98Z5V Posted July 24, 2022 Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 (edited) Fuk. My. Life. That's the Official Name for this match today. What craziness, weather-induced. Match start time in the summer is 7am, since it's surface-of-Satan's-A$shole hot in Arizona in the summertime - they want the match OVER before it hits 115, here. Today was previously projected for 112*. We didn't hit that, I'm 105* on the back patio right now, about where it maxed for today. That's not the whole story, though. There's a reason it didn't get as hot as the "Weather-Guessers" called. Shiit rolled in on us last night - hard. I live 80 miles away from the match. Starts at 7am. Squad briefs are 6:30am. I like to get there an hour early from when the match starts. Because. I planned to leave at 5am to arrive at 6:15am. Got up at 4:15am. Kinda missed my mark, left at 5:09am, arrive at 6:20am. @JBMatt was already there. He lives 25 minutes away. Let's go back to leaving at 5:09am again... I was through my little town, and up the ONE State Route (SR 347) that feeds my town from Phx, and called Matt at 5:20am. "Hey brother, this is weird, there's FOG out here, and people are driving like fucking idiots right now, it's pretty crazy - I'm crossing over the river bridge (it's a "dry river" all the time), and I can see the lights at the concrete plant - but I cannot see the concrete plant..." Matt laughs... Weather rolled in last night, and remained this morning, and it was just starting up... SO, I'm in this "fog" and I start seeing people pulled over on the side of the road with their hazards on - typical AZ Dust Storm protocol, for those that are terrified of the dust storms here... I start counting, and telling Matt - "this ain't "fog" brother, from the monsoon humidity - this is a full-blown damn dust storm I'm in..." He's laughing MORE... I count out the cars on the side of the road, hazards, skeered to deeath of dust, and I get to 19 cars, and say, "I'm just gonna battle these dumbasses and go now - gotta drive." He laughs again, and I'll see him up there, Now, this was an Omen... Matt already told me that he got up, wind was HOWLING at his place, and he checked weather - there's a weather radar map that says "Danger, this is gonna whip your ass" headed his way - which is the way to the shoot. Great. I laughed back, before we got off the phone, and battled my dust-driving-impaired friends on the highway. I battled a damn dust storm for about 70 of the 80 miles up there, and finally broke through it - did I out-drive it, or did it give up? No idea, but it sucked. I arrived at 6:20am, just 5 minutes off my time-on-target, after leaving 9 minutes late. After I got through the skeered fuk-tards, I hammered that thing down, and got there as well as I could. Not bad, considering. It was DARK up there, from overhead cover - black cloud cover. Ish. Wind was moderate. Kind of. Everything started, and we always start on the uphill-side of the course, Stg 4, move more uphill to Stg 5, then we go down to 1, 2, 3, working back uphill again. By the time we started, the wind was RIPPIN'! I didn't pull out the weather meter and check, because I was called as the first shooter for the squad - GREAT! Let's just get out here, fight this shiit, and see how bad I fuk it all up, and LEAD THE WAY for the rest of the squad! Hoo-Ray! FML. I got up there, did it, layed it down, and I think I missed the last target before I ran out of time. Not bad, all things considered, 9 out of 10 hits, and I was looking at the wind and THROWING rounds out there. I timed out. I actually hit that last motherfucker out there, but after my 9th hit, the timer buzzed it's 90 seconds, and I didn't even hear it. So, I went after that 10th target, shot and missed, spotted, shot and hit that biotch. And I was HAPPY! And they said, "your time ran out after that last one, bro, you didn't get the final target..." FML. Matt was laughing hiss A$S off back there, spotting, and the timer buzzed, and I kept shooting - he said, "Just let him go, he's gonna do it anyway..." So much for setting the example as the first shooter of the match, right? Damnit. I didn't even hear that buzzer, and I was happy as SHIIT for cleaning that one, in the wind and shiit weather, first one up! Nope! Sit down, get in your CORNER!!! So, we get up to Stg 5, and the wind PICKED UP EVEN FUCKING MORE!!! Well, FML, I just shot first on the first stage for us, so I already know I'm LAST to shoot on THIS ONE! I got the wind meter out. We were 1/2 value wind, on the highest part of the course, shooting out to 650 yards, and I was seeing a consistant 8mph~11mph, and the highest gust I saw on the meter was 15.9mph... HELL YEAH, MEN!!! That stage SUCKED. AS$. BAD. I ended 6 hits out of 9 on that one. This is NOT a good start to a "great shooting match" right here. So, as everything shook out, it got better for me, kinda. I cleaned Stg 1 and Stg 2 (the timed stage), and almost cleaned Stg 3, went 8/10. Overall, I hit 44 out of 50 targets, in shiit weather, with alot of wind on the stages that the wind affects the most... I'll take it. It wasn't pretty, but it was still great - shooting in shiit conditions is what it's all about. Do THAT decently, and you'll do well in better conditions. Well... you SHOULD do better, in better conditions... I usually end up about the same, though... When everything shook out, and scores were posted, @JBMatt and I whipped alot of the "regular REALLY GREAT SHOOTERS" that show every month. It