Pyramyd Air Cup 2026 - The Journey Begins With A Stutter

[Billm]

Buy your tickets at different times not all at once

They told us that they’re only selling them at the beginning of the banquet this year.

 

[Auto1191]

Well, I crashed and burned. I own it and enjoyed the ride down. I’m pretty much an open book and usually just post what I’m thinking. It has been a great learning experience. I’d definitely do it again. I got some sleep last night. We showed up early and I was able to practice on the bench that I was shooting from on the second round. My rifle is still not right. But, with practice I had a method and it seemed to be working. The winds were tough. I felt like I was going to shoot better than the first round. Then the complacency set in. Elaine told me off because I wasn’t paying attention to the match director. She said I was too busy BSing. The match started and everything was going good. I took my time, shooting a few sighters and then a target. There was 2” of drift at the start. Now with 10 minutes left and more than half of the targets unshot my pellets were hitting 6-7” away in different directions, instead of staying calm and thinking it through, I felt the panic set in. With one minute left I still had targets left. For some reason I decided that not finishing was worse than making my score worse. I wasn’t sure what was happening. Had my rifle gotten worse? I wasn’t sure. I went down and looked at the target and it was worse than I realized. One shot had drifted so far that it resulted in a double shot, striking an adjacent bull = 10 point penalty on an already bad score. Not to the mention the zero for the missed target.
At this point there’s really only two options at this point:
1. Try to protect my ego, blame the gun, the wind, the mud and anything else but me.
2. Admit the obvious, I was in control of the situation and made all of the of the decisions that resulted in the dismal outcome. It was my shooting, my prep and my decision making that had the biggest effect and I was responsible for all of that.
Obviously I accept the second option. I have to admit as it went downhill rapidly, I felt some embarrassment. But, honestly, I can’t wait to come back. This has been a really fun and educational experience. I didn’t really know how to prepare for an event like this, I learned a lot about what is needed now for an event like this.
As I was putting my rifle away I realized the moderator had come unscrewed. I’ve left the rifle in the truck right now, when I get it out I’ll check for clipping. I’m not looking for an excuse, I’m looking for a solution to the weird flyers. If I find clipping I’ll be able to verify if it was the cause of the sudden erratic flyers. If it is the cause, it’s an easy fix and my fault. I either didn’t mount it correctly, as I attached it at the beginning of the practice or I didn’t verify its tightness. Another lesson learned, check the moderator once in a while during the round.

Everyone can sat what they wan't, truth is to be their & give it your all says alot. It truly is a life long experiance. To keep it simple, just get some shooting 25 Target cards & practice in your yard. You say you have windy conditions, all the better! Teach yourself for hold & how to call the wind for shot placement. Always write down the conditions your shooting in each senario. ( Cheat Sheet ) If & when you learn that with practice, you will be amazed @ how well a shooter you will be. I have to say this I was getting anxiety just reading your post, like I was their. If I still owned my .30 cal King in Saber Tactical Chasis all maxed ou, I would of mailed it to you, It was a true Performer. I never messed with the REG, I just tuned it, with the 700 cc bottle for plenty of shots. ONE more thing to be able to tell your STORY like you did is REMARKABLE. A true experiance.. If anyone thinks it would be a walk in the Park guess again. Try shooting 50.5 AEA 935 Fps Maybe buy the Raffle Tickets that would be no STRESS

 

[Billm]

Everyone can sat what they wan't, truth is to be their & give it your all says alot. It truly is a life long experiance. To keep it simple, just get some shooting 25 Target cards & practice in your yard. You say you have windy conditions, all the better! Teach yourself for hold & how to call the wind for shot placement. Always write down the conditions your shooting in each senario. ( Cheat Sheet ) If & when you learn that with practice, you will be amazed @ how well a shooter you will be. I have to say this I was getting anxiety just reading your post, like I was their. If I still owned my .30 cal King in Saber Tactical Chasis all maxed ou, I would have mailed it to you, It was a true Performer. I never messed with the REG, I just tuned it, with the 700 cc bottle for plenty of shots. ONE more thing to be able to tell your STORY like you did is REMARKABLE. A true experiance.. If anyone thinks it would be a walk in the Park guess again. Try shooting 50.5 AEA 935 Fps Maybe buy the Raffle Tickets that would be no STRESS

I think my shooting was ok. It was the lack of preparation and focus that hurt the most. I appreciate the thought. I had a complete stranger to me, that knew Newman offer me the use of a fully tuned and ready to go FX to shoot. I politely declined, but was floored by the generosity. I felt that I should shoot what I brought. I’m just being brutally honest in the hope that anyone reading it might learn something from my mistakes. Yesterday, I didn’t do great, but, I did out shoot a couple of sponsored shooters and was happy with my first event. I got over confident and was not focused. At the end of the round, I refused to go look at the target. My resident keeper, told me that wasn’t happening and reminded me that I needed to go absorb it and own it. I was filling three times per round because of the velocity spread. As we left Elaine suggested that I need to get a new bigger tank - that’s an unexpected bonus LOL.

 

[Solo1]

@Billm hey try to get a couple pics of scores and who made finals

 

[Billm]

@Billm hey try to get a couple pics of scores and who made finals

I’m not there right now I promised Elaine that we would hit some stores that we don’t have. I’ll try to stop back by.

 

[Auto1191]

I’m not there right now I promised Elaine that we would hit some stores that we don’t have. I’ll try to stop back by.

Happy Wife = Happy Life

 

[Auto1191]

When you get Home Sweet Home, get settled in go straight out to 100 yards & see how your Panthera Behaves ? If not responding properly, or acting up , Me personally would send it in for Waranty. This will help you with less stress. If it was my Rifle ( skip FX USA CA) & send it to CAPE FEAR - NEWMAN BUCK ! But that's me. send him your Barrel & even your scope. He would probably test it out to 100 yards to tune it properly. Like I told you before he is an Authorized FX Repair Center.Just trying to help you out. Less time repairing it yourself = more time with your WIFE. How does that SOUND?

 

[BenjeneerJohn]

I had a rough day as well. I only managed a 213 today. Still a good time!

I hope you should stop and check out the Field Target event.

John

 

[Billm]

Here are the score sheets for the benchrest qualifiers. You needed approximately an aggregate score of 450 or better to make the finals. We missed the matches this morning. Heading back over there to try talk to a few people.

 

[Auto1191]

Easier said than done a score of 230 on a card seems to be the magic # to clean house with plenty of room to spare, Like I said Easier SAID Than Done

 

[Billm]

Well, I’m pretty sure I found the out why my rifle turned into a scatter gun yesterday. Again, my fault, I would’ve, could’ve,should’ve checked it.

 

[Billm]

At the banquet. There’s a lot of people here.

 

[Billm]

Winner winner chicken dinner

 

[FL22]

Winner winner chicken dinnerView attachment 22521View attachment 22522

That’s awesome Bill, which caliber is it?

 

[RobbieGio]

Winner winner chicken dinnerView attachment 22521View attachment 22522

Congratulations! That bumpy road wound up at a bit of a nice ending.

 

[PapaT]

Congratulations . That is awesome, but don't have too much fun with it.

 

[Murfdurf82]

I would probably have the same reaction if my rifle went haywire, yet it sounds like you can't beat the experience out there. It's on my list for next year. This is a great thread to read, one of my favorites.
Next time you go you'll be ahead of this I'm sure!

 

[BenjeneerJohn]

That's awesome Bill! I hope you enjoy it!

John

 

[Pumacarl]

And another journey opens before you, congratulations! I'll be very interested following your work on it. That's a very sweet win all by itself!

 

[pan60]

looks like it was sweet times!