Shot like poop

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Mark1964

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Shot like poop in a ,22 long range match on Wednesday evening. In a 60-points-possible match, was about 15 below my best score to date and only 2 above my score in the very first such match I ever shot. And it was our easiest format!
Yeah, cold and windy ... but geez, I pretty much sucked. Now I'm going to be glum until I can get to the range and work it out.
Sigh.
We do this to ourselves.
 
Unless, of course, I go my usual OCD route, camp out at the range and everything continues to go to ****e.
OTH, may be the excuse I need to buy an Anschutz. :)
Dunno, but I think a shrink might find .22LR long-range shooters a danged interesting bunch. We've got some issues!
 
Have you figured what happened. Sometimes going too fast really slows you down.
 
Cold temps can have an effect on exit timing of your bullet. Run into it a lot with certain temp sensitive rifle powders.
 
That's one of the things I like about shooting. Every day is different. Some days I'm just off. Everybody I shoot with has days like that too. We joke about saving ammunition and targets and trying again when things are going more your way.

Short version - don't beat yourself up.
 
ms6852 said:
Have you figured what happened. Sometimes going too fast really slows you down.
Click to expand...

Figured out a couple things that I may have contributed and one the rifle may have contributed (has to do with an aftermarket part, now removed).
Will get back to the range this weekend and starting working it out.
As has been noted here, a bad day at the range trumps 99.9 percent of all days at work.
I'm fine with it all. Like the whole process/challenge of match shooting, and I shoot with a good group of guys.
 
CoalCrackerAl said:
Next match you will do better. We all have our bad days shooting. And then the good ones make up for the bad. How far in the range distance in a 22 match? Is it 22 lr or 22 mag?
Click to expand...

We shoot out to 240 yards at our .22LR steel silhouette matches at our club; That's our longest berm.
These are .22lr only; no magnums.
My class, "master," was shooting at 110 yards (100 meters), 165 yards (150 meters) and 200 yards.
It was the 200 -- as my luck would have it, my first stage -- that put the whammy on my score. Just couldn't get my elevation squared. I use hashmarks (subtensions) and usually do just fine. This time -- and the cold and wind may have contributed -- a 16 MOA hold from my 100 yard zero was low, but a 17 was too high. I did one of heck of vertically bracketing the targets!
Yeah, was a tad bummed, but not terribly so. Gives me an excuse to get back on the line this weekend and keep grinding. :)
 
Dealing with temperature changes can play havoc on the bullet especially in the cold as it seems affect poi drastically for every 10º change. I shoot all my 22's at 230 yards and for this reason that I enjoy using my sightron BIG Sky scope. It has 1/8 clicks adjustable knobs instead of 1/4 inch, pros and cons with both. Maybe try finding out which rounds work best in cold weather and which work in hot weather is something you should consider.
 
I can imagine the low-temperature effect on the small dollop of powder in the .22 LR case is pretty drastic, especially if your range practice and settings have been recorded at much higher temps. Without shooting in similar cold conditions and recording your holdover/drift, it was almost like you were shooting your rifle/load combo for the first time.

You’ve seen the effect now, I bet you’ll make up for it at the next shoot and knock it out of the park. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
jmorris said:
What are the rules, what equipment to the top 3 shooters use?
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Shot from prone or bench. Rifle & scope of your choice, chassis stocks OK. In front, bipod only. No bags or rear rests. No gloves, jackets etc.
Course of fire is 20 shots (4x5) times three, so 60 rounds for scoring. Sighters and time depend on the given match. On this one, you had 2 minutes for sighters at each distance, then 8 minutes for your 20 scoring shots.

Re top gear ... varies. CZ is popular, including the MTR Varmint. But there's about everything in play up to and including Anschutz. One guy has a Vudoo on the way. One of the top winners shoots a CZ 455 in an MDT chassis, another shoots an Anschutz sporter and a third runs a CZ 457 MTR.
Optics, also a wide range in play. Variable power FFPs seem popular. Lot of guys get a Vortex Diamondback Tactical or the Strike Eagle; Athlon getting some use, too. And there's certainly some more expensive glass being run.
 
22 matches are the epitome of "arms race" :)

I watched as the smallbore match I started at our club went from off the shelf 10-22's and pump actions to guys spending their loads on beautiful Anschutz and CZ's over the course of just a few matches. I was amazed at how fast guys ramped up gear!

Next came the ammo! Once guys figured out how Eley and some of the other premium ammo shoots... there was a secondary ammunition arms race. :)
 
Don't feel bad. It happens. I attended a PRS match for the first time last year and came in dead last. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn by the end of the match. Come to find out one of my mounting bolts had come loose in the chassis, which threw off my scope zero. A stupid thing, but was pretty embarrassing when I was missing everything at the time. I can laugh about it now, but it wasn't funny at the time.
 
Rockrivr1 said:
Don't feel bad. It happens. I attended a PRS match for the first time last year and came in dead last. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn by the end of the match. Come to find out one of my mounting bolts had come loose in the chassis, which threw off my scope zero. A stupid thing, but was pretty embarrassing when I was missing everything at the time. I can laugh about it now, but it wasn't funny at the time.
Click to expand...

There's two sorts of shooters, ones who have had that happen to them and ones who will have that happen to them.

I had a visiting shooter hand me a high master card once at our high power match. He had every bit of kit you could imagine with him, definitely had been running the national match circuit for quite a long time.

He missed every single shot at the rapid fire 200 yard leg, because of a bad adjustment on his elevation. Came in dead last in the competition, even had a couple of brand new shooters on the line.

He asked that I not report his score to NRA HQ, and I obliged, with a smile and a nod. "Just a practice day!", I said.

It happens to the best of us! :)
 
I know the feeling..over and over again.

Last SAT was our 1st 3gun match of the year. In one stage I finished with 2 "failure to engage" and finished the pistol targets while still holding a shotgun shell in my mouth and multiple shells on the ground. Although I swore after last year I'd spend the winter practicing shotgun reloads, just like last year and the year before it didn't happen.

I did OK with pistol throughout the day, but put multiple rounds into the inside of a barrel we had to shoot through as I lost sight of my offset. I was slow at everything and reloads must have been painful to watch.

I ended up in the middle of the pack. the only consolation is that it's GOT to get better.
 
And to show you how fickle our game is...
Today in a paper match shot well and finished second among 15 shooters, best I've done since taking up this .22 longer range stuff a year ago.
This game ... it's like Zen. So simple, it's difficult.
 
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