A one-day 100-yard Rimfire Known Distance clinic was held at Port Malabar Rifle & Pistol Club to allow instructors an opportunity to gain experience shooting and conducting an RFKD. We had a good time sharing the experience and learned a lot about shooting .22LR at distance. Two of the seven shooters earned Rimfire KD patches. I know you're thinking a 28% success rate seems low for a group of experienced shooters! A tropical storm front was moving through the area. Our shooting was interrupted several times as the sky suddenly opened up and poured buckets of rain on our range. The wind was brutal, gusting over 35 MPH and shifting direction as well as boiling straight up. We also learned that the standard velocity ammo some were using just doesn't make the trip to 100 yards in the wind. We found that a 75 yard zero works well for BSZ out to 100 yards. I'm very pleased that Miss Conduct (41) and Willociraptor (44 with irons) were successful despite the brutal conditions. Just about anyone can score in favorable conditions. It takes grit to pull it off on a day like today. Huzzah! We look forward to pooling our knowledge and offering future events to students. Planeman recently completed his 25th Appleseed and I was pleased to present Joe his "25" pin.
This storm, now Tropical Storm Sally, and soon to be a hurricane, definitely made for some interesting wind conditions. Despite the wind, and the recurring torrential rains, we had a great day. We now know our zeroes, and we also learned about the difficulty in making real-time wind corrections when the wind direction goes from 9 o'clock to 6 o'clock to 3 o'clock and back again, a couple of times, with two boiling conditions, too, over just 50-60 seconds. Wow! What value and o'clock is it when the flags go straight up and the clock is ticking? (Just missed scoring with a 38, and a handful of just outside the target silhouette hits. No 30 cal rules here! Only hits count!)
Prayers for the Gulf Coast of Louisiana where an 80+ mph hurricane from this same storm is now expected.
So it was Tropical Storm Sally that created the conditions? The weather was brutal at times and many times it was down right wicked!
Dennis, I really appreciate the shared knowledge and I have a whole new appreciation for writing and keeping DOPE for each rifle and for each distance. Both Wendy and I had practiced the rimfire KD at our home HRPC range the past week and had scores in the very high 40s. Wendy I believe shot a 48 on one of them. We both thought this would be relatively easy....NOT at PMRPC.
Just as in real estate, location, location, location, at HRPC we have near zero wind conditions and making only adjustments for bullet drop, was a piece of cake.
I wasn't thrilled with getting soaked with all my lower back issues, but I can't wait to come back and do it again under maybe more typical weather conditions. There's so much more to learn!
Thanks again for braving the conditions and helping me get one more step closer to a much better marksman.
-Joe
I'd like to say a big thank you to Dennis and all of the guys who shared such great information. I learned so much and can't wait to do it again. Maybe next time without the tropical storm, but either way I'll be there.
Thanks again,
Wendy
Miss Conduct
Glad you guys had a chance to play with wind some! Definitely teaches us a few lessons!
Congrats to Miss Conduct and Willociraptor for their qualifying scores despite the wind.
Hope to make it down your way some time.