jackson1
Silver $$ Contributor
First time on paper at 600 yards and had a great time. Yes I'm slow, lets be honest, it was the fear of the unknown. Had a ton of excuses; hunting, fishing, weather, and grand kids, just name a few. Started observing 600 yard IBS matches and knew I wanted to try it. Received my rifle a little over a year ago, joined a club with a 600 yard range, got qualified, and planned to do some shooting. I shoot every thing; from archery, pistols, shotguns, and rifles. So I always had an excuse.My first love has always been rifles and making mine more accurate. Spent my life climbing the ladder as a tool and die maker, where I always carried a burning desire to be the best. Most of my life, I was a type A personality, with a great fear of failure. Yesterday I received an email saying the range would be open. Sucked it up and went. Pheasant season is winding down and I have plenty of birds in the freezer. So another excuse was gone.
To this point at 600 yards, I had only shoot steel and golf balls at 600 yards, with minimal problems. Planned to my load develop at 200 yards, with my new bullets, but you know about plans. Did my fire forming and some load work at home, shooting 200 yards. Got to the range, forgetting my stool and hearing protection. With the help of the guys at the range excuse solved. Then discovered my rear bag needed to be shimmed to get on target. Had some old targets in my range box and solved the problem. Seeing a problem here. Finding more excuses to avoid my fear of failure. Fired a couple shots and found I was not on the paper. With help of another shooter, made the adjustments and quickly got on the paper. Time for full discloser: was shooting a new bullet and powder combination than I qualified with. So yes it would have a different point of impact.
Fired a 15 shot group, with 4 different aiming points, 2 different charge weights, and 3 different over all lengths. My raw group was 6.1" of horizontal and 3.25" of vertical. Knowing the position of my aim points and factoring them out, I came up with a with a conservative 15 shot group of 2.35" horizontal by 1.75" of vertical. Did not know how I shot until the target was retrieved. Yesterday, I climbed some huge mountains, and made some baby steps on my shooting path. Stepped out my comfort zone (shooting with old friends and family). Can't wait to do it again.
To this point at 600 yards, I had only shoot steel and golf balls at 600 yards, with minimal problems. Planned to my load develop at 200 yards, with my new bullets, but you know about plans. Did my fire forming and some load work at home, shooting 200 yards. Got to the range, forgetting my stool and hearing protection. With the help of the guys at the range excuse solved. Then discovered my rear bag needed to be shimmed to get on target. Had some old targets in my range box and solved the problem. Seeing a problem here. Finding more excuses to avoid my fear of failure. Fired a couple shots and found I was not on the paper. With help of another shooter, made the adjustments and quickly got on the paper. Time for full discloser: was shooting a new bullet and powder combination than I qualified with. So yes it would have a different point of impact.
Fired a 15 shot group, with 4 different aiming points, 2 different charge weights, and 3 different over all lengths. My raw group was 6.1" of horizontal and 3.25" of vertical. Knowing the position of my aim points and factoring them out, I came up with a with a conservative 15 shot group of 2.35" horizontal by 1.75" of vertical. Did not know how I shot until the target was retrieved. Yesterday, I climbed some huge mountains, and made some baby steps on my shooting path. Stepped out my comfort zone (shooting with old friends and family). Can't wait to do it again.
