Target Shooter

TARGET SHOOTER MAGAZINE
September 2011 Issue

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Contents
Page 6 DESERT TACTCAL ARMS DTA REVIEW. A couple of issues ago, Mike Siva-Jothy gave us a first look and a first impression of shooting the Desert Tactical Arms SRS Bullpup rifle. Now, Chris Parkin puts the rifle through its paces with an initial shake-down at the Diggle Egg Shoot followed by a trip to Andrew Venables fabulous WMS facility in north Wales.. By Chris Parkin.
Page 16
BLAIR ATHOLL INTERNATIONAL F/TR REPORT - This really was F/TR at its most enjoyable with four days shooting that nobody involved will ever forget... By Laurie Holland.
Page 30 THE CREEDMOOR CUP Tullamore Ireland June 2011. For those of you who were not around in the reign of Queen Victoria and thus understandably unaware of the Creedmoor aspect of this Match, perhaps a word of explanation is appropriate... by Des Parr
Page 30 Chris White continues his WIND-READING SERIES and although Chris is a dyed in the wool Target Rifle shooter, the principles apply equally to F Class and other long-range competition shooting. See issues May and August for parts 1 and 2. By Chris White.
Contents Continued
Page 38
2011 WORLD RIMFIRE BENCHREST CHAMPIONSHIPS. Someone once told me to start any article with the positive elements first. Well there are so many positives about the Rimfire and Air Benchrest World Championship... By Carl Boswell.
Page 46
TILO DEDINSKI BILLINGHURST .36 PISTOL - Perdro Mateus is a Portugese reader and, in addition to rimfire benchrest, Pedro also shoots black-powder pistol. With our custom-built F Class and benchrest rifles, the money goes into accuracy, pure and simple looks are secondary... By Pedro Mateus. When we left the SHORTBARRELLED .223 REM CALIBRE SPS a couple of issues ago, it functioned more smoothly, shot smaller NEW PRODUCTS groups with 52/53gn match Page 24 bullet handloads and had an FROM THE BENCH Page 33 improved trigger pull after LATEST NEWS Valkyrie Rifles fettling... Page 54 By Vince Bottomley. QUIGLEY ASSOCIATION NEWS
Page 66
...Regulars
BULLET POINTING
Page 90
Page 94
ROUND 4 OF THE 2011 GB GALLERY RIFLE NEWS F CLASS LEAGUE was held Page 60 at Diggle Ranges in August THIS SMALLBORE BUSINESS Page 52 and surely that meant UKPSA at least we could rely on Page 72 the weather! But then THE 2011 NRA IMPERIAL Page 78 again, this is England and BLACK POWDER summer can be a hit and Page 82 miss affair! QUIGLEY ASSOCIATION NEWS By Les Holgate. Page 98
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Welcome to the new look September 2011 edition of Target Shooter Magazine
Webitorial
The old adage you cant please all of the people all of the time certainly rang true with our August makeover issue. ..........you have wrecked good old Target Shooter! ranted Jonathan Fells whilst Keith Cordell wrote Congratulations a brilliant mag. just got even better!
We do want to please all our readers but we have to face facts. As an online magazine, we are exempt from the massive printing and distribution costs of a paper magazine but the internet does have costs in the form of bandwidth. Hosting data on the web costs money and the more data you host the more it costs. Investing in the latest technology also has a price and, we do like to pay our loyal writers occasionally! Our free Apple app with a 59p/99c charge to download the latest issue was the first step, though we are aware that not all of you have an iPad. This month you can, as always, read the magazine free, on-line but we are making a small charge 69p to download the pdf. We hope that you will not think that this is excessive think of it as the price of a single cartridge if you like! Finally, massive congratulations to Target Shooter founder Carl Boswell who won a gold medal at the World Rimfire Benchrest Championships in America last month. A truly great achievement Im sure youll agree. Read Carls account of the Match elsewhere in this issue.
Vince, Yvonne and Carl

Vince Bottomley - vinceb@targetshooter.co.uk Yvonne - yvonne@targetshooter.co.uk
Editor - Vince Bottomley vinceb@targetshooter.co.uk Advertising and Office Manager - Yvonne Wilcock. yvonne@targetshooter.co.uk Magazine Design - Steve Thornton steve@stevethornton.co.uk Contributors - Vince Bottomley - Laurie Holland - Chris Parkin - Des Parr - Les Holgate - Pedro Mateus - Carl Boswell - Richard Wilde - Ken Hall - Chris Risebrook - John MorganHosey - Tommy Burford - Tony Sanders - Gwyn Roberts - Don Brook. Cover Image - Steve Thornton ~ www.thorntonconnect.com (Dolphin Gun Company rifle build)
Disclaimer The website www.targetshooter.co.uk is part of Target Shooter magazine with all contents of both electronic media copyrighted. No reproduction is permitted unless written authorisation is provided. Information, prices and data is believed to be correct at the time of posting on the internet which is on or around the 1st of each month. Advertisements that are firearm related are from companies or individuals that Target Shooter magazine believes are licensed to hold such firearms and accepts no responsibility if companies or individuals are not so licensed. Letters and photographs submitted by members of the public to Target Shooter magazine will be accepted on the basis that the writer has agreed to publication unless otherwise stated. Target Shooter magazine has no control over the content or ownership of photographs submitted. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily the views of the publishers and relate to specific circumstances within each article. These are the opinions and experiences of writers using specific equipment, firearms, components and data under controlled conditions. Information contained in the online magazine or on the website is intended to be used as a guide only and in specific circumstances caution should be used. Target Shooter Magazine does not except any responsibility for individuals attempting to recreate such testing using any information, data or other materials in its electronic pages. Publishers of Target Shooter magazine.
DESERT TACTICAL ARMS

by Chris Parkin
DESERT TACTICAL ARMS DTA REVIEW
A couple of issues ago, Mike Siva-Jothy gave us a first look and a first impression of shooting the Desert Tactical Arms SRS Bullpup rifle. Now, Chris Parkin puts the rifle through its paces with an initial shake-down at the Diggle Egg Shoot followed by a trip to Andrew Venables fabulous WMS facility in north Wales.
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The 20 inch tube on the near Remington 700 makes the DTAs 20 incher look minute in 308 Winchester. The PGW is an 18 incher at the back.
Thoughts on the gun Bench Grade Brands, the DTA importer, loaned me a chassis and two calibre-conversion kits to give a run down and push the limits. I wont re-iterate the points that Mike made in his article but rather expand on what he found in his brief encounter.
The two calibres I was able to test side by side were the short 20 inch barrelled 308 Win and a longer 24 inch 338 Lapua magnum. As well as offering two ends of the target spectrum, from a well loved and long adored `jack of all trades` to the modern and increasingly popular long range benchmark - if not for benchrest and f-class use - certainly in ultra-long range and tactical niche. As well as sharing military origins, they share comparatively good barrel lives and, although the 308 is these days showing it age in terms of pure ballistic potential, the 338 is realistically on the upper edge of commonly available factory cartridges. Using bullets into the 0.7-0.8 G1 Ballistic coefficient regions, you need to start playing with barnstormers like 408 Cheytac and its ultra slippery little brother, the 375 Cheytac before you supersede it. Although large and well above some ranges energy limits, the 338 is realistically as big as you need to go and all these ballistic pencil bullets are heavyweights, generating serious recoil. Dont forget, we target shooters dont need to put energy on target - just a neat hole! Having said all that, the two Cheytacs are soon to become available in the UK spec DTA rifle, albeit a Hard Target Interdiction (HTI) model and well, if I am offered one to test, I doubt I will turn it down.
was worked out from the usual controls, to the total barrel change procedure, with enough certainty that I was willing to pull the trigger on 50,000 PSI just under my right ear the following day. I mounted a Schmidt & Bender 12.5-50x56 PMII scope, supplied courtesy of York Guns for the test and as usual, it did not disappoint when it came to optical quality and adjustability. The DTA scope mount supplied was the rewired 34mm spec. and, as the picatinny rail that is part of the gun is flat, the one-piece mount incorporates 20 MOA inclination. 30 and 40MOA versions are also available from DTA. Although the 308 would be getting marginal past 800 yards and at that, well within the 64minutes normally available on two turns of the S&B turret, I planned to really stretch the 338s legs when the barrel arrived and wanted all the available scope inclination I could get for that job. Zeroing and initial testing was done with 168gr Remington (Sierra Matchking bullet) and Hornady Match (A-Max) ammunition kindly supplied by Edgar Brothers. The gun arrived only two days before the Diggle egg shoot and I didnt have the chance to work up handloads. Five-shot groups with both loads were floating around the 0.6-0.8 MOA mark at 100 yards prone and I was happy with that for now. Chronograph testing revealed the expected low velocity attributable to the short barrel but a slightly worrying extreme spread of around 40-50 fps on both loads. 100 yard accuracy didnt bother me but as I rushed to get data to calculate some come ups for both 300 and 500 yards I wasnt too optimistic. The weather at the Egg shoot was horrendous and, as all the F-class and benchrest boys dont like to get their shiny guns wet, we shot it benchrest-style under cover instead of prone outdoors. I dont enjoy this, or rule changes at the best of times. I struggled to control the guns jumpy, unbraked muzzle off a concrete bench and although I started to share Mikes previously mentioned balance concerns, it wasnt the guns fault, just me and a concrete bench with no available soft mat. After a clean score at 100 yards and the overall win last year, I wasnt too pleased with three low-scoring shots at 100 yards and three very vertically-strung hits at 300 yards (probably attributable to ES) for what was probably last place (not quite! Ed) and I didnt even score a hit at 500. Is this the reason benchrests were designed?
What I got up to The gun arrived with one barrel, pre-built in its 308 format. The outer box was damaged in shipping and the test started with a huge smile as I watched the face on the lady in the queue at my local TNT depot go white as I unpacked the gun to check it was undamaged, I hasten to say, at the request of TNT staff who were warned!
Apart from a torque wrench and DTAs own one piece, 20MOA scope mount, no paperwork or instructions arrived with the gun so in a nice way, I had to figure it all out myself which, if nothing else, is a true test of design simplicity if everything works intuitively. Im pleased to say that within five minutes, everything
My gun was fitted with the internal rear monopod that worked well in both large and fine adjustment, especially when coupled with a small soft bag under its foot. On grass, prone it was a joy to use, quick to set up and easy to dial with the non-shooting hand wedged under the butt. Up front was the Accushot Atlas V8 bipod, which had a degree of lateral give, along with the normal cant, allowing you to partially track a target or aim off in the wind with little resistance. The legs extended from 6-9 inches and could fold either backwards or forwards for storage handy on a gun this compact - and locked positively into position.
Handloading in 308 The following week, I was able to start working up some handloads in the gun and a 308 is usually both forgiving and has a huge amount of bullet options
and data available. The DTA proved no problem and although experimenting widely in search of velocity, it did not bear fruit with the short barrel, again no fault of the guns. Accuracy was good - a Lapua case, CCI BR primer and Viht N140 pushing a 155 gr Lapua Scenar was repetitively drilling 5 shots into the 0.4 MOA zone at 100 yards with 2740 fps with an ES of 12fps. Very acceptable in a mag-fed tactical rifle with no attention paid at all to bullet jump. The mag is a little more forgiving of COAL than an AI for example which has a realistic limit of 2.850 inches but I just
The still very compact 338 setup showing the compact yet effective brake. The DTA 1 piece scope mount was a little tight for my face.
Positional shooting made easy
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loaded to SAMMI spec 2.810 inches. These figures are perfectly acceptable for a tactical rifle out to around 800 yards and, if you want a 308 to remain supersonic out to the golden 1000 yard mark, choose a longer barrel! The whole ethos of the DTA build is compact and this is the trade off in a 308.
Moving up a notch The 338 Lapua barrel arrived just in time for a trip to the WMS Steel Challenge in Wales and, thanks to Andrew Venables the owner, I got my chance to shoot steel plates in real world scenarios from my favoured grassy knoll prone position. A full day of shooting gave me the opportunity to exhaustively `mess the gun around` i.e. mercilessly swap barrels and bolts, re-zero and generally give the gun a thorough test. The two conversion kits on test offer a true test of the multi barrel concept and adaptability of this rifles chassis format as well as opposing ends of the target shooters ballistic envelope. As well as swapping barrels, which can honestly be done in the advertised 60 seconds, these boys need a bolt, magazine change and bolt limiter swap as well and Im pleased to say this only stretches the total change to 75 seconds.
I only had the 338 barrel for a day and Bench Grade Brands supplied 50 rounds of their own custom recipe ammunition - a Lapua case and Viht N560 combo driving a 300gr Sierra Matchking. The one missing component was a recorded muzzle velocity but one of the pleasures of a modern handheld ballistic computer combined with a non-gallery range and sand traps the size of tennis courts, is that figures can soon be calculated the old fashioned way and then re-fed back into the computer to approximate a velocity. You can optimize on the figures through the day, further refining the firing solutions. Although this sounds onerous, it was actually very interesting, a real learning process and satisfying test of all the components of long range shooting, eventually generating a figure just shy of 2800 fps.
We wasted no time going straight out to 700 metres and ended up running out of elevation on the scope at 1500 metres, shooting 20 inch steel gongs. Im no great wind-reader and at these ranges the tiniest of changes will push a bullet way off a target, even of this size but we had good weather and I was pleased to record consistent accuracy, well within my ability to read the wind. The great thing about shooting at these ranges is that you shoot, the gun recoils and settles, you then see the bullet disintegrate on the target (magnification dependant) and have time to take your earmuffs off to hear the faint `clang` in the distance. The time factor in this is quite surreal as the time of flight is around 3 seconds before you see a `splash` and the return of noise is even longer! Throughout the testing of both calibres, repetitive barrel changes proved both return to zero being within MOA and the difference between the two barrels only slightly more than the minute. When a gun is advertised, albeit for police and military use, to offer scenario-specific barrel changes, this is the type of consistency needed although I wouldnt fancy beating my 58 second barrel change record with someone shooting back!
Conclusions I really enjoyed using the rifle and quickly adapted to the slightly different operating procedures made necessary by the bullpup design. Fast and positive bolt operation required a slight alteration in technique. Heavy bolt-lift presented a slight hindrance but should be avoided anyway - it is a pressure warning sign after all!
The balance and feel of the rifle was different to the well evolved feel of the standard rifle layout and the virtually solid metal construction of the gun did give a very `dense` feel but neither bothered me and, to be honest, it was more shootable in 338 mode as the slightly longer barrel and brake, even in this large calibre, tamed the slightly barky and jumpy, ultra compact 308 layout. On a negative note, the straight-line design of the chassis and polymer stock shells, combined with a very tight head position on the stock did lead to a very tiring, resonant `ring` being driven directly into your cheekbone and skull with every shot. Cheek-weld is one thing but I would have used what would normally
1500 metres I didnt want to waste too much 338 ammo zeroing, or on the shorter ranges where the 308 would be just as much fun to shoot. A quick barrel swap and 4 shots at 100 yards produced a hole less than 1 MOA from the 308 zero and a 3 shot blob of half an inch total size equating to approximately MOA accuracy. Andrew and I needed little convincing of this gun/load combo and, combined with its laterally ported brake, it was a pussycat to shoot. 11
DESERT TACTICAL DTA at 1500 meters...
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All laid out like this, a barrel and bolt change is 75 seconds with the small torque wrench supplied
Clip off the butt plate to swap bolts
338 and 308 magazines, note the filler block in the 308
All bolts show clear calibre markings, note the extractor-ejector combo
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The Facts...
For: Consistently accurate - very compact - truly fast calibre change Against: Trigger is OK but not great - tall scope mounts needed - watch out for hard extraction Verdict: A great multi calibre design that delivers exactly what is promises.
Technical Specifications (dependant on calibre)
be considered an overly high scope mount to avoid having to press my head as hard as I did and cant it unnecessarily to obtain the correct scope picture. The trigger, which is the usual Achilles heel of bullpups, was unusual. It was similar to a military 50 BMG trigger that travels smoothly a long way then breaks with a total surprise (to avoid flinch). I found it shootable with care and can understand the theory when used on heavily recoiling guns but no matter how I adjusted it, it isnt the Jewell or similar that one might expect to find on other guns in this price-range. As a switch-barrel gun it is faultless, the cheekpiece issue can be easily cured by the user. The design and engineering of the gun, plus its lack of any bedding issues is also without fault. Some would say its military look is unwelcome but hey, its a `tactical rifle` and that is a selling point to some users. The calibre range on offer covers most desirable choices and although the calibre conversion kit at 1750 (1950 for 338) is hefty, a worn out barrel can be replaced for a similar price to any normal gun as many parts of the actual calibre kit are retained. A new tube is screwed into the original breech assembly into which the bolt lugs lock and headspace. You will get used to the trigger and with a 6.5x47 or .260-rem barrel along with a 338 kit, I couldnt imagine wanting another gun.
Calibres available 243 Win - 6.5x47 - 260Rem - 308Win - 7mmRem 300Win & 338 LM Barrel Length 22-26 inches Weight 11.5-12.25lbs Length 32.5-38.5 inches Trigger 3lb. fully adjustable Effective range 800-1900 yards (308W-338LM) Price Chassis Conversion Kit Scope mount Rear Monopod Muzzle Brake Magazine
3000 1750 (1950 in 338) 200 300 175 100
Thanks to: Bench Grade Brands 01604 686800 Schmidt & Bender - York Guns, 01904 487180 Hornady, Remington Ammo & Vihtavouri Edgar Brothers, 01625 613177 Tim Hannam, 01977 681639 WMS Steel Challenge - Andrew Venables, 01686 www.deserttacticalarms.com
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BLAIR ATHOLL INTERNATIONAL F/TR REPORT
Scots Uphold Celtic
F/TR Honours at Blair Atholl

