bad. The day turned out pretty nice with overcast skies in the morning but clearing towards the afternoon. Not too hot and very little wind.
I have found my recent standing performances to be lacking, so I found the opportunity yesterday to work on some NPA and shot discipline drills. That worked out well so I was looking forward to shooting this stage. I kept adjusting myself until my NPA was good before I started shooting. The shots were breaking reasonably well and I didn't need an extraordinary amount of effort to get them to go. Some broke easier and others needed a restart of my shot process. I hadn't dropped any points until shot nine and then I dropped another one on shot ten. Not a lot of drama, just trying to break good shots.
My sitting position felt better today than it has recently. With less wobble, the reticle settled back on target faster and I didn't spend as much time between shots trying to center things up. I did try to only break shots when the dot was in the middle so I didn't force it when the sight picture wasn't there. Because the dot came back into the center and I was shooting quickly, I held my breath for most of each string.
My first rapid prone group felt pretty good. The dot would drop back into the X-ring after recoil and I let it settle as I increased pressure on the trigger. Additionally, I held my breath for pretty much the entire second magazine. I've given up on breathing as I can't seem to get into a good rhythm doing it. The second string didn't feel as good as the first and it took a little more effort to get the dot into the middle.
There wasn't much wind in slow prone and the flags weren't moving very much. But I saw mirage running to the right in my spotting scope so I put on four clicks of left for the first shot. By the time I got back on the scope after the shot, the mirage wasn't really running at all. The wind I could deal with but I was now high on the target even with my normal zero. So I started coming down and pretty soon the shots were out the bottom. Three in the first five shots. That made me come back up and I wound up finishing just a click below my normal zero, but I was very frustrated by my lack of elevation control.
| Standing: | 197-6 |
| Sitting: | 200-12 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-13 |
| Slow Prone: | 195-5 |
| Aggregate: | 792-36 |
August 19
Since having a scoped rifle built, I have always used a UBR buttstock. But this stock has a comb that has a wider flare than my old A2. I wanted to see if this has been making any difference in prone so I used my lower with the A2 stock today. It was a nice day to shoot with very little wind.
The first thing I noticed in standing was how heavy the rifle was. The UBR doesn't hold as much lead as the A2 so I am not used to hoisting so much weight. The extra weight seemed to make a little difference in the amount of movement but not much. From the beginning it seemed like I wasn't really focused on shooting like I should be. After a couple of lucky 10's for sighters, my first three shots were all 9's. My calls were good but I was breaking shots on the move and had terrible trigger control. I would adjust my NPA for each shot but I don't think I really moved my feet enough. After shooting a 9 for my tenth shot, I cleaned the second half.
In prep, I tried to find a sitting position that kept the movement to a minimum. I settled on getting my left elbow a little more forward so it was off my calf. My NPA was good and the first string felt good. The bolt did not lock back after the last shot and I thought I had a malfunction and saved a round. It turns out that using the BAD lever with my older lower, and stiffer bolt catch spring, caused this. My trigger control and hold got worse in the second string as more shots were going while on the move.
Rapid prone was where I first felt the difference in buttstocks. But it wasn't the comb of the stock that made the difference. The extra length of pull that I get from the UBR wasn't there so the buttplate was a little loose in my shoulder. This, combined with the extra weight, slid the stock down in my shoulder. The first group was on the left side but that could have just been because I was fighting the stock looseness. I hedged my bets by coming right two clicks and cleaned the second string.
The shorter length of pull of the A2 was again apparent in slow prone with loose contact in my shoulder. This was coupled with the fact that it was bright, sunny day. The sun made the image in the scope very bright and the dot was now hard to get clear and sharp. I was really straining to get good focus on the reticle.
| Standing: | 195-4 |
| Sitting: | 200-8 |
| Rapid Prone: | 198-6 |
| Slow Prone: | 198-10 |
| Aggregate: | 791-28 |
September 2
A really nice day to shoot for our state service rifle championship. Most of the day was overcast with the sun only coming out at the end of the day. Very little wind and mild conditions. I also forgot my mat at home so I had to borrow one from another shooter on my firing point.
