Robin Hood 300 State Championship

    In April, I shoot the 300 State Championship at Plantation. I won high junior for the past two years, and I wanted to win the whole thing this year. I didn't reach my goal, but I was able to defend my title. I won high junior, high woman, and placed 3rd overall. I was a little bit disappointed at first, but the shooters that placed 1st and 2nd are very talented and experienced.

Out of 800 points, I shot a 798-49X's. I had two clean strings, and dropped 1 point each on the other two. The wind was pretty tricky, so I am happy with my score.

Machias - Another win =)

I know that this match was quite a while ago, but I still want to post about it. I have just been really busy with school and track practice.

   I shot my 6-BRX at 500 yards, my first match with it. I was very happy to finally shoot my 6-BRX at a match, I had only shot it at Custer. I shot another 600/600, so two clean days in a row. Only this time, I had 40 X's, not 39. There weren't a lot of people there, I was a little disappointed. But, I won the match and had a great time shooting.



   There was supposed to be a match at Cascade on the 17th. When I arrived it was snowing, and was supposed to snow all day. The match was sadly cancelled, but there were a few shooters that drove for quite a while to get there and wanted to shoot. It took me 2 1/2 hours to get there. They let us shoot as a practice, so we didn't drive all that way for nothing. I shot two strings of ten shots and two sighters. Even in the snow, I could see fine. The target was a little bit hard to see, but I kept all my shots in the 10 and X ring. I didn't shoot all of my ammo, because I wanted to save it for my next match at Plantation, and there wasn't any wind so I wasn't getting any wind reading practice.

Wes Hall Memorial

   With Winning In Mind sat open on the table as I ate breakfast. I thought it would be a good idea to read it before the match at Plantation that morning. As I read, I pictured myself winning the match. In my head, I already had.

  

   I walked up to the shooting line thinking about what I read in the book, 'It's impossible to think about something positive, when you're thinking about something negative'. I only thought about making perfect shots, one shot at a time. After every shot, I told myself that that shot was gone, and my next shot is going to be a center X. I shot my very first 600/600 that day, winning the match in the process. I had the only clean score (600/600) for the match rifle shooters. My X count wasn't too bad, I had 39. I didn't have the highest X count, but points come before X's.

   I was shooting my .308, not the 6 BRX. I hadn't shot with iron sights for a little while, so I was a little nervous. When I was shooting the 6 BRX for test loads and practice, I was using a scope. I ordered a sight base for the 6 BRX, so I can move my Right Sight easily from one gun to the next. Now, I just have to do more load testing with the irons. My dad and I already found a pretty good load, so I'm going to shoot it with iron sights and see how it goes.

Wes Hall Memerial 1-28-12

It's my new 6 BRX!

The brass on the right is what
it looks like after I fired it.

   Yeah, you heard me. It may not be a 6.5-.284, but it's half way there, without the recoil of course. I'm pretty excited to start shooting this.
 
 An old friend of mine, a shooter, gave me a 6 BRX (with a Krieger barrel) on a Barnard action and a Nightforce scope. He told me he was proud of me, and wanted to see me succeed, and he would do anything to help.

  My dad and I went out to the range the other day (yes, in the snow), to blow out the cases. See the pic of the cases at right? We loaded normal 6 BR loads, and shot them in the 6 BRX action. I wasn't loading each case the same, some had about a 1/2 grain difference. My group was pretty tight, about 20 shots inside of a dime. I can't wait until I do load testing! It's going to be DEADLY!
 
 I will be able to shoot the 6 BRX for long range too. In Oregon, there is a Palma match, then an Any-Any match at 1,000 yards. So, I can shoot my .308 for the Palma, then shoot the 6 BRX for the Any-Any match with the Nightforce scope.

  I won't be able to shoot it at Plantation on the 28th, but next month there are a couple matches. I also have to get another Right Sight. I can't just swap my front sight for different matches. So, I have two barrelled actions now. It's hard to decide which one to shoot with all the time now. Plus, I'm using the same stock for both the .308 and the 6 BRX, so I don't have to get used to two different rifles. I just swap barrelled actions. My main focus is still my .308, the 6 BRX is for fun, and Any-Any matches. But hey, if this shoots better than a .308 in the wind like the numbers say it will, I may be tempted to shoot the Wimbledon Cup (Any-Any) at Camp Perry this year. We'll find out soon!



