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Association Pages105 NRA106 UKBRA110 UKBR22111 F Class UK114 Gallery Rifle116 UKPSA118 Letter PageWebitorialEditor(s).Carl Boswell and Vince BottomleyAdvertising and Office ManagerAndy Dubreuil. email; admin@targetshooter.co.ukContributorsVince Bottomley Richard Wild Hayley PlattsLaurie Holland Tim FinleyCarl Boswell Rob HunterNigel Greenaway Gwyn RobertsStanley Shaw Ken HallWow, is all I can say about the response to the first magazine! As we get to the publication of thesecond instalment, we are in double figures for the amount of unique views of the website and thefirst 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 publicvoice than that of relying on word of mouth to get the message across; ‘we are here’! So pleasecontinue 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’. Forpassing 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 thefirst month of which promises to be a very successful magazine. It is early days, but we have plansfor 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 PhoenixMeeting weekend. There will be a few of us there promoting individual sports, but also thismagazine. I also know that a few of the writers will be in competition over the weekend so you mightget to see them in action.We have had a number of requests for articles, some of which we are working towards and othersthat might be a way off. However our goal is the same; to promote shooting in all its forms withinthe UK and apply that diversity within the magazine. As we build up issues of the magazine, articleswill be placed into an archive. This will happen in the next few months, so watch out for this featureand 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 (whichwill be me); we hope you enjoy it as much as you did the first one.Carl Boswell - carl@targetshooter.co.uk and Vince Bottomley - vinceb@targetshooter.co.ukCopyright © Target Shooter MagazinesDisclaimerThe website www.targetshooter.co.uk is part of Target Shooter magazine with all contents of both electronic media copyrighted. No reproduction is permitted unlesswritten 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 firearmrelated are from companies or individuals that Target Shooter magazine believes are licensed to hold such firearms and accepts no responsibility if companies orindividuals 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 unlessotherwise 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 opinionsand experiences of writers using specific equipment, firearms, components and data under controlled conditions. Information contained in the online magazine or on thewebsite 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 forindividuals attempting to recreate such testing using any information, data or other materials in its electronic pages.Publishers of Target Shooter magazine.Target Shooter 5

Shooting Sport NewsNRA CHOOSES RWS 7.62mmShooter dissatisfaction with ammunition quality in the2008 Imperial Meeting saw the NRA and its supplierBAE Systems-Radway Green (BAE-RG) under fireyet again. Some might ask what’s new about this, butchanging circumstances brought matters to a headlast year. Crucially, the MoD had advised the NRA inlate 2007 that it was terminating the long-standingarrangement whereby the military shot on the Bisleyranges and paid for use of the facility with 7.62mmsniper grade cartridges, so the civilian body had toprocure its ammunition through commercial channels.This change came too late to institute a tenderingprocess and arrange product testing for last year’sImperial, so a short term contract was entered intowith BAE-RG for the NRA’s 2008 requirements, aTR shooters will be adding up scores for RWSammunition in 2009.Volunteer TR shooters tested the quartet under‘blind’ conditions at 300 and 600 yards using arepresentative sample of TR rifle makes, barrelspecifications with varying round-counts. ‘Loaders’were even employed to place cartridges in thetesters’ rifle actions and pick fired cases up, sotesters could not tell which batch they were shootingand allow unconscious bias to affect results. Not toosurprisingly, RG was the first dropped – on accuracygrounds. While the others performed well, Lapuawent too thanks to its much higher cost than theothers, leaving the field to HPS-TR and RUAG.The former’s 7.62 is a proven performer, so thefocus shifted to trying the RUAG ammo at longrange, it being issued for the European Long RangeChampionship meeting and one of the short-rangetesters used it in the Surrey Open at 900 and 1,000yd.Results were good at 800 and 900yd butfell off at 1,000, apparently due to itbeing loaded on the light side. RUAGrectified this and another round ofcomparative tests at 300 and 1,000ydagainst HPS-TR’s ammo last Decembershowed there was little between the pair interms of performance. In the end, RUAG gotthe contract on price, initially for one year.move that caused ructions amongst the body’sTR-shooting members! The NRA hoped that BAE-RG would realise it was drinking in the last chancesaloon, and given that it had produced some goodshootinglots in recent years, would produce a topquality vintage for 2008, but this was not to be!Four producers were approached in the secondhalf of last year, and quotes plus batches of 155gn7.62/308W obtained – RG, Lapua, HPS-TR, andSwiss conglomerate RUAG which encompassesRWS and Norma ammunition brands in its rangeas well as a huge military supply business. Thefirst three were ‘off the shelf’, while RUAG loadedcartridges specially to meet UK TR requirements.RUAG is loading the NRA 2009contract ammo with the existing 155gnSierra MatchKing (No. 2155) in RWS .308Winchester cases over a RUAG powder.With new 155gn bullets that give improvedlong-range ballistics in the process ofbeing introduced by both Sierra and Berger,future ammunition supplies offer theprospect of further performanceimprovements too, irrespective of who getssubsequent NRA contracts. The NRA will supply thenew ammunition at £65 / 1,000, described as being“around cost”, to ‘Imperial’ competitors on the strictbasis that all cases are returned for eventual resaleto handloaders. With RWS’ reputation for makingquality .308W brass, we have to hope they don’t allend up in the USA!We have to congratulate the NRA forsourcing ammunition through such a robust and fairprocess. Anything that improves ammunitionconsistency in one of our major disciplines is to bewelcomed – especially if we get the chance to buysome of the fired brass in due course!6 Target Shooter

Andrew joined ELEY Limited at the start of April taking over from MikeSemens-Flanagan who was promoted within the IMI group, in whichELEY is a subsidiary of.Prior to joining ELEY, Andrew was the Business Development Directorfor IMI Indoor Climate in Sweden. Originally from Kent, Andrew bringswith him a wealth of experience in high quality - volume manufacturingand experience in developing and introducing world beating products.Andrew commented on his new appointment:“Eley is a tremendously exciting business to lead. The combinationof working with the most passionate customers and shooters, highlymotivated colleagues, and world beating products is a wonderfulopportunity. We will continue to invest in the development of ourproducts and processes, so that Eley retainsits lead in ammunition technology, that qualitycontinues to improve, and that Eley remainsthe Choice of Champions”Andrew’s first week at ELEY coincidedwith the start of the 2009 ISSF World Cupshooting competition, with the firststage being held in Changwon,Korea. Results in show ELEY’sTenex brand has retained itssupremacy in accuracy from thesuccess in 2008, winning 13 medals atthe first World Cup in Korea includingfive gold. Andrew is looking forward tocontinued success at the second stage,which kicks off next week in Beijing.MOA Picatinny Scope rails20The Picatinny rail has now becomethe preferred civilian mount standardas well as the military standard andthis is good news. It means that if allyour rifles are fitted with Picatinnybases you could easily service severalrifles with just one scope andrings.The Badger Ordnance, Ken Farrelland NICE bases are superb but withthe current dollar/pound exchangerate, the cost of a rail is approaching£100 by the time you get it over here,pay duty and Parcel Force handlingcharge. Surely there must be someoneover here with CNC machinerywho could knock these out for a competitiveprice.Well, that’s exactly what Wayne atNorth West Custom parts thoughtand I’ve just seen the first sample(see pic). At the moment they areonly available in Savage fit but if themarket demands more will be available.www.nwcustomparts.comAs an aside to the story on the opposite page, BAE Systems –Radway Green advised the NRA last November that it will onlysupply governments in the future. If this is now company policy, it endsa relationship with civilian shooting in the UK and Commonwealththat goes back to just after World War 2 and encompasses threegenerations of rifle ammunition – 0.303”, 7.62mm, and5.56mm. As well as the end of business with the NRA whosepurchases were likely to be much reduced orterminated in any event given RG’s variable qualityperformance, RG 7.62mm and 5.56mm cartridgeswere until recently supplied to a major gun-tradedistributor for onward sale to retailers. If this sourceof supply is lost, there are major implications forBritish target shooting with RG cartridgeswidely used in short-range club shooting. In normalcircumstances, imports would fill any gap, buta combination of worldwide shortages of thesecartridges thanks to huge NATO membergovernment orders, and significant realprice increases resulting from the pound’splummeting value, will see FMJ bulletedversions of these popular cartridges becomefar more expensive – if you can find any at all.Can we expect a big surge in sales of .223Rem and .308 Win die sales in 2009/10 asshortages and price increases bite?This could be a silver lining to thisparticular cloud, as it’s hardly difficult toimprove on RG accuracy through handloading!It’s ‘Goodbye’to Radway Green7.62mm (and5.56mm), it seems.Target Shooter 7

BERGER REDUCES BULLETBC VALUESBerger Bullets has recently revised the quotedballistic coefficient (BC) values for most if not allof the bullets in its large range of Match Target BTand VLD (Very Low Drag) bullets. Bryan Litz, thecompany’s ballistician, explained that thisresults from a change in methodology with BCvalues now calculated through experimental resultsmeasuring velocity drops over distance insteadof computer generated figuresbased on the bullet shape andtheoretical efficiency. Mostbullets see a BC reduction ofsomething between 4 and 7%,but some almost ‘escape’,and there are a few that suffersignificant reductions. Thenew BCs are those shownin the ‘Products’ list on thecompany’s website – www.bergerbullets.com. Bergerstresses that the bulletsthemselves have not beenchanged in any way.As an example of theamount of change, hereare some old and newvalues for a selection of 0.308” dia. Matchbullets.Old N e w155gn Match BT 0.453 0 . 4 3 8155gn VLD 0.472 0 . 4 3 9175gn VLD 0.528 0 . 4 9 8185gn VLD 0.569 0 . 5 4 9190gn VLD 0.574 0 . 5 7 0210gn VLD 0.631 0 . 6 1 7It should be noted that ballistics programs suchas Sierra Infinity hold the old values in their bulletdatabases, and these should be adjusted ifrunning a plot for a Berger bullet especially oververy long ranges to avoid over-optimistic results.For instance, in the above sample the 155gn VLDsees a particularly large BC reduction. Running its‘old’ and ‘new’ BCs through Sierra Infinity VI (at3,000 fps MV) sees an increase of nearly 6-MOAneeded in elevation increase to go from a 100ydzero to 1,000yd, and the classic 10 mph 3 o’clockwind deflection increases by 2.5-MOA at that range.Incidentally, Bryan Litz (a member of the US Palmateam and a top Prone Long-Range competitor on thatside of the Atlantic) only recently joined the BergerBullets team. Bryan has recently made quite a namefor himself by publishing 1,000yd match bullet tests8 Target Shooterthat show how they really perform at long ranges,and is pressing manufacturers to move fromexisting G1 drag curve based BCs and ballistic tables/programs to the G7 standard. This gives far moreaccurate velocity, trajectory, and wind drift projectionsfor ranges beyond 500 yards. Expect some debateon this subject in long range shooting circles! BergerBullets had promised to have its first everhandloading manual in print last autumn, butpublication has been delayed with notarget date quoted now. One has to wonder if the‘BC-issue’ is at least partly behind this deferral.Berger Bullets has revised itsbullets’ BCs downwardsSightron ScopesWhilst over at IWA last month, I got wind of a new UKimporter for Sightron scopes. I was having a go at theSightron guys, telling them how we all wanted thefixed 36 power for benchrest and the 8-32 zoom for FClass but we just couldn’t get hold of them in the UK.We eventually did get an 8-32 for test but onlybecause Laurie Holland sent to America for it! Itturned out to be a cracking scope with very accurateadjustment and an optical quality equal to Nightforce.The 36 power scope will of course interest both rimfire andcentrefire benchrest shooters as it weighs in at around apound and there is a new ‘Big Sky’ version available, whichI am given to understand is noticeably better than the oldversion. I’ve had a word with the new UK importer and he isconvinced that he can bring these scopes in at a pricewhich will be competitive with the 36 power Weavers.Target Shooter is hoping to obtain one very soon forreview.

SPECIAL REPORT Last in is this piece broughtto us, that we think will be worth everybodiestime reading;In July 2008 two prominent and well-respectedmembers of the NRA had their estate car broken intowhilst away from home on a weekend of shootingcompetitions in the North of England. They stayed ata hotel that had CCTV and good lighting in the carpark. They had taken handguns, ammunition andremovable parts of other rifles into the hotel leavingonly those larger rifles concealed in the boot of thecar, which was itself fitted with an immobiliser. Stolenfrom their car in the early hours by four maskedpersons were the rifles that had been concealed inaccordance with the Home Office Guidance to Police.In September 2008 their local police force revokedtheir certificates and these revocations wereappealed.On 8th April 2009 the case was heard before theCrown Court. However, whilst at the courtawaiting the calling of the case, through theirlegal representatives, the appellants servedon the respondent police force’s legalrepresentatives the full grounds for the Appealsupported by legal argument and numerous characterwitnesses four of whom were at court. The Appellantswere very confident of succeeding in their appeals.Their objective was to recover their firearmcertificates. The police had opposed the appealseven suggesting a short time before the hearing thatthe appeals should be withdrawn but at court sawthe sense in a compromise whereby they agreedto the court making an Order for them, the police,to reinstate the certificates within 14 days upon theappellants agreeing to review their futurearrangements for the transit of firearms andammunition. An amicable agreement on costs wasalso reached.It is clear that despite the appellants following thestandard advice upon security of firearms andammunition in transit and overnight away fromhome, thieves were able to smash the windows ofthe car and steal firearms.The Firearms Act 1968 requires certificate holdersto take reasonable precautions as to the security offirearms and ammunition when not secured at homein the approved cabinet. What is “ reasonable” is amatter for the opinion of each police force althoughquite detailed advice is contained in the relevantpolice and Home Office publications. In this case thepolice claimed that the advice had not been followedwhilst the appellants insisted that it had been followed.The compromise at court was sensible and, for themerits of that case, an acceptable way out of thepolarised positions each side held, thus avoidingthe additional cost and time of a drawn out hearing.What this case does show is that where the legislationrequires such “reasonable precautions..”police may well view any situation where gunsare stolen from a parked and unattended car asNOT having had reasonable precautions takenand then revoke the loser’s certificates leavingthe holder with no guns, possible prosecution forbreach of certificate conditions and no certificate.The only resolution to the problem is to applymuch higher security in the vehicle or keeping allthe firearms and ammunition with them personally.The merits of this case were not tested in this particularcourt case as a sensible resolution wasfound. Whilst the law does not require absolutesecurity, this police approach to the subject meansthat the loss of firearms, whatever precautions aretaken, is likely to result in certificate revocation.So, preventing such loss by ALL possible meansis the only safe way to proceed. The current advicefrom the 2000 Home Office document led toa difference in interpretation by the police on onehand and the appellants on the other and its applicationdid not prevent the theft of these guns.Police had suggested that physical means of securingguns to the chassis or body of the car is reasonableor taking them into the hotel. Anything less,they considered, was not reasonable. Of course thecase of R –v- Chelmsford Crown Court (ex parteFarrer) 2000 makes it impossible in law for certificateholders to leave their firearms and ammunitionin hotels even if secure means are provided unlessonly that holder has access to them and that is anunlikely situation. Enquires of hotels in the areaconcerned resulted in none having such facilitiesand none wishing to have firearms taken into theirpremises anyway given the choice. So, for the futuremore diligent enquiries are suggested as toovernight stay locations prior to selection and higherphysical security fitted in vehicles used for the transitor unattended overnight storage to prevent thefts.Jeff HideKnights solicitorsAnd finally....... We are thinking aboutrunning a few personal advertisementsin the magazine for selling you own items.Please contact us via the customers servicesemail address by the 17th of each monthto place personal adverts.Target Shooter 9

Calendar of events over the next two monthsIf your club or association has events you want to publicise here then email us.Sat 02 MayNRA Open Day (National Shooting Centre (NSC),Bisley)Visitors will be able to try shotgun, air rifle, fullborerifle, sporting rifle, laser clays, precision snap,practical and historical rifles to name but a few, allwith one-to-one coaching.Contact(s): Libby Gendall NRA2nd May 100 yd Benchrest Diggle Ranges3rd May 1000 yd Benchrest Diggle RangesContact via UKBRA websiteSat 09 May to Sun 10 MayThe English Eight Club, National Rifle Club ofScotland & Welsh Rifle Association SpringMeeting. Match Rifle (F-Class Rifles may be usedif desired but cannot take any of the prizes exceptfor the Cash Sweep)2+15 at 1000, 1100 & 1200 yards on each dayContact(s): English VIII Secretary10th May 100 yds Benchrest Bisley RangesContact via UKBRA websiteSat 16 May to Sun 17 MayRange Conducting Officer Course (NationalShooting Centre (NSC), Bisley). Two day course -successful candidates will be qualified toconduct live firing on MoD or TAVRA ranges.Contact: Maureen Peach NRAWed 20 May NRA Shooting Club Day (NationalShooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) Multi-disciplineNRA Shooting Club Day. Targets have beenbooked on Cheylesmore and at 100, 200, 600 and900 yards. If you would like to attend you mustbook in at least a week in advance by contactingHeather Webb.5 June to Sunday 7th june - Scottish OpenChampionships (Blair Atholl (Scotland). Thisyears Scottish Open Prize Meeting will be held atBlair Atholl. Further information and entry formsmay be obtained from Allan Mabon in due course.http://www.scottishrifleassociation.org.uk ContactAllan MabonSat 6th – 7th June MLAGB National PistolChampionships, Bisley6/7th June - GB F Class League Round 2 Bisley(mik@mikdolphin.demon.co.uk)6th June NRA Shooting Club Day (NationalShooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)Multi-discipline NRA Shooting Club Day. Targetshave been booked on Melville and at 100, 200,300 and 1000 yards. All disciplines welcome. Ifyou would like to attend you must book in at leasta week in advance by contacting Heather Webbat the NRA.12th to 14th - British Intl 50m ChampionshipsFriday, 12 June 2009. The Championships run from12th to 14th June. Contact NSRAFri 12 June - AGM of National Rifle Association(National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)Annual General Meeting of the NRA. To be heldat Bisley at 5.30pm. All members are encouragedto attend.18 June - NRA Shooting Club Day (NationalShooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)Multi-disciplineNRA Shooting Club Day. Targets have beenbooked on Melville and at 100, 200, 500 and 900yards. Contact Heather Webb.Fri 22 May to Sun 24 May Phoenix Meeting(National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) andArms Fair. This multi-discipline meeting has itsroots in pistol calibre firearms but there are alsoplenty of competitions for Black Powder, Air andFullbore from 15 yards to 1000 yards. As well asall this shooting you can visit the Arms Fair heldin the Bisley Pavilion. Contact(s): Brian ThomasNRA25th May Egg Shoot 100/300/500 yds DiggleRanges Contact via UKBRA websiteSat 30 MayStart of NRA Probationary Members Course2009/3 Contact(s): Heather Webb NRA10 Target Shooter20 June - Club Instructor Course - NSRA Cost- £75.00. Fees include NSRA registration costs,course attendance and assessments wherenecessary. They do not include meals andaccommodation.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 (NationalShooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)27th June Hampshire Open Prize Meeting(National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)

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HenryKrank100 - 104 Lowtown, PudseyWest Yorkshire, LS28 9AYTel: 01132 569 163 / 565 167Fax: 01132 574 962Email: sales@henrykrank.comOpen Mon - Sat, 9am - 5pmPrvi Partizan Catalogueavailable on requestVisit our new website:www.henrykrank.comPrvi Partizan top quality hunting & target ammunition and reloading componentsPPU RIFLEAMMUNITIONPriced per pack of 100PPU HANDGUNAMMUNITIONPriced per pack of 100PPU PRIMERSPriced perpack of 1000Available atall goodgun shopsA193A032A203A132A188A495A253A211A212A270A134A047A208A084A083A227A161A027A141A400A024A034A020A362A363A366A035A028A346A345A094A365A323A066A041A169A143A267A128A348A35122 Hornet SP 45gr £39.60222 Rem SP 50gr £39.60222 Rem FMJ BT 55gr £39.60223 Rem SP 55gr £39.60223 Rem FMJ BT 55gr £39.60223 Match 75gr£51.7022-250 Rem SP 50gr £49.5022-250 Rem SP 55gr £49.5022-250 Rem FMJ BT 55gr £49.50243 Win SP 90gr £49.50243 Win SP 100gr £49.5025-06 Rem PSP 100gr £54.236,5 x 52 Car FMJ BT 139gr £54.236,5 x 55 SP BT 139gr £49.506,5 x 55 FMJ BT 139gr £49.506,5 x 55 SP RN 156gr £49.50270 Win SP 130gr £49.50270 Win SP 150gr £49.507 X 57 FMJ BT 173gr £49.507mm - 08 PSP 140gr £53.9030 Carbine FMJ RN 110gr £41.25308 FMJ BT 145gr £45.65308 SP 150gr£48.95308 PSP BT 165gr £49.50308 HP BT Match 168gr £59.29308 FMJ BT 175gr £49.50308 SP 180gr£49.5030-30 FSP 150gr £49.507,5x54 French FMJ 139gr £53.907,5x55 Swiss FMJ BT 174gr £53.9030-06 FMJ 150gr £53.9030-06 HP BT 168gr £53.9030-06 Grom 170gr £66.0030-06 SP 180gr£53.907,62 X 39 FMJ 123gr £46.207,62 X 54 FMJ BT 182gr £53.90303 British FMJ BT 174gr £50.60375 H&H Mag 300gr £135.308x57 JS SP 196gr £49.508x57 JS FMJ BT Match 198gr £59.298x57 JS Grom 185gr £66.00A298A112A044A033A166A140A326A339A222A22132 S+W Long 98gr w/c9mm Luger 115gr FMJ9mm Luger 115gr FMJ9mm Luger 124gr FMJ9mm Luger 147gr FMJ38 SPL RNFP 158gr357 Magnum 158gr RNFP357 Magnum FPJ 158gr44 Magnum 180gr FPS44 Rem Mag FPJ 240grPPU BRASSCASESPriced perpack of 100C193 22 HornetC032 222 RemingtonC132 223 RemingtonC211 22/250C134 243 WinchesterC118 6,5 x 52 CarcanoC083 6,5 x 55 SwedishC027 270 WinchesterC345 7,5 x 55 SwissC030 7,62 x 39C020 308 WinchesterC346 7,5 x 54 FrenchC031 7,62 x 54RC128 8mm MauserC470 7.62 NagantC483 6.5 GrendelC385 6.5 x 51 JapC383 7.7 JapC424 7 .92 x 33 KurzC417 8 x 50 LebelC384 8 x 56 MannlicherC413 7.63 (30 Mauser)£22.44£22.44£22.44£22.44£22.44£22.44£27.94£33.66£38.28£38.28£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£20.35P111P222P333P444B008B484B083B127B105B010B009B007B099B345B366B074B143B006B348B351B323B140B339B221B180Small Pistol PrimersLarge Pistol PrimersSmall Rifle PrimersLarge Rifle PrimersPPU BULLETSPriced perpack of 10022 FMJ BT 55gr6.5mm FMJ BT 110gr6.5mm FMJ BT 139gr7 FMJ BT 174gr7mm 158gr Grom30 FMJ RN 110gr30 FMJ BT 145gr30 FMJ 139gr30 FMJ 150gr30 FMJ BT 174gr30 FMJ BT 175gr7.62mm FMJ 123gr303 FMJ BT 174gr303 FMJ BT 190gr8mm Match FMJ BT 198gr8mm 185gr Grom30 Grom 170gr38 158gr RNFP38 FPJ 158gr44 FPJ 180gr45 FMJ 230grPPU BLANKS£22.00£23.10£22.00£23.10£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£15.95Priced per pack of 100BL18 5,56 (223)£37.40BL22 7,62 x 51 (308)£46.20BL28 7,62x39 (7,62 Russian Short) £46.20BL32 7,62x54R (7,62 Russian Long) £46.20BL40 7,92 ( 8 x 57 Mauser) £46.20BL50 303 British£46.20BL60 30-06 ( 7,62 x 63) £49.50BL70 9mm (9x19) Parabelum £22.98BL80 38 SPL£22.98SP - Soft Point PSP - Pointed Soft Point SPBT - Soft Point Boat Tail PSPBT - Pointed Soft Point Boat TailSPRN - Soft Point Round Nose FSP - Flat Soft Point HPBT - Hollow Point Boat Tail FPJ - Flat Point Jacket FMJ - Full Metal JacketFMJRN - Full Metal Jacket Round Nose FMJBT - Full Metal Jacket Boat Tail RNFP - Round Nose Flat PointTarget Shooter 13

