Good Luck to all the Cdn's in Raton in Sept

A handicap system of sorts? Interesting.

I have been watching the weather network with great interest. Looks like I need to pack for sea to ski weather.

Have fun in the gale guys...

Jerry

PS great individual scores from Keith S - 2nd highest for the day. Great coaching Rich
Bill W is shooting consistently well. right in there with the best of the day.

Well done guys. Keep it up.
 
Yup it's over. International Team match was today and we had a rough go of it in the mid-morning.

Add to that target pulling issues and that put us in last place behind a team that we had beat 2 days earlier. The same team that was pulling our targets for both days. We had no pulling issues 2 days ago. You can guess the rest from there.
 
We were asked to update the goings on

Bruce and I travelled the 18 hours to kansas and then the remaining 9 to New mexico it is flat real flat, and Loooong....two people is not enough drivers for this trip.

Yesterday at the team match the conditions were interesting. Bruce and I provided support for the Canadian team and scored the Aussy the entire day which were next to the Canadian.

The range is different the targets are back stopped by a mountain and the mountain affect creates distinctive wind flows. The guys did their best to figure out the flags and the mirage and like Bruce and I most had come the day before. Introductions were in order to figure out who was who.
The FTR guys shot first hoping to take advantage of the calmer conditions. Turns out this was a match strategy all competing team did the same thing. We were off to good start and then the wind changed the cool wind from the west met the warmer wind from the east and slammed into each other in the middle of the range. We were shooting in the middle of the range. When this occurred it caused serious vertical. What we learned was to STOP shooting in those condition. This happened on several occasions and no one was immune to the vertical.

The wind had speed and direction changed of upto 4 min you had to be looking at all the flags the ones in the far west side closest to the targets ( low number side) and the flags near to the shooters on the east. On a right to left wind the near flags closest to the shooter were showing direction and speed changes UNTIL the wind came from the west near the target flags this seemed to cxl all indicators from the east (high number side) .

The open shooters were not immune to these changes and had all the fun a team match can provide including the bullet stuck in the chamber. A fire drill ensued and the cleaning and canned air came out to quickly remedy the situation. (good work to those guys getting it fixed). not sure what that is like ha-ha.

We did not metal but i think we had some takeaways that can only make the team stronger for next year.

Trevor
 
See http://www.baldeaglesrc.org/ and under History, then SOA 2012 for the SOA results...
I metalled at the 900 day one of SOA :) 148-7x Gold
Broke an extractor day2 and had to "muzzle load"... and even xfired the last day at 1000 yds, first time in 23 yrs not a good place to do this eh!

For US FClass nationals, almost the same but under F-Class Nationals, again under History... that one starts Tuesday.
 
Today's was a practice day and weight in. the weight for FTR is 8.25 or 18.18 the .18 here is not .18 of a pound (as understood and discussed with others) which would put the actual weight at 18lbs 3oz but what was used was 18lbs and 1.8 ounces. needless to say i was over and several weigh reducing practices took place to get the gun under. for those interested the new weight was 8.235kg. (this seems to be a better measurement) the scale was on a 30 dollar plastic folding table and i believe contributed to the variation my rifles was before leaving. I was close but under before I left and here i was a few ounces over. please make note for those coming next year.


The practice started at 9:15 instead of the 8:30 as the winds were howling 25mph was the norm. Bruce and I were on the first firing relay of course and finding an elevation and getting the flags to work turned into a team event. for the 308 shooter shooting the 185 my elevation was 2.75 min less then normal Bruce was 1.5moa 6.5/284.


The flags were the story again which ones to use. Bruce and i decided to put our practice to good effect and would select a specific flag to gauge the wind. one would shoot while the other would call the flag the first few attempts were head scratches as the wind on them were notable 4min vs other flags. The flags we ended up identifying were 3 min less then the ones we first identified to us. (please note i will only give which flags were successful in email or PM as the worlds are next year and i would like to keep any advantage we discover this year to members of team Canada)

through the team method we figured out to good effect which were which and are looking forward to competing tomorrow.


Equipment note there are several individuals running the 230 bergers here. powder is an unknown but talked about speeds (not confirmed) are mid 2500's.


Take Care

Trevor
 
Hello Trevor. It's really good to hear updates from Raton. The wind and wind calls sound challenging. However, it does not bode well for us if they cannot tell the difference between 18.18 pounds and 18 pounds and 1.8 ounces. Good luck at the US Nationals.
 
Terry Perkins said:
Hello Trevor. It's really good to hear updates from Raton. The wind and wind calls sound challenging. However, it does not bode well for us if they cannot tell the difference between 18.18 pounds and 18 pounds and 1.8 ounces. Good luck at the US Nationals.
Click to expand...

sounds kinda like the 2009 weigh-in in England- half way through, the guy on the scale asked if the F/tr guys had a different weight limit!
 
