Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2010 1 PDF
2010 1 PDF
Club
Features
Support Your local
Gunshop
Event reports
Gallery Rifle
Sections
23 SYSS Mini Rifle 6 Shooting Sport News
by Tim Finley
10 Shooters Calendar
75 Smallbore Business
by Don Brook
70 Field Target USA
Style by Paul Cray 79 Alfa CO2 Target Pistol
Review by Hayley Platts
90 Special - Fieldsports TV
91 Bianchi by Gwyn Roberts
82 HANDLOADING 98 Club Feature
‘OLD FAITHFUL’ THE
.308 WINCHESTER 112 Letters
(part 3) by Laurie
113 Advertisers Index
Holland
4 Target Shooter
Association Pages
101 UKBRA
The new year starts with lots going on, such as the Shooting Show at Newark in February. We will be there,
not on a stand mind you, as this means you have to come to us. We will be in the thick of it with you guys,
finding out about new products, what’s going on, etc. So if you see us with the Target Shooter logo across
our chests, please stop and say hello.
To all of you, have a fantastic 2010.
Until next month. Andy, Carl & Vince
Disclaimer
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Information, prices and data is believed to be correct at the time of posting on the internet which is on or around the 1st of each month. Advertisements that are firearm
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and experiences of writers using specific equipment, firearms, components and data under controlled conditions. Information contained in the online magazine or on the
website is intended to be used as a guide only and in specific circumstances caution should be used. Target Shooter Magazine does not except any responsibility for
individuals attempting to recreate such testing using any information, data or other materials in its electronic pages.Publishers of Target Shooter magazine.
Target Shooter 5
Shooting Sport News
It is nice to let our readers
know that the contributors
can “walk the walk”.
Our very own Nigel
Greenaway has won a
number of events in 2009. In
his words;
‘Following my experiment
in building a single AR15
lower but with two
different uppers to shoot
either Practical Rifle or
Civilian Service Rifle - as
detailed in the June issue under “AR15 with
Combinations” - I’ve managed to do the double! lighter profile
In the summer I won the Service Optic class in the H-Bar barrel topped with
National Civilian Service Rifle competitions and I a Nightforce 2.5-10x24
have also won this year’s Practical Rifle League NXS did the job in both
(best 5 comps to count out of 8). If the truth be known I disciplines’.
have found that my Southern Gun Company SSR-15
A im Field
Binoculars
Sports Adds Sightron
The Cheshire shooting products outfit headed by keen New from Aim Field
shooter John Dean and his wife has raised the profile Sports, Sightron
of the American Sightron riflescope range markedly binoculars
since it took on import and distribution on a year ago,
achieving healthy sales despite the recession.
Aim Field Sports has now added Sightron binoculars
to its optical products range alongside the ‘scopes,
supplying a selection of models. As with the rifle
scopes, Sightron produces its Binoculars in Series
I, II, and III, specification and price rising in line with
the series number. We’ve had a chance to look at
a pair in the middle SII range, the ‘Blue Sky’ 10X42
model, and been impressed. These roof prism glasses
feature fully and phase-coated lens using blue-green
coatings which seem to be a feature of the marque.
There is obviously some good optical design inside as
their performance has so far proven impressive in a operates the
range of light conditions. As with the Sightron 8-32X56 lens smoothly. An unusual touch
target riflescope which Vince Bottomley reviewed for is the right lens fine-adjuster used to compensate for
TargetShooter (July 2009 issue), resolution, contrast differences in the user’s eyesight and which employs
and light gathering are excellent. a little lever at the front of the main adjuster barrel.
As usual, you get a nylon carry case, lens caps and
At 0.65Kg (1lb 7 ounces), 5½” (145mm) long and just carrying strap for your money. The 10X42 model
under 5” (175mm) maximum width, they’re compact retails for £325, the Series II Blue Sky sister 8X42
and light for their performance. A black rubberized model for £20 less – good value for the build quality,
coating makes for a good grip and pleasant touch in finish and performance.
any weather conditions, and speaking of which they’re Contact Aim Field Sports Ltd on www.aimfieldsports.
waterproof of course. Focus adjustment is the usual com email: sales@aimfieldsports.com
barrel type adjuster between the optical tubes which Telephone 01606 860678
6 Target Shooter
Q uickLOAD, QuickTARGET and
QuickTARGET Unlimited Version 3.5
If you’re serious about handloading and want to
has been measured for a typical case for each
cartridge (or possibly computer generated in many
examples). Select your bullet and COAL (if
experiment, or you’re having a new rifle built for a different from the SAAMI / CIP standard) and the program
cartridge you’ve never loaded for, and for which there calculates the usable internal case volume. Finally
is only limited or even no loads data, you need the select barrel length, powder and charge and click on
QuickLOAD PC internal ballistics program. This has the ‘Apply & Calculate’ icon and QuickLOAD will use
recently been updated with a large number of new its internal ballistics algorithms to calculate pressure
cartridges, bullets and powders in its V3.5 form that and MV, barrel time, the percentage of the powder
runs on Microsoft 2000, XP and Vista operating charge that will be burned and a few other things too
systems. (Its designer and producer, H.G. Broemel of if you want. You can see a pressure / MV graph, or
Babenhausen in Germany is very switched on, so one specify other displays including a very useful text file
imagines a Windows 7 version will appear in short order.) that gives a range of results from small steps either side
of your base powder charge weight with ‘Hot Load’ and
QuickLOAD is a very clever and flexible computer ‘Dangerous Load’ warnings (that exceed CIP / SAAMI
modelling program that includes huge databases of PMax allowed levels).