A regular column whereby Ken Hall keeps us up to datewith black powder cartridge rifle shooting in the UK.This month Ken offers a newcomers guide to theQSA and shooting the black-powder cartridge rifle.The Quigley Shooting Association (QSA) and theSingle Shot Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Clubof Great Britain (SSBPCRCGB) are now firmlyestablished as the premier UK associationsdevoted to the use of black-powder ‘buffalo’ typerifles in competition. Events are heldthroughout the year and, as luck would have it,the Clubs are situated at opposite ends of thecountry (Diggle Ranges & Bisley) thus makingthis type of shooting accessible to most regions.The aim of this article is to provide a few pointersfor those who have bought or are contemplatingbuying a BPCR with a view to trying theaforementioned competitions, or maybe simplysample the fun of shooting these interesting rifles ontheir local range.Having said that, I am mainly involved with the QSAthough we do have a couple of inter-clubteam-shoots with the SSBPCRCGB guys every year.The Competitions.The Quigley competitions were conceived withthe intention of offering similar challenges tothose faced by the buffalo hunters of the oldAmerican West and of course inspired by theQuigley Down Under film starring Tom Selleck.QSA events are held at Diggle Ranges in thenorth and consist mainly of rifle shoots at 400and 600 yards, where the targets are the Quigleybucket (watch the Quigley Down Under video!) anda half size buffalo, or occasionally steel silhouettes.Ample sighters are normally allowed and thenAccuracy in action - BP style14 Target Shooter

is only the start! With the BPCR there are manychallenges to overcome and that is whatdiscourages many shooters from trying it.When black-powder is burned it leaves behinda lot of residue and this is not user-friendly. Theproblems caused by fouling are many and varied. Acertain amount of fouling is necessary to ‘condition’ thebarrel and maintain relatively constant velocities.Accuracy can actually suffer from over-cleaningthe barrel between shots, just as readily as it cansuffer from the effects of insufficient cleaning. Ahappy medium needs to be found that works for you.The solution to the fouling problem is as variedas 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, dryor pre-lubricated patches, cleaning solution andperhaps a blow-tube (to breath moist air into thebore between shots – which hopefully keeps thefouling soft enough to be pushed out by the nextbullet!). Others use two or three rods, with both dryand lubricated patches and brushes and pass eachthrough the barrel after every shot. Watch whatothers 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 beseriously reduced if the harmful salts left over fromfiring are not neutralized or removed as soon aspossible. A means of combating this effect isrequired. Some shooters will de-cap and drop theirfired cases into a ‘neutralizing’ solution (soapywater!) immediately after firing and clean theirrifle on the point. Others are happy to clean whenthey get home. Either way, it is essential thatyou do not leave the rifle or cases unattendedfor any length of time or their usefulness will berapidly impaired. No special cleaning procedures arerequired but you must do it as soon as possible!Shooting the BPCRIf you look at any old prints of the buffaloshooters you will almost invariably see the use of‘crossed-sticks’. Any type of shooting willbenefit from a stable firing-position and in the QSAthe use of cross-sticks is permissible. This simplest ofsupports can be fabricated by anyone of modestability and provides an excellent shooting-rest. Iknow of no suitable commercially available productand so firers are forced to make their own and as aconsequence we see everything from the elaborateto the rudimentary. The key phrase here is ‘spirit ofthe original’- in other words, we don’t want to seesomething like a steel tripod with windage andelevation adjustment – keep it simple and authentic-looking.A decent shooting-mat along with good wind/waterproof clothing, whilst not compulsory, isdesirable, as shooting takes place in the open in allweathers. Although our basic aperture-sights arecapable of good accuracy, they offer nomagnification, so a good spotting scope is useful ifyou want to see your fall of shot.In future articles, we will look at the cartridge itselfin more detail and I’ll show you a few gadgets andgizmos, which make shooting these fascinating riflesmore successful.Questions and comments please to;khall6548@aol.comMatch reportThis year’s Quigley Championship got underway on the 4th April, sandwiched between two ofthe best days so far this year but match day wasprobably the windiest day for some considerabletime. Despite this, some very good scores wereachieved at 400 yards, although a few struggledsomewhat when we dressed back to 600 yards.After the first round, Dennis Richardson lead with 63points, with Ian Hull, Dave Coleman, Dave Bownassand Ken Hall all close behind with scores in the 50s.The wind seemed to do the impossible and get worseas 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 impressive57 points to clinch the match with a total of 120 points.Results.1. Dennis Richardson Browning Hi-Wall .45/702. Ian Hull Sharps .45/903. Dave Gregory Sharps .45/1004. Richard Healey Sharps .45/705. Ken Hall Winchester HiWall .38/55Our next competition takes place at Diggle Rangeson Saturday May 16th. Feel free to turn up on theday and shoot with us or if you prefer, just comealong for a chat and see what ‘Quigley’ is all about.The following week, May 23rd, we depart from outusual format with our ‘Tight Group’ competition.This gives you a chance to see just how well yourhand-loads are working when shot off a bench at100 yards.Please mention uswhen usingadvertisingin the magazine16 Target Shooter

ELEY product rangeClass leading productsacross all disciplinesRifleSemiAutoRifleFreePistolSportStandardPistolRapidFirePistolDescriptionReplacingTenex: Olympic standard, medal winning,premium quality cartridges used byexperienced club and international shooters.Tenex Ultimate EPSMatch: Impressive results from a competitioncartridge featuring many attributes of Tenex.Amazing value for money and excellentaccuracy.Match EPSTeam: Launched in 2008, Team is from thesame production line as Tenex and features thesame flat nose and quality features.New Product*****Tenex Pistol: The highest qualitycartridge for semi automatic pistols andrifles, featuring a round nose bullet profile.Match OSP: With a round nose bullet profile,Match OSP has many attributes of Tenex Pistoland offers shooters high accuracy andconsistent functioning.Match Pistol: ‘Softer’ round with reliablefunctioning and high accuracy in many popularpistols. Reduced velocity cartridge.Club: Accurate and reliable mid-rangecartridge used in all disciplines up to50m range. A consistent winner at clubcompetitions.Sport: An affordable general purposecartridge, which is a great quality entrylevel round.Tenex Semi-AutoMatch Semi-AutoRapid FirePistol MatchClub XtraPistol XtraTarget RifleTarget PistolStandardPistol Standardwww.eleyammunition.com**.17 Mach 2: Combining ELEY’s leading edgetechnology and Hornady’s 17 grain V-Max bluetip bullets. Quite simply the best value varmintcartridge available to smallbore shooters.Subsonic Hollow: Super accurate and oneof the quietist subsonic rounds on the market.A lower velocity hunting cartridge with targetshooting accuracy.SubsonicHollow Xtra Plus* Dependant on shooters preference, Firearm manufacturer and setup. ** In suitable firearms only.Please note this is a simple guide illustrating which ELEY products are suitable for different applications. NB Some of our products may also beappropriate for other applications not shown above, this may depend on how Firearms are set up and maintained.Target Shooter 17

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Support your local gun shop‘York Guns’The customer’s view of the retail area on entering showingone part of the clothing displays.John Smith started York Guns up around 30 yearsago as a one-man band. With a passion for, andencyclopaedic knowledge of, vintage and antiquearms, that was a large part of the shop’s originalbusiness alongside the obligatory well-used BSAMartini target rifles and Brno Model 2s. Pistolsand revolvers old and new featured heavily too.After a few years the workforce doubled in sizewith the arrival of Gary Hyde, now the company’smanaging director and grew steadily from thenon, but by the 1990s the original premises weremassively overcrowded at busier times andrestricting further opportunities. Somehow orother, a wholesale supply business was alsobeing run from a desk shoehorned into a perenniallyovercrowded storeroom upstairs. Building andrelocating to a new bespoke shop and tradewarehouse facility on the outskirts of the villageof Dunnington east of York in early 2003 was avital step in meeting John and Gary’s aspirationsfor the business. It provided a huge increase inthe amount of space and a quantum leap in thequality of the ‘retail experience’, saw further rapidexpansion in product lines, staff numbers (now 14),and wholesale activities.others. There is something for nearlyevery clay or game shooter thoughincluding a large choice of usedguns. Around 100 rifles are ondisplay, with yet more storedout of sight. Most are sportingmodels these days, althoughyou’ll find some heavy-barreltactical types and the odd targetmodel. With YGL the country’s mainsupplier of Schmidt & Benderriflescopes, a Zeiss ‘CentrePartner’ and stockist of Leica,Leupold, Nightforce, Burris, Hawkeand Steiner optics, there is plentyof choice in this field too. Nearlyevery employee is a keen and activeshooter, the workforce able to provideexpertise and direct experience in any shooting sport.Most shotguns, rifles and optical goods instock are listed on the company’s website(www.yorkguns.com) the ‘current stock’ sectionupdated weekly, over 90% of the shotguns alsohaving images attached. An online retailing facilityis a recent development.Wholesale or ‘trade sales’ is an importantactivity, all products also offered to shopcustomers too. It encompasses a varied mix ofproducts and price levels providing dealers withsome of the cheapest shotguns going, while at theother extreme, Schmidt & Bender riflescopes offerphenomenal build quality and durability, but cannotbe described as ‘budget’.Recent additions to the product stable include thepopular Muck Boots range of ‘super-wellies’, andYork 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’) modelimminent.The shop provides a full service to the shooter,not just locally, with customers throughout thecountry and abroad. One beneficiary of theincrease in space was clothing, there never havingbeen room for it in the old shop. A big increasein the number of guns and rifles was accompaniedby a move upmarket. YGL is Beretta’s PremiumDealer for the North of England, and holdssimilar status for Browning, Caesar Guerini andYGL’s founder and chairman John Smith.Target Shooter 19

Continental Shooting SuppliesNorth Ayrshire Shooting Ground, Blackstone Farm, Dalry, Ayrshire KA24 5HNTel: 01294 833297 Fax: 01294 833312 e-mail: enquiries@continentalshooting.co.ukContinental Shooting Supplies is based at theNorth Ayrshire Shooting Ground, a first classall-weather facility for the Skeet, Trap andSporting disciplines.We welcome customers to our shop, where afriendly chat and expert advice are alwaysavailable.You can also purchase goods from us by mail order.Our online catalogue can be viewed atwww.continentalshooting.co.uk and orders placed overthe internet.We carry an extensive range of products covering allaspects of shooting including:Calls and whistlesCartridges and cartridge casesClothing and footwearDecoysDog training equipmentGun care materials and repair serviceGun casesHearing protectionKnivesLamping equipmentOpticsRifle accessoriesRecoil reduction padsShotguns and firearms (both new and second hand)If you are looking for something and can not see it onour web site please give us a phone - we usually knowwhere things can be found! Also keep an eye out forour special offers each month.20 Target Shooter

Jackson RiflesParton, Castle Douglas, Scotland DG7 3NLTel: (01644) 470223 Fax: (01644) 470227 jacksonrifles.com• best-selling, proven design - made byEurope's largest manufacturer of high-powerrifle silencers• sleeved over the barrel – model T4 adds only65 mm (2 ½") to overall length of rifle• two-point mounting system resists harsh use• selected by the Forestry Commission to meet the latest European noise at work regulations• low-maintenance all-welded construction with tough parkerized coating - no need for internal cleaning!centre-fire and rim-fire riflesuppressorsNEW NorthStar stainless steel telescopicrifle silencer• Calibres up to 25-06 Rem or 30-06 Spr• Sound reduction -24 to -28 dB(C)• Sleeves over barrel – net length only 100 mm (4")• 47.5 mm diameter, weighs 630 grams• Durable, low-maintenance, matt stainless finishNEW FOR 2009jet-Z CQB & COMPACT• Calibres up to 25-06 Rem or 300 Win Mag• Advanced ultra-compact muzzle-mounted design• Sound attenuation -26 to -32 dB(C), according tocalibre• 40 mm dia., 520 g (CQB) - 560 g (COMPACT)• Adds only 125 or 150 mm to length of rifle barrelShoot to winJewell Triggersfor Remington,Winchester,AR-15 andcompetitionriflesJackson RiflesCG-Universal2-stage triggerfor Remington,Mauser, and TikkariflesTIMNEY MFG. INC.for Browning,CZ, Mauser,Remington,Ruger, Sako,Weatherby &Winchester riflesSAK-ProductsAir Rifle/Rimfire silencer• Excellent performance on 22LR and rifles up to .17 and .22 magnum rimfire• Black or silver - standard ½"x20 UNF or ½"x28 UNEF thread• 34 mm diameter, 160 grams, adds only 130 mm to length of rifleTarget Shooter 21We are happy to give advice and information to retail customers, but we only supply the tradeJackson Rifles is a division of Forge Consulting Ltd, RFD 108 (Dumfries & Galloway)ts0904

Vince BottomleyBasic Rifle MaintenanceWe mentioned the possibility of an article coveringbasic rifle maintenance in the April issue of TargetShooter and enough of you responded to make it areality, so here goes.We’ll keep it simple and restrict it at this stage to thecentrefire bolt-action rifle and we will start with thebolt itself.The bolt is a key part of our rifle. Not only does it closethe breech, sealing the pressure-chamber, it alsoextracts the fired case and provides ignition viathe firing-pin striking the primer. It is this latterfunction that concerns us most when it comes tomaintenance.Lock-time - the time taken for the firing-pin to strikepicture onethe primer after we have pulled the trigger - ismeasured in milli-seconds. Even though thelock-time is unimaginably small, movement of therifle can occur in this time-period and if it does,accuracy will obviously suffer. Clearly, a fastlock-time is desirable - even more desirable with ahand-held rifle, where movement is more likely tooccur.A number of factors will influence lock-timebut the one that we can do something aboutis the firing-pin/spring assembly. But first, let’sdismantle our bolt. Most bolts are designed toeasily ‘field-strip’ and even if our featured boltsare different from your rifle, you’ll be surprisedwhat you can find on the internet. (In less than aminute I had a YouTube video of a Mauser bolt strip).The spring assembly usually screws into the mainbolt-body (e.g.Remington, Winchester, Stolle) butsome 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 isone of the most popular and I just happen to betrouble-shooting a light-striking problem with one.Using a suitable stripping tool, we can compressthe spring and easily unscrew the firing-pin/springassembly. We now have two parts – picture two -22 Target Shooter

picture twoput the spring assembly to one side and we’ll dealwith the bolt-body first.The problem here is the likelihood of crudaccumulating deep down inside the narrow passagethat guides the firing-pin. Gases blow back throughthe firing-pin hole and if you’ve ever pierced aprimer, this is where the small metal disc ends up. Anaerosol of auto carburettor cleaner (Halfords) isuseful here . Spray inside the body and swill outthe 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. Whilstyou’re at it, spray the bolt-face with the cleaner –particularly around the extractor and ejector pin.Depress the pin a few times to makesure it’s running free. If you havepicture threeaccess to an air-line, give it a blastinside and out and the job is done.a very small amount ofgrease on the threads orbayonet prior toassembly.Picture three, below,shows the angledcocking ramp. Thisshould be completelyfree of burrs to ensuresmooth operation. Youcan put a tiny dab ofgrease on the ramp.That’s it, apart froma visual inspection tosee that the pin is notunduly worn or bent andthere are no signs of rustanywhere. Dry off anyexcess WD40 withkitchen roll andre-assemble using thestripping tool tocompress the spring.The bolt is now ready to use but don’t forget togrease the back of the bolt-lugs lightly and a tinybit 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 bitfurther with our Remington as we have a problem.Light-strikes can be due to a number of things:Firing-pin protrusion: Generally we are lookingfor something around 0.05 inches (fifty thou.) TheRemmy 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-pinNow for the spring assembly. I’mintending to fully dismantle theRemington spring assembly asthere is a problem with light-strikesbut for normal maintenance it’snot necessary and we are simplygoing to clean the spring-assemblywith our aerosol carb. cleaner toremove all traces of crud and grease.We do not want ANY grease or oilon the spring or pin – it will causedrag and increase lock-time! Again,dry off with an air-line if you haveone. A light spray with WD40 is allwe need – no oil or grease on thespring or pin please! You can putTarget Shooter 23

picture fourpicture fiveprotrusion – leaving a small gap between the boltfaceand case-head but when the go-gauge wasinserted, headspace was spot-on. Again, if you overbumpthe cases on re-sizing, it will shorten them andexhibit the same problem as excessive headspace.Primer problem: This is rare but not unknown soworth checking. Duff primers are uncommon but ifthey get damp or oil on them, they won’t fire. Theremedy is to replace a few primers and try again. Ipopped out the CCI primers (using a Lee universalde-priming die) and replaced them with Federal –no difference. There was an indentation from thefiring-pin impact but not quite enough to fire the primer.On taking the pin and spring apart, the problem isrevealed. Moisture has found its way into the bolt andthe pin is rusty. Look at picture five and you can seethat corrosion is particularly bad under the spring (I’dactually cleaned off the excess rust with steel-woolbefore this pic was taken) but we are more concernedwith the bit that slides inside the shroud. It’s a closefit and the light corrosion was causing the pin to dragvery slightly – enough to cause an ignition problem.The rifle had been laid up over the winter, allowingthe corrosion to form. A good clean with wet ‘n’ drypaper soon had it looking as good as new and alight application of WD40 will prevent re-occurrence.Whilst the bolt was in pieces, it was a simple jobto fit a new spring. Springs for the popular riflesare available from www.brownells.com for a fewdollars - picture eight. For a few dollars more, youcan buy a slightly stronger (longer) one which will intheory give you a shorter lock-time. It arrived withina week!One last thing to check - particularly if your rifle isn’tas accurate as you think it should be. Check that bothbolt-lugs are making contact with the action lugs. Thepictures si x and seven24 Target Shooter

know what could be causingthe accuracy problem.picture eightinnovative may09.qxd 3/26/2009 11:03 AM Page 1back of both lugs should appear shiny. If one looksshiny but the other doesn’t, there’s not a lot you cando about it – it’s really a machining job to true ‘em upand it probably isn’t worth the cost as you could end uphaving to adjust the headspace but at least youFinally, never store your rifle withthe bolt cocked or the springwill soon lose its tension. If youprefer to leave the bolt in therifle, close it on an emptychamber and pull the trigger toun-cock it. If you store the boltseparately – best for safety –de-cock it by twisting the shroudto drop the pin. Re-cock usingthe stripping tool. Bolt strippingtools for popular actions can beobtained from SinclairInternational in America. www.sinclairintl.com Barnard boltscome apart without any tools, asdo RPA and Savage – exceptfor an Allen-key. In the absenceof a stripping tool, you can improvise (see picturessi x and seven) with a bit of wire and a washer (or 5pcoin) in the case of Remington bolts!More basic rifle maintenance next month.We offer a range of custom or stand alone courses includingTactical Firearms Training: Pistol, Shotgun & Assault Rifle,Radio & Communication Skills - GPS/Navigation Courses - Multiple Weapon SkillsUrban & Remote Location Survival Courses - Armed Security & CP Operative Coursesinc, CCW, Crime Scene Preservation & Reporting.Held outdoors in Arizona, USA, our courses are designed and run to suit our clients’ needs andrequirements in terms of content, duration, student numbers and budgetNews Flash: We can now offer 3 day firearms courses at all levels for sig pistol and other firearmsin Switzerland. multiple weapon courses also available. Priority given to military, CP and police.Check website for detailsWe specialize in providing situational and task orientated training and skills (from basic to advanced) thatindividuals and groups such as Security, C.P. Operatives, Military and Police based personnel now require toenable them to operate and survive in today’s uncertain and often hostile environment.Beginners & interested civilians welcome - No previous training or experience requiredFor further information in strictest confidence please contact us at info@train2survive.comTel: + 44 (0) 800 655 6299Firearms Training - GPS & Radio - Security Operatives - Medical - Survival - Team Work - TacticsTRAINING SURVIVORSwww.train2survive.comTarget Shooter 25Target Shooter 25

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Thurnscoe Rifle Club Mini Rifle CompetitionBy Ross BurroughSunday 19th April saw the first Mini Riflecompetition held at Thurnscoe Rifle Club locateda couple of miles from South Yorkshire ShootingSupplies between Barnsley and Doncaster. Originallya range built for the Home Guard during the war andsince purchased by the club, the range is outdoor andoffers ranges up to 100yds catering for .22 rifle, AirRifle, and Black powder pistol. The club also has sharedMini Rifle in actionaccess to a 100m full-bore range used once a month.Mini Rifle was introduced as an alternative topractical pistol shooting after the handgun banbut for unknown reasons has never achieved thestatus or popularity of the previous discipline. Thecompetition naturally lends itself to .22 semi auto riflesand various types including the Browning Buckmark,obligatory Ruger 10/22 and, increasingly, the newGSG-5 (.22 MP5 replica) are evident at competitions.Earlier this year some of the guys from Thurnscoevisited Worcester Norton Shooting Club on oneof their Mini Rifle Open Shoots to take part andhopefully learn how to stage competitions ofthis type at our own club. Bob Oakley and theguys at Worcester Norton gave us a warmwelcome and gave us a great days shooting duringwhich we learnt all about the Mini Rifle disciplineincluding safety procedures, courses of fire, targets, andscoring. Worcester Norton run these competitionson a regular basis and are extremely experiencedin setting up safe and challenging courses whichprove to be great fun. On our return to Yorkshirewe began the process of gathering the requiredinstructions and equipment necessary to stage thistype of competition ourselves. Sunday saw thisproject come to fruition when we held our firstcompetition.Although starting off overcast the sun graduallyburnt through giving us a rarity in Yorkshire thatbeing a warm sunny day. The range had beenprepared and 3 separate stages set out ready forthe thirteen competitors taking part. After the RangeAction Safety Plan had been communicated to theshooters a walkthrough of the first stage took place.The main aim of this discipline is to challenge theshooter by introducing obstacles and differentshooting stances. The shooter is accompaniedthrough each course by a Range Officer whoensures that the competitor follows all safety andcompetition procedures. The course of fire is timedwith the total points scored divided by the time takento give a final score for the competition. Go too fastand you can loose accuracy or go too slowly andincrease the time taken, the idea is to achieve ahappy medium to give the best overall result.Preplanning also becomes important as somecourses require magazine changes which canextended your time if you are caught by surprisehalfway through shooting a string.The competition started at around 10am and finishedjust before 2pm. The overall results were as follows:1st Dave Wylde 327 points2nd Jeff Steed 292 points3rd Mark Hardcastle 280 points.Full stage results available at www.freewebs.com/thurnscoerifleclubThe main aim of the day was realised aseverybody who took part expressed their enjoymentand are now looking forward to the next competition.This was initially set for June but due to popularityanother may now be staged next month. Ourthanks go to Bob, Gareth and all the guys atWorcester Norton for introducing and instructing usin this challenging and addictive shooting discipline.Prizegiving at the match28 Target Shooter

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Outdoor Air rifle sports – Starter Equipment Part 2In issue number 1 of Target Shooter magazine wehad a look at the possible starter air rifles for oneto pursue outdoor disciplines mainly, Field Target,Hunter Field Target and Air Rifle Bench Rest. NowWhich scope to get ? You need astarter scope capable of handlineboth ft and hft.that we took a decision on the type of air rifle topurchase, it’s time to decide the scope to fit. Thescope requirements vary between FT, HFT and AirRifle Bench Rest disciplines. We must first understandthese requirments before attempting to purchasean all rounder scope, so as not to be disappointed.In HFT you require a scope that is able to show youclearly at target from distances of 7 yards to 41 yards,without adjusting the parallax. This means that rangefinding through parallax adjustment is not possible.One can’t dial in the turrets for the target range. AnHFT a scope must have low magnification to allowclear view of all target ranges and a visual capabilityto aid the shooter in estimating the range of a knowntarget size. The shooter must also have means to30 Target ShooterHawke Varmint scopes are a goodchoice amoungst airgunners.Stanley Shawdetermine 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 allfunctions of a scope. Here one can use parallaxadjustment to determine the target range and useturrets to dial in zero for each range. The shooterin FT is able to manipulate any magnification thatsuits him for all targets in ranges between 10 to50 meters. The FT shooter would require a scopethat is capable of providing him with accuraterange estimation at a high magnification for moreaccuracy. He would prefer a side wheel parallaxadjustment. This design is more ergonomic thenfront objective lens focusing bell which issometimes hard to reach when shouldering the airrifle. This side wheel parallax adjustment allowsthe shooter to keep target in sight whilst finetuning on the focusing to get the best range indication.In Bench Rest like FT the shooter is able to utilizehis scope to the full. However Bench Restscoring targets are static at a one known measureddistance so there will not be the need to focus orfind the range for each shot. The bench restshooter is more inclined to use turrets to fine tunehis shots on target at a high magnification. He needsto do this by dialing in or calculate from reticulethe POI according to the wind direction andconditions developing during his shooting time. Highmagnification and crisp image enables the benchrest shooter to clearly define the scoring ringsoutline on targets at set ranges of 25 or 50 meters.The novice target shooter will ask, ifthere a scope that I can be used forall these disciplines? The answer isYES. However the huge diversity ofscopes on the market will confuseone instantly. We will be discussingsome scopes that are ideal asstarter scopes, but before wemention specific scopes we shouldconcentrate on scope features whichone need to know before purchasinga the best possible all rounder scope.

scope mounts. one piece mounts are a must onspring air rifles.Most scopes will be featured with strange numbersfor example 6-24X44 or 10X50. This is a way todefine the scope magnification and lens diameter.The first number or two numbers separated by adash (-) is referring to the scope magnification. A6-24 means that the scope has a variable zoomfrom 6 to 24 times. A single number means thatthe scope has a fixed zoom for example 10 times.A 10X magnification scope in theory must showyou the image 10 times closer then when viewedwith the naked eye. The number followed by theX sign is the objective lens diameter. The biggerthe diameter of the objective lens, the more lightwill reach your eye. This results in a brighterimage. Scopes manufacturers will specify also theTube Diameter. The most common is the 25mmand the 30mm. The tube diameter is referring tothe central tube dimension. Here the light enteringthe objective lens is converged onto the reticuleand finally towards the eye bell lens. The biggerthe tube the more bright and crisp is the image.The next very important feature is the MOA(minute of angle) setting. There are 3 typesavailable the ½” at 100 Yards, ¼” at Yards and1/8” @ 100 Yards. Without going in detailedexplanation of MOA this means the distancechanged in point of impact (POI) of a projectile whenthe turret is moved by 1 click at a fixed range. Ona ½” @ 100Yards scope one click moves the pointof impact by ½ “ at 100 yards. 2 clicks on the samescope will shift the POI by 1” always at 100 yards.This also means that at 200 yards, 1 click shifts thePOI by 1” and at 400 yards 1 click shifts the POIby 2”. The same scope requires 4 clicks to shift 1”at 50 yards. A scope which has a setting of 1/8” at100 yards requires 8 clicks to shift the POI by 1 “at100yards. At 400 yards this scope requires 2 clicksto shift 1”. The same scope requires 16 clicks toshift 1” at 50 yards. This automatically shows youthat a 1/8” MOA scope give you more fine tuningcapabilities on your POI at far and close ranges. Allthe rest displayed in the specifications of a scope arecosmetic or quality features available for the scope.So what should one look for in a starter scope?1. Variable magnification and parallax thatallows us to see clearly with with the lowestmagnification targets as close as 7 yards and as faras 41 yards. (HFT)2. A variable magnification and parallax thatallows us to see at a higher magnification targetsbetween 10 and 50 meters.(FT)3. A reliable Parallax that is accurate enough ata particular magnification.(FT)4. An MOA setting that can give us the flexibilityof finer tuning in our scope zeroing. (BR)5. A crisp clear image. Lens quality – ScopeFor Air Rifle BR – quality over gadgets. good magnification (min 24x) & a clear image (min 44mmobjective lens and min 1” tube). avoid ½” @ 100 yard for air rifle short range shooting. ¼” moa isa good choice, 1/8” moa is better.Target Shooter 31