was surprising, seeing the results. Some really, REALLY great shooters, this month, didn't do so well, with weather. With WIND. Hey, it happens. We, here, shoot wind alot - almost every single time we go out to the SDTF. I'll let @JBMatt tell his story... Edited July 24, 2022 by 98Z5V Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted July 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 (edited) Oh, Kimmy didn't make this trip, so I don't have ONE SINGLE PICTURE to upload this time. I'll get the course description up, like I always do, I'll start working on that to post it up. I have a couple vids coming from the LEO Sniper that we've become fond of shooting with. He'll get them to me as his schedule permits, and I'll get them in here as soon as I get them. Other than his stuff, I have no shoot-pics that I can add this month. I'll get the course layout up soon. EDIT - That LEO Sniper that we shoot with - he didn't give a shiit about the weather, either, and he crushed it, with his .260 Rem gun. Edited July 24, 2022 by 98Z5V Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBMatt Posted July 24, 2022 Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, 98Z5V said: I'll let @JBMatt tell his story... Here's my take on the day: I like to leave my place around 5:45 to get to the range at about 6:15. Started loading the truck at about 5:15. It's already light out and I noticed dark over cast as far as I could see in all directions. Oh good. Looks like rain. Checked the radar and saw a pretty good sized storm traveling east to west, with its path coming right over where we are going to be. Awesome. Looks like we're gonna get wet today. Still in the process of loading, and that's when the wind started. Fukkin great. Here we go. Tom calls, he's in a dust storm. Fanfukkintastic. This is going to be interesting if nothing else! Get to the range, the suns up, but it's pretty dark. Ok, good. At least we're not going to get scorched, so that's good. When we started, the wind was coming straight from the south. We get to our 2nd stage and I'll be dammed. Now the wind is coming from the north. WTF? Here we go, boys! Cleaned our first stage (stage 4). Cool. Pretty solid start despite the prevailing wind. Our 2nd stage (stage 5) I timed out and left 3 targets unchallenged. The wind was hard left to right at the far target (650 yds) so I'm holding 1 MIL left to test it out. Hits further left. Huh?!? I move to right edge of the target, with wind flag blowing straight right. Still hit left. Ok, WTF is going on? Hold 2 MILS right, impact. Hard left to right wind, hold 2 MILS right and hit. My brain is confused. Obviously dealing with stronger, opposite blowing wind between here and there. No time to analyze, just gotta react to it. Move to our 3rd stage (stage 1) and the wheels fell right the fuk off. The ol Struggle Bus was chugging right along. I screwed up on my shooting position and just couldn't get steady. We've shot off that barricade before, so it wasn't like it was something new. For some reason, today it just wasn't working. At all. I made that shiit look really difficult. Dropped 7 targets on that stage. Not good. I know how to do this! It just doesn't look like it right now! Decided it was time to start shooting like I knew what I was doing and cleaned the last 2 stages. All in all on the day, I ended 3 of the stages with an empty mag and 1 left in the chamber. 19 shots it took me to complete 3 of those stages. Like I said, I was making this shiit look difficult. Just wasn't my day. I had to console @98Z5V during our last stage. He was wrought with grief. He just saw his hero trip all over himself and struggle hard. I had to softly explain to him that I couldn't always be the hero he's known me to be EVERY time. After all, I AM human. I think he'll be ok after a good pants down hug. Poor guy... With 40 hits out of 50 total targets, I ended up in 26th overall out of a field of 56. My only claim to fame on the day is I was 6th fastest on the timed stage. 55 seconds with the fastest time being 49 seconds. I'll take it. That's all I got. Edited July 24, 2022 by JBMatt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DNP Posted July 24, 2022 Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 Well told stories gentlemen. You need somebody videoing and editing this stuff. Throw together a little debrief session after. I think you could make some money on the YouTube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted July 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 2 minutes ago, DNP said: Well told stories gentlemen. You need somebody videoing and editing this stuff. Throw together a little debrief session after. I think you could make some money on the YouTube. We could make MAD MONEY on yt with this shiit, with the collective squad that always shoots together. Sqd4 is a bunch of comics, sadists, and smartasses, all combined into the same cinnamon roll that comes out of the oven at the end. It's pure comedy, tragedy, and hilarity, all wrapped up into the same tube. I wouldn't trade these fuckers for the world - and I'd definitely fight people with them. We're collectively a "really bad idea" for some people, on very many levels... This comes to mind, if the wet dream of the country-fatalists ever comes true... ...And, we're all local... One guy today, Stage 1... missed the last target on the stage, because of a mag failure. Before the buzzer beeped, well under time, he cleared his gun, and hurled the magazine into the canyon, and yelled "Fuk YOU!!!" at the bad mag... It was the most Epic gun-clearance I've ever seen in my life... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted July 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 (edited) 28 minutes ago, JBMatt said: Cleaned our first stage (stage 4). Cool. Pretty solid start despite the prevailing wind. This was pretty good... I'm called as the first shooter on Stg 4, our start, so I'm the first shooter for the whole course this month. GREAT. LOVE doing that. Set-the-example and all that shiit. Wonderful... So, first target(s) - two of them, are at 10" circles at 290 yards. The fuckin WIND IS HOWLIN'... There's a canyon to the right, that sweeps uphill, and I know the wind is blowing right-to-left. Shiit, it's 290 yards - it's not gonna be that bad, right? I hold right side of the plate, and shoot. @JBMatt is spotting. I SEE the dirt, far left and up from the target, and Matt doesn't say shiit. I knew it, and held the same hold, and shot again - FAR left and Uphill of the target!@ Matt THEN says, "what the hell are you shooting at?!!? That's 2 targets wide and 2 targets HIGH!!!" I laughed, held the SAME hold, and hit that fucker, and it's twin brother right beside it... It was the wind... ripping up that canyon, right up that hill, and at 290 yards, it literally BLEW my damn shot uphill and further left. And I was the Guinea Pig for that stage... I told those guys after that - you better watch that Evil Wind that's out there. I changed nothing, in those first two shots and the third shot - then fourth shot on the twin target - this shiit isn't right out here today... I knew right then, it was gonna be a great shooting day... Edited July 24, 2022 by 98Z5V Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt.Cross Posted July 24, 2022 Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 I love wind, it makes everyone suck in equal measure... 😅 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted July 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 4 minutes ago, Matt.Cross said: I love wind, it makes everyone suck in equal measure... 😅 It made some of the "regularly Great guys" suck even worse today, and we whipped a BUNCH of them at this match. I guess we shoot wind better - because we always have wind at the SDTF? Wind sucks, but it makes you better, just to get out there and really shoot it. We've done that, here, and all you that have been out here have done it, too. It's not always "pristine course conditions." Sometimes, it's just a big bag of shiit, that you have to deal with. I was shocked by the overall results, when the came out, seeing some of the placements overall. Truly shocked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBMatt Posted July 24, 2022 Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 15 minutes ago, 98Z5V said: Shiit, it's 290 yards - it's not gonna be that bad, right? That wind was changing directions so fast, it was different for almost every shooter. What the wind was 5 minutes ago is not what the wind is now. Keeps ya on your toes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted July 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 This match is shot across 3 biggish canyons, overall. We've had wind before, but nothing major, just a little wind. Might blow your shot off a little left, right, high, low... Today, we had MAJOR WIND, across all 3 of those canyons, and it fucked alot of people up, pretty bad. I think we came out pretty well on the good side, all things considered. In a nutshell, with what we were facing, we were ready for it, and SLAYED IT... Kinda... Compared to the other really good guys... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sketch Posted July 24, 2022 Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 Wow. good to know details. Do you guys shoot year round? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBMatt Posted July 24, 2022 Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 (edited) 10 minutes ago, 98Z5V said: and we whipped a BUNCH of them at this match. @98Z5V is one of the better wind callers/shooters that I know. I'm always impressed when he makes first round impacts in less than ideal conditions. Now if only we could get him to do it FASTER... He had 1 stage today where he only had 1 miss to clean the stage. Saving ammo. That was damn impressive. Edited July 24, 2022 by JBMatt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted July 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 Just now, sketch said: Wow. good to know details. Do you guys shoot year round? We live in AZ, bro. What kind of question is that? In the summer, it's hawt as fuk, so we can only shoot early in the morning, or overnight on a night shoot. You know this, Roman. I think you've been gone too long, and need to move closer, and get reindoctrinated... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBMatt Posted July 24, 2022 Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 2 minutes ago, 98Z5V said: We live in AZ, bro. What kind of question is that? @sketch We don't have to shovel sunshine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted July 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 2 minutes ago, JBMatt said: Now if only we could get him to do it FASTER... I make deliberate shots. Damn, homie. I'm trying to get faster. I'll get it, one day. I laughed today when I was on the NEXT TO LAST target, and missed it, then immediately hit that biotch, and hit the last one - I heard the "GROAN" from those guys when it hit dirt... "YOU HAD IT, MAN, AND DROPPED ONE SHOT!!!"