 

    I wasn't going to shoot Custer's (2nd) Annual New Year's match because I was sick. When I decided to anyway, my dad was really surprised. It was an XTC match. I wanted to shoot my .308 bolt gun, but that would be a little hard to shoot for the rapid fire strings =). There were eight juniors and four adults at that match. My dad shot this match with me. We had a really good time. Now he realises how I busy I am at matches, you don't have a lot of free time. I placed 2nd, behind Luke Rettmer. He shot really good, I'm sure he's happy with his new service rifle that he bought!
   My dad put my Benchmark barrel back on my .308, and I did some load testing. I shot some pretty good groups. I went out and tested two of the loads again, so I could make a choice of which load I'm going to use.
   The next match I'm going to is on the 28th at Plantation. It's been quite a while since I've shot there, and I'm looking forward to it. I really like shooting there.
   My dad has done more sanding and finishing on my stock (no, it wasn't all the way finished for Australia). It is really shiny, and very pretty! I am so happy with how it looks. It has to sit and dry until I shoot at Plantation. After the match, my dad will probably do more wet sanding and finishing, because I won't have another match for a couple weeks, and thats how long it has to dry. I don't shoot quite as much in the winter, as I do in the spring-fall. It's the only time that my stock has time to dry!
  
  
  
  

  Well, it's been quite a while since I've posted hasn't it? I guess I just took a little break. I have shot two matches since I've gotten back from Australia - both at Machias.

  On November 12th, I shot my 6BR in F-Class. I wanted to shoot my 6BR because I rarely get to shoot it. Plus, F-Class is really fun, and I used to shoot my .223 F-Class 'back in the day' when I started shooting in competitions. It was very fun to shoot something different, since I was just shooting my match rifle for 3 weeks in Australia.

  Anyway, I had a very good match. I shot my very first 600, with 45 X's! My 6BR was for sale, but I'm rethinking that right about now =). It is so much fun to shoot it, I don't know if I'll be able to sell it!

  Today, I shot another match at Machias, but with my match rifle. I only dropped 2 points for the day,(in my first string,) with a 198-10X. I had a 200-8X, and a 200-9X for my second and third strings. It was a very cold day, 24 degrees in the morning! It got up to about 35 degrees though. My fingers were so cold when I was shooting! It was hard to break perfect shots, since my fingers were frozen =). I didn't have as many points or X's as I wanted, but I haven't shot match rifle (in the cold) since January - February. A 598/600 isn't too bad, but I did learn a few things today, and that's always a plus =).

  We shot two U25 team matches in Australia, the Australia match (Australia's Long Range National Championships), and the U25 World Long Range Championships. We had two USA U25 teams competing:

USA Young Eagles Red:
Coach: Kyle Liebetrau
Captain: Andy Doney
Shooters: Trevor Massey, Waylon Burbach, Josh Lehn, Brianna Rachinski, Michael Storer

USA Young Eagles Blue:
Coach: Kelly Bachand
Captain: Vikki Gaddie
Shooters: Abraham Kamerman, Jenn Nyberg, Kyle Doney,
Brian Landwher, Emily Windmassinger

  USA Young Eagles Red won gold in both U25 team matches! In the Australia match, USA Young Eagles Blue placed 3rd. In the World Long Range Championship, USA Young Eagles Blue won silver.

  Here are a few collages from Australia. The first two are from the team & individual matches. The last two are from our 3 days off shooting. We went to Stradbroke Is., the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the Australia Zoo, and the Sunshine Coast. At the Koala Sanctuary, I got to hold a koala! It was really cool! I also held a huge snake! I don't remember what kind it was, either a scrub python or an olive python. Either way, it was still really cool! At both the Koala Sanctuary and the Australia Zoo, I fed kangaroos and wallabys! They are so cute!