By Laurie Holland
This really was F/TR at its most enjoyable with four days shooting that nobody involved will ever forget...
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ost readers will know that the US F Class teams put in a maximum effort visit to Ireland for the revived Creedmoor Match at the new Tullamore ranges. This paid off with both F and F/TR classes dominated by American shooters in the individual and team matches. Its not so well known that around a third of the American entourage subsequently crossed the Irish Sea for a holiday in the Scottish Highlands that included a four-day shooting experience in that most spectacular of locations - West Atholl RCs Jubilee Range lying along one side of Glen Tilt high above the Perthshire village of Blair Atholl. Only one F Class shooter came across, Tony Robertson but, a full F/TR contingent including coaches and family members made the trip and challenged Scotland to a three range team competition, two sighters plus fifteen score shots at 900, 1000, and 1100 yards. Setting the scene, this event was dovetailed into the Scottish Rifle Associations annual Long Range Meeting comprising six 15-round matches split equally over 900 and 1000 yards and held over the weekend of 2/3rd July. This longstanding Target Rifle event has included the two F classes for some years now, with their own medals. It usually attracts a healthy entry with traditional sling shooters outnumbering the effers by around two to one but, late date changes saw some regulars drop out and this was compounded by the match date falling close to the start of The Imperial festival of TR shooting at Bisley. Throw in the American visitors and this year, F/TR actually outnumbered F Class and TR combined. To accommodate the US visit and that relative rarity, a high-profile transatlantic match, the range was made available to the F/TR shooters on Friday 1st July for practice and by a neat coincidence for the visitors at any rate, the team matches were scheduled for Monday 4th July - US Independence Day. This must have seemed a good omen to the visitors and with their convincing Irish victory just behind them in what had turned out to be extremely challenging conditions, it would have been surprising if they didnt feel confident now. They were up against a scratch Scottish team led by Paul Crosbie and comprising a mixture of GB League F/TR competitors, Match and Target Rifle competitors, at least some of whom (especially me) hadnt even met each other beforehand. The Americans arrived not only flush with success but as a well-honed team. On the other hand, this was
Blair Atholl with all its local quirks. Most Scottish team members shot there regularly and the Scots had two top coaches in the form of Hamish Hunter and Tim Kidner, who know the range and its moods intimately.
Setting up at 900yd. Scottish coach Tom Kidner seated up front with US shooter Tony Robertson (in blue jacket) record keeping behind. Mentioning the US team, one striking feature lacking in most European equivalents was the number of lady shooters - Nancy Tompkins and daughter Michelle Gallagher, Kathy Buell (who was also team adjutant), Sierra LoRee Scott, who at 22 years old had to be one
Scottish team captain Paul Crosbie and coach Tim Kidner pause during a wind change.
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some wind running and, as normal at Blair, varied constantly in direction and strength, so wind-reading was rarely simple and often fiendishly difficult.
of the youngest competitors in any class and certainly was the youngest F/TR entrant. Nancy confined her activities to coaching in the team matches but participated in all six individuals. After a generally cold, wet spring and early summer in upland Perthshire, the weather turned round just
Individual Matches Ill concentrate on the team event but I must mention the Scottish Long-Range meeting results. Tim Kidner and T. Rowntree took two Target Rifle matches each, Kenny Macdonald and M. Joyce one, with Kennys win at 900 yards memorable in being a true possible 75.15v! In F Class, Scotlands Les Bacon and the USAs Tony Robertson were initially well matched but Les pulled ahead and eventually took the class on aggregate by a clear five points, winning every match bar the first.
Looking at F/TR, the Saturday and Sunday individual matches were a learning experience for many, with Nancy Tompkins and Michelle Gallagher in particular showing steadily improving form. However, the two 900 and one 1000 yard Saturday F/TR matches were dominated by home team captain Paul Crosbie. Paul took all three with magnificent consistency, shooting 73s in every one for the days aggregate of 219.14v (ex 225.45v), eleven points ahead of Team USAs Stan Pate, with Michelle Gallagher third. I had a miserable pair of 900s on Saturday in what many considered the easiest wind conditions of the weekend but only discovered later that I had a seating depth problem with the 90gn Berger BTLRs in my .223 Rem loads that I had considered the ideal bullet for this distance. Switching back to my usual 90gn VLD combination for the final and only 1000 yard match of Day One saw an immediate improvement and rise to third place. Moral - dont switch from a winning combination! Sunday saw two 1000 yard matches and one at 900 yard, the emphasis on the longer distance allied to noticeably harder winds reducing scores appreciably. Paul Crosbie continued as before in Match 4 (900yd) winning on 72.6v ahead of visitors Sierra Scott, Nancy Tompkins, and Michelle Gallagher on 71s. I took Match 5 at 1000 on 69.3v with the mouse gun by no less than six points over visitors Nancy Tompkins and the very reliable Stan Pate. Match 6, another 1000 yard effort, finally produced an American win, Michelle Gallagher on 63.3v just fending off Stan Pate by a V-Bull, Paul Crosbie and Nancy Tompkins one point behind. The Sunday Aggregate produced a US one-two-three with Nancy Tompkins, Stan Pate and Michelle Gallagher on 190s ahead of me and Paul in the high 180s.
Looking down Gen Tilt from the 900yd firing point. Note the steep slope and many features that cause swirling winds and strange elevation effects. in time for the competition with light, primarily southerly winds and temperatures running up to 25 degrees C. The downside of these conditions was the appearance of the dreaded Highland Midge - in force, especially on Friday which saw light breezes at best. Fortunately, wind strength increased over the subsequent days Im told 2mph is the vital figure for keeping the nasty little biting beasties at bay. Whilst winds never became really strong, there was always
Michelle Gallagher sets up at 1,000yd, mum Nancy Tomkins coaches and the US captain Darrel Buell is just visible behind them.
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US lady shooters: Sierra LoRee Scott (nearest camera) discusses tactics with Michelle Gallagher at 1,114yd. Sierra produced the top US score in the team matches. The weekend individual matches overall F/TR winner was Paul Crosbie on 405.23v (ex 450.90v) narrowly leading Stan and Michelle. With Nancy Tompkins and Sierra Scott also in the top half-dozen, prospects looked fair for the visitors in the following days international team match, especially as the remaining competitor in this group me was shooting the
Ill put this down to coach Hamish Hunters expertise and his confidence in conditions holding, which saw him instruct me to take a long string of rapidly fired shots mid match. Ill mention that coached shooting at Blair is an even stranger experience than usual, as the electronic monitor is turned towards the coach and the shooter is unaware as to where shots have gone unless informed verbally. A clean target is visible through the riflescope on each and every shot of course. By the time we relocated to 1000 yards, the overcast had gone and warm sunshine now alternated with moving shadows from big white puffy clouds passing across the range - absolutely typical Scottish Highland summer weather. It also produced freshening and very variable winds, not to mention intermittent boiling mirage. Scores tumbled now and there were often long gaps between shots as the wind coaches stayed their hand waiting for a previous condition to return or trying to read a new one. A different approach to wind-doping between the local and visiting coaches became apparent. Scotlands Hamish and Tom relied on the wind-flags and developing plots while the USAs Nancy and Michelle spent considerable amounts of time glued to a pair of massive spotting scopes trying to read the mirage. Hamish didnt even have a scope set up, using the electronic monitor alone, eyeballing flags and other indicators. The Americans approach likely
The mouse gun worked fine at 1,114yd. .223 Rem. and at least some of those about to be involved in these proceedings expressed doubts about how well the mouse gun cartridge would cope at 1100 yards (actually 1114 yards at Blair Atholl).
Independence Day July 4th started out cooler and cloudy with near calm conditions ranging through light fishtailing breezes from behind but, it was obvious the sun would burn through, lifting temperatures and this would produce stronger and more variable winds. 900 yard scores benefitted from this lull with both of the six-strong teams averaging 70 or more per shooter out of the possible 75, the USA taking an early lead on 427.24v against Scotlands 420.20v. In terms of individual scores, I came out top on 73.4v ahead of one home and no fewer than four US shooters on 72s. 19
Michelle Gallagher gets down to business at 1,114yd. stemmed from their experiences in the individual matches where the ladies were heard saying they considered the flags untrustworthy. In any event, the Scots local experience started to pay off now and it was this team that produced more
points, 357.8v against the visitors 346.8v putting them into a four-point lead. The youngest American shooter produced the best individual score though - Sierra Scott shooting 65.2v ahead of my 63.3v and fellow team member Jim Wilsons 62.1v.
their shooters scoring 295.2v, 23 points ahead of the visitors and seeing three out of the four individual results that broke 50. Top scorer Paul Crosbie was now shooting 210gn Bergers to help earn 59 points. Michelle Gallagher put in an excellent 57 for the USA with the same companys 155.5s ahead of Scotlands Peter Burbridge on 55, also now using heavies (208gn Hornady A-Max) and me on 54 confounding those who said the mouse gun wouldnt cope with this distance. So, it was a win for the home team against the worlds best, not to mention Blair Atholl keeping its difficult reputation intact. Whilst disappointed, the visitors knew they had done well, given their inexperience with the ranges quirks and lack of coaches with local experience. Everybody had a great time, old friendships such as that of team captains Darrell Buell and Paul Crosbie were renewed, new ones made. This really was F/TR at its most enjoyable with four days shooting that nobody involved will ever forget, lively social activities complementing the time spent on the range.
Nail biting stuff US captain Darrel Buell is just visible biting his knuckles while Nancy Tompkins and Michelle Gallagher try to read the mirage at 1,114yd. With the teams aggregate scores now only separated by four points after 1000 yards, it was the third and hardest distance that would determine the outcome - another 15 rounds each at 1100 yards, actually a true 1114 yards on this range. Conditions were as for 1000 only more so warmer, yet more variable winds and intermittent difficulty in aiming precisely due to boiling mirage appearing at the far end of the range so scores dropped further. The Scottish coaches experience paid off yet again,
There was even an informal 1233 yard 15-round competition amongst six of the participants late on the Saturday afternoon after the individual matches had finished, which was won by US team captain Darrell Buell. (While not having enough of my 90gn VLD loaded ammunition to participate in this contest, I was able to put a rapid string of 10 shots downrange before the close for 37 or 38 ex 50 with good elevation consistency so .223 Rem with the right loads will stay in the black at 1,200yd plus too!) As well as listing the key scores, it only remains to congratulate Paul Crosbie and other members of West Atholl RC who put in a huge amount of effort to organise and run the events, make the range available and provide the off-range activities, as well as thanking the US shooters for being such great sports and wonderful guests. For full results, visit http:// www.westatholl.org.uk/Results/2011/SRAlong2011/ Long2011.pdf and Ive put 139 images of the four days shooting up on http://s912.photobucket.com/ home/laurieh2
The US F/TR team look happy.
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International Team Match Scotland v United States of America results:
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NEW PRODUCT Reviews
Apps and things! Have you had chance to have a look at Target Shooter via our new Apple app? If you already have an iPad, iPhone or iPad Touch, please give it a go. The app itself is free to download from the iTunes website and the latest copy of the magazine can be downloaded for a measly 59 pence (or 99c for the USA). The app has lots of great features which make Target Shooter far more pleasant to read than from your computer screen and everything tends to work better and quicker. Its easy to jump to any page and a click brings up an advertisers website in an instance and we are hoping that this will be a real attraction for our advertisers. Yes, you will always be able to read Target Shooter on-line but we feel that the iPad is the way forward for magazines and newspapers and, in a very short time, I predict that this will become the acceptable way to read a magazine or book.
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THE Creedmoor Cup
The Creedmoor Cup

Tullamore Ireland June 2011 by Des Parr
or those of you who were not around in the reign of Queen Victoria and thus understandably unaware of the Creedmoor aspect of this Match, perhaps a word of explanation is appropriate. In 1861, Lord Elcho put up a magnificent Shield and a generous cash prize, to be competed for at Wimbledon on an annual basis by the Volunteer riflemen of England and Scotland Ireland being excluded, for she had no Volunteers! The Elcho Shield went back and forth between the two countries until 1868, when Ireland made its first appearance, though it was not until 1873 that the Irish finally won the Elcho Shield. Back in Ireland, the teams homecoming, bearing the Elcho Shield was a bit like coming home with the football World Cup, with parades, official receptions and banquets! The ebullient Irish then decided to take on the Americans and a letter was duly sent to the editor of New York Herald newspaper challenging an American Rifle Team to a shoot in the autumn of 1874. To cut a long story short and it is a fascinating story the Americans accepted the challenge and the shoot was held at the Creedmoor rifle range on Long Island at 800, 900 and 1000 yards. In Lodi, Wisconsin in September 2008, the inaugural USA versus Europe F Class Challenge Match was held and, following this match, it was agreed that Ireland would host the return match. Fast forward now 137 years and here we are, guests of the National Rifle Association of Ireland (NRAI) at the new Tullamore Rifle Range. At the time of accepting the challenge, the NRAI had only one facility that could offer to host the match: the MNSCI (Midlands National Shooting Centre of Ireland) at Tullamore, County Offaly. So it was that the MNSCI set about the enormous task of building a range to accommodate such a prestigious match.
28
THE Creedmoor Cup

Initially a 400 yard range, it soon expanded to 600 yards, prompting the NRAI to form a national F Class League, bringing together like-minded shooters from all over Ireland to compete in the modern F Class discipline. The League continued to grow and in 2008, a 1000 yard range was built to facilitate Irelands bid to compete in the 2009 F-Class World Championships held that year at Bisley. To honour the memory of the first generation of competitive Irish riflemen who, by their endeavours, gave rise to the current Palma series of international rifle matches, this match would be named The Creedmoor in honour of the US ranges were the original match was held. The historic Creedmore Range, on Long Island New York, closed exactly 100 years ago. To host the 2011 Creedmoor Cup events, a new 1200 yard facility has been built, using volunteer labour, all in the space of just two years and christened the NRAI Creedmoor Range, in memory of that historic IrishAmerican match. It is a testament to the sheer hard work of those volunteers that the range facility was up and running in time - just! Now, the Creedmoor Match would have been enough of an attraction by itself but, the NRAI wanted more in this, its inaugural year so, two other events were also held. The first being the Irish Open - two days of F Class shooting for individual competitors from any nation. The second, a Europe versus America team match a bit like a Ryder Cup with rifles rather than golf clubs! So, would that be enough? Not likely! The Irish also held their Open National Championships at the same time making it a whole week of topflight competition. Invitations were sent out to all interested F-classers to attend the events and the GB F Class League urged members to attend but more on that later. So it was that in late June, shooters from the USA and all parts of Ireland converged on Tullamore. Travelling anywhere with firearms these days can be rather fraught with bureaucracy, however getting to Ireland proved fairly straightforward, thanks in large part to the assistance given by the NRAI and MNSCI, who have a good team of capable officers there.
29
THE Creedmoor Cup

Temporary permits were issued by the Garda Siochanna at a cost of 40 euros and that was all the paperwork required simples! The actual process of issuing them was delayed by the Royal and US Presidential visits, but nevertheless the permits came through with a few weeks to spare. Ireland used to be pretty expensive to visit but, as we found out, that no longer holds. Perhaps due to the precarious state of the economy, hotels and restaurants are now fiercely competing for business, thereby driving down prices. Our hotel was substantially cheaper that it was in 2007. Nevertheless, perceptions of higher costs still prevail and that perception no doubt influenced the decision of many UK F Classers to abstain from attending. Another deciding factor is the increasing popularity of the GBFCA National League; since I established the National League in 2005, Id no idea of how popular it would turn out to be, so much so, that many F-classers are clearly saving their time and money to attend League matches and forgoing any other competitions, even prestigious matches like these. Regrettably, just three UK shooters travelled to Tullamore to shoulder the responsibility of representing the UK and by implication, Europe since no Continental European F Classers had entered the matches. With hotels booked, ferries arranged and permits in place, the three of us - John Campbell, Chris Cuthbert and myself set off for Tullamore. The ranges at the MNSCI are a sight to behold, stretching back to 1200 yards, the newly christened Creedmoor Range is the centrepiece of a truly impressive complex of shooting facilities. Everyone is catered for: benchresters, smallbore shooters, clay shooters and of course fullbore riflemen. The ranges are built on land formerly used to extract peat for fuel by the Bord na Mona, a Government body. The land still holds a great deal of moisture which can give rise to mirage. We had encountered the tricky mirage on our previous visits in 2006 & 2007 and had wondered what would await us. Thankfully, the Irish weather saved us from the mirage Ireland is ideal grass-growing country thanks due to the high precipitation and June seemed more like April as furiously heavy showers lashed Tullamore.
30
Tuesday was a scheduled practice day with everyone given the chance to check their zeroes etc, at 800 to 1000 yards. No surprises there, the elevations were pretty much as expected. Everyone took turns in the butts and I found the target mechanisms to be wellmade and well-balanced. The target faces were made of vinyl probably a sensible precaution in view of the Irish wet weather! Wednesday was the first day of the Irish Open; conditions at 800 were pretty reasonable requiring a mean of just 3 minutes, as the day progressed the mean increased, though still only modestly to about 4-5. It was overcast, so mirage was not much of a problem and good scores could be expected. At the end of day one, the top man was Bob Bock of the USA with 219.23v having dropped just 6 points on an unfamiliar range. The top non-American was the Irish Team Coach, Liam Fenlon with 217.20v In F/TR, Irishmen dominated first, second and third places with John ODonoghue establishing an impressive lead with 209.14v closely followed by Stephen Doyle and David Comerford. Day two and conditions were still fine - cloudy cool weather with only moderate winds over the left shoulder. Today was to be Larry Bartholomes day, he finished an extraordinary 5 points ahead of his nearest rival Jim Murphy with an excellent 222.19v By way of comparison, the nearest Irish shooter was another of Irelands coaches, Paul Cassidy on 216.16v. In F/TR there was a complete change of fortunes at the top, with the main places all now going to Americans, Captain Darrell Buell taking the top slot on a comfortable 212.15v. The aggregate of two days of individual shooting determined the winners and, by a clear margin, Larry Bartholome of El Paso, Texas was the winner of the Irish Open in the F Open Class with 440.36v. Larry used a 284 Win. with very moderate loads, demonstrating that horsepower isnt always the answer. Over on the F/TR side, it was equally decisive and Darrell Buells better second day enabled him to take first place with 415.24v ahead of Irishman Adrian Casey on 406.19v and in third place, Jeff Rorer on 405.21v. With the Individual Irish Open over, it was now time to turn to the USA versus Europe Challenge Match on the Friday - the Ryder Cup of F-class shooting - with the best of Europe taking on the USA. Taking the scores
THE Creedmoor Cup

