The 2016 Season
The Scores
| Date | Location | Standing | Sitting | Rapid Prone |
Slow Prone |
Aggregate | |
| April 17 | Bonfield | 96-2 | 100-5 | 99-8 | 190-8 | 485-23 | 97.0% |
| May 15 | Bonfield | 99-4 | 95-0 | 98-4 | 199-8 | 491-16 | 98.2% |
| May 28 | Lodi | 98-4 | 98-5 | 97-1 | 192-7 | 485-17 | 97.0% |
| May 29 | Lodi | 189-2 | 194-4 | 187-3 | 353-2 | 923-11 | 92.3% |
| June 4 | Milan | 197-3 | 199-8 | 190-3 | 193-7 | 779-21 | 97.4% |
| June 5 | Milan | 97-1 | 100-4 | 94-0 | 193-7 | 484-12 | 96.8% |
| June 12 | Bonfield | 96-1 | 98-2 | 100-4 | 192-7 | 486-14 | 97.2% |
| June 19 | Racine | 194-4 | 198-8 | 191-2 | 196-6 | 779-20 | 97.4% |
| July 2 | Brookston | 196-7 | 197-3 | 196-7 | 196-4 | 785-21 | 98.1% |
| July 9 | Lodi | 194-6 | 199-11 | 197-7 | 172-0 | 762-24 | 95.3% |
| July 10 | Lodi | 93-2 | 96-3 | 97-2 | 196-8 | 482-15 | 96.4% |
| July 16 | Van Meter | 96-4 | 96-2 | 95-0 | 97-6 | 384-12 | 96.0% |
| July 16 | Van Meter | 97-1 | 98-2 | 97-2 | 197-8 | 489-13 | 97.8% |
| July 17 | Van Meter | 195-1 | 198-6 | 184-8 | 194-10 | 771-25 | 96.4% |
| July 25 | Camp Perry | 90-2 | - | 92-1 | 94-4 | 276-7 | 92.0% |
| July 26 | Camp Perry | 93-0 | 98-4 | 94-2 | 192-3 | 477-9 | 95.4% |
| July 27 | Camp Perry | 95-2 | - | 100-3 | 97-3 | 292-8 | 97.3% |
| July 28 | Camp Perry | 94-3 | 99-6 | 93-2 | 195-7 | 481-18 | 96.2% |
| July 31 | Camp Perry | 95-0 | 100-4 | 100-2 | 194-4 | 489-10 | 97.8% |
| August 1 | Camp Perry | 189-3 | 200-10 | 194-4 | 192-4 | 775-21 | 96.9% |
| August 2 | Camp Perry | 194-6 | 199-7 | 185-2 | 192-6 | 770-21 | 96.3% |
| August 3 | Camp Perry | 198-4 | 198-8 | 188-2 | 195-6 | 779-20 | 97.4% |
| August 4 | Camp Perry | 95-1 | 100-4 | 100-4 | 195-4 | 490-13 | 98.0% |
| September 3 | Milan | 194-6 | 197-6 | 197-7 | 195-8 | 783-27 | 97.9% |
| September 4 | Milan | 197-5 | 200-13 | 198-5 | 192-4 | 787-27 | 98.4% |
| September 11 | Bonfield | 98-1 | 96-6 | 97-4 | 190-4 | 481-15 | 96.2% |
| September 17 | Bonfield | 188-2 | 198-7 | 193-5 | 196-6 | 775-20 | 96.9% |
| September 18 | Bonfield | 195-7 | 200-6 | 195-6 | 195-7 | 785-26 | 98.1% |
| October 2 | Bonfield | 194-5 | 200-12 | 200-10 | 198-11 | 792-38 | 99.0% |
| October 8 | Milan | 193-5 | 200-9 | 199-8 | 186-5 | 778-27 | 97.3% |
The Stories
I don't remember ever having this little motivation to start the highpower season. I am involved in the sport on a national level and there were some things that took place over the winter that really sapped my enthusiasm for the season to come. I know that sounds pretty depressing but that's the only way to really describe it. I am hoping that keeping my focus on my shooting and the improving weather will help me to enjoy highpower again.
April 17
The weather was great today. Unseasonably warm and little breeze. You can see a video of this match on YouTube.
My standing position felt so foreign today since I haven't picked up a service rifle since October. My hold was good and my trigger control was at least adequate. The targets were very well lit which made the buff paper wash out some of the sighting black. This was a problem all day as it became difficult to get a defined sight picture. Since this upper was from 2014, I dialed in that zero and was pretty close for the first shot. A few clicks during the string and shots were mostly on call. Shot number 7 moved outward as I broke it but I thought it would make the black. Nope, it was an eight.
Sitting had a pretty good position but was hampered by the bright target. There didn't look like there was much sighting black to align to.
As I expected, my problems with rapid prone continued from last year. The rifle would slip downward during the string. It's not outwardly obvious but I can feel it. As it drops I try to compensate for this by muscling with my left arm. I know this is not sustainable but I don't have much of a choice during the string.
Slow prone was just as uncomfortable as I was afraid it might be. My neck felt strained and I was looking out of the top of my glasses. My shots would alternate between X's and 9's during the first half. The bad shots were out to the lower right. After a while I just stopped and tried to take the rifle out of my shoulder between shots. That didn't help anything and I finished wondering what I am going to do to fix this.
| Offhand: | 96-2 |
| Sitting: | 100-5 |
| Rapid Prone: | 99-8 |
| Slow Prone: | 190-8 |
| Aggregate: | 485-23 |
May 15
The air was chilly this morning with a breeze that would pick up every now and then. I even wore a heavy coat for most of the day just to stay comfortable. Despite this, the sun was out all day. You can see a video of this match on YouTube.
Sometimes I feel like any success I have in standing comes through blind luck. I started off feeling confident that I could perform well. My hold wasn't what I would have hoped for but it was good enough for early in the year. When my NPA was good I didn't have to force the sights to the target and my trigger control didn't hold me back. Once I started, the shots would be inside of call. Where I thought the shot broke on the way out, the spotter was well inside. Both sighters were 10's and the first couple record ones were X's. On one shot I fired as the sights waved across the black. It was still an X. I couldn't believe my luck as I tried to take my time and not rush shots. That was fine until I started thinking about the clean too much. Even though I have been in this position many times, my heart was beating faster, I was sweating, and my breathing took extra effort. I felt exhausted. On the eighth shot I just felt like I wanted to get rid of it and I gave up on it. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was relieved I shot the nine.
