Missed out on the trip to W.A for the Silhouette Nationals due to my 16y/o son deciding that he didn’t need to use the front wheel of his motorbike. Helicopter ride to hospital and surgery to repair his ankle put an end to those plans.
Went to the B.R.A.A. "Quigley’ shoot over the weekend. The weather held off and we had reasonable conditions for shooting. A fluctuating right to left wind of 5 -10 minutes was manageable for most and a mirage that behaved itself. With only 10 of our 30+ members making an appearance it was a bit “boutiquey” but still a great match.
Our targets are the same size/shape/distance as the big Quigley Match in Montana which attracts around 5-600 shooters annually. The shooting is all done with single shot black powder cartridge rifles of the late 1800’s, (or modern reproductions thereof), shooting cast lead bullets and using iron sights. The targets are:
Buffalo @ 800 yds
Stop sign/octagon @ 600 yds ( I think it’s about 3 ft )
28 x 32” rectangle @ 530 yds
2’ diamond. @ 405 yds
22 x 28” rectangle @ 417 yds
28 x 22 x 32” bucket @ 350 yds. Off hand.
There’s a sighting period before the match but no sighters during it. 8 shots for score on each target. Despite a slow start at 800, I managed to hold on for the win using my C.P.A Stevens in .45-90.
Our eldest son came along and shot, (he hasn’t done so for a number of years) and managed a credible 5th place using my .40-70 Sharps. He was level pegging me but I had to do some R.O duties and was unable to spot for him for the 417 and 405 yard targets. The 405 “diamond” is a rather tricky target, being a bit off in your windage or elevation puts shots just off the target where the corners would be on a square target.
Once again, the off-hand target proved the downfall of a few at 350 yards.
40 shots , slow fire at 15m
10 rapid which opened up the group a bit.
Now that training is completed and I have my own pistol, really starting to feel more at home and relaxed on the range. Starting to feel like “my” club.
This week I resubmitted my NSW AB license now that my SSAA membership has “hunting” instead of “other hunting”.
Wednesday I shot Rimfire Sports Match with a Glock 44 .22lr then did some plinking.
Today I shot Tyro and Los Alamitos with my mates GSG 1911-22 and beat him by 2 points on the Tyro shoot, got my point of aim sorted with it and then smoked him by 151 points on the L.A. shoot.
I just went through the numbers above and the scorer jipped Shannon a hundred points, i still beat him with his own gun, but not by the stupid amount I thought.
Travelled to the “Nioka Range” near Gunnedah for the running of last years cancelled “Billy Dixon” match. Weather on Saturday started with a bit of a frost but warmed to a nice clear day. Wind was from the West but manageable. There are no wind flags on this range with a windmill off to the right your only visible indicator.
The morning is for practice with the match afterwards. 5 shots at each distance, no sighters. 200m off-hand target to start, my first shot missed, no-one saw anything. A quick look at my sight confirmed that I had the correct setting… for 500m! I missed another shot, just me, 3/5, not a good start. Moving to the 300m target, I settled and got 5/5. I repeated that at 500m but was still behind our club President who had 5/5 on all targets so far.
Now we move to the 1000yard target. This is where some wind flags would be handy as it’s been about 2 hours since we sighted in and the wind has gotten a lot stronger. El Presidente drops his game and only gets 1. I’m in the second relay and after dropping my first two shots, manage to wind on enough windage to nail the last three. We tie for the day.
A good night around the campfire with adult beverages, lots of discussions on a variety of topics, some good jokes, some not so good, we solve the worlds problems and everyone hits their swags.
Sunday dawns very chilly with the wind already making things uncomfortable. BBQ breakfast, coffee and we head to the 800 yard line. Today is a Creedmoor Match, 3 convertible sighters, 7 for score.
We have 3 shooters on 6 by the end of the yardage. We move back to 900, the wind gets stronger and some start to falter. I kept a close eye on the windmill and finish with a 7, all good.
We head back to the 1000 yard line and the wind is really making itself felt. Both with the wind-chill and the amount of turns on the windage screw. Our President converts all three sighters and finishes with a 6. The pressure is on. I miss my first sighter but convert the next two. I drop my 5th shot to finish with a 6 as well. My possible at 700 sees me win the day with a 19/21.
The tie for day one is decided by countback from the longest distance so I get the win there as well, happy days.
Finally got out and nabbed a couple of foxes with the Lithgow. Of course I left the magazine in the safe because it’s overfull and I’d chucked it in the door but I used a Tikka mag as a baseplate and single loaded because it wouldn’t feed
Think we got 25 foxes all up over two nights in the lambing paddocks in the wheatbelt.
Good work mate. Been there and done that with leaving my mag behind, now i mostly just have single shot rifles so its less of a problem. Lol
That land looks like it could do with a couple of trees if you asked me!
Had a bit of a gun week this week, no shooting unfortunately, that’ll be next week to re sight & have a play.
This week i got my threaded barrel back from the gunsmith & i’m pretty happy with it so i put that gun back together ready for a sight-in. Also I got some laser beams lol.
But most importantly as of about 10minutes ago my collectors has been lodged. Now i guess it’s looooong wait time lol.
