Not Trapshooting in the Mist

[Church Key, SASS # 33713]

I have a local club (10 minutes away) that shoots practice trap on Thursdays all year round starting at noon. Went there today, was slightly misting a bit, not even enough for wipers on. Not a gun in sight. A half dozen guys sitting around, drinking coffee, cokes and BS'ing. Traps not set up. "Why aren't you all shooting?" "I'm not getting my Kolar wet."

 

I did not realize that wiping down a $10K shotgun was a big deal or that they rusted that fast. Also at that price, a used BT-99 at $850 could serve as a foul weather backup. Anyhow, decided that trap shooters are totally wusses. 

 

Church Key    

[DocWard]

"If it rusts that fast, it ain't worth a damn" -- My father-in-law referring to his Krieghoff K-80 (I had a BT-99) while we were shooting in the rain at the Grand American one year.

 

[Ron "Ironhead" Smith]

Church Key, sounds like back in the day Wednesday evening trap and skeet shoots at Damascus IWLA and a lot of the them wouldn't take their guns out in drizzle. My buddy and I came up with the following method of identifying the various competition shooters from that.

Shotgunners will sit in the range house drinking coffee and bitching that the rain will rust their guns.

Airgunners won't even notice or care because they shoot indoors anyway.

Pistol shooters will file a complaint with the match director.

Smallbore shooters will lay tarps, then mats on the ground, erect umbrellas overhead, make many minute and arcane adjustments to their rifles with tiny little allen wrenches then the match director will call off the match because it is unsafe.

HIgh Power shooters look up, get a faceful of rain, grumble much profanity, look down range, declare the targets visible enough, proclaim only p*ssies are afraid to shoot in the rain, throw down their mats, sling up and say embrace the suck fellas.

Later additions:

Tactical 3 gun shooters will charge about the course, wallowing in the mud as needed while using their BUIS because the rain and mud obscured their optics.

Tacticool weenies complain the rain and mud make their optics useless and whine because they never actually zeroed their BUIS.

I'm guessing cowboys just put on their oilskins, pull their hats down a little tighter and just get on with the business of the day, although the capgun fellers might mutter a bit about damp powder.

[Church Key, SASS # 33713]

Ron - It's a small world as I lived in Damascus, MD from 1969-84 and shot DCM M-1 Garand matches at the Damascus IWLA for many years. We shot 60 round matches (20 prone, 20 kneeling, and 20 standing), no mater what the weather which I remember as always being hot. Seriously regret selling my DCM M1 that cost $112 delivered. Also shot turkey shoots there on Saturday nights. Later belonged to their indoor air pistol league. I still shoot CAS on the 4th Saturdays with the Damascus Wildlife Rangers. The club is still going strong. I believe they capped their membership at 1,200.

 

Church Key

 

[Ron "Ironhead" Smith]

Church Key, I shot there from about 88-96 and shot a lot of the SVSA DCM matches. Do you remember Bruce B., Chuck H., Rex W., Jack R. and his daughter Amy from the DCM matches? Bruce, Chuck and Rex called me Quigley because I always wore a western hat and tended to shoot old 03s and Swedish 96s for the iron sight team matches at the VA state 1000 yard matches the next month at the Eastern Regional 1000 yard match. I shot my 6.5-06 for the optics individual matches.

The only shotgun guys I remember are Bob R. and Neal Knox. Neal would start holding forth on 2A issues in the shotgun house and eventually we'd say, "Shut up and shoot Neal!"