Category: Shooting

I got my entry submitted to Sailorcurt. I managed to tie Ahab!

If I hadn’t pulled that three, I would have beaten him! But such is life in when shooting. It only takes a little jerk. I noticed I was worse on the initial draw and aim, than on the reload and aim.

So my goal of one day beating Ahab in an e-postal match still remains elusive, but I tied at least! This is the type of shooting I practice most often. Granted I don’t usually do double tap, reload, double tap, but I generally practice rapid, not too carefully aimed fire. I liked this e-Postal, as it actually exposed some flaws I had in my shooting technique when practiced from draw (well, as close to draw as I could do at the range) and reload. I think I might actually add the double tap reload drill to my regular routine.

We’ll see how it goes overall. I’m hoping I scored properly. I’m only used to rough scoring for myself. My general rule for touching the ring is if I can’t see any white between the ring and the bullet mark, it’s touching. I have no idea if that’s the right rule to use though.

I spent maybe half an hour at the range tonight.  I meant to spend more, but my stack of targets wasn’t quite large enough for an extended stay.  I’m also down to 100 rounds of 9mm, which is a most disconcerting situation.  Anyway, I was practicing double tap reload drills for the upcoming e-postal match deadline, which is rapidly approaching.

These types of exercises are good because they expose flaws in my shooting.   One thing I’ve discovered is that I tend not to hold my arm out straight when I’m rushing to aim.  This was detrimental to my accuracy.   I also noticed the swing up was a bitch.  I need to practice drawing up and close, then moving out, rather than drawing out and swinging up.

… was an evil “assault weapon” that had no sporting purpose.    Surely the Brady Campaign, and every other gun control organization, would never think about misleading the public on this matter.

Via: SayUncle

I think we’re witnessing the twilight years of the Swiss gun culture.  Though they have huge turnouts for the national target shooting festival, there is increasing support for banning army weapons in the home, and the militia system that Switzerland has used for its defense is unpopular among young people.

Because Switzerland’s shooting culture is so intertwined with it’s militia system, I don’t think it will survive its demise.   If the Swiss sportsmen want to preserve their shooting traditions, they are going to have to organize, otherwise, the generation gap there appears to be on this issue will be their undoing.

Every wonder how red dot sights work?  Mr. Completely has the scoop.

Looks like I scored 4 out of 5 in category and 7 out of 10 overall.  Considering how much time I spent at the range practicing to get my groups to be smaller, I’d like to say I’ll do better on the next match, but I don’t know if I have the time!  I have to say, we have some really good shooters out there.  That target was a bitch.  I can’t imagine being able to get some of those high scores.   I have a long way to go before I can pull something like that off.

States that I have deposited hot lead in:

I think maybe I should make it my goal to shoot in all 50 states.

Bitter and I went to Myrtle Grove WMA shooting range in Maryland.  It’s a nice facility, except we learned a few things.   For one, you need to bring string.  Targets are placed on pieces of string strung between posts.  Lots of string was cut, or not placed in the right places.

One guy had a neat contraption made of PVC pipe that hung off the baffling, and looked like it provided a much more stable target platform than string.  My preferred platform would have been a thick twine, with the target held up with black clips.

On Pennsylvania PGC ranges, the state provides target backing, but it’s at fixed 25, 50, and 100 yard intervals.  The nice thing about the string system is you can place targets at 10 yard increments all the way out to 100 yards.  It makes shooting pistol easier.  Maryland also allows up to ten rounds in a magazine, as opposed to Pennsylvania’s three, which means you spend more time shooting rather than reloading.

The other thing is to take bug spray.  It was a hot sticky day, and the flies wouldn’t live me alone.  Sunscreen probably would have been a good idea as well, though we managed a bench in the shade, not all of them were.  One guy brought a big patio umbrella.  I think he planned on staying a while.

The range was a little messy, and needed some cleaning, and maintenance.  To be fair to Maryland, Pennsylvania ranges can get pretty ugly if they are at the end of their maintenance cycles, but shooters tend to keep them from getting too ugly.  There was also brass everywhere that looked like it had been there a while.  I’ve been to ranges at home where guys are there picking up brass quite literally as soon as they cooled down enough after being ejected from my rifle.  Our grounds do tend to get littered with steel casings, but reloaders gobble up the brass.  Are there no reloaders in Maryland?

All in all I liked the facility.  It was run safely, and I was happy to see it busier on a holiday weekend than I see a lot of Pennsylvania ranges.  Worth the yearly $20 dollar shooting permit.  I will have to return sometime when the weather isn’t so hot and sticky.

I decided to spend tonight at the range to see if I could get a last minute entry in for Mr. Completely’s e-Postal match. This time I decided to try out my new acquisition, the Ruger Mk.III Hunter. I’m liking it so far. I think the trigger is a little cleaner on my Mk.II, but the Mk.III I think will do fine once I get used to it. I was late getting home from work tonight, so my range time was limited, which is unfortunate. I have to say, this golf target was a lot of fun. I’d shoot it even recreationally, but much like the actual sport of golf, the target it also very frustrating in its difficulty. The aim point is smaller than my front sights, so it’s difficult to get a good sight picture. My targets final submitted targets are here and here. Some frustrations:
Continue reading “Argh! It’s a Hard Target”