Very good conditions for shooting today

[yeoman]

Arrived at the range around 4pm today to just one other shooter who left shortly after I arrived. Skies were mostly cloudy; a good thing at a west facing range. Wind was 15 and gusty but from my back. Air was cool. Pretty ideal.

50 cal. Cabelas Hawken, GM barrel
Open Sights
10mm/200XTP/HP
90 Pyrodex RS
RWS caps

I started at 100 yds. Things went very well with open sights producing a 2 7/8" group thru shot number 5. Unfortunately, my motto is 6/6 on a 6 inch circle and #6 went left and turned it into a 4 7/8" group. That's the 3rd week in a row where my first 6 at 100 were 4 7/8" with this combo. A pattern there?

I then moved to the 200 yd. target. I had robbed a larger sheet of white target paper to put behind my 16" sheet, hoping to detect a hit sooner. Both were on a 4x5' sheet of plywood. Shot #1, nada, #2 nada, #3 nada. Where the heck was I shooting? I took the walk down and what do I find? Nada. All I could figure is with the tail wind I must be shooting high. #4 hit the background sheet 1.5" just over #5, and the rest are in the photo. When I looked thru the spotting scope and saw #11 center punched the target (luck for sure), it felt like I'd taken a trophy animal. Threw my last 4 (shots 7,8,9,10) 10mm/200's back at the 100 and called it a day. I have no idea what happened with #8 at the 100. Felt like the others....

The last 5 shots at the 200 are a 6 3/8" group. Oh what a feeling.

From 100:

" />

From 200:

" />

[cayugad]

That is some good shooting and you are doing a lot better then I probably would. Nice Shooting!!!

[yeoman]

Thanks Dave, I guess. How do we know if these results at the 200 is "good shooting"? I know I'm pretty amazed, but only because it looks so dang far when I stand there and look at the stuff hanging on the backstop at that distance. I can't imagine "placing" a shot down there with open sights. But once I'm over the gun and looking down the sights, it seems quite doable. I hope someone else here will give it a try. I really think this is going to help my shooting at shorter ranges. I also know it's unlikely I'll be able to attempt this forever. I can't think of a peer who doesn't require at least reading glasses so how long can I have? The "Big One" is already in the rear view mirror and I don't want to take the gift I've been given for granted.