Target Shooter May

Welcome to the second month of this free online shooting magazine for shooters in the UK

May 2009 Issue

No 5 Jungle Carbine

Club Features F Class

Basic Rifle Maintenance

Tactical Rifle Gallery Rifle



Rimfire, Air Rifle and Centerfire Benchrest

Target Shooter

FT Scope Review • Classic Rifle• New Products • and lots more…..

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ACCURACY OUR FIRST PRIORITY

The Tikka concept is simple, pure and performance-orientated. Now, with the introduction of factory-threaded barrels for moderators, in the most popular right-handed calibres, this excellent rifle just got even better.

Tikka T3 Hunter

Tikka T3 Lite

Tikka T3 Lite Stainless

Tikka T3 Super Varmint, Varmint Stainless & Varmint Blue

The Tikka T3 Hunter is made for the rifle shooter who is looking for top performance and accuracy with a classic style and feel. The high-grade walnut stock is selected and shaped by Tikka master gunsmiths. The T3 Hunter offers an extensive calibre selection and is available left handed.

The Tikka T3 Lite features an all-black, sturdy, but lightweight, fibre-glass reinforced polymer stock with positive checkering for improved grip and comfort. The cold hammer forged barrel has a traditional blued finish. Also available left handed. Shooters facing extreme weather conditions require their rifle to be a trusted, hard-wearing companion, offering faultless long-term performance. The Tikka T3 Lite Stainless is ideally suited; made from Tikka’s high-grade stainless steel with a glass fibre reinforced polymer stock, this model gives the double advantage of easy maintenance combined with great looks. Also available left handed.

All three Varmint models feature a free-floating precision barrel that effectively eliminates vibration and will not over-heat even in fast-paced shooting. They are produced with a synthetic stock that has an extra-wide forend for bench resting, and a swivel stud which accommodates either a bipod or a sling. The ergonomically-designed Varmint cheek piece provides comfortable head positioning with a large scope. The Varmint Blue features a barrel and action that are made from high-grade blued Cr-Mo steel. The T3 Varmint Stainless features a barrel and action made from heat-treated special stainless steel, which is bead-blasted to a non-glare finish. This model is available left handed. The T3 Super Varmint is a new model. Like the Stainless model, it features a barrel and action made from heat-treated special stainless steel, which is bead-blasted to a non-glare finish. Additionally, the ergonomically-designed cheek piece on the Super Varmint is adjustable, and this model also features a Picatinny rail and large bolt handle as standard.

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For further product information and details of your local Centre of Accuracy stockistShooter please call GMK Ltd on 01489 587500 or visit www.gmk.co.uk Target

TI0309UD

When it comes to consistent accuracy, be it on the range or hill, the T3 Varmint models are hard to out-shoot.



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Welcome to the 2nd month .......of Target Shooter Sections

22 Basic Rifle Maintenance by Vince Bottomley



35 No 5 Jungle carbine by Richard Wild

51 SEB Rest by Carl Boswell 58 Spring Action Weekend By Gwyn Roberts



62 Hunter Field Target Scopes by Tim Finley

69 Reproduction No 32 Scope Brackets by Nigel Greenaway 4

Target Shooter

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Shooting Sport News

10

Shooters Calendar

14

‘From the Keg’ with Ken Hall

19

Support your Local Gun Shop

28

Mini Rifle Competiton Review

30 43

Air Rifle Equipment Scopes by Stanley Shaw

46

Sylwester Los by Haley Platts

76

Springfield Untertl by Rob Hunter

82

Shooting Website of the Month

93

Your Rimfire Gallery Rifle Part 2 by Gwyn Roberts

99

Gun of the Month

Gall Actions by Vince Bottomley

103 Club Feature

84 Rifle Twist Rates Part 1 by Laurie Holland





Association Pages 105

NRA

106

UKBRA

110

UKBR22

111

F Class UK

114

Gallery Rifle

116

UKPSA

118

Letter Page

Editor(s). Carl Boswell and Vince Bottomley Advertising and Office Manager Andy Dubreuil. email; [email protected] Contributors Vince Bottomley Laurie Holland Carl Boswell Nigel Greenaway Stanley Shaw

Richard Wild Tim Finley Rob Hunter Gwyn Roberts Ken Hall

Hayley Platts

Webitorial Wow, is all I can say about the response to the first magazine! As we get to the publication of the second instalment, we are in double figures for the amount of unique views of the website and the first magazine. This currently stands at approximately 15,000 people worldwide. We started this venture off knowing that we would ‘market’ Target Shooter, with little more public voice than that of relying on word of mouth to get the message across; ‘we are here’! So please continue to email your friends, your shooting mates, their wives and their dogs, cats and other pets, to let them know there is a new shooting magazine in town; and it’s called ‘Target Shooter’. For passing this on we are much obliged. For the great letters we have had…. well they made us blush! So with this good news we would like to say a big thanks our readers and our advertisers for the first month of which promises to be a very successful magazine. It is early days, but we have plans for articles, columns and events for the next few months and beyond. With is in mind, please do come to the UKBRA/ UKBR22 stand in the Pavilion on the Phoenix Meeting weekend. There will be a few of us there promoting individual sports, but also this magazine. I also know that a few of the writers will be in competition over the weekend so you might get to see them in action. We have had a number of requests for articles, some of which we are working towards and others that might be a way off. However our goal is the same; to promote shooting in all its forms within the UK and apply that diversity within the magazine. As we build up issues of the magazine, articles will be placed into an archive. This will happen in the next few months, so watch out for this feature and links to articles written by some of our writers that have not been published in the magazine. So coming to the May edition, please read on, excusing the odd typo and spelling mistake (which will be me); we hope you enjoy it as much as you did the first one. Carl Boswell - [email protected] and Vince Bottomley - [email protected] Copyright © Target Shooter Magazines 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.



Target Shooter

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Shooting Sport News NRA CHOOSES RWS 7.62mm

Volunteer TR shooters tested the quartet under Shooter dissatisfaction with ammunition quality in the ‘blind’ conditions at 300 and 600 yards using a 2008 Imperial Meeting saw the NRA and its supplier representative sample of TR rifle makes, barrel BAE Systems-Radway Green (BAE-RG) under fire specifications with varying round-counts. ‘Loaders’ yet again. Some might ask what’s new about this, but were even employed to place cartridges in the changing circumstances brought matters to a head testers’ rifle actions and pick fired cases up, so last year. Crucially, the MoD had advised the NRA in testers could not tell which batch they were shooting late 2007 that it was terminating the long-standing and allow unconscious bias to affect results. Not too arrangement whereby the military shot on the Bisley surprisingly, RG was the first dropped – on accuracy ranges and paid for use of the facility with 7.62mm grounds. While the others performed well, Lapua sniper grade cartridges, so the civilian body had to went too thanks to its much higher cost than the procure its ammunition through commercial channels. others, leaving the field to HPS-TR and RUAG. The former’s 7.62 is a proven performer, so the This change came too late to institute a tendering focus shifted to trying the RUAG ammo at long process and arrange product testing for last year’s range, it being issued for the European Long Range Imperial, so a short term contract was entered into Championship meeting and one of the short-range with BAE-RG for the NRA’s 2008 requirements, a testers used it in the Surrey Open at 900 and 1,000yd. Results were good at 800 and 900yd but fell off at 1,000, apparently due to it TR shooters will be adding up scores for RWS being loaded on the light side. RUAG ammunition in 2009. rectified this and another round of comparative tests at 300 and 1,000yd against HPS-TR’s ammo last December showed there was little between the pair in terms of performance. In the end, RUAG got the contract on price, initially for one year.

move that caused ructions amongst the body’s TR-shooting members! The NRA hoped that BAERG would realise it was drinking in the last chance saloon, and given that it had produced some goodshooting lots in recent years, would produce a top quality vintage for 2008, but this was not to be! Four producers were approached in the second half of last year, and quotes plus batches of 155gn 7.62/308W obtained – RG, Lapua, HPS-TR, and Swiss conglomerate RUAG which encompasses RWS and Norma ammunition brands in its range as well as a huge military supply business. The first three were ‘off the shelf’, while RUAG loaded cartridges specially to meet UK TR requirements.

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RUAG is loading the NRA 2009 contract ammo with the existing 155gn Sierra MatchKing (No. 2155) in RWS .308 Winchester cases over a RUAG powder. With new 155gn bullets that give improved long-range ballistics in the process of being introduced by both Sierra and Berger, future ammunition supplies offer the prospect of further performance improvements too, irrespective of who gets subsequent NRA contracts. The NRA will supply the new ammunition at £65 / 1,000, described as being “around cost”, to ‘Imperial’ competitors on the strict basis that all cases are returned for eventual resale to handloaders. With RWS’ reputation for making quality .308W brass, we have to hope they don’t all end up in the USA! We have to congratulate the NRA for sourcing ammunition through such a robust and fair process. Anything that improves ammunition consistency in one of our major disciplines is to be welcomed – especially if we get the chance to buy some of the fired brass in due course!

Andrew joined ELEY Limited at the start of April taking over from Mike Semens-Flanagan who was promoted within the IMI group, in which ELEY is a subsidiary of. Prior to joining ELEY, Andrew was the Business Development Director for IMI Indoor Climate in Sweden. Originally from Kent, Andrew brings with him a wealth of experience in high quality - volume manufacturing and experience in developing and introducing world beating products. Andrew commented on his new appointment: “Eley is a tremendously exciting business to lead. The combination of working with the most passionate customers and shooters, highly motivated colleagues, and world beating products is a wonderful opportunity. We will continue to invest in the development of our products and processes, so that Eley retains its lead in ammunition technology, that quality continues to improve, and that Eley remains the Choice of Champions” Andrew’s first week at ELEY coincided with the start of the 2009 ISSF World Cup shooting competition, with the first stage being held in Changwon, Korea. Results in show ELEY’s Tenex brand has retained its supremacy in accuracy from the success in 2008, winning 13 medals at the first World Cup in Korea including five gold. Andrew is looking forward to continued success at the second stage, which kicks off next week in Beijing.

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MOA Picatinny Scope rails

The Picatinny rail has now become the preferred civilian mount standard as well as the military standard and this is good news. It means that if all your rifles are fitted with Picatinny bases you could easily service several rifles with just one scope and rings. The Badger Ordnance, Ken Farrell and NICE bases are superb but with the current dollar/pound exchange rate, the cost of a rail is approaching £100 by the time you get it over here, pay duty and Parcel Force handling charge. Surely there must be someone over here with CNC machinery who could knock these out for a competitive price. Well, that’s exactly what Wayne at North West Custom parts thought and I’ve just seen the first sample (see pic). At the moment they are only available in Savage fit but if the market demands more will be available. www.nwcustomparts.com

As an aside to the story on the opposite page, BAE Systems – Radway Green advised the NRA last November that it will only supply governments in the future. If this is now company policy, it ends a relationship with civilian shooting in the UK and Commonwealth that goes back to just after World War 2 and encompasses three generations of rifle ammunition – 0.303”, 7.62mm, and 5.56mm. As well as the end of business with the NRA whose purchases were likely to be much reduced or terminated in any event given RG’s variable quality performance, RG 7.62mm and 5.56mm cartridges were until recently supplied to a major gun-trade distributor for onward sale to retailers. If this source of supply is lost, there are major implications for British target shooting with RG cartridges widely used in short-range club shooting. In normal circumstances, imports would fill any gap, but a combination of worldwide shortages of these cartridges thanks to huge NATO member It’s ‘Goodbye’ government orders, and significant real to Radway Green price increases resulting from the pound’s 7.62mm (and plummeting value, will see FMJ bulleted versions of these popular cartridges become 5.56mm), it seems. far more expensive – if you can find any at all. Can we expect a big surge in sales of .223 Rem and .308 Win die sales in 2009/10 as shortages and price increases bite? This could be a silver lining to this particular cloud, as it’s hardly difficult to improve on RG accuracy through handloading!



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BERGER REDUCES BULLET BC VALUES Berger Bullets has recently revised the quoted ballistic coefficient (BC) values for most if not all of the bullets in its large range of Match Target BT and VLD (Very Low Drag) bullets. Bryan Litz, the company’s ballistician, explained that this results from a change in methodology with BC values now calculated through experimental results measuring velocity drops over distance instead of computer generated figures based on the bullet shape and theoretical efficiency. Most bullets see a BC reduction of something between 4 and 7%, but some almost ‘escape’, and there are a few that suffer significant reductions. The new BCs are those shown in the ‘Products’ list on the company’s website – www. bergerbullets.com. Berger stresses that the bullets themselves have not been changed in any way. As an example of the amount of change, here are some old and new values for a selection of 0.308” dia. Match bullets. 155gn Match BT 155gn VLD 175gn VLD 185gn VLD 190gn VLD 210gn VLD



Old 0.453 0.472 0.528 0.569 0.574 0.631



Berger Bullets has revised its bullets’ BCs downwards

N e w 0.438 0.439 0.498 0.549 0.570 0.617

It should be noted that ballistics programs such as Sierra Infinity hold the old values in their bullet databases, and these should be adjusted if running a plot for a Berger bullet especially over very long ranges to avoid over-optimistic results. For instance, in the above sample the 155gn VLD sees a particularly large BC reduction. Running its ‘old’ and ‘new’ BCs through Sierra Infinity VI (at 3,000 fps MV) sees an increase of nearly 6-MOA needed in elevation increase to go from a 100yd zero to 1,000yd, and the classic 10 mph 3 o’clock wind deflection increases by 2.5-MOA at that range. Incidentally, Bryan Litz (a member of the US Palma team and a top Prone Long-Range competitor on that side of the Atlantic) only recently joined the Berger Bullets team. Bryan has recently made quite a name for himself by publishing 1,000yd match bullet tests

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that show how they really perform at long ranges, and is pressing manufacturers to move from existing G1 drag curve based BCs and ballistic tables/ programs to the G7 standard. This gives far more accurate velocity, trajectory, and wind drift projections for ranges beyond 500 yards. Expect some debate on this subject in long range shooting circles! Berger Bullets had promised to have its first ever handloading manual in print last autumn, but publication has been delayed with no target date quoted now. One has to wonder if the ‘BC-issue’ is at least partly behind this deferral.

S

ightron Scopes

Whilst over at IWA last month, I got wind of a new UK importer for Sightron scopes. I was having a go at the Sightron guys, telling them how we all wanted the fixed 36 power for benchrest and the 8-32 zoom for F Class but we just couldn’t get hold of them in the UK. We eventually did get an 8-32 for test but only because Laurie Holland sent to America for it! It turned out to be a cracking scope with very accurate adjustment and an optical quality equal to Nightforce. The 36 power scope will of course interest both rimfire and centrefire benchrest shooters as it weighs in at around a pound and there is a new ‘Big Sky’ version available, which I am given to understand is noticeably better than the old version. I’ve had a word with the new UK importer and he is convinced that he can bring these scopes in at a price

which will be competitive with the 36 power Weavers. Target Shooter is hoping to obtain one very soon for review.

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PECIAL REPORT Last in is this piece brought to us, that we think will be worth everybodies time reading; In July 2008 two prominent and well-respected members of the NRA had their estate car broken into whilst away from home on a weekend of shooting competitions in the North of England. They stayed at a hotel that had CCTV and good lighting in the car park. They had taken handguns, ammunition and removable parts of other rifles into the hotel leaving only those larger rifles concealed in the boot of the car, which was itself fitted with an immobiliser. Stolen from their car in the early hours by four masked persons were the rifles that had been concealed in accordance with the Home Office Guidance to Police. In September 2008 their local police force revoked their certificates and these revocations were appealed. On 8th April 2009 the case was heard before the Crown Court. However, whilst at the court awaiting the calling of the case, through their legal representatives, the appellants served on the respondent police force’s legal representatives the full grounds for the Appeal supported by legal argument and numerous character witnesses four of whom were at court. The Appellants were very confident of succeeding in their appeals. Their objective was to recover their firearm certificates. The police had opposed the appeals even suggesting a short time before the hearing that the appeals should be withdrawn but at court saw the sense in a compromise whereby they agreed to the court making an Order for them, the police, to reinstate the certificates within 14 days upon the appellants agreeing to review their future arrangements for the transit of firearms and ammunition. An amicable agreement on costs was also reached. It is clear that despite the appellants following the standard advice upon security of firearms and ammunition in transit and overnight away from home, thieves were able to smash the windows of the car and steal firearms. The Firearms Act 1968 requires certificate holders to take reasonable precautions as to the security of firearms and ammunition when not secured at home in the approved cabinet. What is “ reasonable” is a matter for the opinion of each police force although quite detailed advice is contained in the relevant police and Home Office publications. In this case the police claimed that the advice had not been followed whilst the appellants insisted that it had been followed.

The compromise at court was sensible and, for the merits of that case, an acceptable way out of the polarised positions each side held, thus avoiding the additional cost and time of a drawn out hearing. What this case does show is that where the legislation requires such “reasonable precautions..” police may well view any situation where guns are stolen from a parked and unattended car as NOT having had reasonable precautions taken and then revoke the loser’s certificates leaving the holder with no guns, possible prosecution for breach of certificate conditions and no certificate. The only resolution to the problem is to apply much higher security in the vehicle or keeping all the firearms and ammunition with them personally. The merits of this case were not tested in this particular court case as a sensible resolution was found. Whilst the law does not require absolute security, this police approach to the subject means that the loss of firearms, whatever precautions are taken, is likely to result in certificate revocation. So, preventing such loss by ALL possible means is the only safe way to proceed. The current advice from the 2000 Home Office document led to a difference in interpretation by the police on one hand and the appellants on the other and its application did not prevent the theft of these guns. Police had suggested that physical means of securing guns to the chassis or body of the car is reasonable or taking them into the hotel. Anything less, they considered, was not reasonable. Of course the case of R –v- Chelmsford Crown Court (ex parte Farrer) 2000 makes it impossible in law for certificate holders to leave their firearms and ammunition in hotels even if secure means are provided unless only that holder has access to them and that is an unlikely situation. Enquires of hotels in the area concerned resulted in none having such facilities and none wishing to have firearms taken into their premises anyway given the choice. So, for the future more diligent enquiries are suggested as to overnight stay locations prior to selection and higher physical security fitted in vehicles used for the transit or unattended overnight storage to prevent thefts. Jeff Hide Knights solicitors

A

nd finally....... We are thinking about running a few personal advertisements in the magazine for selling you own items. Please contact us via the customers services email address by the 17th of each month to place personal adverts.

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Calendar of events over the next two months

If your club or association has events you want to publicise here then email us. Sat 02 May NRA Open Day (National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) Visitors will be able to try shotgun, air rifle, fullbore rifle, sporting rifle, laser clays, precision snap, practical and historical rifles to name but a few, all with one-to-one coaching. Contact(s): Libby Gendall NRA 2nd May 100 yd Benchrest Diggle Ranges 3rd May 1000 yd Benchrest Diggle Ranges Contact via UKBRA website Sat 09 May to Sun 10 May The English Eight Club, National Rifle Club of Scotland & Welsh Rifle Association Spring Meeting. Match Rifle (F-Class Rifles may be used if desired but cannot take any of the prizes except for the Cash Sweep) 2+15 at 1000, 1100 & 1200 yards on each day Contact(s): English VIII Secretary 10th May 100 yds Benchrest Bisley Ranges Contact via UKBRA website Sat 16 May to Sun 17 May Range Conducting Officer Course (National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley). Two day course successful candidates will be qualified to conduct live firing on MoD or TAVRA ranges. Contact: Maureen Peach NRA

Wed 20 May NRA Shooting Club Day (National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) Multi-discipline NRA Shooting Club Day. Targets have been booked on Cheylesmore and at 100, 200, 600 and 900 yards. If you would like to attend you must book in at least a week in advance by contacting Heather Webb. Fri 22 May to Sun 24 May Phoenix Meeting (National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) and Arms Fair. This multi-discipline meeting has its roots in pistol calibre firearms but there are also plenty of competitions for Black Powder, Air and Fullbore from 15 yards to 1000 yards. As well as all this shooting you can visit the Arms Fair held in the Bisley Pavilion. Contact(s): Brian Thomas NRA 25th May Egg Shoot 100/300/500 yds Diggle Ranges Contact via UKBRA website Sat 30 May Start of NRA Probationary Members Course 2009/3 Contact(s): Heather Webb NRA

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Target Shooter

5 June to Sunday 7th june - Scottish Open Championships (Blair Atholl (Scotland). This years Scottish Open Prize Meeting will be held at Blair Atholl. Further information and entry forms may be obtained from Allan Mabon in due course. http://www.scottishrifleassociation.org.uk Contact Allan Mabon Sat 6th – 7th June MLAGB National Pistol Championships, Bisley 6/7th June - GB F Class League Round 2 Bisley ([email protected]) 6th June NRA Shooting Club Day (National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) Multi-discipline NRA Shooting Club Day. Targets have been booked on Melville and at 100, 200, 300 and 1000 yards. All disciplines welcome. If you would like to attend you must book in at least a week in advance by contacting Heather Webb at the NRA. 12th to 14th - British Intl 50m Championships Friday, 12 June 2009. The Championships run from 12th to 14th June. Contact NSRA Fri 12 June - AGM of National Rifle Association (National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) Annual General Meeting of the NRA. To be held at Bisley at 5.30pm. All members are encouraged to attend. 18 June - NRA Shooting Club Day (National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)Multi-discipline NRA Shooting Club Day. Targets have been booked on Melville and at 100, 200, 500 and 900 yards. Contact Heather Webb. 20 June - Club Instructor Course - NSRA Cost - £75.00. Fees include NSRA registration costs, course attendance and assessments where necessary. They do not include meals and accommodation. Sat 20 June - MLAGB Long Range Rifles Branch, 900 yard Champs. (am), 1000 yard practice (pm), Bisley. 20 June to Sun 21 Jun LMRA v Welsh XX (National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) Sun 21 Jun Surrey RA Civilian Cup (National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) 27th June Hampshire Open Prize Meeting (National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)



Target Shooter

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Target Shooter

Prvi Partizan Catalogue available on request

100 - 104 Lowtown, Pudsey West Yorkshire, LS28 9AY Tel: 01132 569 163 / 565 167 Fax: 01132 574 962 Email: [email protected] Open Mon - Sat, 9am - 5pm

Henry Krank

Visit our new website: www.henrykrank.com Available at all good gun shops

Prvi Partizan top quality hunting & target ammunition and reloading components

PPU RIFLE AMMUNITION Priced per pack of 100

A193 A032 A203 A132 A188 A495 A253 A211 A212 A270 A134 A047 A208 A084 A083 A227 A161 A027 A141 A400 A024 A034 A020 A362 A363 A366 A035 A028 A346 A345 A094 A365 A323 A066 A041 A169 A143 A267 A128 A348 A351

