How did I get there (my story)

[PedroS]

Slowing down...
Do you remember I had a shooting burnout after the 2023 Worlds, and I decided to slow down?

Yes, indeed I slowed down, but with any type of passion, slowing down only show you the beauty and kindness of life. That great gift given to each of us during this walk on the round planet.
Shooting passion is still on me, but now I see things differently. It's the same as ageing. We start looking at life in a different, unfortunately not always better, way. Me? Oh my, life has been so good to me, including shooting, so let's continue enjoying until I can.

Of course I now dedicate more time to family, still waiting for the 1st grandson/daughter..., to my fishing and flying my F5J gliders. But, my trusty rifles always have a special call... and I always return to them.

Yeas, I slowed down, mainly in practice time (more on that later), but still attending all the matches I can.
So 2025 had on my calendar the 6 National Matches (2x each category), the 2 Portuguese Cup matches, the Triple Crown and the European Champs and World Cup in Finland. That's for shooting, then 6 glider competitions, and still going to the beach to my surfcasting fishing love.

As you can see not a really short agenda. But not went as planned...

Every time life gives with one hand it takes with the other... no different this year, as I lost another dear family member, the fourth year in a row happening. Man, that's not easy, but it's life.

Also a sad shooting event happened...
I, we, as we were three shooting mates, had with our plane tickets heading to the US, to take part in the so anticipated Triple Crown. Finally, I thought, can I meet in person some of my US friends, in particular my mentor, Tony Harper. Paperwork done, hotel and car booked, firearms flying paid, and all the needed logistics in place. So, all was ready for that epic trip, when our airplane company sent a very disturbing message... "we regret, but can't no longer transport firearms to the US". What? "But we have all needed permits, including yours"... "can you do an exception, because you approved our trip?" ... No need to go longer, you know the ending, we stayed in Lisbon, with a huge disappointment, to say the least.
Once I warned Tony, he immediately prompted to find a solution, sharing guns with us from him, and other friends.
We were flattered with such an offer, but, you have to understand, we can't go for such a long journey, with such an anticipated match without our rifles.
Resilience is key in life, don't ask in shooting...
Ok, there's only one thing in life without solution!
So, we are already preparing our 2026 Triple Crown, and we have (on an US company) an agreement to carry firearms to your Country.

Again, we, and I in particular apologize for all the mess this might have cause.

Passing along...

At the beginning of this writing I said I cut practice time. I did, but every time I was/am practicing I do it with even more focus. Remember, it's not quantity it's all about quality. And shooting is no different. One thing I noticed was my comfort zone didn't decrease, meaning I continue to shoot perfect scores without too much difficulty. This meant my subconscious was/is still linked to high scores. That perception is important, because, then, you just have to keep it alive, and your brain will do the rest. C'mon... it doesn't mean you can shoot blinded and still hitting the X, no, of course not, but keeping your confidence levels high, returns a very strong positive feedback, that in turn, allows you to continue to excel.
Mental preparation, mental work. Key, key, key... and always accept what the targets gave you. Never give excuses. Always be humble, no matter what.

And the Nationals started... (to be continued)

 

[PedroS]

During my International Sporter practice sessions, I became less and less impressed with my scores, because it seems at least one or two shots are way off of what they should be. As I have a no excuses approach, realising not much could be done, I ditch my trusted Broughton barrel. It has served me well and goes to a well deserved rest.
I tend to have at least two barrels for each of my rifles, so no big deal, just changed those, gaining place the Shilen one. This has not been used often, as I never found a great ammo to it. But, things could have changed with those new lots arriving shortly after the year's beginning.
Then, armed with 8 different lots, none test center chosed to this particular barrel, but, I thought, "well, let's hope for the best..."

If you know me, or have read my story, you'll know by now, that for the same wind strength, I do prefer the slowest ammo possible. Go figure, year 2025 will show me that there's no rule on stone...
During my testing I did not found a great enough (to my standards) lot. Humm... back home and looked again to my ammo... maybe those three could be the ones. You are already asking, why didn't I brought them in 1s place to the testing? Because they were/are fast. X-Act they may be, but fast.
I know very well Lapua ammo, so I know what to expect in terms of consistency across the rimfire options, being X-Act the most consistent, period. Being consistent doesn't mean producing the smallest group. It means they are very, very, consistent across all lot boxes, being able to reproduce easily the group size. This is important.

So, went to the meteo site and predict a good testing day. A good testing day, is not a windless day, at least for me. It's a day that has a light to medium breeze, but with a constant profile or pattern (we can discuss this later). These days are not easy to find on winter's end, but spring times are very merciful for testing.

Bingo, wow, those are great groups and scores. That X-Act lot is shooting amazing. With fear I read the speed... 330m/s, ufff.... fast.
Happy as I might be, but still concerned how that speed will shoot on more "normal" days. So I pick a couple of random windy days, and the surprise arose again. How can this be? How can this ammo shoot so well with wind? It just contradicts all I have preached until now... In fact, just on despair I test such fast lots, normally not higher than 327m/s. But 330m/s? It reminds me the time when I shot RWS with even faster ammo, but those days are long gone, and barrels were different and longer. I'm always ready to modify my approach if it pays to me. I didn't/don't care anymore as long as the ammo shoots well in calm and windy days. So, shooting mates, maybe what I said before about slower vs faster lots is not so right... One thing for sure, if the ammo shoots well, keep it!

I knew, from the beginning that this year will be the toughest of all, as my competitors are very well prepared and equipped. I pioneered ammo testing in 2016, but now all the Portuguese top shooters, without exception, all test ammo. That's not strange, because Portugal became a rimfire benchrest reference. Not that we have many very high level shooters, but we have 4 or 5 that could be world champions, so, the battle will be fierce for the podium. Not so much in IS, but on LV and RV (jus remember that the world federation changed varmint name to rifle...)

Returning to my slowing down attitude...
In fact, I'm more relaxed facing the matches and having more fun each time I pull the trigger.

Even with climate changing, we continue to have, more or less, seasons, and being IS the 1st to be shot during February and March months, not a great weather is to be expected. In fact we have had the most rainy, and windy, winter for many years...

And the 1st International Sporter match arrived. Weather not great, windy, cold, some light rain, but above all, very twisty wind pattern. As we have 2 matches for each category, counting for National Champ the best of two, maybe some started to postpone their hopes. I don't have this approach, I always try to shoot my best whatever the conditions, never giving up.

In those conditions I lost 1 point per card, finalising with 747 49x clinching the 1st place. I was happy with my score, and above all with the ammo performance in such conditions. Remember with a 330m/s ammo...
The 2nd match I didn't attend because of one of my family members passing away.
But none improved my score, so when the dust settle down, I became the IS National Champ!

To be continued...