won in the Individuals, I took advice and simply based team selection on those scores, making selection pretty objective and rational. On that basis the team comprised seven Irishmen and one UK shooter. Our F Open coaches were Dave OHara, Liam Fenlon and Paul Cassidy. Conditions were now not just cool but quite cold and foreboding, wind was coming over the right shoulder - not too fierce at first but, as the day wore on, it became progressively stronger and rain threatened. Team Europe used a mixture of 6.5s and 7mms on the F Open side, naturally all used 308s on the F/TR side. To cut to the chase, the Americans had sent over what amounted to a full-size, full-strength team, comprised of many of the same shooters who shot in their World Championships team. In fact it might be fair to say this was effectively a World Championships class team. With that in mind, the Irish oops - European Team put up a valiant fight and ended up losing by just 33 points. A loss of course but a surprisingly narrow one, considering the relative strength of the USA squad. It may be justifiably claimed that with even just a couple of the big guns from the UK, then Team Europe would quite possibly have prevailed. Our F/TR colleagues did not fair quite so well, the margin there between victory and defeat was a rather larger 80 points, again their opposition was of World Championship class, so all credit to their valiant fight. It says a lot about the rate of progression and development of Irish F Class in so far as the Irish can now field teams on their home ground capable of standing up to teams from the USA and giving them a good run for their money. Should this rate of improvement continue at the same rate, the Irish will indeed be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come. And so to the final event of the week - the main event - the Creedmoor Match between Ireland and America. On Friday, the weather took a turn for the worse. It seemed like the March winds had arrived three months late, the wind strength grew and grew until as the Irish put it It was blowing a hooley. The winds were quite simply diabolical. As the day progressed, it became pretty much pot luck as to which way the wind would switch as the flags had all maxed-out
31
THE Creedmoor Cup
World Class Athletes World Class Ammunition World Class Results

earlier in the day. The luck of the Irish seemed to fall on Team USA - they had clearly had the better luck. When Saturday dawned, the winds had mercifully blown over and a more normal condition faced the teams though the damage had been largely done. Day two was less about sheer chance and more about skilful wind-reading and good judgement. In other words, the milder weather allowed a fairer contest. On that basis, Ireland fared better but it was not enough to compensate for the lottery of shooting through Fridays brutal gales. Team USA prevailed on both F/Open and F/TR. The week-long matches were at an end and what a week it had been. All credit is due to the members, officers and volunteers of the MNSCI and NRAI. They put on a great show which will be fondly remembered by all who attended. To round-off the week we gathered in the Bridge Hotel for a gala dinner and awards ceremony and what a fitting end that was to the whole week. Speeches were made, awards presented and friendships cemented in the best traditions of Irish hospitality. It may be unfair to single out individuals for praise, but it would also be remiss to neglect to mention John-Paul Craven. His energy, determination and enthusiasm helped ensure that the matches at Tullamore were such a resounding success. Whilst we are indebted to Des Parr for his article, we must also thank Irish stock makers PSE Composites for kindly providing the pictures. Please visit their website at www.pse-composites.com
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32
FROM THE BENCH

VINCES REGULAR COLUMN WHEREBY ACCURACY NUTS CAN KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE ACTIVITIES OF THE UKBRA AND ACCURACY RELATED ITEMS
Competitions
The big one for this month is the World Benchrest Championships in France which were held at the end of August but unfortunately the magazine was put to bed before I got back so a full report will have to wait until next month. However, we did have a 100/1000 yard weekend at Diggle at the end of July. It was a last opportunity for the GB teams to shake down their equipment for the Worlds and for once, the Diggle weather was on our side. That reflected in the scores, with Ian Dixon shooting a screamer (a group measuring less than onetenth of an inch) the first for several years. With only two Factory Sporter shooters, Darrel Evans didnt have much competition but his score was very creditable, beating a few HV shooters in the process. Results - Heavy Varmint: 1st Martin Miles 2nd Ian Dixon 3rd Bruce Lenton Small group: Factory Sporter: 1st Darrel Evans 2nd Jack Mills Small group: 6PPC Stolle 6PPC Walker BAT 6PPC Stolle Ian Dixon 6.5x47 Accur.Int. 223 Browning Darrel Evans 0.2302 inches 0.2374 0.2514 0.0925 inches 0.381 inches 0.715 0.308 inches
For our 1000 yard shoot the following day, winds were again light and we had some great groups four-inch groups from Steve Dunn and Russ Howard (shooting his 308 F/TR rifle!) but Jack Gibb took the small-group ward with his remarkable 3.201 incher in the final Match. But that wasnt the end of the story Alan Seagrave, a Factory Sporter regular, turned in a remarkable series of groups with his absolutely standard 6.5x55 Tikka, which was not only good enough for a Factory Sporter win but also second place in Light Gun Class! Results Light Gun: 1st Mal Roberts 2nd Alan Seagrave 3rd Jack Gibb Small group: Factory Sporter: 1st Alan Seagrave 2nd Sean Broxham 3rd Phil Gibbon Small group: 6.5-284 BAT 6.5x55 Tikka 6.5-284 Stolle Jack Gibb 6.5x55 Tikka 6.5-284 Savage 6.5-284 Savage Phil Gibbon 8.51 inches 8.966 9.516 3.201 inches 8.966 inches 13.128 14.467 6.49 inches
Darrel Evans and his 6.5x47 Accuracy International turned in some remarkable groups
Foreground Alan Seagrave on his way to another Factory Sporter win
Forthcoming events
Our next Diggle weekend for 100/1000 yard benchrest will be 10/11th September. If you would like to try benchrest, there arent many shoots left this season - just turn up on the day around 9.15am with about 50 rounds of ammo. and well show you the rest.
33
DEALING WITH THE WIND PART THREE
FINDING THE Zero

Chris White continues his wind-reading series
Dealing with the wind part 3
by Chris White
and although Chris is a dyed in the wool Target Rifle shooter, the principles apply equally to F Class and other long-range competition shooting. See issues May and August for parts 1 and 2.
Incidentally, Chris has been rather poorly of late. We wish him a speedy and full recovery and we thank him sincerely for taking the trouble to write for us. 34
35
Dealing with the wind.

Part 3 by Chris White
From the point of view of consistent shooting, it is vitally important to have the eye directly behind the rear-sight and that to achieve this we need a good and consistent contact between the cheek and the buttstock. (Below this smallbore shooter demonstrates the stock weld).
The rise from 300 to 1000 yards is around 30 minutes. In old money that is three tenths of an inch (one rifle minute is 100th of an inch on the rear-sight). So if our head is on the stock at 300 yards it will be a third of an inch off it at 1000 yards. With our Up and Down adjustable foresight however, we can move the foresight that amount. This means that our elevation setting on the rear-sight will be the same for 1000 yards as it is for 300 yards. To borrow a catch-phrase, Now thats magic! To fully understand this lets just think about it for a minute. To increase elevation we need to raise the muzzle of the rifle. Raising the rearsight has that effect since if the rearsight goes up the A prototype version muzzle must also go up of the Centra heightto ensure that the foresight adjustable foresight appears in the middle of the rearsight. Surely that is straightforward? But we want to keep our head in the same place so how can we elevate the rifle without raising the rearsight? Simple we lower the foresight. Again that should be straightforward but some shooters seem to have a problem with this. To raise elevation we lower the foresight and that is why Messers Fulton et al. have arranged the graduations on their foresights to increase in value as the sight moves closer to the barrel.
Up and down adjustable foresights for NRA Target Rifle have now been available since the late 80s. They are currently available from Fultons, HPS, Paramount, Centra and others in the UK and Sinclair (an apparent copy of the Fulton design) in the US. I am prepared to stick my neck out here and say this is the most beneficial single gadget that you can fit to your rifle. These gizmos are generally adjustable in increments of five minutes; the Centra is adjustable to finer increments and pretty much guarantee good contact between cheek and stock if used correctly.
Different height foresights the high one gives 35 more MOA elevation than the low one, right. Now we have grasped that, lets look at how not to zero the rifle with an up and down foresight. I am not normally into negativity but the reason I am about to describe this is because this is how most people do it!
36
Step one is to set the foresight at zero and go onto the range at 200 or 300 yards and find an elevation zero. Then until you have more data set your sights at six minutes up from this number at 500 yards and nine and three quarter minutes up at 600 yards. Step two is to wait until you are going to shoot at 900 yards, set your foresight at 25 minutes and come down a quarter minute from your 300 yard zero. You will then find your 900 yard elevation and can come up six and a quarter minutes when you go to 1000 yards. As Oliver Twist found out, something is better than nothing and this evidently seems to work well for a lot of shooters. It does no more than can be achieved by having two foresights a high one for short range and a low one for long range and it does not take advantage of those five-minute (or better) adjustments that the manufacturer has built into the foresight. Different height foresights the high one gives 35 more MOA elevation than the low one, right. What I am about to describe is important. Please make sure you understand it and act on it! To do it successfully you will need a rifle which is already zeroed or have access to a friends rifle which is zeroed. Now remove your up and down foresight from the rifle and assume your position. Get your friend to raise your rearsight until it comes directly in line with your eye. Get up and down again to check this until you are confident that when you are in a relaxed and comfortable position the rear-sight is in the optimum position for your shooting eye. Whatever setting is on the rear-sight is the optimum and, ideally, we dont want to move more than three minutes from this setting. Now measure the height of your friends foresight from the bore-line and also that of his rear-sight. Subtract the first figure from the second and refit your foresight so that it is as close as you can get to this value lower than your rear-sight. What you are trying to do is to get the sights in the same relative position to each other as your friends are. This will maximise your chances of getting onto the target when you go to the range for your zeroing session. When you do that you want to minimise the amount you move your rear-sight so you must move your foresight. If your group centre is more than 2 minutes from the centre
of the target, move the foresight down if the shots are going low and up, if they are going high. You now have two settings to record - your foresight setting and your rear-sight setting. Assuming you have zeroed at 300 yards, you can then raise your elevation by the 6 minutes required at 500 yards by lowering your foresight by 5 minutes and raising your rear-sight by one minute. Similarly when you go from 500 to 600 yards and want to increase your elevation by 3 minutes you move your foresight down five minutes, which raises your elevation by five minutes and lower your rear-sight by 1 minutes to get the total raise of 3 . Take a look at the table which is the Elevation table for my short range rifle (Barnard). Note that between 200 and 800 yards there is no more than 1 minutes variation either side of a mean setting of 16 minutes. This way, your rear-sight settings (and your head position) should all be within a three-minute bracket of your average setting, irrespective of the distance at which you are shooting. Can you read the vernier in the picture below? The answer is actually minus three. Because this figure is a negative value, we need to read the vernier backwards. You should by now appreciate that this is not easy and it is probably a whole lot harder in the pouring rain when you are stressed out. I hope that you now understand why it is important that you avoid, at all costs, a situation where you end up with a negative value on your sight.
Next time well zero the windage. Chris White
37
2011 World Rimfire Benchrest Championships USA
2011 World Rimfire Benchrest Championships USA By Carl Boswell
Individual winners from the rimfire matches. A new one each day
39
2011 World Rimfire Benchrest Championships USA by Carl Boswell

Someone once told me to start any article with the positive elements first. Well there are so many positives about the Rimfire and Air Benchrest World Championship which ended just last week - the people, the arrangements of the competition, etc, etc, etc. Everything that was organised was a positive experience.
If anything could be said on the negative side then it would be the flu bug that seemed to make its way around several teams, including the match director Craig Young. The weather had highs of 45 Celsius with 90% humidity and not forgetting the storm on the afternoon of the last day. (When I say storm I do mean storm!). So not really things that anyone could control.
A new face from the czech republic
A motly crew
Craig Young match director and John Farrel
Eley represented by Dan Killough with lots more goodies for sale
40
I have so much to say about the event that I have decided to write about it over several issues looking first at the general aspects and scores, then juniors and then some of the kit that the Americans have access to. This first article will be short because..... well, I am still jet lagged having returned just a few days ago. My body-clock is malfunctioning somewhat! So forgive the lack of prose as I am relying on a picture-diary this month. Sponsorship is hard to come by these days but we had a massive amount of sponsorship for this WRABF World Championship - from Eley, Killough Sports, SEB rests, BulzeyePro, Leupold, Broughton Barrels, Baities and JSB. So publicly, a great thanks to all these companies. The event finished with some phenomenal results and a few broken world records. We can thank organizer Craig Young, a world class competitor and medal winner in his own right, for such a splendid event. He has planned and developed the Championship over the last two years. Yet another success for the rimfire benchrest shooting and for the sponsors with their continued support of individual sportspeople, national teams and events like this one. The USA Team, as expected, did extremely well, taking most of the medal haul. With eight countries attending this time, we met old friends and made a few new ones. I know my wife thoroughly enjoyed the country while I was shooting. So much so she wanted another week, even in that heat and humidity. Onto the event. There were eight matches over eight days which included Air Rifle, Light and Heavy Varmint, 25 and 50 metre in all of the rimfire classes which were Sporter, Light Varmint and Heavy Varmint. I heard someone comment about the heat and humidity - it was like running a marathon several times over! I shot six matches and that was enough, with practice days in between. Some shot the whole eight, which must have been a bit of an endurance test. Most international events like this go on for a maximum of five days and even the local guys were feeling the pressure at the end. To say that we all had ups and downs is something we can all comment on individually and reading the forums you can read personal accounts of the championship at http://www.rimfireaccuracy.com/ Forums/forumdisplay.php/10-Rimfire-Benchrest
Flags of the world
Hot, humid but windy
Is there a shark in that sandwich - Jens had success in offshore fishing as well
41
Personally, I would say that I under-performed at this championship, but you get the cards you are dealt with. Making a big mistake on the first Rimfire card did not help but, I managed to build up the score that day and then for the aggregate later in the week. I am sure the heat did affect a number of shooters but the rest of the world made some headway with Bronze medals by Clinton Sondergeld of Australia, Pieter Grundlingh of South Africa, a Team gold for Australia in Air Rifle, Team bronze for South Africa in Air Rifle to note just a few. Sorry if I have missed anyone out, so do look at the full scores on the WRABF website. Italy also did well with its own medal haul. Our own juniors did very well, up on the podium each day, but juniors will be considered in a later article. So the rest of the world did its bit but we are still learning and I personally have learnt a lot. I asked one of the USA Team - Greg Davis - how many matches he shot each year. His total is about 30 to 40 out of the 60 most get to shoot. Phenomenal! This has got to be upward of 20,000 rounds a year. I shoot 3000 rounds. Something wrong there and something to think about for the future. Nobody said this was a cheap sport. Another great feature was the visits we had from a number of people we were not expecting, such as 2008 World Champion DJ Hepler, two members of the USA Shooting Team on a scouting visit, the international representative of Eley, Dan Ollie and even the MD of Eley, Andrew Lane. Some of these VIPs were kind enough to stay and present the medals on some of the days. Overall a successful event! Different from the last Europeans I attended but this is what we need, different conditions to make it competitive. As each day was different, the event was competitive.
It was just too much for a lot of us
One of the presentations, but you could only last ten minutes in the sun
Practice day
The next major international championship is the 2013 World Cup and the European Championship in the same year. If anything, this latest international event has provided more interest in shooting together internationally on a regular basis. We are looking forward to even more new records. So well done to all the sportspeople from countries who are members of the WRABF, for taking part in a truly successful event. Full scores from the championship are on the WRABF website at: http://www.wrabf.com/World%20Scores. htm There is also a developing gallery of pictures and number of other updates.
One of the presentations, but you could only last ten minutes in the sun
42
That is all for this month unfortunately as I have run out of time, only being back for two days. More on the World Championship next month so see you then. For those of you wishing to take up Rimfire or Air Rifle benchrest in the UK, contact the UKBR22 at the following email address: ukbr22@btinternet.com Picture credits go to Maryangela Buskey and all the teams taking part. My thanks.
The range
Final Agg Results

7/30/11
HV 2 Gun
HV 25MA
TB Score X's TB
Palmetto Gun Club - USA Shooter Name
WRABF
Ctry. ID# Score
LV 25MA
X's
Air Rifle 2Gun

Score X's TB
Place 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Todd Banks Dan Brown Pieter Grundling Rick Ingraham Brett Wilson Annette Rowe Larry Durham Carl Boswell Doug Miller Gert Coetzer
USA USA RSA USA AUS AUS USA GBR USA RSA
289 301 231 281 209 207 295 107 297 255
736 739 726 734 732 732 724 720 726 722
27 21 24 18 25 20 13 16 14 21
243 246 239 245 242 242 239 237 244 243
736 725 732 722 721 719 726 724 718 721
24 11 22 26 13 9 20 18 13 17
247 241 245 244 242 244 243 239 239 237
1472 1464 1458 1456 1453 1451 1450 1444 1444 1443
51 32 46 44 38 29 33 34 27 38
736 739 726 734 732 732 724 720 726 722
Final Agg Results

8/6/11
HV 2 Gun
HV 50MR
TB Score X's TB
WRABF
Ctry. ID# Score
HV 25MR
X's
HV 25M & 50M

Score X's TB
Todd Wooten Joe Besche Dan Killough Tim Miller Tony Harper Pino Leone Clinton Sondergeld Greg Davis Geoff Knight Carl Boswell
USA USA USA USA USA ITA AUS USA AUS GBR
335 375 355 349 333 163 205 331 195 107
749 750 750 750 749 750 748 749 748 750
49 47 49 58 56 43 40 46 42 42
250 250 250 250 250 250 250 250 249 250
748 746 745 743 743 741 743 741 742 738
42 40 43 41 34 35 35 36 30 34
250 249 248 248 247 248 247 242 249 249
1497 1496 1495 1493 1492 1491 1491 1490 1490 1488
91 87 92 99 90 78 75 82 72 76
749 750 750 750 749 750 748 749 748 750
Final Agg Results

