The wheels fell off.

[Boz330]

I'm sure some of you guys have experienced this. I went to the match yesterday, beautiful warm day, the first of the year.
Couldn't hit the side of a barn if I had been inside with the doors closed. Went to Oak Ridge Mid and LR match 2 weeks ago and finished 6th in the Aggregate, beat out of a medal by an X. That is shooting way over my head. Monthly match before that I shot really well in lousy conditions. In fact was shooting good, for me, all winter.
I'm just shaking my head wondering what the hell happened???????????????

Bob

[Don McDowell]

Lot's of things get to our shooting as we progress in years... Best thing to do is just put the big boy pants on, go thru the ordeal in your mind, and look for the little screw-ups, and make a note not to do that again.... Other than that, an offering to the shooting gods might not be a bad idea.. If you figure out what pleases them let me know.

[waksupi]

I've struggled with the same thing over the years at various times. For me the most common thing was target panic, and I just did not have the strength to squeeze that 4 ounces out of the set trigger to get off a shot when the sights were lined up on the target. It has always gone away with time, but is frustrating while it is here.

[Lead pot]

Bob, You just missed better two weeks ago
Just kidding I see this often my self and I just say I missed better

[Smoke4320]

there are some days that I am just not going to shoot well and I can tell that in the first target..
The 2 broken vertebrates sometimes flare their ugly head and no amount of Advil will help

That's when I switch over to shooting bottles and cans or pack it up and head to the workshop

[country gent]

Look at the conditions as to humidity, bar pressures and such also lube that works in one set of conditions may not in others. Another is that bad days occur along with health issues. Blood pressure and fatiuge can and do affect eye sight. Fatigue and stress affect stamina and endurence. Hot dry conditions cause issues with dehydration and fatuge. One of the things that make top shooters is learning to control work with these issues also. The big thing is to do your best for a given day. Dont compete against everyone compete against your self. If you shoot a high score for you youve won the day. Keep notes as to wind loads conditions include light and direction this will slowly create a data base of conditions and needed sight settings corections and chamges needed to be competitive.

[Boz330]

I pretty much figured the problem, EYES, they just need to be 40 years younger.
We shoot hanging silhouettes and if they are not hung high enough they sit right on top of the grass line or have grass as a background. The grass has been tan all winter but now it is green and after a few seconds the whole mess becomes a dark blur. Which part of the blur do you shoot at that point. It wasn't just me that was having problems but it sure can be frustrating to not live up to your own expectations. Upside was it was a great day to be outside and shooting and a couple beers afterward with friends numbed the experience.
I started shooting amber lenses in my regular glasses last year and it gave needed help with iron sights but I may have go back to the scope for the summer and silhouettes.

[opos]

I'm running an on line "recovery" program for just those kinds of days...send $25 in cash and your problems will be solved.

[Doc Highwall]

A lot of times it is just the level of concentration that the shooter has. You said you shot over your head two weeks ago and probably felt over confident at this match and did not concentrate like you should, been there and done that.

At a match your toughest competitor is yourself, the only shot that matters is the one that is in the gun firing now. Treat each shot as a match into it's self.

A lot of the match is won before the match even starts, your notes from both practice and matches should have been gone over in your head and reminder notes placed where you can see them while on the firing line such as in the top of your ammo box. While waiting for the match to start take note of where the prominent wind condition is coming from and shoot in that condition.

Write everything down and note that you think is relevant to your shooting and study them.

[Lead pot]

I understand aging eyes and they do get to be a problem. Mine are 75 years old and a heavy floater that is centered in my shooting eye and looking through the aperture on low light days the white spot on the irons are cut I halve. I see two white dots and when the sum is up and barrel heats up those two white spots are dancing all over the place, some times they look like two white spots dancing in two directions
OI like the violet lenses for black over green contrast at the berm. For me they make the black stand out better.