Only having shot one sitting string so far this year makes this stage feel very foreign. I got into position and I wasn't sure where to put my feet. The hold was not great since there was more movement than necessary. My sighters were on call for elevation so I thought my zero would hold. During the string I had very poor coordination between shots and my breathing. I would hold my breath for some shots and be breathing through others. The group was low but still larger than I would have liked. Nothing above the bottom of the X-ring.
One of the reasons my rapid prone has not felt comfortable is because I think my sling has been too low on my arm. This would mean that the sling was not doing much more than my forearm was. I dry-fired a bit this week with the higher sling position but it was hard to tell a difference at home. Firing the live string felt good without the buttstock slipping down which has been a problem for so long. The group was a little low and I adjusted my zero. I will see how this sling position works out long-term.
Since my last match I wanted to do something about the neck strain that I was having in slow prone. I noticed that I have been looking at the rear aperture through the very top edge of my glasses. My head was being forced into a higher position to look through more of the lens. My fix was to bend the nose piece on the glasses down. This brought the lens up higher and I didn't have to force my head into an unnatural position. The string felt good and I only dropped a point because I pushed the sights a little too high.
| Offhand: | 99-4 |
| Sitting: | 95-0 |
| Rapid Prone: | 98-4 |
| Slow Prone: | 199-8 |
| Aggregate: | 491-16 |
May 28
I am finally getting a chance to shoot on electronic targets. The only danger is the possibility of getting rained out for today's team match. You can see a video of this match on YouTube.
Shooting on a target without getting feedback from a spotter was different. I kept expecting the target to be pulled down but instead the result of the shot was on a tablet that was provided. Standing was pretty effortless although I did have to bring my elevation down because the shots kept coming up higher than my call. The first shot broke a little to the right and I called it a nine but the tablet said it was an eight. After that I just stayed disciplined and cleaned the rest.
Our firing point for sitting was very bumpy and I couldn't really find a comfortable place to sit. My position felt very compressed, front-to-back. As if I couldn't stretch out with my legs and I was shooting a shorter rifle. The resultant group wasn't too bad if I only counted eight shots. The remaining two were way out of the group at four o'clock.
I had blackened my front sight but when I got into position for rapid prone it still looked like there was glare on the top. Not a lot but the top edge of the post had a line of brightness on it like it didn't have a sharp edge. My group was mostly centered and, just like sitting, had eight shots in the 10-ring. There was one nine just off the line but I also had an eight!
I'm not sure how to trust my slow prone zero. With the electronic targets I started with low shots and had to keep coming up with my elevation. While I did have my coach, the feedback was very different since I couldn't see a spotter downrange. My coach would tell me the shot location and then I had to mentally draw a picture in my mind of where that spotter would be.
| Offhand: | 98-4 |
| Sitting: | 98-5 |
| Rapid Prone: | 97-1 |
| Slow Prone: | 192-7 |
| Aggregate: | 485-17 |
May 29
For today's Regional, we started with electronic targets at 600 but there were problems with them registering shots in the rapids. So it was decided to use manual targets at 200 & 300. Even though this was a day I would rather forget, you can see a video of this match on YouTube.
The wind was active when we started slow prone. The average velocity wasn't great but it was changing often. Since it was early in the morning I was losing the target when I brought the post up into the middle. It didn't take me long to start losing points with eights and sevens. Compounding my poor shooting was the target system that would sometimes not register the shot on my tablet. I tried to refresh the screen which sometimes helped but on one shot I had to fire again to get a score.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse than my first slow prone, I laid down and shot again. This time the tablet was showing shots out in the white. That seemed difficult to believe but there wasn't any way to check. Still, I probably wasn't doing myself any favors with my technique.
For rapid prone we fired on manual targets. My sighters varied from a nine in one corner to an eight in the opposite corner. That's the stuff that makes it hard to motivate myself to keep going. As I fired the string I tried to focus on the post and to breathe. The group wound up big and a little high for a loss of three points. I came down a click for the second one but missed the wind which blew me out to the right.
My hope for redemption came in standing. There was a bit of a breeze but I could find enough lulls to let the shots go. Keeping my discipline, once the wind would pick up late in my shot process, I took the rifle down and started over. Early on I kept having to put more and more left wind on the gun as the shots were winding up on the right. After about 5 or 6 clicks I decided that I couldn't put in that much. So I just worked on breaking shots on the left side of 10-ring.
The position in sitting wasn't very good and I was bouncing around during the strings. The first string had a pretty good front sight with the top edge looking clear. The group wound up tall which makes sense from all the bounce. The second string was still very loose and fell out low and right.
| Slow Prone: | 183-1 |
| Slow Prone: | 170-1 |
| Rapid Prone: | 187-3 |
| Standing: | 189-2 |
| Sitting: | 194-4 |
| Aggregate: | 923-11 |
June 4
This was our state highpower championship and the weather forecast called for a decent day. It turned out to be a pleasant day to shoot. Too bad my performance didn't match the conditions. You can see a video of this weekend on YouTube.
I have been shooting good standing scores recently so I went to the line with some confidence. After a few shots I noticed that I really wasn't concentrating as hard as I sometimes do. My technique was fair but not as good as it sometimes has been. I would put the rifle in my shoulder, move the sights towards the middle, and let it go. Some shots took more time than others but they really didn't tax me like some have in the past.
After some pretty bad sitting performances to start this year, I worked on this stage this week. I found that my position had shifted so I wasn't stretched out like I have been before. Today's first string felt a little loose. My trigger control also stood out as not being very smooth. Despite all of this, I cleaned the first string. The second string felt better and I had good front sight focus. That didn't prevent me from dropping a nine out the bottom.
Rapid prone is becoming my most challenging stage this year. This first string actually felt good, or at least better than this stage has felt recently. The post came into focus on each shot and I had every reason to think this was going to be at least a decent group. The result was scattered shots up out to the eight ring. The second string felt like the first one and had a better result but that's not saying much.
In slow prone, the front sight actually looked pretty good. I could get good focus on it so I thought the shots should be going in the middle. There wasn't much wind to worry about so it seemed like a simple marksmanship exercise. I wasn't shooting anything in the white but the shots just seemed so scattered. My worst shot was an eight but I dribbled out enough nines to really drop my score.
| Offhand: | 197-3 |
| Sitting: | 199-8 |
| Rapid Prone: | 190-3 |
| Slow Prone: | 193-7 |
| Aggregate: | 779-21 |
June 5
Nice weather today but I was really tired as I didn't get much sleep.
