19-20 July 2024, Helber 2 mile shoot

[big5ifty]

Details to follow as they become available.

Hosted at Heeltevreede.

Google Maps pin

[big5ifty]

Range layout.

[big5ifty]

Well organised, well run, challenging, enjoyable and educational shoot.

The level of shooting talent is awe inspiring to watch.

Even though it was a competition, everybody has a lot of patience with newbies like myself, and are happy to give useful pointers on the line.

Well worth it.

[oafpatroll]

I've never been to a shooting event or competition of any sort where the overwhelming majority of participants weren't friendly and generous with help and guidance.

I've made hits on 200mm gongs at 500m with a mates rifle that had glass on it worth more than all my guns together. That made me feel like a tier one, underpants on the outside ninja operator. The idea of 2 miles makes my head spin. Can't comprehend how difficult that must be.

[big5ifty]

It's eye-opening. At one point in the day, the flag at the two mile target was not moving. At 2900, it was strong right to left. The flag at 2600 was gently left to right. The flag at 1400 said the wind was blowing hard left to right. Elevation difference between flags was around 150 meters.

The 2 mile stage was with squads taking turns. Each squad had a different wind condition. I heard one shooter saying "daai wind is voodoo".

I saw a lot of shooters making the same mistake when calling impacts that appear in the spotting scope to be just below the target, but behind it. "Net onder deur". No, it not net onder deur, it's over the top, because at ELR range the bullet is falling like a potato from the sky, and half a mil too high drops it a few meters behind the target going just over the top.

Glass quality is most important, rather better glass and less magnification.

With my scope, I had to use holdover on the 2900, my magnification was just under 10x so I could use the whole reticle. I hit that plate on the practice day before, but not on the match day.

I was spotting using a Celestron 20x binocular with 80mm lenses. Good lenses, not the best glass money can buy, but easy to see the impact marks on the 2900 plate, and little puffs of dust where the bullets dropped near the target at two mile.