8/5/11
HV 2 Gun
LV 50MR
TB Score X's TB
WRABF
Ctry. ID# Score
LV 25MR
X's
LV 25M & 50M

Score X's TB
Greg Davis Dan Killough Carl Boswell Fred Sears Tony Harper Giuseppe Mesoraca Franco Vito Todd Wooten Ulla Murisoja Clinton Sondergeld
USA USA GBR USA USA ITA ITA USA FIN AUS
331 355 107 343 333 167 175 335 271 205
750 750 745 750 750 748 749 745 749 750
63 50 41 45 49 34 22 44 43 57
250 250 246 250 250 248 250 249 250 250
745 742 747 741 739 738 736 737 733 731
36 36 41 42 26 33 29 31 25 24
248 250 248 248 249 244 246 247 244 244
1495 1492 1492 1491 1489 1486 1485 1482 1482 1481
99 86 82 87 75 67 51 75 68 81
745 742 747 741 739 738 736 737 733 731
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Final Agg Results

8/4/11
HV 2 Gun
SP 50MR
TB Score X's TB
WRABF
Ctry. ID# Score
SP 25MR
X's
Sporter 25M & 50M

Score X's TB
Greg Davis Tony Harper Jim Pepper Tim Miller Dan Killough Brett Wilson Bill Collaros Fred Sears Richard Lightfoot John Patzwald
USA USA USA USA USA AUS AUS USA AUS AUS
331 333 325 349 355 209 217 343 201 197
750 750 747 747 742 747 746 749 744 740
43 49 45 42 29 38 30 41 29 33
250 250 250 247 246 248 248 249 248 242
736 735 733 733 737 730 724 720 722 725
29 24 36 28 23 25 22 22 22 32
248 246 245 244 244 245 241 244 244 246
1486 1485 1480 1480 1479 1477 1470 1469 1466 1465
72 73 81 70 52 63 52 63 51 65
750 750 747 747 742 747 746 749 744 740
World Records
Doug 2011
Printed 11/08/2011 12:48
44
To introduce ourselves we are the United Kingdom Association of Rimfire and Air Rifle Benchrest Shooting. By that we mean "True Benchrest Shooting". The Association is recognised by rimfire shooters across in the UK, with partners across Europe and the rest of the world, as the presentative body that promotes rimfire and air rifle benchrest across this country and with other partners in European and World events. Visit our website for news about national and international competitions that all can have a go at. From novice to champion shooter, everyone is welcome www.benchrest22.org
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Tilo Dedinski Billinghurst .36
Tilo Dedinski Billinghurst
.36
by Pedro Mateus
A .36 Billinghurst with luxus walnut, metal engraving ang gold fillings
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A custom made muzzle-loading target pistol.
By Pedro Mateus
Perdro Mateus is a Portugese reader and, in addition to rimfire benchrest, Pedro also shoots black-powder pistol. With our custom-built F Class and benchrest rifles, the money goes into accuracy, pure and simple looks are secondary. Take a look at the pistol featured in this article and marvel at the work of a gunsmith who produces not only accuracy but also an authentic work of art a craft that flourishes and is still appreciated in Germany. You can e-mail Pedro at pedro.mateus@gmail.com

The Billinghurst is a high-end, custom made, 36 calibre (optionally available in 41 or 45) under hammer, single-shot, black powder, rifled barrel pistol, designed to compete within the Kuchenreuter class of the MLAIC (Muzzle Loader Associations International Committee) competition. This pistol has a barrel length of 230 mm (approx. 9 inches) and a overall length (depending on grip size always made to fit the specific hand of the owner) of 387 mm (approx. 15 inches), with a sight radius of 287 mm (approx. 11 inches). Total weight is 1070 grammes (approx. 37.7 oz). The pistol is made in Germany by Tilo Dedinski, a very talented gun maker and is based on the Suhlproduction method (cold swaging and vacuum tension-free annealed) from billet steel blocks and premium selected walnut. The pistol is finally finished with a top grade blueing with optional (but strongly recommended) gold inserts and metal (and wood) engravings.
Custom 24 carat gold owners monogram and extensive engraving

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Loading and operation After pouring a measured charge of powder down the barrel, a wad of corn semolina is added. The lead ball on top of a lubed cotton patch is then firmly inserted down the rifled barrel with the help an appropriated hammer and rod (spark free of course). The semolina and lubed patch create a solid gas seal and also act as a barrel-cleaning solution for every shot. Final step, cock the under-hammer and fit a percussion cap (manufacturer recommends RWS Percussion Caps No. 1075) on the shooting nipple (standard fitted with a tungsten carbide insert).
With loading complete, grip the pistol in the right hand, assume the correct shooting stance, check the sight picture and squeeze the trigger which is very light and breaks crisply, like an icicle. The trigger-pull can be easily adjusted via a screw on the outside of the action, allowing the trigger to be adjusted to the individual shooters preference. The under-hammer will then strike the percussioncap, igniting the powder. Now check your spottingscope and see if you have managed to propel that 36 caliber lead ball to somewhere near the 10-ring at 25 metres on the ISSF precision target.
Tilo Dedisnki gothic lettering marked on the barrel

Fitted with historically correct sights (with a v-notch back profile), they are adjustable for elevation by adjusting a screw on the back sight (1 turn equals 2,39 on the target, turn equals 0,30 on the target), and for windage by drifting the dovetail of the front sight ( 0,01 corresponds to 0,87 on the target). The pistol takes about three months to be produced depending on the extensive range of options - 24 carat gold inlay (rings on the barrel extremes and owners monogram), detailed classic engravings (German, British and other traditional vignette patterns) across the top of the frame and sides of the trigger guard, luxus grade walnut grip, etc. All stages of production can be documented upon request, with photos of the in progress work being e-mailed to the future owner.
Load recommendations Recommendations from both the manufacturer and the prestigious Rifle Bullet Caster website (also a German company, fronted by Adrian Pitfield) are for a .354 inch diameter 65gn lead ball with a 24 mm diameter and 0,24 mm (approx. 0,01) thick cotton patch, and a 10-12 grains FFF black powder load. Competition and precision results The Billinghurst pistol is a top-grade, world class, match grade performer. On the authors first trial run, scores of 85-90 (out of 100) were coming consistently. The same happened across the three national competitions already contested with the pistol. 48
The Billinghurst .36 along a training target
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Cleaning The barrel can be easily separated from the action by pushing out one single conical pin - a couple of soft strikes with a plastic hammer will do the trick (the fitting is excellent and removal and replacement of the barrel will not affect the sights). Then remove the nipple (with the supplied wrench) and wash the barrel inside and out with soapy hot water - using nylon or soft cooper brushes to remove all the accumulated fouling and black powder residue.
Black powder is hydroscopic material, that is, it gathers moisture and, if left in lasting contact with metal it will cause serious corrosion. After a thorough washing, use several dry patches to remove all trace of water and then use a hair-dryer or similar to thoroughly dry it - you will know when its dry - when the barrel is too hot to touch. Finish the session with a lightly oiled patch down the barrel and also coat the outside. Balistol is a recommended and proven cleaner among European muzzle loading fraternity. Once familiar with the process the entire cleaning procedure should take no more than about 20 minutes.
Detail on the trigger and on the adjust screw

The Kuchenreuter MLAIC shooting rules require the shooter to make 13 shots in 30 minutes (including the loading process) The concentration required for alternating between loading and shooting means that the time is not so generous as it might first appear. For the final result, a shooters best 10 from the 13 shots are used. The target is the standard ISSF 25m pistol precision and is scored up to a maximum of 10 points per shot. Since different calibers can be used by the shooters competing side by side, the score does not follow the normal ISSF approach (inward scoring) and a greater than 50% impact inside the ring must be achieved and the shooter must provide the range crew with a sample of the lead bullets used. Top grade shooters will turn in scores of 95 and over with impressive consistency using this pistol something that only top quality target pistols such as this one can achieve.
Kuchenreuter and Billinghurst - Origins Kuchenreuter is the name of a prestigious family of muzzle-loading pistol makers from Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany - dating back to the early XVII century. Billinghurst comes from William Billinghurst (1807-1880), a very talented target pistol and rifle maker from Rochester, New York, USA, from the late XIX century. Tilo Dedinski Custom Gunsmith Tilo Dedinski is a German custom black-powder muzzle-loading pistol and rifle gunsmith and owner and founder of Tilo Dedinski Vorderladerwaffenbau established in Kulmbach, Bavaria, on the southeast of Germany.
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Prices
Tito Dedinski Billinghurst standard model (.36, plain walnut, no gold inserts, no engravings, custom-fit grip) goes for 1730 Euro (approx. 1550 GBP). A full custom model, such as the authors own shown in the pictures, along with loading tools and a spare nipple set, will cost an extra 1000 Euro but for the extra quality and work from Tito, its definitely worth saving for.
Detail on the barrel (rifling visible), and gold ring filling

Tilo was born in Freiberg (Erzgebirge) in 1962, and in 1995 obtained is master machine-builder in Bayreuth (Bavaria) and has been working as an independent gunsmith ever since. He has a wealth of hands-on experience as a national and international muzzleloading shooter and his focus is on producing historic replicas, with custom made high-end refinements, for top shooters worldwide. Many MLAIC titles have been won with his equipment. In addition to the Billinghurst, this talented German muzzle loader specialist produces other underhammer target pistols and rifles and also offers match grade tuning and custom on a selected range of Davide Pedersoli guns.
Detail on the front sight - dove tailed, impact horizontally adjustable

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This SMALLBORE Business
This Smallbore Thing

More on the difference between training and competition.
Moving on with this segment, where I indicated there was quite a bit of difference in the two factors, also indicating that mind stuff was a natural progression to the results.
Have you thought about training and what it actually creates?
by Don Brook
Training is the method of developing techniques that you know will work, and one of the best methods is the controlled experiment to find out what happens. So often have I seen small bore shooters simply practising, sending shot after shot down range with no thought of why, or any tabulated reference to methods. This applies to shooters with high standards as well. You often see them shooting, particularly prone, where the results are normally quite stable and it is possible to shoot for a long time without points loss on the target. When you do reach this stage, training takes on a very different perspective, both in attitudes and developing endurance and often the nuances of this aspect falls on deaf ears. I know, I have seen this at very high levels and in my own case, before I woke up to what was happening, I did not learn a great deal
52
about myself relative to application of progress, apart from confidence with what I was doing.

mental strength in terms of desire. Shoots such as this just do not happen and the sports psychology entailed within, together with his pre match training methods needed to be analysed critically. Cooper stated that he did feel really well when he awoke on the morning of the match and seemed to be relaxed. This did not gell with me in analysis because I had always thought Malc was a very determined character, always relaxed and this was evident in prematch conversations. We had a great time that morning because I was shooting on the next target to his left. As a matter of fact, I shot my own PB in 3x40 - actually more interested in his targets coming in on the transporter! (That took some analysis for me as well) We did speak of some controlled experiments that we had both conducted and my prone competition shooting was really cooking about then. I would like to relate to you all now, the content of the experiment I put together just to give you an example and indicate that we are moving backward in time to approximately seven months prior that trip to the European circuit. OK?
Think what happens when you add the recoil f actors of a 308 Target Rifle to the equation! The mind boggles...
A fully set up controlled experiment is a method of thinking in steps, of finding out just what works and what effects it has relative to the overall. Quite often you are chasing your tail, witnessed by the times that I have seen top-level shooters that made some alteration to the settings on their rifles in the never ending chase for accuracy, only to find out some six months later that the settings returned almost exactly to those they started out with! That is frustrating and a waste of both the ammunition and precious time involved in a chase for more accuracy that proved pointless.
In all cases for a controlled experiment, it should be written in your shooting diary, with the objectives firmly noted and, the method of how you are going to do this, noted in as much detail as you can muster. The training goals should be written, with the overall timing relative even to a specific event, or match approaching. Even adequate rest is essential, together with your diet, and physical well being. All of these are important.
This is the small group I mentioned in the article. It gives you an idea of what can be achieved from the prone position, and what you should expect from careful training . Groups like this one are not commonplace, but do arrive when the ammunition is matched to the rifle.
An example of this once more concerns Mal Cooper, where, after he shot that incredible 397 points standing in Strassbourg, we went back to the Hotel and completely dissected everything we could think of. Why had this incredible shoot suddenly appeared? We investigated everything for the two weeks prior that match, his rest factors, attitude, mental clarity, approach to the match, relaxation, physical and
So, armed with my diary alongside of me, I set about finding out just what happened with the forward geometry of my position. I took careful note of the feelings associated with the position and the rifle enclosed within the geometry of my position and set about finding out what happened when I made some adjustments, both to the position of the elbows and the pressures affected by the changes in the position. The sling pressures and adjustments, forward arm angles of the elbow and pressure of the butt plate in the right shoulder. I always fired ten-shot groups while assessing the changes and carefully noted the shot hole placement relative to aiming accuracy and very carefully examined the effect of the position changes I made on
53
the recoil of the rifle at shot release. For a very long time now, I have always insisted that the recoil pattern is the final indication that the shot fired was correct.
The recoil factor on that position resulted in a looping motion and the rifle came to rest on the RHS of the aim, so I knew then that position would not work. I wrote those findings in the diary, cut the five-shot group out and pasted it in the book, leaving it preserved for later reference. I then went the other way and placed the forward elbow 25mm to the right of the optimum position and far more under the rifle than my normal setting.
So with that thought in mind, I started to work on the position of the left elbow relative to the barrel line of the rifle. I worked out that The effect was astounding, given that there was an optimum position for I felt a lot more comfortable with my techniques judging by the onethe lay of the rifle in the forward hole group in the ten-ring with geometry. The rifle felt OK but on those ten shots. The recoil with shot-release, the recoil thrashed my optimum elbow placement sideways and refused to settle was just a very slight movement consistently in the one place, upwards and returned to an or even remotely close to the accurate aiming sequence. previous shot! You will not get Those ten shots went into the close groups on the target if this 6mm group I illustrated in the happens, believe me! The group photograph. (Later on, I discovered printed far more horizontal, resulted that a fired .22 case would not drop in a 48 - that nearly was a 47 and through that group hole!) believe me you need that like a hole in This shows a typical group fired the head. from the kneeling position. OK I thought, that is optimum The shot holes on the left and positioning with my current forward It was very obvious also that the right, can be due to either wind geometry and set about finding effect, or from a hold variation. pressures around the rifle in position out what happened with the The other eight shots does give were not correct, nor constant. The an idea of the requirements adjustments to the position of the hold movement was affected severely to develop for your kneeling elbow when I moved it. and later, when I put my 20 power position. These days you need to scope on top of the rifle, I discovered develop a hold and shot release The first position change was that I was no longer holding the tensystem as good, if not better conducted with the left elbow ring, with sharp accented movements than your prone shooting. moved 25mm (about 1) to the left predominating. This technique went of the ideal position. For starters I immediately into the never- to-be-looked- at bin! found that there was more pressure on the forward arm sling position and felt like I was struggling to hold More to the point, I have watched shooters with the the rifle still. The rifle felt out of whack and I had to same problem virtually duplicating the results on use more force, rather than getting the rifle to point the target that I experienced. This is actually quite a naturally at the target. common fault among prone shooters and think what The group came up for those five shots and scored a 49x50, with the nine printing at seven oclock. I would point out here that many would accept the 49 and not pay the slightest attention as to why it was a 49. (The wind blew that one out is quite a common analysis.) 49 points is often accepted but what happens when you shoot 4x49s? That is right, 196 points, and three times 196 is not going to cut it, is it? Would you accept a 588 for 60 shots prone? I realise that some would according to their standard, so there is a ways to go yet!
happens when you add the recoil factors of a 308 Target Rifle to the equation. The mind boggles - because they cannot see the fault developing as it is hidden in the fullbore recoil. I now know what position of the left elbow corresponds to results for my prone shooting, and I can see this when I take up my position. I just simply look down with my left eye and the left elbow of the shooting coat just clears the left side of the rifle in position. You must understand that I do not recommend this as the B all and End all of the position applying to
54
These two diagrams were fired from the standing position. It was my first competition 100, fired in the New Zealand championships at Rotorua. They show that it is possible to shoot as well as this, and you should never lose sight of the overall big picture in your training, and then produce the same results in your competition shooting. 100s fired standing are extremely rare, but they are possible.
everyone and their prone position, as this is entirely my own findings in respect to my own techniques but, I do recommend that you find out exactly where it should be, determined by the consistency of the recoil pattern and the groups you fire in training. Make sure it is written in great detail, taking into concern even your thoughts relative, keeping a concise diary! Do not just rely on your memory, (as so many do) every now and then it is great to resurface these experiments. You may find it saves you weeks of frustration!
Remember,
Great battles do not always go, to the stronger or faster man, for sooner or later the one who wins, is the one who knows he can. Think about it... Brooksie
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LATEST NEWS...
st N ate L
s... ew
JACK LOPRESTI MP VISITS YATE PISTOL AND RIFLE CLUB Jack Lopresti is the new Conservative MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke in Bristol and was elected in May 2010. I contacted him after the Cumbria Shootings to ask for his support in resisting further restrictions on the shooting public following that outrage.
I saw him at his surgery and he was sympathetic to our cause. He told me that he was familiar with firearms as he is a TA soldier and had served in Afghanistan. He said he would follow the deliberations of the Home Affairs Committee on Firearms Control. As we finished our meeting I asked him if he would like to visit my club on one of our guest days. He said he would very much like that. On Sunday 24th July he visited the range, with his youngest son Michael who is an Army cadet with the local Patchway detachment and has also used firearms as part of his cadets training. I introduced Jack and Michael to members of the Committee and other members. They had an enjoyable time shooting various firearms from a Ruger 10/22 to a Pietta .44 muzzle loading revolver. However I think that Jacks particular favourite was a Martini Henry .577/.45 rifle. At the end of the morning I showed Jack my Alfa .38/357 long barrelled revolver and my SAM .22 single shot longarm pistol. I told him that although I would like him to have a go with them, I wasnt allowed to do so. Jack was very surprised at this. I also told him I couldnt lend them to fellow club members. I explained that it was something to do with the fact that Home Office Approved Clubs are defined as Rifle and Muzzle Loading Pistol Clubs, not Rifle and Pistol Clubs. I said I didnt fully understand the rule myself.
Jack Lopresti MP visiting Yate Pistol and Rifle Club. Jack said he would look into it to clarify the situation for me. As we parted he offered to give us any help he could and said he would like to invite members of the club to the House of Commons. A very enjoyable and useful morning. Andrew Sherriff, Yate Pistol and Rifle Club.
Fox Firearms have just taken delivery of a large consignment of Precision Rifle laminate stocks.
Fox Firearms have just taken delivery of a large consignment of Precision Rifle laminate stocks. This is the stock chosen by two-times GBFCA League winner Grant Taylor and is the longest laminate stock you can buy. It makes a great F Class Open, F/TR or 600/1000 yard benchrest stock. Prices start from 395 including VAT, depending on inlet and accessories.
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LATEST NEWS...
We have been contacted by ABT Rifle Systems regarding a new rifle.