Scope turrets. ½’ – ¼ “ – 1/8“ moa to fine tune your pointof impact.Quality. (FT,HFT,BR)6. A reticule that enables us to determine thepoint of impact at all ranges from 7 yards to 50meters. (HFT-FT-BR)7. A reticule that enables us to determine thetarget distance by comparison.(HFT)Now we know what exactly we are looking for theproblem is the price range window. Scope can beas cheap as dirt or more expensive then the air rifleit self. Here you need to take a certain approachin your decision. Remember you decided to get astarter air rifle. It doesn’t make sense to purchasea top notch scope costing 3 or 4 times as much assuffer. A cheap scope on a spring air rifle without thecorrect mounts can easily be destroyed in less then100 shots. The following condensed specificationswill give you good results in all the 3 disciplines.1. Helium filled scope.2. Variable Magnification from 6 to 24 times(minimum).3. Objective diameter 44 mm (minimum).4. Tube diameter of at least 25mm (minimum).5. MOA of ¼ “ @ 100Y (minimum).6. A mil-dot reticule.7. Sunshade.If you are mounting a scope on a spring air rifle gofor less cosmetic features and concentrate on builtquality. If a PCP air rifle is what you have, then onecan afford to go for slightly less quality build, and morecosmetic features, but be careful. Always use a good1 piece mount for springers and have good mountsfor PCP’s. Mount manufacturers like Sportsmatchor Hawke are good enough on sub 12ftlbs air rifles.Various scope manufacturers offer a goodselection of scope in this price range,Nikko Stirling Platinum Nighteater 6-24x56 &Hawke Varmint II 6-24x44 are two of the bestentries, can install with a certain assuranceon springers and PCP’s. If you bought astarter PCP system and would like to installan exotic variable high magnificationscope, with side wheel parallaxadjustment that is impressively accurateat its maximum magnification, includessniper type turrets with 1/8” MOA clicks,a 30 mm tube plus an illuminated Mil Dotreticule, including a side wheel and a sunshade get a ZOS 10-40X50 AE scope.This is “a made in China scope” like mostbig name scopes anyway, but it offersvalue for money.your air rifle! After all you’re shooting your air rifle atranges not longer then 50 meters. Go for the 1/3 ruleit works quite fine. If you invested £360 in an air rifleget a scope within a price range of £120.You will encounter a lot of scopes, all withdifferent specs for the same value,however we can narrow our searchfurther by applying our basicrequirements. The scope choice alsodepends on the type of air rifle youpurchased. A scope on a PCP willnot sustain any damage from recoil.However a scope on a spring air rifle will32 Target ShooterIn the next issue we will startsetting up our air rifle – scopecombination and explore thedifferent tests we need to carry out to understandbetter our air rifle and the right pellet combinationrequired in outdoor air rifle target shooting.Zos scopes not a bad starterchoice for pcp air rifles

Target Shooter 33

LEE ENFIELD No5 Mk1 JUNGLE CARBINERichard WildThe Lee Enfield rifle Number 5 Mark 1 carries withit a curious mixture of romanticism and mystic. TheJungle Carbine brings with it a reputation for brutalrecoil and a wandering zero that often makes accurateshooting a frustrating exercise bordering on cruelty.The Jungle Carbine is the epitome of Georgianmilitary beauty. Conceived of during the greydays of World War Two, it carries with it echoes ofa more extravagant era. The finer aspects of rifleaesthetics rarely impact on the design of militaryrifles, let alone on the design of a rifle whose keydevelopment period occurred in the last 12 – 18months of the Second World War.A Design EnigmaHowever, the little carbine carries an air of viciousbeauty. From the flash hider, which provides littleThe Mk. 5 Jungle Carbine (above) is a ruggedand attractive military rifle but brings with it areputation for brutal recoil and a wandering zerothat can make accurate shooting a frustratingexercise. Keen observers will note asuccessful 1Bn Green Howards patrol takenduring the Malaya Emergency, June 1952.more than an aesthetic embellishment and mayactually erode accuracy, to the lightened receiverthat flexes under high pressure cordite loads, to thehard rubber recoil pad that magnifies felt recoil, the.303 Jungle Carbine appears built for its menacingmilitary appeal than its ability to produce accuracy.Nevertheless, the Jungle Carbine has a numberof characteristics that should make it popular withthe Infantry, especially those operating in the densejungles of Southeast Asia. And when on militaryoperations in dense, dark rain forests, battling steepThe lineage of the Jungle Carbine can clearly be seen whencompared with a Martini-Enfield and Lee Metford cavalrycarbine. (Photo by Daniel Cotterill)Target Shooter 35

A close up view of the Jungle Carbine receiver. A simple bedding technique using lightcarboard holds the action tight in the stock. The pink colour produces a tighter hold.out to 500 yards but recoil and muzzle flash wereconsidered “excessive”. After further troop trials toaddress problems with muzzle flash and endurance,the design of the “jungle carbine” was approvedon 21 March 1944 - less than a year afterthe concept was proposed. The official designationof Mk. V was announced in the List of Changes on12 September 1944.A Lightened RifleThe Jungle Carbine is truly a lightened version ofthe No. 4 rifle and a true No. 5 immediately standsout against any after-market builds. Non-essentialmetal has been removed from the No. 4 build whereeverpossible. The knox-form, where the barrel joinsthe action, is scalloped while parts of the action hashadmetal removed. The bolt handle on the JungleCarbine has also been drilled out. Disassembley ofthe carbine also exposes the amount of extra woodthat has been removed. Space under the barrelchannel has been routed out and the butt stock notonly has a shorter screw holding it to the action, ithas also been substantially hollowed.Myths and Misconceptions - RecoilThe recoil pad is a contradiction in both terms anddesign. Logically, a softer and larger recoil padwould be the best option but rubber technology atthe time could not survive the rigours of militarylife. The option that became standard is harderand thinner at the butt than required and actuallymagnifies perceived recoil due to its wedge-like shape.Other problems were encountered once the rifleentered service in the tropics. Storing the rifles in aconventional manner caused the rubber tocompress. The oils of the time also caused therubber to deteriorate over time. But the recoilgenerated by a No. 5 using service ammunition isno more severe than a No1 MkIII* with its brass buttplate – for the odd angry shot or two. Both will bruiseafter a while but the Jungle Carbine will no morebreak shoulders than a similar weight rifle in 308.Barrel LifeHot cordite rounds in the MkVIIz with corrosiveBerdan primers will wear the lighter barrel of theJungle Carbine out faster than a No. 4 used in asimilar fashion. Troop trials suggest that maximumuseful barrel life is between 6000 and 12000 rounds.Bearing in mind the service that the average surplusJungle Carbine has seen, a check of your barrel’scondition in the lead up to any load testing is advisable.Target Shooter 37

The Jungle Carbine bayonet. A Bowie design and acollectors’ delight when found in good condition.Wandering ZeroThe biggest challenge to working with the JungleCarbine is its habit of wandering around thetarget. This “wandering zero” at long range isinteresting to watch and the author has recordeda perfect figure of eight pattern that emergedduring a 12 shot Deliberate application at 300 yards.There are two main causes for this habit andmany more theories. The first is the use ofpowerful 303 loads in a lighter action. Loads thatshoot well in the thicker steel of the No. 4 actionappear to cause the body of the No. 5 to flex at a pointaround where the locking shoulders are located.The simple solution when shooting Mk. VIIammunition is to replace the No. 5 action with a No. 4action. But then you don’t have a Jungle Carbineanymore.The second cause of inaccuracy, and perhaps themost serious, is the use of the bell-shaped flasheliminator. The flash eliminator we see is theproduct of wartime conditions and was designed,tested and approved in period of less than six months.If the Mk. 5 design was under scrutiny today, thereis little doubt that a different design would emerge.In the first place, the flash eliminator acts like apiece of plasticine on the end of a tuning fork.In effect it interferes with the harmonics of thebarrel and means the bullet is more likely to leave themuzzle at a different point in space from shot to shot.In addition, the bell shape “rings” when struck andwould appear to set up a different harmonic field atthe end of the light and whippy barrel during rapidfire. While this is important to create the turbulanceand extra burn area needed to break up thegases that cause the muzzle flash, more modernoptions are lighter in both profile and design andprobably would not affect the basic accuracy of therifle. Removal of the flash eliminator is supposed totighten groups and remove much of the zero’srandom wandering. If you wish to remove the flasheliminator from the barrel be aware that the pinsenter from different sides with the one closest to themuzzle entering from the right and the pin closestto the action entering from the left. Be preparedto find light corrosion in the join but this shouldpolish up well with oil and fine wet & dry paper.Reloading for the Jungle CarbineWith hand loading these days, however, thereis an alternative to being beaten black and bluewith expensive surplus ammunition. With theavailability of light bullets in .311 produced for the7.62 x 39 cartridge as well as pistol bullets in 32calibre we have a range of suitable candidatesto begin experimenting with. However, with 60plus year old, rear locking and wartime productionactions it is important that the reloader make surethat their rifle is up to the loads being developed.For burn rate comparisions with Australian powderscited below see: www.reloadbench.com/burn.html.The lightened carbine load owes its genesis to thedifferences in recoil between Martini-Henry rifle andthe carbine version. It was found that shooting theshorter, lighter carbine with the 480 grain bullet and85 grains of black powder designed for the rifle didnothing for accuracy or morale of the troops using it.The introduction of a less harsh loading using a 410grain bullet and 70 grains of black powder went a longway to making a more user-friendly unit. Furthermore,either load could be used in the rifle and the carbine.The aim to develop an workable load with the JungleCarbine was similar. Find a load that would shootaccurately with acceptable recoil that would deliverthe required results in either military rifle competitionor in the field.There are three different jacketed bullet weightsworth spending time experimenting with andwhich will cover the needs of most shooters. Thelightest bullet for the 303 is the 85 grain XTP pistolbullets from Hornady. Speer 125 grain soft points,38 Target Shooter

and 150 grain Taipan hollow points appear to fallinto the ideal weight range for use in the carbine.The aim was to find a load that would duplicate orexceed the results of the 174 grain Sierra Matchkingload shot from a competition tuned No1 MkIII* witha new Lithgow heavy barrel. This load averages2360 fps from the longer barrel. All groups would betested at 50 yards using a four power scope mountedin a set of Cad-Technic mounts. The object was toduplicate “jungle distances” and see how the carbinewould perform at the close ranges it was designedfor. Unfortunately, groups hovered around the 12inch mark at this distance using the original barrel.Good examples of Jungle Carbine barrels doexist but be prepared to spend both time andmoney finding one. Barrels produced during the1946 production run have a Proof mark on themand a good example is worth grabbing. Fitting thebarrel is easy but if the rifle has seen tropicalservice the action will be tight and a pressure ringneeds to be cut into the Knox form to relieve tension.Test ResultsHornady 85 grain XTP: This is the land of pureexperimentation. No loading data exists for thisprojectile in this cartridge and so I set off intothe unknown watching intently for the signs ofdanger. Two powders were used: 13 grains of AP-100pistol powder with a dacron filler and 40.5 grainsof AR2206. AP-100 averaged 1870 fps and wasvery pleasant to shoot. The AR2206 load averaged2640 fps. Recoil during the test session was notunpleasant and fast follow-up shots were possible.Speer 125 grain soft points: These are beautifullydesigned and manufactured projectiles originallyintended for SKS and SKK reloaders after betterballistic performance than offered by ex-militaryammunition. The load used with this bullet wasmade up of 43 grains of AR2208 which averaged2350 fps. Recoil during the test session wasnoticable and fast follow-up shots were possible.Taipan 150 grain hollow points: Weighinghalfway between the Speers and the SierraMatchkings these bullets appear to offer a goodheavy weight alternative for shooting out to 300metres as well as hunting the larger species ofgame. Using 43 grains of AR2208, this loadaveraged 2200 fps. Recoil during the test sessionwas intense and fast follow-up shots were notpossible. (Taipans are an Australian manufacturedbullet).The top view of the receiver with the forewood removed. There is a different sightgraduated to 800 yards instead of 1300 yards for the No4 and count the lighteninggroves in the action and knox form.Target Shooter 39

Sierra 174 grain Match: This is the load used ina competition-tuned SMLE. Using 39.1 grains ofAR2208, this load averaged 1980 fps or a loss of 370fps in the shorter barrel. Recoil during the testsession was mild and fast follow-up shots werepossible. 185 grain lead: Bang, poof. A cloud of leadjust beyond the muzzle. More work needed.Using pistol powder offered a possible low recoilalternative to heavy loads. When coupled with the125 grain and 150 grain bullets a load of 12.5 grainsof AP-100 with a cotton wool wad produced anaccurate short range load that had very little recoil.The 125 grain Speer soft points gave the bestaccuracy with inch groups at 50 metres. They alsorecorded a decent velocity of 1100 fps. With sucha small amount of fast burning powder in the largecase it is extremely important that a filler is usedotherwise ignition and pressure problems will occur.ConclusionThe Mk.V Jungle Carbine was rushed intoservice at the end of a six year World War withlittle testing and a poor understanding of theconditions it would see service in. If history is tobe any judge then the Jungle Carbine was a failureas a military weapon. But then, the introduction ofthe SLR into British service in 1957, increased thefirepower for the infantry and consigned the militarybolt action rifle to highly specialised roles.But many of its characteristics are being reinventedtoday. Jeff Cooper’s Scout carbine concept sharesmany of the basic concepts developed for the JungleCarbine in its light weight and simplicity. With thebenefit of hindsight, a Jungle Carbine designedtoday would have a different flash suppressor ormaybe a muzzle brake and a stronger action. Butmany of the things in the existing design, its portabilityand its pointability stand out, would remain the same.Email : stuart@ospreyrifles.comTel : 0161 4083555Osprey Rifles‘The Savage Specialists’We still have a limited supply of precision target actionsfor sale at £500 for your next custom project. The newRRP is £920 so grab a bargain while you canURL : www.ospreyrifles.com40 Target Shooter

Chris PotterCountry SportsOver 900 new & used guns in stock at any time.Shotguns, Centrefire, rim & air rifles.Large clothing & footwear departments.From world class shooters to beginners - we can help.Expert advice and guidance!Visit our webshop – WWW.GUN.CO.UKor call us on 01892 5222082-6 Grover StreetOff Camden RoadRoyal Tunbridge WellsKENT TN1 2QBTEL: 01892 522 208FAX: 01892 543 515EMAIL: MAIL@GUN.CO.UKWWW.GUN.CO.UKTarget Shooter 41

HPS Target Rifles LimitedThe Home of System Gemini EquipmentandTarget Master AmmunitionVisit our Home page:www.hps-tr.comSystem Gemini TR701 and TR702 Fullbore Rifle Stocks, FR703 SmallboreRifle Stocks, FC704 F-Class/Bench Rest Rifle Stocks, Butt Plates, Handstops,Bipods and Other Accessories plus Smallbore and Fullbore Test Rigs.SYSTEM GEMINI – FOR TOP CLASS SHOOTINGfor a list of this year’strade shows that HPSwill be attending.On Bisley Camp:The NRA Armoury stocksour .223 Rem Sierra 69 & 77grain & our .308 Win Sierra190 grain ammunition.The NSRA shop stocks our .223Rem Sierra 69 grain & our .308Win Sierra 155 grain & 175grain ammunition.HPS is an HSE LicensedCommercial Manufacturer ofammunition since 1993.All HPS ammunition is CIPapproved, packaged andlabelled according to UNregulations for UK andInternational Transport.HPS are also Liability Insured.HPSB RIN GIN G Q UA LITY A N DI N NO VA TIO N TO THE S HO O TERPO Box 308Quedgeley, GloucestershireEngland GL2 2YFTarget Master Ammunition:The stock range currently comprises:.223 Rem., .308 Win., .303 British, 6mm BRRemington/Norma.Machine or Hand Loaded all using Sierra asour standard bullet.However, other makes of bullets such as (but not restricted to):Berger, Tubb D-Tac , Lapua, Hornady, Speer, Nosler, etc. can be suppliedupon request.Other calibres to special order including: (but not limited to):22-250, .243 Win, 6.5 x 47, 6.5 x 55, 6.5 x 284, 7mm WSM, 7.62 x 39,7.62 x 54R, .300 Win Magnum., 300 WSM, and .338 Lap Magnum.All ammunition available in minimum lots of 50 rounds, 400, 500, 800 or 1000round containers, depending on calibre.Also:HPS TARGET MASTER - WHEN YOU WANT THE VERY BESTReloading components:CHECK OUT OUR VERYCOMPETITIVE VIHTAVUORIPOWDER PRICES !Traditional WoodenStocks, Rifle Barrels and ActionsPoint Master Shooting MatsGloves, Caps, Slings, Gun Bags, Rifle Boxes,Weatherwriters, CapesTel: +44 (0) 1452 729 888 RPA and Centra Parts & AccessoriesFax: +44 (0) 1452 729 894 Complete Rifles Built to Customer Specifications PlusE-mail: info@hps-tr.com Re-Barrelling, Full Rifle Servicing, Repairs, andRefurbishment ServiceWebsite: 42 www.hps-tr.com Target Shooter

New Rifle Actions from RG Rifles ScotlandVince BottomleyWhen I heard that Scottish gunsmith andbenchrest shooter, Russ Gall, was building hisown actions, you can imagine I got just a littlebit excited.Of course, there are dozens of action-makersin the world – the major manufacturers likeRemington and Winchester for example but yourarely find their products forming the basis ofan accurate competition rifle. Why not? It’s alldown to design – and to apply that design, youneed knowledge. Manufacturers may have theknowledge but their objective is usually steeredtowards a ‘do-all’ product for price-drivenhunting market. Yes, their products will ‘do thejob’ but unfortunately, the ‘job’ isn’t winningbenchrest matches! That would mean workingto far higher tolerances than mass-productionallows.Irrespective of tolerances, most ‘factory’actions just aren’t stiff enough to carry aheavy barrel and if the action flexes during thefiring-cycle, accuracy obviously suffers. Onceyou cut a massive hole in the bottom of theaction for a magazine and then complimentit with an over-size feed/ejection port, thereis very little metal left to resist distortion andunfortunately, there are few solid-bottommass-produced actions out there. Admittedly,Savage Arms have woken up to this glaringlyobvious fact and now offer a solid-bottomTarget Shooter 43

action with tiny ejection-port. Not only that,Savage will sell their ‘target’ action separatelyand have made them available to shooters atreasonable cost. Rifles built on these actionstend to shoot very well.Incidentally, I’ll point out at this stage thatthe Savage target action has just had amassive price-hike but I happen to know thatOsprey Rifles have two or three left at theold price of £500 which includes a trigger.Subsequent actions are likely to cost 70% more!E-mail stuart@ospreyrifles.com if you want one.The Savages are still a mass-producedproduct however and stiffness is only partof the problem we need to address if we areto design an action for ultimate accuracy. Inddition to stiffness and trueness, we needprecise bolt to body fit, good support for thebarrel-tenon, provision for a quality trigger, adecent bedding-area and perfect ‘timing’ andlock-up.Some may question the wisdom of launchingany expensive ‘luxury’ item in today’s climate –44 Target Shooterespecially shooting-related but, most gunsmithswith any sort of reputation report full order booksand because 90% of custom actions currentlyemanate from the US, Russ is able to takeadvantage of the weak pound which is forcingup the price of American sourced products bya significant amount. In addition, a swingeing$2500 license is now mandatory for Americanfirearms exporters.Russ has represented his country World levelin Benchrest competition and he has also builtrifles for many UK benchrest shooters – whatbetter pedigree could we ask of an actiondesigner/manufacturer?His new actions followconventional two-lug design and are made onhis Haas CNC machines. A selection of actionssuitable for various applications are now in thepipeline.Although disciplines like benchrest and F Classare the destination for many custom-actions,there is also a big market for the foxing-rifle –or accurate ‘field’ rifle. You don’t need to be acompetition shooter to enjoy using a fine rifle andif you are having a new rifle built, you will needto source an action from somewhere! Little point

in choosing a rattley old Remy – yes, it mightsave you a few pounds but the second-handvalue of a rifle built on a Remington will be nowherenear that of one built on a proper custom action.Remember, once you have your custom action, itcan be re-barrelled and re-stocked ad infinitum.In the pictures are two of Russ’s actions - onesingle-shot with heavy tang area suitablefor competition rifles and one repeater withRemington-pattern tang and magazinecut-out which would form the basis of anaccurate field rifle. Both are 8” long and designedto take the shorter cartridges. A long action andmini action for PPC/BR cartridges will follow.A Gall action starts life as a lump of 17/4 PHstainless-steel, which is hardened to 39Rockwell before machining to 1.36 inches indiameter. The raceways and internal cam areEDM cut. The tenon-thread is the popular 1.0625inches in diameter by 18 tpi as used on manyUS custom actions and they will accept anyRemington style trigger. The Remington-patternaction will accept bottom-metal designed for aRemmy and employs a pinned recoil-lug. Thereceivers are drilled and tapped 6 x 48 for scopebases.The bolt is machined from one piece ofhigh-carbon EN30B tool steel. It starts off asa 10 lb. block which produces two 8 oz. boltscomplete with handle. These are heat-treated to45 Rockwell after rough machining then groundto final dimensions. A Sako-style extractorand spring-plunger ejector are employed. Thebolt-face is offered in 223, 308, PPC andmagnum, with stainless-steel shroud and flutedbody.All work is done by Russ in-house with theexception of the EDM work and heat-treatment.The recoil-lugs and firing-pins are sourcedfrom Pacific Tool & Gauge – for the moment.As you can see from the photographs, theactions have gone well beyond the prototypestage but there are still one or two minor issuesto be addressed before Russ is totally happywith his product and he will not release theseactions until he is 100% satisfied. However, hehopes to be in full production later in the yearand he is currently building himself a 1000yard benchgun and a 100 yard benchgun toshow-case his actions and you can bet thatTarget Shooter will be first with a review. Meanwhile,check out Russ’s website at www.rgrifles.comABSOLUTE PRECISIONRPA InterceptorRPA RangerRPA EliteProbably the most accurate rifle you will ownwww.rpainternational.co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 845 880 3222Target Shooter 45

SYLWESTER LOS; up and coming ChampionHayley PlattsSYLWESTER LOSREPRESENTING THE RODING RIFLE &PISTOL CLUBSylwester came to the UK in 2005 havingalready succeeded at the highest levels inshooting. Sylwester’s shooting career beganaged 9 in Poland having grudgingly landeda place on the school team for the nationalprimary school league. Finding the sportenjoyable and challenging Sylwester eventuallyspent ten years in the Polish national team. In1997 in Helsinki he became European Championfor 50 metre free pistol and a year later in Spainbecame World 10 metre air pistol Champion.Since resuming his 10 metre shooting career inthis country and coached by girlfriend MonikaBaraniak he has won the NSRA British Open,Surrey Open, British Pistol Club Open where hevirtually stayed in the mid to high 570 scores.At the February 2009 British Champions atBisley Sylwester won the mens title with a scoreof 584. Just to put this in percpective, 584 wouldSylwester winning another awardSylwester_and_his_winningshave given Sylvester a silvermedal at the Beijing Olympics.Roding is Sylwester’s homeclub and offers him asmuch support as a club can,however it would be greatto see Sylwester attractinga sponsor to enable him totrain and compete towardsan Olympic medal. Hisproven track record as aformer European andWorld Champion shows hispedigree and he is a greatbet for any would-be backer.To contact him email at;www.rodingrifleandpistolclub@yahoo.com46 Target Shooter

INTERSHOOTTarget Shooting Clothing & AccessoriesAnschutz Gehmann MEC Centra Mouche SCATTRika Knobloch Gemini Kustermann and more!!SECURE ONLINE ORDERINGwww.intershoot.co.ukG.T. ShootingWelcome to GT Shooting.The premier shooting sports shop in SurreyFullbore & .22LRBlack PowerAir Rifles and PistolsUsed rifles and PistolsOpticsAmmunitionReloading equipmentand more...Our premises are located at53 Chipstead Valley RoadCoulsdonSurreyCR5 2RBwww.gtshooting.co.ukTel: 020 8660 6843Fax: 020 8660 6843We are conveniently situated near the M23 & M25.Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 10.00am - 5.30pmTarget Shooter 47

48 Target Shooter

Target Shooter 49

HenryKrank100 - 104 Lowtown, PudseyWest Yorkshire, LS28 9AYTel: 01132 569 163 / 565 167Fax: 01132 574 962Email: sales@henrykrank.comwww.henrykrank.comOpen Mon - Sat, 9am - 5pmVisit our NEW website atwww.henrykrank.com100’s ofphotos ofantiquesfor saleonlineAll 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 BessOn licence £390 Inert £357Short Land Pattern Brown Bess On licence £380 Inert £341Used by english troops during colonisation of indian + amercian territories.Brown Bess Mod 1778 Musket On licence £380 Inert £341Specification similar to Short Land Pattern Brown Bess but without the brass nose cup.Brown Bess Flintlock Musket ( India Pattern ) On licence £306 Inert £247Brown Bess Flintlock Carbine On licence £306 Inert £247Baker Inert Flintlock RifleOn licence £504 Inert £434Baker rifle of the early 19th Century.Indian Charleville MusketOn licence £318 Inert £280Essential AccessoriesFlat Powder HornSupplied with a 72g spout.Brass spring loaded button dispenser.Length 28cm. £41.40Large Horn FlaskBrass buttondispenser.Length 33cm. £49.80Leather Shot Flask £40.80Brass rocker type double shuttertop which has two settings,throwing 1• or 1• oz.Length 216mm.Hawksley CopperRope Flask £42.00Adjustable nozzlewhich has 4 settings -throwing from 2• to 3• dramsin quarter dram increments.Length 197mm.Doglock Musket 17th Century On licence £375 Inert £345English Pattern DragoonOn licence £216 Inert £203Early Dragoon holster pistol dating fromaround the 1740's. Barrel 30cm.English Short Light Dragoon PistolOn licence £216 Inert £203As above but with 23cm barrel.Pietta Black Powder RevolversPietta Rem 1858 Texas £196Pietta Rem 1858 Competition £598P. Rem 1858 Competition Stainless £738P. Rem 1858 New Model Army Target £243P. Rem 1858 Army Target Stainless £330Pietta Le Mat Cavalry Model £838Pietta Le Mat Army Model £838Pietta Le Mat Navy Model £838English Pattern DoglockPistolOn licence £246 Inert £218Early English doglock pistol dating fromaround the middle of the 17th century.Coast GuardPercussion PistolOn licence £153 Inert £107Coast Guard pistol circa 1855.Lancer PercussionPistolOn licence £169 Inert £147A faithful reproduction of the1842 percussion Lancer pistol.STOCKISTS OF:Pistol Loading/Cleaning Kit £27.60Suitable for use with all pistols and revolvers.Comprises of one 20.3cmsteel rod, nylon filament & phosphorbronze brushes, wool mop and bulletpuller. Available in 36 or 44cal.Rifle Loading/Cleaning Kit £31.20As above but with three steel rods.Available in .36 to .45 or .50 to .75 cal.Extension Rod Additional extensionrod for muskets. £4.80Brunox CleaningKit Offer1 x Brunox 100ml Gun Oil1 x Brunox 300ml Gun Oil1x Roll 4x2ONLY£9.95++Pietta Colt 1851 Navy Steel £216Pietta Colt 1851 Conf. Sheriff's £177Pietta Colt 1851 Navy Ni. D/L Grips £336Pietta Colt 1860 Army Steel £243Pietta Colt 1862 Spiller & Burr £206Postage 50 & packing £4.00 Target per order. Shooter Additional p&p charges apply for firearms + explosives. Above prices correct at time of printing.

