I sent the box by USPS on Tuesday. Vortex sent an email today (Wisconsin) confirming receipt and letting me know what to expect. So far, so good. So what did I do with the rest of my day?
Ranging the distance to all the targets by drone!
I used up three complete batteries because I hovered and maneuvered next to each group to get an accurate distance(although the latter targets are off because the drone updated its home location after leaving the bench).
Well, once the drone work was done (and I warmed up in the car (39 degrees, and a brisk damp wind)), I uncased the .308. Yes, I had brought gear in the event I really wanted to shoot. Amazing.
Ballistics were perfect at the 525 boulder, very close at 750 (but with 5 MOA windage correction) and, after a number of rounds, hit 900. Elevation was great, but the wind was all over the place. Very satisfying hearing the steel ring about three seconds after the shot! Maybe I’ll do some drone footage tomorrow.
Well, d’oh. You get up early in the morning and scout those little rascals and blast the heck out of them . .
Really, though, you have to get up pretty early in the morning to claim your favorite shooting table at the club. The rock solid one that gives you the best angle on those little devils. Here is the course of fire: Aspirin at 50 yards. Tums at 100. Know Your Limits steel at 150. Same at 200. .22 caliber only, but any rifle you want. Bipod and rear bag only.
10 aspirin on your individual cardboard target. One fluorescent sighter target. You may take up to 10 sighter shots, but once on the aspirin, you cannot go back. One shot per aspirin. If the round touches any part of the aspirin it is a hit. Yes, black wax streak on the side is a hit. Max score of 10.
Same thing at 100 yards with Tums. Word to the wise – this is the hardest stage.
At 150, the 5 hanging KYL targets start at 8” diameter and go down to 2.5”. You must hit each target before going on to the next. Once you hit the smallest one, you keep shooting at it.
200 yards is the same. So max score possible is 40 points. On a great day the winning score is 32-34 points. On a cold winter day in blowing snow, low 20s will win. So what rifle do you use? At least at our club, everyone started out with Ruger 10-22s, and shot CCI Standard. But is wasn’t long before ammo changed to Eley, SK, Wolf, and rifles changed to CZ, Ruger
Precision Rimfire, and the like. My own upgrades were the Christiansen Ranger and the Ruger Precision Rimfire.
Let’s take a look:
This is the best I’ve shot. 9/10. Pretty sure won that day with a 34.
Tums are tuff. At 100, wind really kicks in.
An 8 will keep you in the running.
This is what you are shooting at.
And it looks like this:
Some people say that .22 at 200 yards is similar to large caliber at 1000. I tend to agree. The .22 LR is an anemic round; it gets pushed around by the wind a lot. But it’s been around for a hundred and fifty years and is arguably the most popular caliber. It is hard to shoot well at distance.
But would you stand there and offer to be a target? I don’t think so.
KatNap Fever! 