22 Hornet SP 45gr 222 Rem SP 50gr 222 Rem FMJ BT 55gr 223 Rem SP 55gr 223 Rem FMJ BT 55gr 223 Match 75gr 22-250 Rem SP 50gr 22-250 Rem SP 55gr 22-250 Rem FMJ BT 55gr 243 Win SP 90gr 243 Win SP 100gr 25-06 Rem PSP 100gr 6,5 x 52 Car FMJ BT 139gr 6,5 x 55 SP BT 139gr 6,5 x 55 FMJ BT 139gr 6,5 x 55 SP RN 156gr 270 Win SP 130gr 270 Win SP 150gr 7 X 57 FMJ BT 173gr 7mm - 08 PSP 140gr 30 Carbine FMJ RN 110gr 308 FMJ BT 145gr 308 SP 150gr 308 PSP BT 165gr 308 HP BT Match 168gr 308 FMJ BT 175gr 308 SP 180gr 30-30 FSP 150gr 7,5x54 French FMJ 139gr 7,5x55 Swiss FMJ BT 174gr 30-06 FMJ 150gr 30-06 HP BT 168gr 30-06 Grom 170gr 30-06 SP 180gr 7,62 X 39 FMJ 123gr 7,62 X 54 FMJ BT 182gr 303 British FMJ BT 174gr 375 H&H Mag 300gr 8x57 JS SP 196gr 8x57 JS FMJ BT Match 198gr 8x57 JS Grom 185gr

£39.60 £39.60 £39.60 £39.60 £39.60 £51.70 £49.50 £49.50 £49.50 £49.50 £49.50 £54.23 £54.23 £49.50 £49.50 £49.50 £49.50 £49.50 £49.50 £53.90 £41.25 £45.65 £48.95 £49.50 £59.29 £49.50 £49.50 £49.50 £53.90 £53.90 £53.90 £53.90 £66.00 £53.90 £46.20 £53.90 £50.60 £135.30 £49.50 £59.29 £66.00

PPU HANDGUN AMMUNITION

PPU PRIMERS

Priced per pack of 1000

Priced per pack of 100

A298 A112 A044 A033 A166 A140 A326 A339 A222 A221

32 S+W Long 98gr w/c 9mm Luger 115gr FMJ 9mm Luger 115gr FMJ 9mm Luger 124gr FMJ 9mm Luger 147gr FMJ 38 SPL RNFP 158gr 357 Magnum 158gr RNFP 357 Magnum FPJ 158gr 44 Magnum 180gr FPS 44 Rem Mag FPJ 240gr

PPU BRASS CASES

£22.44 £22.44 £22.44 £22.44 £22.44 £22.44 £27.94 £33.66 £38.28 £38.28

Priced per pack of 100

C193 C032 C132 C211 C134 C118 C083 C027 C345 C030 C020 C346 C031 C128 C470 C483 C385 C383 C424 C417 C384 C413

22 Hornet 222 Remington 223 Remington 22/250 243 Winchester 6,5 x 52 Carcano 6,5 x 55 Swedish 270 Winchester 7,5 x 55 Swiss 7,62 x 39 308 Winchester 7,5 x 54 French 7,62 x 54R 8mm Mauser 7.62 Nagant 6.5 Grendel 6.5 x 51 Jap 7.7 Jap 7 .92 x 33 Kurz 8 x 50 Lebel 8 x 56 Mannlicher 7.63 (30 Mauser)

£15.95 £19.25 £18.70 £26.40 £27.50 £39.60 £30.36 £28.05 £34.32 £27.50 £29.15 £34.32 £31.68 £31.68 £34.32 £35.64 £39.60 £41.36 £39.60 £52.80 £41.36 £20.35

P111 P222 P333 P444

Small Pistol Primers Large Pistol Primers Small Rifle Primers Large Rifle Primers

£22.00 £23.10 £22.00 £23.10

PPU BULLETS

Priced per pack of 100 B008 B484 B083 B127 B105 B010 B009 B007 B099 B345 B366 B074 B143 B006 B348 B351 B323 B140 B339 B221 B180

BL18 BL22 BL28 BL32 BL40 BL50 BL60 BL70 BL80

22 FMJ BT 55gr 6.5mm FMJ BT 110gr 6.5mm FMJ BT 139gr 7 FMJ BT 174gr 7mm 158gr Grom 30 FMJ RN 110gr 30 FMJ BT 145gr 30 FMJ 139gr 30 FMJ 150gr 30 FMJ BT 174gr 30 FMJ BT 175gr 7.62mm FMJ 123gr 303 FMJ BT 174gr 303 FMJ BT 190gr 8mm Match FMJ BT 198gr 8mm 185gr Grom 30 Grom 170gr 38 158gr RNFP 38 FPJ 158gr 44 FPJ 180gr 45 FMJ 230gr

£11.22 £13.75 £13.75 £14.19 £21.95 £14.25 £14.25 £14.25 £14.25 £14.19 £14.19 £13.75 £14.19 £14.19 £17.33 £23.98 £21.95 £5.94 £13.64 £15.95 £15.95

PPU BLANKS Priced per pack of 100

5,56 (223) £37.40 7,62 x 51 (308) £46.20 7,62x39 (7,62 Russian Short) £46.20 7,62x54R (7,62 Russian Long) £46.20 7,92 ( 8 x 57 Mauser) £46.20 303 British £46.20 30-06 ( 7,62 x 63) £49.50 9mm (9x19) Parabelum £22.98 38 SPL £22.98

SP - Soft Point PSP - Pointed Soft Point SPBT - Soft Point Boat Tail PSPBT - Pointed Soft Point Boat Tail SPRN - Soft Point Round Nose FSP - Flat Soft Point HPBT - Hollow Point Boat Tail FPJ - Flat Point Jacket FMJ - Full Metal Jacket FMJRN - Full Metal Jacket Round Nose FMJBT - Full Metal Jacket Boat Tail RNFP - Round Nose Flat Point



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A regular column whereby Ken Hall keeps us up to date with black powder cartridge rifle shooting in the UK.

This month Ken offers a newcomers guide to the QSA and shooting the black-powder cartridge rifle. The Quigley Shooting Association (QSA) and the Single Shot Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Club of Great Britain (SSBPCRCGB) are now firmly established as the premier UK associations devoted to the use of black-powder ‘buffalo’ type rifles in competition. Events are held throughout the year and, as luck would have it, the Clubs are situated at opposite ends of the country (Diggle Ranges & Bisley) thus making this type of shooting accessible to most regions. The aim of this article is to provide a few pointers for those who have bought or are contemplating buying a BPCR with a view to trying the aforementioned competitions, or maybe simply

sample the fun of shooting these interesting rifles on their local range. Having said that, I am mainly involved with the QSA though we do have a couple of inter-club team-shoots with the SSBPCRCGB guys every year. The Competitions. The Quigley competitions were conceived with the intention of offering similar challenges to those faced by the buffalo hunters of the old American West and of course inspired by the Quigley Down Under film starring Tom Selleck. QSA events are held at Diggle Ranges in the north and consist mainly of rifle shoots at 400 and 600 yards, where the targets are the Quigley bucket (watch the Quigley Down Under video!) and a half size buffalo, or occasionally steel silhouettes. Ample sighters are normally allowed and then

Accuracy in action - BP style

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Two happy winners it’s usually fifteen shots to count at each distance but our competition rules are not ‘set in stone’ and continue to evolve to suit the requirements and interests of the membership. As in any target rifle competition, shots are indicated by the butt’s crew. In addition, we also shoot the 1000 yard Billy Dixon competition, which celebrates the famous Adobe Walls ‘long shot’ of 1874, when Billy was seen to hit an Indian on horseback with his Sharps ‘Big 50’ at a distance later verified as 1,538yds. As our maximum range is 1000 yards, we replicate this by using a two-thirds size target. We also have a few short-range events at 200/300/400 yards – a facsimile of Colonel Berdan’s ‘sharp-shooter’ US Civil War test, a mini Billy Dixon and a mini Quigley competition, both shot with pistol calibre rifles. The Rifles. QSA rules specify a cut-off date of 1895 for rifles and equipment, so any original or reproduction American rifle coinciding with that date and having an external hammer is permissible. Some replicas in current production might include the Remington Rolling Block, the Trapdoor Springfield, the Winchester 1885 ‘high-wall’, the Winchester 1886, the Marlin 1895 and of course, the many variants of perhaps the best known - the Sharps. Whilst any of these rifles are up to the job, it is worth noting that those listed as ‘target’ or ‘sporting’ versions are generally most suited to competition shooting due to their longer and

heavier barrels and the availability of good quality fore-sights and rear tang-sights. The excellent Pedersoli catalogue from Viking Arms is a good place to start, though models are available from other European manufacturers such as Armi Sport and Uberti. As you would expect, the United States also exports some very fine rifles, Shiloh Sharps of Montana and C. Sharps Arms are perhaps the best known over here, but they do tend to specialise and rifles are generally built to order and are therefore more expensive, with a waiting time of around a year. Ammunition. This simple word can lead to much consternation. Whereas it is a relatively simple choice to select a suitable rifle, when we come to deciding what to feed it with we meet a variety of ideas. QSA rules state that any calibre over .35in is admissible. Bullets must be of lead only (no jacketed bullets or gas-checks). The most popular calibre is undoubtedly the .45in - in various cartridge lengths – with the 45-70 being the clear favourite. The maller .38 and .40 cals are gaining a following in this country but the heavier 45 bullet is pretty much essential for the longer ranges. Unfortunately, commercially made ammunition is not available, you must make your own and there are many choices of powder, primer, lubricants and of course compression - cue for a separate article in the future here! Equipment. As with many shooting sports, buying the rifle



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is only the start! With the BPCR there are many challenges to overcome and that is what discourages many shooters from trying it. When black-powder is burned it leaves behind a lot of residue and this is not user-friendly. The problems caused by fouling are many and varied. A certain amount of fouling is necessary to ‘condition’ the barrel and maintain relatively constant velocities. Accuracy can actually suffer from over-cleaning the barrel between shots, just as readily as it can suffer from the effects of insufficient cleaning. A happy medium needs to be found that works for you. The solution to the fouling problem is as varied as the number of people involved in the sport – every one has their own idea of barrel cleaning. Most shooters will bring along a cleaning-rod, dry or pre-lubricated patches, cleaning solution and perhaps a blow-tube (to breath moist air into the bore between shots – which hopefully keeps the fouling soft enough to be pushed out by the next bullet!). Others use two or three rods, with both dry and lubricated patches and brushes and pass each through the barrel after every shot. Watch what others do and try and find a method that works. Consistency from shot to shot is the desired result. The black-powder fouling creates another problem. The life of your rifle and your brass cases can be seriously reduced if the harmful salts left over from firing are not neutralized or removed as soon as possible. A means of combating this effect is required. Some shooters will de-cap and drop their fired cases into a ‘neutralizing’ solution (soapy water!) immediately after firing and clean their rifle on the point. Others are happy to clean when they get home. Either way, it is essential that you do not leave the rifle or cases unattended for any length of time or their usefulness will be rapidly impaired. No special cleaning procedures are required but you must do it as soon as possible! Shooting the BPCR If you look at any old prints of the buffalo shooters you will almost invariably see the use of ‘crossed-sticks’. Any type of shooting will benefit from a stable firing-position and in the QSA the use of cross-sticks is permissible. This simplest of supports can be fabricated by anyone of modest ability and provides an excellent shooting-rest. I know of no suitable commercially available product and so firers are forced to make their own and as a consequence we see everything from the elaborate to the rudimentary. The key phrase here is ‘spirit of the original’- in other words, we don’t want to see something like a steel tripod with windage and elevation adjustment – keep it simple and authentic -looking.

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A decent shooting-mat along with good wind/ waterproof clothing, whilst not compulsory, is desirable, as shooting takes place in the open in all weathers. Although our basic aperture-sights are capable of good accuracy, they offer no magnification, so a good spotting scope is useful if you want to see your fall of shot. In future articles, we will look at the cartridge itself in more detail and I’ll show you a few gadgets and gizmos, which make shooting these fascinating rifles more successful. Questions and comments please to; [email protected] Match report This year’s Quigley Championship got under way on the 4th April, sandwiched between two of the best days so far this year but match day was probably the windiest day for some considerable time. Despite this, some very good scores were achieved at 400 yards, although a few struggled somewhat when we dressed back to 600 yards. After the first round, Dennis Richardson lead with 63 points, with Ian Hull, Dave Coleman, Dave Bownass and Ken Hall all close behind with scores in the 50s. The wind seemed to do the impossible and get worse as the day progressed and in stage 2 at 600 yards, scores in the 30s and 40s were the norm. However, Dennis kept up the pressure and scored an impressive 57 points to clinch the match with a total of 120 points. Results. 1. Dennis Richardson Browning Hi-Wall .45/70 2. Ian Hull Sharps .45/90 3. Dave Gregory Sharps .45/100 4. Richard Healey Sharps .45/70 5. Ken Hall Winchester Hi Wall .38/55 Our next competition takes place at Diggle Ranges on Saturday May 16th. Feel free to turn up on the day and shoot with us or if you prefer, just come along for a chat and see what ‘Quigley’ is all about. The following week, May 23rd, we depart from out usual format with our ‘Tight Group’ competition. This gives you a chance to see just how well your hand-loads are working when shot off a bench at 100 yards. Please mention us when using advertising in the magazine

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Support your local gun shop ‘York Guns’

others. There is something for nearly every clay or game shooter though including a large choice of used guns. Around 100 rifles are on display, with yet more stored out of sight. Most are sporting models these days, although you’ll find some heavy-barrel tactical types and the odd target model. With YGL the country’s main supplier of Schmidt & Bender riflescopes, a Zeiss ‘Centre Partner’ and stockist of Leica, Leupold, Nightforce, Burris, Hawke and Steiner optics, there is plenty The customer’s view of the retail area on entering showing of choice in this field too. Nearly one part of the clothing displays. every employee is a keen and active shooter, the workforce able to provide John Smith started York Guns up around 30 years expertise and direct experience in any shooting sport. ago as a one-man band. With a passion for, and encyclopaedic knowledge of, vintage and antique arms, that was a large part of the shop’s original business alongside the obligatory well-used BSA Martini target rifles and Brno Model 2s. Pistols and revolvers old and new featured heavily too. After a few years the workforce doubled in size with the arrival of Gary Hyde, now the company’s managing director and grew steadily from then on, but by the 1990s the original premises were massively overcrowded at busier times and restricting further opportunities. Somehow or other, a wholesale supply business was also being run from a desk shoehorned into a perennially overcrowded storeroom upstairs. Building and relocating to a new bespoke shop and trade warehouse facility on the outskirts of the village of Dunnington east of York in early 2003 was a vital step in meeting John and Gary’s aspirations for the business. It provided a huge increase in the amount of space and a quantum leap in the quality of the ‘retail experience’, saw further rapid expansion in product lines, staff numbers (now 14), and wholesale activities. The shop provides a full service to the shooter, not just locally, with customers throughout the country and abroad. One beneficiary of the increase in space was clothing, there never having been room for it in the old shop. A big increase in the number of guns and rifles was accompanied by a move upmarket. YGL is Beretta’s Premium Dealer for the North of England, and holds similar status for Browning, Caesar Guerini and

Most shotguns, rifles and optical goods in stock are listed on the company’s website (www.yorkguns.com) the ‘current stock’ section updated weekly, over 90% of the shotguns also having images attached. An online retailing facility is a recent development. Wholesale or ‘trade sales’ is an important activity, all products also offered to shop customers too. It encompasses a varied mix of products and price levels providing dealers with some of the cheapest shotguns going, while at the other extreme, Schmidt & Bender riflescopes offer phenomenal build quality and durability, but cannot be described as ‘budget’. Recent additions to the product stable include the popular Muck Boots range of ‘super-wellies’, and York Guns has just become the importer of GSG’s .22LR copies of the H&K MP5 machine-carbine, with a new GSG-47 (‘Kalashnikov AK47’) model

imminent.

YGL’s founder and chairman John Smith.



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You can also purchase goods from us by mail order. Our online catalogue can be viewed at www.continentalshooting.co.uk and orders placed over the internet. We carry an extensive range of products covering all aspects of shooting including: Calls and whistles Cartridges and cartridge cases Clothing and footwear Decoys Dog training equipment Gun care materials and repair service Gun cases Hearing protection Knives Lamping equipment Optics Rifle accessories Recoil reduction pads Shotguns and firearms (both new and second hand) If you are looking for something and can not see it on our web site please give us a phone - we usually know where things can be found! Also keep an eye out for our special offers each month.

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Vince Bottomley

Basic Rifle Maintenance

We mentioned the possibility of an article covering basic rifle maintenance in the April issue of Target Shooter and enough of you responded to make it a reality, so here goes.

We’ll keep it simple and restrict it at this stage to the centrefire bolt-action rifle and we will start with the bolt itself. The bolt is a key part of our rifle. Not only does it close the breech, sealing the pressure-chamber, it also extracts the fired case and provides ignition via the firing-pin striking the primer. It is this latter function that concerns us most when it comes to maintenance. Lock-time - the time taken for the firing-pin to strike picture one

the primer after we have pulled the trigger - is measured in milli-seconds. Even though the lock-time is unimaginably small, movement of the rifle can occur in this time-period and if it does, accuracy will obviously suffer. Clearly, a fast lock-time is desirable - even more desirable with a hand-held rifle, where movement is more likely to occur. A number of factors will influence lock-time but the one that we can do something about is the firing-pin/spring assembly. But first, let’s dismantle our bolt. Most bolts are designed to easily ‘field-strip’ and even if our featured bolts are different from your rifle, you’ll be surprised what you can find on the internet. (In less than a minute I had a YouTube video of a Mauser bolt strip). The spring assembly usually screws into the main bolt-body (e.g.Remington, Winchester, Stolle) but some bolts employ a bayonet-style engagement (e.g. Howa, BAT) or even a screw-on cap (e.g. Savage, Barnard, RPA). Picture one shows a few types – from the left: Remington, Winchester, Howa and Barnard. We will concentrate on the Remington as it is one of the most popular and I just happen to be trouble-shooting a light-striking problem with one. Using a suitable stripping tool, we can compress the spring and easily unscrew the firing-pin/spring assembly. We now have two parts – picture two -

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picture two put the spring assembly to one side and we’ll deal with the bolt-body first. The problem here is the likelihood of crud accumulating deep down inside the narrow passage that guides the firing-pin. Gases blow back through the firing-pin hole and if you’ve ever pierced a primer, this is where the small metal disc ends up. An aerosol of auto carburettor cleaner (Halfords) is useful here . Spray inside the body and swill out the crud. If it looks very dirty, use a pointed stick – like a kebab stick with a cleaning patch attached. Shine a torch inside to ensure it’s clean. Whilst you’re at it, spray the bolt-face with the cleaner – particularly around the extractor and ejector pin. Depress the pin a few times to make sure it’s running free. If you have picture three access to an air-line, give it a blast inside and out and the job is done.

a very small amount of grease on the threads or bayonet prior to assembly. Picture three, below, shows the angled cocking ramp. This should be completely free of burrs to ensure smooth operation. You can put a tiny dab of grease on the ramp. That’s it, apart from a visual inspection to see that the pin is not unduly worn or bent and there are no signs of rust anywhere. Dry off any excess WD40 with kitchen roll and re-assemble using the stripping tool to compress the spring. The bolt is now ready to use but don’t forget to grease the back of the bolt-lugs lightly and a tiny bit of grease on the camming-point before use. (Picture four). Please be very sparing with the grease – do not get grease anywhere near the bolt-face. Unfortunately, we need to take things a bit further with our Remington as we have a problem. Light-strikes can be due to a number of things: Firing-pin protrusion: Generally we are looking for something around 0.05 inches (fifty thou.) The Remmy is spot-on at 51 thou. so this is not the problem. Excessive headspace: If headspace is too great, it will have the same effect as lack of firing-pin

Now for the spring assembly. I’m intending to fully dismantle the Remington spring assembly as there is a problem with light-strikes but for normal maintenance it’s not necessary and we are simply going to clean the spring-assembly with our aerosol carb. cleaner to remove all traces of crud and grease. We do not want ANY grease or oil on the spring or pin – it will cause drag and increase lock-time! Again, dry off with an air-line if you have one. A light spray with WD40 is all we need – no oil or grease on the spring or pin please! You can put



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picture four

protrusion – leaving a small gap between the boltface and case-head but when the go-gauge was inserted, headspace was spot-on. Again, if you over-

picture five bump the cases on re-sizing, it will shorten them and exhibit the same problem as excessive headspace. Primer problem: This is rare but not unknown so worth checking. Duff primers are uncommon but if they get damp or oil on them, they won’t fire. The remedy is to replace a few primers and try again. I popped out the CCI primers (using a Lee universal

de-priming die) and replaced them with Federal – no difference. There was an indentation from the firing-pin impact but not quite enough to fire the primer. On taking the pin and spring apart, the problem is revealed. Moisture has found its way into the bolt and the pin is rusty. Look at picture five and you can see that corrosion is particularly bad under the spring (I’d actually cleaned off the excess rust with steel-wool before this pic was taken) but we are more concerned with the bit that slides inside the shroud. It’s a close fit and the light corrosion was causing the pin to drag very slightly – enough to cause an ignition problem. The rifle had been laid up over the winter, allowing the corrosion to form. A good clean with wet ‘n’ dry paper soon had it looking as good as new and a light application of WD40 will prevent re-occurrence. Whilst the bolt was in pieces, it was a simple job to fit a new spring. Springs for the popular rifles are available from www.brownells.com for a few dollars - picture eight. For a few dollars more, you can buy a slightly stronger (longer) one which will in theory give you a shorter lock-time. It arrived within a week! One last thing to check - particularly if your rifle isn’t as accurate as you think it should be. Check that both bolt-lugs are making contact with the action lugs. The

pictures si x and seven

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know what could be causing the accuracy problem.

picture eight

innovative may09.qxd

3/26/2009

11:03 AM

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back of both lugs should appear shiny. If one looks shiny but the other doesn’t, there’s not a lot you can do about it – it’s really a machining job to true ‘em up and it probably isn’t worth the cost as you could end up having to adjust the headspace but at least you

Finally, never store your rifle with the bolt cocked or the spring will soon lose its tension. If you prefer to leave the bolt in the rifle, close it on an empty chamber and pull the trigger to un-cock it. If you store the bolt separately – best for safety – de-cock it by twisting the shroud to drop the pin. Re-cock using the stripping tool. Bolt stripping tools for popular actions can be obtained from Sinclair International in America. www. sinclairintl.com Barnard bolts come apart without any tools, as do RPA and Savage – except for an Allen-key. In the absence of a stripping tool, you can improvise (see pictures si x and seven) with a bit of wire and a washer (or 5p coin) in the case of Remington bolts! More basic rifle maintenance next month.

