We had a better than expected turnout for our June match with eleven shooters present. Conditions were as good as it gets out on the high plains with very light breezes, temps in the upper 80's to 90 and full sun. I don't think anyone needed to adjust their windage knobs. We had a few folks post some real good scores, too. Three 29's and a 31 took top honors with numerous 21-22-23's. We shot white targets with the std. gun in the morning, then switched to black for the afternoon hunter gun.

Last year at Missoula I watching a top Washington shooter knocking over HP rams with an interesting consistency. They were falling off the rail butt end first every time. Hits from his .260 were always landing at the top of the back leg kicking it off the rail first and toppling the target. Any misses, of which there was few, were fore and aft of this location. He was good enough of a shot to take advantage of this lighter end of the ram to knock them over. I always wanted to know just how much lighter the butt end of a ram was, so I took my scale with me today to find out. The photos show how I arrived at the BIG difference in front and rear foot weight. I have rang plenty rams with low front end hits such as leg, top of leg and heart area. Now I think I know why. Taking one of our rams and weighing it as shown in the photos was an eye opener for me. The ram it self weighed 53 pounds. The weight over the front leg was over 42 lbs. with the weight on the back leg less than half that at 20 lbs. Now I am not nearly good enough of a shot to hit a target where ever I please. To me any hit is a good hit . Most of my low front end hits do knock them over, but some don't. Physics explained ?....maybe. It's all fun.http://s766.photobucket.com/albums/xx30 ... 1QQtppZZ24

Very interesting information Bob, thank you for sharing.

Nice info and range you have there Bob. Why switch from black to white? Steve

Good question. Black targets contrast real well against our light soil in most light conditions. White ones do not and tend to wash out in the bright light that we mostly have out there. The pictures prove it. Our IHMSA long range pistol shooters refuse to shoot white. There was a time when we had a lot of shooters and majority rule prevailed. White targets were the rule. The reasoning was that hits were easier to see on white and that reticle contrast was better. Reticle contrast on black targets is just as good as white and seeing silver splashes on black is just as good , at least at our range.

I much prefer black targets but will still let the few white target hold outs have a chance to shoot white with the standard rifle. From now on we will be shooting black targets with the hunter gun.

The black does stand out (contrast) much better out here in the Colorado dirt. I don't have any problems picking up my reticules against them, and like Bob says the bullet splashes are just as easy to pick up as they are on the white ones.