Yesterday was the Field Day event at my club. This event is not open to the public, only to members and their guests. The intention is to have a replacement for the old Turkey Shoots which have fallen out of popularity and attendance since before I joined. Instead of just a simple turkey shoot, it also includes pistol bullseye, trap, and archery, as well as a buffet food service. Tickets are $20 and include all you can eat plus 5 rounds at whatever event(s) you choose. Additional rounds cost two bucks each. As usual, I showed up a couple of hours before start time to work in the kitchen and did not head out to shoot until the food was put out at about 11:30. The only event I participated in was the pistol bullseye shoot. None of the others interest me, nor do I have the equipment for them.
For my shooting I chose to only do small bore meaning .22LR, and brought my Browning Buckmark URX as well as my 1935 vintage S & W K-22 Outdoorsman revolver equipped with Pachmyr Presentation grips. I never liked the standard wood grip, feeling like it was too small for my hands. The originals are stored in a cookie tin full of spare parts. I used all 5 of my "free" rounds in Round 1. Bullseye targets were an "X" drawn corner to corner with a Sharpie on a 4"x6" index card at 12 yards. Ammo was a partial box of CCI MiniMag HP. I knew I would not need much ammo so I didn't bring much. My plan was two cards with the Browning and two with the S & W, and the 5th and following cards would be with whichever gun I did better with. That turned out to be firing the S & W in single action using a modified Weaver Stance, and got me the win for $15 of prize money in Round 1. My best shot was dead center of the "X" and the next closest shooter was off by a good 3/8". All of my shots were close to center, and with 3 shots per card I would stop shooting a card when I was done with three shots, or close enough for a possible win. I packed up my stuff and headed to the clubhouse for a quick lunch. Afterwards, I returned to the range for some more fun.
The event could gave been better attended, translating to more rounds of shooting. I purchased two more bullseye cards for $2 a piece for Round 2 and shot really well heading for another win... until the range chairman shot. My best shot was just barely to the right of the center of the "X". He was shooting a borrowed compact semi-auto .22LR and was all over the place on the target cards, until his last lucky shot... dead center of the "X". Oh well, can't win `em all, and I was pleased with my marksmanship for the day. Since there were no other shooters for small bore, there were no additional rounds. I headed back to the clubhouse to clean up and put away leftovers. There wasn't much leftovers, and the pasta with meat sauce and garlic bread will get used up at an executive board meeting this week. There was enough of the kielbasa and sauerkraut left for only two portions, so I put it in a Ziploc bag and brought it home for the wife, which was appreciated. As always, I invited her to the club for the event, but she declined. There were many females there shooting and that is one of her fears about attending.