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Thurnscoe Rifle Club Mini Rifle Competition By Ross Burrough Sunday 19th April saw the first Mini Rifle competition held at Thurnscoe Rifle Club located a couple of miles from South Yorkshire Shooting Supplies between Barnsley and Doncaster. Originally a range built for the Home Guard during the war and since purchased by the club, the range is outdoor and offers ranges up to 100yds catering for .22 rifle, Air Rifle, and Black powder pistol. The club also has shared

Mini Rifle in action

access to a 100m full-bore range used once a month. Mini Rifle was introduced as an alternative to practical pistol shooting after the handgun ban but for unknown reasons has never achieved the status or popularity of the previous discipline. The competition naturally lends itself to .22 semi auto rifles and various types including the Browning Buckmark, obligatory Ruger 10/22 and, increasingly, the new GSG-5 (.22 MP5 replica) are evident at competitions. Earlier this year some of the guys from Thurnscoe visited Worcester Norton Shooting Club on one of their Mini Rifle Open Shoots to take part and hopefully learn how to stage competitions of this type at our own club. Bob Oakley and the guys at Worcester Norton gave us a warm welcome and gave us a great days shooting during which we learnt all about the Mini Rifle discipline including safety procedures, courses of fire, targets, and scoring. Worcester Norton run these competitions on a regular basis and are extremely experienced in setting up safe and challenging courses which prove to be great fun. On our return to Yorkshire we began the process of gathering the required instructions and equipment necessary to stage this type of competition ourselves. Sunday saw this project come to fruition when we held our first competition. Although starting off overcast the sun gradually burnt through giving us a rarity in Yorkshire that

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being a warm sunny day. The range had been prepared and 3 separate stages set out ready for the thirteen competitors taking part. After the Range Action Safety Plan had been communicated to the shooters a walkthrough of the first stage took place. The main aim of this discipline is to challenge the shooter by introducing obstacles and different shooting stances. The shooter is accompanied through each course by a Range Officer who ensures that the competitor follows all safety and competition procedures. The course of fire is timed with the total points scored divided by the time taken to give a final score for the competition. Go too fast and you can loose accuracy or go too slowly and increase the time taken, the idea is to achieve a happy medium to give the best overall result. Preplanning also becomes important as some courses require magazine changes which can extended your time if you are caught by surprise halfway through shooting a string. The competition started at around 10am and finished just before 2pm. The overall results were as follows: 1st Dave Wylde 2nd Jeff Steed 3rd Mark Hardcastle

327 292 280

points points points.

Full stage results available at www.freewebs.com/ thurnscoerifleclub The main aim of the day was realised as everybody who took part expressed their enjoyment and are now looking forward to the next competition. This was initially set for June but due to popularity another may now be staged next month. Our thanks go to Bob, Gareth and all the guys at Worcester Norton for introducing and instructing us in this challenging and addictive shooting discipline.

Prizegiving at the match



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Outdoor Air rifle sports – Starter Equipment Part 2

Stanley Shaw In issue number 1 of Target Shooter magazine we had a look at the possible starter air rifles for one to pursue outdoor disciplines mainly, Field Target, Hunter Field Target and Air Rifle Bench Rest. Now Which scope to get ? You need a starter scope capable of handline both ft and hft.

that we took a decision on the type of air rifle to purchase, it’s time to decide the scope to fit. The scope requirements vary between FT, HFT and Air Rifle Bench Rest disciplines. We must first understand these requirments before attempting to purchase an all rounder scope, so as not to be disappointed. In HFT you require a scope that is able to show you clearly at target from distances of 7 yards to 41 yards, without adjusting the parallax. This means that range finding through parallax adjustment is not possible. One can’t dial in the turrets for the target range. An HFT a scope must have low magnification to allow clear view of all target ranges and a visual capability to aid the shooter in estimating the range of a known target size. The shooter must also have means to

determine and calculate the point of impact (POI) on the target without touching any part of the scope. In Field Target the shooter is able to utilize all functions of a scope. Here one can use parallax adjustment to determine the target range and use turrets to dial in zero for each range. The shooter in FT is able to manipulate any magnification that suits him for all targets in ranges between 10 to 50 meters. The FT shooter would require a scope that is capable of providing him with accurate range estimation at a high magnification for more accuracy. He would prefer a side wheel parallax adjustment. This design is more ergonomic then front objective lens focusing bell which is sometimes hard to reach when shouldering the air rifle. This side wheel parallax adjustment allows the shooter to keep target in sight whilst fine tuning on the focusing to get the best range indication. In Bench Rest like FT the shooter is able to utilize his scope to the full. However Bench Rest scoring targets are static at a one known measured distance so there will not be the need to focus or find the range for each shot. The bench rest shooter is more inclined to use turrets to fine tune his shots on target at a high magnification. He needs to do this by dialing in or calculate from reticule the POI according to the wind direction and conditions developing during his shooting time. High magnification and crisp image enables the bench rest shooter to clearly define the scoring rings outline on targets at set ranges of 25 or 50 meters.

Hawke Varmint scopes are a good choice amoungst airgunners.

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The novice target shooter will ask, if there a scope that I can be used for all these disciplines? The answer is YES. However the huge diversity of scopes on the market will confuse one instantly. We will be discussing some scopes that are ideal as starter scopes, but before we mention specific scopes we should concentrate on scope features which one need to know before purchasing a the best possible all rounder scope.

scope mounts. one piece mounts are a must on spring air rifles. Most scopes will be featured with strange numbers for example 6-24X44 or 10X50. This is a way to define the scope magnification and lens diameter. The first number or two numbers separated by a dash (-) is referring to the scope magnification. A 6-24 means that the scope has a variable zoom from 6 to 24 times. A single number means that the scope has a fixed zoom for example 10 times. A 10X magnification scope in theory must show you the image 10 times closer then when viewed with the naked eye. The number followed by the X sign is the objective lens diameter. The bigger the diameter of the objective lens, the more light will reach your eye. This results in a brighter image. Scopes manufacturers will specify also the Tube Diameter. The most common is the 25mm and the 30mm. The tube diameter is referring to the central tube dimension. Here the light entering the objective lens is converged onto the reticule and finally towards the eye bell lens. The bigger the tube the more bright and crisp is the image. The next very important feature is the MOA (minute of angle) setting. There are 3 types available the ½” at 100 Yards, ¼” at Yards and 1/8” @ 100 Yards. Without going in detailed

explanation of MOA this means the distance changed in point of impact (POI) of a projectile when the turret is moved by 1 click at a fixed range. On a ½” @ 100Yards scope one click moves the point of impact by ½ “ at 100 yards. 2 clicks on the same scope will shift the POI by 1” always at 100 yards. This also means that at 200 yards, 1 click shifts the POI by 1” and at 400 yards 1 click shifts the POI by 2”. The same scope requires 4 clicks to shift 1” at 50 yards. A scope which has a setting of 1/8” at 100 yards requires 8 clicks to shift the POI by 1 “at 100yards. At 400 yards this scope requires 2 clicks to shift 1”. The same scope requires 16 clicks to shift 1” at 50 yards. This automatically shows you that a 1/8” MOA scope give you more fine tuning capabilities on your POI at far and close ranges. All the rest displayed in the specifications of a scope are cosmetic or quality features available for the scope. So what should one look for in a starter scope? 1. Variable magnification and parallax that allows us to see clearly with with the lowest magnification targets as close as 7 yards and as far as 41 yards. (HFT) 2. A variable magnification and parallax that allows us to see at a higher magnification targets between 10 and 50 meters.(FT) 3. A reliable Parallax that is accurate enough at a particular magnification.(FT) 4. An MOA setting that can give us the flexibility of finer tuning in our scope zeroing. (BR) 5. A crisp clear image. Lens quality – Scope

For Air Rifle BR – quality over gadgets. good magnification (min 24x) & a clear image (min 44mm objective lens and min 1” tube). avoid ½” @ 100 yard for air rifle short range shooting. ¼” moa is a good choice, 1/8” moa is better.



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Scope turrets. ½’ – ¼ “ – 1/8 “ moa to fine tune your point of impact.

Quality. (FT,HFT,BR) 6. A reticule that enables us to determine the point of impact at all ranges from 7 yards to 50 meters. (HFT-FT-BR) 7. A reticule that enables us to determine the target distance by comparison.(HFT) Now we know what exactly we are looking for the problem is the price range window. Scope can be as cheap as dirt or more expensive then the air rifle it self. Here you need to take a certain approach in your decision. Remember you decided to get a starter air rifle. It doesn’t make sense to purchase a top notch scope costing 3 or 4 times as much as

suffer. A cheap scope on a spring air rifle without the correct mounts can easily be destroyed in less then 100 shots. The following condensed specifications will give you good results in all the 3 disciplines. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Helium filled scope. Variable Magnification from 6 to 24 times (minimum). Objective diameter 44 mm (minimum). Tube diameter of at least 25mm (minimum). MOA of ¼ “ @ 100Y (minimum). A mil-dot reticule. Sunshade.

If you are mounting a scope on a spring air rifle go for less cosmetic features and concentrate on built quality. If a PCP air rifle is what you have, then one can afford to go for slightly less quality build, and more cosmetic features, but be careful. Always use a good 1 piece mount for springers and have good mounts for PCP’s. Mount manufacturers like Sportsmatch or Hawke are good enough on sub 12ftlbs air rifles. Various scope manufacturers offer a good selection of scope in this price range, Nikko Stirling Platinum Nighteater 6-24x56 & Hawke Varmint II 6-24x44 are two of the best entries, can install with a certain assurance on springers and PCP’s. If you bought a starter PCP system and would like to install an exotic variable high magnification scope, with side wheel parallax adjustment that is impressively accurate at its maximum magnification, includes sniper type turrets with 1/8” MOA clicks, a 30 mm tube plus an illuminated Mil Dot reticule, including a side wheel and a sun shade get a ZOS 10-40X50 AE scope. This is “a made in China scope” like most big name scopes anyway, but it offers value for money. In the next issue we will start setting up our air rifle – scope combination and explore the different tests we need to carry out to understand better our air rifle and the right pellet combination required in outdoor air rifle target shooting.

your air rifle! After all you’re shooting your air rifle at ranges not longer then 50 meters. Go for the 1/3 rule it works quite fine. If you invested £360 in an air rifle get a scope within a price range of £120. You will encounter a lot of scopes, all with different specs for the same value, however we can narrow our search further by applying our basic requirements. The scope choice also depends on the type of air rifle you purchased. A scope on a PCP will Zos scopes not a bad starter not sustain any damage from recoil. choice for pcp air rifles However a scope on a spring air rifle will

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LEE ENFIELD No5 Mk1 JUNGLE CARBINE

Richard Wild The Lee Enfield rifle Number 5 Mark 1 carries with it a curious mixture of romanticism and mystic. The Jungle Carbine brings with it a reputation for brutal recoil and a wandering zero that often makes accurate shooting a frustrating exercise bordering on cruelty. The Jungle Carbine is the epitome of Georgian military beauty. Conceived of during the grey days of World War Two, it carries with it echoes of a more extravagant era. The finer aspects of rifle aesthetics rarely impact on the design of military rifles, let alone on the design of a rifle whose key development period occurred in the last 12 – 18 months of the Second World War. A Design Enigma However, the little carbine carries an air of vicious beauty. From the flash hider, which provides little

The Mk. 5 Jungle Carbine (above) is a rugged and attractive military rifle but brings with it a reputation for brutal recoil and a wandering zero that can make accurate shooting a frustrating exercise. Keen observers will note a successful 1Bn Green Howards patrol taken during the Malaya Emergency, June 1952. more than an aesthetic embellishment and may actually erode accuracy, to the lightened receiver that flexes under high pressure cordite loads, to the hard rubber recoil pad that magnifies felt recoil, the .303 Jungle Carbine appears built for its menacing military appeal than its ability to produce accuracy.

Nevertheless, the Jungle Carbine has a number of characteristics that should make it popular with the Infantry, especially those operating in the dense jungles of Southeast Asia. And when on military operations in dense, dark rain forests, battling steep

The lineage of the Jungle Carbine can clearly be seen when compared with a Martini-Enfield and Lee Metford cavalry carbine. (Photo by Daniel Cotterill)



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terrain, humidity and poor food, these points should not be overlooked. It certainly fulfils the basic requirements of a military weapon. It is short, it is both simple and handy to use for an average sized

Projectiles used for testing. (l - r) 85 grain Hornady XTP, 125 grain Sierra, 150 grain Taipan, 174 Sierra Match and 185 grain lead.

war-fighting, using one ammunition load for all 303 rifles and machine guns is understandable. But the 174 grain Mark VII bullet and cordite loads are not the best choice of components when the rifle weighs two thirds that of its parent rifle, the No 4. But when a mainline weapon fails to reach its potential because of this, hard questions need to be asked and a more detailed explanation of how and why this carbine didn’t make the grade needs to be sought. History and Development Lightened rifles were under consideration during late 1942. The concept is far from new as the thousands of Martini-Henry cavalry and artillery carbines not to mention the Lee-Metford and Lee Enfield carbines of the 1890s can prove. The SMLE No1MkIII was a radical step forward in 1907 because, for the first time, all Arms and Branches of the Armed Forces were issued with the same size and weight rifle.

shooter. It is light to carry, compact and it can quickly put down a lot of firepower with its ten shot magazine and charger loader – even under stress. A short sight radius with a large ‘ghost ring’ rear peep sight are not handicaps when average distances during conflict can be measured in feet and where the enemy is rarely seen. It was also issued with a short, functional Bowie-style bayonet that could be used in a variety of support roles aside from fighting. But a light weight rifle is rarely a success when the cartridge it uses delivers an uncomfortable amount of recoil and muzzle blast. But when you do use it with Mk VII cordite rounds you certainly begin to notice its idiosyncrasies. When it simplifies the logistics support for

Given the speed that the basic dimensions of the Jungle Carbine were decided on it becomes apparent that the designers were probably working from a known pattern. A check of other British military carbines from the last decades of the 19th century reinforces that view. A Lee Metford cavalry carbine made in 1891 and a Martini Enfield cavalry carbine from 1895 are the same length as a 1945 manufactured Mk. 5 Jungle Carbine.

Except for the change to the No. 4 style action and peep sights, the Lee Metford is much the same rifle as the Jungle Carbine. Handling the Metford carbine is like its Lee Enfield successor as they both share the same handling characteristics as well as many of the same flaws Close up of the front stock and flash hider. The amount of wood as the Jungle Carbine. removed saves weight but prolonged exposure to tropical heat In June 1943, the Infantry Weapons and humidity would have had to have caused warping. The flash Development hider looks like a bell and rings like one too after every shot. Committee forwarded a proposal for lighter rifle for use mainly in the battlefields of South and Southeast Asia. Of note was the realisation that long range accuracy was not to be a major factor in its design. Rather it should seek to be as accurate as a No. 4 up to 400 yards. Initial tests at Bisley in mid-July 1943 using shortened No. 4 rifles found that accuracy from the carbine was comparable to the long rifle

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A close up view of the Jungle Carbine receiver. A simple bedding technique using light carboard holds the action tight in the stock. The pink colour produces a tighter hold.

out to 500 yards but recoil and muzzle flash were considered “excessive”. After further troop trials to address problems with muzzle flash and endurance, the design of the “jungle carbine” was approved on 21 March 1944 - less than a year after the concept was proposed. The official designation of Mk. V was announced in the List of Changes on 12 September 1944. A Lightened Rifle The Jungle Carbine is truly a lightened version of the No. 4 rifle and a true No. 5 immediately stands out against any after-market builds. Non-essential metal has been removed from the No. 4 build whereever possible. The knox-form, where the barrel joins the action, is scalloped while parts of the action has had metal removed. The bolt handle on the Jungle Carbine has also been drilled out. Disassembley of the carbine also exposes the amount of extra wood that has been removed. Space under the barrel channel has been routed out and the butt stock not only has a shorter screw holding it to the action, it has also been substantially hollowed. Myths and Misconceptions - Recoil The recoil pad is a contradiction in both terms and

design. Logically, a softer and larger recoil pad would be the best option but rubber technology at the time could not survive the rigours of military life. The option that became standard is harder and thinner at the butt than required and actually magnifies perceived recoil due to its wedge-like shape. Other problems were encountered once the rifle entered service in the tropics. Storing the rifles in a conventional manner caused the rubber to compress. The oils of the time also caused the rubber to deteriorate over time. But the recoil generated by a No. 5 using service ammunition is no more severe than a No1 MkIII* with its brass butt plate – for the odd angry shot or two. Both will bruise after a while but the Jungle Carbine will no more break shoulders than a similar weight rifle in 308. Barrel Life Hot cordite rounds in the MkVIIz with corrosive Berdan primers will wear the lighter barrel of the Jungle Carbine out faster than a No. 4 used in a similar fashion. Troop trials suggest that maximum useful barrel life is between 6000 and 12000 rounds. Bearing in mind the service that the average surplus Jungle Carbine has seen, a check of your barrel’s condition in the lead up to any load testing is advisable.



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The Jungle Carbine bayonet. A Bowie design and a collectors’ delight when found in good condition.

Wandering Zero The biggest challenge to working with the Jungle Carbine is its habit of wandering around the target. This “wandering zero” at long range is interesting to watch and the author has recorded a perfect figure of eight pattern that emerged during a 12 shot Deliberate application at 300 yards. There are two main causes for this habit and many more theories. The first is the use of powerful 303 loads in a lighter action. Loads that shoot well in the thicker steel of the No. 4 action appear to cause the body of the No. 5 to flex at a point around where the locking shoulders are located.

random wandering. If you wish to remove the flash eliminator from the barrel be aware that the pins enter from different sides with the one closest to the muzzle entering from the right and the pin closest to the action entering from the left. Be prepared to find light corrosion in the join but this should polish up well with oil and fine wet & dry paper. Reloading for the Jungle Carbine

With hand loading these days, however, there is an alternative to being beaten black and blue with expensive surplus ammunition. With the availability of light bullets in .311 produced for the 7.62 x 39 cartridge as well as pistol bullets in 32 calibre we have a range of suitable candidates The simple solution when shooting Mk. VII to begin experimenting with. However, with 60 ammunition is to replace the No. 5 action with a No. 4 plus year old, rear locking and wartime production action. But then you don’t have a Jungle Carbine actions it is important that the reloader make sure anymore. that their rifle is up to the loads being developed. The second cause of inaccuracy, and perhaps the For burn rate comparisions with Australian powders most serious, is the use of the bell-shaped flash cited below see: www.reloadbench.com/burn.html. eliminator. The flash eliminator we see is the The lightened carbine load owes its genesis to the product of wartime conditions and was designed, differences in recoil between Martini-Henry rifle and tested and approved in period of less than six months. the carbine version. It was found that shooting the If the Mk. 5 design was under scrutiny today, there shorter, lighter carbine with the 480 grain bullet and is little doubt that a different design would emerge. 85 grains of black powder designed for the rifle did nothing for accuracy or morale of the troops using it. In the first place, the flash eliminator acts like a The introduction of a less harsh loading using a 410 piece of plasticine on the end of a tuning fork. grain bullet and 70 grains of black powder went a long In effect it interferes with the harmonics of the way to making a more user-friendly unit. Furthermore, barrel and means the bullet is more likely to leave the either load could be used in the rifle and the carbine. muzzle at a different point in space from shot to shot. The aim to develop an workable load with the Jungle In addition, the bell shape “rings” when struck and Carbine was similar. Find a load that would shoot would appear to set up a different harmonic field at accurately with acceptable recoil that would deliver the end of the light and whippy barrel during rapid the required results in either military rifle competition fire. While this is important to create the turbulance or in the field. and extra burn area needed to break up the gases that cause the muzzle flash, more modern There are three different jacketed bullet weights options are lighter in both profile and design and worth spending time experimenting with and probably would not affect the basic accuracy of the which will cover the needs of most shooters. The rifle. Removal of the flash eliminator is supposed to lightest bullet for the 303 is the 85 grain XTP pistol tighten groups and remove much of the zero’s bullets from Hornady. Speer 125 grain soft points,

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and 150 grain Taipan hollow points appear to fall projectile in this cartridge and so I set off into into the ideal weight range for use in the carbine. the unknown watching intently for the signs of danger. Two powders were used: 13 grains of AP-100 The aim was to find a load that would duplicate or pistol powder with a dacron filler and 40.5 grains exceed the results of the 174 grain Sierra Matchking of AR2206. AP-100 averaged 1870 fps and was load shot from a competition tuned No1 MkIII* with very pleasant to shoot. The AR2206 load averaged a new Lithgow heavy barrel. This load averages 2640 fps. Recoil during the test session was not 2360 fps from the longer barrel. All groups would be unpleasant and fast follow-up shots were possible. tested at 50 yards using a four power scope mounted in a set of Cad-Technic mounts. The object was to Speer 125 grain soft points: These are beautifully duplicate “jungle distances” and see how the carbine designed and manufactured projectiles originally would perform at the close ranges it was designed intended for SKS and SKK reloaders after better for. Unfortunately, groups hovered around the 12 ballistic performance than offered by ex-military inch mark at this distance using the original barrel. ammunition. The load used with this bullet was made up of 43 grains of AR2208 which averaged Good examples of Jungle Carbine barrels do 2350 fps. Recoil during the test session was exist but be prepared to spend both time and noticable and fast follow-up shots were possible. money finding one. Barrels produced during the 1946 production run have a Proof mark on them Taipan 150 grain hollow points: Weighing and a good example is worth grabbing. Fitting the halfway between the Speers and the Sierra barrel is easy but if the rifle has seen tropical Matchkings these bullets appear to offer a good service the action will be tight and a pressure ring heavy weight alternative for shooting out to 300 needs to be cut into the Knox form to relieve tension. metres as well as hunting the larger species of game. Using 43 grains of AR2208, this load Test Results averaged 2200 fps. Recoil during the test session was intense and fast follow-up shots were not Hornady 85 grain XTP: This is the land of pure possible. (Taipans are an Australian manufactured experimentation. No loading data exists for this bullet).

The top view of the receiver with the forewood removed. There is a different sight graduated to 800 yards instead of 1300 yards for the No4 and count the lightening groves in the action and knox form.



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Sierra 174 grain Match: This is the load used in a competition-tuned SMLE. Using 39.1 grains of AR2208, this load averaged 1980 fps or a loss of 370 fps in the shorter barrel. Recoil during the test session was mild and fast follow-up shots were possible. 185 grain lead: Bang, poof. A cloud of lead just beyond the muzzle. More work needed. Using pistol powder offered a possible low recoil alternative to heavy loads. When coupled with the 125 grain and 150 grain bullets a load of 12.5 grains of AP-100 with a cotton wool wad produced an accurate short range load that had very little recoil. The 125 grain Speer soft points gave the best accuracy with inch groups at 50 metres. They also recorded a decent velocity of 1100 fps. With such a small amount of fast burning powder in the large case it is extremely important that a filler is used otherwise ignition and pressure problems will occur.

Conclusion The Mk.V Jungle Carbine was rushed into service at the end of a six year World War with little testing and a poor understanding of the conditions it would see service in. If history is to be any judge then the Jungle Carbine was a failure as a military weapon. But then, the introduction of the SLR into British service in 1957, increased the firepower for the infantry and consigned the military bolt action rifle to highly specialised roles. But many of its characteristics are being reinvented today. Jeff Cooper’s Scout carbine concept shares many of the basic concepts developed for the Jungle Carbine in its light weight and simplicity. With the benefit of hindsight, a Jungle Carbine designed today would have a different flash suppressor or maybe a muzzle brake and a stronger action. But many of the things in the existing design, its portability and its pointability stand out, would remain the same.

