bailey1474
<strong>SPONSOR</strong>
Well, Sunday marked the end of the competition season for me. Rick Reeves of Alex, OK held his fall shoot and I was there totin' my APS 6-250. I'm sure many of you have read a little about this deal, but I'll explain it all in detail again.
The competition consists of 2 rounds. In the first round all competitors shoot @ 12 highly reactive targets (3.5" balloons) @ 100 (20 pts ea), 250 (30 pts ea), 400 (40 pts ea) and 500 (60 pts ea) yds. There are 3 targets @ each distance. You are allowed to bring 14 rounds to the bench to break the 12 targets. Spotters are allowed and can make or break your day. Here is a pic of the 100 yd targets, and a couple of pics of the entire range.
The second round is identical to the first, only the top 6 shooters from round one return to the benches, previous round scores erased.
As I crawled out of bed @ about 5:30 am Sunday, I noticed a distinct, irregular flashing of light coming through the blinds. It seems as if the weatherman was actually right and it was going to rain. And rain it did. It rained on me the entire way down there, nearly the entire shoot and all the way back home. He was also right on the 15-25 mph winds. One thing the weatherman did miss was the high temp for the day. The 60 degrees that it actually got to was a far cry from the 80 they were calling for. Luckily, Dean Morris (Deano) was kind enough to loan me an extra jacket he had.
When I got down there, conditions were atrocious!! A strong north wind and of course, rain. I had entered twice, so I was up in the first heat. Rick called out the command of "Insert your bolt and load rifle. Time starts now!!"
I squeezed one off @ a 100 yd balloon and watched as my bullet struck dead on. I then moved out to 250 yds, dialed in 5 MOA in my NXS and held on the right edge of the top balloon. Again, I watched as the 105 Berger hit dead center. I finished the first round w/350 pts out of a possible 450. I had the top score in that heat and was pretty confident that was enough to get me in the top six. That is until Larry Morris (Gator) cleaned every single balloon in the next heat!!! That is the first time in the 4 times Rick has held this deal that a perfect score was shot. Amazing under the conditions we had!!!
Everyone else shot (including me again) and when it was all said and done, I had the second highest score of the 43 shooters behind Larry. Here is a pic of the scoreboard w/most of the scores on it.
Before the final round "shootoff," all ties not in the top 6 were broken by shooting @ a dot @ 300 yds. Closest to the dot won.
When the time for the shootoff rolled around, the conditions were probably better than they had been all day. The wind had let up to about 10 mph and the rain had almost completely stopped.
I managed to enlist Darren (6-06) as my spotter. He is one of the best I know @ spotting, so I felt pretty good. I centered the crosshairs on a 100 yd balloon since I had cleaned the rifle after my last heat. I squeezed the trigger and it was a hit!! I was off and rolling. I heard Larry talking of a 100 yd miss, so I thought I might be in good shape!!
I went on to use 3 shells to clean the 3 targets @ 250 yds. On to 400 yds. this is where the trouble started. I had absolute HELL getting on the 400 yd balloons. I still do not get it. I fired all but 4 rounds and still had one left @ 400 yds /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif. I then moved out to 500 yds and cleared it of ballons w/only 3 rounds!! I surveyed the other competitors targets and determined that I needed the 400 yarder. I lined up, steaded and squeezed. Another stinkin' miss /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif!!
After the smoke had cleared, I realized that it would not have mattered since both Dean and Larry had shot perfect scores!!! Made my 370 look kinda sick!!!
Dean and Larry went to a tie breaker where they had all 12 targets and only 6 rounds. In the end, it was Larry (w/his two perfect scores /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif) that emerged vicorious. Here is a pic of the top 6:
1st-Larry Morris
2nd-Dean Morris
3rd-Me
4th-Preston Pritchett (Surgeon Actions)
5th-Bert Chambers
6th-Felix Williams
Here is a pic of Larry, Dean and I w/our rifles.
The prize table.
There was a VXIII, Tikka rifle, Krieger bbl and several other great prizes. People that placed in the teens were getting $100 prizes!!
Here is a couple of pics of Rick Reeves, the man behind this outstanding event and first class range.
Me spotting w/a shivering, soaked Preston Pritchett watching.
Preston preparing to bust a balloon.
Larry and Dean in the final shootoff.
