Today's Match was standard BPCR silhouettes at 200, 300, 400 and 500 yds. I'd gone to an evening wedding on Saturday with an open bar and got a bit carried away. I managed to crawl out of bed at 6:30 and pushed thru my pain to shoot. Shot my 03 Spingfield with smokeless. There were only a few true BPCR shooter there today.
Another gorgeous day with hideous conditions. Mirage was always there, but changing direction. Not two wind flags on the range agreed so we stayed with our proven friend, the flag on top of the 50 yd berm. We started at 400 (turkeys) and my partner struggled. His rounds were impacting all over the place. It was because he was trying to compensate for not being comfortable. We made him stop, moved the bench and got him comfy and solid. His problems went away. I always hesitate to give him advise because he's probably been competing for a long as I've been on the planet. But we all need help now and then.
I shot a 36. I was happy. Only shot clean on the pigs and did get 9 of those damn skinny turkeys. Had one shot that the conditions had changed. I had time so I waited. It was the last shot on that bank of animals. I think it was chickens. Spotter kept calling the conditions and told me to wait. I got impatient. Thought I compensated for the change in conditions, broke the shot as he was saying "don't shoot" and put the round into the dirt with no room to the animal. I know better. I paid the price.
Tomorrow is 1000 yd practice for the upcoming 2 day NRA 1000 yd match next weekend. Made a mod to the rifle that should give me more repeatability between shots to reduce the work to get back into the same position after every shot. The round Eliseo forend, which is really ;ike a heat guard like on an AR does not provide a flat surface for the front rest. So, I cut a front plate from a HDPE cutting board and attached it with T-nuts to the machined-in bottom rail. Makes a nice flat and slippery platform for the rifle to nest into the rest. Tomorrow's practice will be the first time with the bottom plate so looking forward to seeing how it works.