Seb Rest on ReviewCoaxial rests have been around fora number of years. What are they?For those who shoot any form ofbenchrest or F Class rifle, they arewell known.Carl BoswellFor those new to the sport, theymay seem a little more obscure.The coaxial rest works througha couple of linear bearings andsimple clutch system to allow freemovement of the front ‘bag’ whichthe rifle rests in. This allows upto 40 MOA of movement on thetarget horizontally and vertically,controlled only by a joystick.Gone are the mariner’s wheel andwindage adjustments onthe rests that we all know. The joystickallows precise movement both quickly andThe SEB rest - a new mechanismto me, but for ease of use isexcellenteasily from one target diagram to another. This canbe a major advantage in a match as time is preciousand taking advantage of a specific wind conditionThe whole rest looks and feels fantasticand ‘does what it says on the tin’Target Shooter 51

can be very beneficial . Not having to complete twooperations - vertical and horizontal movements -to get precisely onto the next target is a massiveboon, as this time can be used to observe thesurrounding conditions and let your handautomatically guide the rifle into the next target diagram.New ToyWhen I first unpacked therest I must admit there was afeeling of excitement as this isa product I have seen, but usedvery briefly. (It’s all about havinga new toy to play with). All the otherrests I have owned orreviewed have been the standardThe joystick controls all movement and‘locks’ into position when released. Noneed for the mariners wheel or speedscrewany morepedestal rests with mariner’swheel et al! This was somethingcompletely different and novel.At first glance the one thing thatanyone would say - and have - isthat the SEB rest is built like abattleship. It is well constructedand engineered. The toleranceswithin the engineering are veryfine and this goes to show thelevel of precision of its designerand manufacturer, SebastianLambang who is an accomplishedBR shooter who competes at‘world’ level. The base has a‘hammertone’ finish, althoughcustom finishes can be requested– including polishing to a mirrorfinish.I think this service may have lapsed butit is worthc o n t a c t i n gthe companyvia theirwebsite to findout.Thewhole thingweighs in at21.3 lbs or 9.7kilo’s, which is a lot,especially if youhave to transportit and your otherequipment anydistance or from onecountry to another but,once on the firing-point,weight is a bonus.However this provides a good insightinto how well the design has beenconsidered and developed.Compression on the front bagcan be added to fit the riflebeing usedDevelopment of the SEB restIf you go to the SEB website, there isa gallery feature that shows the restthrough its various stages ofdevelopment. This is interestingfeature to the website and providesgreater understanding of the product.One of the most interesting innovationsfor me is the fact that the SEB rest hasdual posts. In comparison most - if notall - front rests have a single post,52 Target Shooter

column or pedestal that supports the rest top with thebag mounted on it and therefore the front of the rifle.These are either from the centre of the base or fromthe side as a cantilever. Everything rests on this onecolumn. I presume the thinking behind the dual postis this creates more stability? Well it would and does.Not only are there two posts, but also a centralmariner’s wheel for initial height setup to get yoursights where you want them, so the wholetarget can be covered with the coaxialmechanism. The posts are lockedwithThe central joystick mechanism runs onplates and bearing mechanisms e p a r a t ethum-screws.Stability and gooddesign sense indeed!However, a further featureis that the dual posts are seton a pivotal base so these can berotated, greatly aiding rapid set-up, withouthaving to move the rest once youhave set it on the bench or firing-point.Set-up time is often limited in majorcompetitions and this is a greatfeature which doesn’t appear on anyother rests. Other features are similarto those you will be familiar with onother rests, such as the bubble level,adjustable fore-end stop, levelling screws, etc.Using the restUsing the coaxial rest is child’s play in the extremeas you have a joystick to manoeuvre the aimof the rifle around the target. The new range ofSEB rests have a 40 MOA adjustment, so this willallow the whole target to be viewed easily.The front bag, that is also made by SEB tofit the rest, is well constructed with wideparallel sides that keep their shape. Itis made from leather and a micro fibrematerial that is designed to have better ‘slick’properties than Condura, for smoothtracking. At the present time the bag onlycomes in a three-inch wide format for theLight Varmint and Heavy Varmint classes.I you want to shoot sporter class usingthis rest then you will need to lookelsewhere for a bag but the fitting isstandard.SEB’s rear bags are constructed in thesame way, with the same materials andvery well made, sturdy and well designed.Although not available at the time of review Ihave actually ordered one for my own use. Thecradle or plate the front bag sits in isstrongly constructed from aluminium alloy andlike the rest of these parts is highly polished. Twoadjustable side plates provide compression to theCompression of the front bag is altered using the largeknobs - a handy feature that isTarget Shooter 53

Large adjustable pins are very useful for gettingheight just right54 Target ShooterThe SEB rest in situe with LV riflebag depending on what is needed for the rifleyou are using. The knobs controlling these arelarge enough to get the compression you needwithout ripping your fingers apart. (For those thathave had this experience this is an added bonus).Setting the coaxial mechanism does take abit of practice, and this is where some may getfrustrated. (Now I say this with baited breath as therest comes set up and calibrated for heavy riflesover 13 lbs so no messing around. My rifle weighsin at 10.5 pounds so I had to adjust otherwise theaction became sloppy). Set the pins too tight andthe mechanisms can seem a bit sluggish whenmoving the joystick around the target. Set them toolow and the cradle will proverbially fall. Thereforeyou will need to play around with this a bit if youare shooting light varmint at 10.5 pounds or one ofthe sporter classes. Once adjusted, the rest workswell and Sebastian will help you out to configureif you get stuck – like me – so send him an email.In centrefire benchrest where group shooting isthe name of the game, it’s often necessary to getfive shots off in around 15 seconds – to ‘catch’the wind. This is the technique employed by the600 and 1000 yard shooters, so some prefer therest to be set on what I would call ‘sloppy’ – toosloppy to support the weight of the rifle – but inthis mode, it can be returned very quickly to theaim-point without ‘stiction’ or jerkyness. If you dolike 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 ofthe rifle and your rest will work as smooth as silk.The one thing that I could not get used to duringtesting is that the SEBrest did not need partslocking down after Ihave set up on a target.After going throughthis process for solong it now feels aliento not do otherwiseand this is my only‘beef’ with this system;even though the restwill not move, if set upproperly. Having usedthe SEB rest for anumber of practices Ican safely say that it‘does as it says on thetin’!It is relatively easyto set up, thequality and finishare the best andthis says a lot aboutthe manufacturer

of this product. I have had products from somemanufacturers who seem to think that they comein kit-form and the consumer is the one whofinishes off any rough parts. Not so the SEB - it is asuperbly made product!I am not sure about giving up my pedestal restjust yet, as it is something I have got used to; italso does all that it is meant to and has served mewell over the years. Maybe it is the control freak inme that likes to lock everything down and say tomyself ‘this is precisely aimed and locked’.Possibly this says more about my ownpsychological makeup than anything else, or it isjust the way I have developed in this sport? If I didtrade up then a coaxial system would be my first pointof call. I would like to take the SEB rest away for afew months and really work it in competition, get ittuned to my needs and get myself tuned to it as well.The cost is also a determining factor, as investmentin this product does not come cheap. At £498 theSEB is not the cheapest rest on the market, butother ‘coaxial’ rests are even more expensive, so itis fair to say it is the cheapest coaxial around. It isimported into the UK by Brian at Fox Firearms. Thisis good news, as currently we only get the Caldwellrange of rests that are commonly found in thiscountry through a number of retailers. (Over thelast few years we have tended to import equipmentourselves as groups or individuals from the US orItaly). Brian also supplies the front and rear bags, bothof 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 thecurrent best practice in the benchrest sport then thisis what you are looking for. Like any of the productsI review it is something you will have to work withto get the best out if it and yourself. Until next time!Final thoughts - SEB rest modificationOne of the issues with a SEB rest is rifle-support.If you set the joystick tension tight enough tosupport a heavy rifle you will find that themovement becomes stiffer and jerky, making itdifficult to get back exactly on aim-point quickly.The alternative is to back-off the tension so the actiononce again becomes silky-smooth and add acounterbalance weight to the front of the joystickspindle where it protrudes from the front of the rest.The size of the weight will depend on the weight ofyour rifle but this shooter has come up with an adjustableone. If you look closely at the pic, the weightslides back and forth so it can accommodate differentweights of rifles. The bar diameter is about an inchand I know that an inch of barrel weighs about 4 oz. soif the weight is 4 to 5 inches long it will be just over apound. It works really well and I can’t wait to make one.The SEB with counter balance weight for lighter riflesTarget Shooter 55

http://www.foxfirearmsuk.com/PUTTING SHOOTING FIRSTTOP QUALITY PRECISION RIFLES & COMPONENTS FORTR, MATCH, THREE-POSITIONAL, F-CLASS, BENCH-REST,& SNIPERFROMKELBLY, KEPPELER, UNIQUE, BARNARD, STILLER, TRUE-FLITE, BARTLEIN, LOTHAR-WALTHER, ROBERTSON,McMILLAN & SHEHANELOTS OF ACTIONS, BARRELS, & STOCKS ON HANDFULL RANGE OF SEB LAMBANG BENCH-REST EQUIPMENTSTOCKEDCUSTOM RIFLES BUILT & AGENT FOR COOPER HUNTINGRIFLESHIGH-POWER RIFLE ‘SCOPES & SPOTTING ‘SCOPESTel: 0161 430 8278 or 07941 958464'Caption Competition' (no prizes!)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?”56 Target Shooter

Burris Laserscope/quad advert.indd 1 4/2/09 10:49:14LaserScopeIn Ballistic Plex and nowNEW Ballistic Mil-Dot reticulesThe LaserScope isthe successfulintegrationof a laserrangefinderwith a qualityriflescopeto create anaffordable,compact and lightweight package thatstands up under severe recoil.The LaserScope is a technologicallysophisticated instrument that looks andhandles a bit differently to a conventionalriflescope. It functions not only as a self-containedsingle unit, but also comes with a remote activationswitch that straps to the forend of the rifle to allowmore convenient and steady operation of the laser.Additional features include:-● micro-sized advance circuitry● high performance lens system● unique ultra-low Burris mounting configurationQuad ScopeNOW 40mm Objective3–9 x 40mm Ballistic Plex ReticuleThe new Burris Fullfield II Quad Scope is the ultimateaid to the Sako Quad rifle. The rifle has the option ofup to four interchangeable barrels; in .22LR, 17 Mach II,17 HMR and .22 Magnum. The new Quad 3-9 x 40mmriflescope has four resettable adjustment dials, colourcoded to match the colour coding on the Sako barrels.Once all four barrels have been sighted in, the scopecan be adjusted to the corresponding dial colour whenthe barrels are interchanged, with no loss of zero.The scope will work just as well on other rifles withinterchangeable barrels, or on standard rifles used toshoot different types of ammunition fordifferent applications. Long-range riflemencan also customise settings for shootingmultiple distances.For further product information and detailsof your local stockist, please call GMK on01489 587500 or visit www.gmk.co.ukwww burrisoptics.co.ukTarget Shooter 57

Gwyn RobertsA record number of 180 shooters shot the first openGallery Rifle competition of the year at Bisley overthe weekend 28th & 29th of March under what turnedout to be very challenging conditions, depending onwhat day you shot on. Friday was really a mixtureof clear skies followed by a bit of wind, then rain,then back to nice clear skies again and the only thingthat remained constant all day was the cold. Andbelieve me, it really was cold! On the Saturday theconditions certainly worsened and at times the gustsof wind were enough to blow the sights completelyoff the target during some matches, as can be seenclearly by some of the final scores that were posted.At around 10.30am I turned up to shoot the BianchiBarricade match on Stickledown and thewind was simply horrendous! When thetargets turned to face you they looked more likemelons in the scope as the flimsy backingboards being used were bending so much, whichmeant that some shots went low and others straightdepending on where the board was at the time youreleased each shot! At 25yds a gust of wind blew meright off the target half way through a string of sixso I simply stopped pulling the trigger, unloaded andproved clear to the R.O, then packed my rifles upfor the day. In conditions like this, if I can’t keep thesights on the target then I won’t pull the trigger! Theweather on the Sunday however couldn’t have beenbetter and this was when many of the winning scoreswere shot. As well as being warm and sunny thewhole time, the wind flags didn’t move all day eitherwhich is very unusual on Stickledown that’s for sure!It was nice to see some new faces attendingBisley for the first time this year and I’m glad that itdidn’t end up being too daunting for them in the end,although some did have a few restless nights leadingup to it! At the end of the day it’s just a gathering ofshooters from different clubs enjoying their sport, and ahelping hand is always available to those that need one.One shooter who didn’t need any help was NormanBrown who was the only shooter at the meeting toset a new British Record using his LBR in the Timed& Precision 1 match. Scoring a maximum of 300ptsand 19x, he beat Charlie Sears’ record of 17x that wasset back in 2006 so a big well done must go to Norm!Another shooter to put in a first class performancewas Mel Beard in the Bianchi GRCF match finishingjust 2 points off the maximum of 1920. It would havebeen great to see Mel clean it as it’s only been doneonce before by Layne Chisholm, when he went overto the U.S to shoot it a few years ago. Unfortunatelythough a single 8 dropped on his last match, theMover, put an end to that but I’m sure he’ll be out tomake amends at the Phoenix! Taff Wilcox was alsoon for an easy win with a 300 28x in the T&P1 GRCFuntil a lever lock up in one of the shorter stages causedhim to shoot a “skidder.” This meant he dropped10 points off in the end to finish with 27x, whichSaturday…. and Sundaysweather!Tony Cooper enjoying his first Bisley experience58 Target Shooter

to get to know the other range officers and shootersat the same time. You can then take this experienceback to your club and help build up our sport at grassroots level as it were. E-mail Brian Thomas at theNSC if you can spare a bit of time!15yr old Marianne Skinnerfrom Derby RPC shot a verycreditable 1417 in her firstfull 1500 GRSBmatch and iscertainly one to look out forover the next couple of years!is still an excellent x count though. Other notableperformances over the weekend were: 25m PrecisionNeil Jones 300 18x, T&P 1 LBR Phil Cowling 30015x (with iron sights), Speed Steel Challenge GRSBChris Lewis 50.04s, Speed Steel Challenge LBR MelBeard 54.98s, BDMP Embassy Cup SG S/Auto RobSanders 119 and McQueen Michael Deakin 55 5v.As a start to the season the Spring Actionweekend was a good warm-up for those goingon to shoot the rest of the years’ competitions.At a time though when it is getting considerably moreexpensive to shoot competitions (at some venues)it was quite annoying for some of the small boreshooters to find out they were having to shoot atpaper photocopies in their 1500 match, andvery poor ones at that they were too! Even moreannoying though was that only one out of the threebays on Melville had their turning targets workingproperly as they hadn’t been checked or servicedthe week before the meeting! Considering theentry fee’s we had to pay, I for one certainly don’tthink this is acceptable and it isn’t the first time it’shappened either! To be fair though I have sincebrought these points to Brian’s’ attention and he isnow in the process of putting in place a maintenanceprogram with the target manufacturers to ensurefuture reliability. He is also trying to find a goodDave Holt shooting with one of his“bigger” rifles.The standard in some of the shorts events willcertainly give the national team selectorssomething to think about at the end of the yearwith a lot of them being put up by our up andcoming shooters. Having a high x count is nice, butconsistency is really the key if you want to get intoone of the teams and this is what we are looking for,as well as commitment of course! By the way, if any ofyou are eligible to shoot for Wales, please make sureyou drop me an e-mail before the end of the season.To hold a competition of any size you must first of allhave enough help and R.O’s on the day otherwise it’sjust not going to happen. With this in mind, if any of youare thinking of going to the Phoenix (May Bank Holidayweekend) and won’t be doing that much shooting,then why not volunteerto help run one of theranges? It doesn’t matterif you aren’t a qualifiedRCO or you haven’t gotthat much experienceas there will always besomeone there to guideyou and it’s a great wayLBR shooting withTeam DerbyThese guys have probably “heard it all”but have you?quality printing firm to produce the targets for futurecompetitions, so you can’t ask for a fairer responsethan that! There is a huge variety of competitionsavailable in the Gallery Rifle world for people to enjoy,regardless of what type of firearm you own so why notcome out and have a go with us. I’m sure you’ll havea good time! A full set of results for the Spring ActionWeekend is available on the Galleryrifle.com website!Target Shooter 59

Westlake EngineeringManufacturer of Target PistolsWalnut Tree Cottage Camp CottagesDruids Lodge SalisburyWiltshire EnglandSP3 4UQTel/Fax 01722782432Email ags.westlake@virgin.netwww.westlakeengineering.comRFD Wilts. 157Taurus .357 Muzzle Loading RevolverThe Taurus ML Revolver is converted from a Taurus .357 Magnum Long BarrelledRevolver. The cylinder is removed and a Yoke extension fitted, this contains thespring loaded plunger that frees the action when the yoke is closed. As this extensioncannot be removed, it prevents the re-fitting of the original cylinder. The Barrel isshortened 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 smallflash 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 thebullet is pressed in. Once the chambers are charged the shotgun primers are insertedinto the primer pockets at the rear of the cylinder. The loaded cylinder is slid onto theyoke 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 distanceinto the chambers.The conversion of your pistol costs £270.00. Extra Cylinders are £150.00 each. If youdo not have a pistol I can order a new pistol from the Importers. A Taurus .357Magnum LBR costs £675.00You will need a variation on your FAC for a .357/.38 Muzzle Loading Revolver, andfor each extra Cylinder you want.60 Target Shooter

It’s simple. When you addup the accuracy, performanceand value of our Match, Huntingand Varmint bullets, it makeschoosing Sierra easy.HIGHLANDOUTDOORSwww.highlandoutdoors.co.ukComplete Sierra range distributedto the trade exclusively through highland outdoorsFor Trade enquiries contact Highland OutdoorsPh: 01858 410 683Fax: 01857 341 111sales@highlandoutdoors.co.ukwww.sierrabullets.comRetail Price List now availableto download onlineTarget Shooter 61

Hunter Field Target Scope TestThis is the first part of a four part series on scopeswhich lend themselves to the sport of Hunter FieldTarget or HFT for Target Shooter online magazine.HFT has not been going for that long but, as FieldTarget did, it has driven forward the technology andTim Finleyunderstanding of the rifles and scopes that are usedin the discipline.The over-riding factor with HFT is the ‘scope rule’-the aiming device cannot be altered by the shooteronce they have shot the first targeton the course. With targets from 8yards to 45 yards it is asking a lot ofthe scopes and lenses, Why?Because scopes suffer fromparallax error. The yellow star is thereticle and the coloured squaresthe target as viewed through thescope.. In real terms the reticleis not focused in the same imageplane as the target, so it movesposition on the intended target asyou move your eye/head about atthe rear of the scope.The practical upshot of whichis, if you do not have your eye inexactly the correct same spot in thecenter of the scope, the reticle will notactually be aiming where you wantit. That is if the scope has not hadits objective lens adjusted to eliminate the parallaxerror.Zeiss eye bellIn FT we use this adjusting of the objective lens tofocus the image and eliminate parallax error andit also rangefind’s the distance to the target whenwe read off the ranges marked on the parallaxadjustment front lens or side-wheel.Not so in HFT, the objective and therefore theparallax, cannot be changed once you have started62 Target Shooter

shooting. So with the 25 yard parallax, eight yardtargets will look blurred and so will 45 yard targets.Only the 25 yarder’s will look pin-sharp and have noparallax error at all. If you move your head from sideto side the reticle will remain in the same place, butonly at 25 yards.Bushnell 10 mag mildotHawke SR6 reticleZeiss3-9 reticleBushnell 4-12 Balistic PlexTherefore in HFT a compromise must be reachedfor scope magnification and parallax settings. Thebigger the magnification the more blurred the scopewill be at the extreme ranges but - and here’s thefly in the ointment - the lower the magnification thebigger the exit pupil size and the greater thepotential parallax error.another layer to the problem. 90% of HFT shootersuse a mildot reticle to range-find. Although originallymade for tactical sniping at long ranges, the mildotreticled scopes can be used to bracket range-find onthe kill zones of HFT targets themselves.Bushnell 4-12 front endExit pupil = Objective lens sizeMagnificationThrow into the mix the reticles needed to range-findthe disc sizes at various yardages and it addsTarget Shooter 63

Discs are normally 40, 25 or 15mm in diameter. Forexample with a 40mm disc the size it appears atcertain ranges with a true mildot scope are:Bushnell 10-40 rainguardYARDS MILDOTS8 5.59 4.910 4.512 3.715 2.917 2.620 2.225 1.830 1.535 1.340 1.145 1.0The magnification power usedon HFT has really been chosenby the use of mildot scopes. Tentimes magnification has alwaysbeen the favored magnificationin the sniping world and so ithas proven in HFT, as it allowsthe shooter enough mag to aimaccurately at 45 yards and stillbe able to see blurred 8 yardtargets.The aim of this introductoryarticle is to set the scene for thebiggest ever side by side HFT scope test of all thefavoured HFT scopes, giving their good and badpoints and what parallax error you can expect atcertain ranges, along with a run down on the idealsettings used by the top HFT shooter in the world.I enlisted the help of Pete Sparkes early on inthe project and obtained two of the test scopesHFT scope test lineupTargets for the testthrough him - thanks Pete. I’m not a bad HFT shotmyself, wining the odd UKAHFT round, two Platinumbadges in our NEFTA Hunter series (Five Goldawards) and the Gathering title in 2005 and 2007(coming 3rd in 2004 and 2008). So, I reckon I knowwhat makes a good HFT scope.Next month, Part Two will look at eight scopes. Thefirst is the EB Sniper 10x42Mildot scope, a favourite of PeteSparkes, it has the most wins ofany other HFT scope out there.Next a pair of Bushnell’s, the10x40 3200 Elite Mildot which Iused to win the Gathering as didPaul Wilson in 2006. A new onein 2007 was the 4-12x40 3200Elite with a Ballistic Plex - veryuseful for aiming off in a wind.A brace of Lightstreams next -the one first focal plane scopein the test, the 4.5-14x44 andtheir new 3-12x40 Mildot 2ndfocal plane scope - this is apre-production prototype.The MTC Viper 10x42 is64 Target Shooter

Bushnell 4-12 turretsnext and is, at the time of writing, the secondpre-production test scope featured here - kindlyloaned for this test by Gary Cooper of MTC. It isaimed squarely at the HFT market so that is why it isincluded, it does have their SCB reticle fitted too.Hot on the heels of those twopreproduction scopes is another,in fact the only one in the worldso far. A Schmidt and Bender10x42 Klassik fitted with a P3Mildot reticle and re-parallaxedto 20m.Whilst I was working with themon the new FT scope, I lookedthrough their spec. sheetof scopes and thought thefixed 10 mag., 25mm bodiedhunting scope - if fitted with amildot reticle and re-parallaxedto 20m - would make a topHFT scope. The Klassik is notavailable with a P3 true mil-dotline up for the next fewissuesreticle but S&B kindly agreedto build one for me as I helpedthem out with the design of thefirst focal plane reticle in their12-50x56 FT scope. I won the2007 Gathering with the S&Band came 9th in the first HFTWorld Championships in 2009.The next is another Germanscope but from the 1980’s worldof FT - the Zeiss 3-9x36 is usedby a few of today’s top HFT boysfor its quality of glass. Thanksto Pete Dutton for the loan ofthe scope. Lastly is the HawkeMTC sidewheel SR6 - with the Nick Jenkinsondesigned reticle it gives the HFTshooter the opportunity to aim offin a more precise manner and Ihave used one in HFT comps myself.So, those are the scopes. The test willinvolve using mildot calibrated testsheets devised by Brian Samson, atop HFT shot and the man behind theNEFTA Hunter Series. These sheetshave the exact size in Mildots that shouldappear at given ranges. I will be using15, 25 and 45 yard sheets as the asisfor the test but other sheets every fiveyards would be put out too. The scopeshad to be placed in a cradle built by PeteDutton attached to a camera tripod soI could freely move my head around tomeasure the parallax error. Damn, Iappear to run out of space for this monthnow! You will have to look at next month’s freeon-line issue to find out my results.Target Shooter 65

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SECTION 5firearm solutions to suit youSection 5 deals in all forms of these specialised weapons -revolvers, semi-automatic pistols and rifles, and dart guns.TRAININGDE-ACTIVATIONHUMANE DISPATCHWe have one of the largest and most comprehensive stocks ofthese weapons in the UK, ready for immediate sale, magazine orcylinder restriction, De-Activation or export to approved countries.Email: sales@sect5.co.uk Web: www.sect5.co.uk Tel: 07549 945 292 Fax: 0845 280 162068 Target Shooter