standard barrel dimensions, cartridge, case and bullet
dimensions, capacities etc. The propellants database How accurate is it? It’s a model, not a real firearm
runs to somewhere around three figures including and makes assumptions about barrel and bullet
many makes and grades we don’t see here. This latest dimensions as well as powder characteristics, so there
version is pretty up to date including 6.5 Creedmoor are lots of health warnings. One should check results
and 6.5X47 Lapua cartridges, but the database doesn’t against published data (assuming there is any), as well
just hold currently manufactured factory cartridges as starting low and working charges up as always.
such as this pair, with data for scores if not hundreds of However, it’s the only way you’re likely to get a load for
wildcats. Taking cartridges with ‘6mm’ in their names the new Alliant Reloder 17 for the very old 6mm Lee
(but excluding .243 which are listed separately) I Navy to take a silly example! It’s accurate enough for
counted 47 listed alphabetically / numerically the bullet companies to use it as the starting point for
from 6XC to 6-284 6mm/284 Shehane, around load development whenever they’re working data up
three-quarters of which I’d never heard of, many for a new product or cartridge.
being European wildcats or proprietary designs. As The UK supplier for the QuickLOAD suite is Julian
well as standard case and cartridge dimensions, the Savory who trades as JMS Arms,
water capacity in both grains and website:
CCs
www.soundmoderators-UK.com
Email:Julian@jsavory.free-online.
co.uk
Telephone: 01444 400126
P edersoli
launched
have
an
magazine that can be downloaded and subscribed too for free.
just
online
8 Target Shooter
All competences in one hand
The Ultimate
Visual Experience
NEW
Victory 8 /10 x 56 T* RF
www.zeiss.co.uk/sportsoptics
Target Shooter 9
Calendar of events over the next few months
If your club or association has events you want to publicise here then email us.
13 Jan 2010 Grand Prix of Plsen The competition 27 to 28 Feb The British Shooting and
runs from 13th to 17th January Location: Plsen, Countryman Show - Telephone 01472 241439
CZE Email - info@shownews.co.uk
27 Jan 2010 Munich Airgun International, GER http://www.shootingshow.co.uk/
The match runs from 27th to 30th January 2010.
Location: Munich, GER 7 Mar European Airgun Championships
The Championships run from 7th to 14th March.
Location: Meraker, NOR
19 Jan Highpower Rifle Association Match
(National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)
Reduced distance 80 round XTC. 27 Mar to 28 Mar Gallery Rifle - Spring Action
http://www.highpowerrifle.co.uk Weekend (National Shooting Centre (NSC),
Bisley). Contact(s): Brian Thomas
27 Jan Civilian Service Rifle Competition 3 to 5 Apr Bisley Clubs Easter Meeting
(National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) (National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) This
Entry forms for the event being held on Sunday year the Easter Meeting will be run by the City
27 January are now available via the NRA website
Rifle Club. Contact(s): Pat Drummy
Contact(s): Martin Farnan
19 Feb British Airgun Championships 25 Apr Somerset SBSA – Open Shoot. (Rifle)
The championships run from 19th - 21st February. Long Ashton Ranges. Tel. 01275 836442. Email.
Email: competitions@nsra.co.uk julian.withey@btinternet.com
customer.services@
targetshooter.co.uk
10 Target Shooter
Bench Rest® Powder Measure £108.34
The superior design of our Bench Rest® Powder Measure throws uniform charges. The charge
arm/operating handle meters the powder and dispenses a flow of powder that is free from ex-
tremes in variation while minimizing powder shearing. The powder hopper's built- in baffle
feeds powder into the charge arm very uniformly. Convenient and simple to use. Shown on
Stand (sold separately) £21.67
By Carl Boswell
A while ago, I wrote an article for another magazine This is the basic option we all hopefully have
asking the question “How do you train?”. A pretty but, I often extend the question into what is my
open question to be honest! This article is not objective – in other words what am I expecting
simply a reprint but another look at the same to achieve each time I go up to the range and
question. shoot. If we are already ‘good shots’, how do we
become better, improve for the next weekend
For some, training will mean going to the range each shoot or even become national or world class?.
weekend, or possibly twice or even three times a It’s something to think about if you are serious
week if you are lucky and shooting on whatever about shooting, or even if you are just shooting for
target is appropriate to your particular discipline. the fun of it - let’s face it, most of us do the latter.
12 Target Shooter
answers: “My rifle is tuned to perfection, my
ammunition is tuned to my rifle, the techniques I
use are perfect” etc.
Target Shooter 13
towards the objectives or goals that are set.
Some good books about the technical side of
training are Successful Rifle Shooting (some good
training exercises) and The Ultimate in Rifle
Accuracy (some good technical information).
There are also a lot of on-line materials that
you can also access. Watching other shooters
compete and talk positively about their shooting
helps, even if your are attempting another type of
shooting. Then try applying the constructive things
learnt and looking at your performance in the short
term and the long term - a positive move forward.
So how can we start to mentally prepare?
Now we can go into area where some of you may This title and others are good extensions for
feel less comfortable, as we start to get into the developing mental skills
‘Zen’ of shooting. Lanny was an Olympic gold medallist in the 70’s
and many times world champion. Having used
There are a many help manuals and courses some of Lanny’s work, the books and digital
out there. These range from the Neuro Linguistic resources are very much worth the effort as there are
Programming (NLP) to Accelerated Learning to processes and ideas that you can put into place
Life Coaching to Self Hypnosis Therapy to the very easily to help you self-coach. What’s nice
Psychological Coaching that most people would about these resources is that they come in
feel comfortable with. starter formats like ‘Winning in Mind’ book/ CD
Whatever your ‘bag’, I would say great, as long as and go onto more sophisticated material like the
you are getting something from it and it is providing Performance Coaching works and the Mental
confidence and helps to your strengthen mental Management for Shooting Sports. These specific
abilities. materials I have found invaluable over this last
year particularly and they have paid off with recent
Personally I have read a number of literatures both achievements. A variety of exercises are
about the psychology of shooting and those personal included in each product, but I would start off with
improvement techniques named above. Some are the simpler book first.
used in industry, education and a number of other
sports. All of them will work to a greater or lesser Another book that I have read recently is available
degree depending on the type of learner you are. from the NSRA is Mental Training in Shooting by
Anne Grethe Jeppesen and Anne Marte Pensgaard.
