The 2022 Season
The Scores
| Date | Location | Standing | Sitting | Rapid Prone |
Slow Prone |
Aggregate | |
| April 23 | Milan | 190-5 | 200-11 | 197-5 | 190-5 | 777-26 | 97.1% |
| May 1 | Bonfield | 193-5 | 159-6 | 200-9 | 198-11 | 750-31 | 93.8% |
| May 7 | Bonfield | 192-4 | 199-10 | 200-12 | 198-9 | 789-35 | 98.6% |
| May 15 | Bonfield | 195-4 | 200-14 | 200-13 | 198-14 | 793-45 | 99.1% |
| May 28 | Milan | 193-4 | 199-6 | 197-6 | 187-7 | 776-23 | 97.0% |
| May 29 | Milan | 194-5 | 199-12 | 200-10 | 196-8 | 789-35 | 98.6% |
| June 12 | Bonfield | 195-4 | 199-9 | 190-6 | 198-9 | 782-28 | 97.8% |
| June 18 | Racine | 191-4 | 199-10 | 198-8 | 193-5 | 781-27 | 97.6% |
| June 25 | Milan | 193-4 | 200-9 | 200-11 | 195-8 | 788-32 | 98.5% |
| June 26 | Milan | 94-4 | 100-6 | 97-1 | 197-8 | 488-19 | 97.6% |
| July 2 | Wyoming | 195-4 | 200-7 | 199-8 | 198-8 | 792-27 | 99.0% |
| July 3 | Bonfield | 198-9 | 200-8 | 198-10 | 199-7 | 795-34 | 99.4% |
| July 11 | Camp Atterbury | 95-3 | 100-5 | 100-6 | 196-6 | 491-20 | 98.2% |
| July 13 | Camp Atterbury | 195-5 | 200-14 | 200-6 | 195-8 | 790-33 | 98.8% |
| July 14 | Camp Atterbury | 194-6 | 199-12 | 197-10 | 199-9 | 789-37 | 98.6% |
| July 15 | Camp Atterbury | 193-7 | 199-7 | 199-4 | 197-10 | 788-28 | 98.5% |
| August 1 | Camp Perry | 93-3 | - | 90-0 | 89-2 | 272-5 | 90.7% |
| August 2 | Camp Perry | 98-1 | 99-6 | 99-4 | 197-6 | 493-17 | 98.6% |
| August 3 | Camp Perry | 92-1 | - | 100-5 | 95-2 | 287-8 | 95.7% |
| August 4 | Camp Perry | 99-3 | 100-6 | 100-6 | 194-12 | 493-27 | 98.6% |
| September 3 | Milan | 191-3 | 200-9 | 197-7 | 200-11 | 788-30 | 98.5% |
| September 4 | Milan | 193-2 | 199-10 | 199-12 | 198-9 | 789-33 | 98.6% |
| September 17 | Bonfield | 195-7 | 199-3 | 198-11 | 198-11 | 790-32 | 98.8% |
| September 18 | Bonfield | 197-5 | 200-13 | 200-13 | 197-5 | 794-36 | 99.3% |
| October 1 | Milan | 195-4 | 200-7 | 199-9 | 162-1 | 756-21 | 94.5% |
The Stories
The start of this year's highpower season took me by surprise. I had been doing lots of other things around my house that I had to scramble a bit to get ready for the first match.
April 23
The first match of the year is always a time to start shaking off the rust from a long winter. I even drove out the day before to try to get on paper with my re-barreled upper. After some very chilly weather all week, the forecast called for warm temperatures but lots of wind. We were not disappointed.
Shooting standing in the wind is more about strategy and time management than some nuance of technique. The wind was between 8 and 13 m.p.h. with enough lulls to provide opportunities. But a long layoff made the position feel odd and it was hard to settle in comfortably. I had to concentrate on making calls rather than having them be a natural part of my shooting process. Clicking the knobs based on my calls just had me chasing my tail. Things started off fine with a 9 on my fourth shot but then an 8 on shot nine. The back half was more poor decision-making as I couldn't find my timing and cadence through the string.
For my sitting zero, I just took what I had for standing and came up 6 clicks and left 5 clicks. This is just based on history of the differential between these two stages. It's not often that wind moves me around in sitting but it did today. I worked my way into the middle with my sighters but was fighting my position during the first string. This was slightly on the right so I corrected and shot another string which felt much better. I had a nice, smooth squeeze on the trigger without much extraneous movement. My cheek pressure also felt good and worked in tandem with the trigger control to allow windows where I could break good shots.
Without a zero for rapid prone, my sight settings were just guesses based on comeups from sitting. After coming down following the first sighter I was water line for elevation. The first string felt decent enough with a pretty clear sight picture which I don't get often enough. That first group was on the right side between the X line and just off the 10 for two points lost. I kept the same elevation but put on two clicks of left for the second string. This one had a good NPA as the dot would bounce back into the middle after each shot. Despite this the group was on the left side this time and another point lost.