I felt like I could do really well in standing today and things started off well. Before the middle of the string I shot a nine and then followed up with another one about an inch away. I was really annoyed with myself for letting that happen and just threw the rest of the shots downrange without taking too much time for each one.
My sitting string felt good even thought the post would alternate between clear and fuzzy from shot to shot. The group was a little high but I still got a clean out of it.
Because of my recent problems with rapid prone, I wanted to be very methodical and focus on some basics today. I concentrated on breathing between shots and to focus on the front sight before I squeezed the trigger. The group was still scattered upward into the eight ring.
The good news is that I only dropped two nines to wind today. The bad news is that I also had two elevation shot straight out the top. If they were nines I would be happy but it was an eight and a seven.
| Offhand: | 97-3 |
| Sitting: | 100-4 |
| Rapid Prone: | 94-0 |
| Slow Prone: | 193-7 |
| Aggregate: | 484-12 |
June 12
This was another great day to shoot. Warm but not hot and sunny skies.
With good offhand scores recently, I was pretty confident going into this stage. A periodic breeze would blow through but I could still wait it out. My hold was really the thing that was holding me back. There was more movement in the sights than I have seen recently and the gun just wouldn't settle. The shots were coming up to the right of call but my trigger control was good.
Although I couldn't perceive what changed in sitting, my hold for the sighters was better than my hold during the string. I was losing the target on about half the shots and this caused me to drop the front sight lower than normal with the resultant group being quite low.
It's back to the drawing board for rapid prone. I realized that I had to do something about the rifle sliding forward on my glove/mit combo. This would cause the rifle to drop and my head would chase it down during the string. I decided to use just my glove because of the grippy rubber and tighten my sling. This gave me much better control and I wasn't fighting the recoil. The group had very good elevation although it was strung out from one edge of the 10-ring to the other.
Normally for slow prone I keep the butt of the rifle in my shoulder for the whole string. Today I wanted to rebuild my position after each shot just to see if I could do it consistently. It turns out I couldn't. My position was still too low with the magazine pushing against the side of my arm and forcing the rifle into a cant. I would shoot a few X's and then a nine or an eight, then back into the X-ring.
| Offhand: | 96-1 |
| Sitting: | 98-2 |
| Rapid Prone: | 100-4 |
| Slow Prone: | 192-7 |
| Aggregate: | 486-14 |
June 19
We've reached summer and it was a warm one today. I was going to just bring a couple of water bottles with me this morning but then I decided to bring a larger jug. Boy, was I glad I did. It reached the low-90's today with not much breeze. I would have gotten some footage for YouTube but the club is very particular about photography because of a power plant next to the range.
Except for shooting into the sun, this was a great day to shoot standing. My hold wasn't doing me any favors though. It wasn't really bad but it was bad enough that it sometimes took me a little longer to line up the shot. Unlike the last few times I shot, I didn't have to crank in left wind so my zero should be good now. The shot results weren't anything great as every so often I would break a shot that was just out. My calls weren't very good because I was facing east into the sun.
In sitting it was the story of two very different strings. The first one didn't feel very good. There was wobble and I wasn't squeezing the trigger like I wanted. Despite this, the shots still felt like they were going in the middle. The target came up with a pretty good group with no shots outside a mid-ring 10. I will admit that the second string didn't feel like the shots were going in the middle and I was proven right when the target came up. I had wider 9's on this string than I did in all of standing.
I'm still experimenting with rapid prone. My forward hand has just the glove and by gripping the handguard there is no slipping. But this gripping may be counter-productive as I may be muscling the gun around. The first string had the rifle on the same level for all shots but I still had to force it to the target. In addition I perceived the rifle trying to cant to the left. The group was big with shots at the edge of the nine ring. I forgot to breathe on the second string and held my breath for most shots but I didn't muscle the gun as much. The resultant group was much better but still had scattered shots including a high seven!
It had gotten pretty hot by the time we were shooting slow prone and I think everyone was eager to get things done. The wind was at our backs but still favoring towards the left. It never really changed very much and I only had to turn the knob a couple of clicks. I eschewed the mit/glove combo and just used the glove. I still felt strained, especially in my neck. I want to get the rifle higher so the magazine doesn't interfere with my arm. But at the same time I want to get my hand out further forward so it doesn't slide down there anyway. One other thing I noticed was that my coat felt loose especially in my right shoulder. It seemed to be buckled in the same way as it always is so I don't know what caused that.
| Offhand: | 194-4 |
| Sitting: | 198-8 |
| Rapid Prone: | 191-2 |
| Slow Prone: | 196-6 |
| Aggregate: | 779-20 |
July 2
I want to shoot as much as I can in the run up to the Nationals. Even though this was a long weekend, there wasn't anything local going on. So I traveled down to Brookston, IN to shoot a match there. The skies weren't as sunny as I expected but there was no wind and a very nice day to shoot. You can see a video of this match on YouTube.
For some reason, in standing, there was a lot of brightness from the sky above my sights. I pulled my cap down low but it was still there and a little distracting. My overall hold was not very good and I think I was trying to hold up the rifle with too much muscle. Aiming wasn't a problem as the sights seem to come to the target without a lot of effort. Trigger control was good as well with the shots breaking without much additional movement. Things started well enough with an X and 10 for sighters and I didn't drop my first point until shot #7. But on shot 10 the sights moved a little to the left. I knew it was out but it came up an eight. One surprise from this stage today was that I had more X's than I normally do in standing.
After just a little sitting work this week, this stage felt just like it has for a while. In other words, unstable. Similar to standing, usually when the hold gets more unpredictable, the trigger control gets worse as I try to jerk shots while the sights are whizzing past the center. On the first string my trigger control was really poor. I was moving while the shots were going off. I even think I was shooting outside of my respiratory pause. The resulting group was all on the right side with no X's. I concentrated on breaking smooth shots for the second string but there was still too much movement from an unstable position.
Most of my work this week has been on prone. I'm trying to avoid having the rifle slip and shift during recoil. To this end I slightly changed my sling configuration so that the sling pulls from the inside of my arm rather than the outside. This should bring the tension of the sling closer to the line of the bore. Both rapid strings today felt quite solid. If there was slippage in the rifle it was difficult to tell. On the first string the sight picture became fuzzy on several shots and I had to take extra time to clear my eye. The second string was much clearer and I shot the third smallest group of the year so far.
