All,

Went to an Applesees Shoot at the wonderful, Beckley Gun Club in Beckley WV today. WOW!!! First off the range was fatnastic... an old coal strip mine that was reclaimed and rented to the club in the early 1990s. They have 600 ACRES!!!! It was an adventure just getting into the ranges, about a mile gravel/dirt road around and down the mountain in the valley. The range was 500 yards, and they are considering putting a 1000 yard gong on the other valley side wall. Just beautiful... and only $110 dollars a year. Rifle, pistol, steel plate, shotgun, fishing lake and a tactical training area they call Mainstreet that had some shacks and facades built.

 

So to keep this short or I could go on all night, I suck with irons. We were shooting at 25yds and I would score a 45 on the standing, a 35+ on the sitting, but would fall apart on the 300 and 400 prone sections. Tightened my groups significantly when I figured out to control my breathing better... my big stomach was moving me around as I took breaths. So today, Sunday I shot my top score of 171 which gets me Sharpshooter but falls short of the 210 needed for Expert Rifleman. Personally I think I could be more accurate with finer sights on my 597. Plus, I ran out of Federal and switched to Win Dynapoints which induced about 1 failure per mag. Not fun... GSG loves the Dynapoints,.... oh well.

 

But the BEST part was the competition at the end... 8rds out of a Garand... 5 warmups and 3 scores on a 300 yard 20" plate. I hit it 5 times in a row... proving to myself I could shoot... I tied another shooter for best score and we both walked away with prizes.

 

THEN I got to put one round down range at 500 yards with a Steyr HS50 50.BMG. Holy christ... I am half staff just thinking about it again. Absolutley limited kick... like a .308 bolt... but the explosion going on about 2.5 feet in front of your face is just amazing. The concsusion was shocking... like holding a 1/4 stick of dynamite on the end of a golf club at arms length. Just brilliant......

 

Oh and I nailed that target also..... I rule. I dont suck.

 

(pics added)

1st pic is the range from the firing line. See those tiny little plates... thats is 500yrds, Plan is for a 1000yrd plat on the hill side back beyond those plates.

2nd pic is Kevin, a local attorney from Fayetteville, WV shooting the Steyr .50. No picture of me shooting it.

3rd picture is me shooting Robert, the AS Shoot Boss's Garand. Great camera work by Jermey one of the AS Instructors. Notice spent shell and clip in air. Yes this is the match tieing shot.

1st off nice avatar..

 

sounds like one hell of a place..

oh yea... by the way the people that I met there were some of the nicest, most helpful, patient and genuine individuals I have met in a long time. Seriously nice folks. Made it so much nicer.

WELL, if they saw your avatar i am sure they went out of their way to help you out..

Glad you had a good time bud! were you shooting a 22 caliber at 300 yards?

Maks... no let me clarify. The AQT targets they use have siloheuttes that simluate a mans chest/head region at 300 yards, when the target is staked at 25 yards. So there is a target about 4 inches across for 100, 3 inches for 200, 2 inches for 300 and 1 inch for 400... rough measurements.

 

I did shoot steel plates at 200... by Sunday afternoon I could hit 10 of 10.. bang......... ping.

 

Just a blast and for anyone .... anyone that though they could shoot a rifle and because you can hit a pie plate at 100yds or you are proficient at 400 I highly recomend attending one. Totally non stressfull, very fun and for $70 for two days hands one instruction, it was fantastic.