By the time we moved back for slow prone the wind was coming from 4 o'clock at 8-13 m.p.h. with gusts over 15. I gave up on trying to fine tune a no-wind zero and just wanted to arrive at some elevation number that I was happy with. It took most of the front half to get that centered up with my left hand getting more and more sore. I think my sling was too tight and should have been corrected early on.
| Standing: | 190-5 |
| Sitting: | 200-11 |
| Rapid Prone: | 197-5 |
| Slow Prone: | 190-5 |
| Aggregate: | 777-26 |
May 1
The calendar says May but the weather says March. We had a blanket of overcast and cold conditions. At least cold for a highpower match. The thermometer never got out of the 50's and it was just a dark, gloomy day that made it hard to enjoy. But my goal was to give my White Oak service rifle scope a try. I think the reticle might have some advantages so I wanted to judge whether I should commit to this scope for the season.
I wasn't too happy taking off my winter coat to begin standing. It started misting mid-way through my string so that didn't make it any better. In this stage I was trying to decide whether to use the dot or the circle as my scope aiming reference. My eye naturally went to the dot and I barely saw the circle. With no zeros my first sighter was an eight at 11 o'clock. Some quick adjustments and the second sighter was at the top of the 10 ring. After that, shots were mostly inside or on call. I shot pretty fast as I wasn't in the mood to stand out in the cold for too long. Towards the end I gave up on a few shots as I just wanted to be done.
Sitting really made the day worse. With some on-call sighters all I had to do was shoot a decent group. On the first string I fired my first shot and lined up my second one. But when I pulled the trigger nothing happened. A glance at the ejection port showed the second round still in the magazine with the bolt locked back. Thinking that the magazine may not have been fully inserted, I took the mag out, pushed it back in, fired that shot, and did my magazine change. The same problem cropped up on this magazine as well. The bolt kept locking back even though there were more rounds in the magazine. All that fumbling with magazines and bolt releases cost me time and I wound up saving four rounds. For the second string I knew that I could just hit my bolt release but the problem only happened once at that point.
I was concerned that the malfunction that I had in sitting would rear its ugly head in rapid prone. I was mentally prepared to deal with it but the rifle functioned fine. At this point of the match I found myself using the reticle's circle more than the dot. This made sense as, in the past, I have found that sometimes the dot is hard to discern in rapid prone under some lighting conditions.
Slow prone started off well. Decent X's and a centered group. I was using the ring almost exclusively at this point although I noticed that the ring and dot didn't always align. On shot 17 I knew I didn't break it clean and got a nine at 10 o'clock. Two shots later and I put another one way out there at 2 o'clock.
| Standing: | 193-5 |
| Sitting: | 159-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-9 |
| Slow Prone: | 198-11 |
| Aggregate: | 750-31 |
May 7
The weather finally turned our way today. Although still chilly when I arrived at the range, the sun was out all day and it warmed up quickly.
We had some breeze for standing but that was only part of why my hold was so big. It was just so hard to get the reticle to the target. My horizontal NPA was good but vertical put me over the target. Getting more cheek pressure on the stock helped the wobble a little. Good trigger control meant very little extra movement when the shot broke but the hold made it difficult to judge the right time to fire the rifle.
The malfunction from last week was on my mind as I prepared to shoot sitting. Fortunately, the rifle functioned fine and I got all my shots off regardless of my disappointing marksmanship. On the first string I found my trigger control was getting worse as the string went on. Despite this, I still cleaned the target. On the second string I was breaking shots that, to my eye, looked like they were going into the bottom of the X-ring. The resultant group was low with one that dropped out.
Rapid prone is where I am still feeling out how to best use the reticle on this scope. With a few strings under my belt I am leaning towards the dot and that's what I used for these strings. But one thing I noticed was that both the target and reticle were very clear. On a cloudy day like last week, the dot may not be the best option. The disadvantage to the circle is it seems to take longer to line up.
In slow prone the circle of the reticle was my go-to. After a couple of 10's for my sighters, and two X's to start the string, I zinged a nine out to the right. It's elevation was about even with the bottom of the X-ring but it was on the right side and I don't know what put it there. I followed that up with another nine that was even further to the right than the last one. At that point I had no choice but to put on a couple of clicks of windage back to the left. After that, things weren't as exciting and I kept my shots in the middle.
| Standing: | 192-4 |
| Sitting: | 199-10 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-12 |
| Slow Prone: | 198-9 |
| Aggregate: | 789-35 |
May 15
As each week goes by, the shooting weather gets better. Today was sunny and warm with not much wind. It was one of those days where I just worked through the day without much worry or anxiety.
I was constantly trying to correct an NPA that was too far right in standing. It wasn't a lot but the rifle just wanted to shift to the right side when I was breaking shots. I was also running into difficulty making that shot decision. My efforts to improve things lasted throughout the string as I was adjusting my NPA, my supporting elbow placement, hip position, and cheek pressure. My desire was to just acquire the basics of a bone-supported position and correct NPA.
Sitting felt pretty good overall. The first string had good cheek pressure and a good trigger. Despite some wobble, the dot kept coming back to the middle, I could break them clean and wound up with nine X's. The second string felt a bit "wilder" with a trigger finger that didn't seem to be in sync with my hold.
I used the dot in rapid prone just as I did for the previous two stages. It was clear and displayed the movement that I had during shot break. But it kept coming back to the middle of the target asking me to let the next shot go right away. I did notice that a dot that wasn't perfectly in the middle of the black would interrupt my process and delay letting the shot go.