I didn't have to spend a lot of time getting my NPA in standing because it was pretty much there from the beginning. So I could just come into the target without trying to force the rifle there. The other thing I noticed was that my trigger control was really good. From decision-point to shot was almost instantaneous without a lot of extra movement. I hadn't dropped any points in the first 11 shots so my heart started to beat faster and I was more deliberate with each one. My x-count was also better than it is normally.
It seemed so hard to get a good NPA in sitting. I would put the rifle in my shoulder, come down, and look through the scope and I was pointed two targets to the right. Shifting around seemed to help a little bit but it still wasn't the way I wanted. During the first string I wasn't really focused and the shots were breaking to rhythm rather than sight picture. The group was very narrow but strung out to the edge of the 10-ring with one 9. The second string just felt so much better with a smaller hold and better shot decisions. It was also better centered with 7 X's.
My rapid prone position felt good but the NPA was a bit iffy. I held tight on to the rifle but it wanted to drift to the right edge of the 10-ring. At least it was for the sighters. The strings didn't have this problem. The first one had several shots on the very left edge of the 10-ring. That was only barely a clean. The second one had a low group and a couple of nines out the bottom.
Being concerned that a bright image through the scope makes the reticle hard to see in slow prone, I made my own cap for the objective lens. It had a .200" hole in it and I decided to try it today. I quickly found that I could see a clear image only when my head was in a particular position behind the scope. Unfortunately that position was one where my neck was strained, I was uncomfortable, and there was little cheek pressure on the stock. After a couple of 10's for sighters I fired an 8 out the bottom. The whole stage was like me fighting against my position...and I was losing.
| Standing: | 197-8 |
| Sitting: | 199-11 |
| Rapid Prone: | 198-5 |
| Slow Prone: | 194-8 |
| Aggregate: | 788-32 |
September 3
This was the team match for this weekend and the weather was a bit warmer than yesterday. Still pretty calm but we had more sunlight and you probably wanted to keep more hydrated. The fact that we didn't have any sighters put more focus on getting things rights from the beginning of each stage.
I wasn't well balanced in standing. What that means is that instead of neutral muscle tension in my lower legs, I had to exert some tension to balance my upper body with the rifle. While I wasn't muscling the actual rifle, I was kind of doing this through my body. This may have contibuted to my larger wobble. Compounding the problem was the poor trigger control. Shots were breaking at the fringes of my hold rather than the middle and I didn't hit a single X until shot 13.
My first string of sitting felt too uncomfortable to be any good. My position had a lot of wobble in it and I was just trying to get the shots to go off somewhere in the 10-ring. The second string had a buttplate that was a little bit lower in my shoulder. But I think it was the firm cheek pressure on the stock that settled things down and made it easier to keep the dot in the middle.
I shot straight away in rapid prone because any wind was at our backs. I'm holding my breath through the second magazine but it doesn't seem to be hurting me. The first group was well centered but had some scattered 10's. The second one was all between 3 o'clock and 6 o'clock.
We had light wind conditions for slow prone so I was hoping not to have any elevation problems like yesterday. My first shot was a 9 on the left but at least it wasn't some wild corner shot. The stage was pretty uneventful with me just trying to keep the reticle in focus and break good shots.
| Standing: | 196-2 |
| Sitting: | 200-14 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-8 |
| Slow Prone: | 197-6 |
| Aggregate: | 793-30 |
September 10
The weather for shooting just stays fantastic. The skies were nice and clear and the tempertures were quite mild. Still, we only had 8 shooters for this match. A disappointing turnout considering the weather and how many shooters are in the area.
Everything about standing just seemed average. There wasn't one aspect that stuck out for me as being pretty good. The only thing that came close was my calls but that was only at the beginning. About half-way through it seemed like my calls weren't even matching my shots. The result was a mediocre score.
I was fumbling around a lot during prep for sitting to try and get the best position I could. My sling didn't seem right and I wanted to ease the tension in my forward arm. I got a position that I finally accepted even thought it wasn't ideal. As I shot the string I was very deliberate with my shot choice. I would only break on a good sight picture even if I had to wait for the reticle to settle in the middle.
