First Outing of the Year

[GazMorris]

First day out on the range in 2014. I needed to run in the new barrel on my Barnard and I've got a few competitions to get ready for later in the year, so a few friends and I made it down to Bisley for the day and shot at 600x and 1000x. We picked the best day of the year so far; a bit cold but not too bad and with fairly light winds.



Fairly uneventful 600x with some good scores, which wasn't really surprising given the fairly light winds. Given the cold weather we'd been asked to try out some modified space blankets to see if they had any use in shooting (hence my silvered chums above.) Interestingly, they're surprisingly warm and didn't seem to get in the way of things, so maybe of some use.

Moving back to 1000x the wind obligingly died down gently through the session until we were at 1/2 a minute left for the final hour or so. Took the opportunity to check some zeros. There was a group of deer hanging around the range most of the day who seemed fairly oblivious to the shots flying 20 feet over their heads from us and the black powder boys on the next door target.





Running the barrel in was a bit of a pain, but we got there in the end. It paid off in the end, though, as when I finally had enough rounds down the barrel to shoot a 2+10, I managed a 50.7 with all of the cookers well inside the inner line.

Nothing like a nice day on the range, even if I only got a handful of rounds down. Looking forward to a good season.

Gaz

[shugie]

First day out on the range in 2014. I needed to run in the new barrel on my Barnard and I've got a few competitions to get ready for later in the year, so a few friends and I made it down to Bisley for the day and shot at 600x and 1000x. We picked the best day of the year so far; a bit cold but not too bad and with fairly light winds.



Fairly uneventful 600x with some good scores, which wasn't really surprising given the fairly light winds. Given the cold weather we'd been asked to try out some modified space blankets to see if they had any use in shooting (hence my silvered chums above.) Interestingly, they're surprisingly warm and didn't seem to get in the way of things, so maybe of some use.

Moving back to 1000x the wind obligingly died down gently through the session until we were at 1/2 a minute left for the final hour or so. Took the opportunity to check some zeros. There was a group of deer hanging around the range most of the day who seemed fairly oblivious to the shots flying 20 feet over their heads from us and the black powder boys on the next door target.





Running the barrel in was a bit of a pain, but we got there in the end. It paid off in the end, though, as when I finally had enough rounds down the barrel to shoot a 2+10, I managed a 50.7 with all of the cookers well inside the inner line.

Nothing like a nice day on the range, even if I only got a handful of rounds down. Looking forward to a good season.

Gaz

The deer often amble around on Stickledown, they must be deaf by now.

Century looks rather damp

[ovenpaa]

GAzM, it looks like a fine day for shooting.

I was shooting an F Class comp at 1000 one year when the RCO announced there were 8 deer crossing the range and could we keep it that way, personally I could count 9 however I took his comments in the spirit they were intended. The Deer seem totally oblivious to the shooters. Does anyone know if there have ever been any accidents with them?

How are the space blankets modified? I always struggle with a draft up my back at the firing point, whatever I wear seems to come un-tucked after a while and a cooling breeze only seems to show up on a cold day.

[Dougan]

Nice pictures Gaz tongueout

...makes me even more determined not to wait til April to get the Swing out this year...

[20series]

I did call a stop when we were shooting down there last year because of the dear. I checked with the Range office and was told to carry on as it was a usual occurance.

Alan

[Dougan]

It's a lovely irony that one of the safest places for a deer to stand in the country is in the middle of range while folk are shooting

[meles meles]

Space blankets?

Oven ready oomans we think....

[GazMorris]

GAzM, it looks like a fine day for shooting.

I was shooting an F Class comp at 1000 one year when the RCO announced there were 8 deer crossing the range and could we keep it that way, personally I could count 9 however I took his comments in the spirit they were intended. The Deer seem totally oblivious to the shooters. Does anyone know if there have ever been any accidents with them?

How are the space blankets modified? I always struggle with a draft up my back at the firing point, whatever I wear seems to come un-tucked after a while and a cooling breeze only seems to show up on a cold day.

Hi Ovenpaa,

It was a lovely day; although thermals were necessary! It's always a surprise how tired I am after the first day out of the year, which I put down to the sheer amount of energy burned keeping warm. In some ways I'm more tired after a long, cold day on the range than I am after a decent training run.

I've seen the deer plenty of times, just never had the opportunity to use my mobile and spotting scope to capture some decent photos of them. I've never heard of any problems with the deer (although there were unconfirmed rumours that British Army snipers would occasionally pot the odd deer in the danger area for a mess dinner.) I suspect anyone who put a round into one would probably find themselves on the end of a very long ban from camp, together with a phone call to their firearms licensing department.

One of the garments, modelled by CW on the left is just a plain space blanket. The one on the right modelled by HG is like a tabard or overcoat which goes over your shooting gear. Apparently, they're going to be making them in green soon. I understand the Welsh smallbore squad have been testing them for a while and rate them.

Gaz

[ovenpaa]

Gaz, A full days shooting can be quite tiring regardless of time of year. A few years ago I shot a 2+15 400/500/600 competition AM followed by an hours break then 2+15 800/900/1000 competition. It was a cold rainy day and could I certainly feel the last detail . These days I avoid such intense shooting unless I have absolutely no choice.