Tuesday, June 12, 2007
My Nationals Experience
Another US Field Target Nationals have come and gone. The 2007 Nationals was shot in Pulaski Tennessee this past weekend (June 9&10). The 120 shot match was pretty successful with only a few minor problems. In years past I designed and setup all the courses for the Good Ole Boys and Nationals matches that we shot at Roz's hollow but after the 2004 Nationals I decided I needed some help! I just wore myself out that year trying to do too much and my score showed it! This year Roz Sumpter took over duties as match director and David Slade did the match administration stuff so all I had to do was design and setup one course. I got the Red course.
The Red course is positioned at the bottom of a large hill. A creek runs along the bottom of the hill. The creek runs about 10-15 yards in front of the shooting positions and really adds a nice ambiance to the setting. I really enjoyed designing and setting up the course. It is very enjoyable to try to think up new target placements and ways to challenge the shooters. The course I setup was a 36.8 difficulty with some wind and featured a couple of uphill 50 yards plus shots at about 20 degrees up and three targets placed down in the creek. I had one target fail over the weekend, it was a spring loaded Juneau turtle target that I modified with a sear adjustment screw. Even with a threaded hole and two lock nuts, it still managed to wiggle loose and set the sear so that it couldn't be knocked over. It just goes to show, no matter how much time and energy you put into these targets, they can still fail.
I had an interesting weekend shooting the match. I planned on shooting my TX200 with my custom designed stock. On Friday I just wasn't shooting it very well. The trigger didn't seem real repeatable and didn't always release the same. I figured it was just me but when I got home that night I broke out my old faithful HW97 that I have been shooting for years and hastily put a Bushnell 8-32x scope on it. I had a feeling that I should have a backup rifle just in case. Sighting in the 97 was like putting on a comfortable pair of old blue jeans, it just fit right and was shooting great.
When Saturday morning rolled around I spend about 30 minutes fine tuning my HW97 so it would be ready to shoot if I needed it. I got the TX200 out to warm it up and decided to go ahead and shoot it for the match. That was a bad decision. Right from the get go the rifle wasn't feeling consistent to me and after 3 lanes the second stage of the trigger disappeared and the trigger was very sensitive and unpredictable. I tried to adjust it on the fly as I was shooting but after 6 lanes I dropped about a dozen shots and knew it was time to put the TX away and get my kick ass 97.
I shot a few shots into the ground to warm up my old partner and then I was off. I cleaned the next three lanes. I was struggling a bit since I didn't have time to get the eye relief on the big 8-32x scope set right so I was having to alter my normal shooting position to see through the scope properly. I finished the course and dropped 17 shots, most of them were with the TX200.
On Saturday night I swapped scopes on my two rifles and set my HW97 back to it's old match configuration. With only a few clicks I had the scope back con target and shooting right. It was late (again) and I had to get up at 5:00 am (again) to get up to the course to check the targets and prep the course for the day. The 97 started the morning shooting great. I, on the other hand, was struggling with finding my natural point of aim and follow-though. I was missing some really easy shots while hitting some really hard ones. I was really starting to feel the fatigue hitting me from all of the weekends efforts. I lucked out though about halfway through the match and had a chance to lay down and doze off a bit while we were waiting for a backup to clear up on the lanes ahead of us. That helped me get my focus back and finish the match strong. I ended up dropping 13 on the day which was enough to win the National Piston Division Championship.
Here I sit now, still recovering from the weekend. It was a big effort and like most matches that I help at, I wore myself out and enjoyed every minute of it. Even after taking the day off yesterday to pickup my targets and gear, I am still feeling pretty tired. I think it is time for a nap!
The Red course is positioned at the bottom of a large hill. A creek runs along the bottom of the hill. The creek runs about 10-15 yards in front of the shooting positions and really adds a nice ambiance to the setting. I really enjoyed designing and setting up the course. It is very enjoyable to try to think up new target placements and ways to challenge the shooters. The course I setup was a 36.8 difficulty with some wind and featured a couple of uphill 50 yards plus shots at about 20 degrees up and three targets placed down in the creek. I had one target fail over the weekend, it was a spring loaded Juneau turtle target that I modified with a sear adjustment screw. Even with a threaded hole and two lock nuts, it still managed to wiggle loose and set the sear so that it couldn't be knocked over. It just goes to show, no matter how much time and energy you put into these targets, they can still fail.
I had an interesting weekend shooting the match. I planned on shooting my TX200 with my custom designed stock. On Friday I just wasn't shooting it very well. The trigger didn't seem real repeatable and didn't always release the same. I figured it was just me but when I got home that night I broke out my old faithful HW97 that I have been shooting for years and hastily put a Bushnell 8-32x scope on it. I had a feeling that I should have a backup rifle just in case. Sighting in the 97 was like putting on a comfortable pair of old blue jeans, it just fit right and was shooting great.
When Saturday morning rolled around I spend about 30 minutes fine tuning my HW97 so it would be ready to shoot if I needed it. I got the TX200 out to warm it up and decided to go ahead and shoot it for the match. That was a bad decision. Right from the get go the rifle wasn't feeling consistent to me and after 3 lanes the second stage of the trigger disappeared and the trigger was very sensitive and unpredictable. I tried to adjust it on the fly as I was shooting but after 6 lanes I dropped about a dozen shots and knew it was time to put the TX away and get my kick ass 97.
I shot a few shots into the ground to warm up my old partner and then I was off. I cleaned the next three lanes. I was struggling a bit since I didn't have time to get the eye relief on the big 8-32x scope set right so I was having to alter my normal shooting position to see through the scope properly. I finished the course and dropped 17 shots, most of them were with the TX200.
On Saturday night I swapped scopes on my two rifles and set my HW97 back to it's old match configuration. With only a few clicks I had the scope back con target and shooting right. It was late (again) and I had to get up at 5:00 am (again) to get up to the course to check the targets and prep the course for the day. The 97 started the morning shooting great. I, on the other hand, was struggling with finding my natural point of aim and follow-though. I was missing some really easy shots while hitting some really hard ones. I was really starting to feel the fatigue hitting me from all of the weekends efforts. I lucked out though about halfway through the match and had a chance to lay down and doze off a bit while we were waiting for a backup to clear up on the lanes ahead of us. That helped me get my focus back and finish the match strong. I ended up dropping 13 on the day which was enough to win the National Piston Division Championship.
Here I sit now, still recovering from the weekend. It was a big effort and like most matches that I help at, I wore myself out and enjoyed every minute of it. Even after taking the day off yesterday to pickup my targets and gear, I am still feeling pretty tired. I think it is time for a nap!
