The day at the range was spectacular. It was 72 degrees when we arrived and zero wind.
There was a fairly decent heat mirage starting at 200 yards and out. I was shooting my Tikka T3 Varmint chambered in .223 Rem. I was sighting it in at 200 yards in anticipation of my prairie dog hunt with Ken Lunde in less than 2 months.
I was shooting blue box (remanufactured) Black Hills 50gr V-Max ammo.
I was able to shoot a .62" six shot group and a .48" three shot group at 200 yards.
I had a very wide grin after those groups.

A really cool thing happened a short time after I shot those groups. A beautiful red shouldered hawk landed on my target and wouldn't leave. I waited a full 5 minutes and it was obvious he wasn't going to move. I decide to keep shooting since I knew there was no way I was going to hit him with the groups I was shooting. He never moved after 20 rounds. The line finally went cold and I walked out to service my target and he waited until I was 10 feet away to take off.

The day was perfect for many reasons.

1) There were 20 kids from the Boys Club being taught gun safety and shooting. The instructor was doing it with his own money. He was very, very good. The boys seemed to listen and learn due to his patient instructions. I went over and shook his hand telling him that he was doing something special.

2) My best friend/co-worker/shooting partner invited his Uncle and his Uncle's girlfriend's 18 son along to shoot. The 18 year old was born and mostly raised in Argentine. Holy crap...could that kid shoot. He was out shooting me with my own Tikka until I cranked out those last 2 groups. It must have been pride on my part. We moved down to the handgun range and he proceeded to outshoot me with my Glock 32 in .357 Sig. He had never shot .357 Sig before and after one mag he got into a rhythm that was very impressive. I shot as well as he did but he did it in half the time. He just let the muzzle rise and let it drop back onto the target and pulled the trigger. His comment? ".357 Sig rocks!"

3) The hawk....my shooting buddy.

4) We finished the day by having lunch on the water at an awesome restaurant that overlooked a pool stocked with gals in skimpy bikinis.

Nirvana was obtained........

... I'm jealous!

Days like that don't happen every day, enjoy 'em when they happen!

da-da-damn,  that even made me feel great.  thanx.

Good times....good times.    

Excellent. That is what it is all about.

Cool.

Quoted: A really cool thing happened a short time after I shot those groups. A beautiful red shouldered hawk landed on my target and wouldn't leave. I waited a full 5 minutes and it was obvious he wasn't going to move. I decide to keep shooting since I knew there was no way I was going to hit him with the groups I was shooting. He never moved after 20 rounds. The line finally went cold and I walked out to service my target and he waited until I was 10 feet away to take off.

That is cool.