My first 500 yard Bench F class match
So they had the grand opening 500 yard match at Towanda P.A. It was about 90 F. and very little wind.  But here is the kicker,, NO PIT'S! The sighter target was to the left of the score targets and was white so you could see your bullet holes. Some couldn't see their holes in the white sighter but I could see my 6mm holes with my NF NXS 8-32X. When you went for record target's no one could see their bullet holes in the official black target including me,, except if I cut a white line on the target. I didn't do well on the first relay, I was grouping to the left of the bull and lost a lot of points but they were in the 9 ring luckly. I had 7 in a 2 inch group though on the last 10 shot string of the fist relay when I cut the line on the 9 ring I could see that I was most likely to the left so I corrected and got the last 3 in the 10 ring off to the right. When the target's came back I knew I'd have to adjust to the left a whisker. On the last relay of 20 rounds, I was looking good on the sighting target and I went for score, I saw that I cut an X ring line and kept shooting. I was down to 5 rounds left when I dropped a shell,, It was so hot that when I got the round picked up it must have had my wet sweat on it because when I fired it I got a sticky bolt. Upon chambering the next round the bolt felt gritty. I fired it with no issue and removed the bolt and found that one of the lugs had a minor gall spot. I was nervous to fire the rest but I kept going and the bolt started to fell smoother. The 7rifle was as hot as it has ever been, prolly would have burn back of hand if held there more than 3 sec. Low and behold when they brought the targets back I shot a clean 200-14X for the last relay, I ended up 3rd place winning a trophy and hat. I ended up lapping the bolt head into the action with 220 grit last night and worked on it this morning polishing with JB. I removed the barrel so the action can be cleaned real good and I will take apart the bolt and clean as well.I learned to bring more sighter round's next time so I can check my POI once in a while. I am still using the 6BR EABCO accuracy barrel with a long action. The barrel is still hammering , the day before I shot a clean match at 300 yards with 24 X's but they use white score target's so it's a lot easier. But I got beat by a top shooter and friend who shot 38 X's out of 40! It felt real good shooting a clean relay at 500 yards.
