Challenge match idea

[DeadEye]

"If you build it they will come." I'm sure some would give it a try Don but then others might pass. I'm not too keen on having someone I don't know shoot my rifle with ammo I don't know and worse still letting him clean it. We used to put all the names in a hat and draw for Silhouette teams at our last shoot of the year and call it a 'fun shoot'. Trouble is it weren't no fun trying to do well against the odds. I never let one of those scores go in my NRA book. Then we tried what we called a Hunter Match. Standard Silhouette course of fire but no Spotter and unlimited shots in a 10 minute time limit. It took about two of those and all the smart shooters said, "I think I'll watch." It was like watching a field full of prairie dogs poppin' their heads up. Without a spotter on steel you can't see your shot impact if you stay on the gun for the proper follow through. It was a real good way to learn a bunch of bad habits. Now what Brian is hinting at is basically the way I shot the Quigley this year. As a result of our new young scoring lady messing up her boards I wound up in the 4th relay both days. I was on the line with Pat Taylor and Dick Hansen and Frank Dunks and from the third relay on not one spotter could call one shot. I heard, "Sorry I didn't see it," 48 times from Spot. After the match they took a look and found that 8 of the top 10 were in the first relay and the other 2 were in the second. So the facts as I see them are that you can do whatever you want to make it 'tougher' but the end result will just be a lower score for everyone after you've levelled the playing field. I don't know why someone who has spent $4000 on a rifle and a lot of time and effort developing an accurate load would want to give that advantage to someone who only shoots once or twice a year and call it fun. Thanks for listening.

May you all have a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Paul