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Sunshine Coast & North Stradbroke Is.
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Australia Zoo & Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
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Camp Perry

   I went to Camp Perry this year with the goal to win the title of 2011 Junior National Champion. For weeks, I've been mentally preparing to win. I knew it was a big goal, but I was determined to make it.



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   On the first day of individual shooting, we shot two 20 shot matches at 1,000 yards. The wind wasn't too bad, but it was kinda switchy. After day one, I was in the lead for high junior by 5 points. The second day, we shot one 20 shot match at 1,000 yards. Everybody was shooting really good, I had some really tough competition! They only pushed  me to shoot better. I was very focused on achieving my goal, because once I set a goal, I expect myself to accomplish it. After the second day, I had a 9 point lead. The next day, I had an 11 point lead. Now, the only individual match left was the palma. I shot a 443/450. Waylon Burbach, who was right behind me for Junior National Champion, beat me in the plama with a 444/450. He did really good, and won high junior for the palma! I got high junior for the overall, and that was my goal. Like I said earlier, there was tough competition for high junior! I am the 2011 Junior National Champion. I achieved my goal!
   On day one, a couple of the juniors were on a bad relay. In every match besides that one, one junior was right behind me (by a point or two), or beat me by a point. All of the juniors were doing really good! I had a really good time shooting with them! I am looking forward to shooting with most of them again in New Mexico for the Spirit of America match in September.

Click on the following link for the overall match results:

2011 National Championship Results

In the results above, I am number 50 in the high master category.



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   On day two, there was a HUGE storm! In four hours, we had roughly 7 inches of rain! I was just finished pulling targets when it started to rain. There, it doesn't just rain like it does in Washington, it downpours! We were supposed to shoot one 20 shot individual match, then a team match. Everybody finished the individual. The team match got cancelled because of the downpour, thunder, and lightning. You couldn't even see the targets it was raining so hard!


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   On the way back from pulling targets, it started to rain harder, I got to see a water spout (pic above, when it was small) on the way back. Thankfully, it didn't touch ground. I ran to find somewhere to get out of the rain, but there was already about 4 inches of water (in about 10 minutes of raining) in the parking lot, so of course I got soaked. When we left the range, there were huge puddles of water, about 6 inches deep, all over the ready line! Some shooting gear was right in the middle of the puddles! Hey Anette, is your gear dry yet? Haha. All of my gear was fine, thankfully nothing got wet.





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In the collage above, the top middle picture is of my team at Perry. L-R: Taylor Grissom, me, Kyle Liebetrau (the coach), Kyle Doney, and Waylon Burbach.

Battle Of Machias

   Goals of the day: have fun, break perfect shots, and shoot a 600/600 with a good X count. I achieved two of those goals on Sunday, but the last one was pretty close, I shot a 599-35X! It was pretty foggy and drizzly for my first two strings of fire, but I shot a 200-10X and a 200-12X. My last string was a 199-13X. it was bright and sunny during my last string, but the wind was a little switchy. All three of those scores broke the 500 yard junior national record of 199-10X. I broke it last year, but the NRA hasn't recognised it yet. Hopefully they'll recognise my 200-12X!
   Usually, the Battle of Machias is after Camp Perry, at the end of August. This year, the match director decided to have it at the end of July instead.
  
   I'm just trying to shoot as much as I can to get ready for Camp Perry in August, Spirit of America in September, and the World Championships in October. One of the shooters was not able to go to the World Championships, and I was the 1st non-traveling alternate, so I was chosen to go. I am traveling as an alternate, but I might get to shoot if someone cannot. I am going to shoot the individuals also, but I'm focusing on the team shooting. The World Championships are held in Brisbane, Australia this year. I am super excited to travel with the Young Eagles. It has been my dream for 2 1/2 years, ever since I started shooting a match rifle.

Cascade match

   On Saturday, I shot an 80 shot match at Cascade (600 yards). I was pretty excited, and mentally prepared to shoot this match. There wasn't any wind, but it did rain. Well, there was a little bit of wind on the last string, but not much. Sadly, I didn't shoot a perfect 800, but I still did good.

