I have been chasing accurate DOPE since I began my PRS journey in February of this year. Finally at a match at Alabama Precision I found it. I RO'd the match and was a allowed a train-up day for free. I was shooting the remaining factory 144 Berger LRHT's I had left. I was able to get a pro to spot me on the 1000+ yard IPSC targets range. Got it centered up and MV calculated. Walked it back and out again. Perfection!
I go to finish off the rounds at the Alpha range at a prone platform position and shoot a diamond plate rack at 630 yards I believe. I joined another shooter that was already down on the platform to my right. He was an assuming guy. Real gent. We had talked with a vendor rep a few minutes before where I got to sound like an expert because she wanted to know out match process at stages. I get down on the platform. I peeled off a few shots on the largest target. Dead center! He took a couple too. He complimented my shooting. I got cocky and started to knock em' dead center of the smallest diamond on the rack. Maybe 3 inches. I can't be sure but it was tiny! Feeling it! I went in how great my ammo was, and how it defeats the wind, and so on and so on.
I decide to ping another shot on the smallest target and bam! Perfect again! I turn to my right and introduce myself to the young man like I was the senior guy. Mind you, I just got DOPE for the first time, never placed at a match and frankly still am a bonafide rookie! He kindly says his name was Ben. It clicked in my head at that moment that I was at a national 2-day match and this guy more than likely was a pro. Within a second or two, it hit me!
I had been "big-timing" Ben Gosset! It was a mix of surprise, embarrassment and humility all in one moment. He did not get offended and could not have been a cooler dude about it. That's the shot I remember...The one where I thought I was baddest,. most best out-shootenest hombre on the range! While popping off to a PRS, AG Cup, world champion!
The 630 yard, smallest diamond shot lesson on don't judge a book by it's cover...especially when you haven't written your first chapter on your own!