Email : stuart@ospreyrifles.com Tel : 0161 4083555

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Chris Potter Country Sports

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New Rifle Actions from RG Rifles Scotland

Vince Bottomley When I heard that Scottish gunsmith and benchrest matches! That would mean working benchrest shooter, Russ Gall, was building his to far higher tolerances than mass-production own actions, you can imagine I got just a little allows. bit excited. Irrespective of tolerances, most ‘factory’ Of course, there are dozens of action-makers actions just aren’t stiff enough to carry a in the world – the major manufacturers like heavy barrel and if the action flexes during the Remington and Winchester for example but you firing-cycle, accuracy obviously suffers. Once rarely find their products forming the basis of you cut a massive hole in the bottom of the an accurate competition rifle. Why not? It’s all action for a magazine and then compliment down to design – and to apply that design, you it with an over-size feed/ejection port, there need knowledge. Manufacturers may have the is very little metal left to resist distortion and knowledge but their objective is usually steered unfortunately, there are few solid-bottom towards a ‘do-all’ product for price-driven mass-produced actions out there. Admittedly, hunting market. Yes, their products will ‘do the Savage Arms have woken up to this glaringly job’ but unfortunately, the ‘job’ isn’t winning obvious fact and now offer a solid-bottom



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action with tiny ejection-port. Not only that, Savage will sell their ‘target’ action separately and have made them available to shooters at reasonable cost. Rifles built on these actions tend to shoot very well.

especially shooting-related but, most gunsmiths with any sort of reputation report full order books and because 90% of custom actions currently emanate from the US, Russ is able to take advantage of the weak pound which is forcing up the price of American sourced products by Incidentally, I’ll point out at this stage that a significant amount. In addition, a swingeing the Savage target action has just had a $2500 license is now mandatory for American massive price-hike but I happen to know that firearms exporters. Osprey Rifles have two or three left at the old price of £500 which includes a trigger. Russ has represented his country World level Subsequent actions are likely to cost 70% more! in Benchrest competition and he has also built E-mail [email protected] if you want one. rifles for many UK benchrest shooters – what better pedigree could we ask of an actionThe Savages are still a mass-produced designer/manufacturer? His new actions follow product however and stiffness is only part conventional two-lug design and are made on of the problem we need to address if we are his Haas CNC machines. A selection of actions to design an action for ultimate accuracy. In suitable for various applications are now in the ddition to stiffness and trueness, we need pipeline. precise bolt to body fit, good support for the Although disciplines like benchrest and F Class barrel-tenon, provision for a quality trigger, a are the destination for many custom-actions, decent bedding-area and perfect ‘timing’ and there is also a big market for the foxing-rifle – lock-up. or accurate ‘field’ rifle. You don’t need to be a competition shooter to enjoy using a fine rifle and Some may question the wisdom of launching if you are having a new rifle built, you will need any expensive ‘luxury’ item in today’s climate – to source an action from somewhere! Little point 44

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in choosing a rattley old Remy – yes, it might save you a few pounds but the second-hand value of a rifle built on a Remington will be nowhere near that of one built on a proper custom action. Remember, once you have your custom action, it can be re-barrelled and re-stocked ad infinitum. In the pictures are two of Russ’s actions - one single-shot with heavy tang area suitable for competition rifles and one repeater with Remington-pattern tang and magazine cut-out which would form the basis of an accurate field rifle. Both are 8” long and designed to take the shorter cartridges. A long action and mini action for PPC/BR cartridges will follow. A Gall action starts life as a lump of 17/4 PH stainless-steel, which is hardened to 39 Rockwell before machining to 1.36 inches in diameter. The raceways and internal cam are EDM cut. The tenon-thread is the popular 1.0625 inches in diameter by 18 tpi as used on many US custom actions and they will accept any Remington style trigger. The Remington-pattern action will accept bottom-metal designed for a Remmy and employs a pinned recoil-lug. The receivers are drilled and tapped 6 x 48 for scope bases. The bolt is machined from one piece of

high-carbon EN30B tool steel. It starts off as a 10 lb. block which produces two 8 oz. bolts complete with handle. These are heat-treated to 45 Rockwell after rough machining then ground to final dimensions. A Sako-style extractor and spring-plunger ejector are employed. The bolt-face is offered in 223, 308, PPC and magnum, with stainless-steel shroud and fluted body. All work is done by Russ in-house with the exception of the EDM work and heat-treatment. The recoil-lugs and firing-pins are sourced from Pacific Tool & Gauge – for the moment. As you can see from the photographs, the actions have gone well beyond the prototype stage but there are still one or two minor issues to be addressed before Russ is totally happy with his product and he will not release these actions until he is 100% satisfied. However, he hopes to be in full production later in the year and he is currently building himself a 1000 yard benchgun and a 100 yard benchgun to show-case his actions and you can bet that Target Shooter will be first with a review. Meanwhile, check out Russ’s website at www.rgrifles.com

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SYLWESTER LOS; up and coming Champion Hayley Platts SYLWESTER LOS REPRESENTING THE RODING RIFLE & PISTOL CLUB Sylwester came to the UK in 2005 having already succeeded at the highest levels in shooting. Sylwester’s shooting career began aged 9 in Poland having grudgingly landed a place on the school team for the national primary school league. Finding the sport enjoyable and challenging Sylwester eventually spent ten years in the Polish national team. In 1997 in Helsinki he became European Champion for 50 metre free pistol and a year later in Spain became World 10 metre air pistol Champion. Since resuming his 10 metre shooting career in this country and coached by girlfriend Monika Baraniak he has won the NSRA British Open, Surrey Open, British Pistol Club Open where he virtually stayed in the mid to high 570 scores. At the February 2009 British Champions at Bisley Sylwester won the mens title with a score of 584. Just to put this in percpective, 584 would

Sylwester_and_his_winnings

have given Sylvester a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics.

Sylwester winning another award

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Roding is Sylwester’s home club and offers him as much support as a club can, however it would be great to see Sylwester attracting a sponsor to enable him to train and compete towards an Olympic medal. His proven track record as a former European and World Champion shows his pedigree and he is a great bet for any would-be backer. To contact him email at; [email protected]

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Fullbore & .22LR Black Power Air Rifles and Pistols Used rifles and Pistols

Our premises are located at 53 Chipstead Valley Road Coulsdon Surrey CR5 2RB www.gtshooting.co.uk Tel: 020 8660 6843 Fax: 020 8660 6843 We are conveniently situated near the M23 & M25. Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 10.00am - 5.30pm



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   

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Henry Krank

100 - 104 Lowtown, Pudsey West Yorkshire, LS28 9AY Tel: 01132 569 163 / 565 167 Fax: 01132 574 962 Email: [email protected] www.henrykrank.com Open Mon - Sat, 9am - 5pm

All pistols and long guns are availble:  On licence (firearms licence required for pistols and shotgun licence required for long guns) - available to collect in store or delivered to your local registered firearms dealer.  Inert (no licence required) - available to collect in store or delivered direct to your door.

Long Land Pattern Brown Bess On licence £390 Inert £357 Short Land Pattern Brown Bess On licence £380 Inert £341 Used by english troops during colonisation of indian + amercian territories. Brown Bess Mod 1778 Musket On licence £380 Inert £341 Specification similar to Short Land Pattern Brown Bess but without the brass nose cup. Brown Bess Flintlock Musket ( India Pattern ) On licence £306 Inert £247 Brown Bess Flintlock Carbine On licence £306 Inert £247

Baker Inert Flintlock Rifle On licence £504 Inert £434 Baker rifle of the early 19th Century.

Indian Charleville Musket On licence £318 Inert £280

Visit our NEW website at

www.henrykrank.com

100’s of photos of antiques for sale online

Essential Accessories Flat Powder Horn Supplied with a 72g spout. Brass spring loaded button dispenser. Length 28cm. £41.40 Large Horn Flask Brass button dispenser. Length 33cm. £49.80 Leather Shot Flask £40.80 Brass rocker type double shutter top which has two settings, throwing 1• or 1• oz. Length 216mm. Hawksley Copper Rope Flask £42.00 Adjustable nozzle which has 4 settings throwing from 2• to 3• drams in quarter dram increments. Length 197mm.

Doglock Musket 17th Century On licence £375 Inert £345

English Pattern Doglock English Pattern Dragoon Pistol On licence £216 Inert £203 On licence £246 Inert £218 Early Dragoon holster pistol dating from Early English doglock pistol dating from around the 1740's. Barrel 30cm. around the middle of the 17th century. English Short Light Dragoon Pistol On licence £216 Inert £203 As above but with 23cm barrel.

Pietta Black Powder Revolvers Pietta Rem 1858 Texas £196 Pietta Rem 1858 Competition £598 P. Rem 1858 Competition Stainless £738 P. Rem 1858 New Model Army Target £243 P. Rem 1858 Army Target Stainless £330

Pietta Le Mat Cavalry Model Pietta Le Mat Army Model Pietta Le Mat Navy Model

£838 £838 £838

Pietta Colt 1851 Navy Steel Pietta Colt 1851 Conf. Sheriff's Pietta Colt 1851 Navy Ni. D/L Grips Pietta Colt 1860 Army Steel Pietta Colt 1862 Spiller & Burr

£216 £177 £336 £243 £206

Coast Guard Percussion Pistol On licence £153 Inert £107 Coast Guard pistol circa 1855.

Lancer Percussion Pistol On licence £169 Inert £147 A faithful reproduction of the 1842 percussion Lancer pistol.

Pistol Loading/Cleaning Kit £27.60 Suitable for use with all pistols and revolvers. Comprises of one 20.3cm steel rod, nylon filament & phosphor bronze brushes, wool mop and bullet puller. Available in 36 or 44cal. Rifle Loading/Cleaning Kit £31.20 As above but with three steel rods. Available in .36 to .45 or .50 to .75 cal. Extension Rod Additional extension rod for muskets. £4.80

Brunox Cleaning Kit Offer 1 x Brunox 100ml Gun Oil 1 x Brunox 300ml Gun Oil 1x Roll 4x2 ONLY £9.95

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STOCKISTS OF:

Postage per order. Additional p&p charges apply for firearms + explosives. Above prices correct at time of printing. 50 & packing £4.00 Target Shooter

Seb Rest on Review

Carl Boswell

Coaxial rests have been around for a number of years. What are they? For those who shoot any form of benchrest or F Class rifle, they are well known.

For those new to the sport, they may seem a little more obscure. The coaxial rest works through a couple of linear bearings and simple clutch system to allow free movement of the front ‘bag’ which the rifle rests in. This allows up to 40 MOA of movement on the target horizontally and vertically, The SEB rest - a new mechanism controlled only by a joystick. to me, but for ease of use is Gone are the mariner’s wheel and excellent windage adjustments on easily from one target diagram to another. This can the rests that we all know. The joystick be a major advantage in a match as time is precious allows precise movement both quickly and and taking advantage of a specific wind condition

The whole rest looks and feels fantastic and ‘does what it says on the tin’



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pedestal rests with mariner’s wheel et al! This was something completely different and novel. At first glance the one thing that anyone would say - and have - is that the SEB rest is built like a battleship. It is well constructed and engineered. The tolerances within the engineering are very fine and this goes to show the level of precision of its designer and manufacturer, Sebastian The joystick controls all movement and Lambang who is an accomplished ‘locks’ into position when released. No BR shooter who competes at need for the mariners wheel or speedscrew ‘world’ level. The base has a any more ‘hammertone’ finish, although custom finishes can be requested – including polishing to a mirrorcan be very beneficial . Not having to complete two operations - vertical and horizontal movements - finish. I think this service may have lapsed but is worth to get precisely onto the next target is a massive it c o n t a c t i ng boon, as this time can be used to observe the the company surrounding conditions and let your hand automatically guide the rifle into the next target dia- via their website to find gram. out. New Toy When I first unpacked the rest I must admit there was a feeling of excitement as this is a product I have seen, but used The very briefly. (It’s all about having whole thing a new toy to play with). All the other weighs in at rests I have owned or 21.3 lbs or 9.7 reviewed have been the standard kilo’s, which is a lot, especially if you have to transport it and your other equipment any distance or from one country to another but, once on the firing-point, weight is a bonus. However this provides a good insight into how well the design has been considered and developed.

Compression on the front bag can be added to fit the rifle being used

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Development of the SEB rest If you go to the SEB website, there is a gallery feature that shows the rest through its various stages of development. This is interesting feature to the website and provides greater understanding of the product. One of the most interesting innovations for me is the fact that the SEB rest has dual posts. In comparison most - if not all - front rests have a single post,

column or pedestal that supports the rest top with the bag mounted on it and therefore the front of the rifle. These are either from the centre of the base or from the side as a cantilever. Everything rests on this one column. I presume the thinking behind the dual post is this creates more stability? Well it would and does. Not only are there two posts, but also a central mariner’s wheel for initial height setup to get your sights where you want them, so the whole target can be covered with the coaxial mechanism. The posts are locked with

The central joystick mechanism runs on plates and bearing mechanism

adjustable fore-end stop, levelling screws, etc. Using the rest Using the coaxial rest is child’s play in the extreme as you have a joystick to manoeuvre the aim of the rifle around the target. The new range of SEB rests have a 40 MOA adjustment, so this will allow the whole target to be viewed easily. The front bag, that is also made by SEB to fit the rest, is well constructed with wide parallel sides that keep their shape. It is made from leather and a micro fibre material that is designed to have better ‘slick’ properties than Condura, for smooth tracking. At the present time the bag only comes in a three-inch wide format for the Light Varmint and Heavy Varmint classes. I you want to shoot sporter class using this rest then you will need to look elsewhere for a bag but the fitting is standard. SEB’s rear bags are constructed in the same way, with the same materials and very well made, sturdy and well designed. Although not available at the time of review I have actually ordered one for my own use. The cradle or plate the front bag sits in is strongly constructed from aluminium alloy and like the rest of these parts is highly polished. Two adjustable side plates provide compression to the separate thum-screws. Stability and good design sense indeed! However, a further feature is that the dual posts are set on a pivotal base so these can be rotated, greatly aiding rapid set-up, without having to move the rest once you have set it on the bench or firing-point. Set-up time is often limited in major competitions and this is a great feature which doesn’t appear on any other rests. Other features are similar to those you will be familiar with on other rests, such as the bubble level,

Compression of the front bag is altered using the large knobs - a handy feature that is



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bag depending on what is needed for the rifle you are using. The knobs controlling these are Large adjustable pins are very useful for getting large enough to get the compression you need height just right without ripping your fingers apart. (For those that have had this experience this is an added bonus). Setting the coaxial mechanism does take a bit of practice, and this is where some may get frustrated. (Now I say this with baited breath as the rest comes set up and calibrated for heavy rifles over 13 lbs so no messing around. My rifle weighs in at 10.5 pounds so I had to adjust otherwise the action became sloppy). Set the pins too tight and the mechanisms can seem a bit sluggish when moving the joystick around the target. Set them too low and the cradle will proverbially fall. Therefore you will need to play around with this a bit if you are shooting light varmint at 10.5 pounds or one of the sporter classes. Once adjusted, the rest works well and Sebastian will help you out to configure if you get stuck – like me – so send him an email. In centrefire benchrest where group shooting is the name of the game, it’s often necessary to get five shots off in around 15 seconds – to ‘catch’ the wind. This is the technique employed by the 600 and 1000 yard shooters, so some prefer the rest to be set on what I would call ‘sloppy’ – too sloppy to support the weight of the rifle – but in this mode, it can be returned very quickly to the aim-point without ‘stiction’ or jerkyness. If you do like the rest to support your rifle in ‘sloppy’ mode, try fixing a weight to the front of the joystick spindle. This will then ‘counterbalance’ the weight of the rifle and your rest will work as smooth as silk. The one thing that I could not get used to during testing is that the SEB rest did not need parts locking down after I have set up on a target. After going through this process for so long it now feels alien to not do otherwise and this is my only ‘beef’ with this system; even though the rest will not move, if set up properly. Having used the SEB rest for a number of practices I can safely say that it ‘does as it says on the tin’! It is relatively easy to set up, the quality and finish The SEB rest in situe with LV rifle are the best and this says a lot about the manufacturer

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of this product. I have had products from some manufacturers who seem to think that they come in kit-form and the consumer is the one who finishes off any rough parts. Not so the SEB - it is a superbly made product! I am not sure about giving up my pedestal rest just yet, as it is something I have got used to; it also does all that it is meant to and has served me well over the years. Maybe it is the control freak in me that likes to lock everything down and say to myself ‘this is precisely aimed and locked’. Possibly this says more about my own psychological makeup than anything else, or it is just the way I have developed in this sport? If I did trade up then a coaxial system would be my first point of call. I would like to take the SEB rest away for a few months and really work it in competition, get it tuned to my needs and get myself tuned to it as well. The cost is also a determining factor, as investment in this product does not come cheap. At £498 the SEB is not the cheapest rest on the market, but other ‘coaxial’ rests are even more expensive, so it is fair to say it is the cheapest coaxial around. It is imported into the UK by Brian at Fox Firearms. This is good news, as currently we only get the Caldwell range of rests that are commonly found in this country through a number of retailers. (Over the last few years we have tended to import equipment ourselves as groups or individuals from the US or

Italy). Brian also supplies the front and rear bags, both of which I have already said are very good products. So if you want a rest that has an innovative design, is extremely well constructed and employs all of the current best practice in the benchrest sport then this is what you are looking for. Like any of the products I review it is something you will have to work with to get the best out if it and yourself. Until next time! Final thoughts - SEB rest modification One of the issues with a SEB rest is rifle-support. If you set the joystick tension tight enough to support a heavy rifle you will find that the movement becomes stiffer and jerky, making it difficult to get back exactly on aim-point quickly. The alternative is to back-off the tension so the action once again becomes silky-smooth and add a counterbalance weight to the front of the joystick spindle where it protrudes from the front of the rest. The size of the weight will depend on the weight of your rifle but this shooter has come up with an adjustable one. If you look closely at the pic, the weight slides back and forth so it can accommodate different weights of rifles. The bar diameter is about an inch and I know that an inch of barrel weighs about 4 oz. so if the weight is 4 to 5 inches long it will be just over a pound. It works really well and I can’t wait to make one.

The SEB with counter balance weight for lighter rifles



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Vince (sitting behind) talking to fellow benchrest and F-Class shooter Ian (Willie) Dixon in the foreground at Diggle.

“What is Vince describing with his hands?”

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Target Shooter

LaserScope In Ballistic Plex and now NEW Ballistic Mil-Dot reticules The LaserScope is the successful integration of a laser rangefinder with a quality riflescope to create an affordable, compact and lightweight package that stands up under severe recoil. The LaserScope is a technologically sophisticated instrument that looks and handles a bit differently to a conventional riflescope. It functions not only as a self-contained single unit, but also comes with a remote activation switch that straps to the forend of the rifle to allow more convenient and steady operation of the laser. Additional features include:●

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Gwyn Roberts

A record number of 180 shooters shot the first open Gallery Rifle competition of the year at Bisley over the weekend 28th & 29th of March under what turned out to be very challenging conditions, depending on what day you shot on. Friday was really a mixture of clear skies followed by a bit of wind, then rain, then back to nice clear skies again and the only thing that remained constant all day was the cold. And believe me, it really was cold! On the Saturday the conditions certainly worsened and at times the gusts of wind were enough to blow the sights completely off the target during some matches, as can be seen clearly by some of the final scores that were posted. At around 10.30am I turned up to shoot the Bianchi Barricade match on Stickledown and the wind was simply horrendous! When the targets turned to face you they looked more like melons in the scope as the flimsy backing boards being used were bending so much, which meant that some shots went low and others straight depending on where the board was at the time you released each shot! At 25yds a gust of wind blew me right off the target half way through a string of six so I simply stopped pulling the trigger, unloaded and proved clear to the R.O, then packed my rifles up for the day. In conditions like this, if I can’t keep the sights on the target then I won’t pull the trigger! The weather on the Sunday however couldn’t have been better and this was when many of the winning scores were shot. As well as being warm and sunny the

Saturday…. and Sundays weather! 58

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whole time, the wind flags didn’t move all day either which is very unusual on Stickledown that’s for sure! It was nice to see some new faces attending Bisley for the first time this year and I’m glad that it didn’t end up being too daunting for them in the end, although some did have a few restless nights leading up to it! At the end of the day it’s just a gathering of shooters from different clubs enjoying their sport, and a helping hand is always available to those that need one. One shooter who didn’t need any help was Norman Brown who was the only shooter at the meeting to set a new British Record using his LBR in the Timed & Precision 1 match. Scoring a maximum of 300pts and 19x, he beat Charlie Sears’ record of 17x that was set back in 2006 so a big well done must go to Norm! Another shooter to put in a first class performance was Mel Beard in the Bianchi GRCF match finishing just 2 points off the maximum of 1920. It would have been great to see Mel clean it as it’s only been done once before by Layne Chisholm, when he went over to the U.S to shoot it a few years ago. Unfortunately though a single 8 dropped on his last match, the Mover, put an end to that but I’m sure he’ll be out to make amends at the Phoenix! Taff Wilcox was also on for an easy win with a 300 28x in the T&P1 GRCF until a lever lock up in one of the shorter stages caused him to shoot a “skidder.” This meant he dropped 10 points off in the end to finish with 27x, which

Tony Cooper enjoying his first Bisley experience

to get to know the other range officers and shooters at the same time. You can then take this experience back to your club and help build up our sport at grass roots level as it were. E-mail Brian Thomas at the NSC if you can spare a bit of time! As a start to the season the Spring Action weekend was a good warm-up for those going on to shoot the rest of the years’ competitions. At a time though when it is getting considerably more expensive to shoot competitions (at some venues) it was quite annoying for some of the small bore shooters to find out they were having to shoot at is still an excellent x count though. Other notable paper photocopies in their 1500 match, and performances over the weekend were: 25m Precision very poor ones at that they were too! Even more Neil Jones 300 18x, T&P 1 LBR Phil Cowling 300 annoying though was that only one out of the three 15x (with iron sights), Speed Steel Challenge GRSB bays on Melville had their turning targets workChris Lewis 50.04s, Speed Steel Challenge LBR Mel ing properly as they hadn’t been checked or serBeard 54.98s, BDMP Embassy Cup SG S/Auto Rob viced the week before the meeting! Considering the Sanders 119 and McQueen Michael Deakin 55 5v. entry fee’s we had to pay, I for one certainly don’t think this is acceptable and it isn’t the first time it’s happened either! To be fair though I have since brought these points to Brian’s’ attention and he is now in the process of putting in place a maintenance program with the target manufacturers to ensure future reliability. He is also trying to find a good 15yr old Marianne Skinner from Derby RPC shot a very creditable 1417 in her first full 1500 GRSBmatch and is certainly one to look out for over the next couple of years!