  My first and second strings were the same, a 199-11X. On my 9th shot of both strings is where I dropped the point. I didn't know where either of them had come from, but they were both in the same place. I told my dad after I was done shooting, that my 9th shot in my next string was going to be an X. It was, and I ended up with a 200-12X. This was my first clean with my new gun, and my first clean at 600 yards! I also cleaned my last string with 8 X's. I wasn't too happy with my X count, but I can't complain, I shot another clean. I was happy with a 798-42X!

   I am really liking my new gun, it fits WAY better, and the recoil is better. I guess I could just say, everything about this gun is better for me. Every time I shoot it, my new position feels better, and I get more used to how different everything is. I'm still working on keeping my gun in my shoulder to load. If I keep it in for 10 shots at a time, then take it down for a minute, then shoot 10 more shots, I can't see through my spotting scope at the middle-end of my string! The recoil moves me back so far that my scope is about 5 inches too far forward, haha! During the match at Cascade, I was shooting 1-3 shots with the gun in my shoulder.

Lots of matches!

   Right now, I'm trying to shoot as many matches as possible before Camp Perry. I am shooting a practice and a match at Cascade next, so I'm just busy reloading. The match at Cascade is another 80 shot match, which means I'm shooting four strings instead of three, and more practice with my new gun!

   I'm pretty happy about getting to shoot my new gun a whole bunch. I want my position and everything PERFECT for Perry! That's why I decided to shoot lots of matches, and get used to my new position.

    I just shot a match at Machias. This was my second match, and first time shooting 500 yards with my new gun. My position wasn't comfortable, and it wasn't right during my first string. I shot a 193-6X. During that string I learned that the two flags that I was watching lied to me, and that I should trust the mirage. I couldn't really see the mirage, so that's why I used the flags. On my second string, I could see the mirage a little bit better, but not good enough to use it the whole time. I shot a 196-8X. My last string was best, a 198-6X. During this string, I only used the mirage, hmm... I wonder which works better? Mirage! It doesn't lie like the wind flags do. At least I learned something!

   I wasn't too happy with my first string, but hey, I'm still getting used to my new gun. It is WAY different than the one I was shooting, plus my position is different, and I have to remind myself that I'm kinda starting over. New gun, new position, and how I have to load the gun, look through the spotting scope, it's all different now.

   In my Paul Bunyan post, I said that my strings were 146, 147, and 144. But I meant 196, 197, and 194. It was a 60 shot match, with three strings of 20 shots, not three strings of 15 shots. Sorry! I already fixed it a few days ago, but I was just letting you know.

Paul Bunyan 41st Division Regional Championship - 600 Yards



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  I shot my new gun at Paul Bunyan on Saturday. I had a really fun time, even after I dropped 3-6 points in one string. I didn't let it bother me, because I knew that I was able to break perfect shots, and I was just getting used to this gun. The wind was switching faster than I was shooting, so I got caught a few times. I didn't drop any points from me not making a perfect shot, and that felt really good! I was able to keep my gun in my shoulder for most of my shots, but after about 10-15 shots, I couldn't feel my arm at all! Once in a while, I took it out just to rest my arm.

   My first string, I had a 196- 10X. In my first 10 shots, I had a 100- 7X! My last 4-5 shots is where I dropped the points, when the wind really started switching fast. My second string was my best, a 197- 9X. I was really happy, I shot a little bit faster and was better at wind calls. I honestly don't remember what my third string was, but I think it was a 194 with 7 or 8 X's.



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My position feels way better. I'm more straight with the gun, and my recoil is straight back. I am very happy with my new gun, I can't wait until it gets finished. It will be really pretty. As I'm typing this my dad is sanding the stock, and you can see all the characteristics of the wood. It looks nice so far.

New rifle, and last minute match.

