Picked up my exes mom (EM) and headed over to Kingsbury by 8 o clock, she made sausage sandwiches for on the way, always a good start!
We set out by 7:15 and got there bang on 8 o clock. Signed in with Hereford and Worcester and dragged our kit down to the FP.
I was on detail 2 so I was down the butts for the first detail... more anticipation and watching how everyone else was shooting, sitting wondering if I would even hit the target frame, never mind the V-Bull... New rifle, new reloaded/untested ammo, and not having zeroed!!
The marking dragged on and dragged on, meanwhile it hadn't stopped raining since we fetched the target frames out of the shed!
End of detail 1 and we made our way back to the 300 yard FP, and it was nearly time to give it some!
EM had been on RCO duty and got thoroughly soaked during the first detail, so when it came down to the second detail, she didn't want to shoot at all, just try and dry off. In fairness, it was bitterly cold and horridly wet.
I put my mat on the FP and waited patiently until the red flag got lowered at the butts... the rain was still coming, drizzling, almost relentlessly... I thought about what it might do to my rifle, but then thought "I've waited all damn week to shoot this rifle, it could be hailing and as long as I could see the target I'd give it a go!"...
The flag got lowered and my ammo and rifle moved forward (I kinda like the lack of equipment having a scoped rifle entails! I got to shoot in my nice warm fleece lined coat, and not have to worry about jacket, sling, glove or having a spotting scope to assemble and drag forward and back!).
I lay down and had already advised the RCO that I may well miss and that if the buts could let me know where it goes I'd appreciate it.
Bullet number 1... I was impatient, too impatient to tell the RCO I was about to shoot and for the butts to be ready... loaded, locked, target aquired... BANG!
and the target stayed motionless... I'd missed. My bore sighting career was off to a bad start. needless to say the butts werent looking at this point, so RCO came over and informed them I was about to take another shot.
Bullet number 2... Bang... this time a message back on the radio, I'd hit the top of the sand bank...
I brought it down around 8 Minutes and loaded another round.
Bang, the frame went down!! Oh yes, I hit something!!
It came back up and there was a 1! I hit the white, but atleast I hit it! from here I could find my way to the centre of the target!
Right, which way do I move the dials on the scope?
I had no clue.
I moved it down so it was on the waterline but moved it the wrong way left and right.
Bang, another 1... out to the left. I'd given myself the first 2 misses as extra shots... from here on out I was marking these on my sheet. 2 sighters and all I'd got was 1's!
Time to make the difference. I wound on the windage (or so I thought) enough to get me from the white to the V-bull.
Pulled the trigger and up came the smily face on a triangular stick! I'd missed!! WHAT, how can this be?!
I wound the sights the wrong way! Doh! First to count and its a complete miss!
Sights wound back again, and I hd a fairly successful shoot.
Overall I dropped 10 points (including the 5 from the complete miss) and I hit 6 V-bulls - towards the end, they werent straying far from the V-bull - but it took a while to get it there, mainly because I still hadn't clocked which way to turn the dials on the scope, it was more blind luck than anything (I still don't know, although I'm going to find out and put a note in my case for next time!).
So, not too bad for a first outting. The ammo behaved spectacularly, any cockups I'd called beforehand or I'd wound the sights the wrong way. The rifle was a pleasure to shoot, the trigger pull is smooth and crisp. and I can't fault the scope. Slight Chromatic Abberation around the black where it meets the right... but I'm not taking pictures with it, so it more than does OKAY!
EM was still damp and a bit miserable by this point and she had lost all interest in shooting for the day. I'd had fun, but also knew it was Mothers day and still hadn't bought a card or gift for my mom, I also had band practice to get home and get ready for, so we called it a day at 300 yards and had some lunch in the car before the drive home.
As we drove home, the sun peeked out and made me wish I'd stuck around and seen what i could do out to 600 with it, but theres always next time!
I can't wait to get out with it again! Next shoot is pencilled in for 1st April I believe, and this time my dad wants to come have a go with it too!
As it was so wet and miserable, I avoided taking any photos :( Hope you enjoyed reading! :)
