355: Chapter 353 Everything Is Incredibly Great 355: Chapter 353 Everything Is Incredibly Great There was no reason for Gao Yang to decline Jack’s challenge, but he quickly added, “Okay, let’s bet a year’s worth of beer, but each person can only fire ten rounds.”
The competition was set at a distance of thirteen hundred yards, which could only be done with long-range bullets.
Gao Yang was concerned about his ammunition, which is why he proposed that each person could only fire ten rounds.
Jack agreed to Gao Yang’s terms and laughed, “Alright, ten rounds each.
Just a moment, I’ll go get my gun.”
Gao Yang thought Jack would use the same rifle as him for the competition, so he was surprised when he heard Jack say he was going to get a gun, “You have another gun that can match the precision of the Blade of Satan?”
Jack just shrugged and didn’t answer Gao Yang’s question, but quickly returned with a huge gun case in hand.
Upon seeing the gun case Jack brought, Gao Yang couldn’t help but say with a wry expression, “Jack, you sly guy.”
With a mischievous smile, Jack pulled a Barrett M82A1M out of the gun case and said, “We didn’t specify what kind of gun to use, did we?”
After Jack loaded the magazine full of bullets, he handed out ear muffs to Gao Yang and Yelena, and put on a pair himself, to avoid getting tinnitus from the Barrett’s loud gunshots.
Once he lay down next to Gao Yang, Jack said with a grin, “I’ve adjusted everything on this rifle, so we can start now.
So, who’s going first?”
Gao Yang licked his thumb and quickly gauged the wind speed.
It wasn’t high, just a breeze, but even a breeze is still wind and would certainly affect the shooting accuracy, especially when it’s a crosswind.
Moreover, with a shooting distance of thirteen hundred yards, which is the extreme range for 7.62mm bullets, even a breeze could have a significant effect on the shooting outcome.
Gao Yang said with a troubled look, “It looks like I’ll have to treat you to a year’s supply of beer.
I’ve only mastered the ballistics chart of this new type of bullet under ideal conditions, but with the wind, I have no idea how to adjust for windage.
Jack, you’re too shameless.”
Jack laughed heartily and said, “You’ve got to abide by the bet.
Come on, we’ll flip a coin to decide who shoots first.
The one who guesses right goes first.
So, how about asking your beautiful girlfriend to do the honors.”
Gao Yang shrugged and said, “I want ‘word’.”
The targets were ready, and Gao Yang and Jack were all set.
Yelena tossed a coin high into the air, and after it landed, the ‘heads’ side faced up.
Apologizing to Gao Yang with a smile, Jack aimed at the target and took his first shot.
Jack’s first shot hit the mark, scoring an eight, which was quite good.
For 12.7x99mm bullets, thirteen hundred yards wasn’t considered too far.
Gao Yang didn’t know the data for the new long-range bullets.
It was already necessary to go through a long testing process with new guns and new bullets, and since Gao Yang’s gun was the only one of its kind in the world, it was impossible to obtain ready data from another gun.
After all, even an inch difference in barrel length could impact the bullet’s trajectory.
The wind was blowing from the right, and Gao Yang aimed about thirty centimeters right and took his first shot.
He had to try with one shot first.
“Three rings, the bullet landed low to the right.”
Gao Yang was stunned for a moment; he thought the bullet would be off-center to the left of the target, but it veered much more to the right than he expected.
Seeing the surprised look on Gao Yang’s face, Jack burst out laughing as if he had found something very amusing, then cheekily said, “Buddy, bullets designed to greatly increase range are bound to have less wind resistance, and therefore less wind drift.
Don’t tell me you’re still calculating wind drift based on regular bullets.”
Jack’s point was valid, and Gao Yang couldn’t help but slap his own head in annoyance.
He had indeed been confused.
Bullets that could greatly increase range, aside from having new types of propellants, essentially involved bullet shapes, and those shapes would naturally reduce wind interference, to varying extents.
Gao Yang adjusted his point of impact.
Though his shots were erratic, moving left and right, they were getting closer to the target’s center.
However, with long-distance shooting, the interference of the wind wasn’t easy to negate.
The wind might be stronger up close but weaker further away, or vice versa, and even the most skilled shooter couldn’t completely ignore the wind’s interference—only minimize its impact as much as possible.
As expected, Jack won, but the outcome was predetermined when Jack competed with a 12.7mm caliber sniper rifle against Gao Yang.
The final result was that Gao Yang shot a score of thirty-four, with two of his shots hitting the seven rings, although he also had one shot off-target.
Jack, on the other hand, scored fifty-one.
Jack won by a large margin, but considering that the bullets Jack used were almost twice as long as those used by Gao Yang, and the bullet heads were much heavier, resulting in a flatter trajectory and higher retained velocity, it wasn’t unreasonable to say that Jack lost since he didn’t score twice as many rings as Gao Yang.
When the scores were reported, Jack said with a face full of disappointment, “You were using a new gun and unfamiliar bullets, while I was using my familiar large caliber rifle.
