Another year has come and gone, and so has another clinic. This year we had four people attend: Robert Ludeen (Slim), David Muellenhoff, Ben Nolan and Richard Mertz (owner of MOA Maximum Handguns) along with the three clinic leaders, Marc Sheehan, Ernie Bishop and Steve Hugel. The weather was a little bit on the cool side at times but it never stopped us from going out and shooting. The wind, well lets just say that it was average for Nebraska, coming from all directions at about 12 mph on the average.
The day before the clinic Steve, Ernie, Ben and I set up the range with targets starting at 200 yards and ending at 1,000 yards. After the set-up we did some shooting to get our own handguns sighted. Midway through the day Slim showed up and we also got him set up to do some shooting. Then back to the house to finish getting the rest of our gear ready to go and meet David in the evening.
On the first day of the clinic we did some things that would be amazing to most people, for instance Ernie shot his XP-100 in 7mm Dakota off a Harris bi-pod at 1,000 yards with a first shot connection (no sighting shots) using Exbal and a Kestrel. For David and Slim it was their first time to shoot past 150 yards so it was quite an accomplishment for them to get started and shoot out to 500 yards.
On the second day Richard Mertz showed up and let every one shoot his MOA handguns, and gave us the down and dirty on them and how they evolved. Ernie shot his own MOA in 6.5x284 out to 1,000 yard along with Slim shooting it at 800 yards. David moved out to 600 yards with his 308 encore and shot some great groups. Ben and Slim shot Ernie’s XP-100 in 250 savage AI at 500 and 550 yards and printed some outstanding groups.
Day three is when we all moved out a little further than the first few days, with everyone shooting successfully at distances between 600 and 1,000 yards. David split a bullet on the angle iron at 660 yards with a 6mm-284 XP-100 and is now a member of the “Angle Iron Club.” On each of the three nights we had mini-seminars talking about precision reloading, shooting from the bench, reticle ranging, and using the ballistic program, Exbal.
Most shooting was done from portable benches designed for prairie dog shooting. The primary rest systems were the Bower Rest System, Harris bi-pods, and few tri-pod front rests.
I would like to thank every one that attended the clinic and hope that their time in Nebraska will be one that they remember for many years to come.