#13 Postby RDavies » Mon Sep 14, 2009 3:36 pm
Well, it all came together for me at this shoot. For the 1st 2 days Alan Fraser and I were squaded close to each other and were shooting almost identical scores for each range, so I was expecting (not hoping) that it was going to be Alan all the way up there along the way. As the shoot progressed, Alans recent good luck run ran out as his new 6.5x284 went off, giving big groups. Once he dialed the 6 dasher in, he was back in the party.
Other strong performers, who had some bad luck runs were Steve Rigby who did some great shooting and had me worried, but got a realy bad range with bad winds at the last 800M, 15 shots, with only his 6BR still working, knocking him back a few positions. Geoff Miles was the king of the longs, but a combination of bad luck, bad winds, and either brain fart or mechanical failure at 500M on the last day, knocked him back a long way. Bob Eager as usual was the short range king by a long way, but a few bad wind ranges pushed him back until the last range. At 800M right when the wind was changing the worst, giving big gusts and then dropping off Bob showed he knows what he is doing in the wind, taking his time, watching the fast changing flags and used his little 6 Dasher to get 134,one point behing the range winner ,Geoff Miles. This took him to 2nd in the Queens. Alan also shot a 134, showing the 6 dashers are not dead in the longs.
Les Rosznyai used consistancy to stay up in the points, for 3rd in the Queens. Les made his own very unique rifle stock. usualy when you hear that, you picture a dog ugly contraption, but Les,s rifle is one of the best enginered rifles I have seen. Any time you want to get rid of it, drop me a line.
As for myself, I started the Queens with my 6x47 which went well shooting brand new cases well in the lead up,then would not eject fireformed cases ( ejector cam on the bolt, not hot loads) so I had to use my 7mm for the rest of the shoot. I was not too worried as I knew everyone gets a taste of some bad ranges over 3 days. Day 2 was my good day. The new 7mm started to realy hum and I got some good wind ranges which I made the most of. For the end of day 3, due to ammo shortages, bad weather making accuraccy not so important, and wanting to save my good 7mm barrel, I screwed my old barrel in. I was relieved that I didnt lose the lead by too much.
Overall, I had some good luck on this shoot, with not too many bad winds, making the most of good (or less bad)conditions, decent rifle accuracy,not too many silly mistakes, no major equipment failure and most of all good luck.