Pink Panther's first kill!

[rardoin]

I shot the combined Mississippi State Championships this weekend at Bar 3 Range in Laurel MS.  The Long Range Champ matches (1000yds) were on Saturday.  I really sucked, missed beau coup wind calls and had over a 10 ring of vertical.  I was struggling with this new stock and it's dramatic flexibility compared to my stiff wooden X-Ring in my other open rifle.  The conditions were full of heavy mirage which made the scoring rings flat out disappear for 2-5 minutes at a time and the wind was constantly changing direction.  I had a train wreck and dropped 35 points/600 with only 8 x's... I really stunk up the place.  The winner scored 589/600-23x's.  On Sunday I figured I was dead in the water for the 600yd Mid Range Championships with my load judging from the horrible vertical spread at 1000yds.  Conditions were VERY light...0-3 mph, raining ahead of a line of tornadic squalls coming our way.  I figured these conditions will really show how bad the gun/shooter is performing .  However, with great rain to judge wind direction and strength I was able to fire a great waterline during the sighter period of match 1 and shot it clean but with only 7 x's.  However, post analysis (we were on e-targets) showed that with a 1/8 MOA hold up wind I would have likely doubled the x count.  The gun is in tune at 600...hurray!!!  Unfortunately 3 others also shot cleans with a bit higher X counts... .  Match 2 showed the same conditions with the squalls still a ways off.  Rain was gone, mirage absent and the heavy water logged flags hanging limp.  The only reliable indicator was the drift of the muzzle smoke.  It proved VERY reliable and I shot another clean, 200-14-X's (centered the group this round...DUH).  I was fortunate enough to have shot the only clean that round that match so the lead was mine to lose.  Quick check on the radar and it is NOT looking good for my next relay:



$hi+!!!  at the 3 minute warning I see a wall cloud behind us a couple of miles and the distant tree tops are starting to bend.  Rhut Rho RelRoy!!!  Those waterlogged flags don't realize they are waterlogged now as a line of wind hits.  2 minute prep called and I am down on the mat looking at my target through the scope and something ain't right?!?!  The target face is falling off!  I quickly call over the match director who calls to make the line safe as two other targets fail.  Good fortune?...Yes!  By the time the targets are repaired the wind has fallen off dramatically and I am back to the regularly scheduled program...Gunsmoke!  (watching muzzle smoke drift for my wind indicator ).  I finished out with a clean 200-15x and that was good enough for the win.  That was my first clean 600 and my first Championship match agg win.  However, I think I had more fun helping newer nervous shooter Tyler Pope and watching him shoot not only his first clean, but his first and second (I gave him my secrets of what I was watching for wind and he used it to good effect).  He was under gunned for most conditions but his 6BR was perfect for no wind at 600yds.

[Danbonzo]

Nice. Way to stay in there and bring it. Congrats on  the win. ??

[rardoin]

Thanks Dan.  It was one of those magical shoots where I just knew I was not going to drop a point and was playing for 'X's' to have a chance for the win.  It was much easier going into the last relay having just to keep it in the 10 ring to win as everyone else had lost at least a point by then.  Those situations don't happen often.  I also learned that my stock is really particular on how it like to be held.... she is as picky as a high fashion model.  My other stock was like the overweight homely chick that did not care how she was held as long as she was held... period .

[Danbonzo]

Smoker or fatty it seems you found how to lift either skirt up. ?
Solid work on the wind btw

[Fuj]

And another round of brews all around !!

So was the new March in action on this rifle ?? 

[Snaploader]

Great shooting and great determination to stay in the fight.

[gman47564]

congrats robin... awesome way to start out with ugly betty... she was a beauty queen in the end...

[ohiococonut]

Congrats!

[rardoin]

So was the new March in action on this rifle ?? 

No Fuj.  Not enough time to retest it to make sure my 'tracking issues' was the barrel/rail contacting and not the scope so I had the 10-60x52 on it.  I could have used the HM in the ridiculously heavy mirage on Saturday.

[jvw2008]

The hallmark of an accomplished shooter is the ability to not panic and make the necessary adjustments to bring everything back in line. Great job Robin- seriously. That's a win you absolutely earned. ?

[chazwood]

Great job. I'm sure you have  many more wins to come.

[sportacus]

Felicitations brutha from the redneck end of the Bayou State. 

[DHuffman]

Way to hang in there Robin. The wind is a fickle biotch at 1000 especially if you can't see her!

[Fuj]

No Fuj.  Not enough time to retest it to make sure my 'tracking issues' was the barrel/rail contacting and not the scope so I had the 10-60x52 on it.  I could have used the HM in the ridiculously heavy mirage on Saturday.

I understand that the new HM makes the mirage look like
watchin' Disney's Fantasia, in Ultra High Def.....LOL

And school us on the flex stock. I know it's something I
would never even consider in the grand scheme of things,
let alone distance shoots....

[DHuffman]

No Fuj.  Not enough time to retest it to make sure my 'tracking issues' was the barrel/rail contacting and not the scope so I had the 10-60x52 on it.  I could have used the HM in the ridiculously heavy mirage on Saturday.

I'm curious about the flex / tracking issue also. I'm guessing the stock is the full foam fill. Shawn has two of them in Wheeler LRB, he calls them the "Pool noodle" stocks.

When he ladder tests powder they walk across the target instead of up the target. Mine is somewhere between that and the club gun I shot a year ago. If you try to beat it into the bags by hitting the top of the barrel over the front bag it will flex enough for the barrel to contact the stock. Mine will ladder horizontal as well. It started out going vertical but anymore it tends to either ladder left and slightly up or right and slightly down.

I just accept it as one of the mysteries of the universe and go on.