... Hey, fuk, all day long I'll take that, and not complain - over a 8 or 10 or 12 shot string, or whatever that one was... I used an extra round... I'm in on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted July 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 ^^^ That was a lucky stage for me, by the way. I was on fire, but it was lucky fire... I'll still take it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBMatt Posted July 24, 2022 Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 1 minute ago, 98Z5V said: I was on fire, but it was lucky fire... I'd rather be lucky than good any day of the week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt.Cross Posted July 24, 2022 Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 On 7/24/2022 at 12:00 AM, 98Z5V said: It made some of the "regularly Great guys" suck even worse today, and we whipped a BUNCH of them at this match. I guess we shoot wind better - because we always have wind at the SDTF? Wind sucks, but it makes you better, just to get out there and really shoot it. We've done that, here, and all you that have been out here have done it, too. It's not always "pristine course conditions." Sometimes, it's just a big bag of shiit, that you have to deal with. I was shocked by the overall results, when the came out, seeing some of the placements overall. Truly shocked. I was thinking of when I had the MA-TEN at the 1k @ Poverty Tank, we're out there shooting, the old Vortex isn't showing me any splash, and the wind was going 30mph in whatever direction won the coin toss. Good times! A bad day on the range beats a great day in the office hands down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted July 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 2 minutes ago, Matt.Cross said: was thinking of when I had the MA-TEN at the 1k @ Poverty Tank, we're out there shooting, the old Vortex isn't showing me any splash, and the wind was going 30mph in whatever direction won the coin toss. We did that with 5.56 guns, too, at 850. Got out there, set up, and the wind kicked to 14.9mph, full value, left to right. RIGHT when we set up, and it stayed up, constant 14.9mph. Leave, pack uip, go home, because it's gonna suck today? No way - let's figure this out. 75gr Mk262 clone load from a Mk12 Mod 1, 850 yards, full value wind at 14.9mph... equals 5.75 mils of wind hold. we stayed in it, and figured it out. First call was "What the frick are you shooting at?!!? that was 50 yards OFF!!!" Okay, let's figure it, and make this work - no better training day than that right there - unless we don't hit it... so Let's hit it... somehow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DNP Posted July 24, 2022 Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 18 minutes ago, JBMatt said: @sketch We don't have to shovel sunshine! And even if you did, it’s a dry sunshine….so that’s a lot better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted July 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 5 minutes ago, 98Z5V said: "What the frick are you shooting at?!!? that was 50 yards OFF!!!" For those of you that DON'T know, this is what you hear when @Matt.Cross is your spotter, and you're WAY off... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted July 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 (edited) I'll post these in the order that we have to shoot them, every month. we sign up Squad 4, so we shoot this course in order of 4, 5, 1, 2, 3. I'll list the stages now in the order that we have to shoot them. 4 and 5 sucked this month - longest distance, from the highest positions on the hill, and the most impact from the biotch-wind that we had. Click 'em ^^^ they get bigger, so keep clicking them until you can read it all. Most times, you click them 3 times, and they're big enough to read... Edited July 24, 2022 by 98Z5V Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt.Cross Posted July 24, 2022 Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 On 7/24/2022 at 12:34 AM, 98Z5V said: For those of you that DON'T know, this is what you hear when @Matt.Cross is your spotter, and you're WAY off... In my defense, I was somewhat taken aback that anything environmental could account for a miss on that scale given your shooting talent.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted July 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 4 minutes ago, Matt.Cross said: In my defense, I was somewhat taken aback that anything environmental could account for a miss on that scale given your shooting talent.... That WAS WAY off... but that wind WAS kinda vicious that day... We were purely in "experimental mode" with that stuff... What's wind over 12mph?... That the - wind... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt.Cross Posted July 24, 2022 Report Share Posted July 24, 2022 On 7/24/2022 at 1:09 AM, 98Z5V said: That WAS WAY off... but that wind WAS kinda vicious that day... We were purely in "experimental mode" with that stuff... What's wind over 12mph?... That the - wind... That was good stuff though, as soon as I knew how much I was missing by I got a few on target. Now that my pride has recovered somewhat, I'm a bit more excited these days about shooting in difficult wind conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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