My sight picture in slow prone seems to be gravitating towards using the circle. Regardless of what I use, my pulse would move the reticle off target and back. That made it difficult to judge when to break the shot so I need to understand what the magnitude of my pulse is. The key for me was a positive trigger squeeze based on a firm grip on the rifle. I shot plenty of X's which made the high nines difficult to understand. Each one was preceded and followed with X's so it's hard to detect any shift in what I was doing. Checking my cant was another part of my process with it varying between 8° and 10°.
| Standing: | 195-4 |
| Sitting: | 200-14 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-13 |
| Slow Prone: | 198-14 |
| Aggregate: | 793-45 |
May 15
We had some breeze with us all day today. It would gust up to about 13 m.p.h. but mostly stayed in the single digits. The sunshine felt nice after several days of rain.
My goal for standing this morning was to get the basics of a bone-supported position and a good natural point of aim. I was able to get the NPA, but getting consistent support underneath the rifle eluded me. It would shift on each shot so it never felt the same. Trigger control was good for the most part but on shot 15 I had a flinch as I pulled the trigger and got an eight. My calls were poor which is unlike me for this stage. The spotter would show up in a place that I wasn't expecting.
I really expected sitting to be better than it was. I felt like I was doing everything right. My NPA was good, I was squeezing the trigger smoothly, and the wobble was controlled. The sights were coming back into the X-ring and I was breaking the shots without much fuss. I could see the dot in the X so it was a surprise to see groups that were so big.
I had done pretty well in rapid prone recently so I was looking forward to this stage. The wind tempered that a bit but it was coming back towards us for the most part so there shouldn't have been much to correct. Things felt fine while I was shooting and I had a clear sight picture which translates into a decent result. The first string had shots that I was breaking slightly on the left side (X's at 9). That didn't help matters as the wind pushed the group out on the left anyway.
The wheels really fell off in slow prone. I put on the elevation that I used last time I fired this upper at this range. My first sighter was almost an on-paper miss up high. I corrected for this but I still had elevation trouble. My position never felt comfortable and I struggled to get the rifle in the same place each time. My biggest fight was trying to figure out my sight picture. Getting the ring of white that I wanted using the circle was difficult. My focus of attention would go around and around inside the circle and I never knew when I had things centered. I alternated using the dot and the circle to line up with the target but the shots were going all over the place. I only shot two 9's in the whole string and dropped 11 points on four shots.
| Standing: | 193-4 |
| Sitting: | 199-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 197-6 |
| Slow Prone: | 187-7 |
| Aggregate: | 776-23 |
May 29
More wind today but nice and warm. I was a little tired today so it was just a matter of coasting through the day without expending too much energy.
With today's conditions, I was using my wind strategy in standing. The opportunities would be narrower so I had to manage my time efficiently. There were lulls where I could shoot but my hold wasn't really supporting this. I shot another 8 today that was outside my call. My body moved as I was breaking the shot and I saw the dot wiggle around in the bottom of the 10-ring and start moving out at 5 o'clock. I thought it was probably no worse than a mid-ring nine but it was just out of the black. But that was typical of my calls today, not many shot locations matched up. Interestingly enough, all four 9's that I shot were in a group about 3" high by 2" wide in the same area on the right side of the 9-ring.
It's getting frustrating to shoot sitting and seemingly doing everything right but still losing points. I'm getting good cheek pressure, firm grip on the rifle, and squeezing smoothly. The dot was bouncing just out of the X-ring but it would come back in. A little patience let things get settled before I fired. I had a good group on the first string but there was a wild nine way out on the right. I never saw it and thought I would have an acceptable result. The second string felt good as well but at least I was able to get eight X's out of it.
For rapid prone the wind was still blowing, but it was out of 11 o'clock for the most part. The gusts were the real wild card. You never knew when the intensity would increase. I shot my first group with 2 clicks of left and got a group up towards 1 o'clock. My NPA was to the right and I felt like my head had to stretch to reach the scope. I didn't think this moved the group that much in the horizontal, so I put on another 2 clicks of left for the second string. Right in the middle of shooting the wind really started to pick up. There was no time to be adjusting knobs so for a couple of shots I shifted the dot into the 10-ring on the left and hoped that my favor would offset the breeze. It worked well enough as this was a 7X clean.
I decided to commit to the dot for slow prone. Despite this being better than yesterday, I still had to adjust my elevation and 75% of my dropped points were either out the top or the bottom.
| Standing: | 194-5 |
| Sitting: | 199-12 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-10 |
| Slow Prone: | 196-8 |
| Aggregate: | 789-35 |
June 12
A warm day with thunderstorms moving into the area and making rumbles in the distance. The humidity was in the air and the whole day felt like I was working really hard for just a mediocre result.
My hold in standing this year just refuses to improve. The reticle just dances around on the target and that makes it so much more difficult to judge the trigger point. My calls were poor again. Not really bad like in different parts of the target, but just enough difference between my call and the target result that makes me question making sight adjustments. The NPA was decent enough and I seemed to come back into the target but that larger hold delayed my shot process and dragged the string out longer.
I had to do a lot of forcing to get myself into a sitting position today. My body felt stiff and the size of the wobble reflected this. I was well into the first string before things started to loosen up. No matter what, the groups were too big.
