8/13/2010 - Friday the 13th, Soapstone Basin

We went camping up to Soapstone Basin again with Mom and Paul.  This time we were camping by a meadow where I could do some shooting.  The longest shot that I could find, without shooting across a road, came in at 500 yards.   I set up the target early in the afternoon, and scouted out the shooting position.  After dinner, and just before sundown, when the conditions became optimal for shooting, I set out on my hike to the firing position.  I had given Karen one of the two-way radios before leaving so that I could have her go over and call out my shots.   Once I was in position, I checked the firing data for a lower altitude and different conditions, but I figured it was a good starting point.  It suggested 11 MOA, or 44 clicks of elevation.


With the sun setting behind me, I fired my first two shots, and then called Karen on the radio to go over and check it out.  She indicated that I had put one of the shots into the duct tape and the very top of the target (not shown in the photo), and we deduced that the other must have gone barely over since she couldn't see two distinctly disturbed areas of vegetation around.  I dialed back to only 40 clicks (10 MOA) and produced the 4 shots seen here in this photo for 500 yards with the Savage 308 using Black Hills Match 175 gr.  It was a ton of fun!  I asked Karen on the radio if she could see me, or if she knew exacly where I had been shooting from, and she had no idea where I was!  So I sat up on the small ridge where I had been laying down, and she could still see nothing.  She could not see me till I stood up and waved.  That was pretty cool since she obviously knew the general direction the bullets were coming from.  I had been watching her, giving her directions, and asking her questions, all while she didn't know my firing position.  I was wearing a long sleeve camo shirt, my old Denver Bronco's hat, and the old tan Carhartt pants.  Aside from the hat, my clothing was a pretty good match for the grassy hill I was shooting from.  Elevation was approximately 9200 feet, temp approx. 65 degrees.