Dave Holt shooting with one of his “bigger” rifles. The standard in some of the shorts events will certainly give the national team selectors something to think about at the end of the year with a lot of them being put up by our up and coming shooters. Having a high x count is nice, but consistency is really the key if you want to get into one of the teams and this is what we are looking for, as well as commitment of course! By the way, if any of you are eligible to shoot for Wales, please make sure you drop me an e-mail before the end of the season. To hold a competition of any size you must first of all have enough help and R.O’s on the day otherwise it’s just not going to happen. With this in mind, if any of you are thinking of going to the Phoenix (May Bank Holiday weekend) and won’t be doing that much shooting, then why not volunteer to help run one of the ranges? It doesn’t matter if you aren’t a qualified RCO or you haven’t got that much experience as there will always be LBR shooting with someone there to guide Team Derby you and it’s a great way

These guys have probably “heard it all” but have you? quality printing firm to produce the targets for future competitions, so you can’t ask for a fairer response than that! There is a huge variety of competitions available in the Gallery Rifle world for people to enjoy, regardless of what type of firearm you own so why not come out and have a go with us. I’m sure you’ll have a good time! A full set of results for the Spring Action Weekend is available on the Galleryrifle.com website!



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Westlake Engineering Manufacturer of Target Pistols

Walnut Tree Cottage Camp Cottages Druids Lodge Salisbury Wiltshire England SP3 4UQ Tel/Fax 01722782432 Email [email protected] www.westlakeengineering.com RFD Wilts. 157

Taurus .357 Muzzle Loading Revolver

The Taurus ML Revolver is converted from a Taurus .357 Magnum Long Barrelled Revolver. The cylinder is removed and a Yoke extension fitted, this contains the spring loaded plunger that frees the action when the yoke is closed. As this extension cannot be removed, it prevents the re-fitting of the original cylinder. The Barrel is shortened to approximately 5 ¼ inches and the wristbrace is removed. A new cylinder is made which has pockets for shotgun primers at the rear with a small flash hole through into the chamber at the front. The chamber is made to accept .357” lead wadcutter bullets. Each chamber is charged with Herco powder ( as per .38 S&W Spl data) and then the bullet is pressed in. Once the chambers are charged the shotgun primers are inserted into the primer pockets at the rear of the cylinder. The loaded cylinder is slid onto the yoke from the rear and the yoke closed. The pistol is then ready to fire. A loading press is provided to facilitate seating of the bullets at a uniform distance into the chambers. The conversion of your pistol costs £270.00. Extra Cylinders are £150.00 each. If you do not have a pistol I can order a new pistol from the Importers. A Taurus .357 Magnum LBR costs £675.00 You will need a variation on your FAC for a .357/.38 Muzzle Loading Revolver, and for each extra Cylinder you want.

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Target Shooter

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Target Shooter

Hunter Field Target Scope Test

This is the first part of a four part series on scopes which lend themselves to the sport of Hunter Field Target or HFT for Target Shooter online magazine. HFT has not been going for that long but, as Field Target did, it has driven forward the technology and

Tim Finley

understanding of the rifles and scopes that are used in the discipline. The over-riding factor with HFT is the ‘scope rule’the aiming device cannot be altered by the shooter once they have shot the first target on the course. With targets from 8 yards to 45 yards it is asking a lot of the scopes and lenses, Why? Because scopes suffer from parallax error. The yellow star is the reticle and the coloured squares the target as viewed through the scope.. In real terms the reticle is not focused in the same image plane as the target, so it moves position on the intended target as you move your eye/head about at the rear of the scope. The practical upshot of which is, if you do not have your eye in exactly the correct same spot in the center of the scope, the reticle will not actually be aiming where you want it. That is if the scope has not had its objective lens adjusted to eliminate the parallax error.

Zeiss eye bell 62

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In FT we use this adjusting of the objective lens to focus the image and eliminate parallax error and it also rangefind’s the distance to the target when we read off the ranges marked on the parallax adjustment front lens or side-wheel. Not so in HFT, the objective and therefore the parallax, cannot be changed once you have started

shooting. So with the 25 yard parallax, eight yard targets will look blurred and so will 45 yard targets. Only the 25 yarder’s will look pin-sharp and have no parallax error at all. If you move your head from side to side the reticle will remain in the same place, but only at 25 yards.

Bushnell 10 mag mildot

Hawke SR6 reticle

Zeiss3-9 reticle

Bushnell 4-12 Balistic Plex

Therefore in HFT a compromise must be reached for scope magnification and parallax settings. The bigger the magnification the more blurred the scope will be at the extreme ranges but - and here’s the fly in the ointment - the lower the magnification the bigger the exit pupil size and the greater the potential parallax error.

another layer to the problem. 90% of HFT shooters use a mildot reticle to range-find. Although originally made for tactical sniping at long ranges, the mildot reticled scopes can be used to bracket range-find on the kill zones of HFT targets themselves.

Bushnell 4-12 front end

Exit pupil = Objective lens size Magnification Throw into the mix the reticles needed to range-find the disc sizes at various yardages and it adds



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Discs are normally 40, 25 or 15mm in diameter. For example with a 40mm disc the size it appears at certain ranges with a true mildot scope are: YARDS 8 9 10 12 15 17 20 25 30 35 40 45

Bushnell 10-40 rainguard

MILDOTS 5.5 4.9 4.5 3.7 2.9 2.6 2.2 1.8 1.5 1.3 1.1 1.0

The magnification power used on HFT has really been chosen by the use of mildot scopes. Ten times magnification has always been the favored magnification in the sniping world and so it has proven in HFT, as it allows the shooter enough mag to aim accurately at 45 yards and still be able to see blurred 8 yard targets. The aim of this introductory article is to set the scene for the biggest ever side by side HFT scope test of all the favoured HFT scopes, giving their good and bad points and what parallax error you can expect at certain ranges, along with a run down on the ideal settings used by the top HFT shooter in the world. I enlisted the help of Pete Sparkes early on in the project and obtained two of the test scopes

HFT scope test lineup

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Targets for the test through him - thanks Pete. I’m not a bad HFT shot myself, wining the odd UKAHFT round, two Platinum badges in our NEFTA Hunter series (Five Gold awards) and the Gathering title in 2005 and 2007 (coming 3rd in 2004 and 2008). So, I reckon I know what makes a good HFT scope. Next month, Part Two will look at eight scopes. The first is the EB Sniper 10x42 Mildot scope, a favourite of Pete Sparkes, it has the most wins of any other HFT scope out there. Next a pair of Bushnell’s, the 10x40 3200 Elite Mildot which I used to win the Gathering as did Paul Wilson in 2006. A new one in 2007 was the 4-12x40 3200 Elite with a Ballistic Plex - very useful for aiming off in a wind. A brace of Lightstreams next the one first focal plane scope in the test, the 4.5-14x44 and their new 3-12x40 Mildot 2nd focal plane scope - this is a pre-production prototype. The MTC Viper 10x42 is

Bushnell 4-12 turrets

reticle but S&B kindly agreed to build one for me as I helped them out with the design of the first focal plane reticle in their 12-50x56 FT scope. I won the 2007 Gathering with the S&B and came 9th in the first HFT World Championships in 2009. The next is another German scope but from the 1980’s world of FT - the Zeiss 3-9x36 is used by a few of today’s top HFT boys for its quality of glass. Thanks to Pete Dutton for the loan of the scope. Lastly is the Hawke MTC sidewheel SR6 - with the Nick Jenkinson designed reticle it gives the HFT shooter the opportunity to aim off in a more precise manner and I have used one in HFT comps myself. So, those are the scopes. The test will involve using mildot calibrated test sheets devised by Brian Samson, a top HFT shot and the man behind the NEFTA Hunter Series. These sheets have the exact size in Mildots that should appear at given ranges. I will be using 15, 25 and 45 yard sheets as the asis for the test but other sheets every five yards would be put out too. The scopes had to be placed in a cradle built by Pete Dutton attached to a camera tripod so I could freely move my head around to measure the parallax error. Damn, I appear to run out of space for this month now! You will have to look at next month’s free on-line issue to find out my results.

next and is, at the time of writing, the second pre-production test scope featured here - kindly loaned for this test by Gary Cooper of MTC. It is aimed squarely at the HFT market so that is why it is included, it does have their SCB reticle fitted too. Hot on the heels of those two preproduction scopes is another, line up for the next few in fact the only one in the world issues so far. A Schmidt and Bender 10x42 Klassik fitted with a P3 Mildot reticle and re-parallaxed to 20m. Whilst I was working with them on the new FT scope, I looked through their spec. sheet of scopes and thought the fixed 10 mag., 25mm bodied hunting scope - if fitted with a mildot reticle and re-parallaxed to 20m - would make a top HFT scope. The Klassik is not available with a P3 true mil-dot



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Reproduction No.32 Scope Brackets

Nigel Greenaway Over the years the value of complete, shootable No.4(T) sniper rifles has continued to rise – no doubt

is likely to be £2,000. For a correct matching rifle with its scope tin, leather sling and lens caps, Scout Regiment spotting scope and wooden transit cases - then the price will be upwards of £3,500 and more. All this has resulted in a veritable cottage industry of miss-matched rebuilds made up from genuine rifles, non-matching scopes and mount brackets, all the way through to rifles where the only genuine sniper

Scopes Brackets – Three original No.32 scopes helped by the introduction in 1989 of a new 600 yard sniping competition run as part of the South London Rifle Club classic event. These competitions evolved in to the famous Trafalgar meeting and there are now several 200 yard McQueen, snap, double snap, 600 yard and 900 yard sniper competitions for which No.4(T) and the later L42A1 sniper rifles are eligible. The demand for these rifles remains insatiable the total price for even a miss-matched rifle and scope

Rose KD – close up of the rounded profile Rose Brothers brackets, marked JG or KD

Dalglish Bracket & Dalglish N92 – close up of the squarer profile Dalglish bracket and its distinctive N92 code. item is the No.32 sniper scope. For those lucky enough to have a correct No.32 scope it is relatively easy to fit it to a suitable scope less No.4(T) or even a basic No.4 or to make an

Dalglish plus Repro – close up of an original Dalglish compared to a part finished reproduction which matches the Dalglish style



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material labs at Shrivenham and even that was the same horrible black-heart (or was it white-heart...?) malleable cast! It’s such an old formula that I can’t find the mix in Machinerys handbook any more!”

Pattern – one half of the Pattern to cast 8 brackets L42A1 lookalike. However this process of refitting scopes only started when Roger Payne, an RFD and an expert on these rifles, who regularly has a stand at the Birmingham International Arms Fair, decided in 1990 to make reproduction scope brackets. Without the bracket you really are stuck and the rifle is only eligible to enter the military class competitions if a contemporary mounting system is used. Roger has, over the years, made five batches of 100 brackets, cast out of malleable iron and machined just like the originals, using original blue prints. Experience and minor tweaks have made each successive batch better and the quality is so high that, to quote the noted authority on the subject, Peter Laidler, when answering a question on one of the internet collector forums “…about 50 or so of Roger Payne’s brackets were utilised on the latter rebuilds of the L42’s destined for War Reserve stocks and they were indeed perfect. It’s ironic that some of the L42 owners out there who would probably shudder at a repro anything, probably have an MoD fitted repro bracket. Does that make it a repro? The owners of those rifles can at least be assured that they have one of the dedicated War Reserve Stocks held at xxxxxxxx in Berkshire. The steel stock and quality assessment was done at the

T h u m b screws – the two originals with springs are at the top.

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The purpose of this article is to show the considerable effort that goes in to making the brackets – something that I know about because I have joined Roger in helping to make the latest batch. They are made to tight tolerances to ensure that they collimate within acceptable limits when fitted to genuine rifles (something that can’t always be said about some of the Indian made copies that have recently appeared). Roger’s brackets are difficult to distinguish from an original and have helped pair up many a No.32 scope with a suitable rifle which would otherwise have continued to gather dust in a corner. The value of a complete rifle, even if the rifle and scope are mismatched, is far greater than the sum of its parts so the brackets are a great investment. However, before describing this labour

Dalglish Rose – Looking down on the scope rings and fitted cradle screws of a Dalglish bracket above a Rose bracket. of love, a history lesson is in order. WW2 Scope Brackets There were two British and one Canadian manufacturer of the brackets that held the No.32 scope to the rifle. Rose Brothers of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire marked their brackets with either JG or KD and Dalglish of Glasgow marked theirs N92. Other markings will be successive numbers, like 18 and 19 or 202 and 203, on the side of the cradle cramps or scope rings as we would call them today. Some of the early scopes having single letter prefixes or suffixes. The reason for these numbers is to prevent the caps being put back on the wrong cradle. After 1950 the bracket had the rifle serial number stamped on it. Original brackets without a number will have been sold out of service before 1950. Sometimes you will find brackets with two or three different rifle numbers stamped on them with the previous numbers struck through. The Canadian REL made brackets always had the rifle serial number engraved on them. Rose

adjustment is left in the scope for relaxed civilian shooting. Notice the emphasis on well made as some of the foreign made reproductions need considerable work to make them even fit on to original mounting pads and collimation is often non-existent so that most of the scope’s adjustment is used up in one direction to even get close to the target.

Machining Jigs

Brothers’brackets have more rounded edges whilst the Dalglish brackets have more square edges – as you can see from the picture. Roger’s brackets are copied from the Dalglish type. During the war Holland and Holland carried out most of the conversions – in the process matching scopes to rifles with precise machining of the mounting pads fixed to the side of rifle actions so that scopes would be precisely in line with the bores of the rifles with reticules centred so that the maximum number of adjustment clicks are available for elevation and windage. Hence each scope is collimated to its rifle and the scope number is then stamped on to the butt of the rifle so that scope and rifle remain as a matching pair. Brackets might be swapped when trying to salvage a rifle or scope – hence it is quite common to see different rifle numbers stamped on the bracket but this could be a laborious process with armourers trying different barrels to ensure correct collimation. Having said that, I’ve never had too much of a problem trying different brackets, a well made one of the correct dimensions and machining will line up well enough to ensure enough

So what work is involved to produce accurate reproduction brackets that have been described as “perfect” by Peter Laidler? The answer is lots of time, effort and considerable expense. Specifically the following elements are required: 1. A “pattern” is hand made by a pattern maker so that a number of casts can be made in one go – in this case eight brackets. The pattern is made in two halves – one half is shown in the picture. A skilled job in itself which is then followed by the skill of casting in malleable iron. A cast bracket is shown from a previous batch which was broken out of the mould too soon and then proceeded to bend slightly before cooling – hence it had to be rejected. 2. Cradle screws - a special tapered pattern that cannot be purchased off the shelf. These are what hold the scopes rings and eight are needed for each bracket so it makes sense to get 1000 made (I have some spares if anyone needs them). 3. Thumb screws – two per bracket, used to secure the bracket to the rifle. They are specially designed so that the circumference of the round thumb piece allows the correct tension to be applied by thumb and index finger. There have been many reports that the foreign made thumb screws have been known to shear off under thumb /finger pressure leaving the threaded portion stuck in the mount pads! Again more spares are avilable if needed. The picture shows a batch – the two originals are at the top with the small springs that help achive the right tension without damaging the bracket. 4. Machining jigs – another hand made and expensive item which is required to hold each bracket prior to precision machining. The same company has been used for the last three batches so quality and accuracy is very high.

Box of Machined Brackets prior to hand finishing

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Reproduction bracket prior to hand finishing – red areas are those where metal needs to be removed. 5. Machined brackets prior to hand finishing with a power file. It takes about one hour to hand finish each bracket prior to stamping the rings so that remain matching then shot blasting, parkerising and spray painting with black suncorite (the official British military finish). The original brackets had quite a rough wartime finish with obvious pits and marks from casting and finishing. Too smooth a finish makes a reproduction bracket stand out from an original – hence we deliberately try to retain the wartime look.

Over the years Roger has found that the skills needed to fabricate these brackets seem to be disappearing. With each batch of 100 brackets taking about 2 or more years to sell, to a select band of shooters and collectors, it might be as long as three years before, for example, the company who cast the brackets is approached for another batch. More often than not, Roger has found that the original company has gone bust – taking the

Can you tell them apart????

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expensive “pattern” with them. More time and effort would then be taken to find another company and more money expended to pay the pattern maker. This time it was my job to find the pattern maker and I made sure that I retrieved the pattern. Hopefully it is now fully appreciated just how much time and effort goes in to making these reproduction brackets. The availablity of these high quality brackets has resulted in a dramatic increase in the value of No.32 scopes – they typiucally fetch between £700-£1000 depending on condition and the mark (Mark 3 or 2/1 scopes are easier to zero so they tend to fetch more). If the scope comes with a bracket then this adds £300-£400 to the

Reproduction - not quite finished

package. If you are lucky enough to have one of these scopes then purchasing the bracket will be a sound investment. This latest batch of British made brackets cost £200 each, but then quality never did come cheap.

Henry Krank

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Frontier Flintlock Rifle Brown Bess Flintlock Musket Brown Bess Flintlock Carbine Tryon Rifle Tryon Creedmore Rifle Mortimer Whitworth Rifle Sharps 1874 Silhouette Rifle Sharps 1874 Quigley Sporting Springfield Trapdoor Carbine Springfield Trapdoor Rifle Springfield Trapdoor Long Range

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1876 Rifle 50-95 £1014 1860 Henry Steel 44/40 £1062 1873 Carbine 19” Barrel 44/40 £880 1873 Special Short Rifle 44Mag £1004 1873 Sporting Rifle .357 £916 High Wall 32” Barrel 45/70 £876 1866 Yellowboy Carbine 38SP £770 1866 Short Rifle 20” Barrel £804 1866 Sporting Rifle 24 ¼” Barrel 38SP£804

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£97.80 £510.00 £276.00 £348.00 £238.80 £238.80 £260.40 £178.80 £178.80 £141.60 £339.60

Hawken .451 Match Creedmore Perc £598 Hawken .45 Flintlock £354 Hawken .45 Percussion £328 Kentucky .45 Flintlock £272 Kentucky .45 Percussion £234 Pennsylvania .45 Carbine Flintlock £309 Pennsylvania .45 Carbine Percussion £260 Pennsylvania .45 Rifle Flintlock £456 Pennsylvania .45 Rifle Percussion £409 Shenandoah .45 Rifle Flintlock £372 Firearms licence required for all guns above.

Smart Reloader

Kinetic Bullet Puller £15.54 Includes 3 sets of collets that will allow you to pull bullets from reloaded ammunition from the caliber .17 up to .50 cal. Electronic Digital Scale £43.20 Mauser Rifle 1898 ‘100 Year Included in kit: two powder Anniversary’ Model measures, one 50 gram An exact copy of the original Mauser calibration weight, powder tray and battery. rifle model 98, made by Mauser. Accurate to 0.01grain. Max capacity 771gr. Yugoslav Mauser K98 Rifle 8x57 from £245 Electronic Case Tumbler Mossin Nagant 91/30 7.62x54mm from £215 Limited Edition £43.20 Mossin Nagant Sniper Rifle 7.62x54 from £495 Calibre 8x57 IS. ONLY £1250 Allows you to easily and quickly clean your used brass. The caEvapo-Rust 500ml pacity of the bowl is aprox 600 Bottle £8.75 cases in 9mm or 250 cases in Enfield Military Rifles & Rapidly removes rust 223 Remington. Full instructions included. + gun blue. Accessories Tumble Media 1kg £7.20 5kg £16.75 Enfield No.4 .303 British (pictured) From £325 Speciality Mount for K31 Electronic Stereo Earmuffs Enfield SMLE .303 Bolt Action Rifle From £295 Plus 3x20 Scope ONLY £95 £34.00 Excellent protection by Enfield Long Lee .303 Bolt Action Rifle From £425 filtering out high frequency noise Enfield P14 .303 Bolt Action Rifle From £395 Specially designed mounting system caused by gunfire above 85dB. for Schmidt Rubin rifles. Suitable for .303 Brass Cases 1” scopes with up to 44mm lens. Wooden Black Enfield No.4 ONLY £9.99 per pack Plus 3x20 scope. Sight Adjuster Powder Storage Box 100. New HXP boxer £18.50 unprimed. ONLY £99.00 H 37cm x W 45cm x D 25cm Lee Enfield .303 Clips Delivery £4.00 Packet of 15 £10.50

Military Rifles

Postage & packing £4.00 per order. Additional p&p charges apply for firearms + explosives. Above prices correct at time of73 printing. Target Shooter

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OLD ‘FRIENDS RE-UNITED’ - SPRINGFIELD & UNERTL

Rob Hunter I’ll declare at the onset that I’m not especially a fan of old firearms. Yes, they’re very interesting from an historical perspective/curiosity/collecting point of view and, if that’s your thing, then a visit to the Royal Armouries in Leeds is a must. It’s fine if you can afford to buy stuff to just polish and hang on your wall but just how good were these rifles, considering the quality of steels and methods of production? Or perhaps I should say how accurate were they - compared to what we have come to expect of modern rifles? The Plan Having made my dismissive statement on historical arms, I should say I do have a more than passing interest in the Vietnam war and its weapons so, sometime ago, after reading about the extraordinary shots and exploits of the famous snipers from that era, such as Carlos Hathcock and Chuck Marwhinny, I got to wondering, given their age and production methods, just how accurate were their rifles. Or were these well-documented extraordinary shots just a case of these men being truly exceptional marksmen. Only one way to find out...aquire one! Or should I say re-create one - to the same specification as the original sniper rifle and test it. A great idea maybe but naïve to say the least. The problem being I didn’t realise that the necessary bits and pieces to create this test are becoming increasing hard to get hold of. Sorry, let’s amend that - I should have said very (hens teeth type) hard to get.

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Choose your weapons That’s a tough one - there were several different ‘sniper’ rifles used throughout the Vietnam conflict that is rifles which were pressed into service to fulfil the role of a sniper rifle. The old adage ‘today’s wars are fought with yesterday’s technology’ is as true today as it was then. At the start of the conflict in Vietnam in 1959, there

Scope and rifle togehter in perfect harmony

The Scope looking nearly new

was no official sniper training program or defined weapons. Everything was mothballed after WW2 and only slightly ‘re-kindled’ for the Korean conflict. So, shortly after the start of the Vietnam war, Lieutenant Jim Land managed to convince the upper echelons of the USMC of the value of scout snipers for reconnaissance and harassment of the enemy on their own ground. In 1960, the first of the Marine Corps scout snipers graduated from their two week course at the Hawaian based sniper school (one of whom was one Private Carlos Hathcock) though at this time there was no official issued sniper rifle and it was a case of whatever the local armourers had at hand - this inevitably meant left-overs and ad-hoc weapons from WW2 and the Korean conflict. M1903A1 Sniper In order to make this a tough test, I ruled out the Remington and Winchester rifles that stayed in service throughout the major part of the Vietnam war as they are basically the same rifles that can

be bought off the shelf today. Of course, the semiauto rifles such as the Garand were out because of our nanny-state government has ruled that we can’t be trusted with such WMD. So I decided on a real tough test - the Springfield M1903A1. To be totally historically correct, this rifle was well past its sell-by date when the Vietnam conflict started, having seen the majority of its use in WW2 and Korea but there are actual documented cases and pictures of this rifle being used in action against the VC. The sniper rifle was usually built on, or around, the Springfield 30-06 National Match rifle which was first accuracy tested and gauged and then fitted with what was the current top of the line Unertl scope. The Scope The Unertl 8X scope was based on the Unertl target scope. This was quite a bold step for the military, in as such that the official thoughts on the use of scopes for military use was in favour of very low power - i.e. 2X or 4X - at the most 6X. The rationale behind this low magnification was to give the shooter the biggest field of view possible. This is fine but it doesn’t help the sniper to deliver pinpoint accuracy as we understand it today. The Unertl reticle is however a very fine cross-hair which affords the user an uncluttered view and best of all, a very precise aim-point. Its worth noting that it’s only in the past couple of years that the British Army has moved up from a set magnification of an 8 power Schmidt &Bender to the variable 12 power, a move that was way overdue; so as you see, the US Army was way ahead of its time.

