Monday, June 29, 2015

Drops

Regular readers know my fondness for the CFDA game, where we shoot wax bullets at steel targets.  I've built a range in my backyard, and simply scrolling down will show plenty of photos of me and the family shooting in the back yard.  My targets are against a board fence, and while the bullets don't penetrate the fence, they are tough on it.  That fence has a lot of divots in it.

Practicing this morning, I couldn't find the target, and I couldn't judge my misses.  Frustrating.  I learned a long time ago that I learn more from my misses (in any shooting discipline) than I do from my hits.  If I hit the target, whether it is a two-foot steel plate at 21 feet, or a nine-inch AR500 target at 300 yards, if I hit it, I did everything right.  We've got to know where we're missing so that we can made adjustments and increase our accuracy.  Knowing about your misses is crucial, and I was getting no education from my misses on that wood fence.

A couple of weeks ago, my metal-working son told me about something called a "drop".  It's cut from the end of a sheet of metal, and is sold as scrap.  So, today I went down to Alexandria Iron, inquiring about "drops".  Sure enough, they had them, in 12 gauge metal.  Perfect.  I bought the three they had, and came home.  Inside of an hour, I had installed them behind one of our targets.

After installation, I added a quick coat of while lithium grease, then strapped on my revolver.  I've got a lot of work to do, but now I can start fine-tuning my draw.  The Southern Territorials is three weeks away.

3 comments:

Old NFO said...

Field contingent fixes... They WORK! :-)

B said...

Called "drops" because that is what drops from the cutter after they cut to size.

You can save BIG bucks if you can use a fab shop's scrap....

Ryan said...

You have me curious about this hobby. It seems like reasonably affordable fun. Can a guy shoot .38/.357 in this game? Obviously from an SA revolver. Spending 4-5 bills on a gun to play with is not too bad but That way I would not add a new caliber which is unpalatable to me.

For pistols I have a solitary .380, 9mmm Glocks and .38/.357 DA revolvers. For rifles 5.56, 7.62x39 and .308. Of course there are a medley of .22lr and 12 gauge firearms in the mix. I cannot really see a situation where I would want to add another caliber. If I move to or buy a cabin in Grizzly country I will buy a DA .44 mag revolver. Otherwise unless I have a massive cash influx and can suddenly afford a 50 BMG I will stick with what I have.