First outdoor 2700

I shot a conventional pistol match (a 2700) down at Central Jersey this weekend. This was my first outdoor 2700, so it was an interesting experience. I was also overly optimistic in estimating when we'd be done. I was thinking we'd be done by 2:00 (with a 9:00 start), and I'd be home by 3:00. We were actually done by 3:30, I was out of the parking lot about 3:50, and home by 4:30.

I shot my first full 2700 a month ago, but that was an indoor one, so the slow-fire stages were at 25 yards and not 50 yards. So this time, I got the full effect, shooting at 50 yards for slow-fire. Not that it's significantly different, it's still just a black circle off in the distance.

The other major difference between indoor and outdoor is the wind, and I certainly got the full experience there, too. Luckily, it didn't rain on us, which had been forecast, but it was a very windy day. More than once we had to go chase down targets that had blown off the backer. I didn't lose a target myself, but I started locking mine down with twelve staples rather than the usual four.

Once again, I borrowed a .45 to shoot with. This time, though, I made sure to test my ammo in the gun. I borrowed it from a fellow club member, and I shot it during our informal Wednesday night "700" league (a 900 minus the slow-fire stage.) My ammo failed to fully seat on the first round, and again on the second round, so I finished the 700 with borrowed ammo, too. The owner of the gun suggested I run the rounds through the press again to get the bullets seated just a little deeper. I reseated them all an extra .02" and ended up having no problems whatsoever.

Of course, what I didn't think to check was the zero on the scope. I certainly wasn't shooting 10's and X's in the 700, but I assumed that was just me. And during the 2700 Saturday, I shot worse in the slow-fire stage of the .22 (with my gun) than I did in the timed- and rapid-fire stages, so when I shot crappy slow-fire stages with the .45, I didn't think much of it, especially because it was during the transition from slow-fire to center-fire. Same with the timed- and rapid-fire stages, I just assumed I was jerking the trigger, especially since my shots were grouping so nicely, albeit low and to the left. During the slow-fire stage of the .45 match, though, I concentrated carefully on getting good shots off, and they were still grouping low and to the left. I adjusted the scope a few clicks in the up direction but didn't try moving it to the right any. Not sure why not, really. Lack of experience, I guess.

I actually shot pretty well, all things considered. I shot a 781 for the .22 match, which is a sharpshooter score. I then shot 654 and 649 for the center-fire and .45 matches, for an aggregate 2084. (This assumes my scorer added things up correctly -- I didn't verify the math.) That's much better than my indoor 2700, where I scored in the 1600's. And it's a 77%, which is spitting distance from sharpshooter. If it really was the scope and not me shooting poorly, I expect I'll shoot closer to sharpshooter next time.