One series of books and tapes on self help for This book – although focusing on prone and 3
training in shooting are written by Lanny Bassham position shooting - book offers a lot in terms of
– these are amongst my personal favourites. the exercises that can be accomplished easily by
14 Target Shooter
This specific book is realtively
new and based on extensive
research. A lot of very good
strategies
the reader. It is laid out in practical fashion and does the bullet do that on a rainy day? How can
suggests how these exercises work and how they other people read the wind better? How do they know
do work. The authors even relate some of Bashams when it is right to take the shot? What will happen if
work. This is a relatively new book, published in the wind is moving from this particular direction? Etc.
2006 but recently available in the UK, where the
Bassham products have been around for a while – Whatever form of training you take on, be it
he even has an e-zine that you can subscribe too. reading material I have mentioned here, coaching,
Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Accelerated
On a personal level I would suggest Learning, hypnosis etc., I guess what I am
accessing a number of starter NLP books saying is don’t leave it to chance. Ask around,
– too numerous in number to mention - that even a colleague at the club. But ask in the right
confirms at lot of the strategies from the way!!! Consider thinking about phrasing things
resources noted above and even build on them. positively to suggest “How can I shoot better in windy
When looking at this or other material, you do conditions?” Asking “What am I doing wrong?”
have to know what you are doing in the first place. reinforces the negative and will probably make you
Shooting by yourself is not always conducive to do the things you don’t want to do, even more. If you
developing new skills and it sometimes takes have a good coach, then use their skills. If you want
working with others, taking on suggestions and, to self-coach then take this route by reading lots of
always but always, asking why, what and how! Why information or even going as far as taking a basic
Target Shooter 15
coaching course, which most big associations offer. At the end of the day this article is not meant
to preach, although I have gone on a bit –
As I said in my previous article - some of you out sorry! It is really meant to get you into the
there reading this may have access to a coach of frame of mind where you are thinking about
some level. If so, this is excellent as you will have how to take your shooting to the next level and
access to a wide variety of materials and other more specifically the ‘mental skills’ you need.
training that is not available to others. This is a
privilege that I hope you grab with both hands to Shooting colleagues at the range may take the
take advantage of, to achieve success in your sport. ‘Michael’ at times, they have with me when I say
I use a well know game’s console to improve
There are some online materials I have used numeracy skills that I can use on the range – it
in the last year or so that are listed below. works for me so why not? However, when you
Unfortunately a lot of online material you now do start bringing home the cups and the medals
have to pay for, it’s the nature of the web! this tends to stop or at the very worst turns into
The list is not exhaustive by any stretch of the mild teasing. It’s just a case of thinking how can I
imagination and I am always looking for new improve and doing something about it, both
information to help me become better than physical and mental. If you start here, then in the
I am. Currently I am using a lot of selected long term all you can do is get better at what you
techniques, strategies and materials from a do. Try setting goals for the next few weekends,
number of sources, as I start down a new road, write them down, evaluate them and build on
aiming towards the next European and World them. You never know you might surprise yourself.
Championships.
Until next time
http://www.sports-coach.net/prewp/schome-
psycho.html
http://www.mentalmanagement.com/
http://www.pilkguns.com/menu_coaching.sht-
ml
Tel/Fax 01722782432
Email; ags.westlake@virgin.net/ Website; www.westlakeengineering.com
The Taurus ML Revolver is converted from a Taurus .357 Magnum Long Barrelled Revolver.
The cylinder is removed and a Yoke extension fitted, this contains the spring loaded
plunger that frees the action when the yoke is closed. As this extension cannot be removed,
it prevents the re-fitting of the original cylinder. The Barrel is shortened to approximately 5
¼ inches and the wristbrace is removed.
A new cylinder is made which has pockets for shotgun primers at the rear with a small
flash hole through into the chamber at the front. The chamber is made to accept .357” lead
wadcutter
16 bullets. The
Target conversion of your pistol costs £330.00. Extra Cylinders are £180.00
Shooter
each. If you do not have a pistol I can order a new pistol from the Importers.
New\ Year Gadgets
Gallery
N orth West Custom Parts
Calendar 2010
North West Custom has produced a 2010
Calendar of its favourite weapons which we are
donating copies to our Troops in Afghanistan
support them in their work. You can get you
copy posted direct to your door for only £10.95
(postage included)www.nwcustomparts.com/
Functions: Current air speed, maximum air speed, average air speed and data hold. Supplied with
hard cover, lanyard and battery. Price:£75.00 Ex VAT www.r-p-r.co.uk/
Target Shooter 17
The AIM Tactical Dragbag
The best designed drag bag on the
market in terms of protection and
versatility, the Aim Tactical Dragbag is
designed to carry everything you need for
a day’s shooting and leave you with your
hands free.
Inside your rifle is securely harnessed by
adjustable straps within an extra thick,
closed cell padded, 1000 denier Cordura
bag. Pockets are easily big enough to
carry ear plugs, muzzle brakes, all the
accessories you need. The bag can be
comfortably backpacked or carried by the
webbing handle. The Aim bag comes in
three sizes - the AIM 40, 50 or 60. www.
aimfieldsports.com or 01606 860678.
Hornady OAL gauge.
