Jay Christopherson
Not An Admin
Since a couple of guys mentioned that this might be a fun thread, I thought I would try it out. Post a story (F-Open, FTR, Sling, whatever!) from the recent 2018 Berger SWN that has stuck with you. Doesn't have to be about anything specific, just something that you thought was cool that doesn't necessarily get called out in the official write-ups.
To start it off, I'm gonna tell you about a wind call during the 1000-yard aggregate in the team match. I don't think I'll ever get tired of telling people about it, it was really something amazing, IMO.
I was the first shooter at 1000 yards for our team. Conditions were actually pretty windy that day, but when I started, it wasn't too bad. As I recall, @Bob Sebold (wind coach for Team Lapua-Brux-Borden) started me out with "zero" wind and was calling me a couple lines left. The wind built really fast, with each call being at least another line out as we tried to keep up with the pick up. We ended up dropping a few points out one side or the other, but worked our way through it pretty well.
By the time we got to shot 18, we still had 55 minutes or so on the timer. We had squeaked out some 10's and X's on the last few shots, but the wind was building again. Trying to get ahead of it, Bob made a big call on shot 19 and we held another couple lines out - but came up a solid '9' with the wind. We could see a few 8's with the wind on targets around us, so Bob called a stop to take a look. As we watched, the wind continued to build and a lot of points were dropped down the line as teams tried to shoot through it. At this point, there were 53 minutes left on the timer.
For the next 37 minutes, we held. And held. And held some more. With one shot left for record and another shooter waiting his turn before time ran out.
At some point during that downtime, I got up stretched, chatted, etc... and Bob told me to add a couple of minutes of wind to my scope. We could tell the wind hadn't relented, but adding 2 minutes when you haven't taken a shot in the last 30 minutes seemed like a big gamble... but, he's the coach.
We waited a few more minutes as the timer ticked down. We figured we would need to do something around the 16 minute mark if we wanted to give our other shooter time to shoot a good string without rushing. As the time wound down to that point, Bob leans over and says "Hold 5 left, but don't pull the trigger until I say go". This is on TOP of the 2 minutes we had just dialed in a few minutes earlier.
A minute or so after I laid back down on my hold, Bob calls "alright, 5 left!" and I sent it out. The target stayed down oh - so- long... and came back up a '10'! Dead center wind call, but just outside the X-ring at 6 o'clock. My best guess is that nearly forty minutes of downtime had cooled the barrel off a bit and I should have shaded a little high. But - you never know so I held center.
Anyhow - it was easily one of the top 3 cold wind calls I've ever seen made. Maybe 2nd best - the top was at another match at Rattlesnake by @Keith Glasscock, but that's another story.
To start it off, I'm gonna tell you about a wind call during the 1000-yard aggregate in the team match. I don't think I'll ever get tired of telling people about it, it was really something amazing, IMO.
I was the first shooter at 1000 yards for our team. Conditions were actually pretty windy that day, but when I started, it wasn't too bad. As I recall, @Bob Sebold (wind coach for Team Lapua-Brux-Borden) started me out with "zero" wind and was calling me a couple lines left. The wind built really fast, with each call being at least another line out as we tried to keep up with the pick up. We ended up dropping a few points out one side or the other, but worked our way through it pretty well.
By the time we got to shot 18, we still had 55 minutes or so on the timer. We had squeaked out some 10's and X's on the last few shots, but the wind was building again. Trying to get ahead of it, Bob made a big call on shot 19 and we held another couple lines out - but came up a solid '9' with the wind. We could see a few 8's with the wind on targets around us, so Bob called a stop to take a look. As we watched, the wind continued to build and a lot of points were dropped down the line as teams tried to shoot through it. At this point, there were 53 minutes left on the timer.
For the next 37 minutes, we held. And held. And held some more. With one shot left for record and another shooter waiting his turn before time ran out.
At some point during that downtime, I got up stretched, chatted, etc... and Bob told me to add a couple of minutes of wind to my scope. We could tell the wind hadn't relented, but adding 2 minutes when you haven't taken a shot in the last 30 minutes seemed like a big gamble... but, he's the coach.
We waited a few more minutes as the timer ticked down. We figured we would need to do something around the 16 minute mark if we wanted to give our other shooter time to shoot a good string without rushing. As the time wound down to that point, Bob leans over and says "Hold 5 left, but don't pull the trigger until I say go". This is on TOP of the 2 minutes we had just dialed in a few minutes earlier.
A minute or so after I laid back down on my hold, Bob calls "alright, 5 left!" and I sent it out. The target stayed down oh - so- long... and came back up a '10'! Dead center wind call, but just outside the X-ring at 6 o'clock. My best guess is that nearly forty minutes of downtime had cooled the barrel off a bit and I should have shaded a little high. But - you never know so I held center.
Anyhow - it was easily one of the top 3 cold wind calls I've ever seen made. Maybe 2nd best - the top was at another match at Rattlesnake by @Keith Glasscock, but that's another story.
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. The last sight picture I saw was at 9:00 in the mid 8 ring but with parallax I figured a 6 or worse was possible. Tense moments until the target came back in to view and shot an inner 9...whew! Rookie move on my part......