The photograph shows the prototype version with aluminium stock and detachable box magazine. At the moment, we have no further information but ABT have promised to keep us informed. You can visit the ABT website: www.ab-tactical.com
Petition act now!

Petition for the re-classification of 22 target pistols. Our sport is set to get
little or nothing from the so-called Olympic legacy. If we cant inherit the Olympic shooting infrastructure then the re-classification of target pistols would be a justifiable alternative.
How can the Government invite hundreds of pistol shooters non-British citizens about whom they know nothing - into the UK with their firearms whilst still prohibiting their own citizens from ownership? Please sign this petition. Who knows if we dont try we will never succeed. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/360
Prototype ABT SA-SS-R, Short Action, stainless steel, repeater. This rifle is the first of a new series of advanced weapons being produced by ABT, the target version of this rifle will be a single shot system with either a hook style extractor or a control feed, the rifle can be supplied as a single shot action but also with the required parts to turn it into a 10 shot repeater. Calibres: 22-250 Winchester through to 6.5 x 55, including 243, 260, 308, and all of the short magnum varieties, a medium action will be available shortly specifically intended for those calibres in the 7mm Mauser to 30-06 type rounds, and a long action will also be available for all other calibres up to 338 Lapua Magnum, including such rounds as the Weatherby belted magnums. You can visit the ABT website: www.ab-tactical.com
In next months October 2011 issue, you will find a report on the Tunnels 22 version of the Colt 1911 pistol. Would it be such a big step in terms of public safety to sell these pistols without the silly bit of metal sticking out the back and the faux silencer? If you were not a law-abiding shooter or if the pistol was stolen, how long would it take to chop the barrel and remove the wrist-brace?
Please take the trouble to sign this petition.
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LATEST NEWS...
La
tN tes
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second year running, there would have been more but unfortunately some schools got their dates and times wrong! In the Match Rifle events the Hopton was won by Robert Lygoe, beating Nick Tremlett by one point on 987 with 107 V bulls. The Elcho was won by Scotland beating England by three points for the third year in a row. This last happened from 1930 to 1932. Im sure there were a few sore Scottish heads the following day! Overall Target and Match Rifle has shown 1207 entries, a reduction of 119 compared to last year, and 198 of those are from overseas, 54 down on last year which is probably due to the lack of an Australia Match and the Palma and World Championships being held in Australia in October later in the year. The Grand Aggregate has had 941 entries which is down by 102 on the preceding year and we have seen teams and individuals from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Guernsey, Guyana, Hong Kong, Jersey, Kenya, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Trinidad & Tobago and the USA. 368 Under 25s were present including 283 Under 21s. The oldest competitor was John Wright at 87 and the youngest was Cadet T Dowd at 14. Just goes to show how our sport spans the age ranges. Thirty-year old Ed Compton (left) of the Sussex Rifle Association won the Queens Prize with 297.35 on an afternoon of tempestuous head on winds that wrought havoc with the field on Stickledown. Ed had only shot in the St Georges and the Queens Prize this meeting and apparently had been considering giving up his FAC! Bet hes given that some more thought The other interesting fact was that he borrowed Glyn Barnetts jacket to shoot in, so the jacket is now GM3 as Glyn has won the Queens prize twice. Wonder how much that would go for on eBay or if its worth keeping a few years and then onto Antiques Roadshow!! The top four places of the Queens Prize (900 & 1000yds) were: 1st E Compton (Sussex) 297.35; 2nd R. Riley (ATSC) 297.30; 3rd P Patel (Old Epsomians) 295.41; 4th J Corbett (AUS) 295.39.
NRA News from Heather Webb

So much has been going on here since the Imperial, it is difficult to remember it in any clarity. Fortunately there are plenty of places to get the results from, so here goes. We started with the Service Rifle events, which were supported by overseas teams from Australia, Canada, South Africa and Oman and some 130 competitors took part. The winners of Her Majesty the Queens Medals were: for the Royal Navy/Royal Marines, Lt DEA Anderson; Territorial Army, Sgt David Fenwick; for the Army, Sudin Gurung; for the Royal Air Force, Sqn Ldr David Vick. The Methuen Trophy Inter Service Team Shoot was won by the Corps of Royal Signals. The Inter-Services Cadet Rifle Meeting was very successful; there were 677 cadets attending from 132 teams, including the Royal Canadian Army Cadet National Rifle Team. The winning team in the Team Grand Aggregate was B Coy Durham ACF with a score of 955 and 63 V bulls and Sgt S Ireson of Dorset ACF won the Bossom, the individual prize, with a score of 250 and 39 V bulls. At the Schools Meeting there were 48 teams, from 46 schools, and there were 554 cadets. 31 of those schools participated in the Ashburton Shield which was won by Epsom College with a score of 762.40, beating Cheltenham College into second place by two points. Epsom College also won the Garry Trophy. There were 172 competitors at the Historic Arms weekend who fired 682 match cards over 124 different competitions. Siberia 100m shooting was tried out for the first time and whilst the take up was not great it will be tried for another year. There was, for the second year in succession, a small increase in the number of competitors shooting at the Imperial Pistol and Gallery Rifle Meeting. Team and aggregate entries remained about the same, but there were 1,400 re-entries in the medal events, a significant increase over 2010. The number of school cadets and teams competing on Melville Range was up for the
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NRA News from Heather Webb - Cont...

Glyn Barnett of Old Greshams Rifle Establishment won the Grand Aggregate after scoring 75.10 in the Prince of Wales. This is his second Gold Cross and his score of 702.92 is a new record for the eleven match course of fire beating Parag Patels old record of 700. The F Class competitors were firing at the new, much smaller, targets this year. Although they were a bit of a shock to start off with, they really focused the mind when it came to wind reading. Even a slight miscalculation would result in being heavily punished. However, we were all in the same boat and it did cut down on the volume of tie-shoots. On the upside, you could have what appeared to be a reasonable shoot and discover that you had actually done really well. The F Class Open Queens Prize was won by David Kent (above) scoring 145.11 with Andrew Burgess winning the F/TR Queens scoring 144.9. David Lloyd won the F Open Grand Aggregate with 821.65 points whilst Paul Eggeman from Germany took the F/TR Grand Aggregate with 798.61 points. In the midst of all this, one of the NRASC members had an idea, a good idea ho hum, more work, albeit more pleasurable than some. How about the NRASC entering a team in the Historics (wooden gun) side of the falling plate competition on Pirbright range? We only needed four interested people to raise a team and we would be able to practise in the afternoon before the evening shoot. Within a few days of sending out the email query we had over 30 people interested and eventually entered 6 teams in the event. Most hadnt even fired an Enfield before let alone at falling plates but Richard Seddon did a magnificent job of organising loan guns and training them. After the practice session we had a picnic tea at Pirbright courtesy of the Old Sergeants Mess SC then watched the military and modern (plastic) gun rounds. Wow, were they fast, especially with a 100 yard run-down first. As several of our guys were tending towards the upper ages and most not nearly so fit we agreed that the Historics section would only do a 25 yard run. We didnt want to need first aid services on our first outing! Richard had organised the NRASC teams so that the experienced shots were evenly spread. We didnt expect to win any
LATEST NEWS...
prizes and we werent disappointed but everyone had a great time and all said they wanted to do it again next year. Thatll be more organising then..... Thursday 21st July saw a mass evacuation of the Membership Department to run our stand at the CLA Game Fair, leaving me all on my lonesome aaahhh! This year it was held at Blenheim Palace. The NRA has a stand at the show each year to raise our image within the sporting gun world. This seems to have had the desired effect with the number of members who are sporting shots rising steadily over the last few years. They seem to appreciate the facilities we offer as well as our comprehensive insurance cover. Mind you, once they discover Bisley and all the other disciplines available, several have expanded their interests and do a lot more target shooting as well as their sporting shoots. August 2nd saw the first organised outing of the NRA Shooting Club. We had a coach trip to see the SASC Weapons Collection at Warminster. Over 30 members joined us and had a great tour, guided by one of the collections very knowledgeable trustees, Maj (Retd) John Oldfield. He kept us informed and entertained over a three-hour tour with a wealth of personal experience and anecdotes. So much so that we didnt realise how much time had passed. The collection houses literally thousands of firearms from air pistol to anti-tank weapons and dating back to earliest examples of muzzle loaded firearms. If you get a chance of a visit, it is well worth the effort. The Altcar Open Day is looming fast, taking place on the 27th August. All details are available from our website www.nra.org.uk. Registration can be made online or just turn up on the day. Although this is a lot smaller than the Bisley Open Days we still manage to offer a large range of disciplines manned by a great band of willing volunteers. Then it will be all go for our first game fair, Bisley Live, being held over the weekend of September 30th to October 2nd. All details, again, from our website. Heather Webb NRA Membership Secretary memsec@nra.org.uk
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GALLERY RIFLE & PISTOL NEWS
Gallery Rifle News
by Gwyn Roberts
To stand any chance of being able to perform at your best in Gallery Rifle competitions, its vital that your rifle stock or pistol/revolver grips fit you properly and that theyre suitable for the type of competitions that you are going to compete in. I often talk to shooters who are struggling to work their way up through the classifications because they havent addressed this important issue to start with, so here are a few pointers to help them on their way.
Probably the first thing you will need to check is that the length of pull (LOP) of your stock is correct. This is the distance between the buttpad and the trigger-blade and most manufacturers set this distance around 13 -13 inches, which is fine for around 80% of shooters out there but it is either too short or too long for the rest of us. If the LOP is too short, the controlling arm will overbend and this usually causes the shooter to increase the pressure of their grip, which in turn will cause poor manipulation of the trigger. Stability will also suffer and sometimes it can result in placing your head too close to the scope which can result in injury if shooting a heavier recoiling rifle. Similar problems will also occur if the LOP is too long and will often cause a shooter to short rack their underlevers causing jams or misfeed issues. A simple way to check the LOP is to (with an unloaded firearm of course) extend your strong arm and rest the pad of your trigger finger squarely onto the triggerblade, then bend your arm to 90 degrees at the elbow. If the butt pad nestles in the bend of your arm then everything is fine but, if you find that there is a gap of more than an inch or so, then the rear of the stock is too short and a spacer plate or thicker butt pad will need to be added. If the LOP is too long you simply wont be able to bend your elbow down to 90 degres and you will need to shorten the rear end to suit. The next area to look at is the grip and this is usually either the slightly curved design of a sporter stock which are nearly ambidextrous, or a pistol-grip type used on most of the thumbhole stocks, which can be either offhand only or ambidextrous by design depending on the make and model. The choice, as always, is personal preference and if you are going to
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buy one for the first time, I would suggest you try as many different types as you can to see what suits your physical size and shape the best and go from there. I find that a thumbhole/pistol-grip type stock aligns my finger more naturally (squarer) onto the trigger blade so that the movement is straight back through the hold, rather than upwards at an angle like a sporter stock. Whichever type you have it is important that the width and shape of the grip fits your hand (or both if you intend to shoot from the weak shoulder) perfectly, without causing any sort of strain or tension in your forearm, wrist or fingers. Your hand should also be positioned so that the trigger blade is manipulated directly rearwards in its travel and not to the side in any way as this will not produce a good trigger action. Another important point to get right is the distance between your grip and the trigger-blade. If the distance is too short, your trigger finger will usually protrude too far into the trigger guard resulting in you applying pressure onto the trigger using the joint or the middle section of your index finger and this will usually result in a snatching action or a generally poor shot-release. If the reach is too great, then the shooter will tend to apply sideways pressure as the trigger moves rearwards, resulting in shots being pulled to one side or the other of the target. If you have to stretch to reach the trigger-blade then you need to take some of the grip material away until the fit is perfect, or if you have larger sized hands like I do, then you are going to have to add some sort of packing to the rear of the grip to ensure that your trigger finger rests properly on the face of the trigger. If you own a KID trigger then you will have some adjustability by moving the trigger blade within the housing. I usually add a piece of hardwood or a small block of aluminium then shape them to fit when I modify my guns, although Ive just tried using some Polymorph (from Maplins electrical store) on my latest .22 rifle stock and its pretty good stuff to be fair. It comes in granule form to which you simply add hot water, knead it together and then manipulate it to shape. It sets hard like a white nylon-type material within a few hours and it can also be melted down again by submerging it in hot water should the need arise. Its ideal for building up the grip area and you
(Above & below) - Experiment in order to find your most stable hold.
This short stock forces my hand back into a poor position.
I would have to hold the barrel to shoot this rifle properly.
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can squeeze it into shape easily by hand for a perfect fit, or you can sand it down to suit once it has set. Shooters with larger sized hands may also find that their trigger control can be improved slightly by relieving some of the stock material above the trigger unit to avoid any unwanted binding against the side of the finger during trigger operation. There are quite a few shooters who shy away from altering their perfectly finished factory stocks but whats the point of it looking nice and shiny if it doesnt fit you properly? None whatsoever really! You can always re-varnish or lacquer your stock again after modifying it and it will probably cost you less than a tenner, plus some of your spare time of course but the benefits will certainly be well worth the effort! A good deal of thought and attention also needs to be given to the shape and length of the fore-end. Many shooters have bought a fancy looking stock purely because it looked cool in a photograph, only to find that it provided little practicality or performance when actually used on their rifle, as it was either too small or completely the wrong shape to be able to hold properly. In order for you to be able to shoot at your best, the fore-end must be long enough (and of the correct width, depth and profile) to allow you hold it at a point which provides you with the most stability and this point can only be found by having testing sessions on the range. Some shooters hold the fore-end close to the action whilst others grip the end of the stock no matter how far away it is - because this is where they think they should be holding it. Despite holding the fore-end of my rifle for many years, considering it to be the most comfortable way to shoot (and therefore the most stable?) it turned out that supporting it about two-inches further forwards actually produced the best results on the target. This was done by placing a length of masking tape along the whole left hand side of the fore end that had numbered points marked along it at one inch intervals. I then proceeded to fire a series of well aimed 5 shot groups over 50m with my thumb positioned on each numbered mark, onto a corresponding numbered target down range. This sequence was done a total of four times and the results clearly showed that my groups got tighter the further forward I supported the rifle and that is how I found my optimum hold-point.
Polymorph grip spacer...
...and fore end block before being painted .
Rounding off the bottom of your butt pad will make it sit in your shoulder better and improve bringing the rifle up into the aim.
Home made or Stockade? The choice is yours!
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Just over 12 months ago I started to notice that my forearm and wrist were starting to strain slightly whilst shooting (which is probably down to old age) and I ended up modifying my support of the fore end with more of a pistol grip type hold. This required almost a completely square block shape to be added onto the front of my stocks but I soon found that my 50m grouping improved and, it enabled me to shoot a maximum score in two out of the last six 1500 centrefire matches that I shot at Bisley, so Ill stick with this new type of hold for now as it certainly seems to be working for me at the moment. As well as profiling the end of my stocks, I have also altered my Marlin fore-end so that it gives me a more stable position when shooting from the kneeling and sitting positions. It did take some time to achieve but the end result allows me to adopt each of the shooting positions both quicker and easier, whilst saving me a fair amount of time in the process. The final and possibly most important point to look at is your head to scope alignment and it is crucial that you replicate the same position every time the rifle is brought up into the aiming position. In order to ensure that the same point of impact is maintained on your target, you must line up the cross hairs at exactly the same level and angle in relation to the ocular lens and especially when shooting from the kneeling or sitting position. Making sure that you keep your head and upper body upright whilst shooting. This perfect alignment is achieved through the constant contact between your cheek and the comb of the stock. Most people tend to mount their scopes using the lowest mounts possible so that the objective lens sits just above the top of the barrel and this maximises the use of the elevation turret and also reduces the amount of hold-over needed at each distance. If this is the case, you may well end up having to alter the height (either higher or lower) and maybe even the profile of the comb until the correct head/eye/scope alignment is achieved. Whether you end up making your own or buying one of the excellent Stockade adjustable cheek-pieces, you may well want to consider investing around 17 in one of the adjustable butt-pads that also are available. They wont add much in the way of length to your stock but they will make it much easier to fine-tune your head position and are well worth the money in my opinion.
I use the block for offhand .
The narrower middle part for kneeling
And the raised pad for support in the sitting position
The wider contour prevents bunt fingers during a high round count match.
Modifying the grips on your LBR or LBP can also lead to a better performance and mine are made by my good friend Alan Bennett. My Bianchi LBR grips have an extended butt plate added for shooting in the prone position and the wide base, complete with finger grooves, allows me to draw it from the holster using my right hand, which can then provide a fast transfer into a weak hand hold during the practical match. My LBP grips also have an extended buttpad and I have made an aluminium spacer so that my hand is set further back in the grip to ensure that my trigger finger is in the correct position in relation to the blade. At the end of the day I would say that the time and effort that I have spent making small improvements to my equipment has helped me to improve my performance on the range, and hopefully it will do the same for you.
Bianchi weak hand transfer grip.
Made to do a job!
Alan Bennett prototype testing.
Bianchi LBP with spacer and extended grips.
My new 1500 grips are ready. These grips are ideal for prone shooting.
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A Mini Project Rifle. THE REMINGTON 700 SPS TACTICAL Part 3
A MINI PROJECT RIFLE: THE REMINGTON 700 SPS
At this stage the cost was still modest at around 900 all-in covering rifle, Harris S-BR swivel bi-pod, 20-MOA sloped Picatinny rail, Leupold QRW lever-mounts and second-hand 6-24X44 target scope, also including Valkyrie Rifles 95 tune-up.
TACTICAL
(Part 3) By Vince Bottomley.
When we left the shortbarrelled .223 Rem calibre SPS a couple of issues ago, it functioned more smoothly, shot smaller groups with 52/53gn match bullet handloads and had an improved trigger pull after Valkyrie Rifles fettling.
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Fortunately, I already had the bi-pod and scope mounts in my cache of spare bits and pieces reducing my outlay somewhat. Unfortunately, as noted in the introductory article, youll no longer find this rifle priced at the 500 I got it for two years ago, so that adds another 150-250 if you start with a new SPS Tactical or Varmint today even after shopping around for the best deal. As a would-be short-range target and foxing rifle, optics choice is a big issue of course and you could spend a great deal more money here depending on taste, needs and the state of your bank account. Dave Wylde had threaded the SPSs muzzle too, alongside the recrowning work, so a moderator would be an additional purchase for many owners.
Third Eye
I was pleased with the rifle at this stage, but it was still very much an out of the box Remy with its internal magazine and small flattened flys eye bolt-knob. The latter might seem an insignificant detail but its one that affects a rifles ergonomics and general feel much more than youd ever imagine if youve not handled a rifle with a tactical knob. So this was the next item on the agenda with a return to Valkyrie Rifles (http://www.valkyrierifles.net) now clutching the bolt alone in my sticky paw.
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Dave turned the integral trademark Remington item down, threaded the resulting round stub on the end of the handle and screwed the smooth and much more substantial new Third Eye component on - ensuring itll stay there with a dollop of epoxy compound. Not only is this shape of knob much easier and more pleasant to grasp with its increased diameter and radiussed edges, the noticeably greater effective handle-length moves the bit you grab further out from the stock providing the thumb and index finger with an instinctive first-go grasp. The clearance between the knob on an open bolt and the rear bell of a low mounted scope is increased. Finally, you get more leverage from the longer handle making the bolt noticeably easier to operate especially, on the unlocking stroke which requires the most work seeing as how it simultaneously compresses a powerful mainspring and effects primary extraction. The only downsides come from the extended length that can see the knob foul heavy foliage (on a field rifle) and may also require bolt removal for rifle storage or carrying it in a slim case, neither issue a problem in my shooting. The Third Eye bolt knob and fitting work added another 75 to total costs.
single-shot modes, filling the integral magazine with the full complement of five cartridges on occasion and theyd fed reliably enough although bolt operation needed considerable effort so that rapid operation would almost certainly have seen a lot of rifle disturbance.
With the bolt mounted in a jig, step 1 in fitting a tactical knob is to drill a small pilot hole to support the bolt-handle in the lathewith a revolving. centre. Unlike my original .223 Remy 700VS, single loading by just popping a round onto the top of the magazine follower usually worked and needed much less effort on the bolts forward stroke. However, every so often
MCS, B.O., AI
If the internal 5-round magazine arrangements had suited and Id been happy with the rubber-covered Hogue stock supplied on the factory rifle, I could have called it a day now. During initial range testing and load-development Id used the rifle in repeater and The old knob has nearly been turned off Dave measures the stub diameter. the bullet tip hung up on something, requiring the right hand to be removed from the bolt handle for a quick poke inside to reposition the cartridge before having another go simply not good enough if reliable feed is needed. The standard internal box is configured for cartridges of SAAMI standard COAL too of course, so if you want to seat heavier, longer bullets in the 65-75gn weight range out longer than 2.26-2.3 inches overall, magazine operation is no-go. While many 68-77gn match bullets are designed for magazine operation
The original Remington flys eye bolt-knob.
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at this COAL, it does require them to be seated distressingly deeply in the case and most 700s are, shall we say, generously throated so the bullet has a long jump into the lands not that a huge jump seems to affect the 69gn Sierra MKs performance overly, mind you! If rebarrelling with an eight-inch twist rifling job is undertaken, single loading is mandatory with higher BC 80-82gn projectiles that need another two-tenths of an inch on the cartridge length. So, instead of getting back into the car and taking my upgraded bolt back home to North Yorkshire, the mini-project became much more expensive, thanks to a 20 yard walk across Everill Gate Farms cobbled