You just can’t load accurate rounds with
some method of measuring your COAL
(cartridge overall length) There are various
way to do it but this Hornady kit is as good
as any. Not cheap at RRP of £42 but well
made to last a lifetime. from Tim Hannam
www.timhannam.co.uk/
18 Target Shooter
Target Shooter 19
‘Support your local gun shop’
Aim Field Sports
This month we look at another internet gunshop John has always supported the shooting sports
in the form of Aimfield Sports. and regularly gives his products as prizes
John and wife Karen are the proprietors and, and the GB F Class Association particularly
as John is a keen shooter, I get to enjoy his have benefited from his generosity, which is
company most weekends. John shoots just about marvellous for a relatively small outfit and it is a
everything from F Class through to air-rifle and great pity that a few more of our major dealers
he also enjoys his field shooting. and importers aren’t so minded.
The business was built around the now famous
Aimfield Sports drag-bag when John saw a gap Last year, John picked up the US Sightron Optics
in the market for a proper gun bag with all the agency. This was a great coup as these scopes
features of the American style drag-bags and have proved to be the equivalent of any - yet
more. The Aimfield bag is just about perfect are realistically priced. Again, these were given
as John has gradually ‘tuned’ the design over as prizes in the World and European F Class
the last few years and it comes in a range of Championships. If you’ve not had chance to look
really great colours. I was fortunate enough to at the Sightron range, I suggest you do so if you
have one of the first and I have used it virtually are on the look out for a new scope. The 8-32 is
every weekend for the last few years and not proving very popular with the F Class guys and
a zip, stitch or strap has failed. Its cavernous the fixed 36 power took me to a win first time out
pockets carry absolutely everything I need for an with my benchgun.
F/TR Class shoot and the rucksack-style straps Have a look at the Aimfield Sports website at
make carrying a cinch. www.aimfieldsports.com and have a word with
Keen to capitalise on the success of the Karen or John – you’ll see him at most of the
bag, John next switched his attention to the major F Class shoots. Support those who
shooting mat. The Aimfield mat is wider than all support us!
the others, totally waterproof with pockets for
score-cards etc and available in the same range
of colours as the bags. It’s a very comfortable
mat but not ‘bouncy’ so ideal for F Class where
you need a stable platform for your back bag. It’s
amazing what can happen when a shooter designs
something for other shooters!
20 Target Shooter
www.FoxFirearmsUK.com
Tel: 0161 430 8278 or 07941 958464
PUTTING SHOOTING FIRST
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Target Shooter 21
22 Target Shooter
The SYSS Mini Rifle
by Tim Finley
Popular wisdom says the Ruger 10/22 is the semi looked at the shortcomings of the venerable Ruger
auto rimfire calibre rifle to have for speed shooting 10/22 action and those of the Volquartsen semi auto
events. However, the current model with it’s rifle actions, both of which he has built many rifles
increased use of plastic components has not upon. One has tolerances which are a bit too large to
endeared itself to the shooting world. Couple this consistently make an accurate action and the other
with the increase in price and the growing problems is so tight on the tolerances it needs tender loving
of getting anything out of America if it is anything to care and a lot of cleaning to keep it running jam free.
do with shooting and it was on the cards that the UK’s Going for the middle ground as far as tolerances go
oldest Ruger 10/22 customiser in the business would and using high grade aluminium Roger designed an
start producing their own actions. South Yorkshire action he thought would be the best of both worlds.
Shooting Supplies headed by Roger Francis had He went for an integral scope rail as Volquartsen
long had the plan to have his own actions made but
the aforementioned circumstances gave him the Above and below - Your scribe using the
impetus he needed. Starting from the bottom up he Rimfire Magic mini rifle
Target Shooter 23
It had to feed without jamming.
Be accurate and also look the
part. I put together a spec with
the new Rimfire Magic action in
mind. I even had Rogers arm up
his back to get him to build my
gun on his first action number
one, RM0001. Having a rifle built
on the number one action it was
going to have to be something
special. As well as the action
Roger is also having trigger
housings CNC machined,
this is due to as I have already
mentioned Ruger going to plastic
trigger housings. He uses Power
Custom hammers and sears and
come the New Year these will
be the only parts Roger buys
in for his rifle builds, everything
else will be made in the UK.
Yet another first for SYSS. I
wanted a Tapco T6 Intrafuse
has, it adds strength to the action as well as making
stock as I liked both how it looked and how it handled.
it easier to precisely align the scope. The actions are
It is also dirt cheap at £115. It has two different rear
made on CNC machines in deepest Yorkshire. I was
stock mounting rods, an angled one if you want
looking for a new rifle for speed shooting events,
to use open sights or a straight one if you want to
namely Mini Rifle. It has taken off at our club in a
use optical devices. The barrel would be my choice
big way and I have been fortunate enough to win
and I wanted a standard Stainless steel Ruger
all the events I have shot with my GSG-5, apart
form one with a GSG-AK47 I had on test. From this Below - The custom Rimfire Magic 10/22
experience I knew what I wanted in a Mini Rifle gun. action
24 Target Shooter
Above and below - Stock at standard setting and pin on the cartridge base. Another
extended custom part I wanted on my rifle
was the bolt handle I wanted the
big titanium Power Custom model,
again to aid and stoppages I might
have in speed events, the standard
blot handle it just too small and fiddly
for my big olde Yorkshire hands.
