Lodi scores

[Distant Thunder]

It was an interesting weekend, at least for me. I never did catch my stride while shooting except maybe at 900 on the first day. However, I did do a fair job spotting for the two first time long range BPTR shooters that I had talked into coming out and joining us, especially once we finally got some mirage to work with on Sunday. The flags at Lodi can lie very deceptively!

Kevin and Jim did very well dealing with their first long range match and for Jim Ruch it was his first time ever competing with a black powder cartridge rifle. Kevin is no stranger to spotting for these rifles in silhouette and had a big part in Jim's excellent work on the trigger. Kevin and I expect to be well paid for our efforts!

For the weather enthusiasts among us the winds on Saturday were challenging at 25 to 30 mph with gusts to over 40 mph. When throw in the rapid changes that Lodi often has with the winds swirling around that big hill and there was not a shooter among us that didn't have a miss here and there. With those wind speeds that quarter headwind proved a little hard to stay ahead of, at least for me.

Sunday was a little softer winds in the morning at least, but by the end of the day the wind was getting pretty impressive again. Holding paper proved a bit easier for some.

I'll let Kevin fill in the details from his point of view. For me it was rewarding to bring one BPCRS shooter into long range and one BPCR hunter into competition for his first such match ever. He said that he was impressed with how accurate these rifle are at distance. And I introduced Jim to to the Creedmoor sport the right way, he was shooting paper patch bullets, a bullet that I designed and made the mold for and it shot very, very well for him. I'm probably going to have a hard time getting my mold back now!

Jim proved to be every bit as capable as I detected him to be in our many emails over the past 4 month as I first talked him into trying paper patch and as I then guided him through the process. When you consider that only 4 months ago he had never shot paper patch bullets period and never competed with his Shiloh .45-70 at all it is pretty impressive that he took second place in the Wisconsin State Championship! Well done!

So for those who would like to shoot paper patch bullets, but think they are too difficult to bother with, and those who think paper patch bullets aren't accurate enough for competition take note of what Jim was able to do in a rather short 4 months. I will say this, he listens very, very well.

A great and very fun weekend for me full of good food, a beer or two, and visiting with friends, good friends, and lots of shooting and smoke. Cliff, Mark, Ed and Paul did a masterful job of keeping a bunch of talkative old men moving along, not a easy task. My thanks to the four of them for their efforts that make these matches possible.