I am sure that most of you already know this and this will only provide some fodder for you, but thought I would share it just in case it might help someone else.
Today was our first F-Class Mid-range match of the year at our club. Great turn out. We shot Pair Fire Sequence for 4 relays with a total of 60 scoring rounds. An NRA registered International Fullbore prone match. First time shooting this format and enjoyed it very much. However, I learned a hard lesson today.
It was the final of 4 relays, I was shooting at target #3 and we are using the Shotmarker's. I shot my first sighter and nothing registered. Notified the Match Director and was instructed to fire a second round. Nothing. So was instructed to fire at Target #4 and he watched for a vapor trail through a spotting scope. Nothing on either. Now I had shot the first three relays without any incident. So only thing we could think of that I had suffered a major failure of my Golden Eagle scope. So I capped the scope and continued to score my Paired competitor.
Now I had looked carefully and was sure that the target had a large #3 above it. Our targets are numbered 1 through 9 and then 10 through 15 are numbered with only a the last digit, 0, 1, 2, 3 and so on. Now while scoring the other shooter I thought, there is no way I could have lined up on the complete opposite side of the target range could I. Well I pulled the caps back off my scope and looked, sure enough I was lined up on target #13 and when I had fired on #4 to test I actually fired on #14. Even had scored an X on it.
Now I always leave my scope on 50 power. At 500 yards, I can only see the target in the scope. While we were trying to figure out what had happened another shooter had recommended that we zoom out. Both the Match Director and I assumed he meant the spotting scope. But what he really meant was for me to zoom out my rifle scope. Had I done this, I could have easily seen that I was lined up on the wrong target.
This only cost me the one scoring round being counted as a Miss. But the competition was tight. I have never cross fired before and I hope to never do it again.
My hard earned lesson, zoom out my scope when I set up to ensure that I am lining up on the correct target. Or if I ever don't get an acknowledgment of a shot, I will zoom out to ensure that my rifle hasn't moved.
Hard Lesson Learned!
Today was our first F-Class Mid-range match of the year at our club. Great turn out. We shot Pair Fire Sequence for 4 relays with a total of 60 scoring rounds. An NRA registered International Fullbore prone match. First time shooting this format and enjoyed it very much. However, I learned a hard lesson today.
It was the final of 4 relays, I was shooting at target #3 and we are using the Shotmarker's. I shot my first sighter and nothing registered. Notified the Match Director and was instructed to fire a second round. Nothing. So was instructed to fire at Target #4 and he watched for a vapor trail through a spotting scope. Nothing on either. Now I had shot the first three relays without any incident. So only thing we could think of that I had suffered a major failure of my Golden Eagle scope. So I capped the scope and continued to score my Paired competitor.
Now I had looked carefully and was sure that the target had a large #3 above it. Our targets are numbered 1 through 9 and then 10 through 15 are numbered with only a the last digit, 0, 1, 2, 3 and so on. Now while scoring the other shooter I thought, there is no way I could have lined up on the complete opposite side of the target range could I. Well I pulled the caps back off my scope and looked, sure enough I was lined up on target #13 and when I had fired on #4 to test I actually fired on #14. Even had scored an X on it.
Now I always leave my scope on 50 power. At 500 yards, I can only see the target in the scope. While we were trying to figure out what had happened another shooter had recommended that we zoom out. Both the Match Director and I assumed he meant the spotting scope. But what he really meant was for me to zoom out my rifle scope. Had I done this, I could have easily seen that I was lined up on the wrong target.
This only cost me the one scoring round being counted as a Miss. But the competition was tight. I have never cross fired before and I hope to never do it again.
My hard earned lesson, zoom out my scope when I set up to ensure that I am lining up on the correct target. Or if I ever don't get an acknowledgment of a shot, I will zoom out to ensure that my rifle hasn't moved.
Hard Lesson Learned!
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