Roger put the rifle tougher with Dave
and I was over the moon with how it
looked. The only modification I had to
do was to move the pistol grip back to
place the pad of my trigger finger in the
correct comfortable position on the
curved trigger blade, When fitted as
Tapco suggest the joint of my trigger
finger was on the blade when my hand
was in a relaxed comfortable position,
It only took five minutes to re-drill the
stock and move the grip back with its
one securing screw. Another thing
to note is that due to the shortened
barrel the screws for attaching the
rear stock rod have to be loctied and
center-popped in order to permanently
fix the rear stock on the rifle. If you
unscrewed it and took it off it would
make the rifle less then 600mm
long and therefore illegal. I had the
rifle back in time to take it down to the
Autumn Action weekend at Bisley. I
had never shot a rimfire rifle in any
competitions down there so it would be
a very good test for both the rifle and
myself. Sight wise I only had time to
throw on an AGS 3-12*44 compact
barrel cut down to 12 inches and threaded for one scope. I reasoned the specification
of SYSS’s own muzzle brakes. Also a standard it had would be good for Mini Rifle. It parallaxes down
barrel would fit the current T6 stocks and a large to 10 yards it has a sidewheel parallax adjustment
diameter heavier match barrel would not. I did not and target style turrets. I did not have time to get
want a match chambered barrel anyway as if you any scope turret settings other than a 17 yards zero.
have a jam in a speed event you are out of the running, Not what I really wanted, I planned to have dials for
it’s better to have a slightly less accurate rifle that 10,15,20,25,30 and 50m.
always feeds as opposed to a mega accurate gun For ammunition I started using CCI Mini -Mag from the
which can jam. That’s not to say I knew a standard start, a re-think on what I used for Mini-Rifle with the
barrel with is slacker chamber would not be accurate, GSG. These seemed a bit ammo fussy and I had seen
I have tested a few Ruger barrels which when cut more jam with Mini-Mag of the four guns in regular
down have been very good indeed, that is that I was use at the club. The Rimfire Magic actions I had tried
counting upon. To match the olive drab green plastic all felt very, very slick and I thought fast ammo like
Tapco T6 Intrafuse stock I wanted the action barrel the Mini-Mag would make the best of the ultra smooth
and muzzle brake in the same colour. SYSS no do action. Dave’s Duracoat finish to the internals of the
all their own Duracoat spraying and what a fine job action helped with the cycling of the action. The
Dave Wylde makes of it too. With all that spec sorted action was engraved with the words RIMFIRE
it was down to Roger to build it and Dave to paint it. MAGIC after the painting process and it really stands
Another thing to note on SYSS’s own bolt is that the out very nicely silver against the O/D green. I bought
firing pin is held in the optimum position by a cleverly two Tactical Innovations TI25 composite magazines
placed pin. This ensures the optimum strike by the from SYSS, these are 25 round mag’s, although it’s
advisable I find to not put the full 25 .22 LR rounds in
Target Shooter 25
Above and below - Pistol Grip of the Rimfire adjusting the mag’s to the correct settings, but it’s
Magic mini rifle and the trigger guard a good idea to follow the instructions on their web
site www.tacticalinc.com to get the best out of them
for Mini-Rifle comps as when loaded that way on a on a standard Ruger 10/22. I would not be using
closed bolt during a mag change the full mag will no the big 25 round magazines at Bisley as they are
engage fully into the action. The magazines have just not needed. It’s a maximum of ten rounds per
four screws which adjust to tailor the magazines to stage anyway. I bought sis standard mag’s for
each individual action for faultless feeding of ammo SYSS, as a side note SYSS “tune” all standard
My Rimfire Magic rifle worked perfectly without even Ruger magazines they supply with their guns and
26 Target Shooter
I must say again I have had not problems at all. I black or silver, fitted with a Ruger barrel cut down
also fitted a front grip on the Tapco’s Picatinny rails to 12 ½ inches and fitted with a brake like mine in
under the forend. This is until I get around to fitting a T6 stock with one mag will set you back £695 inc
a Yankee Hill machine grip from SYSS. The grip I vat. When the last of Rogers Ruger 10/22 actions
wanted to fit would not clamp correctly on the Tapco have been sold he is not going to be using them any
stock for some reason, probably a slightly undersize more. When you have shot a Rimfire Magic action
moulding on the accessory rail. Rimfire Magic’s you can see why at only £20 more than having to
trigger cluster was a revelation, I did not want a Kidd use a Ruger action there really is no comparison. A
or any other expensive match type trigger as for 10/22 it is not and a whole lot better for that it is too.
speed events you just do not need it, what you want
is a crisp predictable, consistent trigger, all these TEST ACTION
things it was with spades, the pull weight was only
2lb 8oz (1.128grm) but it feels much , much lighter. Model Rimfire Magic
We, and when I say we I mean “Team Len” Dave Country of Origin South Yorkshire
Wylde SYSS’s custom full-bore rifle builder and Ross Calibre .22 Rimfire long rifle
Borough my rimfire clubs comp sec and overall great Action 10 shot Semi Auto blow
guy and my good self, were shooting Advancing back
Target and Multi Target at Bisley. As I said, I have Features Integral Weaver scope rail,
never shot these events with a rifle before. I was choice of colours
nervous as I shot the Advancing Target for the first
time and the rifle never missed a beat, in fact it has Can use any stock/magazines made for Ruger 10/22
never missed a beat at any shoot I have shot with it
so far. I was lucky enough to win a Silver award in Price Action only is NOT supplied
the Advancing target as well as not finishing below Action £290 Inc SYSS’s own bolt
3rd in class in any event I shot over the AAW event Trigger £150
at Bisley. A few weeks later I shot a practice Mini Barrel £90 ( Screw cut)
Rifle event at my club with the TI25 magazines and Muzzle brake £50 ( Only when part
put all my shots but one into the “A” or top scoring of a SYSS build)
section, my only miss being when I missed counted Plus cost of stock and barrel to
and only fired one shot at the missed target. The customers specification, see
Rimfire Magic rifle continues to impress me. Roger SYSS build list for options.
