We had another wild adventure in Great Plains Weather with a marked contrast between the weather on Saturday and Sunday. :D
Saturday was cool, with light breezes and overcast all day (mid 60's). We had several periods of fog and mist; enough to get everything wet and damp, but not enough to do any good (or damage!) We did manage to have one student make Rifleman (Yeah! Ray!) ^:)^ with a 220. Which was a good thing, because Sunday's conditions were Tough!
What a difference a Day makes! Sunday was bright and clear. Started out warm and just got hotter; high's peaked out in the high 80's low 90's. Wind on Sunday was an issue as it distracted students as mats, tarps and everything else blew back off the line. It also caused us to call a "Stand Easy" and pull all the students off the line while in prep. The Problem? The wind broke the wires holding the backers and blew the backers off the target line. The students were great! They handle these issues well, they followed all the instructions given and we fixed the problems as they popped up, or perhaps "Blew Down". Students were shooting almost directly into the wind as it was largely south/southwest. Discipline was always maintained even when the wind was moving backers, scraping dust and grass off the range and blowing it into the faces of the students. It was great experience! As we told the students on Sunday, learn to shoot well in Great Plains WIND and you can shoot well anywhere in the world.
SO! How windy was it?? Winds were sustained at 20-30 MPH and gusts were in excess of 40-45 MPH. They were howling!! :o Even POP was overheard to comment; "I thought it was windy in Texas, but this is something else!" :)
We had to keep on top of both students, Instructors and IIT's to stay hydrated. The combination of high humidity, high winds and high temps, drys you out faster than you think.
But, the students were great! Sure there was some frustration with groups and scores on Sunday, but they persisted, they focused and they did as well as could be expected. We sat down and calculated that the movement on the backers ALONE was introducing a 4MOA error factor!
We had great history presentations, and we also made note that this was Memorial Day Weekend and we would encourage you to note it, mark it, and remember it as well, all 236 years worth.
Those of you who took pictures, post them if you would, please!
Glad to hear that Ray made it. I know he was very close all week long out at the boot camp, it was only a matter of time before he broke through.
Ray, Congratulations! Well done--sticking to it and persevering! Once settled in, hope to see you on the trail with and orange/red hat.
Thanks guys! I am glad I made it Saturday, as Sunday was more or less impossible. It was a long week at the bootcamp, and well worth the time. I'm very glad to have gotten to know all of you, and I certainly learned a lot! Maybe I'll be able to go back for the week next year?
Awesome weekend as usual in Kansas! You guys have a great crew and i always have a great time. Here's the photos I took . .
More photos
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still more
last group . . .