Re: shooting at manatee gun range, Florida
Thanks for the comments Ren.
Yeah, on the one hand- we were a bit bummed by the wind given that it was our first long range outing...and naturally, a 14 year old wants hits on every shot!
As you noted, and as I explained to them- you only learn, by doing- and we need to begin getting the experience of doping the wind, and forget about the frustration of misses.
ACTUALLY, we all did well on the 565 gong. This was our very first time needing to dial windage and elevation, and the Strelok program on my Droid did the job well. Believe it or not I don't have a Chrony yet (haven't needed one for 200M), but that's on the list to get things nailed down. My estimations for MV based on the load tables was pretty much spot on.
I found out the damn Nitrex scope I just put on my 14 year old's Savage didn't even have enough internal adjustment to get to 600, so I just got in a 20 MOA base that should do it. I need to do some more load development too. Like I said, haven't really needed to load for velocity because we've been shooting at "short" range, but now that's changed. He's been running 43.5 grains of Varget in this .308 and it gives great accuracy, I just need to find another node a bit hotter that'll deliver.
I was proud of the fucker...despite his scope not being able to handle it, he held off, and after me spotting him the first few rounds, delivered consistent hits on the gong. Both me-with my Mosin Nagant sporter- and my older son with his 6.5 Grendel, also had decent success at that range, given our first time out with the wind howling pretty good.
You are correct, the RO did say we could bring our own steel (after they inspect it) and place it on the berm behind the gongs at 565. I didn't drive down there to see it- is it 600?
Actually, I like the idea of putting the steel plate directly on the berm. As beginners, it's easier to spot the hit precisely that way. I have 12" and 6" AR500 plates I'll bring next time.
I never really considered the fact that there could be a ricochet danger from that distance. Hell, at Hernando you can put up any steel you want at pretty much any reasonable distance on the 200M range.
I'm looking forward to the next trip. I did this one on Thursday (they were both out of school on break)figuring I'd avoid any weekend crowding (and I did) but coming back up I-75 through New Tampa was the usual rush hour nightmare.
Fortunately we can always dial down our 20X scopes, but we'll certainly need to become more proficient with lower magnification when summer arrives.
One question...
Since we're going to start going there on weekends, is one day better than the other (crowd-wise), and is there ever a problem where it gets too crowded to get a bench? It would suck to do four hours of driving, and not be able to shoot.
