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.

2018 review of Consolidated day 1

I am back into my blog after a year hiatus.  That is a topic for a different post.  Today, I thought I would share with you just how much fun it is to shoot silhouette with a bunch of other folks that share the same passion and or form of self torture.  This is my third year and I have yet to come close to a repeat of my first year.  Yet every year I seem to learn more.  And in some cases, learn the same lesson twice.

2018 found us up 4 travelers from the cold and soggy climate of NH.  Ron and I were solo but Phil and Mark, his first time, were joined by their significantly better halfs which made the trip all that more entertaining. 

All of my match prep work involved hand loading in my "remote reloading bench" in Ohio.  No range time as I don't have a range in Ohio but I found reloading a way to escape. My efforts to get my Daisy airgun going have not been very, ah, concerted. But why not, go to your first match of the 2018 season, shoot a new gun and hope for the best. 

PCCLA - Click on photo for larger image

I kept a nice old 1892 in 32-20 in the NH family.  She has been refinished and rebored but she should shoot.  She does shoot.  I just have not figured her out yet.  Although I had all sorts of excuses around varying brass case length and lollipop posts, I think the main issue is me.  PRACTICE!  You simply cannot shoot something well you have not sorted out.  More sorting to come.  When you lay down a 5-7-8-5 for c-p-t-r, you have got to walk away a tad more in that "self torture" mode than "I love this game" mode.  To shoot 8 turkeys yet only 5 chickens tells you I don't have my sight picture well sorted.  Ah well.  There is always the 44 mag which fared well at Bradford in 2017.  But I had such high hopes for this gun.  Paper and practice is the bottom line.  Results to the left.





Lunch was provided and was hot and yummy both days.

SBCR - Click for larger image

The afternoon was the gun I shoot best.  The gun I know. My 39A made in New Haven in 1985.  But, I left a few short line animals here and there and you simply cannot do that when you are a Master Class shooter in SBCR.  8-9-6-8.  31 will not work in PA.

10 of the 20 master shooters competing were 32 or higher.  Take note, the top gun was a rather low 35 so that called for a lot of shoot offs to sort them  all out.  10 shooters fell in the 32 to 35 range.  That sure demonstrates the importance of the rule:  "EVERY SHOT MATTERS!"  Never take a shot just to get over with it.  A 32 would have tossed me into the shoot off sorting game but not this year.  That one pig is all she wrote.  No excuse and you will see later I drilled that into my head.  In all cowboy shooting, 10 chickens and 10 pigs is a must.  These are the key "point getters" and you simply must get them.  Not a 8 or 9, but 10.  Practice on paper until you can get 10 EVERY time.  Woulda, coulda, shoulda.  If I had followed my own coaching, a 34 would have been a nice place to be with a clean "short line" and one more Turkey.....there is always next year.

Easy to read PDF results for aggregate scores