There was nothing that really stuck out for me about this stage that would foreshadow the disaster that it wound up being. The only things I remember were that I may have had a little more sling tension and that the image in the scope was really bright. I called my first sighter slightly on the left side of the X-ring and it was a 10 at the bottom. I didn't really pay attention to this as I felt it was another off-call shot. The call on the second sighter was about the same as the first but the shot was a mid-ring 9 at six o'clock. I didn't want to adjust because I had these zeros that worked all year and it seemed risky to start adjusting them after only two shots. The string was also low with only three 10's at the bottom and the rest nines wedged between the 10-line and mid-ring nine. A real shame as the group was really good and would have been an 8X if centered.
As I started shooting slow prone I kept seeing the spotter come up in the bottom of the 10-ring. To hedge my bets I would either come up a click or break shots in the top of the X-ring to compensate. I finished three clicks higher than my normal zero and now I'm scratching my head wondering about my elevation in prone.
| Standing: | 97-2 |
| Sitting: | 100-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 93-0 |
| Slow Prone: | 200-12 |
| Aggregate: | 490-20 |
September 16
Warm and sunny today. I went through the day not feeling very well. Not really bad but just a little queezy. I just wanted to be done with the day.
As I was shooting standing and analyzing my technique, I couldn't help but think about how average everything felt. My hold wasn't great, N.P.A. was only decent, and the trigger control wasn't as crisp as it could have been. Things didn't start off well with nines for my first two shots so I felt like I was in a bit of a hole. But I had confidence in my ability to just shoot 10's and come out with a decent score.
My sitting position will vary from week to week with some days having more wobble than others. My wobble today was mediocre but my N.P.A. was good and the dot kept coming back to the middle, at least for the first string. On the second string I needed to exert more effort to get centered but the group was mostly in the middle with 7 X's but still a nine at 5 o'clock.
Last week's low group in rapid prone was at the forefront of my thoughts. Repeating that would put me out of the running today. My strategy would be to put on the higher elevation (+30) that would have centered last week's group, even though this is higher than the zero (+27) I have used for a good part of the season. If my first sighter was high, then I would know to come back down to my zero. If it was centered, then I know my zero is shifting and I would use the higher setting and confirm with the second sighter. My first sighter turned out to be a mid-ring 10 at six o'clock. I decided to make a full correction of two clicks and my second sighter was just off the X-ring at 10 o'clock. I was in uncharted territory being this high so I came down one click to +31 and fired my first string. I didn't have the best N.P.A. so I had to shift a bit after loading each magazine. The resultant group was high and favored the left side. There were also two 9's out at 10. I couldn't afford any more mistakes and came down two clicks to +29. This string felt a lot better. The dot was coming back to the target and I didn't have to muscle the rifle before each shot. This group was well elevated, a little wide, but still a clean.
Clouds were passing over during slow prone so the light varied during the string. While this sometimes affected me with iron sights, I'm still not sure about it with optics. I was still concerned about the elevation difference from last week but I only came down one click, and that was after my first sighter was a bit higher than I would have liked it. Shots broke well and there were plenty of X's.
| Standing: | 197-7 |
| Sitting: | 199-12 |
| Rapid Prone: | 198-5 |
| Slow Prone: | 199-13 |
| Aggregate: | 793-37 |
September 17
Our team match today was a humid affair with some rain in the forecast. Even in the morning the air was heavy with moisture and very still so it felt hotter than it really was. We did get some rain later in the day. It didn't last long, but when it did rain it poured down hard.
My standing was encouraging early on as I fired three X's for the first three shots. After that it got more difficult as my trigger control just wouldn't cooperate. There was movement between the decision to shoot and the shot break and I had four 9's in the first half. Then I settled down and focused on just breaking good shots but I had already thrown away points.