I’m not happy with this outcome.
The only thing that makes me feel a bit better is thinking about the year’s worth of beer you owe me.”
Gao Yang waved his hand and said, “Don’t mention a year’s worth of beer, treating you for a lifetime wouldn’t be a problem either.
Tell me, how much beer do you need in a year?”
“I need to drink at least six bottles of beer a day.
On a heavy day, well, it’s hard to calculate, so let’s average it to ten bottles a day.
At one US Dollar a bottle, you owe me three thousand six hundred and fifty US Dollars, I’ll handle the tax myself.”
Gao Yang laughed heartily and said, “Losing four thousand US Dollars to you is no big deal—I’ll cover the tax for you as well.”
Jack asked seriously, “Are you paying in cash or by card?”
As a Huaxia person and a mercenary, Gao Yang certainly had the habit of carrying cash.
After taking his bag from Yelena, Gao Yang earnestly counted out four thousand US Dollars and handed it to Jack.
After flicking through the stack of bills, Jack said with a satisfied smile, “For the coming year, I’m going to enjoy my beer even more with each sip.”
“Try to drink less.
Too much beer isn’t good for your diet.”
After Jack shrugged off the comment, he packed up his Barrett M82A1M into its case and said, “When you called to say you were coming over to pick up the gun, I thought Rabbit would be with you.
But I didn’t expect it would just be you and your beautiful girlfriend.
So, you’ll have to take Rabbit’s gun back for him.
However, I’m quite curious why Rabbit didn’t come.
He called me several times saying he’d soon come to pick up his gun.”
Gao Yang found Jack’s question hard to answer, as he was sure there was nothing pressing that required his attention.
He was looking forward to taking a proper vacation and spending the summer at his ranch with Yelena.
Gao Yang extended the invitation to everyone; his house was certainly big enough.
Cui Bo and Glolov happily accepted as they were not accustomed to nor fond of the fast-paced life in New York’s metros.
Going to Gao Yang’s ranch and mountain villa to escape the summer heat was an excellent opportunity.
Besides, Cui Bo had been longing for his sniper rifle and couldn’t wait to get it.
However, after Frey pulled Cui Bo aside to talk for a long time, a dejected Cui Bo ultimately turned down Gao Yang’s invitation.
Glolov, on the other hand, after a heartfelt conversation with Natalia inside the house, gave Gao Yang a strange look and announced he would stay to enjoy a much-needed world of two with his wife Natalia.
As for Bruce, being quite perceptive, he declined Gao Yang’s invitation right off the bat, unlike Cui Bo, who was keen on being a third wheel.
Remembering Cui Bo’s annoying face, Gao Yang couldn’t help but silently appreciate Frey’s wise interference that prevented Cui Bo’s extremely oblivious behavior.
As for Glolov, like all fathers who can’t quite accept that their daughters are grown up, he subconsciously wanted to stop any of Gao Yang’s actions that might take his daughter away.
Luckily, Gao Yang’s prospective mother-in-law, Natalia, approved of him and Yelena, and with her enthusiastic support, Gao Yang could confidently and boldly take Yelena to enjoy their own little world at his ranch.
To Jack’s query, Gao Yang replied unperturbed, “Rabbit got held up with something, so he couldn’t come.
That’s why I have to take the gun back for him.
It just so happens I’m free during this period, so I can use his gun to get familiar with anti-material sniper rifles.
That’s why when I say goodbye, I’ll need to buy some long-range target paper from you.”
“Alright, considering you lost a year’s worth of beer money to me, I’ll give you the target paper for free.
As for now, we could go have some beer to celebrate the beer money I won.”
Gao Yang hastily said, “No, no, don’t rush.
I still have a lot of stuff to buy from you.
I need a top-notch bullet reloading setup.
I’m going to make a lot of bullets myself, so I’ll need propellant and bullet heads, all kinds of them, and of course, casings.
You know what I need.
Hmm, you better prepare two sets of bullet reloading equipment for me.
I’ve got to give one set to Rabbit.
Remember, everything has to be the best.”
Jack nodded and said, “No problem, I’ll have it all for you.
I’ve collected all the casings your gun fired, so you can take those to reload.
Need anything else?”
“I need a clay pigeon thrower and a lot of clay targets, plus a Beretta sporting over-under shotgun.
I’ll have time to shoot clays.
Also, I need a Benelli M4 shotgun, which is what I use in combat, so I’ve got to practice when I can.
But, do you have a better option for a combat shotgun?”
After a moment’s thought, Jack said gravely, “With combat shotguns, I can’t give you an immediate answer because I don’t know your requirements.
However, I think the Benelli M4 is a good choice.
For everything else, I’ll get it for you.
When will you come to pick it up?”
Gao Yang smiled and replied, “I’m heading to my ranch soon, so in a few days, there will be a truck coming here.
Later, I’ll also have to come back to Portland to pick up my car.
That way, I can load up the gear into my new car and take it with me.
But I don’t know when the car will be delivered, so I’ll have to wait for your call.”