All in all it was a great day despite the bad weather. A good day shooting w/a great bunch of guys and some OUTSTANDING BBQ!!! I'll close w/one last pic of the range setup. Hope this is not too much!!
The competition consists of 2 rounds. In the first round all competitors shoot @ 12 highly reactive targets (3.5" balloons) @ 100 (20 pts ea), 250 (30 pts ea), 400 (40 pts ea) and 500 (60 pts ea) yds. There are 3 targets @ each distance. You are allowed to bring 14 rounds to the bench to break the 12 targets. Spotters are allowed and can make or break your day. Here is a pic of the 100 yd targets, and a couple of pics of the entire range.
The second round is identical to the first, only the top 6 shooters from round one return to the benches, previous round scores erased.
As I crawled out of bed @ about 5:30 am Sunday, I noticed a distinct, irregular flashing of light coming through the blinds. It seems as if the weatherman was actually right and it was going to rain. And rain it did. It rained on me the entire way down there, nearly the entire shoot and all the way back home. He was also right on the 15-25 mph winds. One thing the weatherman did miss was the high temp for the day. The 60 degrees that it actually got to was a far cry from the 80 they were calling for. Luckily, Dean Morris (Deano) was kind enough to loan me an extra jacket he had.
When I got down there, conditions were atrocious!! A strong north wind and of course, rain. I had entered twice, so I was up in the first heat. Rick called out the command of "Insert your bolt and load rifle. Time starts now!!"
I squeezed one off @ a 100 yd balloon and watched as my bullet struck dead on. I then moved out to 250 yds, dialed in 5 MOA in my NXS and held on the right edge of the top balloon. Again, I watched as the 105 Berger hit dead center. I finished the first round w/350 pts out of a possible 450. I had the top score in that heat and was pretty confident that was enough to get me in the top six. That is until Larry Morris (Gator) cleaned every single balloon in the next heat!!! That is the first time in the 4 times Rick has held this deal that a perfect score was shot. Amazing under the conditions we had!!!
Everyone else shot (including me again) and when it was all said and done, I had the second highest score of the 43 shooters behind Larry. Here is a pic of the scoreboard w/most of the scores on it.
Before the final round "shootoff," all ties not in the top 6 were broken by shooting @ a dot @ 300 yds. Closest to the dot won.
When the time for the shootoff rolled around, the conditions were probably better than they had been all day. The wind had let up to about 10 mph and the rain had almost completely stopped.
I managed to enlist Darren (6-06) as my spotter. He is one of the best I know @ spotting, so I felt pretty good. I centered the crosshairs on a 100 yd balloon since I had cleaned the rifle after my last heat. I squeezed the trigger and it was a hit!! I was off and rolling. I heard Larry talking of a 100 yd miss, so I thought I might be in good shape!!
I went on to use 3 shells to clean the 3 targets @ 250 yds. On to 400 yds. this is where the trouble started. I had absolute HELL getting on the 400 yd balloons. I still do not get it. I fired all but 4 rounds and still had one left @ 400 yds /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif. I then moved out to 500 yds and cleared it of ballons w/only 3 rounds!! I surveyed the other competitors targets and determined that I needed the 400 yarder. I lined up, steaded and squeezed. Another stinkin' miss /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif!!
After the smoke had cleared, I realized that it would not have mattered since both Dean and Larry had shot perfect scores!!! Made my 370 look kinda sick!!!
Dean and Larry went to a tie breaker where they had all 12 targets and only 6 rounds. In the end, it was Larry (w/his two perfect scores /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif) that emerged vicorious. Here is a pic of the top 6:
1st-Larry Morris
2nd-Dean Morris
3rd-Me
4th-Preston Pritchett (Surgeon Actions)
5th-Bert Chambers
6th-Felix Williams
Here is a pic of Larry, Dean and I w/our rifles.
The prize table.
There was a VXIII, Tikka rifle, Krieger bbl and several other great prizes. People that placed in the teens were getting $100 prizes!!
Here is a couple of pics of Rick Reeves, the man behind this outstanding event and first class range.
Me spotting w/a shivering, soaked Preston Pritchett watching.
Preston preparing to bust a balloon.
Larry and Dean in the final shootoff.
All in all it was a great day despite the bad weather. A good day shooting w/a great bunch of guys and some OUTSTANDING BBQ!!! I'll close w/one last pic of the range setup. Hope this is not too much!!