Reproduction No.32 Scope BracketsNigel GreenawayOver the years the value of complete, shootableNo.4(T) sniper rifles has continued to rise – no doubtis likely to be £2,000. For a correct matching riflewith its scope tin, leather sling and lens caps, ScoutRegiment 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 ofmiss-matched rebuilds made up from genuine rifles,non-matching scopes and mount brackets, all theway through to rifles where the only genuine sniperScopes Brackets – Threeoriginal No.32 scopeshelped by the introduction in 1989 of a new 600 yardsniping competition run as part of the South LondonRifle Club classic event. These competitions evolvedin to the famous Trafalgar meeting and there arenow several 200 yard McQueen, snap, double snap,600 yard and 900 yard sniper competitions for whichNo.4(T) and the later L42A1 sniper rifles are eligible.The demand for these rifles remains insatiable thetotal price for even a miss-matched rifle and scopeDalglish Bracket &Dalglish N92 – close up ofthe squarer profileDalglish bracket and itsdistinctive N92 code.item is the No.32 sniper scope.For those lucky enough to have a correct No.32scope it is relatively easy to fit it to a suitable scopeless No.4(T) or even a basic No.4 or to make anRose KD – close up ofthe rounded profile RoseBrothers brackets, markedJG or KDDalglish plus Repro – close up of an originalDalglish compared to a part finished reproductionwhich matches the Dalglish styleTarget Shooter 69

material labs at Shrivenham and even that was thesame horrible black-heart (or was it white-heart...?)malleable cast! It’s such an old formula that I can’tfind the mix in Machinerys handbook any more!”Pattern – one half of the Pattern to cast 8bracketsL42A1 lookalike. However this process of refittingscopes only started when Roger Payne, an RFD andan expert on these rifles, who regularly has a standat the Birmingham International Arms Fair, decidedin 1990 to make reproduction scope brackets.Without the bracket you really are stuck andthe rifle is only eligible to enter the military classcompetitions if a contemporary mounting system isused.The purpose of this article is to show theconsiderable effort that goes in to making thebrackets – something that I know about becauseI have joined Roger in helping to make the latestbatch. They are made to tight tolerances to ensurethat they collimate within acceptable limits whenfitted to genuine rifles (something that can’t alwaysbe said about some of the Indian made copies thathave recently appeared). Roger’s brackets aredifficult to distinguish from an original and havehelped pair up many a No.32 scope with a suitablerifle which would otherwise have continued to gatherdust in a corner. The value of a complete rifle, evenif the rifle and scope are mismatched, is far greaterthan the sum of its parts so the brackets are a greatinvestment. However, before describing this labourRoger has, over the years, made five batches of 100brackets, cast out of malleable iron and machinedjust like the originals, using original blue prints.Experience and minor tweaks have made eachsuccessive batch better and the quality is so highthat, to quote the noted authority on the subject,Peter Laidler, when answering a question on oneof the internet collector forums “…about 50 or soof Roger Payne’s brackets were utilised on thelatter rebuilds of the L42’s destined for WarReserve stocks and they were indeed perfect. It’sironic that some of the L42 owners out there who wouldprobably shudder at a repro anything, probablyhave an MoD fitted repro bracket. Does that makeit a repro? The owners of those rifles can at leastbe assured that they have one of the dedicated WarReserve Stocks held at xxxxxxxx in Berkshire. Thesteel stock and quality assessment was done at the70 Target ShooterT h u m bscrews –the twoo r i g i n a l swith springsare at thetop.Dalglish Rose – Looking down on thescope rings and fitted cradle screws ofa Dalglish bracket above a Rosebracket.of love, a history lesson is in order.WW2 Scope BracketsThere were two British and one Canadianmanufacturer of the brackets that held the No.32scope to the rifle. Rose Brothers of Gainsboroughin Lincolnshire marked their brackets with either JGor 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 thecradle cramps or scope rings as we would call themtoday. Some of the early scopes having single letterprefixes or suffixes. The reason for these numbersis to prevent the caps being put back on the wrongcradle. After 1950 the bracket had the rifle serialnumber stamped on it. Original brackets without anumber will have been sold out of service before1950. Sometimes you will find brackets with two orthree different rifle numbers stamped on them withthe previous numbers struck through. TheCanadian REL made brackets always had therifle serial number engraved on them. Rose

adjustment is left in the scope for relaxed civilianshooting. Notice the emphasis on well made assome of the foreign made reproductions needconsiderable work to make them even fit on tooriginal mounting pads and collimation is oftennon-existent so that most of the scope’s adjustmentis used up in one direction to even get close to thetarget.Machining JigsBrothers’ brackets have more rounded edges whilst theDalglish brackets have more square edges – asyou can see from the picture. Roger’s brackets arecopied from the Dalglish type.During the war Holland and Holland carried out mostof the conversions – in the process matching scopesto rifles with precise machining of the mounting padsfixed to the side of rifle actions so that scopes wouldbe precisely in line with the bores of the rifles withreticules centred so that the maximum number ofadjustment clicks are available for elevation andwindage. Hence each scope is collimated to its rifleand the scope number is then stamped on to thebutt of the rifle so that scope and rifle remain as amatching pair. Brackets might be swapped whentrying to salvage a rifle or scope – hence it is quitecommon to see different rifle numbers stamped onthe bracket but this could be a laborious processwith armourers trying different barrels to ensurecorrect collimation. Having said that, I’ve neverhad too much of a problem trying different brackets,a well made one of the correct dimensions andmachining will line up well enough to ensure enoughBox of Machined Brackets prior to handfinishingSo what work is involved to produce accuratereproduction brackets that have been described as“perfect” by Peter Laidler? The answer is lots oftime, effort and considerable expense. Specificallythe following elements are required:1. A “pattern” is hand made by a pattern maker sothat a number of casts can be made in one go – inthis case eight brackets. The pattern is made in twohalves – one half is shown in the picture. A skilledjob in itself which is then followed by the skill ofcasting in malleable iron. A cast bracket is shownfrom a previous batch which was broken out of themould too soon and then proceeded to bend slightlybefore cooling – hence it had to be rejected.2. Cradle screws - a special tapered pattern thatcannot be purchased off the shelf. These are whathold the scopes rings and eight are needed for eachbracket so it makes sense to get 1000 made (I havesome spares if anyone needs them).3. Thumb screws – two per bracket, used to securethe bracket to the rifle. They are specially designedso that the circumference of the round thumb pieceallows the correct tension to be applied by thumband index finger. There have been many reports thatthe foreign made thumb screws have been knownto shear off under thumb /finger pressure leavingthe threaded portion stuck inthe mount pads! Again morespares are avilable if needed.The picture shows a batch– the two originals are at thetop with the small springsthat help achive the righttension without damaging thebracket.4. Machining jigs – anotherhand made and expensiveitem which is required to holdeach bracket prior toprecision machining. The samecompany has been usedfor the last three batches soquality and accuracy is veryhigh.Target Shooter 71

Reproduction bracket prior to hand finishing– red areas are those where metal needs tobe removed.5. Machined brackets prior to hand finishing with apower file. It takes about one hour to hand finish eachbracket prior to stamping the rings so that remainmatching then shot blasting, parkerising and spraypainting with black suncorite (the official British militaryfinish). The original brackets had quite a roughwartime finish with obvious pits and marks fromcasting and finishing. Too smooth a finish makesa reproduction bracket stand out from an original –hence we deliberately try to retain the wartime look.Over the years Roger has found that the skillsneeded to fabricate these brackets seem to bedisappearing. With each batch of 100 bracketstaking about 2 or more years to sell, to a select bandof shooters and collectors, it might be as long asthree years before, for example, the company whocast the brackets is approached for another batch.More often than not, Roger has found that theoriginal company has gone bust – taking theexpensive “pattern” with them. More time and effortwould then be taken to find another company andmore money expended to pay the pattern maker.This time it was my job to find the pattern maker andI made sure that I retrieved the pattern.Hopefully it is now fully appreciated just howmuch time and effort goes in to making thesereproduction brackets. The availablity of these highquality brackets has resulted in a dramatic increasein the value of No.32 scopes – they typiucally fetchbetween £700-£1000 depending on condition andthe mark (Mark 3 or 2/1 scopes are easier to zeroso they tend to fetch more). If the scope comeswith a bracket then this adds £300-£400 to theReproduction - not quite finishedpackage. If you are lucky enough to have one of thesescopes then purchasing the bracket will be a soundinvestment. This latest batch of British madebrackets cost £200 each, but then quality never didcome cheap.Can you tell them apart????72 Target Shooter

HenryKrank100 - 104 Lowtown, PudseyWest Yorkshire, LS28 9AYTel: 01132 569 163 / 565 167Fax: 01132 574 962Email: sales@henrykrank.comwww.henrykrank.comOpen Mon - Sat, 9am - 5pmHenry Krank Special OffersPalmeto Inline PistolThe perfect entry level .44cal blackpowder single shot pistol. ONLY £99Palmeto Inline Pistol Kit ONLY £110Palmeto Inline Pistol complete with .44calcleaning kit, brunox gun oil and 4x2 roll.Pedersoli PistolsLe Page Flintlock £732Charles Moore Target Flintlock £486Charles Moore Flintlock £426Harpers Ferry Flintlock £325Le Page Target Percussion £544Le Page Match Target Percussion £582Howdah Double Percussion £510Kuchenreuter Percussion £1092Leigi Derringer £110Leigi Pocket £121Mang In Graz Percussion £1002Zimmer Pistol £262Pedersoli Long GunsFrontier Flintlock Rifle £498Brown Bess Flintlock Musket £838Brown Bess Flintlock Carbine £838Tryon Rifle £610Tryon Creedmore Rifle £864Mortimer Whitworth Rifle £906Sharps 1874 Silhouette Rifle £1008Sharps 1874 Quigley Sporting £1380Springfield Trapdoor Carbine £882Springfield Trapdoor Rifle £1020Springfield Trapdoor Long Range £1116Military RiflesYugoslav Mauser K98 Rifle 8x57 from £245Mossin Nagant 91/30 7.62x54mm from £215Mossin Nagant Sniper Rifle 7.62x54 from £495Enfield No.4 .303 British (pictured) From £325Enfield SMLE .303 Bolt Action Rifle From £295Enfield Long Lee .303 Bolt Action Rifle From £425Enfield P14 .303 Bolt Action Rifle From £395Enfield No.4Sight Adjuster£18.50Lee Enfield .303 ClipsPacket of 15 £10.50Enfield Military Rifles &Accessories.303 Brass CasesONLY £9.99 per pack100. New HXP boxerunprimed.Palmeto Witney RevolverExcellent value Witney .36cal blackpowder revolver. ONLY £145Witney Revolver Kit ONLY £155Witney Revolver complete with .36calcleaning kit, brunox gun oil and 4x2 roll.Uberti PistolsRemington Stainless 8” Barrel £324Remington Stainless 5 ½” Barrel £324Remington Stainless Target £342Remington Navy Blue £234Colt 1851 Navy 7 ½” Barrel £216Colt 1860 Army 8” Barrel £246Colt 1860 Army Fluted 8” Barrel £248Colt 1849 Fargo £216Colt 1861 Navy 7 ½” Barrel £229Colt 1849 Pocket £218Siber £795Uberti Long Guns1876 Rifle 50-95 £10141860 Henry Steel 44/40 £10621873 Carbine 19” Barrel 44/40 £8801873 Special Short Rifle 44Mag £10041873 Sporting Rifle .357 £916High Wall 32” Barrel 45/70 £8761866 Yellowboy Carbine 38SP £7701866 Short Rifle 20” Barrel £8041866 Sporting Rifle 24 ¼” Barrel 38SP£804Mauser Rifle 1898 ‘100 YearAnniversary’ ModelAn exact copy of the original Mauserrifle model 98, made by Mauser.Limited EditionCalibre 8x57 IS. ONLY £1250Evapo-Rust 500mlBottle £8.75Rapidly removes rust+ gun blue.Speciality Mount for K31Plus 3x20 Scope ONLY £95Specially designed mounting systemfor Schmidt Rubin rifles. Suitable for1” scopes with up to 44mm lens.Plus 3x20 scope.Quality reproductionpistols and riflesArdesa PistolsDerringer .31 Percussion £97.80Underhammer .40 Percussion £510.00W.Parker .45 Match Percussion £276.00W.Parker .45 Match Flintlock £348.00Buckhunter Blue .50 Percussion £238.80Buckhunter Blue .45 Percussion £238.80Buckhunter Allweather .45 Perc £260.40Patriot .45 Percussion £178.80Kentucky .45 Percussion £178.80Kentucky .45 Flintlock £141.601871 Duelling Pistol Percussion £339.60Ardesa RiflesHawken .451 Match Creedmore Perc £598Hawken .45 Flintlock £354Hawken .45 Percussion £328Kentucky .45 Flintlock £272Kentucky .45 Percussion £234Pennsylvania .45 Carbine Flintlock £309Pennsylvania .45 Carbine Percussion £260Pennsylvania .45 Rifle Flintlock £456Pennsylvania .45 Rifle Percussion £409Shenandoah .45 Rifle Flintlock £372Firearms licence required for all guns above.Smart ReloaderKinetic Bullet Puller£15.54Includes 3 sets of colletsthat will allow you to pull bullets from reloadedammunition from the caliber .17 up to .50 cal.Electronic Digital Scale£43.20Included in kit: two powdermeasures, one 50 gramcalibration weight, powder tray and battery.Accurate to 0.01grain. Max capacity 771gr.Electronic Case Tumbler£43.20Allows you to easily and quicklyclean your used brass. The capacityof the bowl is aprox 600cases in 9mm or 250 cases in223 Remington. Full instructions included.Tumble Media 1kg £7.20 5kg £16.75Electronic Stereo Earmuffs£34.00 Excellent protection byfiltering out high frequency noisecaused by gunfire above 85dB.Wooden BlackPowder Storage BoxONLY £99.00H 37cm x W 45cm x D 25cmDelivery £4.00Postage & packing £4.00 per order. Additional p&p charges apply for firearms + explosives. Target Above Shooter prices correct at time of73printing.

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OLD ‘FRIENDS RE-UNITED’ - SPRINGFIELD &UNERTLI’ll declare at the onset that I’m not especially a fanof old firearms. Yes, they’re very interesting froman historical perspective/curiosity/collecting point ofview and, if that’s your thing, then a visit to the RoyalArmouries in Leeds is a must.It’s fine if you can afford to buy stuff to just polishand hang on your wall but just how good were theserifles, considering the quality of steels and methodsof production? Or perhaps I should say -how accurate were they - compared to whatwe have come to expect of modern rifles?The PlanHaving made my dismissive statement onhistorical arms, I should say I do have a morethan passing interest in the Vietnam war andits weapons so, sometime ago, after readingabout the extraordinary shots and exploitsof the famous snipers from that era, suchas Carlos Hathcock and Chuck Marwhinny,I got to wondering, given their age andproduction methods, just how accurate weretheir rifles. Or were these well-documentedextraordinary shots just a case of thesemen being truly exceptional marksmen.Rob HunterChoose your weaponsThat’s a tough one - there were several different‘sniper’ rifles used throughout the Vietnam conflict -that is rifles which were pressed into service to fulfilthe role of a sniper rifle. The old adage ‘today’s warsare fought with yesterday’s technology’ is as truetoday as it was then.At the start of the conflict in Vietnam in 1959, thereScope and rifletogehter inperfectharmonyOnly one way to find out...aquire one! Orshould I say re-create one - to the samespecification as the original sniper rifle andtest it. A great idea maybe but naïve to saythe least. The problem being I didn’t realisethat the necessary bits and pieces to createthis test are becoming increasing hard toget hold of. Sorry, let’s amend that - I shouldhave said very (hens teeth type) hard to get.76 Target Shooter

The Scope looking nearly newwas no official sniper training program or definedweapons. Everything was mothballed after WW2and only slightly ‘re-kindled’ for the Korean conflict.So, shortly after the start of the Vietnam war,Lieutenant Jim Land managed to convince the upperechelons of the USMC of the value of scout snipersfor reconnaissance and harassment of the enemyon their own ground. In 1960, the first of the MarineCorps scout snipers graduated from their two weekcourse at the Hawaian based sniper school (one ofwhom was one Private Carlos Hathcock) though atthis time there was no official issued sniper rifle andit was a case of whatever the local armourers hadat hand - this inevitably meant left-overs andad-hoc weapons from WW2 and the Korean conflict.M1903A1 SniperIn order to make this a tough test, I ruled out theRemington and Winchester rifles that stayed inservice throughout the major part of the Vietnamwar as they are basically the same rifles that canbe bought off the shelf today. Of course, the semiautorifles such as the Garand were out becauseof our nanny-state government has ruled thatwe can’t be trusted with such WMD. So I decidedon a real tough test - the Springfield M1903A1.To be totally historically correct, this rifle was wellpast its sell-by date when the Vietnam conflictstarted, having seen the majority of its use in WW2 andKorea but there are actual documented cases andpictures of this rifle being used in action against the VC.The sniper rifle was usually built on, or around, theSpringfield 30-06 National Match rifle which was firstaccuracy tested and gauged and then fitted withwhat was the current top of the line Unertl scope.The ScopeThe Unertl 8X scope was based on the Unertltarget scope. This was quite a bold step for themilitary, in as such that the official thoughts on theuse of scopes for military use was in favour of verylow power - i.e. 2X or 4X - at the most 6X. Therationale behind this low magnification was to givethe shooter the biggest field of view possible. This isfine but it doesn’t help the sniper to deliver pinpointaccuracy as we understand it today. The Unertl reticle ishowever a very fine cross-hair which affords the user anuncluttered view and best of all, a very precise aim-point.Its worth noting that it’s only in the past couple ofyears that the British Army has moved up from a setmagnification of an 8 power Schmidt &Bender to thevariable 12 power, a move that was way overdue; soas you see, the US Army was way ahead of its time.The Unertl 8X reticleThe Unertl scope has a few other things going forit too. The rear mount or housing has externalmicrometer ¼MOA clicks for windage andelevation. This external adjustment may look aTarget Shooter 77

An amazing group size - better thanimaginedbit crude but it’s actually a very good method ofmaking adjustments on a scope as it does away withall the very small moving parts that would normallybe hidden inside the tube and thus inaccessible. Thedownside is, it does become a place where dirt andgeneral junk can accumulate in combat conditions.Not surprisingly, there is still a healthy second-handmarket for Unerlt scopes. They do have asomewhat cult-following around the world andthe holy-grail amongst collectors is a true USMC8X sniper scope. These were stamped and serialnumbered on the side of the tube and if you haveboard here!one on top of your wardrobethat a long-forgotten uncleleft you, it’s probably wortharound the five-grand mark!So for those – like me -who want to recreate theSpringfield sniper rifle, thenext best thing is the 8Xtarget scope, which is ineffect exactly the samescope but even these arebecoming increasinglyhard to get hold of. It tookme the best part of year tofind a good one and get itover from the States. Notethe original wooden boxand brass fittings that theUnertl scopes weredispatched in - no cardThe other question I always get asked aboutthis scope is “What is the spring for?”. Well, thescope was designed to move within its mountsunder the recoil of the rifle and the spring issimply there to return the scope to its originalposition so maintaining the correct eye relief.The RifleI started the search for a Springfield ’03 rifle aroundthe same time as the scope and I thought this partwas going to be reasonably straight forward, after allThe old and the new!78 Target Shooter

there were thousands of Springfield National Matchrifles 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. Notan encouraging start but the one name that did cropup time after time was that of Andrew Kukielski ofColenso Arms. Not only is Andrew a collector of thistype of rifle but he is also one of the few people in thecountry who is regarded as an expert and as suchthat makes him an invaluable source of knowledgeof where to get the various bits and pieces. Great, soI handed the problem over to him (a problem shared,a problem halved...) and true to his word, 6 monthslater I got a call saying he found one, in very nearlymint condition. It was in great nick for a rifle that wasbuilt around the 1920`s.OK, got the rifle, got the scope, just a case ofgetting them together. Did I say just? As usualnothing is that simple - the scope mounting-blockshave to be fixed in set designated positions, oneon the barrel, one on the action. This pre-determineddistance is what sets the value for the scopeadjustment clicks. Probably the only gunsmith incountry with such a jig to do this job is gunsmith RogerMason of Essex, who luckily was a friend of Andrew’s.A few phone calls later and all the bits were off toRoger to be assembled. Three weeks later, thewoodwork on the fore-piece had been alteredand the scope-blocks fitted and the scope wason. The whole rifle had been stripped, servicedand cleaned to bring it back to almost as-newcondition. Several days later and project that Ihad worked on for a year -without seeing themajority of the parts - landed assembled in my lap.Given that I said at the start of this project thatI wasn’t a fan of old military rifles, I fell in lovewith this rifle as soon as I un-packed it. It’s light,well balanced and comes up to the shoulderreally well. Andrew had even managed to getme an authentic leather sling to finish it all off.However the point of this exercise was not to strokeit but to shoot it and find out what it’s capable of.Feed MeLuckily there’s lots of loading information outthere for this rifle and the 30-06 cartridge. Asearch on the net soon throws up loads foreverything from 155 to 220 grain bullets. I had plentyof 155 and 168 grain Lapua match bullets and inorder to give the rifle the best chance, I gave it thebest equipment to work with - Lapua brass andRedding competition dies and in order to be a littlemore gentle on the bore, I moly-coated the bullets.I then ran two test batches and both showed similarpromising results. Interestingly, the best groups werewith 48.5grains of Vihtavuori N140 which delivereda muzzle velocity of 2650 fps. Both batches showinggroups at 100 yards with all five shots touching. I tookthe 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 acomparison test with a typical current sniper-typerifle, I shot the Springfield alongside a friend`s SakoTRG with a 8x32 Nightforce scope at 300 yards. TheSako does have smaller five-shot group at 3 incheswhich was only to be expected but the old rifle didput up a good show on the day with a 3¾ inch group.This was not very a scientific experiment but Idid wind the power down to 8X on the Nightforceto make it a more level playing-field but it doesshow what this 70 year old rifle can do. I would gofurther by saying that with some more loaddevelopment and in more experienced hands thanmine, I’m sure that this rifle could do much more.ConclusionGoing back to the beginning of this article I asked thequestion “How accurate were these rifles?” The answeris - more accurate than I ever imagined - sub MOA!!Please mentionwhen using advertisingin the magazineTarget Shooter 79

AIRGUN SPECIALIST IN HEREFORDLocated close to Hereford’s CityCentre, Bromsports is your one-stopshop for airguns and accessories aswell as Lamps, Camo Clothing,Archery, Paintball, Replicas etc.We offer a reliable ‘old- fashioned’service and you are assured of awarm reception whether in the shopor on the phone, so why not give usa try, you may be surprised!We offer a fast mail-order service by phone orvia our website www.bromsports.co.uk. A maplink to the shop can be found on the site.BROMYARD SPORTS. 66 Widemarsh Street, Hereford,HR4 9HG. Tel: 01432 344610. Shop opening: Tuesday toSaturday 9am ‘till 5pm. Adjacent car parking available.Airguns usually in stock include brandssuch as: WEBLEY, BSA, DIANA,WEIHRAUCH, COMETA, AIR ARMS,THEOBEN, LOGUN, SMK, CROSMAN,UMAREX, NORICA, REMINGTON Etc.Other products from: BUFFALO RIVERARMEX, PETRON, BARNETT, BISLEY,GARLANDS, BUSHNELL, ANDUJARJACK PYKE, LIGHT FORCE, DENIX,CHRONY, RANGE RIGHT, Etc.14 LAMINGTON ST, TAIN, ROSS-SHIRE IV19 1AA TEL: 01862 892171 FAX: 01862 892859 www.rmacleod.co.uk sales@rmacleod.co.ukTHE SCOTTISH RIFLE DEALERSECOND HAND AND SPECIALS ON NEW RIFLESS/H .22 HORNET CZ S/CUT £325.00S/H . 222 SAKO L491 £350.00S/H . 222 BSA CFZ SET TRIGGER £195.00S/H . 222 CZ £375.00NEW . 222 SAKO 75 VARMINT BLUE £950.00S/H . 222 RUGER ST C/W DEERFIELD SCOPE£575.00NEW . 222 STEYR PRO HUNTER £690.00S/H .22/250 RUGER VARMINT INC 3.5-10x40 WHITETAIL £295.00NEW .22/250 WINCHESTER M70 COYOTE £550.00S/H .22/250 SAKO 85 STAINLESS S/CUT £695.00NEW . 223 BROWNING ABOLT STAINLESS S/CUT £490.00NEW .223WSSMWINCHESTER SUPER SHADOW £300.00NEW . 223 STEYR PRO MOUNTAIN INC MOD £880.00S/H . 243 REMINGTON 700 BDL £420.00S/H . 243 BLASER OFF ROAD £1,000.00S/H . 243 STEYR MANNLICHER £550.00S/H .25-06 TIKKA MASTER £400.00S/H .25-06 BLASER OFF ROAD £1,050.00S/H . 270 BLASER OFF ROAD S/CUT £1,050.00S/H . 270 SAKO L691 LEFT HAND £695.00S/H . 270 DICKSON £350.00S/H . 270 REMINGTON 700 BDL £450.00S/H . 270 CZ SCREWCUT £425.00S/H . 270 RUGER M77 S/CUT £425.00NEW .270WSMSAKO 75 HUNTER £995.00S/H . 375 BLASER OFF ROAD PRO (AS NEW) £1,675.00S/H .30-06 MAUSER 03 BARREL ONLY £330.00S/H . 308 SAKO A11 £475.00S/H . 308 SAKO STUTZEN £495.00S/H . 308 SAKO M591 £495.00S/H . 308 MAUSER 66 £450.00S/H . 308 HEYM £975.00S/H . 308 STEYR £450.00S/H . 308 TIKKA T3 ST SYN L/HAND £650.00NEW 6.5x55 SAKO 75 HUNTER L/HAND £990.00S/H 6.5x55 TIKKA T3 AS NEW INC MOUNTS £650.00NEW 6.5x55 PRO MOUNTAIN INC MOD £890.00S/H 7MM REM MAG RUGER No1 £400.00essage by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)80 Target ShooterS/H 7x57 RUGER M77 £325.00S/HBLASER LUXUS WOOD - STOCK £1,095.00 ONLYS/HBLASER LUXUSWOOD UPGRADE - STOCK ONLY£1,995.00S/HBLASER OFF ROAD - STOCK ONLY £550.00 AS NEWSECOND HAND AND EX DEMO OPTICSLEICA TRINOVID 10x42 EX DEMO £750.00SWAROVSKI6x42 HABICHT NEW DISCONTINUED £450.00 MODELSWAROVSKI2.5-10x56 PV1-2 HIGH GRID NEW DISC £950.00 MODELSWAROVSKI1.25-4x24PV1 DOT RET NEW DISC £595.00 MODELSWAROVSKI1.5-6x42 P11DOT RET NEW DISC MODEL £695.00SCHMIDT & BENDER 6x42 GERMAN S/H AS NEW £425.00SCHMIDT & BENDER 3-12x50 A7 30MM £550.00SCHMIDT & BENDER 3-12x50 MILDOT S/H £550.00SCHMIDT & BENDER 7x50 GERMAN 30MM EX DEMO £495.00LEUPOLD VX111 3-9x50 S/H AS NEW £295.00SCHMIDT & BENDER 6x42 HUNGARIAN 1" RET A7 £260.00LISENFELD 6x42 1" TUBE RET 4A £150.00ZEISS DIATAL Z 6x42 1" TUBE RET 4 £375.00SCHMIDT & BENDER 6x42 HUNGARIAN 1" A7 £260.00PECAR CHAMPION 8x45 RET 4 1" £295.00LEUPOLD VXIII 4.5-14X50 L/R, TDS £425.00NEW SWAROVSKI Z6OUR PRICEZ6 2-12x50 £1,099.00Z6 2.5-15x56 £1,199.00Z6 2.5-15x56 BT £1,299.00NEW SWAROVSKI Z6I ILLUMINATEDZ61 1.7-10x42 £1,395.00Z61 2-12x50 £1,459.00Z61 2.5-15x56 £1,579.00Z61 2.5-15x56 BT £1,659.00NEW SWAROVSKI AV4-12x50 £819.006-18x50 £910.00NEW SWAROVSKI PF8x50 £599.008x56 £649.00