The Unertl 8X reticle

The Unertl scope has a few other things going for it too. The rear mount or housing has external micrometer ¼MOA clicks for windage and elevation. This external adjustment may look a



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An amazing group size - better than imagined

bit crude but it’s actually a very good method of making adjustments on a scope as it does away with all the very small moving parts that would normally be hidden inside the tube and thus inaccessible. The downside is, it does become a place where dirt and general junk can accumulate in combat conditions. Not surprisingly, there is still a healthy second-hand market for Unerlt scopes. They do have a somewhat cult-following around the world and the holy-grail amongst collectors is a true USMC 8X sniper scope. These were stamped and serial numbered on the side of the tube and if you have

board here!

one on top of your wardrobe that a long-forgotten uncle left you, it’s probably worth around the five-grand mark! So for those – like me who want to recreate the Springfield sniper rifle, the next best thing is the 8X target scope, which is in effect exactly the same scope but even these are becoming increasingly hard to get hold of. It took me the best part of year to find a good one and get it over from the States. Note the original wooden box and brass fittings that the Unertl scopes were dispatched in - no card

The other question I always get asked about this scope is “What is the spring for?”. Well, the scope was designed to move within its mounts under the recoil of the rifle and the spring is simply there to return the scope to its original position so maintaining the correct eye relief. The Rifle I started the search for a Springfield ’03 rifle around the same time as the scope and I thought this part was going to be reasonably straight forward, after all

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there were thousands of Springfield National Match rifles made. When I started to ring round the dealers, I was greeted by either a stunned silence, a sharp ‘sucking of air’ type noise or just plain laughter. Not an encouraging start but the one name that did crop up time after time was that of Andrew Kukielski of Colenso Arms. Not only is Andrew a collector of this type of rifle but he is also one of the few people in the country who is regarded as an expert and as such that makes him an invaluable source of knowledge of where to get the various bits and pieces. Great, so I handed the problem over to him (a problem shared, a problem halved...) and true to his word, 6 months later I got a call saying he found one, in very nearly mint condition. It was in great nick for a rifle that was built around the 1920`s. OK, got the rifle, got the scope, just a case of getting them together. Did I say just? As usual nothing is that simple - the scope mounting-blocks have to be fixed in set designated positions, one on the barrel, one on the action. This pre-determined distance is what sets the value for the scope adjustment clicks. Probably the only gunsmith in country with such a jig to do this job is gunsmith Roger Mason of Essex, who luckily was a friend of Andrew’s. A few phone calls later and all the bits were off to Roger to be assembled. Three weeks later, the woodwork on the fore-piece had been altered and the scope-blocks fitted and the scope was on. The whole rifle had been stripped, serviced and cleaned to bring it back to almost as-new condition. Several days later and project that I had worked on for a year -without seeing the majority of the parts - landed assembled in my lap. Given that I said at the start of this project that I wasn’t a fan of old military rifles, I fell in love with this rifle as soon as I un-packed it. It’s light, well balanced and comes up to the shoulder really well. Andrew had even managed to get me an authentic leather sling to finish it all off.

However the point of this exercise was not to stroke it but to shoot it and find out what it’s capable of. Feed Me Luckily there’s lots of loading information out there for this rifle and the 30-06 cartridge. A search on the net soon throws up loads for everything from 155 to 220 grain bullets. I had plenty of 155 and 168 grain Lapua match bullets and in order to give the rifle the best chance, I gave it the best equipment to work with - Lapua brass and Redding competition dies and in order to be a little more gentle on the bore, I moly-coated the bullets. I then ran two test batches and both showed similar promising results. Interestingly, the best groups were with 48.5grains of Vihtavuori N140 which delivered a muzzle velocity of 2650 fps. Both batches showing groups at 100 yards with all five shots touching. I took the two best loads and ran the same test at 300yds. The 168 grain Scenars really came into their own, giving me a 10 shot group of 2 ¾ inches - that’s sub MOA! But how would it fare against a modern rifle? As a comparison test with a typical current sniper-type rifle, I shot the Springfield alongside a friend`s Sako TRG with a 8x32 Nightforce scope at 300 yards. The Sako does have smaller five-shot group at 3 inches which was only to be expected but the old rifle did put up a good show on the day with a 3¾ inch group. This was not very a scientific experiment but I did wind the power down to 8X on the Nightforce to make it a more level playing-field but it does show what this 70 year old rifle can do. I would go further by saying that with some more load development and in more experienced hands than mine, I’m sure that this rifle could do much more. Conclusion Going back to the beginning of this article I asked the question “How accurate were these rifles?” The answer is - more accurate than I ever imagined - sub MOA!!

Please mention when using advertising in the magazine

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Rifle standard 2 die set £35.75 Rifle standard 3 die set £46.89 Classic rifle 3 die set £46.89 Target Shooter 81

Shooting Website of the Month

Website of the Month – Varmint Al’s www.varmintal.com The word ‘varmint’ hasn’t found its way into my copy of the Oxford English dictionary as yet but, as far as I can make out, it’s an American term for an animal that isn’t worth eating but still fun to shoot. I therefore avoided Varmint Al’s site as I’m not really fond of looking at dead animals - unless they are on a plate with gravy and vegetables. However, I did stumble across one of his stress-analysis features on another website and decided to take a look. Remarkable – is the best word I can think of to describe his work and un-missable to anyone interested in what really happens to barrels, actions etc. when we pull the trigger. Please take a look, you will be amazed – the graphics are fantastic. You can spend a pleasant hour with Varmint 82

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Al and learn all about him, his lifestyle, pets, family etc. but in addition there is plenty of useful stuff for the shooter. The site is padded out with powder burning-rate charts, holiday pics, free targets and of course the aforementioned dead animals. Al is also a radio ham and if that’s your scene you could even have a chat with him. Al clearly leads a very full life and if his site is anything to go by, he enjoys every minute of it. Good on yer Al!

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The HANDLOADING BENCH RIFLING TWIST RATES (Part 1)

Laurie Holland Although rifling twist and bullet stability fall under the ‘external ballistics’ heading, understanding this issue is important to the handloader to choose bullets that are both optimised for the shooting purpose and match the barrel twist rate in use. It’s also an important consideration for those purchasing custom rifles or having existing shooting sticks rebarreled – it’s no good discovering that the rifle won’t perform with the bullet you want to use after receiving it from the gunsmith because the twist rate isn’t optimal, or in the worst-case scenario, suitable. The very name ‘rifle’ indicates that this feature is at the heart of our tools. Rifling imparts stability to the bullet during its flight by making it spin around its longitudinal axis. Take this stabilisation away and any elongated projectile tumbles in flight producing nil accuracy and a severely curtailed range. ‘Stability’ means imparting a force to a projectile that keeps its tip pointing at the target, but achieving this isn’t restricted to rifling. Fins or arrow flight-feathers at the rear end of the projectile represent an older method which is still used in modern devices including missiles, aerial bombs, and tank cannon shells. It has not been successfully adapted to smallarms so far, the American ‘SPIW’ project to produce a supposedly lethal while virtually nearly recoilless ‘individual weapon’ that fired ‘flechettes’ (small-calibre darts) at very high velocities proved a failure after much work and expenditure.

Take away rifling and you’re restricted to the round musket ball which has lots of disadvantages – low weight for calibre; tiny bearing surface to seal powder gasses behind it in the barrel requiring wadding or a patch; poor external ballistics. Some of you might comment that early rifled arms fired round balls which seems strange as spin seems superfluous given this shape presents the same shape to the air irrespective of its orientation, and the centre of gravity should coincide with its physical centre, so a degree of tumbling in flight shouldn’t affect the trajectory. Rifling did in fact improve accuracy through imparting consistent spin to the ball, a problem with smoothbore muskets being a tendency to impart spin in a random manner leading to inconsistent trajectories.

Gyroscope Spin-stabilisation utilises gyroscopic force to stabilise the bullet. A gyroscope always tries to return to its original alignment, so spin-stabilisation provides an inbuilt ‘steering effect’. Our key measure in determining whether a bullet will be stable is the coefficient of gyroscopic spin or Sg, a value of 1.0 or more deemed stable, but with 1.4 usually recommended as a minimum. The Sg for any combination of bullet, velocity and rifling twist rate is easily found using Miller’s Twist Rule, but why do we need to stabilise our bullets, gyroscopically or otherwise, at all? The Bullets and their larger cousins, artillery shells, come in all shapes and technical reason is that sizes, and all must be stabilised except for round balls (and even they a projectile encounters considerable resistance benefit from being fired in a rifled barrel). as it pushes its way through the air and this has the effect of imparting an equal and opposite force pushing backwards on its front end. This is not focussed on the extreme tip as you’d expect, but on a spot lying further back on the central axis – up to a

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As soon as the round ball was replaced by elongated bullets, rifling became essential.

third of the projectile’s length back from the tip. The exact spot depends on shape – close to the front in blunt designs, farther back in those with a long, pointed nose. The centre of gravity (CG) also lies on the axis, but still farther back, say around a third of the bullet’s length ahead of the base in a typical HPBT match type. With air resistance acting on a point well ahead of the CG it quickly causes the projectile to turn and start tumbling in the absence of any stabilisation, and with the CG lying towards the rear in the sorts of bullet designs we’re interested in, the base naturally wants to overtake the point (which is exactly what happens when a military FMJBT type penetrates soft tissue). Different calibres, shapes, weights and lengths see varying distances between these two key points – the further apart, the greater the turning motion in play, hence the greater the amount of stabilising force needed to counter it, in our case a faster rate of spin. This is why long thin match bullets which have these points widely separated need a ‘tighter’ or ‘faster’ rifling twist, than short fat bullets. (To download a copy of the Miller Twist Rate Formula spreadsheet, go to www.accurateshooter.net/Blog/millerformula.xls) To illustrate this, let’s look at two very different cartridges and bullets. A 6mm BR Norma rifle fires a 105gn Berger Target Match VLD at around 2,800 fps and needs a one turn in eight inches rifling twist to stabilise it. Early .444 Marlin rifles have a much slower (one turn in 38”) twist barrel, but stabilise the 265gn Hornady FNJSP at 2,200-2,350 fps MV. Let’s look at how fast these bullets are being spun: the 6mm rotates at 252,000 rpm at 2,800 fps, while the .44 only has 41,684 rpm at 2,200 fps, under 17% of the former’s rotational speed. (Current Marlin 444s have a 20” twist rate, so modern examples see the bullet rotate at 79,200 rpm at 2,200 fps MV, faster but still only a fraction of that used in the 6mm.) Hang on, how often have people told you that heavy bullets need a faster twist rate than light ones, so our first finding is that bullet weight is not what determines the rate of spin. The reason for the vast difference in spin-rate needed is down primarily to the difference in their lengths as

measured in calibres, and to a lesser extent to their very different shapes. Measuring 6mm Berger VLDs gave an average length of 1.238”, and their diameter is 0.243”, so a typical bullet is 5.095 calibres long, let’s say 5.1 calibres for the longest examples in the carton. Hornady 265gn forty-four bullets came out at 0.807” ±0.001” and their diameter is 0.429”, so a bullet is only 1.88 calibres long, or just over a third (37.5%) that of the 6mm match bullet’s length using this form of measurement. The Miller formula gives Sg values of 1.47 and 1.39 for my 6BR and .444 examples respectively under standard atmospheric conditions (59ºF, 29.92” Hg pressure). Turning to 0.22 calibre, Table 1 gives the lengths, Sgs and required twist rates for a selection of 0.224” calibre bullets at .22 Hornet, .222, and .223 Remington velocities. You’ll note a relatively small change in bullet length is magnified on conversion to calibres and this can have a substantial effect on the required twist rate. Military I started my fullbore shooting with vintage military arms which led me to the mistaken belief that there is one ‘correct’ twist for each calibre – one turn in 10” for 0.30” and 0.303”, 8.8” for 8mm and so on. (To avoid constant repetition of the ‘one turn in….’ formula, I’ll use the actual twist figure from now on as in ‘10T’ for a full turn every ten inches.) This still applies to military smallarms, to a lesser extent to factory sporting arms, and not at all with custom target and pest rifles. All 7.62X51mm (7.62 Nato) service rifles that I know of retain the late 19th century 10T twist as used in the original .30-06 and 0.303”, despite 7.62mm ball cartridges being loaded with relatively short 144-

The cover of the 1980s Speer No. 10 manual shows a bullet in flight and the shock-waves it generates as it passes through the air. This resistance acts on the bullet attempting to force its nose out of alignment, and leading to tumbling if there is insufficient spin to stabilise it.



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The 6mm (0.243” dia) 105gn Berger VLD on the left needs an 8T barrel, while the short, fat Hornady 0.429” 265gn JSP bullet on the right manages with 38T

148gn FMJBT bullets which were successfully stabilised in 14T TR rifle barrels in the pre-155gn era. The current Nato standard for 5.56X45mm rifles and machine-guns is an even faster 7T. The civilian sporting equivalents in factory rifles are 10T for .3006, 12T for .308Win, and 12T for .223Rem, albeit you can find 9T variations for this cartridge (Remington ‘tactical’ models such as the ‘Police Rifle’ and 700SPS Tactical; and all Savage .223Rem rifles), the occasional 8T as in the Tikka T3 Tactical. You can even specify the military 7T rate in the Savage Model 12 LRPV (Long range Precision Varmint) rifle alongside 9T barrelled versions. Now this is a huge variation in some cases, especially amongst 5.56mm and .223Rem models!

M855 forms, equating to nearly 320,000 rpm from a 7T barrel, an increase of more than a quarter despite the shorter bullet. What this tells us is that the military chooses ‘over-fast’ twist rates. Why? It lets them use any available ammunition that will chamber in the rifle in an emergency, say tracer or armour-piercing rounds that likely employ longer bullets; secondly, Sg figures and the twist rates needed to achieve sufficiently high values are calculated for standard environmental conditions, or reasonable deviations from such, while armies prepare to fight in extreme conditions, in particular the polar regions in winter with their exceptionally cold, dense air – I’ll return to environment. Even so, 7T seems excessive for 5.56mm, at least with the standard 62gn ball round, Miller’s twist formula computing an Sg of 2.43 under standard conditions, and 1.99 in Arctic winter temperatures. We know that this bullet is fully stabilised when fired from 9T barrelled rifles such as the standard Southern Gun Co. SSR-15 or Remy 700PSS, the Miller formula predicting an Sg of 1.47 from this twist rate. If you’re among the many shooters who’ve tried to use cheap 62gn 5.56mm fodder in a 12T barrelled .223Rem rifle, you’ll know it doesn’t work, and the Miller formula tells you why – an Sg of 0.83, well below the minimum 1.0 stability factor. Air Density We’ve said the objective is to stabilise a bullet with a given set of characteristics composed of its weight, shape, and by far the most important factor, length in calibres. Achievement involves three ingredients: rifling twist rate, muzzle velocity, and the environment into which the bullet is launched. Let’s dispose of the last of these first. Despite constant moaning about the British weather, we see few extremes, and it is unusual for a target shooter to be out in air temperatures below 0ºC or above 25. Likewise, our rifle ranges lie between sea level and around 1,000ft altitude. This may not apply elsewhere with American shooters testing

The UK L2A2 military 5.56mm cartridge uses a 61.7gn FMJBT bullet which has two cores – lead Blair Atholl in the Scottish Highlands is probably the UK’s highest rifle range for civilian target shooting. Its altitude reduces air in the rear; (lighter) steel up front. density, but the region’s prevailing cool temperatures partly Throw in an airspace in the bulcounter this. let tip, and you have a long bullet for its weight at 0.915”, but note that it is shorter than the 105gn 6mm Berger VLD when converted to calibres (4.1 v 5.1). Moreover, rotational speed is a combination of the rifling twist rate and MV, and we know the 5.56mm is a hot little number in its current milspec guise. Let’s do the numbers – 6BR gives the 105gn Berger 252,000 rpm at 2,800 fps MV from an 8T barrel, while the 5.56mm has a nominal 3,100 fps MV in British L2A2 / US

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ammunition in much lower winter temperatures while competing over some ranges at much higher altitudes. With the destabilising force on the front of the bullet caused by air resistance, it varies according to altitude and temperature, thickening it and increasing resistance appreciably if both are low, thinning it and having the opposite effect if both are high. You cannot do anything about this apart from ensuring that you spin the bullet fast enough to cope with the worst conditions that you’ll shoot in. Let’s look at the 1.131” (3.67 calibres) long 155gn 0.308” Sierra Match King fired from a .308Win / 7.62mm TR rifle at 2,950 fps MV through a 13T barrel, this twist rate now the most common in TR and Palma rifles. I’ve listed a range of environmental conditions inTable 2, and you can see that the calculated SG varies between 1.51 at standard barometric pressure for sea level (29.92” Hg) in 0 degrees F (-18ºC) air, exceptionally cold for daytime in the British Isles, to 1.82 in a hot summer’s day on the upland ranges of Diggle or Blair Atholl. In fact, 14T is more than adequate for any likely conditions with this bullet in the British Isles. Let’s say you’re only ever going to load the SMK and use the resulting .308Win rounds in ‘Palma Rifle’ at the American NRA Whittington Centre range complex near Raton, New Mexico. Assuming the range is situated at a similar altitude to the town which is listed at 6,680 ft above sea level, you would expect to encounter lower air pressure, standard barometric pressure being 23.7” Hg at this height. With summer temperatures reaching 80ºF according to the local weather station, our 13T barrel now gives the 155gn SMK Sgs that could reach 2.24. As rates with values above 2 degrade accuracy, you’d be better off with a 14T barrel if you confined your shooting to this bullet over this range, and you could even safely specify 16T. MV + Twist The rate of spin, hence stabilising force is a result of the interaction of the rifling twist rate and MV (muzzle velocity). Rotational speed in revolutions per minute

62 RG + 64 Berger FB Match + 55 M193

(rpm) is calculated by dividing the twist rate by 12 and then dividing MV by the result of the first calculation to get revolutions per second, multiplying by 60 for rpm. My 6mm BR example sees 8 (inch-twist) divided by 12 = 0.6666. Divide 2,800 (fps MV) by 0.66666 and we get 4,200 and multiplying by 60 gives us 252,000 rpm. We rarely if ever need to know what the bullet’s rpm is, but it’s instructive to know just how fast a bullet spins in one load combination compared to another, especially when doing something extreme like firing a tiny 40gn 0.224” Varmint pill out of a 7T barrel at high velocity! The reason I bring rpm up here is that it’s regularly said by ‘firing-point experts’ that if a twist rate is inadequate for a bullet, just increase the load and MV ‘a bit’, and all will be well. Let’s take the cartridge that probably causes more confusion than most – .223 Remington. The widely

0.224” bullets (2). 35gn – 45gn 0.224” Hornet bullets with a 55gn M193 alongside for scale. This old .22 centrefire normally uses a 16T twist rate, and bullets have to be very short to be stabilised.



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0.224” bullets (3). Bullets designed for .222 Remington with its 14T barrels, plus one or two later .223Rem (12T) examples. Left to right: 50gn Sako FMJ, 50gn Norma FMJ, 52gn Speer Match, 53gn Hornady HP Match, 52gn Sierra MK, 52gn Hornady A-Max Match (.223Rem), and 55gn M193 FMJBT (.223Rem)

used rule of thumb is that 12T caters for bullets with a maximum weight of 55gn; 9T does 60-75gn, and 8T is needed for the 77s and 80s. We know that the 69gn Sierra MatchKing works with a 10T rate (it says “7”10” twist bbls only” on the end of the box), let’s say at a modest 2,700 fps. You’ve got a .223Rem rifle with a 12T barrel. Can you load the cartridge up enough to get a suitably high spin-rate on the bullet? 2,700 fps makes the bullet rotate at 194,400 rpm in a 10T barrel, or 216,000 rpm in the more common 9T rate. How about 12T? Even an impressive 3,100 fps only gives 186,000 rpm, still well short. We would have to increase the MV to 3,250 fps – which we can’t get with 69gn bullets in this cartridge, not safely anyway – to produce 195,000 rpm. Change the barrel twist rate by one point to 11T, and a high but achievable 3,050 fps MV produces just under 200,000 rpm which should do the trick, however. Let’s check these combinations out with the Miller formula. The 69gn SMK is just under 0.9” long, the longest example in a sample I measured being 0.897”. At standard pressure / temperature, 2,700 fps from a 9T barrel gives an Sg of 1.65, and the Sierra quoted minimum rate of 10T reduces that to 1.34, still

comfortably stabilised. Moving to an 11T barrel at the same MV should still just see the 69gn SMK stabilised with an Sg value of 1.11, but using the standard 12T drops it below stability level to 0.93. Even raising the MV to a very ‘hot’ 3,100 fps in this rifling twist rate only produces an Sg of 0.97 which is marginally unstable but might just work in some circumstances, especially given a factor I’ll cover next month. Note that this significant change to the cartridge’s load and chamber pressures represented by raising the MV from 2,700 to 3,100 fps only increases the Sg by 0.04, or 4.3%. Let’s look at the SMK’s main competitor in this class, the 68gn Hornady HPBT Match, slightly lighter so what works for the SMK will suit it too, surely? (It also says “twist rate 1/7-10” on the carton end.) However, this bullet is nearly a tenth of an inch longer than the SMK at around 0.991”. Run it through the Miller formula and 10T at 2,900 fps barely works with a computed Sg of 1.01, 3,100 fps only raising it to 1.05, both right on the line. A 12T barrel has no chance with an Sg of 0.72 even at 3,100 fps.