Now, whilst the basic T5 is a very sturdily built item made up of a 35/65% carbon fibre/fibreglass mix laid down in multiple layers in high temperature epoxy resin before heat-curing in a vacuum furnace, my version was ordered with the optional and expensive MCS-DBM mini chassis system. Its made exclusively for MCS by Badger Ordnance, my stock having one factory installed and replacing the standard versions pillar bedding arrangements. The mini-chassis is machined out of a solid aluminium billet the full length of a 700 action and is designed to hold the receiver at five points when the bedding screws are fully torqued up to a substantial 65 inchlbs thereby coping with the notorious inconsistency of this components external dimensions. As well as providing a rigid bedding block - not exactly an innovation in Remington 700s given the long-time use of H-S Precision and Bell & Carlsson stocks so equipped - it also provides full bottom metal for detachable AI (Accuracy International) 5 and 10-round magazines, fast becoming the industry norm for this component, well made and reliable and as icing on the cake theyre very much cheaper than all competing designs that Ive heard of. This is a major plus for the serious tactical, PR, SR, or sniper competition shooter who needs a battery of magazines.
The stub has been fully turned down, threaded, and Dave finishes the metal mangling by manually filing a small unwanted shoulder on the square section bolt handle off. courtyard to the other business on the premises. The objective was to find that nice helpful man Roger Francis, proprietor of South Yorkshire Shooting Supplies (http://www.rimfiremagic.co.uk) and pick up the Manners MCS-T5 tactical stock and Accuracy International magazine hed put aside for me. The stock is one of a range of no less than eight tactical designs from MCS (Manners Composite Stocks (http://mannerstocks.com ), most available in both fixed and adjustable buttstock forms, also with optional buttpad spacer kits. The T5 models have an unusual thumbhole grip design that MCS says automatically moves the hand down each time its returned to the firing position and puts the trigger finger into (their words) a more natural position also ensuring a consistent hold. In my limited use of the rifle in this stock, Id say this is not marketing hype, restocking having the immediate and unexpected effect of making the 4lb trigger pull subjectively feel much lighter for a smoother and more confident letoff.
On goes the new Third Eye knob. There is another upside, thanks to AIs recently introduced .223 Rem version, a very heavily constructed mostly synthetic assembly unlike the older .308W version that uses a steel box it accepts cartridges with a COAL of up to 2.550 inches, maybe 10 thou less to ensure 100% reliable operation. So, you can have your 1-8 twist barrels chamber throated to suit most 80-82gn match bullets seated to an ideal
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length with only the boat-tail section sitting below the case-neck. With the .223s light recoil, you can therefore have the same external ballistics as a .308W tactical rifle whose ammo uses full-house 155-175gn bullet loads, but with far less disturbance to the hold and aim.
Hammer Forged
Ive only had a brief go with the rifle dressed up in its new stock, really just a function test and I was impressed! The combination of Valkyrie Rifles Third Eye knob and SYSS MCS-T5 makes it feel like a completely different rifle, bolt-operation smoother and faster, trigger-operation improved and the whole feel and ergonomics of the rifle vastly different, vastly improved.
25 rounds loaded with 40gn Sierra BlitzKing plastic tipped bullets to a short 2.25 inches for the Hogue stock/Remy magazine, still fed through the AI magazine faultlessly and produced much less feed friction with 10 rounds in the mag. box than four or five did in the original set up. As you operate the bolt, you can hear and almost feel a slight click as the next round down in the column rises and slots into the magazines raised and very pronounced feed lips that point the bullet nose straight at the chamber. The magazine is a really neat fit in its well in the mini-chassis engaging positively as the release catch engages. The downside is that it doesnt drop out cleanly under its own weight on operating the latch, but that may change after it has been slid in and out some scores of times in use. The heavier and much more rigid stock somehow feels quieter and more robust too when shot off a bi-pod even with the little .223 Rem cartridge and its
The matte black anodized Badger Ordnance minichassis moulded into the MCS-T5 stock. The new AI .223 Rem magazine holds 10 rounds in a single column and accepts cartridges loaded to around 2.55 COAL as with these Sierra 80gn MatchKing examples.
Looking good, the restocked / re-knobbed Remy SPS. A fluted Armalite Limited heavy barrel comes next...
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light recoil. Mentioning weight, the original Hogue/ Remington assembly including stamped bottommetal and magazine parts weighs in at 1.2kg (2lb 10 oz for those like me who still think in Imperial units). If you look at the photos comparing the two stocks, the Manners version is much more substantial in every respect and of course we now have a sturdy machined metal chassis moulded in too, so youd expect the weight to double over a rubber coated nylon shell with a couple of pillars and stamped metal parts. Yes, it is heavier but not by nearly as much as Id expected, the T5, MCS-DBM chassis and empty AI magazine totalling 1.9kg (4lb 3 oz), an extra 0.7kg or just over 1lbs. The intention was to use the rifle for .223 Rem load development in the Remy 1-9 twist barrel over the next 9-12 months before having it rebarrelled to .20 Tactical, and I would have expected to report in this issue on some test-load combinations using 68-70gn match bullets. But just before I collected the stock, Peter Sarony of Armalon Limited contacted Target

Shooter Onlines editor Vince Bottomley expressing an interest in our mini-project and generously asking if wed like to try one of his new hammer-forged barrels that hes just put into production. So, the little rifle is in pieces again with its receiver despatched Down South to get a heavy profile 26 inch length .223 Rem chambered 1-7.874 twist fluted job put on. Ive also got a Sightron Series III 8-32X56 LRMOA tactical scope with a modified Mil-Dot type reticle but one that uses hash marks 2-MOA apart at full magnification on order from Aim Field Sports (http:// aimfieldsports.com) for when the rifle returns. Youll get a full editorial review of this item on Vinces 6PPC LV bench gun first though. When I started this part of the tale, I mentioned costs the stock, chassis kit and magazine nearly doubled that mentioned and the addition of the high quality Sightron scope and Burris Xtreme Tactical mounts will nearly triple it. Ouch!
Hogue / Remy bits v MCS / BO / AI.
There we are that looks better, and it doesnt half feel better too.
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United Kingdom Practical Shooting Association News by Tony Saunders

Border Guns PSG club played host to the annual Midlands Championships Level 3 IPSC shotgun match at Two Crosses in the Shropshire hills. The match also formed as the British Club Championships Team event. A total of 12 stages (consisting of 107 rounds of birdshot and 11 buckshot) were built in the weeks leading up to the weekend. Shropshire is no stranger to rough weather, but in the event it turned out fine and warm.
Border is famous for its wood run - a fun and challenging course of fire that consists of anything from 24 targets to as many as 32 in a long stretch of pine woodland that acts as a windbreak for the farmhouse. The course of fire changes each year, but this year saw the addition of some clay pigeon traps activated by a falling target one of which flew fast and low for only about 15 yards not much time to hit the blur of the clay against the woodland backdrop. Stage 8 was another shooting challenge featuring a clay trap this time a rabbit clay was activated after shooting a metal target. It was a fast stage and the rabbit was worth double points if you hit it. Fastest time from the beep of the timer (including bringing the gun up to aim) was 1.7 seconds to hit both the activator and the rabbit. It was good to see Trapr Swonson again who came over from Texas USA to shoot the match after attending the Level 3 IPSC shotgun match in Hungary along with a sizeable contingent from the UK. Also shooting his first competition was Gary Scott, who recently completed the two-day UKPSA safety course with flying colours.
Josie Adam
Jon Worton
John Gardener
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Results: Standard Manual (Pump) Division 1st Martin Davies 100.00% 2nd Iain Guy 88.24% 3rd Jon Holloway 81.31% Standard (Auto) Division 1st Mike Darby 100.00% 2nd Jim Starley 96.25% 3rd Barry Sullivan 93.82% Modified Division 1st James Harris 100.00% 2nd Ian Richards 99.43% 3rd Peter Starley 95.52% Open Division 1st Michael Scarlett 100.00% 2nd Nick Hockley 88.55% 3rd Gavin Rose 71.24% British Team Championships Results (by Division) Standard Manual Border Guns Standard (Auto) Harlow Standard (Ladies) Blue Team Ladies Modifed Harlow
UKPSA NEWS
Barry Sullivan
Brad Fox
Youth Triumphs Over Adverse Weather! IPSC Shotgun British Open 5-7th August
by Tommy Burford
You would have thought that planning a shooting match for a weekend in August would be a pretty good bet for decent weather but Carlisle Small Arms Club discovered otherwise when they hosted the UKPSAs IPSC Shotgun British Open on the first weekend in August.
Colin Alden
Dan Boswell
Jim Starley
Graham Hill
Dave Wylde
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UKPSA NEWS
Despite the rain and wind however, a challenging match was staged that needed speed and accuracy with all three shotgun ammo types - birdshot, buckshot and slug. The UKPSA Regional Director, Vanessa Duffy was joint Match Director with Kevin Strowger of CSAC and veteran IROA official Martyn Spence was Range Master. German IROA official Juergen Schmidt ran many of the stages and assistance with props, targets and range crew was forthcoming from the UKPSA, Rossendale Fusiliers, Harlow Town RPC and the Blue Team. The match was also spread over 11/2 days for the competitors, starting on the very wet Saturday afternoon at the CSAC range at Newby East near Brampton in Cumbria. The six stages set up included three needing buckshot and two requiring solid slug. One buckshot stage had a pair of bobbing targets on a swinging backer and on another, you needed to decide whether to use birdshot or buck on three static clay targets - because you had to use buck on the paper targets alongside them. This created quite a lot of advance discussion on the UKPSAs Forum as strategies were mulled over. On the central range area, it was apparent who had been practicing with solid slug, when there were four A4 paper targets and three IPSC Classic targets at 20 yards. Less than ten seconds for seven accurate shots was a fair time if you knew where your shotgun printed but that was not achieved by many. Next to this was an even greater slug challenge with a double bobber pair of targets swinging in different directions behind a no shoot through one aperture surrounded by four static targets, then through another aperture, three static targets were behind a swinging no shoots and three more static targets alongside. Timing and straight shooting were the key here. On the right of the central range was the last of the first six stages, a typical multi-position long course field run (in a field!) with 19 plates and a double point bonus flying clay not many competitors received the bonus. Sunday morning brought some respite the rain was not continuous and the sun even appeared briefly
(eventually). The competitors reported early for duty at a very large field beside a quarry in Hallbankgate, where ten more birdshot stages had been set up by the CSAC team two days earlier. These were set up in three groups and three squads of competitors worked their way around them taking on clays on swinging poles, clays that flipped up a when popper targets fell, along with an assortment of small steel plates, static clays and mini-poppers, with one sneaky target set well out, needing an accurate crouching shot and ideally quite a bit of choke. Despite the precipitation, the competitors gave no quarter and the leaders in Standard Auto Division were swapping positions right up to the last stage, when Barry Sullivan clipped a no shoot and won himself a ten point penalty and lost the Championship to Jim Starley and his Winchester SX3 by just over seven points out of 900. 46 points behind Barry was Michael Flatley, designer of the splendid double bobber, who had just spent several months struggling with a cast on his ankle and is now looking to make up some ground. Jim is a worthy champion and, along with Josie Adam who won both the Ladies Standard Auto Championship and highest Junior trophy with a Remington 1187, is one of a small group of young but very experienced shooters who are now giving the old hands a run for their money. Both of them have competed in multi-day international matches for five years or more, and are looking forward to the World Championships to be held in Hungary next year. Over in Standard Manual Division it was the original Grumpy Pumper, Graham Hill, who took the Championship from Ade Sell by a little over 20 points, with another up and coming pumper, Brad Fox powering his way to third place. Graham scared everyone by smiling at the prizegiving, and we think thats what made it rain yet again. Colin Alden took Modified Division from Kevin Strowger by 75 points, despite failing to engage a group of three targets on his first stage of the day. Colin does not let things like that worry him, and just turned up the wick for the rest of the day to claw back the points. Pete Starley tagged along in third place, having wiped out the big slug stage the previous day when his gun broke and he could not finish the stage. Gavin Rose triumphed in Open Division with an RR Targets box-magazine shotgun that had been built in
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the USA with lots of (noisy) ports and an optical sight, closely followed 13 points behind by David Wylde, also using a box magazine shotgun. Iain Corrigan came third, but was well off the leaders pace using a SPAS12. This year there were a number of new perpetual trophies presented to the Champions and these were provided by the UKPSA themselves along with supporters and sponsors i3i Solutions Ltd, Midway UK and Pete Starley. At the end of year the UKPSA also award Championship series trophies for an aggregate of the scores from the British Open and other Championship matches. The next event in the Championship series will be the Home Countries match at Harlow on 21st October.
UKPSA NEWS
Pete Starley
Rob Adam
The Prizes... The Regional Director of the

UKPSA and current European and Pan American Ladies Champion, Vanessa Duffy with the new perpetual trophies donated by sponsors and supporters of the Association.
The Champions... At the end of wet and windy weekend, the new UKPSA British Open Champions were
Gavin Rose (Open), Colin Alden (Modified), Jim Starley (Standard Auto), Graham Hill (Standard Manual), and Josie Adam (Junior and Ladies Standard Auto).
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UKPSA NEWS
Summary Results:
Percent 100 99.21 94.13 80.19 Percent 100 97.68 84.46 Percent 100 91.39 88.54 Percent 100 98.31 69.16 Points 906.0123 898.8911 852.8299 726.4977 Points 943.2162 921.3622 796.6254 Points 883.7431 807.6247 782.4334 Points 833.1364 819.0923 576.1710 Name Jim Starley Barry Sullivan Michael Flatley Josie Adam Name Graham Hill Adrian Sell Brad Fox Name Colin Alden Kevin Strowger Peter Starley Name Gavin Rose David Wylde Iain Corrigan Notes 1st Senior 1st Lady, 1st Junior Notes 1st Senior
Standard Auto Division Division Match Position 1 2 3 7 Standard Manual Division Division Match Position 1 2 3 Modified Division Division Match Position 1 2 3 Open Division Division Match Position 1 2 3
Notes
1st Senior
Upcoming Match Announcements:

IPSC Level 2 Handgun Match
Disabled Police Officers Association (DPOA) and Help for Heroes (H4H) Match
IPSC handgun returns to Northern Ireland. This match is promoted and supported by the UKPSA Council with thanks to the Ballymena Club for providing their range.
Match will be shot over one day on Saturday 3rd September: 10 stages, 150 rounds. Entry fee 27, (Juniors 12) includes lunch, tea or coffee. Cheques payable to UKPSA. Please complete the entry form o the UKPSA forum. Entries to be received by 13th August. ROs package, free entry plus food and drink. Contact via the UKPSA Forum or via email to rd@ukpsa.org
The Metropolitan Police BLUE TEAM, along with our generous and fantastic sponsors are proud to be holding this years Disabled Police Officers Association and Help for Heroes Charities fund raising match at Harlow Shooting Centre who are our generous venue sponsors.
Last year we raised 4,000 for the Charities and that is all thanks to you the shooters and our sponsors - but we will do better this year !! This year, we are reverting to a shotgun only match and it will be an IPSC L1 match run to IPSC rules. We plan to again have about 8 medium stages and a MAXIMUM of 60 shooters on the day. Roughly 130 birdshot shotgun needed.
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The stages will be what you have come to know and love about the DPOA Challenge matches and we again have terrific match sponsors of MidwayUK, Harlow Town RPC and the NSC at Bisley. We fully expect to again, thanks to their generosity have a fantastic prize table and of course there will be lots of guns to win again !!! We will be recognising classes, and Ladies and Jnr shooters. The cost of entry is 35 Contact Sharon Sell via the UKPSA forum for details and entry form. Website: www.ukpsa.co.uk
UKPSA NEWS
The team from Thurncoe were splendidly turned out and were always happy despite the rain.
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The 2011
Meeting
NRA Imperial
Sight class averaged between 4 or 5 competitors and with only 2 or 3 competitors shooting in Historic. The Service Optic Class is for any rifle with optical sights limited to x4.5 magnification, there are no restrictions on slings and the rifle may be magazine rested but rests, bipods or monopods are not allowed. Minimum trigger weight is 4.5 lbs. In practice, this class is mostly shot with straight-pull AR15 derivatives with the odd Styer AUG appearing. The Practical Optic Class is for any rifle with optical sights not limited in magnification, slings and/or bipods can be used but they must remain fitted to the rifle at all times during a match and must be folded when in the Standing Alert position. Minimum trigger weight is 1.5 kg. This class is mostly shot with Remington 700 style rifles with detachable magazine conversions or AR15s with higher-power scopes and bipods. Any Iron Class is for any rifle with iron sights, no restriction on slings but rests may not be used. Historic Class is for any SMLE, No.4 or No.5 rifle of service pattern as issued with no attachments or modification. There is a dedicated following of stalwarts who usually shoot CSR over the winter months at Bisley competing in a series of league matches and it is a welcome change not to be competing in the freezing wet and windy conditions that we have all become used to. The four days of shooting started on Wednesday 29 June 2011 with the Practical Rifle Imperial Match. This event was designed by and for those shooting the discipline of Practical Rifle. As well as the normal Imperial Trophies, the results also counted toward the Practical Rifle Annual League Trophy. Although this match did not form part of the CSR Championship aggregate, it was used by many competitors as an opportunity to check their equipment and confirm zeros from 100 to 600 yards before the CSR events over the following four days. Derived from the old Practical Rifle Match it consisted of 9 Stages shooting in the standing, kneeling, sitting and prone positions at a variety of targets including MoD pattern Figure 14 window targets, Figure 12 and Figure 11 targets. Sighting shots are usually given at
The 2011 NRA Imperial Meeting Civilian Service Rifle Championships

by John Morgan-Hosey
The last week of June saw the largest gathering of Civilian Service Rifle shooters in the country take part in the National Rifle Associations Imperial Meeting. The Championships consist of a series of matches adapted for competition using manually-operated rifles, taken from the British Armys Pamphlet 20 Competition Shooting.
The majority of matches remain unchanged from those shot by the three Services, with only the rapidfire and multiple-shot stages extended in time to compensate for civilians not using semi-automatics. They are scored in four separate classes - Service Optic, Practical Optic, Iron Sights and Historic. Service and Practical Optic classes are the most popular with an almost equal number of competitors, the Any Iron
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each distance but not always, so you do need to know your sight settings. After each stage your target is shown with spotting discs so that you do get some feedback and can make adjustments as necessary before moving onto the next stage.
The 2011
Meeting
NRA Imperial
There were no Historic Class entries in the Imperial Match The Service Rifle Championship started in earnest on Thursday with four matches, the 100, 200 and 300 yard and the Urban Contact. The 100 yard match is shot both standing and kneeling or squatting. A Figure 14 Window target makes five double exposures of three seconds with two seconds between exposures. The first shot on each exposure is shot from standing and the second from the kneeling or squatting position. Particularly challenging in the Imperial Match was the Sitting Snaps at 400 yards that consisted of five, eightsecond exposures of two Figure 11 targets requiring one round to be fired on each target. Unusual for CSR there was a distinct lack of 10, Wash scores, indicating a maximum possible score, recorded for the individual stages of this match, which was in many ways quite refreshing to see. The 200 Yard match requires twenty two rounds and is shot in two practices. Practice 1 is a snap shoot on a Figure 14 Window target from the prone position. Two sighting shots that are individually marked back are allowed. When all sighters are complete the practice commences with ten, three-second exposures of the target requiring one shot per exposure, the target will appear randomly over a six foot frontage. Practice 2 is a rapid-fire practice shot from the sitting position. Two Figure 11 targets are exposed for forty seconds during which the competitor has to move from the standing alert position to the sitting position and fire five shots on each target. The 300 Yard match is a shot in three practices that includes harassing, snap and rapid-fire shooting at Figure 11 and Figure 12 targets. Practice 1 starts with two sighters followed by a sixty-second exposure to fire ten rounds on a Figure 12. Practice 2 is a rapid-fire stage on two Figure 11 targets shot from the prone position but starting in the standing alert. Ten rounds are fired with five on each target in forty seconds. Practice 3 is a snap-shoot similar to the 200 yard stage but shot on a Figure 12. The very popular Urban Contact Match is shot on turning targets with the shooter advancing from 100 to 25 yards and comprises of snap and rapid-fire engagements from standing supported, kneeling supported, standing and kneeling or squatting positions.
Results for this match were as follows: Service Optic:

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Nigel Greenway John Morgan-Hosey Steve Page Steve Beard Ian Dewey 310 points 309 points 301 points 295 points 279 points
Practical Optic:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Chris Vale Bill Ellis Dave Green Roger Seaton Nick St Aubyn 378 points 378 points 349 points 336 points 330 points
Iron Sights:
1st Bob Wightman 2nd Lyndon Collins 3rd Mick Kelly 228 points 133 points 115 points
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The 2011
Meeting
NRA Imperial
Phase 1 at 100 yards is shot around the cover of a barricade, there are five exposures of a Figure 11 target where two shots are fired each exposure. This is followed by Phase 2, a kneeling rapid stage at 75 yards where you are given two fifteen-second exposures to fire ten rounds, five each exposure at a Figure 11. Phase 3 is a snap shooting practice at 50 yards, each competitor receives five exposures of six
On completion of this match most competitors returned to Bisley for a short break before regrouping on the Falling Plate Range in the MoD Pirbright Range Complex adjacent to the NSC. The Falling Plates Team Match is the first of two team matches that also form part of the weeks shooting. Two Teams of four shoot in a knockout contest that consists of a 100 yard dash from 300 yards to 200 yards where ten 12 inch square plates have to be engaged. Each shooter has ten rounds and the team that knocks all plates down first, or the most plates with the fewest rounds in the shortest time moves onto the next round. Great fun to watch, this match is becoming a traditional contest between North and South where the two top teams appear to be the Highpower Rifle Association and the Diggle Dogs, for the second year running the guys from Diggle have walked away with the Challenge Cup and four NRA Gold Medals. The other Team competition is the Methuen Cup that takes place on the last day of the CSR Matches and is a team Short Range Rural Contact Match where teams of six compete for the Mauser Trophy in Practical Class and the Mons Trophy in Historic Class. Eleven teams entered including a team from France. Another hotly contested match the Mauser Trophy was won by the London Practical Shooting Club A Team with the Highpower Rifle Association A Team coming second. The Mons Trophy was won by the Lee Enfield Association A Team followed by the Mars and Minerva Shooting Club Team. This was again a very successful year, with 47 competitors shooting in the overall Championship and up to 66 in the team events. There were a few more in individual events as not everyone could make the full five days.
seconds of a Figure 14 Window target, one round is fired from the standing position the next from the squatting or kneeling position during each exposure. The final Phase 4 is shot at 25 yards and consists of three, seven-second exposures of a Figure 14 Window target where ten shots have to be fired from the standing position - no mean feat for a heavy recoiling 7.62mm bolt-action rifle. Friday saw two matches take place, the Short Range and Long Range Rural Contact Matches. These are the staple diet of the CSR Shooter and are an amalgamation of some of the practices already shot at 100, 200 and 300 yards, plus rundown stages and shoots at 400 and 500 yards. The final day of individual competition took place on Saturday 2 July 2011 with the Rural Contact Match. This match is probably the most difficult for the shooter and consists of six practices at 100 to 500 yards. Unlike the other matches that were shot at the National Shooting Centre, this match was shot at the MoD Stoney Castle Range which offers excellent facilities and is located only a few miles from Bisley.
It is interesting to note that there is not much between the scores achieved in Service Optic Class and Practical Optic Class.
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The Civilian Service Rifle Championship Results were as follows: Service Optic Class:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Bill Ellis Nigel Greenway Peter Cottrell John M-Hosey Mark Bradley 1112 points (.223 Rem AR15) 1097 points (.223 Rem AR15) 1090 points (.223 Rem AR15) 1071 points (.223 Rem AR15) 1060 points (.223 Rem AR15)
The 2011
Meeting
NRA Imperial
The Place to Shop at Bisley
Practical Optic Class:

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Martin Camp David Green Dave Wylde Ben Salford Ady Newberry 1097 points (7.62 AIAW) 1081 points (6.5 Grendel AR15) 1057 points (6mmAR AR15) 1030 points (.223 Rem AR15) 1025 points (.223 Rem AR15)
The NSRA, Lord Roberts Centre

Morini CM84E ISSF Longarm Free Pistol
Now in stock ~ the popular
Iron Sight Class:

1st Bob Wightman 2nd George Ellis 3rd Lyndon Collins 956 points (.223 Rem AR15) 776 points (.223 Rem AR15) 521 points (.223 Rem AR15)
Price: ~ 1236.00 FAC Required
Historic Class:
1st Mark Hodgins 590 points (.303 British No.4)
It is interesting to note that there is not much between the scores achieved in Service Optic Class and Practical Optic Class. A lot is down to the shooters skill but at the ranges shot, combined with the generous size of the Figure target scoring rings, there does not seem to be much advantage in using a more powerful scope, bipod and lighter trigger against a x4.5 scope, 4.5 trigger and no bipod.
More details about the CSR Winter League can be found on the NRA Website.
A wide range of pistols and rifles available, Anschtz, Walther, Morini, BSA, Air Arms, Webley Limited, Steyr, Feinwerkbau. Accessories from leading manufacturers Centra, Gehmann, HPS, VFG, Walther; AHG, Knobloch, Champion, Opticron, Hawke, BSA and many more. Shooting Mats from Evans and HPS. Gun Safes from Bratton Sound. Ammunition from Eley, RWS, HPS Target Master, SK, Lapua - including Air Gun Ammunition Optics from Tasco, BSA, Hawke, MTC, AGS. Clothing from Kurt Thune, Realtree, Holme, Anschtz, Gehmann, AKAH. We stock guns and Accessories for Field Target and Hunter Field Target Disciplines With many more items too numerous to mention so come browse and ask if you dont see what you want. Youll get a warm welcome, the best objective advice, the right product at the right price with a comprehensive after sales service. Further information from out website www.nsra.co.uk Shop Tel: 01483 485510 Shop Fax: 01483 488817 E-mail: sales@nsra.co.uk
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Black Powder
by Chris Risebrook
Black Powder
by Chris Risebrook
The romance is still there but I cannot help but feel that in my hands the indians would have won every time. Either those movie guns were slicked up, or their innards had been removed to allow them to be used with such ease. And on that subject dont ever try swinging the gun round the lever without an Alaskan guard - assuming you enjoy having your fingers attached to your hand! I once tried that trick with a little Marlin 94 and was lucky to get away with just bruises.
This month, Chris puts the black powder to one side and has a look at the leveraction rifle in its various configurations.
I must confess to a weakness (yet another one!) for lever-action rifles. I suppose it was all those early black and white TV series and the fabulous westerns of the fifties but, until the last Firearms Act I rarely encountered them, except for the occasional Marlin Mountie.
Then came the handgun ban and now we are wading about in the things as many shooters looked for a replacement for their pistols. In general, I must admit that the attraction was more in the celluloid than in the metal. I find them almost awkward and nowhere as slick as they appear on the screen. Some years ago, a club member brought along an original Winchester 92 in 44/40 and the action was like the proverbial hot knife through butter. Conversely, modern rifles seem to clunk and grind and require a lot of effort. The next photo shows a standard Rossi Puma in .357, totally unmolested. This is a copy of John Brownings Winchester 92, and supposedly Winchester sold the machinery to Rossi after World 2, and Rossi have been happily turning them out for years, with a few modifications. Winchester 92s were made in 2520, 38-40 and 44-40, but Rossi make them in .357, 44Magnum and .45Colt. For a change, I thought it might be fun to assemble a small selection of these creatures, shown together in the photo, all of which are of modern manufacture. Below is a Marlin 1894 in .44 Magnum kitted out with a scope sight and a professional trigger job.
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They also make them in stainless steel - as shown and with a sliding inner loading tube to enable them to be loaded from the front, as in a tube magazine 22 rifle. This avoids having to use that essential tool - the sawn off toothbrush handle - to avoid chopping off your thumb nail in the loading gate.
Black Powder
by Chris Risebrook
The above photo shows what can happen to a Rossi once you start messing about with it! My myopic eyesight has great difficulty coping with open sights, so I acquired a Lyman aperture sight. Unfortunately, there is only one threaded hole on the top strap of the Rossi and having seen other peoples unsightly efforts to overcome the problem with superglue and gaffer tape, I had a second blind hole drilled and tapped. Unfortunately, it was not quite on line and there is no windage adjustment on the sight, so I made a new blade foresight out of a piece of alloy door handle (amazing how many voids there are are in this rubbish), pinned it in place and filed it down for windage on the range. Phew! Of course, the open sight was now in the way, but wanting to keep an emergency sight, I made up a folding V sight out of a small brass hinge (what else). The next (stupid) idea was to fit a scope sight. Winchester 92s eject straight up, so B-Square make an offset scope mount to rectify the problem. It doesnt always work sometimes the fired case hits the windage turret and stovepipes back into the breach. A ketchup bottle top, painted black, protects the windage knob. OK so far, but the offset now means my cheek does not meet the stock, so I made up a cheekpiece out of some leftover plastic fascia board bent over a heat lamp and then covered in brown vinyl and tied on with a leather bootlace. All very Heath Robinson and it looks like the tail wagging the dog, but it works. Pity about the idiot hanging on the back, otherwise it might be quite successful in competition. Even so, it has won a few gongs, so apart from having to apologise for this dogs dinner when on range, the effort has probably been worthwhile.
This photo shows the bling version of the same gun, this time tricked out with a brass receiver, octagon barrel and in .45 Colt. Very John Wayne. Photo 6 is an air rifle; yet another impulse buy! Made by Shinsung Industries in Korea, it is a Career 707 Mk.111. From some angles it almost looks like an over under shotgun but in fact it has two superimposed air reservoirs with a .22 barrel on top. It feeds through a ten shot in line magazine inserted through a slot in the left hand side of the receiver. You pull a tiny bolt handle back against a coil spring and lock it into a slot before loading the pellets. Unfortunately it has an irritating habit of jumping out of the slot, distributing the pellets all over the scenery. There is also a cut-out slot for single shot use on the starboard side but, in use, this is just too fiddly to be practical.
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Black Powder
by Chris Risebrook
It is fussy over pellet length, although it is adjustable in this respect. I find RWS Hobby wadcutters work fine. Filling is a pig from an air bottle - there is no bleed-off valve on the adaptor - I tend lose more air than I put in. In practice I find it easier to use a pump which quite easily gives me enough power for 25metres. Power is adjustable, although at our 12ft.lbs limit, this is not of any practical use. In more enlightened countries these carbines can be tweaked up to 60ft.lbs, and the power reducer would then make some sense. The trigger is not of match quality, but it has done duty as a substitute competition gun when my little 22 Anschutz has been feeling poorly. Unmodified it makes one heck of a noise. Fitted with a Logun silencer as in the photo, it is nearly silent - but looks self- consciously stupid. Finally, this photo shows a Chinese Norinco 22 hammerless rifle I was able to get my hands on to test. China North Industries Corporation works mainly in the defence industry, making everything from amphibious assault vehicles to guided missiles. However, they also make rifles for the military and civilian market, and the rifle illustrated is a JW21, a sort of Winchester 9422 alike. We are so used to seeing bits of plastic and monkey metal on todays guns, that it is quite refreshing to find a modern product made seemingly of wood and steel. Indeed, the only plastic I could find was the magazine follower.
curves the wrong way on semi-pistol grip lever actions. Overall, the impression is of a workmanlike tool - ideal for its intended purpose of bunny bashing, and good value at its price point of around 250. Now that the Winchester is out of production, this would make a viable alternative to the Marlin. Its instruction booklet is a riot but then, I dont speak a word of Mandarin, so I shouldnt be too rude. Disassembly is quite straightforward and involves the removal of just one screw. This enables the butt to be separated from the action - with the application of three hands and much swearing. The edges are sharp, and a First Aid kit should really be included in the kit. A push with a screwdriver permits the two piece bolt to be removed for cleaning, and this is probably as far as most people will want to go. Watch out for a widgy coil spring between the two halves of the bolt. If this takes off, you may not see it again. Re-assembly is straightforward, if fiddly, and gardening gloves help those sharp edges. A trigger job and a bit of poshing up of the stock would work wonders. A nice winters project would be to strip and stain the stock, oil finish it, and either cut two panels of chequering for the pistol grip, or more simply to mark our the panels and fill them with walnut dust. I have found this gives an excellent grip, looks quite attractive and is less tedious than stippling and considerably less nerve racking than chequering. Of course there are numerous other lever actions available on the market in a plethora of calibres, but the pistol-calibre guns are the way to go for gallery rifle and carbine shooting on pistol ranges. There are some fascinating vintage Winchester, Marline and Savage lever-actions on the market, in obsolete calibres but they are now fetching thousands, which somewhat dulls their attraction. I regularly drool over these treasures at Arms Fairs but they will have to stay in dreamland.
The wood is a plain piece of hardwood with a heavy coat of varnish which would be more at home on a boat. The metalwork is reasonably polished and evenly chemically blued. Sights are the usual bead and sliding V rear and the action is grooved for scope mounts. Trigger pull is clean but heavy. The rifle weighs 6lbs. and has an overall length of 29 inches with a 19.5 inch barrel. The tubular magazine holds 15 rounds and fed flawlessly. The action was somewhat stiff and this is not helped by the lever which always
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POINTING BULLETS By Richard Wilde
Bullet pointing is starting to have an impact in precision long-range shooting circles. The technology and theory is not new but, pulling the techniques together into simple operations that make a difference to scores on targets is only now being understood. A decade ago we were getting excited about trimming the hollow point - or meplat - on a match bullet to make each tip consistent in size and shape. The results were inconclusive but doing this produced a loss of the bullets ballistic coefficient (BC) as the hole in the tip was opened up. This meant the bullet was maybe more accurate but slightly less effective in the wind over the longer ranges.
More on Bullet Pointing

