100 Straight!!!!
Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 3:46 pm
I reached for the snooze button on my alarm clock as fast as I could when the buzzer sounded at 5 o'clock yesterday morning, hoping my wife wouldn't wake up. For a brief moment, I considered shutting the alarm off entirely and going back to sleep.
I'm glad I didn't.
I got up, got dressed, let the dogs out and started on the 2 1/2-hour drive to El Dorado, Calif. for the second day of a Pacific International Trapshooting Association meet. I got there and proceeded to break 100 straight targets in the 16-yard (singles) event!
This really came out of the blue, as I'd never even earned a 50-straight patch before. I once broke 62 consecutive targets in practice, but they were spread across three rounds. My high score in competition prior to yesterday was a 93.
Honestly, when I was shooting them, it felt like it was the easiest thing I'd ever done in my life. I'd just call "pull" and focus on the target, and the ol' TriStar TT-15 DT would somehow just get itself pointed in the right place and I'd pop the trigger. There were no chips or near-misses – every one of them was splattered good.
After I ran the first 25, I was like, "Okay, this was a worthwhile trip." After the next 25, it was, "Wow, now I finally get a 50 patch!" When I got to 75, I was completely zoned out, but still fully conscious and aware of what was going on. I figured I might as well finish this thing off.
Try as I might, I can't keep myself from counting – it just comes naturally. I knew when I'd broken 63 straight for my new personal record and I knew when I'd gotten to 94 for a new competition high.
On the last post for the final five targets, I was determined not to change my rhythm; I was not going to purposefully slow way down and ice myself. When the last one was pulverized, it felt like I was on one of those amusement park rides where you're taken way up high in a basket, and then the bottom seemingly falls out. The guy on my left stepped over to shake my hand and all I could say was, "I can't believe I just did that."
One of the PITA directors was a couple of squads behind me and when he finished up and got wind of my score, he made me hand over my White Flyer baseball cap. Then he put a full water bottle in it and secured it with a rubber band and had me come out to the 27-yard line on the center trap. Seven or eight other guys lined up to the right with their guns and the director told me to launch the hat on a high arc out in front of them. The results can be seen below – what a thrill that was!
I really don't have anything to compare this accomplishment to. I was pumped the first time I broke 80 on a regulation golf course, but it was far from a perfect score and multiple people certainly bettered it on that same day. I also made a hole-in-one once, but that was just one lucky shot, and it didn't even go where I aimed it – I bounced the ball off a greenside embankment and it rolled into the hole at a 90-degree angle from where I was standing on the tee box. Maybe bowling a 300 game would be close, but the best I've ever done in that game is a 235 or something in that range.
There was no luck involved with what occurred yesterday and for one weekend, I was better than anybody there, as I was the only person to shoot 100 on either day.
This may never happen to me again. I talked to a guy there who said he's got more than 30 99s and zero 100s. At least I've done it once.
I might type out a long testimonial and sent it to TriStar. Maybe they'll send me another gun I can use if mine ever breaks down. If it falls apart into 50 different pieces the next time I take it out of the case, so be it. It helped me achieve this high I'm on right now, the the money I spent for it will have been entirely worthwhile.
I'm glad I didn't.
I got up, got dressed, let the dogs out and started on the 2 1/2-hour drive to El Dorado, Calif. for the second day of a Pacific International Trapshooting Association meet. I got there and proceeded to break 100 straight targets in the 16-yard (singles) event!
This really came out of the blue, as I'd never even earned a 50-straight patch before. I once broke 62 consecutive targets in practice, but they were spread across three rounds. My high score in competition prior to yesterday was a 93.
Honestly, when I was shooting them, it felt like it was the easiest thing I'd ever done in my life. I'd just call "pull" and focus on the target, and the ol' TriStar TT-15 DT would somehow just get itself pointed in the right place and I'd pop the trigger. There were no chips or near-misses – every one of them was splattered good.
After I ran the first 25, I was like, "Okay, this was a worthwhile trip." After the next 25, it was, "Wow, now I finally get a 50 patch!" When I got to 75, I was completely zoned out, but still fully conscious and aware of what was going on. I figured I might as well finish this thing off.
Try as I might, I can't keep myself from counting – it just comes naturally. I knew when I'd broken 63 straight for my new personal record and I knew when I'd gotten to 94 for a new competition high.
On the last post for the final five targets, I was determined not to change my rhythm; I was not going to purposefully slow way down and ice myself. When the last one was pulverized, it felt like I was on one of those amusement park rides where you're taken way up high in a basket, and then the bottom seemingly falls out. The guy on my left stepped over to shake my hand and all I could say was, "I can't believe I just did that."
One of the PITA directors was a couple of squads behind me and when he finished up and got wind of my score, he made me hand over my White Flyer baseball cap. Then he put a full water bottle in it and secured it with a rubber band and had me come out to the 27-yard line on the center trap. Seven or eight other guys lined up to the right with their guns and the director told me to launch the hat on a high arc out in front of them. The results can be seen below – what a thrill that was!
I really don't have anything to compare this accomplishment to. I was pumped the first time I broke 80 on a regulation golf course, but it was far from a perfect score and multiple people certainly bettered it on that same day. I also made a hole-in-one once, but that was just one lucky shot, and it didn't even go where I aimed it – I bounced the ball off a greenside embankment and it rolled into the hole at a 90-degree angle from where I was standing on the tee box. Maybe bowling a 300 game would be close, but the best I've ever done in that game is a 235 or something in that range.
There was no luck involved with what occurred yesterday and for one weekend, I was better than anybody there, as I was the only person to shoot 100 on either day.
This may never happen to me again. I talked to a guy there who said he's got more than 30 99s and zero 100s. At least I've done it once.
I might type out a long testimonial and sent it to TriStar. Maybe they'll send me another gun I can use if mine ever breaks down. If it falls apart into 50 different pieces the next time I take it out of the case, so be it. It helped me achieve this high I'm on right now, the the money I spent for it will have been entirely worthwhile.
