Roving Shooter Visit to Camp Perry - Report 2
Had the first day of the long range championship today. Two 20 shot matches at 1000 yards, 30 minutes and unlimited sighters. You do not get convertible sighters here, you have to say when you are going to shoot for record. The long range target here is 6 foot square and the gap between the targets is only about 2 feet. The background is sky, the bullets just fall out in Lake Erie. When the targets went up they just looked like a dark square, you could not make out the aiming mark with the naked eye. Oh well, put in a big ring and use the whole square thing to aim at. The first half was a bit scratchy with only 95.2 but the second half was much better with 99.5 for 194.7.
There were four relays with service rifle, any rifle, Palma rifle and F class all shooting at the same time. About 100 of the 140 targets were in use on the Viale Range. The second match,for the Mustin Trophy I had a good run with 99.5 in the first half and 100.6 in the second for 199.11.
From each relay they take the top scorer in each category and they then fire a 10 shot shoulder to shoulder final. My 199.11 was one X off making it, 199.12 was the top Palma rifle score for my relay. A 17 year old girl won the match shooting 200.12 to win her relay and then 100.6 in the final ! The any rifle final went to a further shoot off after 2 shooters tied the first final with 100.8. I shot mostly with about 6 minutes of wind, no mirage to speak of as it was quite cool. We have only been getting into the low 20s most days, the locals all want to know where the summer has gone, normally it is more like 30 and humid, but what we are getting is nice shooting weather but probably not what we will get in 2015.
Yesterday wrapped up the day at the mid ranges with 3 x 20 shots (2 compulsory sighters) at 600 yards. I had a mixed bag of a day with only 188.2 and coming to the conclusion that that rifle is not grouping, well it is actually but it is the 9 ring. The second shoot I changed to the other rifle and the first 10 shots, including the sighters unfortunately, was 100.9. The final score was not that good with 195.12 . The 9 ,8 and 7 rings are all in the black, we only have 2 scoring values in the black outside the bull, so a couple of scratchy shots and the points go quickly. In the third shoot I did the help thy neighbour so that fixed that score. There are quite a few wrong targets at the longs with the numbers close together.
The other problem at the longs was if someone could not get on the target, with no backstop you did not know where the shots were going, so those guys will use the number boards to aim at as the flight is easier to pickup with some background. Would not go down too well on Trentham. I am getting a crick in my neck too from marking targets as you have to watch the target for the hole, no strike area to watch. Palma rifle category here is not restricted to the 155 308, it is more about your sight setup, so there were 300 win mags, 7 mm 08 and 308 with heavy bullets , so not exactly an even playing field. The any rifle is off elbows but using scopes.
Port Clinton is the town where I am staying, it is a lakeside resort town with a lot of holiday accommodation , all the fast food outlets and restaurants. It is only about 12 minutes to the range, and that is straight down the interstate , 2 lanes each way and 65 mph. Nice easy trip.
Malcolm
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