Roving Shooter Visit to Camp Perry - Report 1

One week since leaving home and am shooting properly at last.

I had a shoot on Monday at the start of the US mid range championships but it was a waste of time, mainly because I had left my shooting glasses behind (I have them now) and I was still not over the jet lag, I should have been here for 5 days by then but that was not what happened, more below. The Monday shoot was 20 shots at 3, 5 and 600 yards with 2 compulsory sighters. The 20 shot matches are a bit of a marathon. I didn't shoot Tuesday which was 3 x20 shot matches at 600. Wednesday was a teams day shooting 20s at 3, 5 and 6, so didn't shoot. Shot today, Thursday, 3, 5 and 600 x 20 shots.

Had a good day shooting 200.11, 199.8 and 199.12. Yes they are 10 point bulls. The 3 and 5 targets are a straight scaling of their 600 yard target with a 12" bull, so they are not quite as tight as our targets. The Rodriguez range which we were shooting on goes back to 600 only and has 95 targets. There are flags on either side at 2, 3 and 500 yards, that makes them a long way away when you are on 42. It was cool today so not much mirage. Answer, shoot fast and chase the spotter. The wind didn't alter much. Tomorrow is the last day of the mid ranges with 3 x 20 at 600. They just love 600 yards here. Their mid range championship totals 40 shots at 300, 40 shots at 500, and 160 shots at 600, all shot in 4 days, talk about use bullets. Have not shot on the Viale range yet which is where the long range shooting is done. There are not many flags there either but I have been told that they are going to put a row down the middle of the Rodriguez range and several rows down the Viale range for next year when the Palma programme trial run is held.

The shooting here is all competitor marking, you get to the range at the assembly time and there are 4 to a target. 1 and 2 shoot and 3 and 4 go to the butts to mark. 1 then shoots and 2 is the scorer. They then swap around. When you are finished 1 and 2 go and mark and 3 and 4 shoot. 3 n 4 then drop back to 500 and shoot there, so 2 x 20 shot matches in short order each, and then you swap around again. No breaks for lunch, just one headlong rush. Everything is very controlled with each relay starting together, but not much time between. As soon as the relay is finished the scorers get less than 10 minutes before their 3 minute sighting prep time begins. One more thing, you only get 22 minutes to shoot your 22 shots. No time for mucking around. For the world champs it will not be competitor marking. They will also be shot under ICFRA rules too, not US ones.

Had a drawn out trip getting here, after getting to LA, I had a 10 hour wait for my next flight to Cleveland which was an overnighter, leaving at 1130pm and getting in at 7am, gaining 3 hours going east. Unfortunately, after being delayed it got cancelled at 1am. By the time I had been reticketed it was 2.30am, and I ended up booked on the same flight 24 hours later, oh joy! I had read my travel insurance policy and if I was held up for more than 12 hours I could claim hotel expenses , so at 245am I jumped on the first hotel shuttle that came along, and there are not many at that hour of the day, and went and found a shower and a decent bed. The joys of travel.

Will try to do a daily report now that I am shooting.

Cheers, Malcolm

Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad