A Visit with 30 Cal Gal, Anette Wachter

The 6.5 Guys had an opportunity to visit with a well known personality in the shooting sports Anette Wachter. Many of you may be familiar with Anette through her popular Blog and online screen name as the “30 Cal Gal”. Anette has proven her prowess in the shooting sports through her achievements including: Member of the US Long Range Rifle Team, NRA High Master Class, 3 National Records, 6 National Team Championships, and 24 international shooting trophies. She also competes in 3 Gun and more recently in the discipline of long range precision rifle.

Her transition to precision rifle required certain adjustments. While the fundamentals of marksmanship carried over, she had to learn to operate under more intense time pressure. While there are time limits in high power shooting, rarely does anybody time out. She also had to learn to “game the game.” While the rules for high power are pretty cut and dry, the rules for a precision rifle match allow for a certain level of creative interpretation.

Anette has a lot of experience with positional shooting and this presents a certain advantage as more positional shooting is being incorporated into precision rifle matches. However, shooting off barricades and props is something new to her and requires a bit of strategic thinking every time she approaches the firing line. She’s a big proponent of practicing positional shooting.

Regarding gear, Anette is shooting a custom built rifle by H&H Precision chambered in 6mm SLR. She’s also experimenting with a polygonal rifled barrel made by Black Hole Weaponry. The Black Hole barrels are very popular on the AR platform and she’s helping them make the transition to precision rifle.  It will be interesting to see if this design can deliver a combination of accuracy and longer barrel life. Her scope is a Leupold Mark 6 with a Horus reticle. Going from iron sights to a Horus reticle was a big learning curve but now she loves it.

As far as cartridge selection for a new shooter is concerned, she recommends starting with a flatter shooting cartridge. The conventional wisdom of starting with a .308 could end up discouraging a new shooter by making things harder than they need to be. Even with a flatter shooting cartridge, one still needs to read the wind.

Anette divides her training time across a number of disciplines, but her obligation to the U.S. Palma team takes priority. She recommends getting as much trigger time as possible and attending as many matches as possible. She mentally rehearses every step of a match the night before and as she approaches the firing line.

Her husband Charles is a competitive shooter as well. They shoot the same equipment and standardized loads. Anette shares that she is part of the assembly line when Charles reloads. From an equipment perspective, she uses a Forster press and Whidden dies.

For those guys who would like to get their significant other out to the range, Anette dispenses some valuable advice. Present it as something you can do together and there is nothing wrong with a bit of bribery at the end – a dinner or a spa will do nicely. For the women, just give it a try – that’s what Charles asked of Anette and look where she is now! Anette believes that a rifle under the tree is just as nice as a pair of shoes or some jewelry. Charles sure did well didn’t he?

Anette is optimistic about the number of women getting into the sport. Anette only started shooting in 2005. Before that, she was a casual shooter. Her journey illustrates how one can get serious about the shooting sports at any age. So for the women contemplating getting into the sport, there are few limitations.

We wrap up the discussion talking about her sponsors. She talks about the desire to return the favor to her sponsors because they have treated her well. ESS, Leupold, Nosler, Accugrip, H&H Precision and Devil Dog are her primary sponsors.

You can visit Anette’s blog at; www.30calgal.com