Alright, the Miller Twist Rule is only a mathematical model run on a small Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. How does it translate to real bullets and barrels? I can quote an example from direct experience relating to these two bullets. Some years back an importer loaned me a newly introduced .223 Rem ‘Heavy Varmint’ variant of a popular rifle for review. The nominal twist was 9T, so I 62 RG + 68 HDY + 69 SMK + 70 B VLD + 70 JLK VLD loaded up 50 rounds

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55 M193 + 77 SMK + 80 SMK + 80 Bgr VLD + 80 A-M

split between the 68gn Hornady and 69gn Sierra bullets, charges rising in small steps from recognised starting loads. I sighted the rifle in at 200yd using an existing load with 52gn Hornady A-Maxes that performed well in my 12T Remy 700VS, and results were good, easily holding the NRA TR target V-Bull, 1-MOA or less. Switching to the heavier bullet loads saw a dramatic deterioration: the Sierras found the target but struggled to hold the 4-ring, 3-MOA plus; the Hornady 68 loads wouldn’t hit the target frame reliably. The eason was of course that the twist rate was 12”, not 9, despite what the manufacturer had quoted (rectified in subsequent batches from the factory). I measured this as a fairly accurate 12T rate in this particular barrel, so the Miller results weren’t far out – Sierra MKs not quite fully stabilised causing a serious deterioration in grouping ability, the longer Hornady 68s completely unstable. In fact, Miller was a little pessimistic, as I wouldn’t have been anywhere near achieving 3,100 fps with my test loads, 2,700-2,900 being more likely, or SGs for the 69gn SMK in the 0.93-0.95 range compared to 0.97 at maximum velocity. So, let’s summarise what we’ve seen so far. First, don’t get hung up on bullet weight as this can be misleading with same-weight bullets in a calibre having different lengths and requiring different amounts of stabilisation, hence twist rate. Secondly, changing MV has considerably less effect than changing the twist rate, so ‘loading a cartridge up’ for a higher MV only rarely works. Thirdly, air temperature and density affect

bullet stability, but British conditions are unlikely to vary enough to require a change in the rifling twist rate – in either direction. Let’s say the Miller formula says a bullet / twist / MV combination produces an Sg barely above 1.0, (as in the 0.308” 155gn Lapua Scenar at 3,000 fps from a 13.5T barrel for an Sg of only 1.07), but it groups well in 100yd testing / load development? Won’t it be all over the place at 1,000 yards as we know every aspect of bullet performance degrades with range? I’ll finish off this look at the rifling twist rate issue next month, covering this and other factors, also introduce another type of bullet stability that is separate from the gyroscopic variety. Table 1 Bullet Length / Cals MV Sg .22 Hornet (16T is the standard twist rate) 35gn Hornady V-Max 0.516” / 2.3 2,900 1.64 40gn Sierra Hornet 0.488” / 2.18 2,800 1.67 45gn Sierra Hornet 0.533” / 2.74 2,650 1.46 45gn Hornady SPT 0.615” / 2.74 2,650 0.99 45gn Nosler Hornet 0.561” / 2.5 2,650 1.27



.222 Remington (14T is the standard twist rate) 50gn Sako FMJ FB 0.655” / 2.92 3,200 1.3 50gn Norma FMJ FB 0.645” / 2.88 3,200 1.34 52gn Speer HP Match 0.712” / 3.17 3,100 1.05 52gn Sierra MK 0.710” / 3.17 3,100 1.05 52gn Hornady A-Max 0.798” / 3.56 3,100 0.75 53gn Hornady HP Match 0.715” / 3.19 3,100 1.05 55gn Lapua FMJ FB 0.720” / 3.21 3,000 1.06 55gn FMJBT (M193 mil) 0.734” / 3.28

Makers are increasingly putting the minimum barrel twist rates on specialist bullet boxes



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3,000

1.00

40gn Hornady V-Max 3,400 0.92 50gn Sierra SPT Varminter 3,200 1.10

0.686” / 3.06 0.691” / 3.08

.223 Remington (12T Barrels) 50gn Sako FMJ FB 0.655” / 2.92 3,400 1.78 50gn Norma FMJ FB 0.645” / 2.88 3,400 1.85 52gn Speer HP Match 0.712” / 3.17 3,300 1.46 52gn Sierra MK 0.710” / 3.17 3,300 1.46 52gn Hornady A-Max 0.798” / 3.56 3,300 1.05 53gn Hornady HP Match 0.715” / 3.19 3,300 1.46 55gn Lapua FMJ FB 0.720” / 3.21 3,200 1.47 55gn FMJBT (M193 mil) 0.734” / 3.28 3,200 1.39 36gn Barnes Var Grenade 3,800 1.10 40gn Hornady V-Max 3,700 1.28 50gn Sierra SPT Varminter 3,400 1.53 53gn Barnes TSX 3,300 1.08 55gn Nosler BTSP 3,200 1.39 60gn Nosler BTSP 3,100 1.25

90





0.701” / 3.13 0.686” / 3.06 0.691” / 3.08 0.795” / 3.55 0.735” / 3.28 0.782” / 3.49

.223 Remington (9T Barrels) 50gn Sako FMJ FB 0.655” / 2.92 3,400 3.16 50gn Norma FMJ FB 0.645” / 2.88 3,400 3.30 52gn Speer HP Match 0.712” / 3.17 3,300 2.59 52gn Sierra MK 0.710” / 3.17 3,300 2.59 52gn Hornady A-Max 0.798” / 3.56 3,300 1.86 53gn Hornady HP Match 0.715” / 3.19 3,300 2.54 55gn Lapua FMJ FB 0.720” / 3.21 3,200 2.49 55gn FMJBT (M193 mil) 0.734” / 3.28 3,200 2.34 68gn Hornady HPBT M 3,000 1.26 69gn Sierra MK 3,000 1.74 70gn Lapua Scenar







0.991” / 4.42 0.892” / 3.98 0.951” / 4.24

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3,000 1.47 70gn JLK VLD 3,000 1.30 70gn Berger VLD 3,000 1.40 75gn Hornady HPBT M 2,900 1.35 75gn Hornady A-Max 2,900 1.03 62gn Barnes TSX BT 3,100 1.34

0.991 / 4.42



0.967” / 4.32 0.997” / 4.45 1.095” / 4.89 0.944” / 4.21

.223 Remington (8T Barrels) 68gn Hornady HPBT M 3,000 1.60 69gn Sierra MK 3,000 2.20 70gn Lapua Scenar 3,000 1.86 70gn JLK VLD 3,000 1.65 70gn Berger VLD 3,000 1.77 75gn Hornady HPBT M 2,900 1.61 75gn Hornady A-Max 2,900 1.22 77gn Sierra MK 2,700 1.80 80gn Sierra MK 2,800 1.43 80gn Berger VLD 2,800 1.32 80gn Hornady A-Max 2,800 1.18 80gn Nosler HPBT M 2,800 1.47

0.991” / 4.42 0.892” / 3.98 0.951” / 4.24 0.991 / 4.42



0.967” / 4.32 0.997” / 4.45 1.095” / 4.89



0.981” / 4.38



1.076” / 4.80



1.106” / 4.93



1.153” / 5.15



1.070” / 4.78

Table 2 Effect on a 155gn Sierra MK’s Sg at 2,950 fps MV caused by Temperature and Altitude (Barometric Pressure) Changes Altitude (ft) Barrel 14T Barrel 0 ft (Sea Level) 1.31 0 ft (Sea Level) 1.40 0 ft (Sea Level) 1.52 1,000 ft (Diggle) 1.57 6,680 ft (Raton NM) 1.94

Air Temperature

1 3 T

0ºF (-18ºC)



1.51

32ºF (0ºC)



1.62

75ºF (24ºC)



1.76

75ºF (24ºC)



1.82

80ºF (27ºC)



2.24

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We are a well established gun shop in surrey for the last 36 years now under new ownership of Peter Friend. Over the years the surrey guns has built a reputation for specialist target shooting and stock a large range of match air rifles, pistols as well as .22 target guns and accessories

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Part 2

The Sequel

Gwyn Roberts We left off last month with receivers, here is the final instalment. Triggers – To help you reach your potential, especially in the precision type matches, you should really try a KID unit and then you’ll probably end up buying one! Although I’ve always preferred a single stage trigger it doesn’t take long to get used to take up the first stage adjustment on the KID, (especially when a lot of the travel can be taken out) then you are left with a very crisp release which can be fine tuned down to around 6 to 8 ounces if you like. Greg Goldsworthy from Rude Fat Dog in Devon imports them and will set them exactly how you want it before sending them if you are not sure what to do. These really are the best available on the market at the moment but due to the current exchange rate against the dollar, they unfortunately aren’t cheap! From an investment point of view my Jewel trigger cost me nearly £200 11 years ago, and apart from a spring breakage last year, it is still going strong. That’s less than £20 a year for a first class trigger and taking a look at the build quality of the KID unit I see no reason why they

KID triggers (bottom and right) are top quality but a two stage trigger may not suit everyone so try one first.

should not last at least as long as this, if not longer! There are two other trigger units out there that I have tried, one has the trigger weight pre set whilst the other is made up of ‘drop in’ components but in my opinion they are really not worth bothering with as they are a lot of money for poor quality. If you can’t stretch to buying a KID at the moment, why not just have someone who knows what they are doing to slick up your standard Ruger trigger unit instead? With a bit of time and effort the result will be a lot better than just fitting one of the ‘drop in’ kits and cost less money too. You should be able to achieve a trigger release around the 2 ½ to 3lb mark quite easily, and this along with an ABR should see an improvement on the range. Another thing to bear in mind regarding your trigger group is that some of the matches we shoot in require you to drop the magazine and lock the action open quickly to move between shooting positions. With this in mind you should have a speed lever magazine release fitted that will enable you to drop the magazine by pushing it forwards, and then allow you to lock the action open by pulling it to the rear along with the bolt. These can be operated very quickly and smoothly and don’t cost the earth to buy either. Barrels – Standard, lightweight or heavy? The standard Ruger barrels are usually very reliable



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for functioning and you can put almost any type of ammunition through them and they’ll work just fine, which is probably due to the ‘generous’ sizing of the standard chamber. Typically though, they will group at least a quarter to half inch plus bigger

VQ Stainless fluted (weight 3lbs) Left - Whistle Pig (14oz) Middle - VQ Carbon fibre shrouded (approx 1¼lbs) Right - Tactical Solutions (14oz) groups at 50m compared to the aftermarket ‘match’ varieties depending on the ammunition used, which isn’t too much of a problem if shooting speed steels or the Bianchi match. Using one of the ‘match’ barrels however to shoot at the much smaller targets used in the 1500 and other ‘precision’ type events though will certainly help improve your scores, so it’s definitely something to think about. Looking at the aftermarket barrels the first thing to consider should be the weight, especially when building a new rifle. A stainless one can weigh up to 3½lbs on its own compared to around 14oz to a

KID stainless Match (3 - 3½lbs) 94

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1lb for one that’s made of alloy or carbon fibre. That’s a big difference and is in the region of what a large scope would weigh! If you do opt for a stainless one, make sure that you try one out on the range first as the longer ones can really make a rifle very front end heavy making them a pain to shoot with and carry around all day, although the fluted shorter versions are all pretty comfortable to use. The conclusion from testing in the States is that there really isn’t much to be gained by a 20” plus barrel over a 12 – 16” version accuracy wise so it’s really down to what the rifle will be used for, although a heavy stainless version will prove to be better for the Bench rest type competitions. For purely hunting use a 12½” tube would probably be the best choice, whilst the most popular ones out on the GR circuit seem to be between 16” - 18½” in length. Shilen, Volquartsen and KID are probably the ones to go for if you are after a stainless barrel with Whistle Pig, Volquartsen and Tactical Solutions seeming to be the most popular of the alloy and carbon fibre offerings. Another thing to consider is the type of chambers used which are generally either termed as Match or Bentz type. The ‘match’ chambers are cut to allow the round far enough into the chamber so that the bullet is gripped by the rifling, which could mean that any unfired round cannot be ejected. This may cause a problem during some of our matches if a jam or misfire occurs as the rules generally state a maximum number of rounds to be fired from each position or that the rifle must be unloaded with no round in the chamber when moving between shooting positions. With this in mind I always opt for a Bentz chambered barrel as removing a live round is easy and all the test results that I can find shot with our types of rifles indicate that the difference in accuracy between the two types is negligible

Marking your scope will give you precise zero at every distance really. The only other thing left to consider then is the colour of which there many, and finally the price. Sights – Iron, Red dot or Telescopic? Most of the competitions that we shoot are ‘open’ regarding the sights used although there are a few that are restricted to iron sights only, but these are generally in leagues or at the Trafalgar Meeting at Bisley. There are a couple of shooters out there who can shoot very well with ‘irons’ but it has proved impossible to beat the top guys who are using the variable powered scopes. Red dot sights generally offer a faster target acquisition which is great for speed steels and some of the 3 gun matches, but certainly not for the majority of matches that we shoot. Although it’s obviously all down to personal preference, on a multiple target layout you may find that a larger 42mm or 45mm red dot will allow you to see the bigger picture as it were, which will allow you to pick up the individual targets easier compared to a 30mm tube. The 3 or 4 MOA dots

42 & 30mm red dot scopes



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1.5 – 5 x 24, 6 – 20 x 50 and 4 – 18 x 75 scopes

are usually the ones that shooters go for as they give a definitive aiming mark as opposed to an 8 or 10moa one that will cover half of the target. Quite a few people have commented to me over the years about not being able to shoot with a telescopic scope using their weak shoulder as their eyesight on that side is very poor. This type of scope whilst not being ideal for the longer range stuff or the rimfire sized targets, can overcome a lot of this problem for many shooters as the sheer size of the rear lens enables you to look through it and focus on the dot using both eyes, regardless of whether you are shooting from a strong or weak shoulder position.

it up that far, but it’s always available should you ever progress to use it. As well as being able to aim more precisely rather than guessing where the centre of the target is, probably the best thing about using a higher powered scope is being able to see your point of impact on the target. This then allows you to either adjust your aiming point or quickly dial in a couple of clicks should your hits be off centre due to different lighting or wind conditions. With a low powered scope the only time you will get to know about this problem is when you go down to score your target and by then it’s too late and the points have gone! I think the only exception to using a higher powered optic would be for shooters who have dedicated Bianchi or Steel plate rifles that are either fitted with a red dot or a lower powered scope in the region of 2-10x56 or 3-12x50. Being able to turn down the power to 2 or 3x combined with a large objective lens makes it much easier to pick up the shorter range targets much more quickly, especially on the plates and the mover as you don’t have much time to play with in this type of match.

Moving on to the various telescopic type scopes, I think it’s fair to say that unless you shoot the majority of the GR matches with one of these fitted on top of your rifle then your success will always remain limited. I experimented with various magnifications and objective sizes over the first couple of years of shooting GR to find what which combination worked best and the two main factors that will enable you to score well is having enough magnification to see the X ring on the 50m targets, along with the largest possible objective lens that you can find. Recent discussions with some friends’ who shoot at the top of the ladder as it were, all agreed and used the same principles when choosing the current scopes that they use.

Many people have told me that the reason they stick with their current scope (mostly in the region of 3-9x 40or50) is that they cannot keep the rifle still on a magnification setting greater than 9 or 12 etc at 50m – but neither can anyone else! Your crosshairs will always be moving on the target whatever standard of shooter you are and it’s simply a matter of learning how to release each shot as the reticule moves over the centre of the target. Over the last 3 or 4 months some friends of mine have tried shooting with both my 1500 GRSB & GRCF rifles that were fitted with Edgar Brothers 5-20x50 scopes. After a bit of time on the range gradually increasing the magnification settings and learning better trigger control, they were certainly all grouping better and getting higher scores on the target. They all now own, or have on order a higher powered scope which should ensure their performance and classification improves to the next level. Using a high magnification scope over the years has certainly helped me to post some good X count scores during my matches.

Look down the line on a 1500 or ‘shorts’ line and you will see that most of the top shooters are using the higher powered 5-20x50, 6.5-20x50 or 6-24x50 scopes. Even at the closest range of 10m you will be able to pick up the middle of the target quickly on either 5 or 6x. If you can’t, then the problem has to do with your preparation i.e. stance, head position and presentation and not the scope. At this distance I rarely use a setting of less than 12x whichever calibre I’m shooting. Having an upper limit of 20 or 24x doesn’t mean that you ever have to turn

The reason to go for the largest objective size possible is so that you will have a much greater field of view when you bring the rifle up into the aim, at every distance whatever targets you are shooting at. Using a 1-5x20 on full power at certain distances can mean having to scan down the target to check that you are shooting on the correct 2 targets out of the 34 others, during a Multi Target match. On the same setting with a 50mm plus lens you should allow you to see the target numbers whilst on aim, saving you at least a couple of seconds in some

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Scope covers will help keep the lenses clear and in top condition

cases, and turning the power right up at 50m will give you a much clearer and brighter sight picture as opposed to that given with an equivalent 40 or 42mm item. If you can afford to buy a top quality scope like the Leopold’s’ or similar then the quality will be improved even more as the power is turned up they also come with a lifetime warranty! Whether the scope is front or side focusing isn’t really an issue but ideally it should be fitted with target turrets. These will enable you to sight in and mark off of on a piece of tape wrapped around it precisely your zero point for every distance at which you will shoot. Simply walk up to the line, dial in the distance, adjust the focus and then load when told to, it’s just a routine that you get into and for the people who tell me that they don’t do it this way because they’ll forget to change the settings each time... you’ll only do it once...... I can assure you! Nearly all of the top shooters do this so that they don’t have to aim off and can therefore just

concentrate on the middle of the target and get on with the job. At the end of the day it may well be worth considering having 2 scopes if you want to shoot a wide variety of disciplines with a particular calibre and invest in a good set of quick release mounts to go with them. They really do hold their zero well provided you fit them properly and could well be the difference between a current compromise and reaching your potential in the varied types of competitions that you compete in. Remember that in order to get the best from any scope it has to be fitted and aligned properly so that every time the rifle is brought up into the aiming position, the eye is consistently at the correct height and the correct distance away in relation to the eye piece, so that a clear and fast target acquisition is attained every time! Finally, after taking the time and effort to set up your rifles so that they fit and work properly for you,



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you should finish the job off and make sure that the overall balance is right too! Quite a lot of rifles tend to be front (rather than rear) end heavy but this can easily be corrected by simply adding weight to the appropriate end. To add weight to the front it’s usually best to remove some material from the barrel channel towards the front of the fore end and fit some epoxy covered lead or a piece of stainless or mild steel bar. At the rear, you can remove the butt pad and hollow out part of this section then fill with the same materials as the front. Either modification will be discreet and should provide you with a properly balanced rifle that enhances your stability in all of the shooting positions that we shoot from. This in turn will reduce fatigue and should help to improve your performance at the same time. To summarise then regarding either your current rimfire rifle or those you intend to own in the near future, make sure that you end up with:

An assembled rifle combination that is of the correct weight and balance. A Stock that fits you and is contoured to enable you to easily shoot from any of the positions required in the types of competitions in which you intend to shoot. A trigger set up that enables you to release each shot easily, smoothly and consistently. A scope that will give you the largest field of view and the magnification power that will allow you see the centre of any target, at every target distance used. Once these are achieved the rest as they say, is up to you! I hope that this has been of some help and that it’s got you thinking more about what should be achieved before you step up to the line for a competition. Also, watch what other shooters do and never be afraid to ask questions on the range as no-one knows all of the answers, and it’s the only way that we will all get to learn more!

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Gun of the Month If you want to put your rifle or pistol in as ‘Gun of the month, please contact use at;

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“This month’s ‘Gun of the Month’ was built by Scottish gunsmith Russ Gall to show case some of his skills, which include the startling red KG Gun Kote finish, the muzzle brake and the barley-twist fluting. Incidentally, the Gun Kote finish is not just for show – it’s very durable and was originally developed as a protective coating for firearms. It is available in a full range of colours - if you prefer something more subdued!

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chambered in 7mmWSM. The scope is a Nightforce BR model mounted in Kelbly rings. The 7mmWSM cartridge will push a 180 grain bullet at velocities in excess of 3000 fps and Russ’s best five-shot group at 1000 yards with this rifle is 4.4 inches!”



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Club Feature Havant Rifle and Pistol Club During the last three years the butts in both indoor ranges have been moved back to 25 metres, making more room at the firing point for changeovers. As part of the new guidelines on range construction we are installing air extraction to give the required number of air changes per hour.

landscape view of the ranges from the top of the butts The foundations of Havant Rifle and Pistol Club were laid when, in 1943, Havant & Horndean Home Guard asked for evenings to be set aside at their Drill Hall range solely for their own shooting practice. Havant Home Guard Rifle Club was affiliated to the Society of Miniature Rifle Clubs (now the National Smallbore Rifle Association) in 1944, and the first match, against Southern Railway Rifle Club, was held on 13th November in that year. In 1947 the club was renamed Havant Rifle Club. The early seventies saw the club move to its current location at Southleigh Forest. The site was cleared, a club room and indoor ranges built, and outdoor ranges laid out and equipped. The outdoor ranges were officially opened at the end of September 1978, with an invitation team event, still known as the ‘Final Fling’. Double Olympic champion, Malcolm Cooper was Club President 1988 - 2001. The Club’s facilities include a large clubroom with kitchen and two indoor ranges with eight lanes; outdoors there is a fifty metre range with ten lanes, and a hundred yard range (also usable at 50 metres) with twelve lanes, both outdoor ranges having covered firing points. New target frames have been constructed for the 100-yard range out of corrugated plastic sheets, allowing use of all twelve firing points at either distance.

Following a few quotes from local companies, it was discovered that one of our own members designed air extraction systems, and had designed one for a large rifle range in Dubai. Construction is well under way, utilising a method known as a ‘plenum chamber’, where the air pressure is even across the width of the chamber. It is expelled across a grid of holes, resulting in the required air flow without a cold draught! Alterations to the smaller range have also enabled us to enlarge the clubroom, whilst future plans also involve enlarging and improving the layout of our kitchen area. Members can choose from: • • • • • • •

.22 prone rifle at 25 yards, 50 metres and 100 yards, including 3-position target air rifles at six yards and ten metres target air pistols at six yards, ten metres and twenty yards, including ‘Police Pistol’ at ten metres with ten turning targets light sporting rifle at twenty yards and fifty metres, both prone and standing underlever pistol calibre rifle

The clubhouse and indoor ranges

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• black powder firearms. During the week, the range is open two morning and three evenings. The remaining two weekday evenings are for light sporting rifle and prone shoulder-to-shoulder matches. At the weekend both mornings and Saturday evenings are utilised. We have jackets and slings for new members interested in prone shooting, and club guns for some disciplines. Our membership currently stands at 165 full members, which includes half a dozen Honorary members, a good number of young people who come with their parents, and a fair proportion of female members. Although some people decide target shooting is not for them, a steady trickle of new applicants usually means we have around thirty probationers. Many of our members have come from other clubs in the area, sometimes due to their club closing or because they want to use the 50 metre and 100 yard ranges. Absolute beginners attend sessions on Sunday mornings, when they are shown safe weapons handling procedures and range etiquette. When their mentor is happy with their progress, they are given a certificate to show to the Range Officer on the appropriate evening for their discipline(s). Havant Rifle & Pistol Club hosts several open events, including a Double Dewar in May, the Portsmouth Association Shooting Day in June, and the ‘Final Fling’ event mentioned above. A few years ago the Club hosted the shooting events as part

of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Games. Open events are usually accompanied by an excellent barbecue, often including rabbit burgers and game stew!

A view of the 100 yard firing point A local Pony Club practice air pistol at seven metres, using the turning targets, as this discipline is part of their tetrathlon competition, and a local disabled group has also visited for air rifle practice. Members are kept informed of club activities via the club newsletter ‘On Target’, with issues in Spring, Summer and Autumn, and our website, www.havant-rpc.org.uk.

