King of 1 & 2 Mile SA trip report.

**pblaauw** · 13-08-2024, 09:43

Earlier this year decided to enter for King of 1 Mile SA, since it was between MBA exams etc. My best mate then entered the King of 2 Mile SA. I would be his spotter, he would be mine (you need teams of two). We also had a small hunting trip planned after the event. I was shooting a 300PRC, he was shooting his 375 Cheytac. It was being held at the same ELR range near Hanover that the Send-It Extreme ELR is held. Guns & Bows took over the organisation of the event, and did quite well. Drew Besonson and Paul Phillips from the USA attended. Paul Phillips is arguably one of the best spotters in the business.

I arrived about 3pm from Centurion, nice 7 hour drive. Went to the zero range and found the rifle 1click mrad high and 10fps slower. Then went off to registration and weigh-in. My rifle had plenty to spare at 10.3kg (KO1M limit is 11.7kg). They published the shooting order, apparently all allocated via a random number generator. I drew position 33 of 43. Next day we headed up the hill to the shooting position. Briefing was done and the shooting started.

The first five shooters had a lovely 5mph breeze come through, then the wind picked up. This place is windy. You can see the De Aar wind turbines from the hill, and if you drive a few km's, you can see the Noupoort wind farm project. They don't build turbines of that sort where there isn't wind. I started in about 18mph wind. My elevation was spot on, but the wind messed me around, and I made some mistakes. I didn't tighten my bipod well enough and it came lose messing me around bigtime. In the end I didn't qualify for the finals.

Next day was King of 2 Miles qualifier. My bud also had the random number generator curse and drew number 28 of 32. The wind on day two was even worse.

He was contending with 24mph winds and had a total of 1 scoring hit. Last year's King of 2 Miles did not have a single scoring hit this year.

With both of us not making the finals, we had an extra day to ourselves, as we were not shooting the match the next day. We phoned the hunting farm, and they allowed us to come through the afternoon to start hunting. We each got a golden wildebeest. This one dressed out to 90.9kg. I shot her in the neck with the trusty old 3006 using a Peregrine VLR4, and she dropped in the spot.

Next day we went back and tried to shoot some Springbok, but they were wild and far. Eventually managed to get five total, with two shot at 500m and one at 551m. For the record, I like shooting plates far off, not animals, but this is what the day gave us. Range, Kestrel, Shoot.
Settled our bills the next day and drove back to Centurion with some decent meat in the trailer.

**Stevin** · 13-08-2024, 10:17

Nice Dude!

At the very least, you got to shoot, hunt and enjoy the scenery in a beautiful part of the country!

I would call that a win.

**Rigby** · 13-08-2024, 11:14

nice write up , well done

**Cardinal** · 13-08-2024, 12:25

Interesting, thanks for posting!

**Pirate** · 13-08-2024, 12:28

Nicely done! Did you perhaps recover the vrg4 or did it pass through?

**pblaauw** · 13-08-2024, 12:54

Originally Posted by Pirate

Nicely done! Did you perhaps recover the vrg4 or did it pass through?

No, it snapped her neck and passed through, leaving a R5 coin size exit hole. Dropped on the spot. When we loaded the golden, you could hear the bones crack in the neck.

**MohamedD** · 13-08-2024, 13:49

Well done, great write up and it looks like you had a fun and awesome trip.

**oafpatroll** · 13-08-2024, 14:07

Lekker write up thanks. Congrats on the hunt result. Every time I read something on long range shooting I'm more grateful I haven't been bitten. It sounds ferociously pension fund impairing.