   My new gun came on Friday the 24th, and I have been prepping my brand new Lapua brass for it. My dad and  I have been working on my prone position, so I'm more straight with the gun. My new prone position feels great! It still needs some work, but I am very happy with it. I also picked up my new Warner #2 rear sight, that Shiraz (who owns Grizzly) bought for me. I am very excited to shoot with it. On my new gun, I have a Barnard action, a Rightsight front sight, a Warner #2 rear sight, a McGee stock, and a Benchmark barrel, which was given to me by Benchmark Barrels. Thank you Shiraz for the rear sight, and thank you Benchmark for the barrel! I really appreciate your generosity, I love the rear sight and barrel!

   I was shooting it at Custer a few days ago, and I had a thought. Since my shoulders were now practically straight with each other, not my right shoulder a good 5 inches back, maybe I could load my gun with it in my shoulder. I tried it, and I could load my gun with it in my shoulder! I was really happy, because now, since I don't have to take it out my shoulder, my position can stay the same throughout my string! I had 10 rounds left, and I shot all of them without taking the gun out of my shoulder. I couldn't look through my spotting scope, so I had to lower it and move it closer to me. When I looked at my group at the end of my "string" I was very surprised, they were all in the X ring, except one or two shots! This was only my second time shooting the gun, and I haven't done load testing yet! I think this gun is gonna be a shooter!

   Today, I decided to go to a match on Saturday. I have to finish prepping my brass, and do load testing before tomorrow. It will be pretty crazy, but it will be worth it. I am pretty excited to see how I will do with my new gun.

   The stock on my new gun is unfinished, which means that it still had to be sanded down and have the finishing coat put on it. It is an offset, walnut McGee stock. I chose to try the offset stock, because I always get a bruise under my right jaw when I shoot, from having to tilt my head to look through the sights. It also hurt my jaw, because I would either have to shoot with my bottom jaw pushed to the left, or clamped tight so it wouldn't move.  With the offset, it's way more comfortable.

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Custer's Open House

Yesterday, I was shooting at Custer's open house to represent the Custer juniors. I was shooting my match rifle, and helping kids shoot .22s. When I had shot all of my ammo, I walked around and looked at the other shooting disciplines. I shot silhouette, then I tried shooting the Creedmoor position, both with .22s. They were both really fun! I want to try shooting the Creedmoor position again, it was kinda awkward and hard at first. But, it got easier once I fired a few shots.





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When I was done shooting prone, I got up and shot about 10 shots offhand. The gun is pretty heavy, about 12- 14 pounds. It is really fun to shoot offhand, and a lot harder than prone! It's harder because in prone, you have the ground, a sling, and a jacket for support. But in offhand, you are standing, and that makes you not as steady. When you shoot offhand, you don't use a sling. Here is a video of me shooting a couple shots (sorry it's sideways!) :

   There's not much going on right now except reloading for matches. I have the 600 yard State Championship this Saturday at Cascade, and I need to reload 90 rounds. The match is a 80 shot match, so we shoot 4 strings of 20 shots and 2 sighter shots. I really need 88 shots, but I always bring extra, and I have 20 or so rounds left over from Oregon.
   It will be a very long day for me, because Cascade is a 2 1/2 hour drive one way, and it is a long match. I am looking forward to shooting there, well I guess I always look forward to competing, because I love shooting! There's just something about it, I don't know what, but I just love it! I am VERY competitive, so maybe that's why? It's always fun, even when I don't shoot my best, because I'm doing something that I love.



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I just got a new rear sight! My old rear sight had 1/4 by 1/4 adjustments. That means one click on the elevation (up and down) knob moves me 1/4 minute, and one click of windage (left and right) moves me 1/4 minute. Now, on my new one, it is 1/4 by 1/8. My elevation is the same, but now, one click of windage moves me 1/8 minute. Now, I can fine tune my adjustments! I can also adjust the sight, so I can make it have 1/8, 1/4 or 1/2 windage adjustments.

I am getting a new rifle, and that's why I got a new rear sight. I am borrowing a rear sight right now, and I needed to have my own for when my new rifle arrives. I am going to have a Warner #2 rear sight, but I'm not sure when it's going to arrive, so my dad wanted to make sure that I had everything I needed.

