The Deluge

Posted on 01 Mar 2014 by WH

A grim dawn greeted the team this morning. Once arriving at the range the conditions had worsened; although the main Hurricane Titan related storm had bypassed us to the west, its tempestuous cousins had settled in very nicely.

Shortly after all competitors were gathered it was clear that shooting was likely to be called off for the day. The briefing was postponed from 8am to 10am, when the decision was confirmed. Did we go home? Did we Hell! Bob Gill and the guys from Coalinga Rifle Club decided to hold a test of marksmanship in a different format. On a covered firing point, used yesterday for the 1000 yards team match, we were to fire AR-15 assault rifles and an M-1A, laying waste to a combination of (steel) chickens, hogs, turkeys and rams in five round rapids. Everyone hit at least one target. Some scored more, and the American's initial scores looked unbeatable to most of us. Most of the others were perplexed, though, as they learnt that Matt had scored six points and Will seven from their five rounds. That's just talent, guys (or perhaps our hosts had found a way to help their guests win....

Our first four pairs vs. USA scored 27, as did the hosts. However the remaining Scottish eight scored 28, resulting in a devastating overall win for them over the undoubtedly more capable American team. Not that anybody minded - it was all fun.

If all that wasn't enough, our more than generous hosts then deployed a variety of sidearms for us to shoot embarrassingly badly with - especially James Shepherd, who found himself adopting gangster pose to help laugh off his failure to hit anything at all. A classic .38 Special, a .357 Magnum (Dirty Harry was nowhere to be seen, alas), a .357 Thompson target pistol and a more modern Glock 19, 9mm were all available for some fun shooting. Our targets? Soda cans, obviously. And now we know that they really CAN be made to jump from the ground up into the air!

After another excellent barbecue courtesy of the club, it was time to dry off and prepare for the now shortened individual Palma shoot on Sunday. The weather forecast is currently showing cloudy with little chance of rain. Hopefully we'll avoid the wrath of Hurricane Titan and be able to compete with firearms and targets we're all more familiar with! Today, however, was a great way to spend a day at the range without doing what we'd trained for.