This was not a PRS match, or Fclass, or any other type of sanctioned match. It was just a friendly local type match that anyone is welcome to, I drove 3 hours to it, so I was the out of towner that showed up, used to shoot various size steel targets from a bench between 200 and 1100 yards, and they were timed stages between 3 and 4 minutes, between 7 and 10 shots at each stage, there was 4 stages for a total of 34 shots. 1 shot at each target, and 1 hit is 1 point. We had spotters. You could shoot from a bench with a bipod, or front rest, and a rear bag. I chose a BR bipod and a rear bag since thats how I shoot, practice, and hunt, minus the rear bag. I usually shoot laying prone at my range, but everyone else was using a bench so I figured I would to. One of the stages was that you had to shoot left handed if you were righty, just to throw a mix into things. That was tough! To get a good cheek weld and sight picture left handed for me, I went 6 for 7, dropped the first shot and connected on the next 6. I was very appreciative of my 16# braked rifle because I basically let her free recoil because I have muscle memory or practice left handed. Totally different set of muscles and muscle memory there. The other 2 shots I missed were my fault at 1100 yards, I went 1 for 3. I didnt shoot my rifle/load at 1100 and confirm my drop chart. I figured since it was dead nuts at 1K, it would be very close to 1100, but I was about 1.5 MOA low for whatever reason. So that's my fault, not the rifles. I fully believe had I confirmed my 1100 yard dope at home, I wouldve went 31 of 34 that day. The only other 2 misses i had were at the last stage, which was 10 shots on 5 different size targets, going from larger to smaller, and then repeated that, had 4 minutes. Well the last target was a small 2" plate and I missed that both times on shot #5 and shot #10 just left edge. By shot #8 my barrel was so dang hot, you could see smoke and smell the steel so I knew I wasn't going to hit that little 2" plate on my last shot. I ended up going 29 for 34 on the day, and the 2nd place guys was a 2 way tie at 27 of 34 hits. There were a few wind flags along the way, but the wind was only 5mph or so most of the time throughout the range, that's why I wasn't to worried about it. I'm use to shooting in 10-20mph winds at home. It was a pretty relaxed formal, but informal shoot if that makes sense. Mainly just a bunch of older guys that get together, who BS, talk $hiit and like to shoot. I'm still thinking of a straight 284 or a 280 remington with a 28" tube, a brake, a heavy 8 twist Bartlein and 180g ELDMs around the 2800-2900fps mark. Thanks for the kind words and all the insight on calibers, but I'm pretty set in 7mms. In my opinion you just cant beat them unless you get into the super big 30s and 33s, which then you're dealing with 2-3x the recoil and half the barrel life, so again not really worth it only shooting out to 1000-1200 yards.
