"No Excuses 2400": My #1 Excuse

[Telecomtodd]

Soupy's "No Excuses" indoor match in Raleigh was this weekend. Lots of fun.

However, at least one of the shooters and myself had identical problems (and nearly identical scores). This particular indoor range was installed by our local county government, and someone in the design stage insisted that they install a blower system to help expel/exhuast gasses from the line all the way downrange to an uptake vent to the outside. This blower is really a blower - I don't know the CFM rate, but the output vents run the entire length of the facility, and there's four ranges. You can even feel the strong breeze at the end of the 100 meter range! Being indoors, it's very intense. The actual blower itself is installed between lanes 14-16 on the 50 yard Range 2, and women with ponytails or long hair were trying to figure out how to get their hair out of their eyes so they could see downrange!

But being bald myself, that wasn't my problem.

Now - one other thing about this blower system. It pulls in unadulterated, unfiltered, unheated outside air and blows it down the range at this high velocity. If you look at Weather Underground's statistics for Holly Springs, NC for the 8-12 timeframe for Saturday and Sunday, you'd find that the humidity was 98% and condensing. Add the high output of the blower, and you have a forced-induction humidifier! As time went by, every surface downrange was wet.

If you had a metal stock, you were generally OK. If you had a wood stock and right handed, you found that your shots would slowly wander left (opposite for lefthanded shooters). In fact, I ended up moving right 12 1/8th clicks through the first day to keep up with the condition of my stock. Other shooters had identical problems.

While it's common to have to change your sights for wind conditions, I've never had to change my sights for humidity. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I hope it's drier next time!

[Guest]

This was an excellent match. Well run by very smart and dedicated shooters. This indoor range was a challenge! No wind per se but it definately had its own situations. I to had some large adjustments on the first day of shooting, throughout the course of fire.

I had a great time and wish that there would be more matches run here. Thanks to Soupy and the crew and congrats to the winner. For those that missed it, you missed a good one.


Erik