I tried to set up my slow prone position very similar to rapid prone. That is, tight sling, sling pulling from the inside of my bicep, glove only, relaxed front hand. The main problem I was having was that I think the sling was too tight. When this happens, the rifle pulls to the left, the side of the magazine contacts my arm, and the rifle begins to cant counter-clockwise.
| Offhand: | 196-7 |
| Sitting: | 197-3 |
| Rapid Prone: | 196-7 |
| Slow Prone: | 196-4 |
| Aggregate: | 785-21 |
July 9
Another full weekend of shooting with the state championship in Wisconsin.
The thing that I remember most from standing was the amount of negativity that was taking place around me. People complaining about target service, arguing about zeros, and shooting poor shots. This was only slightly distracting and I was still able to focus during my shot process. My horizontal NPA was pretty good today but over the course of the string I had to come down three clicks.
I'm not sure how my sitting wobble suddenly became acceptable today. After struggling with it this year the hold looked good and the sights were coming back to the target each time. My shooting jacket seemed quite snug across my back but I can't really tell if this was any different than I normally have it.
In rapid prone I wasn't happy with my NPA. The rifle seemed like it wanted to veer to the left. On the first string I started slowly and then felt like I had to speed through later in the string. I didn't really give myself a chance to breathe. The position actually felt quite solid with the buttplate placed snugly in my shoulder. That turned out to be clean with a few shots at the top of the 10-ring. I breathed more on the second string but it didn't matter since the wind let up and I lost three on the right.
Slow prone was a disaster because of my firing point. Most of the front of it, where my elbows and upper body are, was a depression and the crown was further back. This greatly dropped the rifle in relation to my body. I thought about putting my soft rifle case underneath the mat to even things out but somebody may have complained about it. In retrospect I should have just folded my mat several times, put that in the depression, and have my body in the grass. But I didn't think of that and suffered through it. As a consequence my neck was strained from trying to see through lowered sights and the whole process was uncomfortable and I just wanted to get it over with.
| Offhand: | 194-6 |
| Sitting: | 199-11 |
| Rapid Prone: | 197-7 |
| Slow Prone: | 172-0 |
| Aggregate: | 762-24 |
July 10
Today was a leg match so I had to re-learn how to stand up for the rapids. Other than that I wasn't really happy with my performance as I gave up too many points early on.
I started standing being really nervous. This happens to me sometimes and I try to deal with it with varying degrees of success. Today I just couldn't get into a rhythm and I was not being patient with my shots. It was too tempting to just get rid of the shot and I gave into temptation. When the first shot came up an 8 I felt like there was too big of a hole to climb out of. I must have forgotten that the same thing happened on this range in May and I was able to clean the rest of the string. Today I got lazy and didn't want to work as hard.
My position in sitting felt quite different after I dropped into place than it did during prep. Standing up certainly adds a different element into the string, one that I was so used to when I started highpower. The position didn't feel really bad but I shot a very tall group with several shots out the bottom.
Like yesterday my sling in rapid prone seemed to be pulling the rifle to the left. I thought I had minimized this by reconfiguring my sling. The shots were strung out towards two o'clock.
Today's firing point for slow prone was much better than yesterday's. There was plenty of support under my forward elbow and I was eager to prove to myself that I could still break good shots. I didn't think the wind was very strong and I put on 6 clicks of left for the first shot. That was a nine on the right. I kept clicking over but I lost three points in the first three shots. After that I tried to be very discriminating of the front sight on each shot. The post had to be clear and in the middle of the target before I pulled the trigger.
| Offhand: | 93-2 |
| Sitting: | 96-3 |
| Rapid Prone: | 97-2 |
| Slow Prone: | 196-8 |
| Aggregate: | 482-15 |
July 16
Travelled to the Iowa Regional for the last opportunity to shoot before the Nationals. Today we fired a 40 shot, two-man team match in the morning.
The range faces east and the early morning sun put a lot of glare in my rear aperture for standing. There was this spot of glare that was always in my path of vision to the front sight and target. Moving my head a little bit didn't help so I just had to shoot through it.
The glare was also a problem in sitting. I had a real hard time deciding when to shoot since I couldn't really see the target to know where to put the front sight. My group was very low.
All I can say about rapid prone was that it felt "off". There was nothing specific that I can point to, other than maybe lack of breathing, that caused a large off-center group.
In slow prone my sight picture looked a little odd because my target looked lower than all the others. It turned out that the frame just didn't go up as high. This brought the sighting black down and made it look uneven with the others. After my first shot was a high 10, I followed that up with a high eight and then a nine. After that it was pretty smooth sailing with six X's out of seven shots.
| Offhand: | 96-4 |
| Sitting: | 96-2 |
| Rapid Prone: | 95-0 |
| Slow Prone: | 97-6 |
| Aggregate: | 384-12 |
July 16
After the team match we moved right back to the 200 yard line for the leg match.
My initial firing point was number 13. I fired my first shot standing and got a high 9. I called my second shot good but the pits called and said they had target repair. My initial thought was that I shot through the spindle and my call was off. It turned out that the chain had come off the sprocket so I had to move down to target 11. I just calmly moved, prepped again, and continued shooting.
I tried to be better prepared for sitting back down than the leg match last week by putting my second magazine in a place that would help me regain my position. That still didn't help my elevated heart rate for the first two shots. Despite the brightly lit range I still lost my sight picture in the middle of the string.
My rapid prone position was lower than I would have liked. This usually forces my head down lower and makes for an odd feeling while I shoot. I did force myself to breathe between shots which I tend not to do sometimes.
By the time we got back to 600 it had been a long day. The trees behind the firing line were casting shadows on us when we were in position. My focus on the front sight seemed quite good. After some early nines I got settled in and was able to break shots in the middle.
| Offhand: | 97-1 |
| Sitting: | 98-2 |
| Rapid Prone: | 97-2 |
| Slow Prone: | 197-8 |
| Aggregate: | 489-13 |
July 17
There were thunderstorms moving through the area and it had rained overnight. Morning brought heavy overcast and dark skies with more rain threatening. You can see a video of this weekend on YouTube.
I couldn't believe how dark it was when I looked through the sights for standing. I would bring the post up into the target and the sighting black would go away. All I could line up with was something a little darker than the rest of the frame. That kind of ambiguity made it really hard for me to call my shots as I would break them without a good idea of where they were going. During the string we heard thunder booming in the distance and lightning cracking in the sky. While the X-count was low, it wasn't unique. I actually shot a 195-1x ten years ago.