To introduce our selves 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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VINCE’S REGULAR COLUMN WHEREBY ACCURACY NUTS CAN KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE ACTIVITIES OF THE UKBRA Competitions The UKBRA’s opening shoots of the 2009 season took place as usual at Diggle Ranges on a bitterly cold weekend at the beginning of April.

groups in the process and embarrassed a few HV shooters along the way! I’m sure the 204 Ruger cartridge will form the basis of a full reloading article for Target Shooter very shortly.

We welcomed a clutch of new shooters to our sport, in particular Gerrit van Rooynan all the way from Namibia. Gerrit is living and working in the UK and will be part of the GB Benchrest Team to South Africa for the 2009 World Championships.

Results: Heavy Varmint:

At 100 yards, the wind was so switchy it was virtually un-readable, with several wind-flags actually blown over and only the winner, Ian Dixon had a respectable agg. Jack Searle took a well-deserved second place with Martin Eldershaw – returning from a two year sabbatical – in third. I’m still persevering with the 220 Beggs, which rewarded me with two groups in the ‘ones’ but I also had a couple of horrific half-inchers yet still managed to scrape into fourth place. Target Shooter contributor, Laurie Holland decided that it was about time he tried benchrest and so contested the Factory Sporter class with his ‘out of the box’ Savage LRPV chambered in 204 Ruger. Amazingly, Laurie won his Class, shot some super

1st 2nd 3rd

Ian Dixon 6PPC Walker BAT Jack Searle 6PPC Stolle Martin Eldershaw 6PPC Stolle

Small group: inches

Ian Dixon

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Factory Sporter: 1st 2nd

Laurie Holland 204 Savage LRPV Darrell Evans 6PPC Sako

Small group: 204 Savage LRVP

0.3748 0.5552

Laurie Holland 0.219 inches

The following day, it was a trek up to the hill to Diggle’s 1000 yard firing point. We were swamped with entries and shooting continued long into the afternoon. Winds on the early relays were fairly light

The cap says it all – Dave Jackson did the double with a Light Gun win and small group at 1000 yards.

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0.2754 0.3276 0.3372

and some good groups were posted Diggles’ Dave Jackson took the Light Gun win and small group of the day with a fabulous 4.585 incher. There were plenty of other single-figure groups from Light Gun Class but Ross Burrough and Gerrit Van Rooyan were the only other competitors to dip below sixinches, both shooting low ‘fives’. Ross’s rifle was put together by Dave Wylde of SYSS and although it is of tactical configuration, it shoots exceptionally well in all disciplines. Gerrit was shooting a 6mm Smack put together by Russ Gall of RG Rifles. In Factory Sporter it was a nail-biting finish with Toni Young and her bog standard 308 Remmy almost beating a trio of guys shooting their 6.5-284 Savages - until Phil Gibbon popped-in a stunning 7.533 i ncher for his final group on the very last relay to steal the win and post Factory Sporter small group in the process.

had about 450 rounds up it, which appears to be around the effective maximum for many overbore wildcats including the 6.5 and 7mmWSM. However I can’t complain as the 6mm Xtreme served me well in 2008, winning me the 1000 yard UKBRA Championship, setting a new UK 600 yard BR record and winning my club’s Open F Class Championship. I love the little ‘sixes’ so I’m going for another but this time a 243 Win. Improved. This is not a new wildcat – in fact it’s one of the more popular ‘improved’ cartridges and I’m hoping that it will perform well with the 115 DTACs that I was shooting in the Xtreme. The Xtreme gave best accuracy at 3250 fps although it was capable of a lot more velocity. I’m hoping that the 243 Win. Imp. will still give me 3200fps with the DTACs and maybe better barrel-life! Hopefully, it should be ready for the next competition.

Ian Kellet and Bruce Lenton also dipped under ten-inches with their Factory Savages.

Your Target Shooter writers are all keen competition shooters, out there on the range every weekend and Laurie Holland and myself were at it Results: again the following weekend at the first GB F Class Light Gun League shoot of the year. Laurie gave his Eliseo tube gun it’s first real competitive outing and I also shot F/ 1st Dave Jackson 6.5 Tooley Musgrave 7.942 in TR with my new 308. We both came away with top 2nd Steve Dunn7mm Dunn BAT 8.371 five placings and you can read a full write-up of this 3rd Ross Burrough 6.5x47 Surgeon 8.887 event in Les Holgate’s ‘The Long View’ elsewhere in Target Shooter. Small group: Dave Jackson 4.585 inches New Stuff Factory Sporter Last month, I got news of a new British made action but, rather than print half a story we thought it best 1st Phil Gibbon 6.5-284 Savage 12.967 in to investigate further and you will find a full write-up 2nd Toni Young 308 Remington 13.956 elsewhere in Target Shooter. 3rd Ian Kellet 6.5-284 Savage 13.961 Forthcoming events Small group: Phil Gibbon 7.533 inches May is a busy month for all accuracy-nuts for not only do we have our next 100 yd & 1000yd BR shoots On a personal note, I had an uneventful day on May 2/3rd we also have the famous Diggle Egg with a best group of ten inches. I have been Shoot on May Bank Holiday Monday (25th) and our experimenting with a 284 Win. necked-down to final 600 yard shoot of the year on Sunday 31st May. 6mm and shortened by 50 thou. which I call the 6mm I hope to see you at some of these shoots. E-mail Xtreme. It’s clearly past its best, though the barrel me on [email protected] for more details. doesn’t look too bad through the borescope. It’s now



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The three nations match between Germany, Ireland and the UK derived from the World Championship, when Markus Feldmann of the German team said that he and others would like to come to the UK to shoot a friendly match. A few words with the Irish team later and we had an ongoing concern, so the planning started. At this point it really is time to say a massive thanks to Ken Stockham of Portishead club, who organised this event and ran things with flawless accuracy from start to finish. Without him and the good will of his club we would not have managed to have such an event in the UK. Arriving on the practice day the weather was calm but raining and misty – so calm that there was no wind movement at all. For some this is a boon, for others not so much. Well the latter group got their wish as the two match days were a tad bit gusty. The first day I would say blowing in all directions, at some points at about 20 plus mph. This knocked a few off their feet, but we recovered and shot on. The wind remained with us for the rest of the day with sun coming up very quickly in the afternoon, which brought mirage. A very mixed English Spring day! Day two was better, with the wind still there but the sun was with us for the entire day. (Shooting benchrest dressed in your best thermals, as we were on day one, is not conducive to the nature of this sport). The German team shot brilliantly, as did a number of individuals in the UK and Irish teams. The Germans are very good shots anyway, as they gained silver medals as individuals and as a team at last year’s world championship. This is helped on by the custom kit they are using. A lot of these rifles are built by Martin Menke, the captain of the team, who is a well renowned centerfire and rimfire gunsmith in Germany. He is also the 1999 world centerfire benchrest champion. Just from talking to him I learnt a lot, as you tend to at these head to head matches. Andy Dubreuil did very well in the Unlimited class coming in 5th, with Brian Kelly coming in 4th overall in the aggregate scores and Carl Boswell coming in 6th overall from the two days shooting. In fact the top ten aggregate

All teams together - the UK won best dressed.

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results were all UK and German shooters, with the Top 5 being 4 German and 1 UK shooter. The whole team event was a success and the aggregate scores of each team are below. Hopefully there will be more of these matches around Europe in the next year. I know that Germany, Italy and Holland have held matches already. 1st Germany - Total 8796 196 2nd UK – Total 8655 133 3rd Ireland – 8250 110 The two shooters that really stood out were the eventual winners of course, which were Martin Menke for Light

Seated Markus Feldmann the overall Aggregate winners

Varmint and Markus Feldmann for Unlimited. I have known Markus for a few years – lots of fun and a great guy to be around. He was the aggregate overall winner from the two days shooting with a great score of 1478 35 x’s. We in the UK would benefit from more of these types of head to head matches in the future. Hopefully this will happen as the UK nationals looks as if it will be very popular If anything what we can learn from this is that we need to look more at moving towards custom actions and barrels. This is what other nations are doing, as relying alone on factory firearms is not going to cut the mustard in years to come. This game is getting increasingly competitive at international level, so it is about keeping up with the Jones’s. At the end of the weekend the German team went away with most of the trophies and medals, with one exception, Anthony Nolan of Ireland won Bronze in the Unlimited class – well done. It was a great shoot and the people taking part had a great time. So much so, that the Martin and Jo of the German team have invited the UK team to shoot in Germany sometime in October or November. We are definitely thinking about it, with four people showing interest so far. Will the result be the same……..well only time will tell, so look for a report again in December!

The Long View – News from the GB F Class Association When the sun shines there ain’t no finer place than Diggle!

The 2009 F class league would once again start with the first round at Diggle Ranges near Oldham in Greater Manchester.

fire would be 2 & 15 at 800 yards followed by 2 & 15 at 1000 yards on the Saturday. Sunday would be 2 &15 at 900 yards, followed by 2 & 10 at 1000 yards.

Many of the F Class League shooters thought it would be a mistake to have the first competition of the year at Diggle. Not because of the range but because of the weather. It is a long held belief was that Diggle only gets one or two weekends a year without rain, snow or some kind of terrible weather of biblical proportions! The previous year hadn’t helped Diggle’s case because it had snowed but, with only a finite number of weekends available, the League just had to take it’s chances and all those attending - if they had any sense - should bring as much wet-weather gear as they could muster. That was what I did - I even brought some old ski-gloves which I assumed I would need to fight off the cold.

Our League shoots will normally muster around 60 competitors but it became clear early on that making the first shoot on the Easter weekend could limit the amount of shooters to those brave enough to abandon wives and girlfriends at this time of year! So the maximum number of competitors was reduced to 48 but most of the usual faces were in attendance and Anthony Dunne and Joe Melia made their usual long trip from Ireland.

Once again though the Diggle weather managed to trick everyone and it turned out to be one of the warmest Easter shoots I can remember. The gloves never even came out of the car and if you would have set up a sun-tan lotion stall, you could have made a fortune! But enough of the weather, this is Round 1 of the 2009 GB F Class League, scheduled to be shot on Easter Saturday and Sunday with the Friday being a practice day for those who wanted it. The course of

Restricting the field to 48 competitors meant that we would only need four details of twelve shooters rather than five, thus usefully cutting down on time which always seems to be a premium at Diggle shoots, especially when the weather delays the start time as it did last year. Around a dozen shooters turned up on the Friday to take advantage of the practice day with shooting starting off at 600 yards. Unfortunately the dreaded Diggle weather had other ideas and most just used the time to get a quick zero then called it a day. The competition started bright and early Saturday morning with the plan for the first shot to be down range by 8.30 am. This was always going to be difficult for the local contingent as Diggle shoots



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Eventual F/TR winner, Stuart Anselm - 308 Barnard, Robertson stock, Sinclair bi-pod normally start around 10.30 am and most of the previous evening was spent answering the phone telling the ‘Dollopers’ – “Yes 8.30 am was not a miss-print on the entry form and no, we don’t need flood lights!” First up would be the Open Class shooters and most of the highest placed League shooters from last year had entered, as had the F/TR guys, so it would hopefully shape up to be a good competition. As with previous years, the order would be reversed the following day to hopefully give everyone the same weather ‘window’. Once the ‘sneaky’ sighters were over (sorry, I mean blow-off shots) the competition proper got underway at 9.00 am., so almost on time. The first distance to be contested was 800 yards and there was only a light wind blowing down the valley but still, at this distance even in a light wind, hitting something not much bigger than a CD (our five-inch V bull) with any degree of regularity is still a difficult task. By the time the Open Class guys had finished, seven of them had managed to keep it in the 5-ring and two shooters, Simon Rodgers and Paul Hill put in scores of 75.10v. On count-back the honours went to Simon with Andy Massingham a close third on 75.8v. The conditions remained the same for most of the morning and by the time the F T/R guys took to the firing-point they also posted some impressive scores with Diggle’s Ian Dixon shooting the highest with a 73.4v. The 2008 F/TR League Champion, Russell Simmonds and Steve Rigby were close behind, both on 72.6v. For Match 2 we dressed back to 1000 yards and just adding that extra 200 yards certainly brought the scores down. Conditions hadn’t changed that much but the wind was now fish-tailing. One Open Class score was head and shoulders above the others, with John Campbell posting a very impressive 72.7v. The next highest Grant Taylor on 70.4v, then Peter Wilson on 69.4v. As you would expect, scores also tumbled in F/TR,

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with the highest being a 63.2v posted by Stuart Anselm with your Target Shooter writers Vince Bottomley and Laurie Holland not far behind on 62.1v and 59.2v respectively. When you consider that F/TR is limited to the 308 Win. cartridge, unlike an Open Class competitor who can pick any calibre he likes, Stuart’s score was good enough to have bested almost half of the Open Class shooters. So by the end of day one, John Campbell was leading the Open Class on 146.8v, with Grant Taylor close behind on 145.12v - a remarkably high V count, especially as this was the first outing for Grant’s home-smithed rifle in 284 Win. Improved. The F/ TR competition was also fiercely contested with 2nd place on the day going to Vince Bottomley on 133.4v but just in the lead, Stuart Anselm on 134.7v. We finished the shoot in scorching sun and all shooters who were members of the GB F Class Association made their way into the Diggle clubhouse for the Annual General Meeting. which you can read about on the Association website at www.f-class.org.uk Once the AGM was over, the traditional shoot dinner - or obligatory Diggle curry evening - was the order of the day. Day two again started bright and early with yet again more sun, possibly the first time in the hundred year history of the range that the sun had shone on two consecutive days! The squadding was now reversed to hopefully even out the weather conditions and allow everyone to shoot early morning when conditions were most favourable. This time we started at 900 yards with the F/TR shooters taking to the point and again, the conditions appeared to be fairly benign but that light breeze was fish-tailing dangerously. None the less, several of the F/TR guys posted great scores with Stuart Anselm shooting an excellent 71.6v but the first place went to Paul Harkins with a stunning 73.6v. You will see further down this article that Paul’s score also beat every Open Class shooter at this distance - well shot Paul. The conditions appeared The Open Class guys at 900 yards

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Dunne finishing on 46.2v and Peter Hunt winning the final distance of the weekend with 46.4v. With the final shot going down range before four o’clock, it was time for the trophy presentations. Each stage winner is given a GB F Class Association medal and seeing as it was Easter, Cadbury’s cream eggs were also handed out. In the F/TR Class, third place award went to Steve Rigby with 239.10v, Ian Dixon was runner-up by Grant Taylor (left) collects his virtue of two extra V bulls on 239.12v but first place winner’s medal from Diggle went to GB F Class Team Captain Stuart Anselm on Club Chairman, 242.14v, so well done Stuart. Mike Weatherhead to be pretty much the same for the Open guys but not In the Open Class, the same thing happened with many of them could put in a 70 plus score with the second and third places decided on V bull count with top two being Tony Marsh on 72.1v and in first place, John Campbell just beating Peter Wilson 258.21v to Grant Taylor on 73.2v. The gap between Open Class 258.14v but the clear winner was Grant Taylor on and F/TR Class has certainly closed, even with the 262.15v; congratulations Grant. disadvantage of being limited to 308’s. It had been a great weekend, thanks in no small part to the superb weather and the competition The final match of the weekend was another 1000 had run without a hitch thanks to several people yard stage but this would only be a 2 & 10 round who had given up their time to ensure this would stage. AsCUSTOM per usual, Diggle wind-flags NORTH WEST PARTS the 16/4/09 1:01 pm Page 1only happen. So thanks go to Jeanette Whitney for acting tell part of the story and just three F/TR shooters as Range Officer for the whole weekend, Ian Dixon for managed to break the 40 barrier - Paul Dobson and making our targets and Mik Maksimovik and Ian Dixon on 40.1v but in the lead, Steve Donaldson Stuart Anselm for doing the stats and finally, Diggle on 41.2v. chairman Mike Weatherhead for coming along to Conditions remained pretty much the same for the hand out the prizes. Open Class guys with Greg Thompson and Anthony So that’s it, Round 1 is over in this, our most important year as the World F Class Championships will be held at Bisley in July. Appropriately, the next League Shoot will be at Bisley on the first weekend of June so, if you are reading this and have a Strictly by scoped rifle and fancy having a go, please e-mail the appointment only organiser of the next shoot, Mik Maksimovic on [email protected] for an entry form.



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Gallery Rifle News

First of all a piece of really good news. Two well known GR competitors were unlucky enough to have their firearm certificates revoked after the theft of some of their guns. A couple of weeks ago an agreement was reached at the Crown Court which resulted in the certificates being returned. A full summary is in this issue. A wake up call to us all – think about security when you are away from home whether it is just a visit to the club or a trip to Bisley or even abroad – you must ‘t be complacent and hope that it won’t happen to you. The first big meeting of the year, the Spring Action Weekend, was a great success, apart from the weather and some of the scores, with a record entry. Have a look at the report in this issue and, if you didn’t go, see what you missed. This month you have the Western Winner at Bristol and the Mattersey Ten to chose from as well as the Shield Steel Challenge. Please do your best to support one or more of these. They are friendly competitions put on by hard working club members. At the end of the month, the premier meeting in the GR calendar, the Phoenix Meeting takes place at the National Shooting Centre. It’s not just for GR though as there so many events you will probably find at least one for every gun you own. See the article in this issue which explains what it’s all about. (Don’t forget that your scores in the relevant events go into the national database to get you onto another rung on the 114

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classification ladder and get you noticed by the national selectors.) Also at the Phoenix, teams from England, Germany, Ireland, Scotland and Wales will be competing in the European Teams Match for short events. On the Monday the national teams of Germany, Ireland and the UK compete in the 1500 GR European Championship. June has the Derby 1500 and not much else we are aware of so no excuse for not heading there! COMPETITION CALENDAR May 3 GR&P The Mattersey Ten - 1500, Short Events etc. Mattersey RPC, Notts May 9 GR&P The Western Winner – 1500 Frome RPC at Failand Range near Bristol May 10 GR&P Steel Challenge Shield Shooting Centre, Dorset May 21-24 Almost any gun! The Phoenix Meeting National Shooting Centre, Bisley, Surrey June 27-28 GR&P Derby 1500 Derby R&PC (Either contact the organisers direct or go to www.galleryrifle.com for entry forms.) GR&P = Gallery Rifle Centre Fire (GRCF), Gallery Rifle Small Bore (GRSB), Long Barrelled Pistol (LBP) and Long Barrelled Revolver (LBR) RESULTS March 28-29 Spring Action Weekend Available in full on the NRA/NSC website or at www.galleryrifle.com. Please go to the Gallery Rifle website www.galleryrifle.com for more news and information.

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Practical shooting is a high speed multi target discipline which tests all the aspects of a competitor’s shooting ability by means of varied target arrays to be shot as fast and as accurately as possible. To prevent it being solely a test of static speed shooting, penalty targets are included and difficult shooting positions are forced by means of vision barriers and screens. In accordance with the motto Diligentia Vis Celeritas (DVC = accuracy, power, speed) only firearms developing a minimum power factor (bullet mass * velocity) are permitted. Within the Rules, competitors are allowed to solve the shooting problems as they see fit, e.g. they may choose to move from the start position to a point which offers a clearer shot at the target or to remain static and shoot slower but more accurately. Matches can involve the use of Handguns, Rifles or Shotguns; most matches within the UK involve the use of Section 1 shotguns. In any match there are a number of stages, which may contain from 1 to 28 targets of varying types and distances; in Shotgun matches, different cartridge loadings (birdshot, buckshot or solid slug) are used as a further test of skill. Practical or IPSC shooting is conducted under the auspices of the International Practical Shooting Confederation whose representative body in the UK is the United Kingdom Practical Shooting Association (U.K.P.S.A.). This body administers the sport and distributes the Rules as well as sanctioning matches and selecting the National Teams. Globally the IPSC has over 75 member nations and is the fastest growing of the shooting sports because of its highly challenging fast and dynamic style and the varied nature of the competitions. Given that no two stages are ever alike, the variety of matches is immense but all have a common factor and that is SAFETY. Because IPSC shooting involves movement with a loaded Firearm, a high level of competence is required. To compete in UKPSA 116

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sanctioned matches you need to have attended AND successfully completed to competition level a Basic Safety Course. These courses are run throughout the year by Clubs around the country and consist of 2 days of intense training by a certified instructor in all aspects of Firearm safety, gun handling, movement and positional shooting as well as range commands and other necessary information. Because of this mandatory training and the fact that a shooter is always supervised by at least one Range Officer, IPSC shooting has the best safety record of all shooting sports. All Range Officers are experienced shooters who have passed additional training courses in addition to the Basic Safety Course and are in turn supervised by a Chief RO who has more experience and training and finally the Range Master who has had, you’ve guessed, even more training. To find out more about practical shooting and how to register for a basic safety course, visit www.ukpsa.co.uk or email ukpsachair@aol. com for more details. Vanessa Duffy Chairman UKPSA

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Letters and News What a great response to the first edition lots of really good feedback and a few things to make us think about how we can deliver a better magazine to you.

[email protected] Happy reading and we hope you enjoy the magazine. The team at Target Shooter. If you have any letters or news that you would like to air on a national basis then please contact us at the magazine. This could be for those budding writers out there that would like to submit a full article on specific firearms, competitions, shooting sports, etc. The aim of the magazine is to include you the shooters in the United Kingdom. So having a regular letters page or even a question and answer section would be really useful for a lot of people out there. Let us know what you think!? We would also like to have a gun of the month section - so send us your pic and spec and we’ll include it in ‘gun of the month’. Any news that your club or association thinks is worth viewing can also be sent in for selection. What we would like is to get a letters page started with your views, news and perceptions about all all the aspects of target shooting. So lets see those letters coming in and we will read your thoughts in these pages.

Air Arms Allcocks Outdoors A Macleod and Son AIM Field Sports Armalon Auto Target Bassetts Benchrest Directory y Border Barrrels Bromyard Sports and Leisure Check-Mate Guns Chris Potter Country Sports ltd Continental Shooting Supplies Countrymen of Derby D Daystate LTD t t LTD Diverse Trading ltd Dragon Field Sports Eley LTD BulzeyePro Essex Guns Fox Firearms Frederick Beesley G T Shooting GMK Green Leopard Gun Trader GunSeeker Henry Krank Highland Outdoors 118 HPS Target Rifles Ltd Target Shooter Innovative Systems

Advertisers Index 57 35 93 8 10 55 63 107 44 105 92 97 98 74 43 112 114 3 36 62 45 70 41 0 37 16 114 0 50 83 63

Intershoot Jackson Rifles Low Mill Range Midway UK Lyd Minsterley Ranges North West Custom Norman Clark Gunsmiths Ltd NRA NSRA Osprey Rifles Rhino Rifles Riflecraft RPA International RUAG Ammotec R Rude Fat Dog d F tD Prestige Air Guns Ltd Section 5 Shooting Supplies South Yorkshire Shooting Supplies Steyr Surrey Guns Targets Direct Theoben Tim Hannam UKBR22 UK Custom Shop Uttings g Webley Westlake Engineering York Guns

42 101 70 30 70 71 15 80 84 25 22 64 42 12 11 13 11 95 29 102 95 93 110 21 104 2 56 75 52 77

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