Winter had just about finished its ugliness when the first rifle competition of the season began and it was cold and uncomfortably damp during the entire day. NRA High Power Across the Course rifle matches are shot standing , sitting and laying on the belly in the prone position at 200, 300, and 600 yards and often divided into two groups that are permitted to shoot the same match together under one of two classifications. Service Rifle and Match Rifle .
Service Rifle competitors at the time were known as Mud Gunners as they adhered to the unwritten rule that once you’ve agreed to start the rifle match you will complete the full course of fire regardless of any changes in the weather. Foolishness or otherwise I’ve been on the firing line with brother Mud Gunners blowing snow off the rifle sights or laying prone in a puddle in the pouring rain . On this day we had finally got to the last stage and geared up for the 600 yard leg . Here we’re given twenty minutes to shoot twenty rounds . After each shot the target frame drops down into the pit and the operator marks the location of the hit and chalks the score on the side and sends the target frame back up to be shot again.
It would seem quite evident that in order to hit a target you’d need to see it . On this day a thick fog floated a few feet off the ground at just the perfect height to obscure the aiming black of the 600 yard targets . Twenty four competitors lay there silent with no visible target and hoping the fog would rise as the clock ticked precious time away. Suddenly the man next to me took a shot and his target dropped to come back up marked a hit in the 10 ring . One minute later his second shot came up a perfect center X ring. The old guy was obviously on to something and he caught me looking at him in askance and so offered some wisdom to a relative beginner …
” Can you see the lower left corner of your target stand ? ” he asked and I replied
“That’s all I can see.”
” Do you know the dimensions of a target stand ? ” and I did .
“They are 72inches x 72 inches”
” Aim at what you can see and adjust your rifle sights accordingly. ”
The old guy was truly experienced and I learned a lot during those twenty minutes. We were top scorers on the 600 yard leg that day and walked away tall to the befuddlement of the other 22 competitors .
A recent assassination attempt using the same type rifle we used then was made on a political candidate and immediately irresponsible political leaders bellowed their ” belief” to the “news” that this was ordered by a sitting U.S. President . A loyal follower of such poor leadership came by to parrot his same “belief” to see how I felt and all I could think was …..
Where the hell were the Mud Gunners on the grassy knoll when you needed them most ?