Rain came through the area and we had a delay after standing. Once it went past, we got ready to shoot sitting. The sky was still dark and it was hard to see through the sights. Even though my hand was fairly loose on the pistol grip, my overall hold was good. The sights seemed to come back to the target each time. The first group was off to the right and quite tall. I was afraid of clicking over too much so I only came one click left. The second group was really good, my best in a year and a half. It was a clean but still on the right side.
It was getting warm by the time we fired rapid prone. My front sight was actually pretty clear during the first string but I felt myself squeezing the handguard a little bit. I spent too much time dressing up each shot and would up saving a round. That really put a damper on my day.
Since I've been able to get a little more confidence in slow prone recently, I just wanted to keep doing what has worked in this stage. I tried to be selective with my sight picture and get all the little things right. We had the wind mostly in our faces but it was blowing slightly to 5 o'clock. I spent the entire string, except for one shot, with two clicks of left.
| Offhand: | 195-1 |
| Sitting: | 198-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 184-8 |
| Slow Prone: | 194-10 |
| Aggregate: | 771-25 |
July 25
We had good weather for the President's match. The
temperatures were warm but there was an overcast for most of the day
which made things pleasant. It did get windy though, which made for
another challenge to overcome.
Even before I went to the line for standing I started
to feel queezy. I was very nervous as if I was having a panic attack. This,
coupled with the wind, just made my hold large. Normally I could stay
disciplined and shoot through it but today it felt too overwhelming and I
just wanted to get it over with.
My rapid prone has been so inconsistent lately that I
didn't know what to expect. The firing point sloped forward a little bit but
my position felt solid. The front sight was a bit fuzzy in prep so that
didn't fill me with confidence. I was able to get it clear during the string
but I was holding just a little bit low and wound up with a very low group.
The wind seemed to really be blowing in slow prone. I
went on with 25 clicks of left but that was way too much and I shot a seven.
I took off 5 clicks and shot a 9. I took off 4 more and shot another nine on
the left. After taking off another two I was in the middle but it was really
moot at that point.
| Offhand: | 90-2 |
| Rapid Prone: | 92-1 |
| Slow Prone: | 94-4 |
| Aggregate: | 276-7 |
July 26
After yesterday's debacle I was more relaxed
today. But that still didn't prevent me from shooting poorly. The
conditions weren't the best but it was still a nice day with the skies
clearing during the course of the day.
I was much calmer for standing this morning than
yesterday. It was a little windy so I put on four clicks of right. The first
shot was a ten so I thought I was good to go. The second shot I called good
but it was a high nine. That was followed up with another nine. These were
coming up downwind of call so I put on another click of right. I had another
high nine that I called good so I started clicking down. Towards the end I
wasn't as selective as I should have been because I felt rushed. That led to
poor decision making and shot selection.
My sitting position was better than it has been
recently but I still had too much pulse and bouncing around. Five clicks of
right was the correct wind call. The sights were coming back to the target
but they didn't stay there long because of my pulse. I called one nine and I
lost another one at five o'clock.
Even though I got the wind right in rapid prone, my
technique just pulled the shots out anyway. I was pulling back with my right
hand which I don't normally do. I guess it just felt like I could control
the rifle better that way. It turned out I pulled the group right out into
the nine ring.
The part of slow prone that really stuck out for me
was how hard I had to work to get the front sight into focus. The post came
into the target and would go fuzzy while obliterating the target at the same
time. This required a lot of effort to look away, blink, look through the
aperture, focus on the top edge of the post, and squeeze. My wind call of 10
clicks right was good for most of the string but not the first shot. That
was a downwind eight followed by an upwind nine. It took me a while to get
centered up and I only had one nine on the second half.
| Offhand: | 93-0 |
| Sitting: | 98-4 |
| Rapid Prone: | 94-2 |
| Slow Prone: | 192-3 |
| Aggregate: | 477-9 |
July 27
I have never shot the Hearst Doubles before. It
sounded like a fun match so I thought I would give it a try. The weather
and conditions were the best yet this year. Warm, blue skies, very
little wind.
My undoing in standing was my trigger control. That
aspect has been pretty good this year but not today. It was really calm this
morning and a good day to shoot a good score. The hold was good but each
time that I wanted the shot to go off, I would pull the gun to the left. On
the third shot I pulled it so far to the right that I was glad it was only
an eight.
For rapid prone we went with three clicks of left.
That was actually a little heavy as I wound up on the left side. My coach
called the first two shots low. So I came up a click during the magazine
change and I held a true center of mass instead of cheating the sight
downward a little bit.
With the rebuilt berms at Camp Perry the firing points
slope downward somewhat. This was the case in slow prone and I started to
get worried since I never shoot well from that lowered position. The only
thing I thought of was to tighten my sling. That brought the rifle up but it
also brought my hand back on the handguard. I am not used to this so it felt
odd and unnatural. But it kept my neck from getting strained and I was able
to hold good elevation.
| Offhand: | 95-2 |
| Rapid Prone: | 100-3 |
| Slow Prone: | 97-3 |
| Aggregate: | 292-8 |
July 28
The six-man team match is a focal point for me at
Camp Perry. The conditions were certainly conducive to shooting a good
score.
The new firing points really didn't help my standing
position. I felt crowded and my feet weren't quite where I wanted them. This
altered my NPA although it was hard to tell at the time. I tried to force
the sights to the target and just wound up going out the other side. I fired
three 8's just in the first five shots.
My sitting position felt good but I was still getting
a lot of wobble in the sights. I dropped down on my mat and my elbows seemed
solid but the rifle was shaking all over the black. I called one nine out at
10 o'clock and there was another at 5.
Rapid prone quickly turned into a disaster. I fired my
first two shots without any problem, changed magazines, and continued to
shoot. When the hammer dropped on the fourth round all I heard was a
"click". Since there are no alibis for malfunctions in CMP matches any more,
I racked the charging handle ejecting the round, chambered the next one and
kept shooting. I knew that I would only get nine on target with this
magazine so I had to hurry. After the bolt locked back I grabbed another
magazine and inserted it in the rifle. As I brought the post up to the
target I could see the surrounding targets drop into the pits so I snatched
at the trigger to get the final shot down range. I felt awful as I cleared
my gear since I let my teammates down. The problem turned out to be a primer
that fell out of the case. Fortunately that last shot still caught a six at
the top.