is building my spec Mini-Rifle into his standard build
list, in fact he has just built one for a mate of mine Supplier South Yorkshire Shooting
who was very taken with my gun. A Rimfire Magic Supplies
action with bolt assembly, recoil buffer and standard 01226-756332
bolt handle. Rimfire Magic trigger unit with auto E mail enquiries@rimfiremagic.co.uk
bolt release, extended mag release Duracoated in Web site www.rimfiremagic.co.uk
Target Shooter 27
28 Target Shooter
Shooting the Black Powder Pistol
Part 3
by Chris Risebrook
Having discussed the basics and described some versions which never existed in period.
single shot pistols, this time we will look at revolvers. The Colt dismantles quite easily by knocking out
the barrel key, putting it on half-cock so that the
The variety of Italian-made replica revolvers is rammer falls between two chambers, and then
bewildering. Because of their historical/romantic pushing down the rammer, which will ease the
associations, most are copies of the Remington barrel from the frame. This makes cleaning easier
1858 and the various Colt revolvers. In general, the and enables the barrel to be cleaned from the breech.
copies are quite accurate, such that some parts are
interchangeable with the originals and they certainly
The downside is that the rear sight is merely a notch
represent excellent value for money compared to thein the hammer. In practice, although it gives a poor
cost of an original. sight picture, it appears to have no detrimental
affect on accuracy. Spent caps have a habit of falling
They are produced in vast quantities, mainly for down in front of the hammer and thus jamming the
the American market, which keeps the price down. revolver; not a serious problem unless the
Probably the most popular are the Colt 1851 and Commanches are charging! The Colt design
1860 models. Originally, these would have been uses no top strap and is thus weaker than the
in .36 and .44 respectively but the copies are now Remington, and the brass frames on some of the
produced in both calibres, together with some spurious copies could ‘spring’ over time, but I have
never know this to happen in
The Remington BP revolver - practice.
tried and tested is one of the
For competitive target-
most popular models used in
shooting, the Remington is
the UK generally preferred because
of its solid frame and
conventional rear sight
groove in the top-strap. If you
prefer originality, a genuine
Remington is generally about
£1000 cheaper to buy than
an original Colt - romantic
names cost money!
Loading and cleaning a
Remington is easier that a
Colt - there is no barrel key to
lose. Drop the loading-lever,
pull the barrel-spindle
forward and remove the
cylinder. The barrel has to be
Target Shooter 29
When all chambers are
loaded, point down range
and cap each nipple, which
is the fiddly bit. In most
guns, fingers seem to work
better than fancy cappers.
The wad or grease is not to
prevent a chain fire, but to
lubricate the ball and keep
the fouling soft. With a tight
fitting ball, chain fire is very
unlikely. When loading the
ball, the rammer should
leave a thin ring of lead
behind. Most .44 Colts use
.451 and Remingtons .454.
Just to be awkward, the
Ruger Old Army uses .457.
Chris using a home made Obviously, manufacturing
loading stand while charging tolerances will differ and it
the cylinders is important to have a tight
fit. Bullet can be used but
round ball seem to give the
cleaned from the muzzle and a nylon cleaning-rod best accuracy.
guide is available to avoid damaging the crown.
In addition to these two principal revolvers, the
In the heat of battle, trying to load any muzzleloading Italians are now making copies of other lesser known
revolver would have been virtually impossible and in makes and models, even including the weird Le Mat
practice, troopers carried as many as eight of these with its nine chambers and a shot gun barrel as a
revolvers festooned about their horse and person. cylinder spindle - difficult to think of a competition for
To load any revolver, it is easiest to use a loading that one!. One of the best revolvers was the Rogers
stand. These can be bought or easily made to hold and Spencer, produced just too late to see action in
the pistol firmly barrel upward. Load each chamber the American Civil War but it handles beautifully and
from a phial, insert the ball - sprue upward - and copies are used successfully in competition.
push down hard with the rammer. A felt wad can
be loaded under the ball, or grease applied to the Cleaning revolvers is much harder work than single
chamber mouth when the ball is seated. Do no use shots, since each nipple needs to be unscrewed and
both methods. Do make sure the ball is seated firmly cleaned and there are six chambers to clean as well
onto the powder or wad, and that there is no air gap as the barrel. A stainless-steel revolver helps
between the powder and ball. Do not use patches. and so does cleaning as soon as possible after
shooting.Agood scrub with boiling water and a
toothbrush around the nipples should see
Seating the ‘balls’
the whole operation over in a few
can be strenuous
minutes. After a few sessions, it is a good
specially in cold idea to strip the gun and clean the lockwork of
weather fouling. Since the method of complete
stripping varies from one gun to another,
this will have to be left to a future article. Do
remember stainless-steel is not really
stainless, just stain resistant, and some
internal parts - particularly springs - are
made from carbon steel. Try and keep
water out of the action when cleaning, oil
well and check the gun the next day just to
make sure you have not missed anything
and that no rust has formed.
30 Target Shooter
Target Shooter 31
A regular column whereby Ken Hall keeps us up to date
with black powder cartridge rifle shooting in the UK.
Special Report
QUIGLEY SHOOTING ASSOCIATION info on loading the .45-70, I hope the following
NEWCOMERS GUIDE TO SHOOTING THE will help to answer some of the common queries
BLACK POWDER CARTRIDGE RIFLE. PART which crop up when you start to reload for this
FOUR. superb cartridge. In 1873 the US Army introduced
its new round for the Trapdoor Springfield Rifle,
Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and the 45-70-405 (.45 cal with 70 grains of black
hoping Santa brought you all you wished for…… powder behind a bullet weighing 405 grains).
