Changes at KISA

I went to the indoor range a couple of days ago and I can see how the club is changing.  The club used to hold a lot of bowling pin matches which I really enjoyed.  When I went to the range I could see were they took the steel table tops and after cutting them up they put them on the walls of the indoor range.

I don't know if this is because people don't like to shoot in matches where it takes a pistol a little stronger than a 9mm to win or they just aren't in to shooting in matches anymore.

Last winter some of the club board members threw away our high power rifle targets.  We pretty much got a new board three years ago.  In the last three years we have not had one board member shoot in a high power rifle match.

The club used to also hold charging bear matches this time of year and it doesn't look like it is going to happen this year.

The club has two sets of HP silhouettes and two sets of rimfire silhouettes but we havn't had a silhouette match in three years.

I guess that people aren't into shooting in matches any more.

Accident at Monashka Bay Range

Several weeks ago the Kodiak Police Department was firing at the Monaska Bay outdoor range.when two of their rounds left the range.  The bullets went into the landfill and hit one worker in the helmet and one in the neck.  Neither worker was hurt. What I have heard is that the police were firing thousands of rounds and some of them richoted into the landfill.

Thank goodness they were firing 9mm so nobody got hurt.

The reason I like a .45 is that shooting something twice is silly.

Sean from the AML/JIA came down and looked at both the Monashka Bay Range and the Salonie Creek Range today.  The Salonie Creek Range is a very safe range.  The only thing that needs to happen on an ongoing basis it making sure that the range boundry flags are in place.  They need to be checked reguarily.

The Monashka Bay outdoor range needs to be improved.  It would be best, in my opinion, if they changed the line of fire about 15 degrees to the left.  Jim Grahm drew up the planes for this many years ago and I think that they are still valid.

I am going to run these plans by some people that are into range development.

Last Highpower Rifle Match of 2011

This last Saturday was the last HP Rifle match in Kodiak for 2011.  We only had three competitors but they were all good shots.  Dave Ostlund won, I took second, and Bill Deal took third.  Bill would have taken second but he cross fired one standing shot at 200 yards.

For me the highlight of the match was shooting a "clean" 100 in the 200 yard rapid fire event.  I shot a 97 in the second 200 yard rapid fire which was also pretty good.  The interesting part of this second string is that I shot 9 tens and then a seven.  I don't see how I could even move my rifle that far off target my sling was so tight.

Dave Ostlund is going to take over the High Power Rifle matches next year.  I really look forward to shooting in them.  One change he is going to make is how we fire the Wednesday night matches.  Instead of walk and paste 100 yard matches he is going to move us back to 200 yards and use the carriers.  I think that it will work pretty good, I just worry that we can get done before it gets dark.

No matter what, I will be out there.  And I am looking forward to concentrating on shooting instead of trying to remember pasters, radio's, etc.

Last Wensday night match.

Last night was the last Wensday night match of the year.  And it was getting pretty dark by the end of the match.

And the match didn't go very good for me at all.  Standing was terrible - it was windy but I should have done better.

Sitting was bad - I figured out after the stage that my sling was too loose.  I have lost some weight and I think that I needed to tighten up my sling becase of it.

Prone rapid fire was bad, slow fire even worse.  By the slowfire prone stage it was getting dark and by shot 15 or so I couldn't see the bullseye very well.

In a week and a half is the Nelson Cup Island Championship followed by a L.E.G. match on Sunday.  I hope that we have good weather.  I am ready to shoot a good score.

Days are getting shorter

We only have one more Wensday night match and 2 Saterday matches left this year.  We also have a LEG match in September.

At last Saterday's match Dave Ostlund finally cleaned a target.  In fact he shot a 199 for the rapid fire sitting.  Not a bad score at all.

The bugs didn't seem bad when we got to the range last night so I didn't put on any bug repellant.  What a mistake!  I about got ate alive.

August matches are going good

Last Wensday's night match went pretty well.  We had 9 competitors so we had to fire in two relays.  Its getter harder to have two relays when the days are getting shorter but it went pretty good.

The weather was nice, dry with no wind.  But I like to have some wind because the bugs can be terrible.  And last night they were bad. It is hard to concentrate on your front sight when there is a bug crawling on it.

I did ok shooting a 451 but Dave Ostlund did great shooting a 476 - 7X.

My goal is to increase my average to 94% which means I have to start shooting 470's.  This is possible.

Life could be better

When I set for reloading this year I decided to use a RCBS X die.  Without knowing so I adjusted the die down too far.  So in rapid fire I meet my match.  In sitting rapid fire I had to shoot an alibi.  Not good.  In prone rapid fire I had to shoot to also shoot an alibi but when I did the rifle jamed again.  The problem was that I set the shoulders back when I resized the cases.

The funny part is that it never jamed when I shoot slowfire - only the rapid fire strings, and the first round out of the magazine - went sour.

I reset the die today but I have 300 rounds loaded up badly.  I will use them for pratice or for slowfire only.