As perceived by Kelly Bachand, Team Sinclair Shooter, US Palma Team shooter, US Under 25 Rifle team coach.

I shot MT Guns’ Barnard .308 bolt action rifle with a Kreiger barrel, and sights by Warner and Stallings Machine.  The load used was Sierra 2156 155 grain palma bullets in Lapua brass with Varget gun powder and Federal 210M primers seated 20 thousandths off the lands.

Day 1: Today was a team match with portions shot at 300, 500, 600, and 900 yards.  In the team matches I coached the team by making wind calls for each shot and making the adjustments on the rifles as each shooter took his/her shots on our target.  I spent the whole day looking at flags, mirage, and anything else that I thought would help me understand what the wind down range was doing.  In the morning the conditions were very calm, it was great for confirming and checking rifle zeros.  As we finished the shorter ranges the wind started to pick up, most notably at the 600 yard line.  Many times the mirage and flags did not match.  What I mean by this is the mirage I could see in my scope was showing left to right wind while the wind flags were showing right to left wind.  This indicates layers in the wind as the elevation on the range increases, and it’s a condition many people try their best to avoid shooting in.  After all, how can one decide which indicator of the wind to believe?  I found that in cases like this the flags were telling the truth and could be used, but it still was always uncomfortable to be sending shots down range in such a mystical wind condition.  At the 900 yard line the mirage and flags still had disagreements and I found the flags accurately showed increases/decreases in velocity and angle changes.  In order to catch angle changes using the flags I always like to find a flag that is blowing directly towards or away from me.  Even very small angle changes can be observed if good mental notes are made about a flag like this.  At the end of day one I felt I had a great refresher course on wind reading at the NRA Whittington Center’s 1000 yard range.

Day 2: Today was a team match with portions shot as 300, 500, 600, and 1000 yards.  Again, I coached the Under 25 US Rifle Team.  Conditions were very similar to the first day with very calm or negligible winds during the 300 and 500 yard stages.  Winds picked up in velocity as the day progressed and I used the lessons learned from Day 1 to keep my team in the center.  Notably, at the 1000 yard line, I was able to see and anticipate the changes in the wind very accurately.  Another team competing in the team match was assembled for US Palma team members and was coached by a veteran of the Whittington Center’s winds.  We held our own against them in difficult conditions on this day; a very satisfying result.

Day 3: Today was the first day of individual competition with matches fired at 300, 500, 600, and 900 yards.  Lacking zeros with my new barrel and new sights on this range I hope to use this day to find a good dead wind zero and confirm elevation zeros.  To my chagrin, the wind was blowing at a pretty constant 10-12 mph and varying in angle quickly when we laid down to shoot the 300 yard stage.  I ended the stage with a good score, but lacked a good foothold on my dead wind zero.  One of my favorite things about this match is the fact that the leaders are consistently put together with the idea being that the match should not be decided by who shot on the easy relay, but rather who is the better competitor that week.  With this in mind the match directors squad people together that have done well in the match in the past; they get placed on what I like to call the big-kid-relay.  All the heavy hitters shoot side by side at the same time in the same wind conditions; there is no chance to make excuses.  If during the match one of us on the big-kid-relay should have a total train wreck, we are quickly culled from the herd and replaced.  With this in mind, it was my goal to spend my whole week at nationals on the big-kid-relay.  As the day progressed there was some notable disparity in the wind velocities between relays (i.e. some relays had it easier than others) and a very skilled shooter slipped through the cracks and ended up on one such relay.  The nice man took an early lead.  I found myself in 8^th place overall at the end of this day.

Day 4: Today was the second day of individual competition with matches fired at 300, 500, 600, and 1000 yards.  With more refined zeros I began the day strong and took advantage of calm conditions at 300 and 500 yards.  At the 600 yard line, quickly switching winds got the better of me and many others.  Upon completion of the 600 yard line we broke for lunch and watched as clouds and rain rolled in.  At the 1000 yard line, I shot in pouring rain and rapidly failing visibility but somehow shot a new personal best; I shot a 150-10X out of a possible 150-15X.  This was the second highest score shot today; I was bested by a good friend Bryan Litz who managed a 150-11X!  I have to give some credit here to the new 30mm front sight I got from Stallings Machine.  Among iron sights, that one really lets in a lot of light.  After completing my string in the rain, we paused for a rain delay.  What?!  I just shot in the rain, everyone else should have to!  Well, life isn’t fair and I got over it, we had a rain delay and the rest of the shooters enjoyed shooting in sunshineJ.  I did well today finishing 3^rd overall and moving up to 5^th overall in the aggregate.

