Yesterday resulted in a championship medal in 12 gauge and a lesson in energy management. I took that lesson into the second day of shooting – Sunday, October 2nd – at the NSSA shooting complex in the mini-world skeet event.
First Event – 20 guage (4 boxes = 100 targets)
Saturday had gotten started just after noon with a final round going until 6pm. Sunday was entirely different. Starting at 9am the sun was a factor, but not directly. The sun was casting a long and dark shadow over the low house and about 10 feet along the flight of low birds when shot from the fifth and sixth stations – that would cost me dearly in the 20 gauge event.
The first box (25 targets) started out very well, I got all the way to station 5 before I realized just how bad that shadow was. I missed the low, then the low option from that station before moving on to station 6 and missing the low bird on the double from that station. That shadow was going to be a problem and I needed to figure out how to deal with it because I could not continue to shoot 22’s and expect to do well.
On the second box, I tried moving my hold point out a bit on low 5, but was still unable to hit it.. twice – for a 23.
On the third box I was able to limit my low 5 losses to 1 and finished the round with a 24.
On the final round, I ran into the shadow problem at 4 and 5 and missed on on each station for a 23. That 92 was not good enough to win anything. I am going to have to work on low house shadows when I get back to North Carolina.
Second Event – .410 bore (4 boxes = 100 targets)
The second event on Sunday was in good light. Shooting in the afternoon, the loathsome, evil, sadistic low-house shadow was gone and visibility was good. .410 is the smallest of the shotgun shells and with only 1/2 oz of shot, you’re either on the bird or you aren’t.
The first box went fairly well. I dropped my first target on high-3 but went straight for the rest of the round for a 24.
The second round I missed 3 for a 22. The high winds were moving the birds around a bit, and sometimes, things happen.
The third round, I lost two birds, but felt good with the way I was shooting.
The final round was light’s-out. I went straight until I got to the very last bird – low 8 option. Lost. A 24 where a 25 should have been.
That left me with a 93, which I consider a good .410 score. I knew it would be enough to get something for my work, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to be another champion medal or second place.
The .410 event concluded the mini-world. That led to an interesting observation. If you were paying attention to the Day One recount, since I lost my very last target in the minis, and yesterday had missed the very first – I had missed the very first and very last target in my first registered NSSA competition.
Now, on to Day Three and the Main World Championship Event.