There was a slight haze downrange for rapid prone. This made the target slightly more gray than it normally would have been. The consequence was that instead of being able to see the X-ring, I had to guess at its location. During the first string I took a little longer than normal with just about everything. I started slower. I took more time to change magazines. I spent more time firing that third shot. As a result time ran out as I was lining up my final shot and I saved a round.
Slow prone went like it has this year. I was finding the middle but also having shots that were way out on the edge. The first nine that I fired was on call as I could see the dot dip toward 7 o'clock. It wasn't much but it illustrated that I was doing something as the shot was breaking to mis-align the scope with the target.
| Standing: | 195-4 |
| Sitting: | 199-9 |
| Rapid Prone: | 190-6 |
| Slow Prone: | 198-9 |
| Aggregate: | 782-28 |
June 18
The morning was cool as I went to a match at a range that I have not visited in six years.
The breeze for standing was between 4 and 8 MPH. There was the occasional gust above that but I could ignore those. What I couldn't ignore was a rifle that did not want to be controlled. My NPA was low so each shot was a journey upward into the target. I was searching my position for a good base where I could control the rifle and not just be along for the ride. That only happened on a couple of shots.
Because I finished standing with 2 clicks of left wind, I put the same correction on the gun for sitting. This was the right call for wind but I am still dropping points in this stage. Both sighters were called in the X-ring and the strings felt good enough to be cleans. But I leaked out my last shot on the first string despite all my efforts.
I judged the wind for rapid prone to be worth 4 clicks left. The first sighter wound up as a mid-ring 10 on the right side so I put on an additional 2 clicks. This put me on the right edge of the X-ring for the second sighter. I felt bold so I added yet another click to start the first string. After shooting the first two shots, I looked at my tablet screen and saw a 10 at 10 o'clock and a 9 just off the line at 8 o'clock. After changing my magazines I took off one of those left clicks and fired the rest of the string. I didn't change windage for the second string but I still let one shot drop out the bottom. Additionally, the target system only registered nine shots for that string so I could take another nine or re-fire. I chose to shoot again and cleaned it with 7X.
Slow prone was frustrating as I couldn't stay centered up and couldn't hold elevation. Using the same elevation from the last time I shot 600, my first sighter was a 7 at seven o'clock. I adjusted into the X-ring for my second sighter but only stayed there for one more shot. After a single 10 I put one out the top and began my battle with gravity. I would adjust my elevation but then still drop shots out the bottom.
| Standing: | 191-4 |
| Sitting: | 199-10 |
| Rapid Prone: | 198-8 |
| Slow Prone: | 193-5 |
| Aggregate: | 781-27 |
June 25
The rain kept a lot of people away for our state highpower championship. There was a delay before we could start and it looked like there was more thunderstorms coming in later in the afternoon. The time in between was overcast and windy.
I did some dry-firing at home for standing this week. Not trying to change anything, just wanting to get back to the basics of a stable bone-supported position. That gave me a little bit more control over the rifle but it all went out the window with the windy conditions we had and the gusts up to 12MPH. My calls were a little better than they have been recently. The hold was going to be larger due to the wind but I dropped additional points due to trigger control and the movement that was happening during shot break. Overall, I really had to work at this stage today. I paused plenty of times and even though I didn't shoot anything in the white, I still dribbled out the points.
Sitting went a bit better today than recently. Well, except for one thing anyway. My position felt good and my cheek had solid pressure on the buttstock. For the first string I had a windage correction in my head and I thought I put it on the gun. But I forgot and shot with my no-wind zero. This moved my group out to the right and I didn't realize it until I had already fired. On the second string I had fired six shots when the rifle just went "click" instead of "bang". The round in the chamber had lost its primer which wound up in the lower right next to the upper receiver take down lug. It was a shame as those six shots were all X's. My refire string had four 10's so that's what was used to fill in on the score card.
The wind for rapid prone was at our backs but that didn't stop me from trying to put on a correction for my sighters. I soon saw the error of doing this and shot both strings at my no-wind zero. Both strings were fired at a quick pace but I always want to break the shot if it looks like it's in the middle regardless of the speed. One thing I noticed was how much movement there was at the point of shot break. It was just a small amount of wobble right as the rifle was going off that made me question where the bullet was actually going to end up.
A friend of mine had suggested that I dial the power of my scope back for slow prone. The idea being that this would increase the space between the sighting black and the ring in the reticle. I turned it down to 4X and I could see the difference in the sight picture but I'm not sure how much this helped to center me up. I only started with a few clicks of right wind but that certainly was not enough. I went up to a high of 8 clicks but mostly stayed at 6. All but one point was lost due to elevation and not coming down soon enough.
| Standing: | 193-4 |
| Sitting: | 200-9 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-11 |
| Slow Prone: | 195-8 |
| Aggregate: | 788-32 |
June 26
A much better forecast for today. It was clear, bright, and sunny. It was intended as a Leg match but we didn't have 6 non-distinguished shooters so it was just a 50-shot match with no sighters where I stood for the rapids.
My big hold was back for my standing. The reticle was bouncing around the target and finding windows to shoot in was so difficult. I felt nervous and the shooting process felt out of my control. My NPA and calls were actually good but the rifle was wobbling around so much that I knew not dropping any points in the first five shots was unsustainable. Sure enough, I fired a wild one and got a 7. This was followed by an 8 on the next shot. The whole ten shots just seemed stressful, uncontrolled, and random.
