A10 SPORTS & OUTDOORS Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, April 27, 2022 SHOOTING THE BREEZE Stock Fit: Length of Pull of these are rifl es which land uring a recent visit to within the half-inch margin of my gunsmith’s shop in my proper length of pull. Bend, I brought up the One particularly nasty kicker issue of length of pull. As mea- is an old Savage 94C 20 gauge sured on a rifl e or shotgun, single-shot. Not surprisingly, length of pull is the distance between the trigger and the very its lightweight and long 14 and 3/16 length of pull makes for back edge of the buttplate. an unpleasant experi- How pivotal is this ence each time I pull measurement to proper the trigger. My Rem- fi t of a stock and accu- ington 870 20 gauge, rate shooting? Mr. by contrast, has a Wills quickly grabbed 13 and 13/16 LOP his gauge and mea- and is much heavier sured my length of pull, Dale Valade and more pleasant to which turned out to be shoot. 13.5 inches. Before you rush down to According to Randy, in Ace Hardware to buy stock the case of a rifl e, as long as spacers or bust out your hack- you’re within one-half inch of saw, be sure you have your your length of pull — hereafter referred to by the acronym LOP length of pull properly mea- — you’ll have no issues. If LOP sured. Traditionally, this was on a .22 or the like is a bit short, achieved by gripping your long gun with your shooting hand, it’s not an issue due to the non- fi nger on the trigger — you will existent recoil. The same can- not be said in the case of a hunt- have triple-checked that the fi re- arm is NOT loaded before doing ing rifl e. this — and by cradling the butt- Accentuated recoil, though stock upon the inside of your not purely the fault of a too- forearm while holding it at a 90 short or too-long stock, can be degree angle to your bicep, you a symptom of improper LOP. Most factory rifl es tend to come would see whether or not that gun was too long, too short, or with a “one size fi ts all” length just right. of pull of between 13.5 and The trouble with that is it’s 13.75 inches. not an exact science. Save your- Off a bench rest you’ll self unnecessary confusion and likely not notice much diff er- go see your preferred local gun- ence in LOP as long as the eye smith. He will properly measure relief on your scope is prop- your LOP and get you squared erly set. Field positions, espe- away. Likely your guns fi t you cially off hand, are less forgiv- ing. If you’re a stocky man of 5 well enough to shoot them feet 2 inches tall or an Amazon already. But if you’ve got an unrepentant kicker or if you’re woman of 6 feet 4, run-of-the- planning to build a custom stock mill stock dimensions may be or fi rearm in the near future, do a source of excessive recoil or yourself a favor and do it right. diffi culty in snapping the rifl e Close is only good enough for to your shoulder. horseshoes and hand grenades! Randy continued that with Want to sound off ? Write to shotguns, it was absolutely us at shootingthebreezebme@ important to have the correct gmail.com or check us out on LOP; there was no half-inch Facebook! margin for error with shotguns Dale Valade is a local coun- as with rifl es. I have in my col- try gent with a love for the out- lection a variety of long guns doors, handloading, hunting measuring everywhere from 12 and shooting. and 7⁄16 to 14¼ inch LOP. Most D Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle Grant Union’s Parker Neault (5) scores a run on Saturday, April 23, 2022, against Dufur. Prospectors drop twin bill striking out one and allowing a hit. Neault went 2-3 at the plate, while Syrus Workman fi nished 1-3 with an RBI double and scored a run. Trever Gabbard, Lucas Blood and Talon Van Cleave each went 1-3 and scored a run. Even though the Pros lost by 10 runs in the second game, the squad fl exed their off ensive muscle. Freshman Ryland Beil roped a double and put up two RBIs, while Van Cleave and Gabbard went 1-3 with one RBI apiece. Meanwhile, Hutchison and Morris each stole a base. The Pros were refl ective after Saturday’s doubleheader. Morris said that the team