Joe and I have been shooting over the years with our northern clubs on military ranges at Catterick and Otterburn as well as Bisley for the longer ranges, but the restrictions on military ranges and the increasing costs and diminishing benefits of the NRA, along with the travel time have made military ranges and Bisley less and less attractive so we have been exploring alternatives and Diggle looked promising.
After today I can say it certainly fulfilled its promise. The travel time was not bad being 2 hours from Joes and another 20 minutes from my abode. The range complex itself is extensive and well appointed with a substantial and spacious club house and a plethora of ranges out to 1000 yrds. We shot the military comp at 200 alongside a mini rifle comp at 100 yrds.
I found the Range layout, construction and targetry fascinating as range archeology is another interest of mine and I am currently researching (in an amateurish way)19th century Volunteer ranges in East Sutherland, none of which remain, a reply from the NRA to my Lord Elcho letter queery would be handy.
The comp itself was 2 sighters and 10 to count deliberate, followed by a mad minute. The weather was windy with gusting but dry and not cold, with the rain arriving at the end of the competition as we were packing up.
Joe and I came close to not embarrasing ourselves on the firing point but our scores were dissapointing and we will stick to blaming the wind. :roll: I was surprised at beating "Full Auto" wannabe Joe in the mad minute as being a left handed rifle shooter it has never been my strongest discipline. I manged to get an underwhelming 9 away for a score of 17. Tactically Joe and I had agreed that slow and make them count was better than fast and miss so when Joe had rattled off a dozen or so with a reload and time to spare I thought wow he is shooting with confidence however his single figure score belied this. I'm not sure that Joe fully understands that the Mad Minute is about hitting the target not just getting the shots off.
Anyway poor peformance aside we had terrific day, this is the first fullbore competition I've shot since 2006 and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it.
Pennine Shooting Sports Association is a fine club, it had a good feel to it in the club house and on the range. It is well run and you feel safe on the point and in the butts. Vince looked after us very well and showed us the ropes so it is a big thank you to him for his time along with Jeanette, Cliff, Phil, Andy and all the others whose names I have failed to remember with whom we talked guns and shooting, making us feel most at home.
Our membership application forms will be in the post by end of the week.
BTW Vince and I also had a bit crack about the forum shoot and that will be reported on in a separate post.
