And it absolutely sucked! We had 4 stages. I chose to start on stage 4 to get to shoot before the wind picked up. It was the only stage that had targets past 70 yards. The stage only required a shotgun and rifle.
The day started off terrible, I started with my 870, shooting Winchester super X shells. On the 3rd shot it was really hard to pump the shotgun, 4th shot was the same, only I got it to pump but it ripped the rim off of the shell. Threw the shotgun in a barrel ( I didn't get to engage 8 targets with bird shot and 2 steel at 65 yards with slugs). Switched to the rifle for the 2 close paper targets and 10 steel ranging from 100-375 yards. It started off good with the rifle until I got to the last target, a 12" plate at 375. By this time the barrel was nice and warm and I could not hit the plate, looking back I should have started off on the long shots.
The rest of the day went the same way with the shotgun, I was able to engage 2-4 targets before the extractor would jump the rim, leaving my shotgun useless and 10-15 targets not engaged.
On the last stage someone let me use some federal shells and the shotgun ran great. The only time I had fun was on the last stage when the shotgun worked.
Big lesson learned today, check all equipment with the ammo that I'm going to be using for a match (like I do with my pistols and rifles)
I think I will stick to steel challenge and USPSA matches for a while.
The day started off terrible, I started with my 870, shooting Winchester super X shells. On the 3rd shot it was really hard to pump the shotgun, 4th shot was the same, only I got it to pump but it ripped the rim off of the shell. Threw the shotgun in a barrel ( I didn't get to engage 8 targets with bird shot and 2 steel at 65 yards with slugs). Switched to the rifle for the 2 close paper targets and 10 steel ranging from 100-375 yards. It started off good with the rifle until I got to the last target, a 12" plate at 375. By this time the barrel was nice and warm and I could not hit the plate, looking back I should have started off on the long shots.
The rest of the day went the same way with the shotgun, I was able to engage 2-4 targets before the extractor would jump the rim, leaving my shotgun useless and 10-15 targets not engaged.
On the last stage someone let me use some federal shells and the shotgun ran great. The only time I had fun was on the last stage when the shotgun worked.
Big lesson learned today, check all equipment with the ammo that I'm going to be using for a match (like I do with my pistols and rifles)
I think I will stick to steel challenge and USPSA matches for a while.