The Beginning of an addiction
I have only being shooting for 15 years approx., mainly foxing under the lamp. I stalk deer, shoot bunnies, foxes and of course targets.
I've been a member of Midlands National Shooting Centre of Ireland (MNSCI) for the last 13 years and have shot and used many calibres of rifle in that time. Most of my shooting was out to 300 yards with 22 hornet's, 223's, 6.5's, 243's and 308's. Then I came across an Accuracy International AE in .308 for sale at a great price. (A review of this rifle shall be available soon). So even though funds were tight I went for it... boy oh boy was I a happy bunny. The rifle came with a S&B 2.5-10X56 zenith riflescope on it, although a great scope, it was a little under powered for what I wanted... Long Range shooting...which I had always yearned to try. The Zenith went up for sale and it wasn't long before that was gone and I had a wad of money in my hand. I now needed to replace it with something with more mag.
The answer came in the form of a Leupold VXlll 8.5-15X50 LR with a varmint hunter reticule. I had used on of these before on my CZ 527 varmint in .223rem and had loved that reticule and the contrast and definition of the sight picture. With the new scope on top and a box of HPS 155gr ammo the 300 yard target was in serious trouble.
In lare January 2012 MNSCI held the first of its Novice shoots. This involved us novices getting a chance to shoot 600 yards, twice the distance I had been shooting, under supervision and instruction from experienced L/R shooters and the Irish F-Class international squad members.
Safety target for elevation was addressed, firing point etiquette and rules, basic set up and body position, wind reading, elevation and windage, plotting and finally butts duty were covered on the day ... oh yes and we all got to shoot 2 + 15 at 600 yards.
Special thanks have to be extended to Kevin and Kieran McEvoy who through their hard work made the open day possible. Kevin was to be a key figure in my learning curve and the development of my shooting ability.