from Richard Wild
Is bullet-pointing a fad or a genuine aid to accuracy? Laurie Holland tried it last year and got some fairly positive results, confirming that pointing can definitely increase a bullets BC. Since Lauries article, some improvements had been made to the Whidden pointing equipment. Australian F Class and benchrest shooter, Richard Wild, gives us his slant on the process.
Before and after. The Bergers make a nice shaped tip. Note the un-pointed bullet has an uneven tip that only becomes obvious under high magnification. The next step therefore was to not trim the bullet but to close the tip into a sharper point. This increases the overall BC of the bullet but can leave a ragged meplat.
Tools of the Trade Enter the Whidden Gunworks and their bullet pointing die equipment. This bullet point die and related equipment provides a stepped approach to bringing out the best in those expensive match bullets.
I set up and tested the bullet pointing die on a variety of bullet styles used in F Class Open shooting and
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Before and after. The open point (left) has been closed to be more uniform across the batch . found that each bullet was able to be improved to various levels. Bullets used were Lapua 105 grain 6mms for my Dasher; 168 and 180 grain Berger, 175 grain Sierra Matchkings and 190 grain Matrix bullets for the 284 Shehane and the 7mm Boo Boo. The bullet-pointing die works in the same way a casesizing die works. A bullet is inserted into a die and the point is adjusted using the micrometer setting to the angle and shape required. The bullet pointing die is built around a Forster bullet seating die but uses two additional parts - a calibre sleeve and the pointing die - matched to the specific bullet you use - that fits inside the sleeve. Using the correct pointing die is important as sharper VLDs require a different design to Matchkings which are more rounded at the nose. Whidden recommends using a Forster Co-Ax press but any solid reloading press will do the job. I own a Co-Ax and followed the easy to understand instructions to set-up the die for the first bullet. I cut my teeth on the 6mm Lapua bullets as I was reloading them at the time and found out two things. Firstly, the Lapua bullets are very well made and secondly, you can push the point on them too hard and deform the bullet. Once you get the die set up, you can adjust the meplat to become almost as sharp as a needle and yes I have been stabbed by the contents of my ammo box! The Sierra Matchkings were the worst of the selection and immediately showed the greatest improvement in shape. After a while it even seemed possible to pick the different machines that produced the bullet as differently shaped but, ragged meplats emerged from the process. These ragged edges need to be dealt with and the Whidden approach is to treat the bullet using the same equipment used to trim cases. This is based on a Wilson case trimmer and uses a caliber-specific bullet holder to hold the bullet in place and a new push
system and cutter. Because the 7mm Matchkings were so much worse than any other bullet, they were the natural first choice to trim. For a control, I had set up the trimmer on the 6mm Lapuas but found it difficult to cut any copper.
I am preparing a batch of weighed, sorted, tipped and trimmed 7mm 168 Bergers for general competition use. After batching and weighing, the bullet is sized in the Pointing Die. The set-up and operation is similar to a resizing die and the pointing die is based on a Forster seating die.
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A small but growing pile of swarf shows where the Wilson case-trimmer has taken off any ragged edges from the bullet tip.
However, with the Matchkings ragged tips a collection of copper swarf was soon deposited as the misshapen edges were trimmed away. The BC of the 175 Matchkings is like a brick when compared with the Berger bullets, so pointing and trimming in this way should provide about a 5% improvement in wind drift over a bullet straight out of the box.
The proof of the pudding is in the shooting and the question that comes out of this much work is naturally one of Why bother?. A 5% improvement in wind drift means little at the short ranges but from 500 metres back, every little bit helps and a 5% improvement can easily mean the difference between a skinny 5 or a humble 4 at the longs when the wind puffs and plays around. Subsequent testing at 1000 yards proved that less wind-deflection occurred with pointed bullets than with projectiles straight from the box. I was pleasantly surprised with this result as it vindicated both the theory and the work put into the bullets - especially with regard to the tipping dies use. Whilst it will not make a silk purse out of a sows ear, it will help wring the most out of the current crop of match projectiles.
Sometimes mistakes happen. This 6mm Lapua (left) had the setting too tight. The 7mm Berger got caught in the die on an angle but will be used for a fouler
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F Class 4th Round
Diggle Ranges
August 2011
Round 4 of the 2011 GB F Class League was held at Diggle Ranges in August and surely that meant at least we could rely on the weather! But then again, this is England and summer can be a hit and miss affair!
This was the first long-range shoot at Diggle this year and the course of fire was 2 sighters plus 20 to count at 800 yards and 1000 yards on the Saturday, followed on the Sunday by a slightly reduced course of fire with only 2 plus 15 at 800 yards, then 2 plus 20 at 1000 yards to allow our overseas visitors an earlier departure to catch planes and boats.
The long View

News from the GB F-Class Association by Les Holgate
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F Class 4th Round
Diggle Ranges
August 2011
Yes, this would also be the most international of Diggle shoots with competitors coming from Spain, Germany, Netherlands and Eire; suddenly my two hour drive to Diggle didnt seem to be such a long way! We are restricted at Diggle to relays of twelve competitors and five relays or 60 shooters is about the most we can handle so apologies to those whose entries were refused. The five relays were made up of 24 F/TR shooters, 24 Open Class shooters and a mixed detail. Relays were switched on the Sunday to give all competitors a share of the morning and afternoon conditions.
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F Class 4th Round
Diggle Ranges
August 2011
Now back to the weather! The smart shooter, the Diggle regular, knows to take two essential pieces of kit no matter what the time of year or forecast sun-cream and waterproofs! Even though the previous few weeks and even the day before the shoot had been warm and sunny, Saturday morning was cold and overcast as the first three details wound their way to the 800 yard firing-point. The sky was dark and spitting rain but we had a lot of shooting to get through so we had to get on with it. First two relays up were the 24 F/TR shooters and, in addition to the rain, they had an easterly wind to contend with - something that doesnt blow very often at Diggle. It was not a problem for Adam Bagnall though, as even with the varying wind he still posted a stunning 99.12v. The third mixed detail was however delayed as we opted to wait out the thunderstorm as shooters and markers alike decided that they did not want to be anywhere near metal objects with lightning in the air!
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F Class 4th Round
Diggle Ranges
August 2011
When we trekked back to 1000 yards, the wind had picked up slightly and that extra 200 yards made all the difference with a 308 but, it didnt stop Russell Simmonds posting a 96.8v which took the stage medal.
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F Class 4th Round
Diggle Ranges
August 2011
Following a late lunch (on the hoof) it was now the turn of the Open shooters to get to grips with the Diggle wind. The rain was still coming and going in five or ten minute intervals but the wind had remained fairly consistent - could F/TRs 99 be beaten? It certainly could - with three shooters posting a 100, with Peter Wilsons 14 v bulls securing him the stage medal.
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F Class 4th Round
Diggle Ranges
August 2011
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F Class 4th Round
Diggle Ranges
August 2011
The move back to 1000 yards brought a complete change of wind both in strength and direction and Russell Simmonds F/TR score of 96 was not beaten the best Open Class effort being Des Parrs score with a 93.4v.
We made a brave attempt to start on time with shooters on the point and butts crews in place by 8.30 but a light drizzle turned to heavy rain and, always mindful of the safety aspect of wet weather shooting, we opted to stand down for an hour. Unfortunately, this meant a slightly reduced program if we were to finish as planned. The course of fire was therefore cut to just 2 &10 at 800 and 2 & 15 at 1000 yards. It was a good call as the rain had subsided significantly when the Open shooters took to the 800 yard point for the second time. Impressively, Mark Daish managed to clean it with a 50.5v with several shooters close behind on 49. However, by the time two relays had shot and everyone dressed back to 1000 yards, the wind had picked-up significantly and was switching quickly from a full-value wind and occasionally to a no-value wind very challenging conditions. Many came unstuck here with only two shooters breaking 70 Peter Hobson and Tony Marsh but Tony took the medal with his 71.3v. I can imagine that the F/TR guys in butts were not looking forward to the afternoon detail after seeing the scores put in by the Open shooters and yes, it
Over-night therefore the top six were:

Russell Simmonds 192.16v Les Prior 191.16v Simon Rodgers 191.12v Mik Maksimovic 190.14v Russell Howard 189.13v Adam Bagnall 187.15v F/TR Open Open Open F/TR F/TR
Once again, in the best tradition of GB F Class League shooting, a contingent visited the local Indian restaurant for an evening of excess we never learn...and the weather at 8.00am on Sunday was no better but at least it was dry at 8.00am, though it wouldnt last.
The weather was not a problem for Adam Bagnall (pictured) though, as even with the varying wind he still posted a stunning 99.12v.
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was still raining. F/TR Class is at a clear disadvantage to Open Class in that they are limited in choice of calibre and more basic equipment but Andy Burgess still managed a 49.6v and Spanish shooter Enrique Cabrera also put in a 49, with a gun he had never even seen before the weekend but specially built for him by Opsrey Rifles. At 1000 yards, inevitably the F/TR scores, like the Open scores, dropped but amazingly two shooters managed to break 70. John Cross put in a 70.5v, just one V ahead of fellow 101 Club team mate Adam Bagnall, which gave him the medal. That extra V bull would prove to be very significant John and Adam finished on identical scores but it hoisted John into second place overall on count-back. So ended another summer shoot at Diggle - not that you would know it was summer! The next round is also at Diggle - in one months time on the 17/18th September. We have had some extraordinary warm weather at Diggle in September so who knows? But dont forget your waterproofs and sun cream! Download an entry form from www.gbfclass.co.uk and remember, we are limited to 60 shooters so dont delay. Full results can also be viewed on the GBCFA website.
F Class 4th Round
Diggle Ranges
August 2011
The final scores;

F/TR
1st 2nd 3rd Russell Simmonds John Cross Adam Bagnall 309.26v 304.23v 304.23v
Open Class
1st 2nd 3rd Tony Marsh Mik Maksimovic Simon Rodgers 307.9v 306.19v 305.18v
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QUIGLEY SHOOTING ASSOCIATION NEWS
Quigley Shooting Association News

by Ken Hall
The 38-55 for BWSS Shooting Part 2

In the previous article, I put forward the notion that the old 38-55 would be a suitable contender for the long-range category in the very popular Cowboy Action Shooting disciplines. This time I will show how I put together what I believe to be a suitable all-round load for short to mid-range shooting, i.e. 50 to 500 yards with a single-shot rifle. The difference in barrel twist rate stems from the modern requirement to stabilize the heavier and therefore longer, bullets now in vogue for Long Range Steel Silhouette shooting. The well known Greenhill formula, used to determine the twist rate required to stabilize a certain bullet length, calculates that the 1:12 twist will stabilize a maximum bullet length of 1.81 inches and the 1:18 twist a maximum bullet At this moment, there are really only two options length of 1.2 inches. I have found however together open to us - an original Winchester 1885, or a modern with other shooters from across the pond, that while reproduction. Lets assume that an original is not this may be true with modern nitro powders it may likely to be used for Cowboy Action Shooting and not be so conclusive when using the black stuff. I concentrate on the reproductions currently on offer shoot the Uberti version with the 1:18 twist rate and to us: have found that it fully stabilises the Lyman 378674 335gn Postell bullet, which casts at 1.312 inches, at least up to 600yds and probably 1000yds with the correct The David Pedersoli Hi Wall in 38-55 with a 30 load. inch barrel with a 1:12 twist. Lets look at the component parts of the cartridge. First, the brass case.. In 1884, when first introduced, the The Uberti Hi Wall also with a 30 inch barrel but 38-55 case was of the balloon or folded with a twist rate of 1:18. head type, measured 2.129 inches in length and easily contained 55grains of black powder behind Both these offerings are well suited for long-range a relatively short 255grain flat-nosed bullet. With shooting as well as for CAS side events. As well as the the introduction of the drawn, solid head case, the barrel twist rate, they also differ in butt configuration. Whilst the Uberti closely follows the original crescent shaped butt style, the Pedersoli version has the more user-friendly shotgun style butt. I assume this is to cater for the American market, which seems to equate the crescent butt with a certain amount of pain. Personally I have found that, whilst shooting full load 45-70 and larger calibres with the crescent butt, it might require some form of recoil reduction protection. This is hardly a problem with the humble 38-55 - even when stoked up to capacity. If a shooter was to decide that recoil was a problem, it is easily solved by using an off-the-shelf slip-on shotgun butt-pad fitted with a suitably shaped insert made of compressed foam or the like.
98
charge was reduced to 48 grains, which remained the standard for many years. (Incidentally, with the coming of smokeless propellants, the 38-55 case was trimmed from 2.1295 inches to 2.039 inches, then necked down to 30 calibre and emerged as the 30 WCF, more commonly known as the 30-30, but I digress). Over the years, the chamber dimensions seem to have shrunk, to the extent that up to fairly recently, available brass has measured 2.082 - 2.1 inches. (See photo on page 96). Due to demand, from the American shooters wanting a true reproduction, Starline have recently introduced a long case. Their standard case is 2.08 inches, whilst the long one is 2.125 inches. Diameter on both cases is the same and both cases are .002 inches thinner at the case-mouth than the current Winchester case. The thinner case-mouth enables the shooter to use larger diameter bullets for better accuracy. In order not to cause confusion, they have marked the bases differently, the old short case retains the original stamp but the long case is marked 2.125. Both reproduction rifles we are concerned with have been made to original chamber specifications and so are able to use either size case. The shorter cases obviously leave a little extra space in front of the case mouth, this may or not be a detriment, I dont know for sure as, thus far, I have only used the shorter cases but I intend to try the longer Starline brass at the first opportunity. Next, the bullet. (Above). Single-shot rifles are able to use long, pointed-nose bullets and so two excellent moulds spring to mind. The Lyman 378674 335gn Postell shaped bullet, specifically designed for long range silhouette shooting and the Paul Jones 38001, a similar shape but with a longer nose and weighing 365gn, both these are highly recommended. I cast with a 20:1 mixture of lead to tin, but excellent results have been achieved with a 30:1 mix. When it comes to sizing your bullet, it pays to slug the bore of your rifle and then choose a sizing die .001 inches or .002 inches larger. My Uberti barrel actually measures .377 inches across the lands and .383 inches groove diameter but although I size my bullets to .379 inches I have still had very reasonable results. I will purchase a .38in sizing die when one becomes available. For what it is worth, I believe that the Pedersoli barrels are measuring
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around .375 - .379 inches but I cant confirm that yet. Next, lets look at the fuel. I like Swiss powders but there are many other shooters using other makes and swear by them, so it comes down to what you are happy with. I have found the following data safe with my equipment but as I have no control over others, the usual precautions must be taken to ensure the data is safe with your equipment. The most accurate results so far have been obtained with 40.6 grains of Swiss No3 (ffg) compressed .36 inches with a homemade powder compressing die, a .060 inch vegetable fibre wad (Walters, Midway UK) and a Lyman Postell weighing 336gn sized to .379 inches and lubed with White Label BPCR lube. I use fire-formed cases, I do not resize them, I thumb seat the bullets up to the third grease groove, leaving one groove exposed, I then run them into the full-length resizing die, with the de-capper removed, until resistance is felt. This gives a slight taper-crimp which allows the bullet to be rotated but not fall out when inverted. For shooting up to 600 yards I have found that simply increasing the powder charge to 44grains of Swiss No3 gives an accurate load which manages to buck the wind quite well, although when tested at 100 yards the group increased slightly over the 40gn charge this could easily have been pilot error. A colleague in the USA has had good results with a charge of 50gn Swiss No3 so I may well make some up to try and let you have the results in a later offering. Khall6548@aol.com
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