A Windy Shoot at Tiny Targets, Ambidextrously

I have a confession to make.  This shoot occurred on the first day of the month that I set aside for weak handed shooting.  I forgot to shoot the first stage of the shoot left handed.  I’ll explain.

I got up before daylight.  It was windy and rainy.  I had my gear packed and got out of the house as efficiently as I am capable of.  I had a general idea of where I was headed.  There were directions but they didn’t indicate from which direction they were for.  I let a computer dictate my route, which can be pretty bad around here, because as Sun Tzu wisely said, “The map is not the territory.” 

Things were going pretty well until I hit a road that had a sign proclaiming the necessity of a permit from November to April.  There was a reason for that I’m assuming, as it was soft mud.  I decided just to find another route, which added a little time, and I still wasn’t certain as to where I was headed.  Fun!

After driving for long enough that I figured I was off track, I finally saw a bunch of sponsorship banners for cool gun companies blowing in the wind (might be a song there).  I saw the shooters’ vehicles out across a rocky field.  I figured there must have been a road leading to them.  Shortly after that I figured out that there wasn’t, that the road I was on was passing them laterally and getting farther away, and that people were staring.

I wasn’t late, but I wasn’t early either.  I was also suffering from a similar malady that plagued me at the last shoot like this: I don’t own a rangefinder.  When targets are anywhere from < 1 MOA in size to maybe 3 MOA, at unknown distances from 400 to 770 yards, knowing the exact range will be helpful (understatements are a specialty of mine).

There are a few techniques for ranging targets at unknown distances.  The best one to use in situations like this is to act like you know what you’re doing, while filling out a range card standing next to someone that does own a rangefinder.  It goes something like this:

“You got that crow out there just down from that knoll?” 

“Hang on, oh, 465.”

“465.  OK.  What about that rockchuck just out and to the right of it?” 

You get the idea.  Luckily I knew someone there.  He’s the one that told me I could borrow his rangefinder last time, but it didn’t work out.  This time he put a Leica 1600 in my hand and I went to work.

There were 2 stages fanned out about 45° degrees.  I frantically started ranging the one on the left, which consisted of 7 targets from 161-438 yards.  About the time that I was almost done with my range card, Caleb, who puts the shoots on, called out the shooting order.  I was the first shooter, on the long range stage (not the one I had been working the range card on). 

I had to quickly transition over to the long range stage and start filling out my range card.  There is a difficulty involved that is rather easy to convey.  The terrain is mixed dry grass and rocks.  The targets are small and black.  They can’t be seen by the naked eye.  Sometimes they are difficult so see through binoculars (especially for some reason my $10 Bushnells) and even through scopes.    

There are 7 targets out there. None of them can be seen with the naked eye.

Luckily people are pretty nice and will generally help you locate the targets.  I got them ranged, plopped my rifle down, loader ‘er up, and asked the scorer if he was ready to go.  Yep.

The rules are this, you have 10 minutes to shoot 7 targets.  A first round hit is 1 point.  A second round hit is a half point.  After that, well there is no “after that” because there are no points for after that.

The long range course consisted of a rockchuck at 390, a bobcat at 521, a rockchuck at 567, a bobcat at 573, a crow at either 631 or 718, and a rabbit at 778.  I’m missing something on my rangecard if you’re wondering why I only have 6 targets.  There was a 12-14 mph wind coming from about 8-9 o’clock.

Here’s what happened.  I had no time to waste or consider how I was going to get it done.  I got into position and started to dial dope.  I started firing.  That’s about it.  There was no thought that it was the first day of weak handed rifle shooting month.  I shot it right handed.  That’s my confession.  I’m sorry. 

My iphone was giving me corrections that were pretty consistently 0.2 mils to a little more that that high.  As I caught on it would be a little bit more off due to the ranges gradually getting longer.  The crow at the “way out there” distance was pretty hard to see and was in the shadows.  You had to know where it was to even glass it; even then you could just make out that it was something irregular.  It’s a roughly triangular shaped target.  Off in about the vicinity I had drawn my crow target on the range card, there happened to be a triangular shaped rock that stood out.  Even on 9x it looked like the crow to me.  After I shot twice they figured out that I was shooting at something other than the target.  Such is life...  I think I at least hit the rock I was aiming at.

I ended up with 3 points out of 7, and at about the bottom of the top third of the shooters on that stage.

The short range stage had easier targets (because they were closer), but the wind had gotten tough.  The terrain was a little more varied on the short range course, and the wind got more intense during as the day progressed.  It was around 15 with gusts over 20 and lulls at about 12.  It was evident that the targets from 161 to 220 weren’t getting as much wind as we were at the shooting position, maybe half.  The targets out at 375 and 438 seemed to be getting just as much.  This was judged by the swaying of the grass.

About midway into the day, they decided to open up a 2^nd position on the short range course.  I volunteered to take up that position 1^st, because I was cold and hungry, and I had people with me who were miserable.  I found that I couldn’t really see one of the targets from where I was.  I think I got 2 first round hits, a second round hit, then not much if anything after that.

I shot this course mostly left handed, which isn’t really a handicap from the bipod for me.  The exception was the target that was obstructed by the grass.  I attempted a slung seated position.  This was day 1 of weak handed rifle shooting month, so I did it right handed, not wanting to figure out left handed seated again on the fly under time stress.  On paper my sitting should have been accurate enough.  I didn’t get my hit though.

The wind was very dynamic.  I had trouble spotting my own impacts, so I relied on the scorer.  By the time he gave me a correction the wind would generally have picked up causing a pretty much identical miss.

The shoot was fun, but I ended up in kind of a down mood.  I spent too much on gas, I was hungry, my brake pads were worn out, etc...  The shooting was fun.

This was the first time at one of these things that I didn’t end up in the top three for at least one of the events.  My preparation in recent weeks had been oriented towards maxing out my Appleseed AQT.  It’s a completely different ballgame.  It’s funny that to an Appleseeder, 7 shots in 10 minutes would sound like an eternity.  When you are dealing with tiny, irregular targets at unknown distances, the game completely changes.  Being good at all the games is a very formidable challenge.

By the way, I'm pulling rank and giving myself a waiver for the rest of weak handed rifle shooting month.  I've already reversed the half turn on the sling back around the other way.  It just wasn't as much fun as last year.  I tend to want to follow what is interesting at the time.