Sitting at this point is becoming a routine affair. Get the best position I can, accept the wobble I have, break shots on sight picture rather than cadence, and squeeze the trigger. I still miss some of the basics at times. In the first string, when I shouldered the rifle during the magazine change, the buttplate seemed to be lower than normal which caused me to bring my head down as well. This felt odd but I muddled through it. While the second string felt better I made another basic mistake regarding timing. As I was working my way through the second magazine, other people were done shooting and I got worried that I was taking too long. So I rushed the last couple of shots. The last one especially felt like it was going way out.
Although I try to avoid it, I was muscling the rifle in rapid prone. Sometimes the dot just doesn't want to settle in the middle and it takes a little push to get it there. I know I shouldn't be doing this but when it's time to shoot the string I don't have much choice. Both strings were clean but the groups were still pretty big.
Right as I was about to shoot slow prone it started to rain. A hard soaking rain. All my gear got wet rather quickly including my rifle scope and my glasses. My cleaning cloths were all wet too so I could only smear the water on the various lenses. That made the sighting image a blurry mess. I started to shoot but it was a guessing game as to where the dot was on the target. The rain stopped though, which was fortunate. It gave me a chance to clean off my glasses and the image now was much clearer and I could see the reticle. After that the X's were much easier to come by.
| Standing: | 195-7 |
| Sitting: | 200-14 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-8 |
| Slow Prone: | 198-11 |
| Aggregate: | 793-40 |
October 1
The shooting season is winding down but we're still getting good weather although it was a bit brisk this morning. My shooting today was very much on "auto-pilot" as I was just following the actions that I've ingrained during the year. I was trying out a tinted cap for the occular lens of my scope today. My hope was that this could cut down on the high brightness that I have seen when shooting when the range is bathed in sunlight. This is especially apparent when shooting prone in the afternoon.
Since I started in standing, that was my first view through the scope cap. At first it was a bit odd to have this bright center and a darker version of the rest of the image. It didn't take long to get used to it though. The oddest thing about it was that the tinted portion reflected an image of what was behind me. At one point the line officer was walking behind the line and his reflection showed up on the right side of the scope cap. For a second, it looked like there was someone standing in front of the firing line to the right of me. Early on, shots started to come up left of call so I came right one click. The dot never settled, and it seemed like I was breaking shots with movement. I don't remember shooting many X's in the first half.
In my prep for sitting, the position felt good. There wasn't much movement and the reticle was centered on the target. This still held true during sighters, which were both X's. But during the strings things opened up a bit. On the first one my trigger control wasn't good as I was pulling on the trigger too much instead of squeezing. I didn't really notice the scope cap and just focused on the reticle. The group was well centered with shots dropping out at 4 o'clock. On the second string, I felt the bolt lock back so I thought I was done will all my shots. Then, I looked in the ejection port and saw the bolt about a 1/4 of the way forward with one round half-way in the chamber. I quickly closed the bolt and fired just as the target was dropping down. That last shot barely caught a six up top.
My first sighter in rapid prone was a low 10 and I suddenly remembered the elevation variations I've been having in this stage. So I came up a click and fired an X. The first string felt pretty good. The hold was good as well as the NPA as the dot would come back to the middle. For about half the shots I kept feeling a puff of air in my eye and knew this was gas coming from the receiver. The group was a little on the left side so I came a click right for the second string. This also felt good and I was confident of a clean. While all 20 shots were within the 10-ring, the group sizes made me think a little bit. If they were X-ring sized I wouldn't worry about it, but they were bigger and even if they were perfectly centered I would not have picked up many X's.
When I was setting up for slow prone I had a hard time getting my spotting scope positioned the way I wanted it. Sometimes this is a hit or miss proposition and I just have to settle for it not being perfect and I have to move my head slightly to see through it. Regardless, I carried on and started shooting. I'm not sure how much the scope cap helped. To properly compare I would have had to remove it to see how bright the normal image was. I started off in the middle but at one point I shot a 9 at four o'clock. Thinking that I had made some kind of error, I fired another shot and put that right next the previous one. I came left two clicks and was back in the 10-ring.
| Standing: | 197-5 |
| Sitting: | 195-12 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-7 |
| Slow Prone: | 197-9 |
| Aggregate: | 789-33 |
