The best day of the week is Range Day…unless I’m heading out to go hunting, then the 2nd best day of the week is Range Day.
The number of shots that I fire is dependent upon what I’m trying to accomplish with my time, or what are the range conditions on the day when I’m ready to shoot. Nice Blue Bird Day, mild temp and no wind…that is Shooting Nirvana, I may shoot north of 60+ shots and be at the range from just after breakfast til near supper. Wind picks up hard, Ice Cold conditions or temperatures start melting my balls…very few shots. Maybe work a bit on Kentucky Windage. I’ll always shoot at least 10 shots.
If I’m working on Load Development and it’s early in the process…I’m pounding out 5 shot groups, starting at 25 yrds, then moving to 50 yrds +…and taking notes on powder, patch & ball combinations, snapping images for reference, or posting here. I may get in 40 shots at most…maybe even less. Lots of time spent eye balling groups and head scratching.
Bench work and tweaking sights…wow, that could be any where from 10, 15 shots all the way up to…I’m out of ammo and why is it getting so dark, what’s wrong with this fricking gun and where’s my extra 100 round box of balls. At certain times of day, the 100 yrd range is in shade, 100 yrds is where want to I sight in my guns…shooting at every other distance is simply working on sight picture, so that I know where to aim; and I know where the round hits at a given distance. Lots of repetitive shooting, written notes and mental imagery. My eyes are not what they used to be, each year this gets harder and harder…some days tight groups, 1.5” high at 50 yards will suffice. Youth is wasted on the Young.
If I’m working on trigger control, off hand shooting, basic shooting technique…I’m good for maybe 20, 25 shots before I’ve reached the point where groups start to open and it’s time to stop.
Some of the best days are days spent in the field, just going for a walk, shooting from the bag and picking random targets at unknown distances. On these days I estimate the range, take the shot…then pull out the range finder and see what the real range was, and shoot it again. When I hunt in a primitive fashion, I don’t take a range finder with me…I guess-stimate. In my opinion, this field work is pretty critical, when I get to do it…sadly not as often as I’d like…15, 20, 30 shots, good physical exercise. This is where I find out if a gun is a hunting rifle or a shooting range gun.
In-line with my previous paragraph…Woods Walks are the bomb, Nothing beats that high pitched metallic clang when a ball hits metal and releases its energy. What ever the course requires for shots, heck if it’s a Blue Bird Day, I’ll shoot it twice.
Smoothbore Sporting Clays with a smokepole, Skeet with a smokepole, Trap with a smokepole…that is so dang fun, probably 25 to 50 shots…until I’m tuckered out. Most people start with their gun shouldered…I never walk the woods, hunting, with my gun shouldered. That would be just weird. When I shoot Trap or Sporting Clays or Skeet…I start in a Carry Position. I’ll blow a few stations because of this handicap, but I’m more about getting hunting ready, than about some score on paper…I don’t eat paper.