Standing before my sitting string felt odd but I didn't cross my feet as I would have years ago. I just stood up and then sat back down shifting around to get my NPA back. The position felt alright but my trigger control was poor as I had additional movement when the shots broke.
When I was ready to shoot rapid prone, I judged the wind to be mostly in my face with a slight right-to-left component. So I put on a click of right (because you always need something on at 300) dropped into position and fired my first two. At the magazine change I could feel the wind reverse and pick up from the left. So I came two clicks left but it wasn't nearly enough. The group had really good elevation but was on the right side with three 9's out on that side. It was a shame as the size of the group would have made it a 10X if it was perfectly centered.
I turned down the power on my scope for slow prone like yesterday. I started at 58 clicks of elevation which is what I came off with yesterday. My first shot was a 9 at four o'clock but would have caught the bottom of the 10 if I had gotten the wind right. In general the group was taller than I would have liked and slightly low which is why I finished with 59 clicks of elevation and the other two 9's were out the bottom.
| Standing: | 94-4 |
| Sitting: | 100-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 97-1 |
| Slow Prone: | 197-8 |
| Aggregate: | 488-19 |
July 2
In an effort to just keep shooting, I drove 2 1/2 hours to a match at a 200 yard range that I go to about once a year. It was warm with very little breeze. But everyone was pretty laid back and it made for a relaxing day.
Same old story as my other standings this year. Big hold, hard to make shot decision. Being disciplined limited my points loss but with a hold that big, losing points was inevitable. I did notice that my feet seemed to be in a position where my heels were elevated compared to my toes.
As the season moves along I am feeling better about my sitting. The groups need to shrink but at least I'm not losing a wild shot on each string. Both of the strings today felt good although I was breaking shots toward the bottom of the X-ring.
The rapid prone target reduced to 200 yards had very thin rings. So I had a hard time judging where the dot should go in the black. I came down two clicks during the magazine change on the first string since I didn't have a zero for this reduced stage. The second string was nicely centered.
Slow prone never seems to go as well as I hope. I had decent elevation for the group but got burned by my windage early on. Not due to actual wind, but by not holding well enough.
| Standing: | 195-4 |
| Sitting: | 200-7 |
| Rapid Prone: | 199-8 |
| Slow Prone: | 198-8 |
| Aggregate: | 792-27 |
July 3
My last match before the National Championship. It was a warm one.
During prep for standing I paid special attention to find the a good place for my feet. While my horizontal NPA was good, the vertical NPA was low. I was trying to bring the sight up to target on each shot. I'll say that the hold was more manageable than it has been although not great. Calls were pretty good. The string certainly wasn't easy, but it was easier than it has been. The shots started out breaking on the left side and I had nothing right of center until shot 13. But that's were I was calling them. On shot number 8 the bottom just seemed to drop out from underneath the reticle and it plummeted downward as I was squeezing the trigger. I hoped it would make the black but it was an eight out the bottom.
Both of my sitting strings were a bit low so I may need another click of elevation. Nothing really extraordinary about this stage other than the first string was fired with some fuzziness in my eye that I couldn't really clear.
After cleaning my first string of rapid prone I thought I had things pretty dialed-in. But between strings I reached over too far for my tablet and broke position. This wasn't a big deal but I had to spend a little more time getting back my NPA when the second string started. But after the magazine change, the shot would fire and the reticle would come back to the middle close enough that I just broke it again. Towards the end I was running out of breath because I didn't have time to breathe. So my shots kept dropping lower and lower.
It was getting hot by the time we shot slow prone. My first sighter was just off the 10-ring on the right. I wanted to move three clicks left but I turned the windage knob the wrong way and put on more right. Needless to say my second sighter was in the wrong direction. I don't know if I will ever get used to knobs that turn in the wrong direction.
| Standing: | 198-9 |
| Sitting: | 200-8 |
| Rapid Prone: | 198-10 |
| Slow Prone: | 199-7 |
| Aggregate: | 795-34 |
July 11
The Nationals start off with a 4-man team match. It was a great day for it with clear, blue skies and warm temperatures.
My standing hold was about as big as it has been this year. But it was my NPA and trigger control that was causing the dropped points. I immediately fell into a hole by losing four points in the first three shots. It was so hard to steer the reticle to the target. My level of focus wasn't at the level it needed to be.
The crown of my firing point for sitting was just forward of the firing line. Consequently everything behind this, like where I had to sit, was sloping backwards. So my position felt like I was falling backwards. The string went fine though, except for breaking shots on the right side of the X-ring.
In rapid prone I finally noticed that the target was white instead of buff colored. Strange that I didn’t really notice this in the previous two stages. The reticle kept coming back to the middle after most shots so I didn't want to spend much time admiring it and just fired.
Since I had a coach in slow prone, I wanted to hold the best elevation and break the best shots I could. The forward slope of my firing point made that difficult. The target was mostly clear but I couldn't just break the shot right away. I had to come into it and check to see if the dot would drift out of the middle. Sometimes I would look at the sight picture for too long and had to start over.
| Standing: | 95-3 |
| Sitting: | 100-5 |
| Rapid Prone: | 100-6 |
| Slow Prone: | 196-6 |
| Aggregate: | 491-20 |
July 12
It was a warm, sunny day with a high of around 90 to start off the championship.