Day 5: Today was a team match that got canceled.  We got to the range fighting very heavy rain and low hanging fog.  We waited on the range a few hours hoping it would clear but the match was ultimately canceled as visibility averaged less than 100 yards (and the shortest distance to be fired in the team match was 300 yards).  Getting the team and some shooters from the Marine Corps Rifle Team together, we spent the day confirming that there is absolutely nothing to do in Raton, NM—very long day.

Day 6: Today was the third day of the individual competition with matches fired at 300, 500, 600, and 900 yards; this was essentially a repeat of the first day of individual competition.  The morning started off calm but quickly changed as the range revealed the highest velocity winds we had seen this year.  Shooting alongside the best long range shooters in the country I held my own, but I didn’t make up any more ground.  It seemed as if I simply could not break my shots at the correct moment.  I put corrections for the wind onto my rifle, but while I aimed in on the target, the wind often changed with me unable to track as I aimed in with my iron sights.  Very tough conditions and a reminder that sometimes a little luck helps.  We finished early and added a shortened team match to the end of the day to make up for the match that had been canceled on the day prior.  We shot the team match at the 900 and 1000 yard lines in the highest velocity winds seen so far in the match.  I gave wind adjustments from 2 to 10 minutes of angle (MOA).  The most wonderful feeling when coaching in a team match is anticipating, seeing, and correctly adjusting for a large wind shift when other coaches completely miss it.  I recall one situation in which I had an adjustment of about 6 MOA on the rifle and I saw the wind begin to die down on the far side of the range.  I had my shooter take one last shot before the drop off moved all the way across the range and then we waited for the condition to come back.  We waited for about 4-5 minutes when I realized it was not going to come back in a practical time period so I re-assessed the wind, made an educated guess based on wind I had seen in the days prior and crossed my fingers as I had my shooter send one down range.  When the shot came up almost dead center in the X-ring, my emphatic “Hell Yeah!” was extremely appropriate.  At the end of this day I had also completed some much needed evaluations of the shooters I’ll be traveling to Australia with.

Day 7: Today was the fourth and final day of the individual competition with matches fired at 300, 500, 600, and 1000 yards; this was essentially a repeat of the second day of individual competition.  The day started off great for me with some high scores at the short yard lines, but the wind really started to blow as we moved back.  At the 600 yard line I had more some bad luck with adjusting for the wind and managing to shoot as it changed.  Sometimes this is more easily avoided by waiting for conditions to stabilize, but in individual fullbore matches the shooter must shoot within 45 seconds of the target being ready; one cannot wait around for the wind.  At the 1000 yard line the wind really started to blow, it was quite similar to the conditions I coached in during the team match on the day prior.  These are some tough conditions to shoot in.  Twelve mph constant velocities with gusts up to 15 or 16 mph and drop offs down to almost zero happening very quickly—the wind is very dynamic in Raton.  Some very seasoned shooters (and a few who have the Raton, NM range as their home range) struggled and even missed the target a number of times.  Practicing at the Rattlesnake range in WA is good preparation for this and I did well by avoiding any misses and finished towards the top of the pack.

Results: I finished 4^th in my class (Master class in Fullbore matches), and 13^th overall.  I was hoping for a top 10 or even top 5 finish, but with as much practicing as I’ve done this year, that may not have been a practical goal.  This served as a great warm up for the World Championships in Australia and I was glad to get to spend the time with my team and get more comfortable coaching them.  They developed faith in my wind reading abilities, and I learned I could count on them to break perfect shots.  All in all, this was a great competition and I’m excited to represent the USA in Australia in just a few weeks.

Flag at half mast, the first day of competition was September 11th

Decent visibility at 1000 yards

Fading visibility at 1000 yards

Poor visibility at 1000 yards

Yours Truly

Winds picking up

Traditional “Chairing the winner”, Bryan Litz of Berger Bullets, for his victory lap

Receiving medal for 150-10X score

Young Eagles Team with their medals