Ah, yes...the sound of big guns. But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Daddy and an old friend of his, Dan, have been planning to do some long range shooting. Today just happened to be the day.
We ate lunch and ran out the door as soon as I got home from taking Granddaddy's lunch to him. We met up with Dan out there in the middle of a sod farming operation and then moved into a pasture to set up. Daddy told me to tie some orange 'tape' to the post of the target contraption that was already there. First thing I did was slice open my finger on a splinter. We got set up at 25 yards (approx.) and first Daddy poked some hole in the cardboard, then Dan (I'm impressed--he's as good as Daddy), and then Savannah. By now, I was pining to throw some lead down range myself, so I asked Savannah if I could shoot her gun. Of course she said yes. I propped up there and took one shot (very well placed if I do say so myself--susprisingly good in fact), and decided that I'd better not shoot any more. My wrist didn't like it :( Oh well. Katherine then proceeded to send lead into her target.
Sometime in here, Mr. Dan's boy showed up with his girlfriend in tow...After he showed off his gun--a Lampua (Daddy will let me know if I spelled that wrong :) I know nothing about this particular weapon other than I think it's ugly, it's expensive, the needed scope is as expensive, and the ammo price is out of this world), we moved back to around 200 yards. Then I turned around and walked all the way back and got in the three foot ditch there in front of the targets and berm in preperation for what I would do the rest of the afternoon--check and mark targets :) That was an adventure in and of its self. Daddy had one radio and I had the other. I would stay hunkered down in the ditch until Daddy said, "Check targets, please." Then I'd hop up and bound up the side of the ditch and run (or walk) over to the target. Once there I would report the shot placement and draw a line through the hole with my Sharpie. Turning around I would jump down into the ditch and go back to my seat--a perfectly shaped out-cropping of sand from the side of the ditch. After a while I got really hot and in need of a drink. As if he could read my mind, just as I was fixing to say, "Daddy, I need a drink", he said, "I'll send somebody down with some water here in a minute." A couple more rounds and Mr. Dan hopped in the back of the 4x4 with a bottle of nice cold water and his son drove down range. I sure was grateful for that water...I was really beginning to need it (I wasn't quite overheated, but I was getting there. I had enough rest between spurts of activity to keep me from overheating too fast. I did get a fine sunburn on my right arm, though.)
Then they moved back to 500 yards. At that range the radios got kind of choppy. After shooting at 500 yards for a while, they came back in to 200 (about the time I let on I was getting hungry--Savannah said that she could tell by my voice--through the radio, mind you!) I can't rememeber when or where...but Daddy said that at one point Savannah made a better group than both he and Dan! Go, Sister!! (Opps...there's my innate feminism coming out.) Daddy was (I mean is) real proud and I'm guessing Mr. Dan wasn't too put out :) There at the end they shot the gongs for a bit. In the last group, I started to wonder, "Who is that awful shot?!" Turns out it was Mr. Dan's son! Oh well...who knows, I might have been missing that much too :)
Daddy and an old friend of his, Dan, have been planning to do some long range shooting. Today just happened to be the day.
We ate lunch and ran out the door as soon as I got home from taking Granddaddy's lunch to him. We met up with Dan out there in the middle of a sod farming operation and then moved into a pasture to set up. Daddy told me to tie some orange 'tape' to the post of the target contraption that was already there. First thing I did was slice open my finger on a splinter. We got set up at 25 yards (approx.) and first Daddy poked some hole in the cardboard, then Dan (I'm impressed--he's as good as Daddy), and then Savannah. By now, I was pining to throw some lead down range myself, so I asked Savannah if I could shoot her gun. Of course she said yes. I propped up there and took one shot (very well placed if I do say so myself--susprisingly good in fact), and decided that I'd better not shoot any more. My wrist didn't like it :( Oh well. Katherine then proceeded to send lead into her target.
Sometime in here, Mr. Dan's boy showed up with his girlfriend in tow...After he showed off his gun--a Lampua (Daddy will let me know if I spelled that wrong :) I know nothing about this particular weapon other than I think it's ugly, it's expensive, the needed scope is as expensive, and the ammo price is out of this world), we moved back to around 200 yards. Then I turned around and walked all the way back and got in the three foot ditch there in front of the targets and berm in preperation for what I would do the rest of the afternoon--check and mark targets :) That was an adventure in and of its self. Daddy had one radio and I had the other. I would stay hunkered down in the ditch until Daddy said, "Check targets, please." Then I'd hop up and bound up the side of the ditch and run (or walk) over to the target. Once there I would report the shot placement and draw a line through the hole with my Sharpie. Turning around I would jump down into the ditch and go back to my seat--a perfectly shaped out-cropping of sand from the side of the ditch. After a while I got really hot and in need of a drink. As if he could read my mind, just as I was fixing to say, "Daddy, I need a drink", he said, "I'll send somebody down with some water here in a minute." A couple more rounds and Mr. Dan hopped in the back of the 4x4 with a bottle of nice cold water and his son drove down range. I sure was grateful for that water...I was really beginning to need it (I wasn't quite overheated, but I was getting there. I had enough rest between spurts of activity to keep me from overheating too fast. I did get a fine sunburn on my right arm, though.)
Then they moved back to 500 yards. At that range the radios got kind of choppy. After shooting at 500 yards for a while, they came back in to 200 (about the time I let on I was getting hungry--Savannah said that she could tell by my voice--through the radio, mind you!) I can't rememeber when or where...but Daddy said that at one point Savannah made a better group than both he and Dan! Go, Sister!! (Opps...there's my innate feminism coming out.) Daddy was (I mean is) real proud and I'm guessing Mr. Dan wasn't too put out :) There at the end they shot the gongs for a bit. In the last group, I started to wonder, "Who is that awful shot?!" Turns out it was Mr. Dan's son! Oh well...who knows, I might have been missing that much too :)
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