Long Range Shooting in Merritt

So me and a couple of pals drove out to Merritt, BC this weekend......that's sort of where I just want to stop writing because it was so demoralizing, lol!  

From our last trip out to Merritt, I got a little over confident in my shooting abilities and my equipment.  Me and a buddy were hitting steel with very little effort at 750m, so we decided to skip 500m, and 750m going straight to 1,000m and 1,330m this trip.  Except this time, there was one very big variable – nature.  

Our range.

100m for zeroing.

1,000m

1,330 (could have gone further but we figured we'd warm up with 1km first then move out further to get that 1 mile shot....needless to say, it didn't happen this day.

The sky was overcast and the temperature was cold, but the weather report indicated that it would warm up by noon.  I was unprepared as the weather in Richmond had been sunny and warm the last few weeks, and had been t-shirt weather for the longest time.  In Merritt, not so much.  I was underdressed, and to top it all off, didn’t sleep particularly well the night before.  We decided to save a couple of bucks by parking at the local Timmy’s instead of getting a motel room or camping out, lol, so we might change that up a bit next time.   

Of course, it had to start raining.  It started off as drizzle, so Jay put his canopy up.  The drizzle eventually turned into straight rain, and the wind of course turned it sideways blowing it right under the canopy.  Our trucks parked behind us provided us with some additional shelter, but by the end of the day, I was soaked, my shooting mat was soaked, my bags were bogged down and all my rifles were wet. 

I managed to duck out intermittently to snap a few photos when the rain broke, and for one brief moment, we thought the sun might come out……but it didn’t.  I completely misjudged the weather and the elements when I was packing my gear.  I figured I’d save room by leaving a lot of my wet/cold weather gear at home, and I didn’t even bother packing a change of clothes.  Next time, I’ll be better prepared.  As my buddy Jay said, better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.  

This vid gives you a little idea of what the wind was like.  There were times where it was worse and at one point, our tent nearly lifted off the ground.  The rain also came and went....mostly came and stayed until we packed up and left, lol!

The last three are a couple of cool videos of me trying to hit the gong at 1,330 meters....no hits, lol!

Jay managed to hit the target stand at 1,330m :)

Anyway, Jay and Colin both managed to make hits at 1,000m, and Jay even got one at 1,330m, but I came away empty handed.  Not a single hit at 1,000m and nothing at 1,330m.  Some occasions I was close, but a miss is a miss.  I think the next time we’re out there, I’ll have a better appreciation for weather, for my personal comfort as well as performance behind the rifle.