Coming Home With Homework

I went to Friendship hoping to shoot well. I came home with a clearer idea of what I need to work on.

That’s part of competition. You bring the practice you’ve done, put it to the test, and learn something from what happens on the line. Sometimes things come together. Sometimes you find out where you still have work to do.

This trip gave me plenty to think about.

Learning to reset

My offhand shooting wasn’t where I wanted it to be. At 25 and 50 yards, I struggled to settle into a sight picture I felt confident in. I caught myself trying to make a shot happen instead of putting the rifle down and starting again.

It’s easy to recognize that afterward. In the middle of a match, when you want a good score, it can be harder to follow through.

One lesson I brought home was to be more deliberate about resetting. If the shot isn’t coming together, step back, put the rifle down, and begin again. That’s a habit I want to strengthen in practice.

The 100-yard offhand targets gave me more to work on, too. I need more time practicing at that distance and more consistency in how I approach each shot.

Big Medicine and the wind

Shooting Big Medicine from the bench brought another set of lessons.

At 100 yards, I had to take quite a bit of windage off my home setting to walk the shots into the 10-ring. It took some adjusting to get centered, and the groups still weren’t as tight as I had hoped.

It was a reminder that my settings from home were a starting point. I had to pay attention to the conditions and what the target was telling me.

I also replaced a worn nipple during the week. Later, at 50 yards, the groups tightened up. That was encouraging, even though I still had questions to bring home and work through.

I want to spend more time learning how Big Medicine responds in different conditions. Shooting in comfortable conditions at home is useful, but a match asks you to work with whatever the day gives you.

The wind was a reminder that reading conditions needs to be part of my practice, too.

Taking the lessons home

Coming home with homework doesn’t mean I have to change everything at once. It means I have a few specific things to pay attention to.

For offhand, that’s a more consistent shot routine, a willingness to reset, and more practice at the longer distance. With Big Medicine, it’s time on the bench, watching the wind, and keeping track of how the rifle responds.

I want to give those things purposeful attention rather than simply shoot more targets and hope the scores improve.

I’ve been shooting for a long time, and I’m still learning. There are days when that’s satisfying and days when it’s frustrating. Friendship gave me some of both.

Now it’s time to take what I learned back to the range.

I went to Friendship wanting good scores. I came home with direction.

Bye for now.