I fired on the third pair after coaching the first. As
always, the front sight took some work to get clear but I made every effort
to dress it up before I fired. Elevation was decent and I only had to click
down once.
| Offhand: | 94-3 |
| Sitting: | 99-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 93-2 |
| Slow Prone: | 195-7 |
| Aggregate: | 481-18 |
July 31
The NRA matches kick off with a two-man team
match. The skies looked a little dark this morning and there was some
rain in the forecast but the weather turned out great.
We got some wind in standing although it was in our
faces. My hold was at least decent but there ware other problems. My NPA
seemed off from the beginning. I tried to correct it by moving my back foot
and shifting in my coat but I still had a problem settling on the target.
Compounding the problems was poor trigger control. I would decide to break
the shot and the rifle would shift as I pulled the trigger.
Sitting went surprisingly well. My position felt good
although the sights looked pretty cloudy. As it turned out, there was a
piece of fuzz in the aperture that grayed out my whole sight picture.
My rapid prone position felt good as well. The butt
plate was tight in my shoulder but the sling wasn't so tight as to pull the
rifle off target. During the string all I had to do was focus on the front
sight.
Slow prone was going along just fine until I was ready
to squeeze off my tenth shot and we had a cease fire because of a boat in
the impact area. I laid there for about 15 minutes before we went hot again.
By that time we went from plenty of sun to some light overcast. This gave me
problems in getting a good sight picture. I would lose the target and then
started to have some elevation problems.
| Offhand: | 95-0 |
| Sitting: | 100-4 |
| Rapid Prone: | 100-2 |
| Slow Prone: | 194-4 |
| Aggregate: | 489-10 |
August 1
I have been shooting the NRA Highpower
Championship since 2001. In that time we have always shot the course
over four days. This year it was compressed to three days which means we
would shoot a full 80 shots each day. In addition, NRA combined our prep
and sighters into one block time. So essentially these matches are being
conducted differently than the rule book and differently than almost all
local matches. All of this made for a long day.
My poor execution in standing continued today. My hold
was decent enough but when I got the sights to the target my body would pull
the rifle as I pulled the trigger. There was nothing out of the black but I
shot, what seemed like, endless nines.
Sitting felt solid. There wasn't the wobble that I
have seen so many times this year. The butt was snug in my shoulder and my
cheek was tight against the stock. I actually sped through the first string
because the sights were coming back to the target each time.
We were called to the line in rapid prone very
quickly. So quickly that I barely finished scoring and then I had to pull my
gear up to the top of the firing line and my block time started. Once I got
my gear on and dry fired a couple times I still had to shoot my sighters. I
fired the first but the block time ended before I got the second one off. I
thought I had a good front sight for both strings but the groups were quite
big.
The wind was going to seven o'clock in slow prone but I had bigger problems. I found it very difficult to see through the rear aperture. At least, to see clearly. As I lined up on my target I would squint, blink, and look away. Anything to get the front sight to not haze over. Towards the end I was losing my ability to hold elevation.
| Offhand: | 189-3 |
| Sitting: | 200-10 |
| Rapid Prone: | 194-4 |
| Slow Prone: | 192-4 |
| Aggregate: | 775-21 |
August 2
Another long day on the range but the weather was
good.
It was pretty calm for standing this morning. I saw
the range flags pointing across the range so I put on two clicks of right.
As I started shooting the shots were coming up to the right of call so I
took off one click but couldn't bring myself to go back to no wind. Not that
my calls were very good. I shot nines for my sighters and my first two
shots. The sights were wobbling and their movement to the target seemed
random. I put more cheek pressure on the stock and that gave me more control
over the rifle.
For sitting, I put on the one right I had in standing.
That came up on the left so I put on one more. My call was an X at 3 but it
came up a center X so I put on one more. Just before the string began the
wind seemed to have picked up but it was hard to tell. Also, I was
uncomfortable with putting on so much more wind when I was taking it off in
standing. I should have put on an extra click because my group was all on
the left with one nine just across the line.
I got the wind right for rapid prone but my position was holding me back. During both strings the rifle was canting because the magazine was hitting my arm. This seemed to cause the group to go up and to the left. The first group had no X's and two 8's.
My best guess for starting wind in slow prone was 16
clicks of right. I put that on the gun and shot a high 10. That started me
off in the middle but when I shot my second record shot, I had a seven on
the right. I took 5 clicks off and things were fine for a few shots but then
I got an eight. I came down to 8 clicks of right and stayed there for most
of the string. I lost a couple nines to elevation but it was those big let
ups that got me.
| Offhand: | 194-6 |
| Sitting: | 199-7 |
| Rapid Prone: | 185-2 |
| Slow Prone: | 192-6 |
| Aggregate: | 770-21 |
August 3
Shooting 80 shots a day for three days is exhausting at Camp Perry. I feel like I am rushing all over the range and not having much fun.
There wasn't much breeze during standing. Only a few miles per hour across the range. While hold was good, my NPA and trigger control were excellent. The shots were breaking without a lot of extraneous movement and calls were good. I would pause and rest the rifle when I wanted a break. Instead of thinking about the score I tried to focus on my technique of proper support arm position and firm cheek pressure on the stock.
My groups in sitting weren't bad but they were misplaced enough to each have one nine that was just out. It was easy to shoot at a good pace because the sights were coming back to the target each time.
I called my first sighter in rapid prone as an X at three and that's exactly where it was. I called the second sighter in the same place but that came up an 8 at two o'clock! Both groups were off in that direction with little to dictate why.
My performance in slow prone was mixed since I lost points to both wind and elevation. I certainly would have picked up at least two more if I could hold better elevation but it was so hard since the target wanted to disappear as I brought the post into it.
| Offhand: | 198-4 |
| Sitting: | 198-8 |
| Rapid Prone: | 188-2 |
| Slow Prone: | 195-6 |
| Aggregate: | 779-20 |
August 4
This year the team match has been moved to the end of the week. I am just looking forward to being done and going home.
My calls were really bad today. Some shots I would be inside of call, other shots I was outside. My hold was good as was my trigger control. My NPA was off enough to where I had to struggle to bring the sights to the target.
Based on the feedback from my coach, I held a little higher in sitting. Instead of a center of mass, I had more like 2/3 mass.
Rapid prone didn't feel any different than all the other strings I fired in the past two weeks. The front sight was pretty clear and the only thing I did differently was to tighten my sling. This gave me a slightly higher position and my magazine didn't interfere with my arm as much.
