Back on the range
 

Having spent the last couple of months planting food plots, readying boats and catching fish, I've finally returned to the range. Part of my time off related to the punishment I was taking from the GM barrel on the Cabela's stock. I fabricated a bench of sorts which employs a heavy rubber band and holds the gun as I might if I held the fore end but for accuracy I prefer to cradle the stock in the crease of my left elbow and "sleep" over it. Here are pics of the "bench". I place sandbags on the corners.

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Two Sunday's ago, in 12 mph gusting to 20 quartering wind over the left shoulder, I felt pretty good about this group shooting open sights with 10mm/200's and 90 RS at 100 yds.
It measures 4 7/8".

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This Sunday, I started at the 100, same load and little wind. After finding the dot with the first 5, I said to myself, "I'll just keep shooting 'till I miss the dot", which, of course, I promptly did. Interestingly,, the group is exactly 4 7/8' again.

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Then, I did something really fun....

I inflated 2 balloons to a 12" cross section and carried them to the 200. While stapling them to the back stop, another guy on the range said "you aren't planning to shoot those with that black powder rifle are you?" Course I said I was and he said I was a sucker for punishment. Maybe he'd be right.

It was quite a challenge, partly because I didn't have a spotting scope and couldn't tell where my bullets were hitting from what little dust I could see. When I found the first balloon on the 5th shot, I had paid close attention to my sight alignment, and managed to find the second one 3 shots later. What was really cool was that with a little breeze, the smoke cleared before the ballon went out and then you hear the bullet strike the back stop! Plus, I didn't have to wait for the other shooters to take a break and go retrieve the target! I will definitely be doing that again with a paper background and a spotting scope. Great fun and good to be back at it!

RE: Back on the range
 

I once hunted in a small tree blind that because of floor space, was too small for my shooting sticks and me. But I realized the way the tree was shaped, I could stretch a nylon small diameter rope on the tree and the stand creating basically a clothes line type effect in front of me. I found that I could rest the rifle on that rope and with practice get some very good accuracy, using it as a bench rest of sorts. I can see how your rest works off a similar principle.

Nice shooting... those 10mm I think are going to be a good deer load..

RE: Back on the range
 

I hope they'll be a good deer load. The deer have really destroyed my food plots of corn and sunflowers. They haven't wrecked the soybeans just yet but I suspect they will. The food plots are for the deer, but also for us to enjoy the view of during the growing season and right now they're really looking rough. I'll have to provide photos. I do expect to be doing some ballistics tests on the antlerless herd this Fall. I've got a list of 5 friends who will each take a deer and pay for processing. This has been a motivator for returning to the range.