needs to work on hitting the ball better and not letting things get in their heads. By STEVEN MITCHELL Blue Mountain Eagle T he Grant Union/Prairie City baseball team dropped a double- header at home to the No. 5-rated South Wasco County/Dufur Rangers on Saturday, April 23. The Prospectors lost the fi rst game 4-2 and fell 18-8 in the second game. Parker Neault pitched four innings in the fi rst game, recording fi ve strikeouts while surrendering two earned runs on seven hits. Mason Morris pitched for two innings and gave up a pair of runs (one earned) on two hits and fanned three. Riddick Hutchison came in for relief in the fi nal part of the game, According to Morris, 90% of baseball is mental and the other 10% is physical. Hutchison said playing a No. 5-ranked team gave the squad some important points to focus on. “They gave us something to learn on,” he said, “and mistakes we need to work on.” Grant Union/Prairie City is now 2-3 in the Blue Mountain Conference and 7-7 overall. The team was scheduled to face Pilot Rock/Nixyaawi/Ukiah in a home game at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26, after the Eagle’s press time. The Pros are home again on Saturday, April 30, for a doubleheader against Union/ Cove. The fi rst game starts at 11 a.m. and the second starts at 1 p.m. SPORTS ROUNDUP Grant Union added two more road wins on Friday, April 22, against Elgin/Imbler, winning by scores of 20-3 and 18-2. Stats from that game were not available before press time. The Lady Pros remain undefeated on the season. By JUSTIN DAVIS Blue Mountain Eagle Lady Pros sweep doubleheaders with Lakeview, Elgin LAKEVIEW — Grant Union’s soft- ball team scored a pair of wins over the Lakeview Honkers on Wednesday, April 20, in Lakeview. The first game saw Drew Williams pitch a one-hit shutout en route to a 3-0 Lady Pro win. Raney Anderson finished the game 1-3 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored. Sivanna Hodge finished the contest 2-4 with an RBI. The second game saw the Lady Pro offense get into rhythm, leading to a 12-5 victory. Halle Parsons pitched all seven innings, giving up five runs and striking out four batters. Savan- nah Watterson was 3-5 at the plate with two runs scored and three RBIs. Ace pitcher Williams finished the day 2-4 with a run scored and two RBIs. Parsons went 1-4 on the day with a run scored and three RBIs. The Lady Pros had 13 hits in total in game two of the doubleheader. for the Lady Panthers. Koopman’s best result of the afternoon was a fifth- place finish in the high jump. Grant Union track gains experience in Vale VALE — The Prospector track team participated in the Wayne Invitational at Vale High School on Friday, April 22. The boys came away with 26 points, fi n- ishing just behind Ontario in 10th place. The girls fi nished fi ve points behind eighth-place Tri-Valley with 29 points in the meet. Riddick Hutchison and Lucas Wolf led the boys with third-place fi nishes in the javelin and discus, respectively. Tucker Carpenter and Quinn Larson both picked up fi fth-place fi nishes in the shot put and pole vault. The girls were led by Katelyn Hughes, who fi nished fi fth in the javelin, 300 meter hurdles and 4x100 relay with team- mates Lauryn Pettyjohn, Morgan Rand- leas and Carson Weaver. Weaver would later notch a third-place fi nish in the jave- lin. Mallory Lusco rounded out the Lady Pro top fi ve fi nishers, placing fi fth in the discus. Prairie City track squad competes at EOU LA GRANDE — The Prairie City track team competed in the 1A/2A/3A Regional Track Meet hosted by Crane High School at Eastern Oregon Uni- versity in La Grande on Saturday, April 23. The boys finished with 10 points, which was good enough for 15th place. The girls finished in 11th place with 33 points. A total of 19 teams participated in both the boys and girls competitions. Eli and Tucker Wright had busy afternoons for the Panthers, each plac- ing in two events. Eli placed third in both the javelin and high jump. Tucker placed third in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump. 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