Range Time - A Sunny Respite

A cool, rainy morning turned into a warm sunny afternoon, perfect for a trip to the range. Checkered Flag was in town so he, Colleen, and I spent an afternoon honing our skills in the 70° spring air. The warm air was accompanied by strong wind gusts, which played havoc with our targets stands. Appropriating a few logs from the fire pit (mostly) solved the problem. (No, I still haven't picked up those spikes.)

We spent most of our time at a close 7 yard distance. We often try to make a "game" of our range practice, within the restrictive rules of the club. The theme of the day became accuracy and trigger control. We warmed up on IDPA targets but soon switched to the more challenging Pincus "Balance of Speed and Precision" targets. Colleen was the "caller" and we reacted to her cues. "Three, Blue" she might yell out, and we'd draw and engage all of the target spots that matched any of the descriptors. Or "Round, Yellow" and we'd shoot all points that were either round or yellow. Not only were varying degrees of accuracy required, you had to analyze the targets to find the matches, geometric, numerical or color. It was quite a bit of fun and we went through many rounds playing that game.

Later we added some of CF's target cards he keeps on hand, with 1 inch squares and the even smaller "little man" targets and went for extreme accuracy trying to remove the pattern from the cards. When the target is smaller than the front sight, even at 7 yards, a smooth trigger press is critical.

A couple hundred rounds later we a good practice session, and a whole lot of fun, under our belts. It was good to get to the range on a beautiful afternoon, especially since the forecast is calling for more cold and rain over the next couple days.