As soon as I shouldered the rifle in prep for standing I could see that my horizontal NPA was good. But throughout the string the reticle wanted to settle just below the sighting black. As a result most attempts into the middle came from underneath. I would try to steer the rifle upward and fire on the move as I went through the target. Definitely mixed results with this method.
I think all the firing points on this range have a heavy rear-ward slope to them. This worried me initially but eventually I got into a somewhat secure position. Both strings felt decent enough and getting good cheek pressure on the stock helped in controlling the rifle.
The wind for rapid prone was coming from about 5 o'clock and I judged it to be worth about 5 clicks. So I put that on my first sighter and got a result just off the 10-ring straight out the right. I came 3 clicks left and the second sighter was in the X-ring. I fired my first two shots and saw in my tablet that they were on the left side of the 10-ring so I added another two clicks to finish the string. At that point we had a long delay to allow some planes to land on the base airfield. I got two more sighters before the second string and the wind had certainly picked up by that point. That string was fired with 7 clicks of right and that was a good call
| Standing: | 193-4 |
| Sitting: | 200-14 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-6 |
July 13
The sunny weather shows no sign of let-up.
I sat on my cart too long before standing and wound up trying to stretch out a sore back in my prep period. This continued to bother me well into the string but abated by the end. My NPA was low again so I would work to get the reticle rise up into the black. But this was never a straight path. It would sometimes rise out to the left or right and I had a hard time controlling the direction.
Sitting felt confident in the beginning. Prep was good and my sighters were both X's. On the first string I fired my first two shots and saw in the tablet they were both X's. After the magazine change things started breaking down. The dot wouldn't sit still and I tried to keep my trigger control smooth. As the string wore on I felt like I had less and less control over the stock. The resulting group was all on the right side.
The wind was pretty steady for slow prone and I judged the correction to be 12 clicks of right. I put that on the gun and got an X for my first sighter. The follow up was another X, along with the first two for record. Then the third shot was out the top. I couldn't really explain it so I just kept on going. After a few 10's I put three nines out the top in succession. It was so frustrating I wasn't paying attention to the mirage and just came down three clicks. Then I fired another shot that was good for elevation but out on the right side. I had no explanation for the elevation.
| Standing: | 194-6 |
| Sitting: | 199-12 |
| Slow Prone: | 195-8 |
July 14
Yet another sunny day. Because of a protest from the first day of the championship, the first standing match has been thrown out and we will re-fire it this morning in addition to the matches we would normally shoot.
I got tired of fighting a low vertical NPA in standing this week so I found a spot for my feet that elevated my forward foot slightly. This made things a little better but my overall hold was still big but about what I have been seeing this year. My shot selection was more disciplined and I would take more time on each shot so it broke on my terms. One thing that didn't work was my calls. They weren't good at the beginning so I started to chase them by turning the knobs but I gave up since it was fruitless.
I had a really big hold in sitting today. The dot would come back into the middle but it was tough to wait for that to happen. I was just trying to ride things out and get my 20 shots off. I got a little wild breaking the very last shot and that wound up a nine.
Getting the wind right for the first string of rapid prone was easier than the second. The first was well centered with 7 X's. As I was waiting to start my second string, I noticed the mirage pick up to the right so I added 2 clicks of left to compensate. But the result was a group on the left side with three shots out of the 10-ring.
As I was getting ready to shoot slow prone I was watching the mirage and preparing to put on some right wind. Then, the mirage slowed down and turned in the other direction with less velocity. I'm glad I waited to start my string as this shift would have happened when I was into my record shots if I had gotten going early. Five shots in and the wind turned around again and I got burned for a nine on the left side. After that I just tried to keep my best aimed shots going downrange in quick succession.
| Standing: | 195-5 |
| Sitting: | 199-7 |
| Rapid Prone: | 197-10 |
| Slow Prone: | 199-9 |
July 15
A little cooler and cloudy today but still good weather to shoot with the sun peeking out occasionally.
My mind was full of anxiety as I went to shoot my final standing. Calls were, once again, poor. Chasing them was futile and I just tried to break the best shots I could. Contributing to this was the fact that most shots were breaking while moving.
My rapid prone sighters had a different wind condition than the first string. But I saw the change through my spotting scope and instead of the 4 clicks of left on my second sighter, I went with 1 click left for the first string. That was a clean but on the right side so I could have used a little more. The mirage shifted again as I was ready to shoot the second string so I went with 5 clicks of left. This would have also been a clean if I didn't drop one out the bottom.
My correction to start slow prone was only a couple of clicks of right as I saw the mirage lazily move across the range. As I was shooting the string I would add and subtract a click but I was staying in the middle. About half-way through the mirage moved into a boil so I paused as I wanted to see if it was going to shift in a particular direction. It didn't so I went to my no-wind zero and started shooting again. But things picked up again towards the right and I didn't have enough correction to avoid a nine. At this point I got behind the wind and lost two more nines.
| Standing: | 193-7 |
| Rapid Prone: | 199-4 |
| Slow Prone: | 197-10 |
| Championship Aggregate: | 2367-98 |
August 1
The day of the President's was a blustery one. There were some storms forecast for the afternoon and the clouds rolled in during the match but wind was with us all day.
We had about 8MPH of wind for standing so I went on with 3 clicks of left. My first shot was right of call and I adjusted from there.
