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19 June 2016 - Recap of NorCal May '16 Shoots (by SW RD, Lynn Dragoman, minor edits by Facilitator)
We started early today and had 3 spectators show up to watch. In the first match WhiteMamba and myself both got 6 hits on the record target and WhiteMamba won the Shootoff making him the King Of 2054 Yards for our first match of the day. In the second match Mitch ran away from the field with 7 hits out of 10 shots making him The King Of 2054 Yards for match 2 today.
CalGuns poster SKR was our first spectator but he left early. Our second and 3rd spectators are Calguns poster Killemall419 and his friend. When we finished match 2 I had his friend sit down so he could fireform some brass and on his 4th shot ever he had both sets of lights flashing for his first hit at 2054 Yards. Killemall419 was then convinced to give it a go and also got his first hit at 2054 Yards. We where just about out of ammo so we packed it in and went home.
A big Thank You to URSA Facilitator for lending us a spare IDM unit for our lights. I programmed it for two lights to go off at the same time and it worked flawlessly and was easier to set up.
My fireform load was 110 grains of US869 and I hit 5 straight shots before a miss. Killemall413's buddy was using that same load to get a hit on his 4th shot so no more RE33 for me in the 338 Lapua Improved.
...sorry, no pics...
26 Jun 2016 - Recap of SoCal June '16 (by Facilitator)
Warm and sandy (traveling). We had four new shooters and all shooters got hits at 2080 yards. That's the good news. The bad news is that only one shooter qualified, so there was no match. Similar to last month, four shooters had to drop out at the last minute.
"We" found out a few things this month...
First, late June is the beginning of "hot" season (surprise J). Weather was quite decent when we started, about 79, but rose to about 92 by the last shot. The mild winds helped with the heat but not with the "burn" experienced by those that failed to apply sunscreen (multiple folks). Looking at weather history from 2014 and 2015, it looks like the balance of the Summer should be no worse, so we will proceed with the newly posted schedule.
Second, since we had none of the folks show up who had expressed concern about conflicting which-Sunday-of-the-month schedules (in the four consecutive months when we ran on 4th Sunday), we're back to the 3rd Sunday going forward.
Third, what appears to be semi-solid ground can fool you, big time, even when you're in a 4WD – happened to me to the tune of a $510 towing bill. [And , no, AAA does NOT cover "off road recovery" where we shoot – distance from the real highway issue.] That was on Saturday when I was setting up the targets (in 108-110 degree temps). So, going forward, this scrawny weakling will need the up-front commitment of two healthy individuals (i.e., ones able to handle hanging a couple of 115# gongs) while I manage the pipe structures – on the Saturday afternoon/early evening prior to the SoCal shoots. No more driving out onto unknown terrain and possibly getting stuck. See pic in the Gallery ("Cautionary note...").
Fourth, we need to be stepping out faster going forward – or we will surely all get burnt, quite literally. May need to halt multiple-rifle shooting until October and its expected cooler weather.
Fifth, and final, "found out", we started shooting 45 minutes late because (again) the sun was almost directly in the shooter's eyes. So...sure hoping the sun is further enough to the side, come next month, so we can start on time. [Question - why not just start later (our target start time was 0530/sunrise this month) and avoid the sun? Answer – then we'd lose that much (time) when the wind is nil or in low single digits.]
Final notes about the actual shooting. One of our four new shooters, Damon, the one shooter that qualified, was shooting his "home-built" (as in he's a hobby machinist/gunsmith) .338 Edge rifle based on a Borden action and Hart barrel – as in all "new" parts to what I think we've ever seen in URSA shooting. Another of the new shooters, Jeff, was shooting his box-stock, Ruger No. 1 rifle in .270 Winchester...and, as noted previously, made a hit at 2080. One happy fellow. It's great to see folks come out to give it a try – and, hopefully, get interested enough to come out again (and again and...). You all come on out and give it a try!
We started early today and had 3 spectators show up to watch. In the first match WhiteMamba and myself both got 6 hits on the record target and WhiteMamba won the Shootoff making him the King Of 2054 Yards for our first match of the day. In the second match Mitch ran away from the field with 7 hits out of 10 shots making him The King Of 2054 Yards for match 2 today.
CalGuns poster SKR was our first spectator but he left early. Our second and 3rd spectators are Calguns poster Killemall419 and his friend. When we finished match 2 I had his friend sit down so he could fireform some brass and on his 4th shot ever he had both sets of lights flashing for his first hit at 2054 Yards. Killemall419 was then convinced to give it a go and also got his first hit at 2054 Yards. We where just about out of ammo so we packed it in and went home.
A big Thank You to URSA Facilitator for lending us a spare IDM unit for our lights. I programmed it for two lights to go off at the same time and it worked flawlessly and was easier to set up.
My fireform load was 110 grains of US869 and I hit 5 straight shots before a miss. Killemall413's buddy was using that same load to get a hit on his 4th shot so no more RE33 for me in the 338 Lapua Improved.
...sorry, no pics...
26 Jun 2016 - Recap of SoCal June '16 (by Facilitator)
Warm and sandy (traveling). We had four new shooters and all shooters got hits at 2080 yards. That's the good news. The bad news is that only one shooter qualified, so there was no match. Similar to last month, four shooters had to drop out at the last minute.
"We" found out a few things this month...
First, late June is the beginning of "hot" season (surprise J). Weather was quite decent when we started, about 79, but rose to about 92 by the last shot. The mild winds helped with the heat but not with the "burn" experienced by those that failed to apply sunscreen (multiple folks). Looking at weather history from 2014 and 2015, it looks like the balance of the Summer should be no worse, so we will proceed with the newly posted schedule.
Second, since we had none of the folks show up who had expressed concern about conflicting which-Sunday-of-the-month schedules (in the four consecutive months when we ran on 4th Sunday), we're back to the 3rd Sunday going forward.
Third, what appears to be semi-solid ground can fool you, big time, even when you're in a 4WD – happened to me to the tune of a $510 towing bill. [And , no, AAA does NOT cover "off road recovery" where we shoot – distance from the real highway issue.] That was on Saturday when I was setting up the targets (in 108-110 degree temps). So, going forward, this scrawny weakling will need the up-front commitment of two healthy individuals (i.e., ones able to handle hanging a couple of 115# gongs) while I manage the pipe structures – on the Saturday afternoon/early evening prior to the SoCal shoots. No more driving out onto unknown terrain and possibly getting stuck. See pic in the Gallery ("Cautionary note...").
Fourth, we need to be stepping out faster going forward – or we will surely all get burnt, quite literally. May need to halt multiple-rifle shooting until October and its expected cooler weather.
Fifth, and final, "found out", we started shooting 45 minutes late because (again) the sun was almost directly in the shooter's eyes. So...sure hoping the sun is further enough to the side, come next month, so we can start on time. [Question - why not just start later (our target start time was 0530/sunrise this month) and avoid the sun? Answer – then we'd lose that much (time) when the wind is nil or in low single digits.]
Final notes about the actual shooting. One of our four new shooters, Damon, the one shooter that qualified, was shooting his "home-built" (as in he's a hobby machinist/gunsmith) .338 Edge rifle based on a Borden action and Hart barrel – as in all "new" parts to what I think we've ever seen in URSA shooting. Another of the new shooters, Jeff, was shooting his box-stock, Ruger No. 1 rifle in .270 Winchester...and, as noted previously, made a hit at 2080. One happy fellow. It's great to see folks come out to give it a try – and, hopefully, get interested enough to come out again (and again and...). You all come on out and give it a try!