Burden Memorial - Long Range Regional

For this match, I didn't shoot the practice day, like I did at Rattlesnake. I already had my zeros (elevation zeros, so I know what to have on for each yard line), so I didn't need to shoot the practice day. On day 1, was the first palma match. I shot ok, but I wasn't mentally in the game. During prep time of every string on the second day, I was getting mentally prepared, and thinking positive stuff (I am a great shooter, I only shoot 10's and X's, I am a great holder/ wind reader, etc.).The second day (the second & last individual palma), I cleaned 800 yards, a 150/150 with 10 X's. That was my first clean at 800 yards in individual shooting! I was very happy with how well the mental management was working so far.

At 900 yards, I shot a 148/150 with 10 X's. I dropped the 2 points from an 8 that I shot because I had too much pressure on the trigger when I wasn't completely ready to take the shot. I was devastated. But right after I took the shot, I took the rifle out of my shoulder, thought a bunch of positive stuff, and got ready to take another shot. I didn't even have to look through my spotting scope to know where my shot was, an 8 at 7:30 is where I called it. I was praying it would be a 9, but hey, now I will be sure I'm ready to shoot before I start applying pressure to my trigger =). At least I had something good to say about my string, I had 10 X's!

I was doing my best to forget the 8, because I didn't want to think about anything negative. Before my last string, which was at 1,000 yards, I cleared my mind of everything negative, and filled it with positive stuff, like my clean at 800 yards. I cleaned the 1,000 yard target for the first time, with a 150/150 with 5X's! I was freaking out, I just shot a clean at 1,000 yards! I was all smiles now, a 448/450 with 25 X's was my personal best. If I hadn't taken that one shot too early at 900 yards, I could have had a 450/450. Then, I would have been the youngest to ever shoot a 450! Just the thought of being so close was good enough for me.

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In the collage above, the purple score card was my clean from 1,000 yards. The pink score card was from my clean at 800 yards.

Rattlesnake

Wow, it was windy over there, I loved it! I was used to adjusting 1/4 - 1/2 minute adjustments, but at "The Snake", I was doing a ton of full rev (3 minutes) adjustments! It was awesome! I got caught quite a few times, but that's normal for Rattlesnake. It really helps my wind reading skills. At ranges around where I live (like Plantation, Machias, and Cascade), you usually have on 1/2 - 3 minutes max. At Rattlesnake, you can have on 18 minutes of wind or even more. In the collage (below), the flags are going crazy fast! Haley was shooting in this relay, and she said that she had on about 18 minutes of wind on! That was the most wind that there was at Rattlesnake this match, and in other relays, some people only had on 4 or 6 minutes of wind on.

Below is the link to the match results:

 Rattlesnake match results

I wasn't really mentally prepared to shoot, so I didn't do my best, but I still did good (for Rattlesnake). At least I had fun, and a great experience. I just wasn't thinking really positive things like I should have, and I hurt my score big time. On Sunday (the last day of the Rattlesnake match), I was a little bit more mentally in the game, and I shot better. I finally realised why I didn't shoot great, and when I went down to Oregon last weekend, I shot way better. This was Natasha, Haley, and Gabby's first long-range (800, 900, and 1,000 yards) match. It was my first long-range match since I shot the Spirit of America match in New Mexico (Sept. 2010).



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For the team match, I was shooting with Haley, Natasha, and Gabby. Our team was called the Fern d'Aliens, because we're all from Ferndale, except Bud our coach. It was our first time shooting together, and Haley, Gabby, and Natasha's first team match. We did good, and had tons of fun!  In the pics below, we're all wearing our Fern d' Aliens sweatshirts. They are really cute! They all say 'Fern d'Aliens Out Of This World' on the back, and our names on the front.
 



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I was going to post a week ago, but I was reloading for the Burden Memorial (Regional) in Oregon. I will post about that when I get the pictures uploaded.