The wind was really blowing and changing for slow prone today. I guess I was fortunate because I was the last team member to fire and the other guys had worse conditions than me. Right after I fired my two sighters there was a cease fire for boats in the impact area. So we had to wait for the range to go hot again. Once it did the wind was different but my coach got the call right and we caught a 10 for the first shot. After that I tried to fire quickly but it took time to get the front sight in focus and to see a target downrange.
| Offhand: | 95-1 |
| Sitting: | 100-4 |
| Rapid Prone: | 100-4 |
| Slow Prone: | 195-4 |
| Aggregate: | 490-13 |
September 3
Days like this were made for shooting. Sunshine
all day with only scattered clouds, mild temperatures, and very little
wind. I hadn’t shot since Camp Perry and I felt very detached from my
shooting process, almost like I was away from the sport for a long time.
The thing my standing lacked the most was discipline,
especially early on. I was letting shots go without being picky about where
the rifle was pointed. I was allowing the shots to go downrange rather than
deciding whether they should. The early morning haze and rising sun made the
sight picture pretty dark and the sighting black less than distinct. After
nines for sighters I let a wild shot go and had an eight for my first for
record. While my shot technique didn’t really improve, I was more
discriminating with my shots and would start my process over again when
things didn’t feel right.
The haziness of the morning was still there in
sitting. It was even worse when the whole line was shooting and the smoke
from the rifles was added into the mix. My hold wasn’t too bad but I wasn’t
squeezing the shots. On both strings the groups were low and not very
compact.
I didn’t know what to expect from rapid prone after
the year I had. My new glasses didn’t mask my left eye so I just closed it.
My position felt tight to the rifle but it wasn’t relaxed and I seemed to
impart muscle into the gun. On the second string I think I held my breath
for the entire second magazine. I know not to do this but I do it anyway.
The conditions for slow prone were very good. The wind
was light and only worth a couple clicks to the left. The lighting was good
and I could focus on the front sight, at least in the beginning. Things were
comfortable at first and I cleaned the first half. Then the post got harder
to focus on and I had a couple of elevation nines and even a corner eight.
| Offhand: | 194-6 |
| Sitting: | 197-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 197-7 |
| Slow Prone: | 195-8 |
| Aggregate: | 783-27 |
September 4
This was a team match and another nice day to
shoot. Light overcast skies in the morning giving way to alternating sun
and clouds in the afternoon. The air was very still for most of the day.
I felt a lot more connected with my shooting in
standing than I did yesterday. My motivation level was higher and I was much
more disciplined with my shots. Although things started smoothly, later in
the string there were more and more shots that I had to stop and start over.
I was clean through the first nine shots but then it took more and more
work. Shots were mostly on call but my trigger control could have been
better.
The most surprising thing about sitting was how well
the sights were returning to the target after recoil. This caused me to
shoot very fast. The rifle would come back to the target and it was just a
matter of squeezing the next shot off. As a consequence I didn’t really
breathe like I normally do but it seemed to work out today.
With the calm conditions we could just shoot rapid
prone without any correction. During both strings I did very little
breathing. The rifle felt tight to my shoulder and I didn’t feel like I had
time to dress up the sights. The target was a little blurry and it was hard
to tell what I was really aiming at.
In the afternoon the sun would appear and disappear
behind clouds. This really played havoc with my sight picture. The post
would sometimes look clear and distinct and other times would turn gray and
fuzzy, sometimes during the same shot process. When the post was sharp I
would sometimes lose the target and have nothing to aim at. In addition to
the nines, I shot two corner eights.
| Offhand: | 197-5 |
| Sitting: | 200-13 |
| Rapid Prone: | 198-5 |
| Slow Prone: | 192-4 |
| Aggregate: | 787-27 |
September 11
The weather is starting to turn cooler but it's still a great environment to shoot in. This morning we had clear, blue skies and no wind.
I was really struggling with my NPA in standing. Several times, after mounting the gun, I came down a couple targets over. I would adjust my NPA by shifting inside my coat but it still wasn't the way I wanted it. Hold and trigger control were good enough but I kept having to bring the rifle into the target.
My sitting position felt odd. The firing point had an incline and I felt like my legs were elevated too much. My shoulders were also pulled up too close to my head.As I was breaking the shots there was more wobble than I normally have and I wasn't really squeezing the trigger like I should. During the middle of the string the sights were coming back to the target but for some reason I started yanking the trigger. I had plenty of X's and one 10 but there were two 9's and an 8.
I had to spend extra time in rapid prone to get a good sight picture. The front sight would come into the target and I would lose the sighting black. By taking my time I was improving my chances of aiming but I was also improving my chances of running out of time. The final group had nine shots that were clustered well but low and then a lone eight out the bottom.
My first sighter in slow prone was a 10 which I followed up with a 7. That was a head scratcher but it also didn't fill me with confidence for the remaining 20 shots. I started shooting 10's but I noticed that there weren't very many X's. Pretty soon I had shot a few nines but it was about to get worse. As the string progressed it became difficult to see a really good sight picture. On most shots I think the sight picture was pretty good but an eight would show up. There were three shots where I shot a 10, a 7, and then an X. I had no answers.
| Offhand: | 98-1 |
| Sitting: | 96-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 97-4 |
| Slow Prone: | 190-4 |
| Aggregate: | 481-15 |
September 17
There were a thousand little details to deal with this morning and I really didn't feel like I had my head in the game. We had a good turnout but all day I felt like I needed to do a lot of other things and shooting was secondary.
Standing was below par in all three phases. My hold was poor with the sights darting around and not settling. My N.P.A. was off and I couldn't figure out how to center it. Trigger control wasn't helping since I would decide to shoot and then move the rifle as it was going off.
My sling was a little tighter today in sitting. This seemed to give me some cant to the right. I had shot with a cant years ago but then it seemed to go away and I haven't seen it in a while. Regardless, my position felt good and both groups were a decent size.
By the time my relay was shooting rapid prone, the sun was really bright and shining on the targets. When this happens the sighting black appears to shrink or even completely disappear. On some shots it also looked like the sighting black had shifted towards the left side of the frame. I had more muscle in my position than I normally do but I really wanted to hand on to the rifle. The first group was about the size I have been shooting them this year but had a few shots out the bottom. The second group had most shots all over the 10-ring and then had two 9's out on the right and even an 8. I don't know how I can pull the trigger when the sights are so far out but it's all part of my rapid prone guessing game.
