I'm back
Wow, talk about less than ideal conditions down there. I think this weekend was the latest in the year I've ever been down at the cabin by a good month, and I can certainly see why. The temperature hovered around 40 degrees, but with the wind
(15-20mph most of the time, though it stopped conveniently so we could shoot) and rain/hail, it felt like about 20 degrees to me. We decided to stay the night, mostly because of the poker game that ended around 10
(I came out 10 cents ahead, which was a good show considering everyone else in the game had about 30 years more experience than I). Sleeping in the back of a truck is pretty miserable when it's that cold out. First it's freezing, like put on every stitch of clothing you have and get under two sleeping bags. Then it does warm up some, but the cap is still cold so your breath condenses on the windows and ceiling and you get dripped on all night.
Despite the cold, I did enjoy myself, because my guns made me happy. My Remington 870 is exhibiting a level of accuracy I really didn't expect, and I shot a single hole
(not edges of each hole touching, but about 75% overlap) five slug string at fifty yards. This is an improved cylinder barrel shooting Winchester Super X slugs, not a rifled barrel shooting saboted slugs. Impressive, I thought. I also figured out how to use my sling setup to strap myself into an extremely tight shooting position even standing, something I didn't think I'd be able to get my sling to do. It's not your normal two point sling, but a tactical sling from Blackhawk. Any deer I see this year is going to be dead, dead, dead.
My Marlin performed wonderfully, an excellent show compared to the last time. My uncle shot it first, not bench rested but just resting his elbows on the table, and shot a very nice group dead center on the target, say about 2 to 3 MOA or pretty easily minute of deer for 30-30 ranges--out to 150 yards, in case you're wondering. That was highly encouraging, since it meant my rifle isn't really just a funny shaped club after all. I only shot it a few times, but I seem to be aiming too low; I shot a nice group also, but 6 inches low. I'll have a chance to figure out my sights before we go rifle hunting, I'm sure.
I also spent some time shooting my 9mm, but the bulk of the ammunition I have is ultra-shitty Remington UMC which is very inaccurate out of my P95, shooting pretty damn big groups and to the low/right of my point of aim.
(It also seems very hot for standard pressure ammuntion; when I was showing my aunt how to shoot, standing next to her was like letting someone smack me in the face with a newspaper every shot.) I'm not going to attribute the point of impact to my own error because frankly I'm not a bad shot, and I was shooting extremely carefully. I dry-fire practice every day, and I know I don't jerk the trigger, even on the double action pull. I had smaller amounts of Sellier and Bellot FMJs from long ago, which are actually pretty nice out of the P95, but I didn't have enough to really practice any of the things I wanted to. Frustrating. And no, I didn't shoot all of my defense ammunition, just enough to make sure it still worked the way I wanted it to. All in all I didn't shoot my pistol much because the ammo made practicing drills pointless. I'm not wasting my time with ammo that I have to adjust my POA for; I want the damn bullet to hit where I aim. One FMJ in the head or heart is a lot more effective than a missed hydra-shok.