Tel: 01977 681639 TIM HANNAM Fax: 01977 684272THE RELOADING SPECIALISTSPeckfield Lodge, Great North Road ,Leeds, LS25 5LJReloading PressesWe stock the full range of pressesby Lee, Lyman, Hornady and ForsterCase Preparation AccessoriesWe stock a wide range of equipment,tools and kits.Reloading DiesWe stock a wide range of die setsand individual dies by Lee, Lyman ,Hornady and ForsterScalesWe stock both electronic and beamscales from Lee, Lyman , Hornady.and MTMBrass CasesFrom the most popular to the fairlyobscure Manufacturers includeLapua, Remington, Winchester,Starline and IMIBulletsIncluding Match, Varmint and Targetbullets from Lapua, Hornady Remingtonand Winchester. We carry a widerange of pistol bullets in both jacketedand lead.Smokeless PowdersWe carry a wide range of powdersfrom Vihtavouri, Hodgdon, IMR andAlliantPrimersFor both Rifle and Pistol calibers fromRemington, Winchester, CCI andFederalCurrent Special Offers fromFree Media Reactivatorworth £4.52 includedwith every Tumbler1200 Pro Tumbler £54.98Excellent value formoney with the capacityto clean up to amaximum of 350 38spcases. Special featuresinc ‘built in’sifter lid toenable easy separationof cases and of coursemedia is included .Lyman Precision Die SetsFree4 OZ B UTCH’S B ORE SHINEWITH EVERY LYMAN DIESETLyman precision die sets are crafted on state of the artcomputer controlled equipment ensuring that each dieis perfectly dimensioned. Each rifle sizing die isvented, polished, heat treated for toughness and thenreceives a final micro-finish polish forextra smoothness.Rifle standard 2 die set £35.75Rifle standard 3 die set £46.89Classic rifle 3 die setTarget Shooter£46.8981

Shooting Website of the MonthWebsite of the Month – Varmint Al’swww.varmintal.comThe word ‘varmint’ hasn’t found its way into mycopy of the Oxford English dictionary as yetbut, as far as I can make out, it’s an Americanterm for an animal that isn’t worth eating butstill fun to shoot. I therefore avoided VarmintAl’s site as I’m not really fond of looking at deadanimals - unless they are on a plate with gravyand vegetables.Al and learn all about him, his lifestyle, pets,family etc. but in addition there is plenty ofuseful stuff for the shooter. The site is paddedout with powder burning-rate charts, holidaypics, free targets and of course theaforementioned dead animals. Al is also a radioham and if that’s your scene you could evenhave a chat with him. Al clearly leads a very fulllife and if his site is anything to go by, he enjoysevery minute of it. Good on yer Al!However, I did stumble across one of hisstress-analysis features on another websiteand decided to take a look. Remarkable – isthe best word I can think of to describe hiswork and un-missable to anyone interestedin 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 Varmint82 Target Shooter

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The HANDLOADING BENCHRIFLING TWIST RATES (Part 1)Although rifling twist and bullet stability fall underthe ‘external ballistics’ heading, understanding thisissue is important to the handloader to choose bulletsthat are both optimised for the shooting purpose andmatch the barrel twist rate in use. It’s also an importantconsideration for those purchasing custom rifles orhaving existing shooting sticks rebarreled – it’s no gooddiscovering that the rifle won’t perform with the bulletyou want to use after receiving it from the gunsmithbecause the twist rate isn’t optimal, or in the worst-casescenario, suitable.The very name ‘rifle’ indicates that this feature is atthe heart of our tools. Rifling imparts stability to thebullet during its flight by making it spin around itslongitudinal axis. Take this stabilisation away and anyelongated projectile tumbles in flight producing nilaccuracy and a severely curtailed range. ‘Stability’ meansimparting a force to a projectile that keeps its tippointing at the target, but achieving this isn’t restricted torifling. Fins or arrow flight-feathers at the rear end of theprojectile represent an older method which is still used inmodern devices including missiles, aerial bombs,and tank cannon shells. It has not been successfullyadapted to smallarms so far, the American ‘SPIW’project to produce a supposedly lethal while virtuallynearly recoilless ‘individual weapon’ that fired‘flechettes’ (small-calibre darts) at very high velocitiesproved a failure after much work and expenditure.Bullets and their larger cousins, artillery shells, come in all shapes andsizes, and all must be stabilised except for round balls (and even theybenefit from being fired in a rifled barrel).84 Target ShooterLaurie HollandTake away rifling and you’re restricted to the roundmusket ball which has lots of disadvantages –low weight for calibre; tiny bearing surface to sealpowder gasses behind it in the barrel requiring waddingor a patch; poor external ballistics. Some of you mightcomment that early rifled arms fired round balls whichseems strange as spin seems superfluous given thisshape presents the same shape to the air irrespectiveof its orientation, and the centre of gravity shouldcoincide with its physical centre, so a degree oftumbling in flight shouldn’t affect the trajectory.Rifling did in fact improve accuracy through impartingconsistent spin to the ball, a problem with smoothboremuskets being a tendency to impart spin in a randommanner leading to inconsistent trajectories.GyroscopeSpin-stabilisation utilises gyroscopic force tostabilise the bullet. A gyroscope always tries toreturn to its original alignment, so spin-stabilisationprovides an inbuilt ‘steering effect’. Our key measure indetermining whether a bullet will be stable is thecoefficient of gyroscopic spin or Sg, a value of1.0 or more deemed stable, but with 1.4 usuallyrecommended as a minimum. The Sg for anycombination of bullet, velocity and rifling twist rateis easily found using Miller’s Twist Rule, but why dowe need to stabilise our bullets, gyroscopically orotherwise, at all? Thetechnical reason is thata projectile encountersconsiderable resistanceas it pushes its waythrough the air and thishas the effect ofimparting an equal andopposite force pushingbackwards on its frontend. This is not focussedon the extreme tip asyou’d expect, but on aspot lying further back onthe central axis – up to a

As soon as theround ball wasreplaced byelongated bullets,rifling becameessential.third of the projectile’s length back from the tip. Theexact spot depends on shape – close to the front inblunt designs, farther back in those with a long, pointednose. The centre of gravity (CG) also lies on the axis,but still farther back, say around a third of the bullet’slength ahead of the base in a typical HPBT match type.With air resistance acting on a point well ahead of theCG it quickly causes the projectile to turn and starttumbling in the absence of any stabilisation, and withthe CG lying towards the rear in the sorts of bulletdesigns we’re interested in, the base naturally wantsto overtake the point (which is exactly what happenswhen a military FMJBT type penetrates soft tissue).Different calibres, shapes, weights and lengths seevarying distances between these two key points – thefurther apart, the greater the turning motion in play,hence the greater the amount of stabilising forceneeded to counter it, in our case a faster rate of spin.This is why long thin match bullets which have thesepoints widely separated need a ‘tighter’ or ‘faster’ riflingtwist, than short fat bullets. (To download a copy of theMiller Twist Rate Formula spreadsheet, go to www.accurateshooter.net/Blog/millerformula.xls)To illustrate this, let’s look at two very differentcartridges and bullets. A 6mm BR Norma rifle fires a105gn Berger Target Match VLD at around 2,800 fpsand needs a one turn in eight inches rifling twist tostabilise it. Early .444 Marlin rifles have a much slower(one turn in 38”) twist barrel, but stabilise the 265gnHornady FNJSP at 2,200-2,350 fps MV. Let’s look athow fast these bullets are being spun: the 6mm rotatesat 252,000 rpm at 2,800 fps, while the .44 only has41,684 rpm at 2,200 fps, under 17% of the former’srotational speed. (Current Marlin 444s have a 20”twist rate, so modern examples see the bullet rotateat 79,200 rpm at 2,200 fps MV, faster but still only afraction of that used in the 6mm.) Hang on, how oftenhave people told you that heavy bullets need a fastertwist rate than light ones, so our first finding is thatbullet weight is not what determines the rate of spin.The reason for the vast difference in spin-rate neededis down primarily to the difference in their lengths asmeasured in calibres, and to a lesser extent to theirvery different shapes. Measuring 6mm Berger VLDsgave an average length of 1.238”, and their diameteris 0.243”, so a typical bullet is 5.095 calibres long,let’s say 5.1 calibres for the longest examples in thecarton. Hornady 265gn forty-four bullets came out at0.807” ±0.001” and their diameter is 0.429”, so a bulletis only 1.88 calibres long, or just over a third (37.5%)that of the 6mm match bullet’s length using this form ofmeasurement. The Miller formula gives Sg valuesof 1.47 and 1.39 for my 6BR and .444 examplesrespectively under standard atmospheric conditions(59ºF, 29.92” Hg pressure). Turning to 0.22 calibre,Table 1 gives the lengths, Sgs and required twist ratesfor a selection of 0.224” calibre bullets at .22 Hornet,.222, and .223 Remington velocities. You’ll note arelatively small change in bullet length is magnified onconversion to calibres and this can have a substantialeffect on the required twist rate.MilitaryI started my fullbore shooting with vintage militaryarms which led me to the mistaken belief that there isone ‘correct’ twist for each calibre – one turn in 10” for0.30” and 0.303”, 8.8” for 8mm and so on. (To avoidconstant repetition of the ‘one turn in….’ formula, I’lluse the actual twist figure from now on as in ‘10T’for a full turn every ten inches.) This still applies tomilitary smallarms, to a lesser extent to factorysporting arms, and not at all with custom target andpest rifles. All 7.62X51mm (7.62 Nato) service rifles thatI know of retain the late 19th century 10T twist as usedin the original .30-06 and 0.303”, despite 7.62mm ballcartridges being loaded with relatively short 144-The cover of the 1980s Speer No. 10 manualshows a bullet in flight and the shock-waves itgenerates as it passes through the air. Thisresistance acts on the bullet attempting to forceits nose out of alignment, and leading totumbling if there is insufficient spin to stabiliseit.Target Shooter 85

148gn FMJBT bullets which were successfullystabilised in 14T TR rifle barrels in the pre-155gnera. The current Nato standard for 5.56X45mm riflesand machine-guns is an even faster 7T. The civiliansporting equivalents in factory rifles are 10T for .30-06, 12T for .308Win, and 12T for .223Rem, albeit youcan find 9T variations for this cartridge (Remington‘tactical’ models such as the ‘Police Rifle’ and700SPS Tactical; and all Savage .223Rem rifles), theoccasional 8T as in the Tikka T3 Tactical. You caneven specify the military 7T rate in the Savage Model12 LRPV (Long range Precision Varmint) riflealongside 9T barrelled versions. Now this is a hugevariation in some cases, especially amongst 5.56mmand .223Rem models!The UK L2A2 military 5.56mmcartridge uses a 61.7gn FMJBTbullet which has two cores – leadin the rear; (lighter) steel up front.Throw in an airspace in the bullettip, and you have a long bulletfor its weight at 0.915”, but notethat it is shorter than the 105gn6mm Berger VLD when convertedto calibres (4.1 v 5.1). Moreover,rotational speed is a combinationof the rifling twist rate and MV, andwe know the 5.56mm is a hot littlenumber in its current milspec guise.Let’s do the numbers – 6BR givesthe 105gn Berger 252,000 rpm at2,800 fps MV from an 8T barrel,while the 5.56mm has a nominal3,100 fps MV in British L2A2 / US86 Target ShooterThe 6mm (0.243” dia) 105gnBerger VLD on the left needsan 8T barrel, while the short,fat Hornady 0.429” 265gn JSPbullet on the right manageswith 38TM855 forms, equating to nearly 320,000 rpm from a 7Tbarrel, an increase of more than a quarter despite theshorter bullet.What this tells us is that the military chooses ‘over-fast’twist rates. Why? It lets them use any availableammunition that will chamber in the rifle in anemergency, say tracer or armour-piercing rounds thatlikely employ longer bullets; secondly, Sg figures andthe twist rates needed to achieve sufficiently highvalues are calculated for standard environmentalconditions, or reasonable deviations from such, whilearmies prepare to fight in extreme conditions, inparticular the polar regions in winter with theirexceptionally cold, dense air – I’ll return toenvironment. Even so, 7T seems excessive for 5.56mm,at least with the standard 62gn ball round, Miller’stwist formula computing an Sg of 2.43 under standardconditions, and 1.99 in Arctic winter temperatures.We know that this bullet is fully stabilised when firedfrom 9T barrelled rifles such as the standard SouthernGun Co. SSR-15 or Remy 700PSS, the Miller formulapredicting an Sg of 1.47 from this twist rate. If you’reamong the many shooters who’ve tried to use cheap62gn 5.56mm fodder in a 12T barrelled .223Rem rifle,you’ll know it doesn’t work, and the Miller formula tellsyou why – an Sg of 0.83, well below the minimum 1.0stability factor.Air DensityWe’ve said the objective is to stabilise a bullet with agiven set of characteristics composed of its weight,shape, and by far the most important factor, lengthin calibres. Achievement involves three ingredients:rifling twist rate, muzzle velocity, and the environmentinto which the bullet is launched. Let’s dispose of thelast of these first. Despite constant moaning about theBritish weather, we see few extremes, and it is unusualfor a target shooter to be out in air temperatures below0ºC or above 25. Likewise, our rifle ranges lie betweensea level and around 1,000ft altitude. This may notapply elsewhere with American shooters testingBlair Atholl in the Scottish Highlands is probably the UK’s highestrifle range for civilian target shooting. Its altitude reduces airdensity, but the region’s prevailing cool temperatures partlycounter this.

ammunition in much lower winter temperatures whilecompeting over some ranges at much higher altitudes.With the destabilising force on the front of the bulletcaused by air resistance, it varies according to altitude andtemperature, thickening it and increasing resistanceappreciably if both are low, thinning it and having theopposite effect if both are high. You cannot do anythingabout this apart from ensuring that you spin the bulletfast enough to cope with the worst conditions that you’llshoot in. Let’s look at the 1.131” (3.67 calibres) long155gn 0.308” Sierra Match King fired from a .308Win/ 7.62mm TR rifle at 2,950 fps MV through a 13Tbarrel, this twist rate now the most common in TRand Palma rifles. I’ve listed a range of environmentalconditions in Table 2, and you can see that the calculated SGvaries between 1.51 at standard barometric pressurefor sea level (29.92” Hg) in 0 degrees F (-18ºC) air,exceptionally cold for daytime in the British Isles, to 1.82in a hot summer’s day on the upland ranges of Diggleor Blair Atholl. In fact, 14T is more than adequate forany likely conditions with this bullet in the British Isles.Let’s say you’re only ever going to load the SMK anduse the resulting .308Win rounds in ‘Palma Rifle’ at theAmerican NRA Whittington Centre range complex nearRaton, New Mexico. Assuming the range is situated ata similar altitude to the town which is listed at 6,680 ftabove sea level, you would expect to encounter lowerair pressure, standard barometric pressure being 23.7”Hg at this height. With summer temperatures reaching80ºF according to the local weather station, our 13Tbarrel now gives the 155gn SMK Sgs that could reach2.24. As rates with values above 2 degrade accuracy,you’d be better off with a 14T barrel if you confined yourshooting to this bullet over this range, and you couldeven safely specify 16T.MV + TwistThe rate of spin, hence stabilising force is a result ofthe interaction of the rifling twist rate and MV (muzzlevelocity). Rotational speed in revolutions per minute62 RG + 64 Berger FB Match + 55M193(rpm) is calculated by dividing the twist rate by 12 andthen dividing MV by the result of the first calculation toget revolutions per second, multiplying by 60 for rpm.My 6mm BR example sees 8 (inch-twist) divided by12 = 0.6666. Divide 2,800 (fps MV) by 0.66666 andwe get 4,200 and multiplying by 60 gives us 252,000rpm. We rarely if ever need to know what the bullet’srpm is, but it’s instructive to know just how fast a bulletspins in one load combination compared to another,especially when doing something extreme like firing atiny 40gn 0.224” Varmint pill out of a 7T barrel at highvelocity! The reason I bring rpm up here is that it’sregularly said by ‘firing-point experts’ that if a twist rateis inadequate for a bullet, just increase the load andMV ‘a bit’, and all will be well.Let’s take the cartridge that probably causes moreconfusion than most – .223 Remington. The widely0.224” bullets (2). 35gn – 45gn 0.224” Hornet bullets with a 55gn M193 alongside forscale. This old .22 centrefire normally uses a 16T twist rate, and bullets have to be veryshort to be stabilised.Target Shooter 87

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 M193FMJBT (.223Rem)used rule of thumb is that 12T caters for bullets with amaximum weight of 55gn; 9T does 60-75gn, and 8T isneeded for the 77s and 80s. We know that the 69gnSierra MatchKing works with a 10T rate (it says “7”-10” twist bbls only” on the end of the box), let’s say ata modest 2,700 fps. You’ve got a .223Rem rifle witha 12T barrel. Can you load the cartridge up enoughto get a suitably high spin-rate on the bullet? 2,700fps makes the bullet rotate at 194,400 rpm in a 10Tbarrel, or 216,000 rpm in the more common 9T rate.How about 12T? Even an impressive 3,100 fps onlygives 186,000 rpm, still well short. We would have toincrease the MV to 3,250 fps – which we can’t get with69gn bullets in this cartridge, not safely anyway – toproduce 195,000 rpm. Change the barrel twist rate byone point to 11T, and a high but achievable 3,050 fpsMV produces just under 200,000 rpm which should dothe trick, however.Let’s check these combinations out with the Millerformula. The 69gn SMK is just under 0.9” long, thelongest example in a sample I measured being0.897”. At standard pressure / temperature, 2,700 fpsfrom a 9T barrel gives an Sg of 1.65, and the Sierraquoted minimum rate of 10T reduces that to 1.34, still88 Target Shootercomfortably stabilised. Moving to an 11T barrel at thesame MV should still just see the 69gn SMK stabilisedwith an Sg value of 1.11, but using the standard 12Tdrops it below stability level to 0.93. Even raising theMV to a very ‘hot’ 3,100 fps in this rifling twist rate onlyproduces an Sg of 0.97 which is marginally unstablebut might just work in some circumstances,especially given a factor I’ll cover next month. Note thatthis significant change to the cartridge’s load andchamber pressures represented by raising the MVfrom 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 whatworks for the SMK will suit it too, surely? (It also says“twist rate 1/7-10” on the carton end.) However, thisbullet is nearly a tenth of an inch longer than the SMKat around 0.991”. Run it through the Miller formula and10T at 2,900 fps barely works with a computed Sg of1.01, 3,100 fps only raising it to 1.05, both right on theline. A 12T barrel has no chance with an Sg of 0.72even at 3,100 fps.Alright, the Miller Twist Rule is only a mathematicalmodel run on a smallMicrosoft Excelspreadsheet. Howdoes it translateto real bullets andbarrels? I can quotean example fromdirect experiencerelating to thesetwo bullets. Someyears back animporter loaned mea newly introduced.223 Rem ‘HeavyVarmint’ variant ofa popular rifle forreview. The nominal62 RG + 68 HDY + 69 SMK + 70 B VLD + 70 JLK VLDtwist was 9T, so Iloaded up 50 rounds

55 M193 + 77 SMK + 80SMK + 80 Bgr VLD + 80A-Msplit between the 68gn Hornady and 69gn Sierrabullets, charges rising in small steps from recognisedstarting loads. I sighted the rifle in at 200yd using anexisting load with 52gn Hornady A-Maxes thatperformed well in my 12T Remy 700VS, and resultswere good, easily holding the NRA TR target V-Bull,1-MOA or less.Switching to the heavier bullet loads saw adramatic deterioration: the Sierras found the target butstruggled to hold the 4-ring, 3-MOA plus; the Hornady68 loads wouldn’t hit the target frame reliably. Theeason was of course that the twist rate was 12”, not 9,despite what the manufacturer had quoted (rectified insubsequent batches from the factory). I measured this asa fairly accurate 12T rate in this particular barrel, so theMiller results weren’t far out – Sierra MKs not quite fullystabilised causing a serious deterioration in groupingability, the longer Hornady 68s completely unstable. Infact, Miller was a little pessimistic, as I wouldn’t havebeen anywhere near achieving 3,100 fps with my testloads, 2,700-2,900 being more likely, or SGs for the69gn SMK in the 0.93-0.95 range compared to 0.97 atmaximum velocity.So, let’s summarise what we’ve seen so far. First, don’tget hung up on bullet weight as this can be misleadingwith same-weight bullets in a calibre having differentlengths and requiring different amounts of stabilisation,hence twist rate. Secondly, changing MV hasconsiderably less effect than changing the twistrate, so ‘loading a cartridge up’ for a higher MV onlyrarely works. Thirdly, air temperature and density affectbullet stability, but British conditions are unlikely to varyenough to require a change in the rifling twist rate – ineither direction.Let’s say the Miller formula says a bullet / twist / MVcombination produces an Sg barely above 1.0, (as inthe 0.308” 155gn Lapua Scenar at 3,000 fps from a13.5T barrel for an Sg of only 1.07), but it groups wellin 100yd testing / load development? Won’t it be allover the place at 1,000 yards as we know every aspectof bullet performance degrades with range? I’ll finishoff this look at the rifling twist rate issue next month,covering this and other factors, also introduceanother type of bullet stability that is separate from thegyroscopic variety.Table 1BulletLength / CalsMVSg.22 Hornet (16T is the standard twist rate)35gn Hornady V-Max 0.516” / 2.32,900 1.6440gn Sierra Hornet 0.488” / 2.182,800 1.6745gn Sierra Hornet 0.533” / 2.742,650 1.4645gn Hornady SPT 0.615” / 2.742,650 0.9945gn Nosler Hornet 0.561” / 2.52,650 1.27.222 Remington (14T is the standard twist rate)50gn Sako FMJ FB 0.655” / 2.923,200 1.350gn Norma FMJ FB 0.645” / 2.883,200 1.3452gn Speer HP Match 0.712” / 3.173,100 1.0552gn Sierra MK 0.710” / 3.173,100 1.0552gn Hornady A-Max 0.798” / 3.563,100 0.7553gn Hornady HP Match 0.715” / 3.193,100 1.0555gn Lapua FMJ FB 0.720” / 3.213,000 1.0655gn FMJBT (M193 mil) 0.734” / 3.28Makers are increasingly putting the minimum barrel twistrates on specialist bullet boxesTarget Shooter 89

3,000 1.0040gn Hornady V-Max 0.686” / 3.063,400 0.9250gn Sierra SPT Varminter 0.691” / 3.083,200 1.10.223 Remington (12T Barrels)50gn Sako FMJ FB 0.655” / 2.923,400 1.7850gn Norma FMJ FB 0.645” / 2.883,400 1.8552gn Speer HP Match 0.712” / 3.173,300 1.4652gn Sierra MK 0.710” / 3.173,300 1.4652gn Hornady A-Max 0.798” / 3.563,300 1.0553gn Hornady HP Match 0.715” / 3.193,300 1.4655gn Lapua FMJ FB 0.720” / 3.213,200 1.4755gn FMJBT (M193 mil) 0.734” / 3.283,200 1.3936gn Barnes Var Grenade 0.701” / 3.133,800 1.1040gn Hornady V-Max 0.686” / 3.063,700 1.2850gn Sierra SPT Varminter 0.691” / 3.083,400 1.5353gn Barnes TSX 0.795” / 3.553,300 1.0855gn Nosler BTSP 0.735” / 3.283,200 1.3960gn Nosler BTSP 0.782” / 3.493,100 1.25.223 Remington (9T Barrels)50gn Sako FMJ FB 0.655” / 2.923,400 3.1650gn Norma FMJ FB 0.645” / 2.883,400 3.3052gn Speer HP Match 0.712” / 3.173,300 2.5952gn Sierra MK 0.710” / 3.173,300 2.5952gn Hornady A-Max 0.798” / 3.563,300 1.8653gn Hornady HP Match 0.715” / 3.193,300 2.5455gn Lapua FMJ FB 0.720” / 3.213,200 2.4955gn FMJBT (M193 mil) 0.734” / 3.283,200 2.3468gn Hornady HPBT M 0.991” / 4.423,000 1.2669gn Sierra MK 0.892” / 3.983,000 1.7470gn Lapua Scenar 0.951” / 4.2490 Target Shooter3,000 1.4770gn JLK VLD 0.991 / 4.423,000 1.3070gn Berger VLD 0.967” / 4.323,000 1.4075gn Hornady HPBT M 0.997” / 4.452,900 1.3575gn Hornady A-Max 1.095” / 4.892,900 1.0362gn Barnes TSX BT 0.944” / 4.213,100 1.34.223 Remington (8T Barrels)68gn Hornady HPBT M 0.991” / 4.423,000 1.6069gn Sierra MK 0.892” / 3.983,000 2.2070gn Lapua Scenar 0.951” / 4.243,000 1.8670gn JLK VLD 0.991 / 4.423,000 1.6570gn Berger VLD 0.967” / 4.323,000 1.7775gn Hornady HPBT M 0.997” / 4.452,900 1.6175gn Hornady A-Max 1.095” / 4.892,900 1.2277gn Sierra MK 0.981” / 4.382,700 1.8080gn Sierra MK 1.076” / 4.802,800 1.4380gn Berger VLD 1.106” / 4.932,800 1.3280gn Hornady A-Max 1.153” / 5.152,800 1.1880gn Nosler HPBT M 1.070” / 4.782,800 1.47Table 2Effect on a 155gn Sierra MK’s Sg at 2,950 fps MVcaused by Temperature and Altitude (BarometricPressure) ChangesAltitude (ft) Air Temperature 1 3 TBarrel 14T Barrel0 ft (Sea Level) 0ºF (-18ºC) 1.511.310 ft (Sea Level) 32ºF (0ºC) 1.621.400 ft (Sea Level) 75ºF (24ºC) 1.761.521,000 ft (Diggle) 75ºF (24ºC) 1.821.576,680 ft (Raton NM) 80ºF (27ºC) 2.241.94

