SmallCaliberCentral

This past April, I was out having my way with "Skippy", when a fellow shooter stopped to see how we were doing. We soon were involved in a conversation about our common love of teaching skippy how to fly. We introduced ourselves and found out that both of us are members here on the forum. Turns out that my fellow shooter is Trapper Dan. Afterwards we exchanged emails and phone numbers. 2 weeks ago, Dan called and asked if I was interested in getting together for a shoot, and I responded excitedly, "you bet". I was a little concerned about the heat this time of year, but we finally connected on July 4. I left from Weed at 5 AM and met up with Dan at close to 6AM. The field we stopped to shoot, had already been mowed, baled and clean up, so the alfalfa was only 4 to 6 inches high. We really lucked out, it was an absolutely a beautiful morning, clear as a bell and very comfortable temps. Lots of targets and very easily spotted, in ranges from a couple feet away out to farther than our rifles would reach. Both of us decided it wasn't fair to shoot anything less than about 100 yards away. We started picking off lots of targets out to ranges out to about 300 yards away. Both of us were rotating rifles to keep from getting them too "Hot". I was shooting my Cooper chambered in 20VT and my Howa chambered in 204R. Dan was rotating between 3 different rifles. Later in the morning, I decided to slow my shooting down a bit, so I was shooting at a lot of targets out past 300 yards. Dan started spotting for me a little bit, and he said he had not shot much past 300 yards and the wind started up to around 10mph. He decided that if I could pick off targets out past 300yds, in the wind, with my 20VT, that he would try a few targets a little farther away too! We spotted for each other a lot during our shoot, but in fairness, he spotted a lot more for me. His confidence grew after taking out a few targets past the 300 yd mark. We were able to keep shooting until I went thru 99 rds of 20VT, that's all I brought with me, and close to 50 rds of 204R. It was a great day out in the field and this is the latest I have I have ever shot skippy! I did take a few photos, but, sorry fellas, I was unable to walk out in the field to get any "blood & guts" pics. Here are a few of them:

A look at the field we were shooting



Looking at Mount Dome. When we first arrived the pivot was close to where we were shooting from;



Heres Trapper Dan having his way with skippy;



Looking to the SW at Mt Shasta;




Dan taking a break. He just realized I was taking his picture



That's about it for now, but maybe, Dan and I can get just 1 more shoot in, if the weather and other conditions cooperate and all the planets and stars align just right.

Thanks for taking a look!

Thanks,

I've often wondered how the shooting was that late in the year. On my most recent trip (with you earlier) I spent the evenings "shootin' the breeze" with some other shooters and they told me in July it was good if you could get there right after the alfalfa was cut.

Thanks for sharing,

Jim

Nice, congRATulations on a nice shoot so late in the season!

Always fun and a good days outing.. Thank you for sharing those and the story. Bill K

Looks like you were fortunate to get in a decent rat shoot this late in the season, Kevin. The last time I tried it this late, I was sweating so much, I was messing up my scopes ocular lens and dripping all over my bench. I vowed to never, ever shoot rats this late, but then again, I'm one of those guys who just doesn't do well in extreme heat. The rats were all down in their holes by 09:00 anyway; they don't like the heat either.

Looks like you both lucked out in that regard and had a good time. Now it appears we're locked in to 90*+ temps for a while.......sure glad my gun room is A/C, 'cause I'll be in there today prepping Lapua 20VT cases for next season.

Thanks for sharing the adventure, and glad you hooked up with Trapper Dan too.

It is always great to get out shooting and provide flying lessons to skippy! The last time I went out this late, I did not even take the rifle out of the case. Glad you two made it out for a great day of shooting. I did notice the 20VT seems to be getting more attention than the 204 The 20VT can reach way out there, do not be afraid to stretch out the effective range. My best has been 575 yards on prairie dogs, 5 in a row.

Thanks for the kind comments everyone.

Rick in Oregon wrote: The last time I tried it this late, I was sweating so much, I was messing up my scopes ocular lens and dripping all over my bench. I vowed to never, ever shoot rats this late, but then again, I'm one of those guys who just doesn't do well in extreme heat. The rats were all down in their holes by 09:00 anyway; they don't like the heat either.

Know what you mean Rick, I've been in the field with you in the "Heat" We were able to keep shooting til around 11:30AM. By then the wind really picked up and the heat was getting really uncomfortable. That was about the time the rats stayed underground. But up until that time, it really was a beautiful day.

Sidewinder, I am getting more comfortable myself, at longer ranges with the VT. I've even been known to push my 22lr to just past 300yds. Don't laugh till you try it!

futuretrades--Thanks for the report. That sure is some beautiful country your were in. You were definitely "whakin' and stackin' those rats.

Nice. Love that NorCal country. Long live the Great State of Jefferson!

What a great day we had. Perfect temperature, lots of squirrels, accurate rifles and great company. Thanks Kevin for the shooting lesson. I was very impressed with Kevin’s shooting. I watched him turn Skippy’s fur coat inside out over and over and over at ranges from 300 -340 yds. with a brisk wind quartering at us . As you can see from the photo below the size comparison of our average squirrel shows just how small a target skippy really is .Especially when the lower half is obscured by foliage . Sometime just for fun, set a 17 hmr ammo box out at 300 yards and see how you do. Let us know what your kill ratio is . Still hope to get in one more shoot before it’s all over.

TrapperDan wrote:What a great day we had. Perfect temperature, lots of squirrels, accurate rifles and great company. Thanks Kevin for the shooting lesson. I was very impressed with Kevin’s shooting. I watched him turn Skippy’s fur coat inside out over and over and over at ranges from 300 -340 yds. with a brisk wind quartering at us . As you can see from the photo below the size comparison of our average squirrel shows just how small a target skippy really is .Especially when the lower half is obscured by foliage . Sometime just for fun, set a 17 hmr ammo box out at 300 yards and see how you do. Let us know what your kill ratio is . Still hope to get in one more shoot before it’s all over.

Easy there Trapper! you are going to give Kevin a big head! Glad you guys had such a great shoot. Teaching Skippy to jump is great fun. Gary