In the previous entry to this series, I wrote a This remained in service with front line troops,
little about some of the choices available when although with a later upgrade to a 500 grain
selecting a suitable calibre for the black powder bullet, along with its’ more user-friendly 55 grain
centrefire cartridge and promised some more charge for the carbine until the adoption of the
.30-40 Krag in the 1890s, and well into the 20th
Century with the National Guard. With a suitable
bullet and load this calibre is capable of scoring
well on targets at ranges up to 1000yds.
First, let’s look at the case. .45-70 brass
is readily available at around £40 to £60 per
100 from manufacturers such as Winchester,
Remington, Star-Line and Federal with most
dealers keeping a stock of this calibre which
means you can usually get your hands on some
without a wait. When it comes to choice, all
these cases are up to the job, although many
shooters have their own favourite make. It is to
be noted, however, that Starline and Remington
use thicker brass which does have some effect
on case capacity, which we will deal with later.
Secondly, the bullet. There are a
bewildering number of bullet shapes and sizes
out there, ready made ones tend to be around
405 grains or less and are cast of a hard
alloy, with a hard lube designed for use with nitro
powders. These are less than ideal when used
with black powder at long ranges. A heavier
bullet, 500 to 540 grains, cast of a 20:1 or
A 45-70 case with 70gn Swiss No3 30:1 lead/tin mix, with deep lube grooves filled
with a natural, softer lube to keep fouling to a
32 Target Shooter
L to R Lyman 535gn Postell, Lyman 500gn Gov’t, Lyman 510gn Bore Rider, Saeco 525gn
Semi Spitzer, Lee 500gn Spitzer, Lee 405gn Hollow Base
minimum, is what is required. For this you will
more. As for bullet shape, those with a Postell
need to cast your own. Moulds are made by many
shape or rounded nose tend to be favoured
commercial suppliers like Lee, RCBS, Saeco, among most of today’s marksmen using single
Lyman, Redding etc, as well as by several shot rifles. For my standard Quigley load I use
custom makers in the USA such as Hoch, Lyman’s 457125 mould, this is the original
Magma Eng, NEI Handtools, and Paul Jones 500 grain Government round nosed bullet
among others, a quick Google search will reveal
introduced in the 1880s, if it worked then, well
why not now? Of course, if loading for
a repeater with a tubular magazine,
B&M Powder measure then only flat nosed bullets must
be used for safety reasons. Many
shooters believe that a perfect base
is preferable to a perfect nose and
so most custom moulds are of the
nose pour type, as opposed to most
commercial offerings which are of the
base pour design which can leave an
irregular base after the sprue is cut
off. Again, this becomes a personal
choice as custom moulds are also
much more expensive than their
commercial counterparts. Bullets
can also be swaged from a soft lead
core, but as these generally emerge
without lube grooves they are used
mainly for paper patching, which may
be covered in a later article.
When it comes to choice of
powder it’s probably best to start
with whatever is available locally
or what is recommended by an
experienced shooter, again, there are
a few suppliers and several brands
and grades, but some powders are
going to work better than others
in your rifle and it can take a lot of
Target Shooter 33
Home made powder compressor
experimenting to find the one that suits best. the primer. These come in various standard sizes
After much trial and error, I have found that 70 determined by the case they are designed for.
grains of Swiss No 3 (ffg grade) works well for my For our purposes, the size is known as “Large
handloads. Rifle”, they can be purchased as “standard”
All cartridges need a source of ignition, or “magnum”, the latter are often quoted as
this is achieved by a relatively inexpensive, essential for reliable ignition of black powder,
simple and yet extremely reliable item known as but I have to confess that over the years,
34 Target Shooter
I have found no discernable evidence to has already purchased the equipment necessary
corroborate this, and indeed many shooters I have and is familiar with its use. First, case preparation,
spoken to in the USA are having great success we start with a clean case, if it is new and unfired,
using “Large Pistol” primers. I am making no it will first be necessary to full length size the
recommendations here, merely stating opinions. case and ideally trim it to length. The flash hole
Let’s look at assembling a round of can be de-burred at this stage if required with a
ammunition. I will assume that the handloader simple tool costing only a few pounds, the next
Lyman 45 lubrisizer,
oldie but goodie
Target Shooter 35
.060in. Now is a good
time to tell you about
a superb piece of kit,
which can be made
very simply from
materials you already
have. Once your
cases are fire formed,
you will have no
need for the neck
expanding die from
your set, so take the
die and remove the
internal button by
loosening the collet
MTM Case Guard RF22
nut. Using a lathe
and some brass or
aluminium rod, turn a
simple insert, one end
stage is to expand the neck sufficient to allow the of which will just fit
seating of the bullet without damaging it on the inside the case and the other in the collet. This
case rim. Finally a suitable primer is inserted will be your powder compressing tool; it is used
into the pocket in the base. Once the case has in your press and is set so that the bottom of the
been fired then it is not necessary to resize at all, insert is level with the bottom of the bullet.
providing that the case is only to be used in the Any measure designed for black powder
same rifle, this will also help to prolong the case life. metering can be used to dispense the charge,
The next stage is to charge the case I use an old Belding & Mull powder measure,
with powder, but before we do that, we need to these are very safe, efficient, and throw a
determine how much powder to use. What is very consistent charge, and they can still be sourced
important with the black powder cartridge, is that on the internet. Earlier, I mentioned the use of
when it is assembled there is no air space left in a drop tube, this is a really handy piece of kit
the case, so, while it is virtually impossible to use which is commercially available but is also easy
too much powder, it is very possible to use too to make yourself. I already have a 36 inch long
little. To work out a suitable charge then, we need brass powder funnel which I use for my muzzle
to determine how much volume is left in the case loading rifle, although a shorter one around 24
when the bullet is seated to its optimum depth. inch will suffice, this is fitted to a simple wooden
A simple way to do this is to place our chosen frame and allows me to trickle the powder into
bullet in the chamber and slowly push it towards the case which settles it more evenly allowing
the muzzle, using a suitable dowel or pencil, until me to get more powder in the same space.