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We are a well established gun shop in surrey for thelast 36 years now under new ownership of PeterFriend. Over the years the surrey guns has built areputation for specialist target shooting and stock alarge range of match air rifles, pistols as well as .22target guns and accessories7 Manor Road, Wallington, Surrey, SM6 0BWTel:020 8647 7742 Fax: 020 8669 9199E-mail: pfriend@surreyguns.comMonday—Saturday 0900 - 1700COUNTRYMAN OF DERBY LTD31 QUEEN ST, DERBY, DE1 3DSESTABLISHED 1986.WEBSITE AND ONLINE WEBSHOP -www.countrymanofderby.co.ukTEL 01332 360357email- martyn@countrymanofderby.co.ukLARGE SELECTION OF NEW AND USED RIFLESSHOTGUNS AND AIRGUNS IN STOCK AT VERYCOMPETETTIVE PRICES.BROWNING, BERETTA AND MIROKU MAINDEALERSWE SPECIALISE IN CENTREFIRE SPORTING RIFLES ANDHAVE POSSIBLY THE BEST SELECTION OF RIFLES ANDSCOPES IN THE MIDLANDS, WE ALSO HAVE A GOOD CHOICEOF RIFLE RELOADING EQUIPMENT AND COMPONENTS.92 Target Shooter

Part 2The SequelGwyn RobertsWe left off last month with receivers, here is the finalinstalment.Triggers –To help you reach your potential, especially in theprecision type matches, you should really try a KIDunit and then you’ll probably end up buying one!Although I’ve always preferred a single stage triggerit doesn’t take long to get used to take up the firststage adjustment on the KID, (especially when a lotof the travel can be taken out) then you are leftwith a very crisp release which can be fine tuneddown to around 6 to 8 ounces if you like. GregGoldsworthy from Rude Fat Dog in Devon importsthem and will set them exactly how you want itbefore sending them if you are not sure what to do.These really are the best available on the marketat the moment but due to the current exchangerate against the dollar, they unfortunately aren’tcheap! From an investment point of view myJewel trigger cost me nearly £200 11 years ago,and apart from a spring breakage last year, it isstill going strong. That’s less than £20 a year fora first class trigger and taking a look at the buildquality of the KID unit I see no reason why theyKID triggers (bottom and right) are topquality but a two stage trigger may notsuit 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 Ihave tried, one has the trigger weight pre set whilstthe other is made up of ‘drop in’ components but inmy opinion they are really not worth bothering withas they are a lot of money for poor quality. If youcan’t stretch to buying a KID at the moment, why notjust have someone who knows what they are doingto slick up your standard Ruger trigger unit instead?With a bit of time and effort the result will be a lotbetter than just fitting one of the ‘drop in’ kits andcost less money too. You should be able to achievea trigger release around the 2 ½ to 3lb mark quiteeasily, and this along with an ABR should see animprovement on the range. Another thing to bearin mind regarding your trigger group is that someof the matches we shoot in require you to drop themagazine and lock the action open quickly to movebetween shooting positions. With this in mind youshould have a speed lever magazine release fittedthat will enable you to drop the magazine bypushing it forwards, and then allow you to lockthe action open by pulling it to the rear along withthe bolt. These can be operated very quickly andsmoothly and don’t cost the earth to buy either.Barrels – Standard, lightweight or heavy?The standard Ruger barrels are usually very reliableTarget Shooter 93

for functioning and you can put almost any typeof ammunition through them and they’ll work justfine, which is probably due to the ‘generous’ sizingof the standard chamber. Typically though, theywill group at least a quarter to half inch plus biggerVQ 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 speedsteels or the Bianchi match. Using one of the‘match’ barrels however to shoot at the muchsmaller targets used in the 1500 and other ‘precision’type events though will certainly help improve yourscores, so it’s definitely something to think about.Looking at the aftermarket barrels the first thingto consider should be the weight, especially whenbuilding a new rifle. A stainless one can weigh upto 3½lbs on its own compared to around 14oz to aKID stainless Match (3 - 3½lbs)94 Target Shooter

1lb for one that’s made of alloy or carbon fibre.That’s a big difference and is in the region of what alarge scope would weigh! If you do opt for astainless one, make sure that you try one out on therange first as the longer ones can really make arifle very front end heavy making them a pain toshoot with and carry around all day, although thefluted shorter versions are all pretty comfortable touse.The conclusion from testing in the States is thatthere really isn’t much to be gained by a 20” plusbarrel over a 12 – 16” version accuracy wise soit’s really down to what the rifle will be used for,although a heavy stainless version will prove tobe better for the Bench rest type competitions. Forpurely hunting use a 12½” tube would probably bethe best choice, whilst the most popular ones outon the GR circuit seem to be between 16” - 18½”in length. Shilen, Volquartsen and KID are probablythe ones to go for if you are after a stainlessbarrel with Whistle Pig, Volquartsen and TacticalSolutions seeming to be the most popular of thealloy and carbon fibre offerings. Another thing toconsider is the type of chambers used which aregenerally either termed as Match or Bentz type.The ‘match’ chambers are cut to allow the roundfar enough into the chamber so that the bullet isgripped by the rifling, which could mean that anyunfired round cannot be ejected. This may causea problem during some of our matches if a jam ormisfire occurs as the rules generally state amaximum number of rounds to be fired from eachposition or that the rifle must be unloaded withno round in the chamber when moving betweenshooting positions. With this in mind I always opt fora Bentz chambered barrel as removing a live roundis easy and all the test results that I can find shotwith our types of rifles indicate that the differencein accuracy between the two types is negligibleMarking your scope will give you precisezero at every distancereally. The only other thing left to consider then is thecolour 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 fewthat are restricted to iron sights only, but these aregenerally in leagues or at the Trafalgar Meeting atBisley. There are a couple of shooters out there whocan shoot very well with ‘irons’ but it has provedimpossible to beat the top guys who are using thevariable powered scopes. Red dot sights generallyoffer a faster target acquisition which is great forspeed steels and some of the 3 gun matches, butcertainly not for the majority of matches that weshoot. Although it’s obviously all down to personalpreference, on a multiple target layout you mayfind that a larger 42mm or 45mm red dot will allowyou to see the bigger picture as it were, which willallow you to pick up the individual targets easiercompared to a 30mm tube. The 3 or 4 MOA dots42 & 30mm red dot scopesTarget Shooter 95

1.5 – 5 x 24, 6 – 20 x 50and 4 – 18 x 75 scopesare usually the ones that shooters go for as theygive a definitive aiming mark as opposed to an 8 or10moa one that will cover half of the target. Quitea few people have commented to me over the yearsabout not being able to shoot with a telescopicscope using their weak shoulder as their eyesighton that side is very poor. This type of scope whilstnot being ideal for the longer range stuff or therimfire sized targets, can overcome a lot of thisproblem for many shooters as the sheer size of therear lens enables you to look through it and focuson the dot using both eyes, regardless of whetheryou are shooting from a strong or weak shoulderposition.Moving on to the various telescopic type scopes,I think it’s fair to say that unless you shoot themajority of the GR matches with one of these fittedon top of your rifle then your success will alwaysremain limited. I experimented with variousmagnifications and objective sizes over the firstcouple of years of shooting GR to find what whichcombination worked best and the two main factorsthat will enable you to score well is having enoughmagnification to see the X ring on the 50m targets,along with the largest possible objective lensthat you can find. Recent discussions with somefriends’ who shoot at the top of the ladder as itwere, all agreed and used the same principles whenchoosing the current scopes that they use.Look down the line on a 1500 or ‘shorts’ line andyou will see that most of the top shooters are usingthe higher powered 5-20x50, 6.5-20x50 or 6-24x50scopes. Even at the closest range of 10m you willbe able to pick up the middle of the target quicklyon either 5 or 6x. If you can’t, then the problem hasto do with your preparation i.e. stance, headposition and presentation and not the scope. At thisdistance I rarely use a setting of less than 12xwhichever calibre I’m shooting. Having an upper limitof 20 or 24x doesn’t mean that you ever have to turn96 Target Shooterit up that far, but it’s always available should youever progress to use it. As well as being able toaim more precisely rather than guessing where thecentre of the target is, probably the best thing aboutusing a higher powered scope is being able tosee your point of impact on the target. This thenallows you to either adjust your aiming point orquickly dial in a couple of clicks should yourhits be off centre due to different lighting or windconditions. With a low powered scope the only timeyou will get to know about this problem is whenyou go down to score your target and by then it’stoo late and the points have gone! I think the onlyexception to using a higher powered optic would befor shooters who have dedicated Bianchi or Steelplate rifles that are either fitted with a red dot or alower powered scope in the region of 2-10x56 or3-12x50. Being able to turn down the power to 2 or3x combined with a large objective lens makes itmuch easier to pick up the shorter range targetsmuch more quickly, especially on the plates and themover as you don’t have much time to play with inthis type of match.Many people have told me that the reason theystick with their current scope (mostly in the region of3-9x 40or50) is that they cannot keep the rifle stillon a magnification setting greater than 9 or 12 etcat 50m – but neither can anyone else! Yourcrosshairs will always be moving on the targetwhatever standard of shooter you are and it’s simplya matter of learning how to release each shot as thereticule moves over the centre of the target. Overthe last 3 or 4 months some friends of mine havetried shooting with both my 1500 GRSB & GRCFrifles that were fitted with Edgar Brothers 5-20x50scopes. After a bit of time on the range graduallyincreasing the magnification settings and learningbetter trigger control, they were certainly allgrouping better and getting higher scores on thetarget. They all now own, or have on order ahigher powered scope which should ensure theirperformance and classification improves to the nextlevel. Using a high magnification scope over theyears has certainly helped me to post some good Xcount scores during my matches.The reason to go for the largest objective sizepossible is so that you will have a much greater field ofview when you bring the rifle up into the aim, atevery distance whatever targets you are shooting at.Using a 1-5x20 on full power at certain distancescan mean having to scan down the target to checkthat you are shooting on the correct 2 targets out ofthe 34 others, during a Multi Target match. On thesame setting with a 50mm plus lens you shouldallow you to see the target numbers whilst on aim,saving you at least a couple of seconds in some

Scope covers will help keep the lenses clear and in topconditioncases, and turning the power right up at 50m will giveyou a much clearer and brighter sight picture asopposed to that given with an equivalent 40 or 42mmitem. If you can afford to buy a top quality scopelike the Leopold’s’ or similar then the quality will beimproved even more as the power is turned up -they also come with a lifetime warranty! Whetherthe scope is front or side focusing isn’t really anissue but ideally it should be fitted with targetturrets. These will enable you to sight in andmark off of on a piece of tape wrapped around itprecisely your zero point for every distance at whichyou will shoot. Simply walk up to the line, dial in thedistance, adjust the focus and then load whentold to, it’s just a routine that you get into and forthe people who tell me that they don’t do it thisway because they’ll forget to change the settingseach time... you’ll only do it once...... I can assureyou! Nearly all of the top shooters do this so thatthey don’t have to aim off and can therefore justconcentrate on the middle of the target andget on with the job. At the end of the day it maywell be worth considering having 2 scopes if youwant to shoot a wide variety of disciplines with aparticular calibre and invest in a good set of quickrelease mounts to go with them. They really dohold their zero well provided you fit them properlyand could well be the difference between a currentcompromise and reaching your potential inthe varied types of competitions that youcompete in. Remember that in order to get thebest from any scope it has to be fitted and alignedproperly so that every time the rifle is broughtup into the aiming position, the eye isconsistently at the correct height and the correctdistance away in relation to the eye piece, so that aclear and fast target acquisition is attained every time!Finally, after taking the time and effort to set upyour rifles so that they fit and work properly for you,Target Shooter 97

you should finish the job off and make sure thatthe overall balance is right too! Quite a lot of riflestend to be front (rather than rear) end heavy but thiscan easily be corrected by simply adding weightto the appropriate end. To add weight to the frontit’s usually best to remove some material from thebarrel channel towards the front of the fore endand fit some epoxy covered lead or a piece ofstainless or mild steel bar. At the rear, you canremove the butt pad and hollow out part of this sectionthen fill with the same materials as the front. Eithermodification will be discreet and should provideyou with a properly balanced rifle that enhancesyour stability in all of the shooting positions that weshoot from. This in turn will reduce fatigue and shouldhelp to improve your performance at the sametime.To summarise then regarding either your currentrimfire rifle or those you intend to own in the nearfuture, make sure that you end up with:An assembled rifle combination that is of thecorrect weight and balance. A Stock that fits youand is contoured to enable you to easily shootfrom any of the positions required in the types ofcompetitions in which you intend to shoot.A trigger set up that enables you to releaseeach shot easily, smoothly and consistently.A scope that will give you the largest field of viewand the magnification power that will allow you seethe centre of any target, at every target distanceused.Once these are achieved the rest as they say,is up to you! I hope that this has been of somehelp and that it’s got you thinking more aboutwhat should be achieved before you step up tothe line for a competition. Also, watch what othershooters do and never be afraid to ask questions onthe range as no-one knows all of the answers, andit’s the only way that we will all get to learn more!Please mention uswhen usingadvertisingin the magazine98 Target Shooter

Gun of the MonthIf you want to put your rifle or pistol in as ‘Gunof the month, please contact use at;customer.services@targetshooter.co.ukOur thanksRuss is a keen benchrest shooter and the riflewas built to Light Gun (17lbs.) specification for1000 yard benchrest competition.The heart of the rifle is a Kelbly stainless steelGrizzly action bedded in a Kelbly BR fibreglassstock and the stainless steel Krieger barrel is“This month’s ‘Gun of the Month’ was built byScottish gunsmith Russ Gall to show casesome of his skills, which include the startlingred KG Gun Kote finish, the muzzle brake andthe barley-twist fluting.Incidentally, the Gun Kote finish is not just forshow – it’s very durable and was originally developedas a protective coating for firearms. Itis available in a full range of colours - if youprefer something more subdued!chambered in 7mmWSM. The scope is a NightforceBR model mounted in Kelbly rings.The 7mmWSM cartridge will push a 180 grainbullet at velocities in excess of 3000 fps andRuss’s best five-shot group at 1000 yards withthis rifle is 4.4 inches!”Target Shooter 99

RFD Lancashire (Section 1 & 2 Firearms)NEW & USED bought and soldBlack Powder / ML—Rifles—Free PistolMatch Air Pistols and Rifles—FTShooting Specs, Scopes, Sights, Cabinets etcFEINWERKBAU (FWB) Pistols, Rifles, FTSAM– Specialist Stockist K15 14 & short.BENELLI Kite Pistol– 3 Cylinder lengths + shortPardini K10 & K2S Air Pistols + Free Pistol mechanical or Electronic .22lrJUST ARRIVEDALFA CO2 Match Air PistolsFAS 609 Precharge & FAS 604B96 Aeron Brno (CZ) + M4—ServiceRohm Service & Power Upgrade—FAS 604 ServiceMORINI (Electronic & Manual) Pistols CM 162 EA & MHaring Range Equiptment EL3 Target ChangersCENTRA & GEHMANN OPTICSSTEYR Rifles and PistolsWALTHER & HAMMERLIBRATTONSOUND cabinets deliveredRINK GRIPS to your specificationRobert Clevely : tel/fax 01257 260132 mob 0777 34 555 61Sales@checkmateguns.co.ukWWW.checkmateguns.co.ukPlease mention100 Target Shooterwhen using advertisingin the magazine

44 Harrowby StreetLONDON W1H 5HYTel: 020 7262 1881Fax: 020 7402 0959Armalon „PR‟ Custom Rem 700s: The truly practical rifle for stalking, foxing, PR, SR,‘F’Class, Sporting and Benchrest. Choice of calibre and options, e.g. H-S Precision,AICS, Bell & Carlson stocks, RH or LH, a premier optical sight, plus our superb Picatinny20 moa inclined bases and 30/34mm rings. Please call/email for prices and options list.Armalon „PR rifle in Bell & Carlson Tactical chassisstock, 5,10 & 20 rd .308 mag options, fluted barrel andmuzzle brake for lighter weight and lower recoilOnly from Armalon–L/H „AICS‟ with AI orArmalon „PR‟ magconversionsSarony‟s EasyCam — This cockingassembly resolves most hardextraction problems with firedcases on ARs, from .223 to .308including 6.5 Grendel from £132 +p&p.Armalon .223 AL42 - similar model in .30M1 (AL30C) also availablePOA. Fitted with Armalon No.4 “no gunsmithing “ scopemount £83.00 + p&p.ARMALON HAMMER FORGED BARRELS: Armalon‟s “pukka” .303 Enfield No.4 hammerforged barrels, fitted, finished & proofed from £304. Armalon‟s Remington 700 HVprofile barrels, 1 in 200mm twist .223, 260/6.5, 1 in 12 twist .308/7.62, fitted, finished &proofed from £304. Our hammer forged premium barrels are available for most actions andin most calibres and twists POA.Email : enquiries@armalon.comWe accept most major credit/debit cardswww.armalon.comArmalon‟s 20 moa ‘PicT‟Picatinny scope mounts for SA& LA Rem 700 (inc. LH option)Armalon 30mm & 34mm‘PicT‟ Tactical scope rings—steel (shown) or ali magnumfrom £125 + p&pArmalon tapered ali bolt knob &conversion £82.50 (conversionwith 25,30, 32 and 35mm ballknobs also available £64)Target Shooter 101

The British Association for Shooting and ConservationTRADEGunseeker.co.ukThe Ultimate Firearms Listing SiteEverything for countryside sports in one placeNo 1 – For buying and selling your Firearms, Accessories and ClothingNo 1 – For RFD dealers advertising their businesses and firearmsNo 1 – For Brand owners to increase awareness and trade advertisingGunseeker for the ShootingEnthusiast• Search thousands of firearms ensuringyou find the right one for you, evensearch your postcode area !• Sell your unwanted firearms forunbelievably low rates• Sell your unwanted accessories andclothing, register a wanted advert• Locate those hard to find accessories,clothing, ammo in fact anything youneed• Receive special offers from RFD dealersall around the UK and ROI• Keep abreast of the industry viathe dedicated BASC page aimed atkeeping you informedGunseeker for the RFD dealer• List your entire range of firearms andjust pay a single nominal yearly adminfee!• Advertise your business direct to thepublic and trade, using banners,skyscrapers and page adverts forunbelievable introductory rates• Access the unique BASC trade onlypage• Gunseeker is controlled by a simple touse program free for you to download.• Due to a partnership with CountrysideSoftware the leading IT provider toour industry, all Countryside Softwarecustomers can advertise directly fromtheir products.Gunseeker for Brand Owners,Wholesalers and Service Providers• Increase awareness of your productswith advertising campaigns directly tothe shooting enthusiast• Advertise to all RFD dealers and Trademembers directly in the Trade onlyarea• Advertising available to you includesdirectory listing, banner advertising,page advertising and advertisingbundles. Advertising starts at as littleas £69 a yearWhat to do next?• Join the gunseeker community on-lineat gunseeker.co.uk• Give us a call to discuss yourrequirements and see what we can dofor youTelephone:Richard Cross 07920-178684Allison Burns 07554-119117Email: sales@gunseeker.co.ukWeb: www.gunseeker.co.uk102 Target Shooter

Club FeatureHavant Rifle and Pistol ClubDuring the last three years the butts in bothindoor ranges have been moved back to 25metres, making more room at the firing point forchangeovers. As part of the new guidelines onrange construction we are installing air extraction togive the required number of air changes per hour.landscape view of the ranges from the topof the buttsThe foundations of Havant Rifle and Pistol Clubwere laid when, in 1943, Havant & HorndeanHome Guard asked for evenings to be set aside attheir Drill Hall range solely for their own shootingpractice. Havant Home Guard Rifle Club wasaffiliated to the Society of Miniature Rifle Clubs(now the National Smallbore Rifle Association) in1944, and the first match, against Southern RailwayRifle 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 itscurrent location at Southleigh Forest. The sitewas cleared, a club room and indoor ranges built,and outdoor ranges laid out and equipped. Theoutdoor ranges were officially opened at the end ofSeptember 1978, with an invitation team event,still known as the ‘Final Fling’. Double Olympicchampion, Malcolm Cooper was Club President1988 - 2001.The Club’s facilities include a large clubroomwith kitchen and two indoor ranges with eightlanes; outdoors there is a fifty metre rangewith ten lanes, and a hundred yard range (alsousable at 50 metres) with twelve lanes, bothoutdoor ranges having covered firing points.New target frames have been constructed for the100-yard range out of corrugated plastic sheets,allowing use of all twelve firing points at either distance.Following a few quotes from local companies, itwas discovered that one of our own membersdesigned air extraction systems, and had designedone for a large rifle range in Dubai. Constructionis well under way, utilising a method known as a‘plenum chamber’, where the air pressure is evenacross the width of the chamber. It is expelledacross a grid of holes, resulting in the requiredair flow without a cold draught! Alterations to thesmaller range have also enabled us to enlarge theclubroom, whilst future plans also involveenlarging and improving the layout of our kitchen area.Members can choose from:• .22 prone rifle at 25 yards, 50 metres and 100yards, including 3-position• target air rifles at six yards and ten metres• target air pistols at six yards, ten metres andtwenty yards,• including ‘Police Pistol’ at ten metres with tenturning targets• light sporting rifle at twenty yards and fifty• metres, both prone and standing• underlever pistol calibre rifleThe clubhouse and indoor rangesTarget Shooter 103

• black powder firearms.During the week, the range is open two morningand three evenings. The remaining two weekdayevenings are for light sporting rifle and proneshoulder-to-shoulder matches. At the weekend bothmornings and Saturday evenings are utilised. Wehave jackets and slings for new members interestedin prone shooting, and club guns for some disciplines.Our membership currently stands at 165 fullmembers, which includes half a dozen Honorarymembers, a good number of young people whocome with their parents, and a fair proportion offemale members. Although some people decidetarget shooting is not for them, a steady trickle ofnew applicants usually means we have around thirtyprobationers. Many of our members have come fromother clubs in the area, sometimes due to their clubclosing or because they want to use the 50 metre and100 yard ranges. Absolute beginners attend sessionson Sunday mornings, when they are shown safeweapons handling procedures and range etiquette.When their mentor is happy with their progress, theyare given a certificate to show to the Range Officeron the appropriate evening for their discipline(s).Havant Rifle & Pistol Club hosts several openevents, including a Double Dewar in May, thePortsmouth Association Shooting Day in June, andthe ‘Final Fling’ event mentioned above. A few yearsago the Club hosted the shooting events as partof the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Games. Openevents are usually accompanied by an excellentbarbecue, often including rabbit burgers and gamestew!A view of the 100 yard firing pointA local Pony Club practice air pistol at sevenmetres, using the turning targets, as this disciplineis part of their tetrathlon competition, and a localdisabled group has also visited for air rifle practice.Members are kept informed of club activitiesvia 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 ofRimfire and Air Rifle Benchrest Shooting. By that we mean "TrueBenchrest Shooting". The Association is recognised by rimfire shootersacross in the UK, with partners across Europe and the rest of the world, asthe presentative body that promotes rimfire and air rifle benchrest acrossthis country and with other partners in European and World events.Visit our website for news about national and internationalcompetitions that all can ‘have a go at’. From novice to championshooter, everyone is welcomewww.benchrest22.org104 Target Shooter

