Freshly painted little targets.
As the sun starts to creep up in the sky it begins to show a field not full of flowers but of black steel frames and little and I’ll say it again little freshly painted steel hanging targets. The range for the day comprises of eight stages and a total of eighty rounds.
The shooters for the day start to arrive and as they do both the atmosphere and the sense of anticipation steadily increase. The Zero Range opens at 07:30 and everyone is checking zero, velocities and dope making any last minute adjustments and of course catching up with old friends and shooters that have not been seen since the previous shoot.
Amidst the soft pops of the subsonic .22LR rifles and the one sharp crack of the rifle shooting supersonic ammunition there is a different sound. This sound is followed by the sound of a lead impact on steel. The sound in question is a FX Impact PCP air rile that is being shot by Gerhard Slabbert and yes, this air rifle is going head to head with the .22LR shooting a 40gr Slug (same weight as most .22 bullets) at the just over 1050 fps (which is right around where most .22LR rounds are, well the subsonic ones anyway). Gerhard is in my detail and is my first time shooting alongside an air gunner so this is going to be an interesting shoot in more ways than one.
08:00 Range Briefing begins, the two fundamental principles of the day are as always
1. To have fun and enjoy yourself
To do so safely and responsibly
