Saturday my daughter and I shot a “Precision Tactical Rifle Match" in the hunter class. I shot a sporterized 8mm Mauser with 50yr old surplus ammo and she shot her 7mm-08 Handi with fresh handloads of 140gr Rem. Core-Lokts over 41.5gr of Varget.
Her truly cold barrel shot vaporized a suspended charcoal briquette at 75 yards. We also shot golf balls, little toy army men and balloons in the short bays. At 185 & beyond were 4” & 6” steel poppers, clay targets and cans of pop at 215. She hit a pop for a bonus but was sick to see that it was Lime Pepsi. Such a waste…
The tactical and auto shooters had tougher targets but she wanted to try for one of their bonus targets too; paintballs at 90 yards. It took her two shots, but she got one. That was on our last station and she was tired and the last shooter. She wanted to try.
She put 65 rounds through that little Handi, firing about 50 of those rounds prone with a bipod. Her shoulder is still a bit tender and I think she now understands why I bought her one of those girly Pact shoulder pads that she refuses to wear. Repeating the load, close, cock, sight, breathe, feel the trigger, squeeze the trigger drill was good practice too.
She was the only female and the youngest person shooting. The other folks on our squad were great, giving her lots of encouragement, cudos & tips. She had fun and was/is pretty proud of herself (as am I) even though she came in dead last. It’s tough for single shots to compete against bolt guns in timed events.
We went for a leisurely, late lunch afterward and then a phosphate at a local soda fountain.
I would like to get her to shoot some off sticks and other improvised field rests but we may not get time. I’m supposed to be building a tree house too.
It was a good shakedown for that little rifle and I think it did pretty well. She had no pop open or extraction problems, but it was tough for her to snap shut while prone. I want to put it on paper again to see if zero shifted or anything loosened up. Antelope season starts in about two weeks.