Target Shooter 105

VINCE’S REGULAR COLUMN WHEREBYACCURACY NUTS CAN KEEP UP TODATE WITH THE ACTIVITIES OF THE UKBRACompetitionsThe UKBRA’s opening shoots of the 2009season took place as usual at Diggle Ranges ona bitterly cold weekend at the beginning of April.We welcomed a clutch of new shooters to oursport, in particular Gerrit van Rooynan all the wayfrom Namibia. Gerrit is living and working in theUK and will be part of the GB Benchrest Team toSouth Africa for the 2009 World Championships.At 100 yards, the wind was so switchy it wasvirtually un-readable, with several wind-flagsactually blown over and only the winner, Ian Dixonhad a respectable agg. Jack Searle took awell-deserved second place with Martin Eldershaw– returning from a two year sabbatical – in third.I’m still persevering with the 220 Beggs, whichrewarded me with two groups in the ‘ones’but I also had a couple of horrific half-inchersyet still managed to scrape into fourth place.Target Shooter contributor, Laurie Holland decidedthat it was about time he tried benchrest and socontested the Factory Sporter class with his ‘out ofthe box’ Savage LRPV chambered in 204 Ruger.Amazingly, Laurie won his Class, shot some supergroups in the process and embarrassed a few HVshooters along the way! I’m sure the 204 Rugercartridge will form the basis of a full reloading articlefor Target Shooter very shortly.Results:Heavy Varmint:1st Ian Dixon 6PPC Walker BAT 0.27542nd Jack Searle 6PPC Stolle 0.32763rd Martin Eldershaw 6PPC Stolle 0.3372Small group: Ian Dixon 0 . 1 6 3inchesFactory Sporter:1st Laurie Holland 204 Savage LRPV 0.37482nd Darrell Evans 6PPC Sako 0.5552Small group:204 Savage LRVPLaurie Holland 0.219 inchesThe following day, it was a trek up to the hill toDiggle’s 1000 yard firing point. We were swampedwith entries and shooting continued long into theafternoon. Winds on the early relays were fairly lightThe cap says it all – Dave Jackson did the double with a Light Gun win andsmall group at 1000 yards.106 Target Shooter

and some good groups were posted Diggles’ DaveJackson took the Light Gun win and small group ofthe day with a fabulous 4.585 incher. There wereplenty of other single-figure groups from Light GunClass but Ross Burrough and Gerrit Van Rooyanwere the only other competitors to dip below sixinches,both shooting low ‘fives’. Ross’s rifle was puttogether by Dave Wylde of SYSS and although it isof tactical configuration, it shoots exceptionally wellin all disciplines. Gerrit was shooting a 6mm Smackput together by Russ Gall of RG Rifles.In Factory Sporter it was a nail-biting finish withToni Young and her bog standard 308 Remmyalmost beating a trio of guys shooting their 6.5-284Savages - until Phil Gibbon popped-in a stunning 7.533 incher for his final group on the very last relay to stealthe win and post Factory Sporter small group in theprocess.Ian Kellet and Bruce Lenton also dipped underten-inches with their Factory Savages.Results:Light Gun1st Dave Jackson 6.5 Tooley Musgrave 7.942 in2nd Steve Dunn7mm Dunn BAT 8.3713rd Ross Burrough 6.5x47 Surgeon 8.887Small group:Factory SporterDave Jackson 4.585 inches1st Phil Gibbon 6.5-284 Savage 12.967 in2nd Toni Young 308 Remington 13.9563rd Ian Kellet 6.5-284 Savage 13.961Small group: Phil Gibbon7.533 inchesOn a personal note, I had an uneventful daywith a best group of ten inches. I have beenexperimenting with a 284 Win. necked-down to6mm and shortened by 50 thou. which I call the 6mmXtreme. It’s clearly past its best, though the barreldoesn’t look too bad through the borescope. It’s nowhad about 450 rounds up it, which appears to bearound the effective maximum for many overborewildcats including the 6.5 and 7mmWSM.However I can’t complain as the 6mm Xtremeserved me well in 2008, winning me the 1000 yardUKBRA Championship, setting a new UK 600 yard BRrecord and winning my club’s Open F ClassChampionship. I love the little ‘sixes’ so I’m goingfor another but this time a 243 Win. Improved. Thisis not a new wildcat – in fact it’s one of the morepopular ‘improved’ cartridges and I’m hoping thatit will perform well with the 115 DTACs that I wasshooting in the Xtreme. The Xtreme gave bestaccuracy at 3250 fps although it was capable of alot more velocity. I’m hoping that the 243 Win. Imp.will still give me 3200fps with the DTACs and maybebetter barrel-life! Hopefully, it should be ready for thenext competition.Your Target Shooter writers are all keencompetition shooters, out there on the range everyweekend and Laurie Holland and myself were at itagain the following weekend at the first GB F ClassLeague shoot of the year. Laurie gave his Eliseo tubegun it’s first real competitive outing and I also shot F/TR with my new 308. We both came away with topfive placings and you can read a full write-up of thisevent in Les Holgate’s ‘The Long View’ elsewhere inTarget Shooter.New StuffLast month, I got news of a new British made actionbut, rather than print half a story we thought it bestto investigate further and you will find a full write-upelsewhere in Target Shooter.Forthcoming eventsMay is a busy month for all accuracy-nuts for not onlydo we have our next 100 yd & 1000yd BR shootson May 2/3rd we also have the famous Diggle EggShoot on May Bank Holiday Monday (25th) and ourfinal 600 yard shoot of the year on Sunday 31st May.I hope to see you at some of these shoots. E-mailme on vinceb@6ppc.fsnet.co.uk for more details.Target Shooter 107

108 Target ShooterUK CUSTOM SHOP LTDHome of Wildcat Sound ModeratorsNEW RETAIL SPECIALIST RIFLE SHOPOpening in the MidlandsOnly 3.5 miles from J5 of M5 Only 8 miles from J1 M42UK Custom Shop Ltd, 20 Wassage Way, Hampton Lovett Trading Estate,Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire WR9 0NXOpening beginning of JuneWe Will Be Announcing An Open WeekendWith Many Special Deals !!!!!!! Watch website for details250 plus rifles in stock ~ 75 plus shotguns in stock ~ Airguns in stockWild Cat Sound Moderators ~ On Site Air Bottle and Air gun Charging facilitiesWe Stock guns from the following makers:Howa, Vorer, Steyr, Browning, Winchester, Miroku, Tikka, Sako, CZ, Remington, Blaser,Sauer, Mauser, Stirling, Laurona, Sig, AYA, Beretta, Bakial, Fabarm, Franchi, Ruger, BSA,Webley, AirArms, Lincoln, Weihrauch and FabarmWe stock the following shotgun cartridges: Eley, Fiocchi, SIMI, Rio, Express.We stock metalics by: Fiocchi, Eley, Remington, CCI, Federal, Lapura, RWS, Norma, Sako.Optics by: Zeiss, Kahles, Swarovski, S&B, Lynx, Nicco Stirling, NightForce & many others.Reloading Products, Bullets, Primers, Powder, Cases, Dies, Presses, Scales etc.Always willing to deal Try Us!Gifts for the sportsman, Silver LDT edition Coins with African Animals on face,Hand-made knives, walking sticks and many other items.Stalking Equipment Including: High Seats, knives, Knife sharpeners Roesacks, Optics, Butchery kits, Stalking sticks, Bi Pods, Rifle slings,Gunslips and much more.Stalking Trips ArrangedOn Site Workshop and Gunsmiths. Repairs to Shotguns, Bolt Riflesand Double Rifles. Alterations to Shotguns and Rifles and DoubleRifles. New Rifles, Double Rifles and Shotguns built tospecification. Air Guns Serviced & Repaired.If we do not have what you want let us quote you.FullCustomWorkundertaken• Tel Shop: 01905 797060 • Fax: 01905 796620 • Tel Trade: 01905 796610• Web: www.wildcatrifles.co.uk • Email enquiries@wildcatrifle.co.ukSS06.09/58/a

Over 9,700 guns for sale73,000 visitors last monthOver 108 dealer stocklive onlineSect 5 Dealer Humane Dispatch, De-Acts,Exports Please call 0845-458 9666Target Shooter 109

In association withThe three nations match between Germany, Irelandand the UK derived from the World Championship,when Markus Feldmann of the German team said thathe and others would like to come to the UK to shoot afriendly match. A few words with the Irish team later andwe had an ongoing concern, so the planning started. Atthis point it really is time to say a massive thanks to KenStockham of Portishead club, who organised this eventand ran things with flawless accuracy from start to finish.Without him and the good will of his club we would nothave managed to have such an event in the UK.Arriving on the practice day the weather was calm butraining and misty – so calm that there was no windmovement at all. For some this is a boon, for others notso much. Well the latter group got their wish as the twomatch days were a tad bit gusty. The first day I would sayblowing in all directions, at some points at about 20 plusmph.This knocked a few off their feet, but we recovered andshot on. The wind remained with us for the rest of the daywith sun coming up very quickly in the afternoon, whichbrought mirage. A very mixed English Spring day! Day twowas better, with the wind still there but the sun was withus for the entire day. (Shooting benchrest dressed in yourbest thermals, as we were on day one, is not conducive tothe nature of this sport).The German team shot brilliantly, as did a number ofindividuals in the UK and Irish teams. The Germansare very good shots anyway, as they gained silvermedals as individuals and as a team at last year’s worldchampionship. This is helped on by the custom kit theyare using. A lot of these rifles are built by Martin Menke,the captain of the team, who is a well renowned centerfireand rimfire gunsmith in Germany. He is also the 1999world centerfire benchrest champion. Just from talking tohim I learnt a lot, as you tend to at these head to headmatches. Andy Dubreuil did very well in the Unlimited classcoming in 5th, with Brian Kelly coming in 4th overall in theaggregate scores and Carl Boswell coming in 6th overallfrom the two days shooting. In fact the top ten aggregateAll teams together - the UK won bestdressed.results were all UK and German shooters, with the Top 5being 4 German and 1 UK shooter. The whole team eventwas a success and the aggregate scores of each teamare below. Hopefully there will be more of these matchesaround Europe in the next year. I know that Germany, Italyand Holland have held matches already.1st Germany - Total 8796 1962nd UK – Total 8655 1333rd Ireland – 8250 110The two shooters that really stood out were the eventualwinners of course, which were Martin Menke for LightSeated Markus Feldmann -the overall AggregatewinnersVarmint and Markus Feldmann for Unlimited. I have knownMarkus for a few years – lots of fun and a great guy to bearound. He was the aggregate overall winner from the twodays shooting with a great score of 1478 35 x’s.We in the UK would benefit from more of these types ofhead to head matches in the future. Hopefully this willhappen as the UK nationals looks as if it will be verypopularIf anything what we can learn from this is that we need tolook more at moving towards custom actions and barrels.This is what other nations are doing, as relying alone onfactory firearms is not going to cut the mustard in yearsto come. This game is getting increasingly competitiveat international level, so it is about keeping up with theJones’s.At the end of the weekend the German team went awaywith most of the trophies and medals, with one exception,Anthony Nolan of Ireland won Bronze in the Unlimitedclass – well done. It was a great shoot and the peopletaking part had a great time. So much so, that the Martinand Jo of the German team have invited the UK team toshoot in Germany sometime in October or November. Weare definitely thinking about it, with four people showinginterest so far. Will the result be the same……..well onlytime will tell, so look for a report again in December!110 Target Shooter

The Long View – News from theGB F Class AssociationWhen the sun shines there ain’t no finer placethan Diggle!The 2009 F class league would once again startwith the first round at Diggle Ranges near Oldham inGreater Manchester.Many of the F Class League shooters thought itwould be a mistake to have the first competition ofthe year at Diggle. Not because of the range butbecause of the weather. It is a long held belief wasthat Diggle only gets one or two weekends a yearwithout rain, snow or some kind of terrible weatherof biblical proportions!The previous year hadn’t helped Diggle’s casebecause it had snowed but, with only a finitenumber of weekends available, the League just hadto take it’s chances and all those attending - if theyhad any sense - should bring as much wet-weathergear as they could muster. That was what I did - Ieven brought some old ski-gloves which I assumed Iwould need to fight off the cold.Once again though the Diggle weather managedto trick everyone and it turned out to be one of thewarmest Easter shoots I can remember. The glovesnever even came out of the car and if you wouldhave set up a sun-tan lotion stall, you could havemade a fortune!But enough of the weather, this is Round 1 of the2009 GB F Class League, scheduled to be shot onEaster Saturday and Sunday with the Friday being apractice day for those who wanted it. The course offire would be 2 & 15 at 800 yards followed by 2 & 15at 1000 yards on the Saturday. Sunday would be 2&15 at 900 yards, followed by 2 & 10 at 1000 yards.Our League shoots will normally muster around 60competitors but it became clear early on that makingthe first shoot on the Easter weekend could limitthe amount of shooters to those brave enough toabandon wives and girlfriends at this time of year! Sothe maximum number of competitors was reduced to48 but most of the usual faces were in attendanceand Anthony Dunne and Joe Melia made their usuallong trip from Ireland.Restricting the field to 48 competitors meant thatwe would only need four details of twelve shootersrather than five, thus usefully cutting down on timewhich always seems to be a premium at Diggleshoots, especially when the weather delays the starttime as it did last year.Around a dozen shooters turned up on the Fridayto take advantage of the practice day with shootingstarting off at 600 yards. Unfortunately the dreadedDiggle weather had other ideas and most just usedthe time to get a quick zero then called it a day.The competition started bright and early Saturdaymorning with the plan for the first shot to be downrange by 8.30 am. This was always going to bedifficult for the local contingent as Diggle shootsTarget Shooter 111

Eventual F/TR winner, Stuart Anselm - 308Barnard, Robertson stock, Sinclair bi-podnormally start around 10.30 am and most of theprevious evening was spent answering the phonetelling the ‘Dollopers’ – “Yes 8.30 am was not amiss-print on the entry form and no, we don’t needflood lights!”First up would be the Open Class shooters and mostof the highest placed League shooters from lastyear had entered, as had the F/TR guys, so it wouldhopefully shape up to be a good competition. Aswith previous years, the order would be reversed thefollowing day to hopefully give everyone the sameweather ‘window’. Once the ‘sneaky’ sighters wereover (sorry, I mean blow-off shots) the competitionproper got underway at 9.00 am., so almost on time.The first distance to be contested was 800 yards andthere was only a light wind blowing down the valleybut still, at this distance even in a light wind, hittingsomething not much bigger than a CD (our five-inchV bull) with any degree of regularity is still a difficulttask. By the time the Open Class guys had finished,seven of them had managed to keep it in the 5-ringand two shooters, Simon Rodgers and Paul Hill putin scores of 75.10v.On count-back the honours went to Simon with AndyMassingham a close third on 75.8v.The conditions remained the same formost of the morning and by the time the FT/R guys took to the firing-point they alsoposted some impressive scores withDiggle’s Ian Dixon shooting the highest with a 73.4v.The 2008 F/TR League Champion, Russell Simmondsand Steve Rigby were close behind, both on72.6v.For Match 2 we dressed back to 1000yards and just adding that extra 200 yardscertainly brought the scores down.Conditions hadn’t changed thatmuch but the wind was nowfish-tailing. One Open Class score was head andshoulders above the others, with John Campbellposting a very impressive 72.7v. The next highestGrant Taylor on 70.4v, then Peter Wilson on 69.4v.As you would expect, scores also tumbled in F/TR,112 Target Shooterwith the highest being a 63.2v posted by StuartAnselm with yourTarget Shooter writers Vince Bottomley and LaurieHolland not far behind on 62.1v and 59.2v respectively.When you consider that F/TR is limited to the308 Win. cartridge, unlike an Open Class competitorwho can pick any calibre he likes, Stuart’s scorewas good enough to have bested almost half of theOpen Class shooters.So by the end of day one, John Campbell wasleading the Open Class on 146.8v, with Grant Taylorclose behind on 145.12v - a remarkably high V count,especially as this was the first outing for Grant’shome-smithed rifle in 284 Win. Improved. The F/TR competition was also fiercely contested with 2ndplace on the day going to Vince Bottomley on 133.4vbut just in the lead, Stuart Anselm on 134.7v.We finished the shoot in scorching sun and allshooters who were members of the GB F ClassAssociation made their way into the Diggleclubhouse for the Annual General Meeting.which you can read about on the Associationwebsite at www.f-class.org.uk Once the AGM wasover, the traditional shoot dinner - or obligatoryDiggle curry evening - was the order of the day.Day two again started bright and early with yet againmore sun, possibly the first time in the hundred yearhistory of the range that the sun had shone on twoconsecutive days! The squadding was now reversedto hopefully even out the weather conditions andallow everyone to shoot early morning whenconditions were most favourable.This time we started at 900 yards with the F/TRshooters taking to the point and again, the conditionsappeared to be fairly benign but that light breezewas fish-tailing dangerously. None the less, severalof the F/TR guys posted great scores with StuartAnselm shooting an excellent 71.6v but the firstplace went to Paul Harkins with a stunning 73.6v.You will see further down this article that Paul’sscore also beat every Open Class shooter at thisdistance - well shot Paul. The conditions appearedThe Open Class guys at 900yards

to be pretty much the same for the Open guys but notmany of them could put in a 70 plus score with thetop two being Tony Marsh on 72.1v and in first place,Grant Taylor on 73.2v. The gap between Open Classand F/TR Class has certainly closed, even with thedisadvantage of being limited to 308’s.The final match of the weekend was another 1000yard stage but this would only be a 2 & 10 roundstage. As per usual, the Diggle wind-flags onlytell part of the story and just three F/TR shootersmanaged to break the 40 barrier - Paul Dobson andIan Dixon on 40.1v but in the lead, Steve Donaldsonon 41.2v.Conditions remained pretty much the same for theOpen Class guys with Greg Thompson and AnthonyNEWWORKSHOP& SHOW ROOMStrictly byappointment onlyCome and see us at the Phoenix meetingto see the range of McRees stocks for boththe tactical and bench rest shooter.Also see the SpikesTactical 22RF AR15sand Centrefirestraight pulls plusthe usual range ofcustom 10/22s.Grant Taylor (left) collects hiswinner’s medal from DiggleClub Chairman,Mike Weatherhead50 - NORTH WEST CUSTOM PARTS 16/4/09 1:01 pm Page 1We will behaving a fewspecialintroductoryshow offers.TRADE, MILITARY AND POLICE CONTRACTS WELCOMETel: 0161 408 1155 or07710 102887www.nwcustomparts.comDunne finishing on 46.2v and Peter Hunt winningthe final distance of the weekend with 46.4v.With the final shot going down rangebefore four o’clock, it was time for the trophypresentations. Each stage winner is given a GB F ClassAssociation 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 SteveRigby with 239.10v, Ian Dixon was runner-up byvirtue of two extra V bulls on 239.12v but first placewent to GB F Class Team Captain Stuart Anselm on242.14v, so well done Stuart.In the Open Class, the same thing happened withsecond and third places decided on V bull count withJohn Campbell just beating Peter Wilson 258.21v to258.14v but the clear winner was Grant Taylor on262.15v; congratulations Grant.It had been a great weekend, thanks in no smallpart to the superb weather and the competitionhad run without a hitch thanks to several peoplewho had given up their time to ensure this wouldhappen. So thanks go to Jeanette Whitney for actingas Range Officer for the whole weekend, Ian Dixon formaking our targets and Mik Maksimovik andStuart Anselm for doing the stats and finally, Digglechairman Mike Weatherhead for coming along tohand out the prizes.So that’s it, Round 1 is over in this, our mostimportant year as the World F Class Championshipswill be held at Bisley in July. Appropriately, the nextLeague Shoot will be at Bisley on the firstweekend of June so, if you are reading this and have ascoped rifle and fancy having a go, please e-mail theorganiser of the next shoot, Mik Maksimovic onmik@mikdolphin.demon.co.uk for an entry form.2009 World F Class ChampionshipsIt’s less than three months to the WFCC at Bisley inJuly and many GB F Class Association members willbe shooting either as official GB Team members oras individuals.John Dean of Aimfield Sports has provided hisexcellent drag-bags and shooting mats for prizesand he will continue to do so for the ‘Worlds’ and‘Europeans’. Aimfield Sports are now UK importersfor the excellent Sightron scopes and Sightron havegenerously agreed to donate one of their superb8-32 scopes as a prize for the World Championships.SS06.09/50/aThis prestigious event is held every four yearsand clearly will not return to Bisley for someconsiderable time. It will generate world-widepublicity so this is a great opportunity formanufacturers to get their products showcased onthe world stage. Any further offers of prizes shouldbe made to Mik Maksimovic at mik@mikdolphin.demon.co.ukTarget Shooter 113

Gallery Rifle NewsFirst of all a piece of really good news.Two well known GR competitors wereunlucky enough to have their firearmcertificates revoked after the theft of someof their guns. A couple of weeks ago anagreement was reached at the CrownCourt which resulted in the certificatesbeing returned. A full summary is in thisissue. A wake up call to us all – thinkabout security when you are away fromhome whether it is just a visit to the clubor a trip to Bisley or even abroad – youmust ‘t be complacent and hopethat it won’t happen to you.The first big meeting of the year, theSpring Action Weekend, was a greatsuccess, apart from the weather andsome 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 WesternWinner at Bristol and the Mattersey Ten tochose from as well as the Shield SteelChallenge. Please do your best tosupport one or more of these. They arefriendly competitions put on by hardworking club members.At the end of the month, the premiermeeting in the GR calendar, the PhoenixMeeting takes place at the NationalShooting Centre. It’s not just for GR thoughas there so many events you willprobably find at least one for every gun youown. See the article in this issuewhich explains what it’s all about.(Don’t forget that your scores in therelevant events go into the national databaseto get you onto another rung on theclassification ladder and get you noticed bythe national selectors.)Also at the Phoenix, teams from England,Germany, Ireland, Scotland and Waleswill be competing in the EuropeanTeams Match for short events. On theMonday the national teams of Germany,Ireland and the UK compete in the 1500GR European Championship.June has the Derby 1500 and not muchelse we are aware of so no excuse fornot heading there!COMPETITION CALENDARMay 3 GR&P The Mattersey Ten - 1500,Short Events etc. Mattersey RPC, NottsMay 9 GR&P The Western Winner – 1500Frome RPC at Failand Range near BristolMay 10 GR&P Steel ChallengeShield Shooting Centre, DorsetMay 21-24 Almost any gun! The PhoenixMeeting National Shooting Centre, Bisley,SurreyJune 27-28 GR&P Derby 1500 Derby R&PC(Either contact the organisers director go to www.galleryrifle.com for entryforms.)GR&P = Gallery Rifle Centre Fire (GRCF),Gallery Rifle Small Bore (GRSB), LongBarrelled Pistol (LBP) and Long BarrelledRevolver (LBR)RESULTSMarch 28-29 Spring Action WeekendAvailable in full on the NRA/NSCwebsite or at www.galleryrifle.com.Please go to the Gallery Rifle websitewww.galleryrifle.com for more news andinformation.114 Target Shooter

RHINO RIFLESCustom made rifles in the heart of CheshireWe stock:ACTIONSRemingtonHowaSakoBarnardRPAStillerPeirceBARRELSPac-NorKriegerBartlineBroughtonTrue-FliteSTOCKS:Bell & CarlsonA ISSSH&SBoydsVisit our new website for full range and serviceswww.rhinorifles.co.ukTarget Shooter 115

Practical shooting is a high speed multitarget discipline which tests all the aspects ofa competitor’s shooting ability by means ofvaried target arrays to be shot as fast and asaccurately as possible. To prevent it being solelya test of static speed shooting, penalty targetsare included and difficult shooting positions areforced by means of vision barriers and screens.In accordance with the motto Diligentia VisCeleritas (DVC = accuracy, power, speed) onlyfirearms developing a minimum power factor(bullet mass * velocity) are permitted. Withinthe Rules, competitors are allowed to solvethe shooting problems as they see fit, e.g. theymay choose to move from the start position toa point which offers a clearer shot at the targetor to remain static and shoot slower but moreaccurately.Matches can involve the use of Handguns,Rifles or Shotguns; most matches within the UKinvolve the use of Section 1 shotguns. In anymatch there are a number of stages, which maycontain from 1 to 28 targets of varying typesand distances; in Shotgun matches, differentcartridge loadings (birdshot, buckshot or solidslug) are used as a further test of skill.Practical or IPSC shooting is conducted underthe auspices of the International PracticalShooting Confederation whose representativebody in the UK is the United Kingdom PracticalShooting Association (U.K.P.S.A.). This bodyadministers the sport and distributes the Rulesas well as sanctioning matches and selectingthe National Teams. Globally the IPSC has over75 member nations and is the fastest growingof the shooting sports because of its highlychallenging fast and dynamic style and thevaried nature of the competitions.Given that no two stages are ever alike, thevariety of matches is immense but all have acommon factor and that is SAFETY.Because IPSC shooting involves movementwith a loaded Firearm, a high level ofcompetence is required. To compete in UKPSAsanctioned matches you need to have attendedAND successfully completed to competitionlevel a Basic Safety Course. These coursesare run throughout the year by Clubs aroundthe country and consist of 2 days of intensetraining by a certified instructor in all aspectsof Firearm safety, gun handling, movementand positional shooting as well as rangecommands and other necessary information.Because of this mandatory training and thefact that a shooter is always supervised by atleast one Range Officer, IPSC shooting hasthe best safety record of all shooting sports.All Range Officers are experienced shooterswho have passed additional training courses inaddition to the Basic Safety Course and are in turnsupervised by a Chief RO who has more experienceand training and finally the Range Masterwho has had, you’ve guessed, even more training.To find out more about practical shooting andhow to register for a basic safety course, visitwww.ukpsa.co.uk or email ukpsachair@aol.com for more details.Vanessa DuffyChairman UKPSAPlease mention uswhen usingadvertisingin the magazine116 Target Shooter

The place forTargetsDirect!ATTENTION ALL SHOOTING CLUBS!Now you can buy professional shooting targets direct from the printer.Suitable for serious marksmen for all practice and Club Competitions.Save up to 25% on your normal pricee.g. 3000 Air 4/89 for £95*or 1000 BM2510 for £75*We use the same top grade target boardthat is used for official comptitions,printed to precise standards.To order or Free Trial Target call 023 8022 3091*Including VAT & Delivery to one address on UK Mainland. Payment by Credit Card or Cheque with orderDRAGON FIELD SPORTSTHE WREXHAM GUN SHOPSHOTGUNSBROWNING, WINCHESTER, MIROKU, LINCOLN, BERETTA, BETTINSOLI,BAIKAL etc. etc.CARTRIDGESGENUINE ELEY HAWK CHEAPAIR GUNSAir Arms, Brocock, BSA, Daystate, Logun, Stealth,Webley, Weihrauch etc.PART EXCHANGE WELCOME8 Egerton Street, Wrexham Town CentreBesides McDonalds Above Les Fish Bar01978 290990www.dragonfieldsports.co.ukTarget Shooter 117

Letters and NewsWhat a great response to the first edition lots of really good feedback and a few things to make usthink about how we can deliver a better magazine to you.customer.services@targetshooter.co.ukHappy 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 usat the magazine. This could be for those budding writers out there that would like to submit a fullarticle 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 regularletters page or even a question and answer section would be really useful for a lot of people outthere. 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’llinclude 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 aboutall all the aspects of target shooting. So lets see those letters coming in and we will read yourthoughts in these pages.Air Arms 57 Intershoot 42Allcocks Outdoors 35 Jackson Rifles 101A Macleod and Son 93 Low Mill Range 70AIM Field Sports 8 Midway UK Lyd 30Armalon 10 Minsterley Ranges 70Auto Target 55 North West Custom 71Bassetts 63 Norman Clark Gunsmiths Ltd 15Benchrest Directory 107 NRA 80Border Barrrels 44 NSRA 84Bromyard Sports and Leisure 105 Osprey Rifles 25Check-Mate Guns 92 Rhino Rifles 22Chris Potter Country Sports ltd 97 Riflecraft 64Continental Shooting Supplies 98 RPA International 42Countrymen of Derby 74 RUAG Ammotec 12Daystate t LTD 43 Rude Fat Dog 11Diverse Trading ltd 112 Prestige Air Guns Ltd 13Dragon Field Sports 114 Section 5 11Eley LTD 3 Shooting Supplies 95BulzeyePro 36 South Yorkshire Shooting Supplies 29Essex Guns 62 Steyr 102Fox Firearms 45 Surrey Guns 95Frederick Beesley 70 Targets Direct 93G T Shooting 41 Theoben 110GMK 0 Tim Hannam 21Green Leopard 37 UKBR22 104Gun Trader 16 UK Custom Shop 2GunSeeker 114 Uttings 56Henry Krank 0 Webley 75Highland Outdoors 50 Westlake Engineering 52HPS Target Rifles Ltd 83 York Guns 77Innovative Systems 63118 Target ShooterAdvertisers Index

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