Monday Flying Lessons (For Skippy)
Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 4:52 pm
On Monday my nephew Matt called me to see if I wanted to go shoot some sage rats for the day. So we headed for a ranch near here, him with his M700VS in .223 Rem and I took Black Death, my .223 Ackley.
To call this an excellent Monday would be an understatement. Skippy and his pals were everywhere, perfect weather, sunny, not too warm, no wind. The rats were very active, so shooting was brisk. Those of us who forgot their sunshades soon were wishing they'd taken the extra time to go to a buddies house to get theirs (initials: Matt).
Here's a few shots of the perfect way to spend a Monday, looking over my "desk" into my "office":
No sunshade? No problem......just use a wet towel over your hot barrel and keep shooting:
Point of impact change? Well, here's Skippy at about 275 yds getting launched from the 'wet barrel':
Black Death cooling her barrel in the shade after a particularly good, brisk 19 round session:
This shows a good overall view of our field of fire of about 90 degrees. My longest shot was a head shot at 468 yds on a rat just low of the tree line to the left, in the blonde grass area just under the treeline, directly under the left sand spot on the hillside. I love it when the wind forgets I'm outside.
If you look closely, you can see a rat flying above my dust signature at about 260 something yards:
Matt's position set up for both rats inside 100 yds using his 10-22T, and his 223 for the ones thinking they're out of range:
A mound at about 130 yds that was over my right shoulder on the hillside had a rat that kept popping up and checking us out. Every time I'd rotate my bench to him, he'd bail down his hole. I'd been shooting far up the hillside at about 240 yds for about five or six shots, and had just placed a fresh .223AI round with a Nosler 50gr BT (WS2 coated) in the single shot loading tray, when low and behold, little shy boy popped out and stood up:
Coolin' in the shade:
Damage Report: 50gr Nosler BT impact at 342 yds (note 'twisted' effect from spinning while you're flying 10' in the air watching your guts depart in the other direction):
Our elevated position on the hillside offered both uphill, downhill, and long range opportunities to stretch any 204's or 223's legs. Next time I head to this place, I'll take my 11 twist 204 (SPOD) with 39 SBK's for those rats at the 500 yd mark and run a direct comparison to my 223AI with 50gr BT's (I knew I shoulda taken two rifles!):
Now if ALL Monday's were like this one, it would be a perfect world.
For us that is.....NOT for Skippy. 
To call this an excellent Monday would be an understatement. Skippy and his pals were everywhere, perfect weather, sunny, not too warm, no wind. The rats were very active, so shooting was brisk. Those of us who forgot their sunshades soon were wishing they'd taken the extra time to go to a buddies house to get theirs (initials: Matt).
Here's a few shots of the perfect way to spend a Monday, looking over my "desk" into my "office":
No sunshade? No problem......just use a wet towel over your hot barrel and keep shooting:
Point of impact change? Well, here's Skippy at about 275 yds getting launched from the 'wet barrel':
Black Death cooling her barrel in the shade after a particularly good, brisk 19 round session:
This shows a good overall view of our field of fire of about 90 degrees. My longest shot was a head shot at 468 yds on a rat just low of the tree line to the left, in the blonde grass area just under the treeline, directly under the left sand spot on the hillside. I love it when the wind forgets I'm outside.
If you look closely, you can see a rat flying above my dust signature at about 260 something yards:
Matt's position set up for both rats inside 100 yds using his 10-22T, and his 223 for the ones thinking they're out of range:
A mound at about 130 yds that was over my right shoulder on the hillside had a rat that kept popping up and checking us out. Every time I'd rotate my bench to him, he'd bail down his hole. I'd been shooting far up the hillside at about 240 yds for about five or six shots, and had just placed a fresh .223AI round with a Nosler 50gr BT (WS2 coated) in the single shot loading tray, when low and behold, little shy boy popped out and stood up:
Coolin' in the shade:
Damage Report: 50gr Nosler BT impact at 342 yds (note 'twisted' effect from spinning while you're flying 10' in the air watching your guts depart in the other direction):
Our elevated position on the hillside offered both uphill, downhill, and long range opportunities to stretch any 204's or 223's legs. Next time I head to this place, I'll take my 11 twist 204 (SPOD) with 39 SBK's for those rats at the 500 yd mark and run a direct comparison to my 223AI with 50gr BT's (I knew I shoulda taken two rifles!):
Now if ALL Monday's were like this one, it would be a perfect world.
For us that is.....NOT for Skippy. 
I can't wait for Saturday 
I'm already packed and ready to head your way! 
Rick wat to go!! I glade to see you got out and burnt a little powder. Great pics and story. Nice look ford tk. You retire your chey?? Still giving skippy some fling lessons!!
Keep them coming Rick!!!