Lodi August 2021 results.

[Distant Thunder]

Four days of shooting, two well run matches and we missed most of the rain though we did not necessarily stay dry!
With temperatures starting in the upper 60s to low 70s and climbing to over 100 degrees laying on my shooting matt and the humidity in the upper 70% to 86% staying dry was not possible.

I personally managed the heat well the first two days (Thursday and Friday) for the mid range match, but Saturday the heat absolutely crushed me. I was a walking zombie and at one point when I was in the pit and in the full sun with no shade in sight and no breeze in that hole I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish the last two relays. Somehow I caught a second wind and I was able to finish the day.
When the scores were posted Saturday afternoon I was pretty low on the list. I slept well that night and I woke up Sunday morning determined to do better and I did.

A couple of things that stand out in this match are the number of paper patch shooters over all and just how many ended up in the upper half. Paper patch took the top three spots in both matches. Tony Martello won both matches and Brent Danielson took second place in both. I finished third in the mid range having been out Xed by Brent. I was able to climb a few positions on Sunday in the 1000 yard match to finish 4th. I've been there many times before.
The other thing worth noting is Tony's outstanding shooting through both matches and he also won the match back in May. I think Tony is going to be at or near the top for a while. Congratulations Tony!!!

I was able to test a couple of things in the 1000 yard match that I have been wanting to get to for a while. I've had a new to me BACO mold #444530E for a while and I wanted to see if it would work in my Hepburn .45-70 and it did well. I simply loaded it over my usually load and went to the match. I used it in two relays and while I shot better with my old bullet this new one shows promise. It worked well enough to make me think that with a little load tweaking it will be a bullet I can count on for Creedmoor matches. My old mold has been reworked so many times that casting with it can be challenging. This BACO mold, like all my BACO molds, cast very good bullets without all the issues I have with my old mold.

I also got to try my 18-twist .40-65 at 1000 yards with my 382 grain 2-D PP bullet and it actually made it to the target. I had trouble keeping them in the middle but it's a pretty light bullet and only 1.250" long. I have yet to shoot a good score at long range with a scope and nothing was different with my .40.

We did have a rain delay Saturday morning but we were still able to get all the relays shot. The range faces west and at 4:30 in the late summer the sun is in your eyes and the targets are in the shade. You end up shooting at a fuzzy grey square against a fuzzy grey background! It's much, much worse in September, but the temps are more shooter friendly and the humidity of the summer is usually long gong by then.

The condition changes came fast and often especially during the long range match. The mirage and the flags were often at odds. At one point on Sunday Brent was shooting and I was in the scope. He was laying them in the 10 ring well with just an occasional minor 1/4 to 1/2 minute correction. Things were holding good and then up comes a 8 at 8 o'clock! I didn't see that coming! I don't remember for sure but I think we put a second one out there then corrected and had a 9 at 8. I still had not seen what was going on. I held him up for a minute and looked things over and then I saw it. The farthest flag on the right was showing a bit of wind from 2 o'clock and I sat there and watched as that little 2 o'clock wind spread slowly from that flag to the next one toward the line and the next. Then the flags on the left side one by one showed the same thing and finally our line flag spun to 2 o'clock as well. We corrected for the "new" wind and he was back in the center. That continued for a few more shots and then as if you flipped a switch everything went back to the original condition and we turned the knobs back and finished out well.

That 2 o'clock wind came on so slow and subtle that I didn't even notice it until I noticed that the one flag was showing it. My guess is that that wind actually started coming in much higher, above the flags and kind of slowly settled down to flag height across the range NW to SE. The bullet was hitting it high mid range before it even showed in the flags and it never showed in the mirage. An interesting lesson learned, but it's hard to see something like that when all the flags seldom agree and are often 180 degrees out of sync!