2018 review of Consolidated day 2, big guns!

Saturday was nothing to write home about.  New gun with new extractor and high hopes fizzled.  My sloppiness with my beloved 39A got me exactly the results I deserved.  Practice!  The big gun was next.  30-30 Marlin CB.  I have spent many hours attempting to find the right cast bullet, size, lube, powder, amount of said powder.  I doubt the journey will ever end.  My first year at Consolidated, I manged to get 10 turkeys.  I like this range. I also managed to ring a few rams.  No doubt the Consolidated rams need some oomph to ensure they fall.  I load up some special hot loads which, now that I have been shooting my M1, don't seem all that hot.  21g of 4198 vs the normal 19.  For chickens, I play with my $.05 load..  Cheaper than a 22LR to shoot.  Got to love that.  Of course my time, lead and reloading equipment is free right!  Back to the match.

It was a cold day no doubt.  Just chill you to the bone raw cold.  I think some were happy this was only a 40 shot match.  Get into the car and warm up on the ride home.  We started on Rams.  Joy!  7 down, none stood defiantly after my 31141 bullet with 21g of 4198 hit.  I had an AD which was a waste.  Was I going to repeat Saturday?  Argh.

I think we had seven relays.  This time I managed to have the right bullets on the line at the right animal, right firing spot.  Shooting 3 different recipes is not the wisest thing to do.  But, it is where I am right now and I just have to keep my head attached.  At least I remembered that from last year!

Chickens capitulated to my diminutive 3118 bullet with a mere 6 grains of Unique.  Did I say how much fun it is to shoot those little pills?  I often wonder if they would work on Turkeys.  They fall down when it but I have not tested accuracy at 150 yards.

Pigs.  There would be no more mental mistakes on the pig line.  I put the focus on and managed another 10.  For those curious about my 3 recipes, the Pig and the Turkey get the same load.  Hats off to my spotter for keeping me focused.  I think the spotter plays a large role in this game.  But having someone by your right elbow reminding you of why you drove 350 miles is helpful.  Seven relays, it is easy to either lose focus or work yourself into a lather by the next time you are on the line.  A common characteristic of big matches so figure it out we must.

So what happens in a 7 relay match?  You learn what others are doing.  Among the Cast Bullet types, we are a minority at a match like this, powder coating seemed to be the hot new solution to all things us cast shooters fight.  Bullet velocity, leading, diameter, you name it.  I read a lot more after seeing the buzz in PA over PC.  I sure would love to give it a try.  Just my current situation, testing range, time, I don't know I could get it properly evaluated.  My problems, misses, are not due to an inaccurate bullet. It is due to practice and mental discipline.  Currently I am going to stay on the porch as it relates to PC.  But I am watching the traffic closely to ensure I am not missing something.

Turkeys.  Cold and the wind is now kicking up as weather seems to be moving in.  With 27 knock down out of 30 shots, the need to focus is high.  Mark and I both had decent scores going into turkeys and all we had to do was execute.  Well crap.  I imploded on the first bank by missing EVERY turkey.  Yup.  Zero for 5.  I fear I may have been a little hard on my spotter.  I think we got a bad start and I started chasing things.  By chasing things, he said low, I broke high for the next shot because I knew where my last one broke.  I know how to call my shot.  And then, you start second guessing yourself.  Before you know it, 2 minutes are over and you stand there is dismay.    We conferred after that little moment of unpleasantness.  We stayed focused on the job at hand.  Reviewed the facts.  Developed a game plan.  And checked the sight settings again.  Everything was correct.  Pulled another and final five beautiful home cast bullets onto our towel being held with push pins to the bench.  Did say it was windy?  This time the result was better with 4 out of 5 finding their mark.  But too little, too late.  The damage was done.  31 animals should have been 34 out of 40.  But not this year.  If I was serious, I would go to a range with 150 yards and with that same load work on drilling the turkey on paper, with wind.  See what happens.  Was it really me?  Although I don't think I was "nervous", I may have tried too hard for perfect breaks.  Who knows.  Learn from it and move on.  I don't think jacketed bullets would have prevented whatever the event was that occurred.  Maybe I need to powder coat them....oh...ya....it's the jerk behind the trigger.

Easy to read aggregate scores in PDF.