As far as years go two thousand and twenty rates up there with one of my least favourite for many reasons - You can take a look back through my post-feed if you'd like to know why. It's drawing to a close though, and a new one is not too far off.
Where I live the end of the year brings summer with it summer and it's always hot...Very hot. That opens up the opportunity for certain activities I love to do and inhibits others, one of which is shooting out in the field. It still happens at times, just differently. You see, Australia is prone to wildfires and so shooting fire-breathing rifles out in tinder-dry fields and scrub land is bloody stupid.
I shoot at ranges of course, but about fifty percent of my shooting happens in the field, in real-world situations, hunting and culling and when I shoot at long range on private property. The latter can't really be done at ranges as none have the distance available and I'm privileged to have private locations where I can shoot at the distances commensurate with my skill, out to a mile, (1600 metres or so.)
This weekend I'm doing exactly that, long range shooting, and I asked my wife Faith if she's keen on coming; She's been limited lately as she is recovering from an operation but feels well enough to come shooting with me and is keen to let off some steam by way of banging away on the long gun a little.
Faith is a good shooter...She can shoot accurately at a kilometre, (1000 metres) and I'm slowly teaching her the science behind it: How to call the wind, work the ballistics software, understanding the many scientific concepts behind making a shot like that and, of course, on building her skills behind the gun. She's good though and I'd not want to be standing 1000 metres away if she had intent to shoot me...She doesn't miss much.
You can see her pictured above sitting with my culling rifle, a heavily customised Tikka CTR in the .243 calibre. She's not shot that rifle before though and so I'm taking that to familiarise herself with it. She'll get out to around 700 metres with it no problems at all.
The image immediately above is the rifle she's most familiar with and the plan is to get her past 1000 metres, maybe 1200-1300 or so, on Sunday. You should see her shoot thing thing though...It's good to watch. She assumes the prone position perfectly, being flexible in body helps of course, and she can bang away on it all day with a great deal of focus and accuracy. I'm going to challenge her this weekend though, get her to apply some of the concepts I've taught her and make her call the wind herself too.
As a marksman the ability to call wind-speed and direction is critical. I can do it to within +/- 1mph which is considered good, and can even read wind speed and direction from the mirage observed through my scope. She's only at around +/- 4mph which affects the data and makes her adjustments more inaccurate - It reduces her hit-probability percentage. She's learning though, and this Sunday she'll have to cowboy up and work it out herself.
It's not all work though and we'll have a great time just being in the countryside. The weather looks perfect and the grasses haven't completely dried out so it's still safe to shoot without fear of starting fires. Just in case you don't know, a large flame shoots out of the muzzle and sideways when I shoot as I have muzzle brakes fitted to my rifles so shooting in dry grass is not really acceptable.
The ruins
We're heading to a range I call the ruins which is a shooting position on the top of a low hill with uninterrupted views for miles in every direction. There was once was a homestead on there, now just ruins, and we'll base ourselves right there as we'll have shade, a wind-break and a nice shooting position. We're taking a portable barbeque and some nice foods for a picnic and will spend most of the day there shooting, eating and hanging out.
It's private property so there is zero chance of seeing anyone; Just how I like it. The farmer gives me permission to shoot there and it's one of my local private ranges and simply perfect for long range shooting.
I love days like this and whilst Faith doesn't always come along it makes me happy to have her there. She's not a gun person, meaning she doesn't shoot regularly but as someone who lives in a house with guns I feel it's important that she knows how to operate them, handle them and make them safe.
Besides that though, there's nothing quite like being in such a secluded spot knowing we will not be interrupted and can pretty much do as we please...Shoot, cook a BBQ, have a nap or whatever...It's our day and is much deserved I think.
Anyway, that's my Sunday this week and I'm looking forward to it. I was going to make some ammunition this week but am going to be lazy and delve into my stockpile which I'll replace later...Come on, I'm not always a good boy...Sometimes I get lazy. 😁
What are you doing this weekend? Do a post in the Engage the weekend Community - A community dedicated to the weekend and feel free to comment below.
Later y'all.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
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