A first for me

[Friends call me Pac]

I went to the range to swap my target scope on my 30.06 out to my hunting scope. The crosshairs on the target scope are too fine for me when hunting. They kind of disappear while in the woods. As usual it was a weekday and I was alone so no hurries and knew I wouldn't bug anyone as I took my time to get sighted in. I put up a 4" bull on the 100 yard frame and began swapping the scopes out. As I did so a truck pulls in and the owner gets out. I don't know about anyone else but I can usually get a read on a military person. This fellow was fairly young (less than 40) but the way he carried himself said military to me. I said good morning and got straight to what was on my mind. I asked if he was military too? He was a freshly retired Army guy. He was cordial but not very talkative. Being retired military myself I understood him wanting to be let alone to enjoy the range so I finished the scope swap and bore sighted the Rem 700.

I sat down and lined up the shot. BAM! I looked through the 9x scope but didn't see a hole anywhere on the target or around the general area. I usually get close enough to at least see a hole on the backing. I went back to the scope and looked again. Wait a minute there seemed to be a tiny bit of black on the edge of the bull. The other fellow was about to shoot and I didn't want to hold him up so I could go down range to verify if my first bore sighted cold shot had actually hit the bull. I waited as he slow fired about 10 rounds. I was so excited about a possible bullseye on the first shot he seemed to take forever. When he finished he picked up a second rifle and repeated the process. By now I was really wanting to get down there to see if i had pulled off the miracle first shot. Before he started with rifle #2 I asked if I could use his spotting scope to check my target. The tiny bit of black was visible but I still could not tell for sure if it was a hole or not. I asked the other fellow to look with his younger eyes but even he couldn't tell for sure either. Now curiosity had us both and I went downrange to see if there was a hole in the bull or not. Low and behold there was a hole in the black. I have never got a hit on the bull with a eyeballed bore sight before so I saw stoked. I walked back and told him it was indeed a hit with the first shot.

I sat down, made an adjustment and fired again. Bullseye. The other guy was watching me so I causally pulled the bolt back, chuckled and said I guess I'm done. He came over and asked if I reloaded my own ammo. I told him I did and I also cast bullets too. Hearing about cast bullets got his attention so I opened the box back up and showed him the loaded rounds with the 311165 rf and another box of 311299. I told him I was shooting 1" high and 1" right but for my less than 100 yard shots I was good to go. However, I decided to do some fine tuning, I didn't want to end my range day with only 2 shots fired. Several 3 round groups later he was walking back and forth to the target with me. I ended up with really close to 1/2 moa. He was impressed, heck so was I. He admitted while he thought shooting lead was cool he would have never believed 1/2" would be do-able. I asked if he would like to fire a few rounds and he took me up on the offer. For the next 100 rounds he shot maybe 90% of them. He was hitting gongs out to 400 yards and grinning the whole time. After 20 rounds or so he stopped and looked at me and said he felt bad about burning up my ammo. I explained how cheap they are and encouraged him to burn 'em up.

By the time we finished we had gotten to know each other fairly well. He was indeed military. 18.5 years before an Afghanistan bullet to the shoulder ended his career. He's originally from OK but was here in Arkansas due to his wife's new job and he lives about 10 miles from me. He's new to the area and this was his first visit to the range. He earnestly said he was glad to meet me and I of course said the same. We exchange phone numbers and I invited him to come do some casting once I was finish with my neck surgery and had recovered some.

Sometimes you meet some not so nice folks at the range but I have found more times than not the folks I meet at the range are alright. If they are interest in cast it is a bonus. Shooting boolits has lead not only to a first hit in the bull for me after bore sighting but has also lead to another friendship.

[toallmy]

That's a very nice range trip story .

[lightman]

Cool story! I've had pretty good luck bore sighting my rifles at home.

[marek313]

Last time I went to my local range I ended up talking to two guys there for a long time. I ended up letting them shoot some of my handguns just so they could see the difference between different guns and their glock 19. We were laughing because after they shot my sig p320 one guy said " guy at the store told me to get a Sig. I should have listened" lol

At least we have good friendly people at my range. That doesnt seem to be case everywhere though. I hear a lot of people complaining about their local ranges.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Good story, and good shooting, Pac. Not only did you get a first shot bullseye, but you may have gotten a castboolits recruit.

[Land Owner]

Since I was out of State and cautioned on the rural ranges that I use there about folks swooping in and stealing the range users equipment (and guns) while the users are working their targets, I have been especially leery of ANY traffic to or from or persons using those ranges. I am cordial to the other users that set up and shoot, but not overly friendly - as I would ordinarily be. Being cordial, yet maintaining a plan to kill everyone seems a Gen. (Ret.) James Mattis original and effective way forward I think. No, honestly. I do maintain that presence while on these rural ranges. Sad but true state of the decomposition of thieves, nere-do-wells, low lifers, drug users, and trailer trash that might seek to remove our lawful equipment from us when our back is turned. Shoot for center of mass if the distance is greater than 100 feet and head shots if less. Dead men tell no tales.

I am glad you found a new partner with whom to shoot, possibly cast, and eventually reload. With the death of my life-long hunting partner, the wind has been taken from my sails in most of the shooting sports and I am adrift.

[Tom W.]

At public ranges I'm always on edge a bit, but living almost next door to Ft. Benning and shooting at the S.O. range with an active duty S.O. lieutenant as primary R.O. and three or four other well armed reserve officers I feel pretty confident that nothing bad will happen on purpose.

One man likes to bring his single shot rifles and lets anyone who has brains shoot them. I'm one who loves single shots, and bring the two that I have so people can have fun. I was asked to bring my SRH w/ 310 gr. boolits, as some people never fired one. We were shooting steel @ 100 yards with iron sights and doing remarkably well. I believe some people were amazed. I got to shoot a 4" ported S&W Mag. I begged the brass for my collection. Great bunch of people for folks that only get to shoot there once a month.

[robg]

Good day at the range.

[MT Gianni]

Nice going. Count me in with those who wear a handgun when downrange checking targets.

[Walks]

That's one of the reasons I rarely go to the RIFLE Range by myself. In my area, the two ranges that left, are on the other side of the county from me. Thru the worst traffic in the world. I won't go on the weekends, because I'm terrified of the other shooters. Only about 1 in 10 knows anything about their own guns, much less have any concept of gun safety.
So I gotta wait until my one remaining friend, that's retired and can drive there, on a weekday. He has to care for an ailing wife and between all of our combined Dr. Appointments. It's still hard to get there. And one of us has to stay to watch over our stuff, while the other hits the head, changes targets, climbs the 50 steps up to range office.

And neither of us can afford to move.

So I think you're really lucky to have found a potential shooting/reloading/casting buddy.

[Friends call me Pac]

I guess I feel a little safer because the range is private and gated. I don't fear theft as I walk downrange and that could be because I am usually the only one there on a weekday. I generally stay away on weekends. I do pay attention if and when the gate opens but quickly get back to business once I feel all is well. Do I carry a sidearm as I walk down range? Yes I do but nobody is aware of it that I know of.

[RED BEAR]

great story.