I had a hard time judging the wind for rapid prone. I went on with four clicks of left which was woefully inadequate. The string felt a little sloppy as I was muscling the gun a bit. The group wasn't bad, if slightly tall. But it was low and out on the right.
Slow prone was just a trainwreck. My elevation zero didn't carry over from home and trying to get the wind right was an exercise in futility.
| Standing: | 93-3 |
| Rapid Prone: | 90-0 |
| Slow Prone: | 89-2 |
| Aggregate: | 272-5 |
August 2
Great weather all day. Not too hot, sunny skies, and a wind that was in our faces for most of the day.
The sun was on my right side for standing but I didn't think to adjust for it. My first shot was to the left of call so I came one click right and then another click later in the string. The conditions were pretty calm but that didn't stop me from getting nervous. The first three shots went well but then each shot took more time. Towards the end I could feel my body shaking but I couldn't stop it.
I haven't scoped my first two shots in sitting in a long time. But since my zeros haven't been right on here, and it's much easier to see the holes at 200 yards than at home, I decided to chance it. After two shots I changed magazines and looked through my scope, first confirming I saw the correct target. I could only see one of the shots, a one o'clock 10, but that was on call so I kept shooting. Several shots broke as low 10's but the group was well centered with the three 10's on the right side and a nine out there as well.
I was watching the other relays shoot rapid prone and noted the mirage. At first, the mirage was running out of the left so that seemed to be prevailing condition. But over time, the wind would swing around and there was more and more mirage coming out of the right. By the time it was my turn to shoot, I put on 2 clicks of right and fired my string. The sight picture was mostly clear but my breathing was out of rhythm. My wind was probably a click more than I needed but that wasn't the reason for the dropped point.
The wind was blowing between 3 and 8 MPH but it was mostly in our faces. The switches did happen though and the mirage was running from the right when I had to start shooting. I guessed at three clicks of correction and got a downwind 8 for my first shot. Most of the string was spent at about 5 clicks of right and a high of 7. As I loaded my 19th shot I looked through the scope and saw the mirage come out of the left. I paused as I wanted to see if my condition would come back. After about a minute I came back to my no-wind zero because I thought I would now have to shoot in this new condition. But the wind came back to where it was before and I finished the string with a right side correction.
| Standing: | 98-1 |
| Sitting: | 99-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 99-4 |
| Slow Prone: | 197-6 |
| Aggregate: | 493-17 |
August 3
The 2-man doubles match didn't start until 1PM. This gave the day a strange vibe as everything seemed different since I spent most of the morning sitting around.
We had plenty of wind for standing. The opportunities to fire were fleeting and I always seemed to be breaking shots on the move. This combination guaranteed dropping plenty of points.
The wind for rapid prone was pretty strong but didn't have a lot of horizontal component. Three clicks of left wind and a good group delivered a clean.
It was getting later in the day when we shot slow prone and I was getting tired. I had to come down a couple of clicks in elevation because I started too high.
| Standing: | 92-1 |
| Rapid Prone: | 100-5 |
| Slow Prone: | 95-2 |
| Aggregate: | 287-8 |
August 4
Each year the focus is on the 6-man team match. This year several organizational difficulties gave me more stress than normal. Additionally, there was rain in the forecast so I wasn’t sure how pleasant the day was going to be.
I was on the first pair of shooters and we were leading off the team in standing. My NPA was good in general but shifted between shots. Calls were also good but that may have been because in a team match I focus more to give my coach more information. My hold was like it has been all year but I still managed to find the opportunities to fire the shot. I was clean for most of the way and threw away a nine on the final shot.
I walked up to the firing line for sitting with efficiency and purpose. I felt like I knew what I had to do, and I was going to do it. During the string I pulled through the second stage on my trigger and the shot just went off somewhere without knowing where. Luckily the rifle was still in the middle.
With the heavily overcast skies, the sight picture looked very dark for rapid prone. This caused the dot to be far less distinct than it normally is. But I tried my best to break good shots while holding my breath.
Being the first shooter in slow prone made me worried about firing the best shot I could for the coach. With my flexible elevation zero I didn't know if the shot would be high or low. It turned out to be fine. After a few more shots, I was in the middle and I had 10 X's in the last 11 shots.
| Standing: | 99-3 |
| Sitting: | 100-6 |
| Rapid Prone: | 100-6 |
| Slow Prone: | 194-12 |
| Aggregate: | 493-27 |
September 3
I felt very disconnected from my shooting today, despite this being our state service rifle championship. Usually I do pretty well when this happens but today I just wasn't focused enough to shoot a good score.
As I was setting up for standing I was thinking that it felt like I hadn't shot in years. I was searching around for my some of my gear and my motions up to the firing line weren't as fluid as they should have been. There was a little breeze which I discounted until my first sighter. Then I put on a click of right. My hold was similar to the rest of the year but I wasn't patient enough to find my opportunities. Everything seemed just a little bit outside of call. Those wide 10's in my scope would turn into 9's when the target came up.
What should have been an automatic sitting position turned into fumbling for the right sling tension. In retrospect the sling was probably too tight but I wanted to get more support for the rifle. I put on that click of right that I had in standing and fired my first sighter. But the wind had stopped and I had an X on the right side despite calling it at 8 o'clock. I let the fact that it was an X lull me into thinking this was fine and the second sighter was on call. I fired the first string like this and my position felt good with plenty of X's breaking in the scope. The group had 4 X's with the rest strung out towards 4 o'clock. Taking that click off for the second string made things slightly better but there was still plenty of shots on the right side.
