Sunday's Range Report

Dang, the wind was cold out there.

Jenny and I met at the Wet Bunny range this morning. It was 13 degrees according to the thermometer outside the range office door; winds were 10 mph, with gusts going much higher. Wind chill was 4 above to an estimated -10.

I took along the rifle rest & spotting scope I received from my wife and daughters for Christmas, and a different type of stick-on spot from the ones I'd been using. Since I was out of the "shoot & see" black spot which leave yellow craters, I opted for bright orange spots of 3" diameter. The lack of markings on the spots made it much easier for my aging eyes to pick out my shots.

The 60x spotting scope made it child's play.

The rest is a lightweight plastic type, offering good support, but the lack of mass meant that it had to be repositioned after each shot. The soft plastic feet simply wouldn't grip the metal range tables at these temperatures. Next visit will require a different approach, including a sandbag or two.

My initial shots on this 100-yard range were high and to the left. I don't know whether the scope was bumped, the new rest required more of an adjustment to my hold, the optics were still adjusting to the air temps, or the fact that I hadn't taken the rifle out of its case in nearly six months. I suspect it was mostly the second and fourth factors. Especially the fourth one.


The wind was vicious on skin, and I had to keep stopping to warm to my hands. In fact, even now - 90 minutes after leaving the range - fingers are still tingling a bit.

As I grew accustomed to the rest, my shots moved closer to the center of the target, although remaining left of center. (There's that "bumped the scope" thing.)  My .270 has an internal five-round magazine, so it was easy - toward the end of the session - to see which group was which.

It pleases me greatly to report that the penultimate group was within a 1.75" spread (the five holes spread just above center), and the final group of five was less than an inch, with all five holes touching each other. That's the U-shaped group at 11:30 on the orange spot. Fantastic! Let's do it again, just to confirm it wasn't a complete fluke.

Whereupon I reached into the range bag and discovered I'd run out of ammo.

I know, I know: I should have put on a fresh target and kept going, but I also should have taken more than 40 rounds with me. Next time, I'll take more. If it's warm enough to feel my fingers, I'll dial the scope toward center, too.

Did I mention it was cold?

We had good time, meeting some new shooters, and some more experienced ones. Interestingly enough, all the arms were small-bore. In fact, my .270 was the largest caliber I saw there today. There was a .22, another .270, and a couple of EBRs in .223.

After the range, we stopped at Borders for hot coffee, and to catch up on conversation.

It was the best kind of day - shooting, good conversation, good friends.