The story in slow prone was the same as it has been all year. Start off shooting wide 10's, have a low x-count, and then start leaking more and more shots out in the nine as the string progresses. I think the front sight was in focus but even if it was, the brightness of the targets made the sighting black just about disappear.
| Offhand: | 188-2 |
| Sitting: | 198-7 |
| Rapid Prone: | 193-5 |
| Slow Prone: | 196-6 |
| Aggregate: | 775-20 |
September 18
Since scopes have been allowed in service rifle competition this year, I have been watching other shooters use them. I have talked to people about their learning curve, what the advantages and disadvantages have been, and how they have transitioned. I have also seen enough of a differential in groups and scores that I felt that I am giving up too many points to these shooters. So I had a scoped service rifle built with a prototype scope and this is the first match that I fired with it. I shot a few shots at 200 yards the previous day so at least I had a starting point for a zero. You can see a video of today's match on YouTube.
Even though I knew I would be seeing more movement in standing, it was still challenging to learn a new shot decision making process that appears to spend less time in the 10-ring. Despite all the movement, I was really impressed with how good my calls were on most shots. My N.P.A. was low, just below the black. I was trying to fix it with buttstock placement. That brought my face lower as well so I was trying to get comfortable with this modification.
Sitting was similar to standing, in that, all my movement was there for me to behold. I could see the sights and the target but I was moving around too much to be happy with my hold. But there is something to be said for being able to see the target and squeezing the shots off. The first group was very good and just below the X-ring. I came up a couple of clicks and shot a bigger group but it was more centered.
Never having shot this rifle at 300 yards, I used my normal come up from 200 for rapid prone which is about 10 clicks. I called both sighters good. The first one was an X but the second one was a mid-ring 10 up high. I didn't want to just blindly correct off one sighter. During the first string my coach called the first two shots very high so I came down 3 clicks during the magazine change. The group still wound up high with one of the first shots being an eight. I came down another 3 clicks for my second string and cleaned that one.
In slow prone I was also trying to find my way into the middle of the target. The first half was a clean but I was all over the 10-ring. Then I started to drop points. As I watched my hold through the scope I would try to break the shot when my pulse drifted into the X-ring.
| Offhand: | 195-7 |
| Sitting: | 200-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 195-6 |
| Slow Prone: | 195-7 |
| Aggregate: | 785-26 |
October 2
The weather is now providing clues that the outdoor shooting season is winding down. The temperatures have dropped but it's still comfortable with a sweatshirt. We had a lot of rain this week and today was very overcast. You can see a video of today's match on YouTube.
Today's standing felt like such a struggle. I was fighting to get the hold down to a manageable size and the whole 20 shots just seemed so daunting. The shots kept breaking on the left side but I felt my N.P.A. was good. So I would put on more and more right to adjust my zero. Even with all of this, the shots were coming up inside of call. I tried playing with a shorter position on the buttstock but went back to the A2-like length as that felt more comfortable.
I continued trying a different length of pull by extending the buttstock all the way for sitting. The difference was subtle but I decided to try it. My wobble was certainly there but the sights would come back to the middle without a lot of effort. The first group was good but a little low with half the shots in the X-ring and the other half just below. My timing was really off for the second string. I was holding my breath and snatching at the trigger. It really was one of the worst trigger control performances I had in a while. This one had seven X's all arrayed on the very edge of the ring.
At the last match my rapid prone zero was not where I expected it to be for the first string, but after an adjustment I cleaned the second.. Today I wanted to confirm if that zero was in the same place. It was still there, almost. The rifle really wanted to cant during the string but the sight picture was nice and clear. I just tried to put the dot in the middle of the black and break good shots. The first group was just slightly low so I came up a click for the second. That one was still low in about the same place.
Since my sling almost broke at the last match, I attached another one and did some position work at home for slow prone. I found that the rifle wanted to cant counterclockwise and I'm more comfortable doing this with a scope than with iron sights. My hold was better than it was last match and I had an easier time bringing the dot into the middle of the target and keeping it there long enough to fire the shot. The first half had six X's and I really felt like I could clean this. The two nines that I had were called when they broke. Not that I exactly called their position, but that I did something to disturb my sight picture as the trigger broke. I'm still trying to get used to the strange recoil of the shorter buffer tube.
| Offhand: | 194-5 |
| Sitting: | 200-12 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-10 |
| Slow Prone: | 198-11 |
| Aggregate: | 792-38 |
October 8
There is a definite chill in the air as we get further into autumn. While the skies were clear and blue this morning, you can see your breath and you don't want to be in just a t-shirt.
Standing was almost like physical exercise. I was breathing faster during the stage and it felt like I exerted myself. Things started off fine with only one 9 in the first ten shots. My calls were good and I was able to break shots clean. Then, on the back half, the struggles began. My hold was just too big to get good results. This usually leads to poor trigger control and shots that are pulled out of the hold. Six of the last 10 shots were nines.
Despite a decent zero for sitting, my first sighter was high so I came down one click. That was where I needed to be but my X-count would have been much better if I shot smaller groups. I did notice something interesting during the string. The scope allows me to see the scoring rings normally and I try to put the reticle dot over the X-ring on the target. With the smoke from the other rifles coming across the range, it obscured the sighting black just enough that I couldn't see the individual rings any more. This actually made it easier to center the dot on the target.
Rapid Prone is where my zero really gets weird. Last week I cleaned both strings with low groups at 14-15 clicks of elevation. Today I put on 16 clicks and my first sighter was an 8 up high. I came down 5 clicks and had a high 10. Now I am just one click higher than what I shot sitting with. I shot with a cant because that seemed to be where the rifle wanted to sit. The first group was big, the size of the 10-ring, but it was centered so it was a clean. I almost didn't breathe on the second string and I was more conscious of trying to get the dot right in the middle of the target when I broke the shot. This group was good for elevation but there was one shot on the left that was just out.
I haven't shot this scoped rifle at a full 600 yards yet and here was my chance. I didn't have a zero but I just took what I had on at 300 and added 39 clicks to that. My first sighter was a low 6. I lay there for about half a minute trying to do the math for an appropriate correction and came up 10 clicks. The second sighter was an 8 at 11 o'clock. A few clicks correction gave me an X for my first record shot. A second X and I felt like I was right where I needed to be. But then I started shooting 9's and worse. At one point I fired three 8's in a row. I was clicking both elevation and windage in an effort to try to get back in the middle. I did, once the string was half-over. But there was still another 8 and 9 yet to be shot. Very frustrating.
| Offhand: | 193-5 |
| Sitting: | 200-9 |
| Rapid Prone: | 199-8 |
| Slow Prone: | 186-5 |
| Aggregate: | 778-27 |
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