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Blowing the dust off my shooting jacket. Going to shoot a 4 position NRA Smallbore match this weekend. The biggest challenge will be seeing if I can still get into position. I think it's been 15 years since I shot position smallbore. The spirit is willing......
Try it on the living room floor first,see how it goes getting up and down can be tricky at times
I wish you the best of luck. I shot a 4P match after a long lay-off and had a heck of a time feeling comfortable in kneeling.
Brave soul!
Been doing the living room floor thing. It hurts, but like I told my Junior shooters for years - If it hurts, you are probably doing it right. I shot and coached smallbore and 10 meter air rifle for decades and took my Juniors to Camp Perry for the 3-Position championships 3 times. (the last 3 years it was held at Perry) I've been training for a primitive biathlon (snowshoes and muzzleloaders) so I'm in good cardio shape, just stiffer than I used to be.
Really, the main reason to do the living room floor thing is to find and adjust all my gear. It seems that through the process of osmosis, my gear has evenly distributed itself around the house, so its an easter egg hunt right now. Lost about 70 lbs since then too, so I have a lot of jacket buttons to move.
Good on you for losing 70lbs! I lost about 90 a few years ago, gained about 35 back. Need to lose 20 again. It’s harder as I get older...
I saw a quote from a veteran in the national WWI museum in Kansas City. He said, "Hell is not fire. Hell is mud"
With regards to smallbore, I would revise that to "Hell is not fire. Hell is kneeling"
I dabbled in formal smallbore briefly, and for sure it's more of an endurance game than Highpower where you're only in position for about a minute (except for slowfire prone, and ANYBODY can lie down. LOL). I like shooting from braced kneeling as an expedient position for hunting or patrol rifle stuff, but to stay there for half hour and more is like re-enacting the gom jabbar scene from Dune.
I saw a picture from one of Elmer Keiths books showing the early national matches at Camp Perry. They were in tents in foot deep mud. Staying in the heat in the POW huts could be uncomfortable, but that would have been no fun.
This is an 80 shot 4 position match so we only have to be in position for 20 shots at a time, not like 50 meter 3 Position, 40 shots in 3 positions.
Smallbore and 10 meter air rifle build the best marksmanship fundamentals. It was easy shooting expert in Hi Power after shooting smallbore for years. I have never shot expert in smallbore and I have worked hard at it. Fortunately I am a better coach. I generated several Junior state champs while I was coaching.
Some days that Dune analogy is pretty descriptive.