Perhaps a clear definition of weight from ICFRA to the Raton admin is in order for next years events.
Trev,were the flags you chose to watch made of chainmail??
Have a great time.Will be watching for updates.
Gord
 
What quality of scale was used? Given the $ that shooters spend on equipment, entries and travel to get those these matches; it better be a quality (preferably) digital scale which is calibrated on a regular basis and supported on a sturdy bench.......
 
The scale was a hi end digital and was calibrated but the guy running it needs to know the rules. no worries we made weight.

Day one

description of the mound. lets just say i will never complain about the red ants or weeds at borden again. THe mound is flat like perry there is no notible elevation on the mound they are flat. The construction of the mound is laval rock and sand. this is a real problem for those who do not use a sliding bipod. the lack of moisture and the fine grain sand do not support harris or other hard holding bipods even with the big pad claw. i took 15 shots on practive day and i estimate that my set up sank about 1/2 3/4 of an inch Even the sliding bipod users have some form of carpet, bath mats are big here.

Todays wind had not relation to yesterdays the wind today was dead calm. As was my good fortune i was squadded on the first relay. out of a possible 150 i managed to shoot a 147 6x good enough for top 10. only 2 people shot 150's Fellow Cdn also shot 147 with lower x counts and to 144 in F/TR the F open shooters shot equal scores. Sorry i don't have the names or scores in front of me.

What we learned today was that the flags are not the primary indicator mirage was the key even when the flags would read 3/4times the call of mirage the correct call was the mirage. And the dreaded clash of winds west vs. east showed again.

flags are the nylon models like Ontario. The aussy and brits were wondering were the rest of the flag was they seem to be the size of the nylon flags in Borden. Of note this place is dry and the nylon seems be more sensitive and are easily over powered when the winds pick up...again making them a secondary indicator.

Lots of vertical was had by most. and it seems that this is a gun issue and not an enviro issue. As several shooters held tight waterlines.

PLease ask specfic questions about anything range or shooting related. As i am sun fired by the time we get back and remembering my names is tough some evenings.
 
Thanks for the update Trevor, we appreciate all the lessons learned going forward; some mighty fine shooting aswell.

I know you and the rest of the Canadians will make us proud. I wish nothing but the best and good luck to all the Canadians.
 
Wish i could provide more on the vertical not sure why some have and others don't same relay with different vert results can be frustrating.

as an fyi there are a few top position who are shooting the 155's

Trevor
 
Day 2 of competition was exciting. There was a possible national record shot (witnessed) at 1,000 scoring 150-11x by James Crofts, congrats to him for an outstanding shoot.

The winds on relay 1 for day two were the same as day one gentle it was perfect to check wind zeros and see how yourself and your rifle was shooting. I came 5th in masters with a 148-7x Bill W was third in expert with a 149-3x and was top canadian The other FTR shooters dropped a few more points but all were in the 140's. Well done everyone. sorry about the lack of coverage/scores on the F/O side. I will leave that up to Bruce to provide names and scores.

We were puzzled or relieved on the rumors of the winds here as what we kept hearing about didn't materials until later in the after noon. there is a really good opportunity to gain points in the morning if your lucky enough to get your relays first thing in the morning. Now the afternoon winds are an different story and really handed it to the competitors, few people scored in the 140's while the vast majoirty were in the 130's including myself who shot a sucky score (can't use expletives here)... too disapppointing to type down. As an idea of the condtions there were several competitors that dropped 28+ points on the one relay. The winds aren't strong 15+mph or anything but they seem to be switchy. There was no really pattern to the wind, it would switch and the only indicator it seemed at times was your shot coming up as a 8-7-or worse; there was more then a few 6's shot.

The range must also realize the winds patterns as they have you moving down 10 targets each relay so you are impacted by the 3 wind systems on the range left, right and middle.

onto other notiable things, shooter health

for obvious reasons sun block is key it starts early and stays late with little cloud cover ever.

lip balm is important and not often remembered, the dry desert air really dries you out.
eye drops for the same reason as stated.
Sinus medicaton, as this is a semi desert state you would have thought this place would be good for sinuses, not so this place seems to bring it on bring your prescription or reacton.

Food

There is a couple of decent restaurants here K Bob Steakhouse and Papa Sweet both have decent meals, and enough varity to cover most palets. The usual chains are here, Denny's, Arby's and Mcdonalds. Rumour has it Black Jack steak house in Trinadad colorado has some of the best steak anywere, the US team highly recommmends it.

There is a K mart, Super saver and Ace hardware on the main strip.

Now the good store there is a "B.J. Shootin Shop" here as as well, they don't carry the stuff we like but (but) they are willing to order in things we might like.

Take Care
Trevor
 
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