snow day

_Shorty · Post by **_Shorty** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 12:42 am

So we had a bit of snow overnight, apparently. I discovered a bit as I was getting ready to head out from Parksville, BC, this morning at about 7:30am to head down to Nanaimo for the monthly match.

Found even more when I got down to Nanaimo Fish & Game.

The chilly firing line.

Looking out from the line.

A little closer look at the stands.

Painted black today, in hopes of better contrast with the snow.

But the snow wasn't quite bad enough for it to have worked out nicely, hehe. The sand on the berms quickly became more and more evident as we started shooting, and the targets just as quickly became lost in the scope. Glasses getting fogged up sometimes by the 4th or 5th shot, haha. Had a good day, though, personal best! I thought the cold would hurt, but maybe it helped, haha. Shot a 26 and a 20 in hunting rifle, and a 23 and a 20 in silhouette rifle. I was 'A' in both classes before today, but the AAA 26 bumped me up to AA in hunting rifle now. I was struggling most of the year with a Savage Mark II FSS rifle, and this month and last month's matches I shot with my new CZ Varmint 453 and I'm already improving. Sure makes a big difference when you know the misses are from doing something wrong, and not because your rifle doesn't seem to want to do the same thing twice. I can clearly see things I'm doing wrong now, and I am able to pick out when I'm getting it done, too. Got my third 5, on chickens today, too. Starting to get used to the new rifle. And I can finally see practice actually paying off. The Savage was nothing but a headache, was hard to tell what was me and what was the rifle. Very happy with the CZ!

I guess the snow deterred most people this month, as we only had five shooters out today. Made the day's four matches go pretty quickly though, hehe. Only needed to run one relay. Which wasn't a bad thing, as it was a little chilly.

Got done about 12:30 rather than 3-ish.

Bob Mc Alice · Post by **Bob Mc Alice** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 12:28 pm

Great pictures, thanks for showing. Is that old carpet draped over the berms?

_Shorty · Post by **_Shorty** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:12 pm

Kinda looks like that eh? hehe. Nah, it's just sand with the snow mostly brushed off of them.

Jerry G · Post by **Jerry G** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:17 pm

Glad to see you're using black targets.

_Shorty · Post by **_Shorty** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 3:39 am

Usually we shoot at white ones, which usually contrast well with the berms. The snow would probably make it kinda hard to see white ones though, hehe. But I guess with the snow mostly brushed off it kinda bit us in the butt anyway, since the black targets got hard to see.

BlauBear · Post by **BlauBear** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:14 am

Asking that animals wear LED's seems more reasonable each year. Just small ones sound nice.

Jerry G · Post by **Jerry G** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:25 pm

I guess the moisture would turn the berms a little dark. Kinda agervates the problem. I think I'd go with the white even with a little snow on the berms. At least you could make out the animal in your scope and see your dot real well.

_Shorty · Post by **_Shorty** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:19 am

I agree. I don't care for the black at all. I lose my reticle in it. I think it may have been ok if we had left the snow on the berms and not brushed any off, as it would have made for lots of contrast. But you're right, the moisture darkened up the sand a lot and the targets were pretty hard to see on some of the berms.

tbone49 · Post by **tbone49** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 6:12 am

Brrrrrrrrr... why don't you guys come on down for our match tommorrow, sunny and 82. The only snow we get comes from Colombia

Bob259 · Post by **Bob259** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:45 am

We got 10 " of the white stuff yesterday and they are calling for up to 12+" Saturday night into Sunday... we won't find our range again till March/April time frame.

This is one of the reasons on why I plan on moving to AZ......