The start of the Winter League, the season where my AIM bag spends most of its life hanging off a radiator! I’d missed the first NEFTA shoot do to work and also wanting to go the Essex 50 more but work and the weather reports just made my mind up for me, turns out the weather report was wrong but the 528 miles I drove on Friday just about killed me. I really wanted to go because I hadn’t shot for nearly a month and I know how much things can drop off for me personally.
The weather didn’t look half as bad when I went to load the car so I figured we’d only be getting slightly moist, so what the hell let’s have some field target. I was so ready for spending some time on the gun, I was also wondering why when I got to Castle because it was pouring down with rain and didn’t look like stopping.
I knew I should have dug the Buffalo bag because the AIM bag is like a sponge and can easily double its weight when wet, it’s the only bad thing about them.
There was a pretty good turn out for the weather and a new course at Castle is usually enough to get people there and although MFTA don’t get big numbers but it’s always a comfortable and relaxed shoot. I was trying to indeed, relax but my head had a different idea and decide that I should have a big dose of the jitters (thanks). I’m not sure where they came from but I knew how to get rid of them. I sat on the gun longer and took my time, focussed on my breathing and hit each target. It took a while for it to fade but it did as the targets started to fall, that’s all I need these days and even when they don’t fall I take the info I’ve learned and just move on. It seems to have taken years to get to this stage and watching Phil is often a reminder of where I was, regardless of how much practice. He rushes, snatches and misranges all the time, I’ve grown sick of telling him but I know he suffers from nerves and I do my best to chill him out.
The weather was still beating down but I really didn’t care, after a month away I was glad to be back in the woods shooting some tin chickens. I was putting some good strings together and the double string magic was rolling in, I missed a long one to the wind and a stander to wobble but I was happy enough. Another went to a long kneeler but if I could hold this 3 I’d be well happy but another went to stander and two more to the wind, dang that last 5 lanes did me some damage but I didn’t let the game get to me and taking home a 6 after not shooting for a month was enough to keep me happy and give me a AA Grade percentage.
