Vintage Sniper. Great guns all over the range. We started showing up around 12 as the last relay went to the pits from the Hearst Doubles and the line quickly built to a couple hundred yards of guys standing in the sun. I stayed under the tent as long as I could and then joined Rol and Alan Long snaking around the machine gun mounds toward a table of T-shirts. Great looking hardware all around. Many Unertal scopes and reproductions. M1Ds, Mausers, 1903s with every incarnation of optical sights. Even some Mosins.
Course of fire was 5 minutes of unlimited sighters at 300 and 600 yards followed by 10 shots from each team member. The targets came up for 20 seconds, then down for 20, then back up, repeating until the 10 shots were complete. Each firer would shoot 20 shots for record, 10 at each yardline for a combined score that COULD total 400.
Justin Burns is in London but we had his 1903A4, built with this match in mind, with a Weaver K2 on it. Karl and I were first relay so we laid out our stuff. Karl shot the sighters and after a string of bad line commands from the tower, away we went. Both of us shot like beginners. Karl had a crossfire or a round that dissapeared and ruined his score. I shot a 91 with one X. Frustrating.
We shot the other team- two guys with a 1903A4 and an M1D. The Garand wasn't competitive but the 1903 shot pretty well. The line commands weren't much better. The other team got 6:30 for sighters instead of the allowed five minutes. (The line people had been so objectionable that I waved one over and asked him about it, threatening a protest, just to give him something to chew on besides the competitiors.) Rol and Alan Long next to us were shooting Alan's all-original 1903A4 and doing a good job.
At 600 I scored out the other team as they shot worse. This match is very equipment driven. When Karl and I came up I shot a string of sighters and got the rifle on at 600. Shot another 91 with a couple of Xs. Karl shot and the same zero didn't work at all. We had to adjust on the fly and weren't very deft. 327 with very few Xs. Just awful. Clay and Justin Utley had stacked up the Xs with a 1903A4 and an 8 power Unertal. They just dropped a few points but they were steamrolled by the folks who won, along with everyone else.
Results here. The Vintage Sniper match and everything else is in there. Team Blackfork was 171st out of 241 or so. Mumph.
Course of fire was 5 minutes of unlimited sighters at 300 and 600 yards followed by 10 shots from each team member. The targets came up for 20 seconds, then down for 20, then back up, repeating until the 10 shots were complete. Each firer would shoot 20 shots for record, 10 at each yardline for a combined score that COULD total 400.
Justin Burns is in London but we had his 1903A4, built with this match in mind, with a Weaver K2 on it. Karl and I were first relay so we laid out our stuff. Karl shot the sighters and after a string of bad line commands from the tower, away we went. Both of us shot like beginners. Karl had a crossfire or a round that dissapeared and ruined his score. I shot a 91 with one X. Frustrating.
We shot the other team- two guys with a 1903A4 and an M1D. The Garand wasn't competitive but the 1903 shot pretty well. The line commands weren't much better. The other team got 6:30 for sighters instead of the allowed five minutes. (The line people had been so objectionable that I waved one over and asked him about it, threatening a protest, just to give him something to chew on besides the competitiors.) Rol and Alan Long next to us were shooting Alan's all-original 1903A4 and doing a good job.
At 600 I scored out the other team as they shot worse. This match is very equipment driven. When Karl and I came up I shot a string of sighters and got the rifle on at 600. Shot another 91 with a couple of Xs. Karl shot and the same zero didn't work at all. We had to adjust on the fly and weren't very deft. 327 with very few Xs. Just awful. Clay and Justin Utley had stacked up the Xs with a 1903A4 and an 8 power Unertal. They just dropped a few points but they were steamrolled by the folks who won, along with everyone else.
Results here. The Vintage Sniper match and everything else is in there. Team Blackfork was 171st out of 241 or so. Mumph.
T-shirt on Commercial Row.
The Wanderers: Rol and Allan, not wandering but standing in line.
The first T-Shirt of the matches.
Crowd of happy snipers.
The always effervescent John Zuback.
Your humble coorespondant.
Serious hardware.
Justin Burns killing machine.
Clay Hefner, Texan.
3 comments:
Sorry to hear it didn't go well; but there is always next year!
Ok, you're such a tease. Who sells that green Red-Dot T-shirt? I have some young nieces and cousins whose daddys would find that amusing.
I noticed in the results that the most equipment driven match doesnt show what equipment was used by the competitors. Interesting. I wonder what the winners, one of whom cleaned 300 and 600 fired. Hmmh.
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