E-Postal Match: Shrinking Circles

Out to Eagle Creek Park Pistol Range yesterday to shoot Mr. Completely’s E-Postal Match, hosted by the Conservative UAW Guy.

This month’s match is called “Shrinking Circles”, and as you’ll see from the targets, it’s deceptively difficult. I shot it with my Taurus Tracker, my EAA Bounty Hunter .22 Magnum, and the ubiquitous Walther P22. It was an interesting day to say the least. If the competition is still going on on the 28th, I plan on brining the sooper-sekrit “Mr. Completely Beater” .22 out for its inaugural run.

Anyway, on to the guns. I opened the day with the EAA Bounty Hunter, entered in the Rimfire Iron Sights category. I like to start with that gun because it’s pretty heavy, and of the three I brought with me, it has the worst sights. The irons are just a standard single action set of post and groove, so sometimes accuracy isn’t easy.

However, yesterday I shot the Bounty Hunter pretty well. In fact, I shot it much better than the P22, which I normally shoot very well. Here are my targets for the Bounty Hunter.

Bounty Hunter, 2 Hands

Bounty Hunter, 1 Hand

Although the double on the 1 on the 2 handed target is somewhat embarrassing, I’m rather pleased that I knocked out a 68 on the 1 handed target. All told, I’m pretty pleased with my total score for the Bounty Hunter, 132 points isn’t too bad.

After the .22 Magnum, I switched gears to the Taurus Tracker. I was using .38 Special 130 grain FMJ, which as I discovered later was something of a mistake. Here are the targets for the Tracker.

Taurus Tracker, 2 hands

Taurus Tracker, 1 hand

The two handed target was just straight ugly. I have no idea what was going on there, other than I couldn’t settle down with the Tracker into anything that resembled a consisted groove. The single handed target was much, much better, a factor which I attribute to one part dumb stupid luck, and the other part the fact that I switch to 158 grain LRN Blazer ammo, which the Tracker just LOVED. I couldn’t figure that one out, normally the 130 grain Magtech rounds are a favorite of this gun.

The final gun I brought was the ever-present Walther P22, and I’m disappointed to say that I shot it like crap.

P22, 2 hands

P22, 1 hand

A 56 and a 57 are certainly not going to be good enough to beat Mr. Completely. Missing the 10 and the 11 on the 2 handed target really hurt me, and then after taking two shots to get the 10 on the single-handed target; I made the somewhat dubious decision to try for a lucky shot on the 12/13 area instead of taking the higher percentage shot at the 9.

I have to say, this is probably my favorite match to date, as it in addition to placing emphasis on marksmanship, it also forces me to actually have a strategy when I go into the shoot. If the contest is still running on the 28th, I’m definitely going to get a couple more guns entered and see how they do.