More searching for the right sling setting in rapid prone. It's a good thing I use a web sling so changing length is easy. My first sighter was very high and that was the elevation I used at Camp Perry. I came down to what I used at this range before and also tightened my sling. The string was chaotic with plenty of muscling to get the gun to the target. Even after cleaning my second string I'm still a little lost on my zero.
As we were getting up to the line for slow prone, there was weather coming in and the skies darkened the range. Any air movement stopped and we were treated with a no-wind condition. A rarity for this range. Despite this I still managed to shoot an 8 on the left for my first sighter. I corrected into an X and then just clicked to the left or the right when a side 10 would show up.
| Standing: | 191-3 |
| Sitting: | 200-9 |
| Rapid Prone: | 197-7 |
| Slow Prone: | 200-11 |
| Aggregate: | 788-30 |
September 4
My shooting glasses prescription was made when I was shooting iron sights. I assumed the same would be good for optics. But I was told that a distance correction is better. So today I wanted to experiment by shooting with the glasses I wear to see distance.
There was a little breeze for standing and my hold wasn't that good. But my biggest problem was decision-making. On a couple of shots the dot was out of the 10 ring but I still fired the rifle. I plodded through the string with nothing worse than a nine but it was still underwhelming.
Since these glasses didn't have any blinders, I saw a lot more of my environment than I normally do. So for sitting I kept my left eye closed while shooting the strings. The other problem was that I was looking through the top edge of the lens and I found myself limited in where I could position my head.
In rapid prone I had a harder time looking through the lens. The glasses sat lower than my Junkers so I was looking at the top of the frame. I shifted my position around so I could keep my head more erect and get a more perpendicular view through the glass. But this was all a compromise and it was hard to shoot the strings and get the sight picture I wanted.
For slow prone made some modifications. I transferred my blinders from my Junkers to my normal glasses. I also bent the nosepieces so that the glasses would sit higher on my face. This gave me more lens area to look through. One thing I noticed was that I could never see the scoring rings on the 600 yard target before. Now, I don't know if I can say I "saw" the rings, but I could perceive that they were there where it was just solid sighting black before. Using the same elevation I used yesterday, my first shot was an X. I rolled through the first half just fine but as I got later in the string shots started to go high. I began the process of bringing my elevation down and I finished at the same elevation that I started with yesterday.
| Standing: | 193-2 |
| Sitting: | 199-10 |
| Rapid Prone: | 199-12 |
| Slow Prone: | 198-9 |
| Aggregate: | 789-33 |
September 17
I tried to improve my setup with my street glasses to keep playing with that distance prescription. Unfortunately the position of the lens, and keeping the frames stationary, was not optimal. The glasses kept sliding down my nose and I was looking through the top of the frame. In general I spent more concentration on getting my glasses into position than with lining up the shots.
| Standing: | 195-7 |
| Sitting: | 199-3 |
| Rapid Prone: | 198-11 |
| Slow Prone: | 198-11 |
| Aggregate: | 790-32 |
September 18
Since my glasses were sliding around so much yesterday, I felt that it was time to end that experiment until I get a distance prescription in my dedicated shooting frames.
| Standing: | 197-5 |
| Sitting: | 200-13 |
| Rapid Prone: | 200-13 |
| Slow Prone: | 197-5 |
| Aggregate: | 794-36 |
October 1
Normally I shoot re-barreled uppers at the start of each season, but I wanted to get a little ahead of the game for 2023. So I moved my scope over to the upper that I plan on shooting next year and went to the last match of the season to get some zeros. I showed up at the range a little early, bore-sighted the scope, and then shot the match.
Things felt pretty good in standing this morning. I only needed fine adjustment to my N.P.A. when I brought the rifle down to the target and my hold was good. The one thing I would have liked to improve was my trigger control as I could see a slight rise to the sights when the trigger was moving backwards to fire the shot.
Seeing detail on the target in sitting was a little more challenging today. There was a slight fog in the air, the sun was in my eyes, and the smoke from the rest of the firing line made the scoring rings difficult to see. That's not a problem in standing as I can tell where the 10-ring is. But in sitting I like to put the dot in the X-ring and I had a hard time seeing it.
My sight picture in rapid prone was the opposite of sitting. Everything was clear and I could see the dot, the sighting black, and the scoring rings pretty well. I had a poor grip on the rifle in the first string with a group a little larger than I would have liked but the second string felt good and had 8 X's.
What a disaster slow prone turned out to be. Since I didn't have a 600 yard zero, getting a 7 for the first sighter didn't bother me. It was down low so I made an almost-full correction of 6 clicks up. I fired my second sighter and it was below the first one! So I came up another six clicks and got a high 7. Now I'm adjusting my elevation just to get into the middle. After a few shots I even stopped doing this and just fired as best I could. Nothing worked and I had multiple 8's and 7's with no answer.
| Standing: | 195-4 |
| Sitting: | 200-7 |
| Rapid Prone: | 199-9 |
| Slow Prone: | 162-1 |
| Aggregate: | 756-21 |