[Don McDowell]

Bob I hear you on the not being able to see the sillouettes. I can sort of see them pretty good thru the irons using the open crosshair insert, but those 22 bpcr sillouettes I don't think I could shoot with irons, tried it a couple of times, mounted the scope on my 22 and haven't looked back...

[Boz330]

I switched to a scope several years ago for silhouettes. When I started playing with the LR targets I could still see the round targets fairly well and the amber glasses really helped. I switched over to Old Eynsford in my 40-65 scoped gun that I use for silhouettes and haven't found the load yet so I thought that I would try the Sharps 45-70 and was doing pretty well with it the last few matches. I really like using irons but after awhile missing gets old.

Bob

Bob

[Don McDowell]

Heard from a friend that had been messing with OE in his 4065, he went with 58 grs of 3f with a money bullet of some sort, and is shooting some really nice tiny groups at 3 and 600 yds.

[country gent]

One guy at our local matches has a hard time seeing the hanging shillouettes but can make out the cross bar they hang from so he holds the bar with a sight setting to hit the shillouette. I have been shooting the MVA 6X scope for a year or a little more now due to eye sight and It does work well. I shoot my CPA 40-65 with 57 grns ond ensford 2 f and a 400 grn nasa bullet lubed with SPG with very nice groups out to the rams ( One range is 400 yds the other is 500 yds.) Load is starline cases, primer pockets uniformed and flash holes deburred. Case mouths deburred with a VLD angle deburring tool. Trimmed to uniform length. 57 grns 2 F old ensford a .060 napa rubber fiber card wad compressed to .465 from case mouth Bullet is Old West 40 cal Nasa bullet lubed with SPG hand seated and lightly crimped.

[Boz330]

Everyone seems to be having pretty good luck with 58gr but so far 60-61 has given me the most promise but that isn't final by any stretch of the imagination. I lent out my Brooks mold so this has been with a Lyman Snover. The few Brooks boolits I shot weren't showing any signs of sucess.
I'm shooting WW brass and the Brooks boolit only goes in the case .250 Which would require several wads with that light of charge. I'm not against that and my old load of Swiss used 2 .060 and a .125 cork wad with excellent results. Big problem is making the time to get all the loading and testing done. I need to be retired but the money supply won't allow that right now.
While cleaning up everything last night I discovered another contributing factor. I just put a set of Distant Thunder front and rear sights on this rifle. I put the largest aperture in the front and thought that it was a .130 which is what I had been using but it was a .120. I thought that things looked a little funny and was right.

Bob

[MT Chambers]

Sometimes just the color of the targets or the angle of the sun leaves one guessing about sight picture, another day everything will be clear and you will be able to focus.

[Sharpsman]

Maybe a vist here would help:

http://www.researchgate.net/publicat...nship_Training

[Boz330]

The cost for the PHD so I could understand what they are saying would be prohibitive. Probably better spent on ammo.

Bob

[Chill Wills]

Hello Bob,

Sorry, this is a little off topic but were you in Oak Ridge for the ML match or are they holding some RBCR matches now also? Now that I reread the post and see the dates, I guess you were referring to the ML match. (?) I often thought Oak Ridge would/should hold some BPCR target matches too. It is a great place with great people. I have enjoyed the matches I have shot there.

[Boz330]

Mike, you are correct it was the Oak Ridge ML match. I wish they did allow BPCR and it would be a great place for it. My buddy that passed had been trying to get me to go for years. This was my first outing with the ML since having my knees replaced. That up and down is a little tough on them. Several other friends that all shoot the LRML hassle me about shooting the ML instead of the cartridge but I really like cartridge better. Of course the ballistics are pretty much the same just less work. I've been trying to convince some of them to set up a BPCR the same as the ML for practice. more trigger time for one hell of a bunch less work.
I had been shooting really well all winter and to be honest my performance at Oak Ridge was a pleasant surprise and while I had been doing well, that was over my head. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, when you are doing well and think you have this stuff figured out, reality has raise it's ugly head.

Bob