Consolidated Sportsmen Road Trip report Day 2, about 150 days later

I figure I can't move forward with my blog without a post for Day two at Consolidated Sportsman Spring Roundup.  This is an NRA Metallic Silhouette Cowboy shooting event where day 1, you shoot PCCLA in the AM.  SBCR in the PM.  Get some sleep, and then return Sunday morning to shoot CLA and then start the journey home. 60 shots for each match.  60 + 60 + 60 for a grand champion perfect score of 180

Day 2 I was still contemplating how close I came to being top banana in SBCR.  The old adage, "Every Shot Counts" kept running through my head.  One animal was all I needed to be tied for first.  I recall being told, "a match is really just 40 little matches, the only shot that counts is the next one".

Focus on taking the next shot perfectly!  That is so important in the game of Silhouette.  Especially when you have a bunch of shooters, often there will be 3+ with the same score.  Ah well, time to focus on CLA.  The 3+ will come full circle in a paragraph or two.

Day two was cold and raining.  One of those 'chill to the bone' type of days with few options other than getting in the truck and warming up.  The weather, plus likely being a little tired from the prior day, made for an extra mental "umph" to get going.  This was clearly evidenced by my first few sighters.  John was watching and telling me my ram loads were hitting the dirt around the turkey line.  Huh????  Panic, check sight settings, look at gun for some major impact.  Nothing.  Panic a little more......look at the ammo box, the GREEN ammo box!  Duh.  GREEN ammo box is for Chicken loads.  BLUE is for everything else.  Grab a few ram bullets and poof....that made all the difference.  What a way to get the heart racing and adrenaline flowing.  Wake up, this is what I live for I tell myself!

There was a reason I had the green box.  We were to start on chickens.  In 2016 I adopted a special low recoil, low cost solution for chickens.  I cast a 115 g Lyman 3118 bullet without gas check.  Unfortunately my mould does not create the best specimen.  Out of round and small at maybe .312".  I Beagle it and size and poof!  Works great for chickens but cast bullet purist would thumb their nose at such an ugly bullet.  I can use Unique, just 6g and no GC.  What is not to like about that frugal bullet?

So, the match began on Chickens.  You really should not miss a chicken.  It does happen but the Chickens and the Pigs are where you build your foundation for a good score. Bullet quality, reload quality is the most forgiving and sight picture is the easiest.  They are also the least likely to remain standing if you do hit them.  Sadly, one chicken ducked and I went over its back.  Duh!  New bullets worked well but the dope pulling the trigger had a failure to execute.  Pigs fared better as I was determined to not let lightning strike twice.

Turkeys.  Inconsistent yet very satisfying in the end.  After missing three in the first bank I had a bit of soul searching to do.  Bear down and SHOOT!  I managed to shoot the next five clean.  I did not change anything, just focused.  Of course the third bank lay ahead.  A 2 and a 5.  I managed to continue knocking the little darlings over.  Not sure when the "10 in a row" popped into my head.  The worst thing to happen to any shooter.

No doubt by number 4 things became very quiet between shooter and spotter.  You just don't say a thing and try to act normal.  "Try" being the understatement.  Happily, the fifteenth turkey bullet, a Lyman 31141 single cavity mould lovingly cast, sized and loaded over the winter, found its mark.  I had managed to shoot 10 in a row at a BIG match in Turkeys no less.  Go figure!

The match was not over.  I still had Rams to contend with and not that bad a score.  FOCUS.  Recall it was raining.  Berms were dark brown soil and the rain only made it darker.  Black animals were tough.  A miss was akin to shooting into a fog bank.  Nothing on the berm moved.  A hit was not much better.  All the water and mud just fell off in response to the impact.  An impact which was not that great in my case.  The first shot was a miss.  Got the next four.  I hit the next five but the last one just sat there.  I was upset.  That too is something you need to toss from the brain cells as frustration is the biggest enemy of a competitive shooter.  Got the 11th ram.  Rang the 12th.  Got the 13th and after that, I am not sure what happened.  I was hitting them and they were still standing.  Stuff happens, my head got the better of me and I ended up with a pitiful 10 rams when I hit 13.  Or that is my story.

All that drama put me tied for 1st AAA.  51/60 was bested by three better shooters that day. Al Foust shot a 54, Al Bean a 53 and Chuck Blender a 52.  Three of us shot 51's.  Argh, that chicken sure would have been nice!  In the shoot off I did not show.  Missing my first shot and taking 3rd AAA.  Stuff happens, both good and bad.  What we all known is this, nothing will ever happen if you don't show up at the line with the best plan possible to hit all 60.  Next year......"more bullet, more powder" is the mantra for the 30-30 as well as get my 44 Rem Mag sorted.  148/180 vs. 161/180 is only 13 animals after all!