Rattlesnake, Long-Range State Championship

   On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, there is the Long-Range Championship at Rattlesnake. I am really looking forward to shooting there, because it's very windy. Let me re-phrase that, it's VERY windy, the wind switches like there's no tomorrow, and it's the hardest range in North America. That's better, now back to what I was saying. I love to shoot there, simply because of the challenge of reading the wind. People think I'm crazy when I go to a match hoping that it's going to be windy. Most people go to a match hoping for no wind, why? I don't know, ask them. I hope for wind, that way, my wind reading skills improve, and I have more confidence adjusting my sights. Rattlesnake definitely has enough wind, maybe too much, but it's fun to shoot there.

   To the left, is pic from last year at the State Championship there (also, the pic where the title of my blog is, is from Rattlesnake). I'm pretty sure that I was shooting at the 800 yard line. There is NO grass to shoot on, only rocks and volcanic rock. There aren't any wind flags in this pic, but I can assure you that they were going crazy!

  At Rattlesnake, I'm going to be shooting 800, 900, and 1,000 yards, a palma. Friday and Saturday are the individual matches, then Sunday is the team match (also at 800, 900, and 1,000 yards). I'll post about my weekend at the end of the match.

New Brass!

   Haley and I each ordered 500 pieces of new Lapua brass about 2 weeks ago. When I got the heavy package, she came over, and we (with some help from our dads and her brother) sorted it all by weight. When we were done weighing all of it, we divided it in half and each took 500 pieces. It took a while to weigh it, but now we'll have tighter groups. It might not make a huge difference, but it's all worth it.
   Last year when I ordered brass, my dad weighed all of it. It took him four hours! When the brass arrived this time, my dad said that I would have to weigh some of it. Of course I was going to, but I told him I wasn't going to do it by myself! So, the Rettmers came over to help us since 1/2 of it was Haley's.

 

  My dad and I decided that it was time for new brass, when my brass started splitting at Cascade a few weeks ago. During my first string, I only got 8 or so shots off, then on one shot,  my brass didn't come out of my gun. Only the small piece (see pic, the back of the brass on the bottom.) fell out. I called my dad to come over, and he asked what was going on. I showed him the small piece that came out and told him that the rest was stuck in my rifle. Val, one of the people running the match, came over to help. I had to lay in position, while they were trying to get the brass out. It was stuck in there pretty hard! After about 5 minutes of  trying, they finally got it out! Val had some extra ammo that fit in my rifle, so I was able to finish the match. Thanks Val, you saved the day!

Robin Hood 300 yd. State Championship

Saturday was the 300 yard State Championship. I was mentally prepared to go there and shoot great. I didn't have stuff on my mind, and I could feel that I was going to have a good time and shoot good. I was really excited for this match, and I'm very happy with how I did. My first string was a 200-13X. I was pretty happy with that, but I was even happier with my second string, a 200-16X. That is my highest score that I have ever shot. On my third string, I had a 199-11X. I have no clue where the 9 came from, because I didn't pull it, and the wind didn't blow it out! I guess it was just a weird shot... My last string was a 200-14X. So, I ended up winning high junior and 3rd place overall with a 799/800 with 54X's! I got a little trophy too. The X ring on this 300 yard target is 2.85 inches across.

Annette Wachter was the match winner with a 800/800 and 58X's. John Llyod was in 2nd place with a 800/800 and 57X's. I was only 1 point and 4X's behind the match winner!

KVOS Interview

   On March the 30th, Natasha, Gabby, Luke, Haley, and I had an interview at the Plantation rifle range. We were there for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours talking about why we shoot and why we like it. We also did a little bit of shooting. It was fun, but I was a little bit nervous about being recorded. It wasn't that bad, it was actually kind of easy. I just had to pretend that the cameras and bright lights weren't all around me, and that I was just shooting like I normally do. When we were done shooting, they had us walk down through the (wet) grass to get out target. When I came back, my feet were soaking wet! We all shot on the same target, and our group was ok. Haley and I shot match rifle. Natahsa, Gabby, and Luke shot service rifle, and my brother was there so he shot F-Class.
   This interview was by KVOS TV. It has already been shown, and it will be shown again sometime on Monday morning. Here is the link to the video that was made:

http://www.kvos.com/content/experiencenorthwest/story/Washington-State-Junior-Rifle-Club/lHopPpKyzkOh2jJIJpshLg.cspx