ESSENTIAL GEAR
By les voth
A couple of years ago I drove to Ft. Pierre, South Dakota to RO a two day National Qualifier PRS match. As an RO I was going to be able to plink at some of the steel on Friday, then put my rifle away and mind my business - RO - for Saturday and Sunday.
On Friday I eagerly drug my rifle and gear to where I thought I wouldn’t get in the way of the real shooters, picked a sporty 432 yard target, and made some impacts. Soon there was another fellow beside me. His rifle started barking as only a GT can/does, but no returning sound of bullets hitting steel came bouncing back across the prairie.
Jack? I don’t remember his name. Jack was brand new with his first PRS build. Impact action, Foundation stock, Leupold Mark 5. All the right stuff. But no impacts.
Jack asked if I could help, so I asked where his bipod and bag were. He didn’t have either. So I put my Accu Tac bipod on his rifle, used my bag, and got him on the 432 yard steel off a spool. He killed that sporty target fifty times before he was done!
When Jack first arrived he was trying to shoot the steel without the bipod and bag, just balancing it off his backpack. With the bipod and bag he had zero problem hitting the 432, and others, too.
Later that day, I saw Jack walking out of Nedved’s trailer with an armload of gear - Armageddon Schmedium and single pull Ckye-Pod among his newfound treasures.
Could an experienced PRS shooter have smacked the paint off the steel at 432 by shooting off a backpack? Absolutely! Would he have chosen to, given the option of a bipod and bag? Na, probably not.
With a bipod and rear bag most situations can be overcome. Jack realized that on his first outing with his new rifle.