it just touches the lands of the rifling. If we then Using this method I have no problem getting
measure from the base of the bullet to the rear of 70 grains of Swiss No 3 into the case, despite
the chamber and reduce this distance by a few many ‘experts’ saying this is impossible. Next
thou to allow a little clearance, this will give us the I put a .060in thick vegetable fibre wad over the
amount of space behind the bullet which needs to powder to protect the base of the bullet and also
be filled with powder. Mark a prepared case and to prevent the soft lube from leeching onto the
then weigh it, using a drop tube, fill it to the mark powder. An alternative to the fibre wad can be cut
with your selected powder and weigh it again, from waxed milk or fruit juice cartons with a 7/16
this will give you the minimum charge required. in wad punch. Then the case is raised into the
Because the chamber powder compression die to the level determined
on my Pedersoli Sharps allows me to seat the earlier. At this stage it will be noted that more
bullet well forward in the case, 70 grains only resistance will be felt if using Starline or
just comes up to the mark, once the fibre wad Remington cases because the thicker brass
is added it is only necessary to compress the slightly reduces the internal volume.
powder by the thickness of the wad, in my case Next; a little about preparing the bullet.
36 Target Shooter
Ideally the bullet should be sized and lubed; seat the bullet which can be pushed by hand into
bullets do not always emerge from the mould a fire formed case, or seated with the die into a
at exactly the same weight or diameter, so to new and sized case. A note on bullet seating, if
compensate for this we can do two things. First, the compression die was not used in the previous
the bullets are weighed and batched, they can step then the powder will have to be compressed
then be passed through a sizing die which will by the bullet, this may cause the bullet nose to
size them to exactly the required diameter (which be deformed so take care. In single shot rifles I
can be found by slugging the barrel) and at the prefer not to crimp the bullet in the case, but if
same time inject the appropriate lube into the you wanted to I would not recommend using the
grease grooves. I have a couple of old Lyman roll crimp normally supplied with the die set, but
45 lubrisizers, these are well up to the job, dies purchase a taper crimp or factory crimp die, or
are simple and quick to change, and they are even just run the loaded round a little way into the
still to be found at very reasonable prices on the case sizing die providing the bullet profile allows it.
net. There are several specialist black powder The completed round is best stored in one
lubes on the market including SPG, Ox-Yoke of those dedicated plastic flip top ammunition
Wonderlube, Lyman’s Black Powder Gold and my boxes made by MTM, I prefer the Case-Guard
current favourite White label BPCR, which can RF22, which holds 22 rounds and allows the
be imported from the USA at a very reasonable round to sit with the bullet upwards, ideal when
price. RCBS, Lyman and Redding make sturdy the bullet is not crimped in place. This is just one
lubrisizers, they are not cheap but they can be person’s method of reloading this grand old round,
recommended. Lee makes a very inexpensive it works in my rifle but it is not guaranteed to work
lube and size kit, but this is designed for bullets in everyone else’s. Please feel free to email with
tumbled in alox and is not suitable for filling the questions and comments to khall6548@aol.com
deep grooves with the soft lube required on our
bullets, but the sizing die can be used if the bullet
is first lubed by hand. All that remains now is to
Welcome to GT Shooting.
The premier shooting sports shop in Surrey
38 Target Shooter
Target Shooter 39
Wildcats I have known and loved – the
fabulous sixes
By Vince Bottomley
From left – 6PPC, 6BR, Dasher, Swiss Match, 6-6.5x47 Lapua, 6XC, 243Win, 243Win.Imp,
6mm Xtreme, 6-284
An occasional series in which Vince Bottomley box of 220 Russian brass gathering dust on the
and Richard Wild look at their favourite wildcat shelves of a rural gunshop. The 220 Russian
cartridges. In this article, Vince looks at was already a wildcat – formed from the
ten 6mm cartridges that are firm
favourites with accuracy nuts.
40 Target Shooter
Yes, it is the world’s
most inherently accurate
Left, the 7.62x39 AK47 cartridge, the cartridge out to 300
Lapua 220 Russian and right, the 6PPC - yards and every 6PPC
note steeper shoulder and less body taper shooter forms his brass
from that strange little
220 Russian case,
which is now made by
Lapua. But please, if
you are building the
ultimate foxing rifle, don’t
mess with the 6PPC -
the 6mmBR will do the
job just as well and offer
you a greater choice
of bullet. But surely the
6BR isn’t a wildcat - how
come it’s on the list?
Target Shooter 41
The Swiss Match, 6-6.5x47 Lapua & 6XC accuracy gain with
are very similar any of the
aforementioned
wildcats. If you
want more
capacity, just go for
the 6-6.5x47 Lapua
and save yourself
all the case forming
– unless, like me
you are a shoot-
ing masochist! You
can cram about 36
grains of powder
into the Dasher
case, whereas the
6-6.5x47 Lapua
will hold around 42
grains.
42 Target Shooter
The pre-production Lapua 6.5x47 had a large primer – as does the Tubb 6XC and the Swiss
Match. When Lapua went into production, the primer had changed to a small one – far
left. The reason? Better accuracy. Interestingly, Lapua are about to offer a 308 case with a
small primer pocket.
with F Class shooters, though I still prefer be burning a few grains less powder and
the 6mm version for out and out long-range furthermore, the brass would be about half the
benchrest accuracy. Barrel-life is however price of the 6.5-284 brass. The first problem is
abysmal in 6mm form – around 500 rounds but fireforming. Every case must be fireformed, so
as a 6.5 you can expect at least double that. that’s 100 rounds down our barrel before we’ve
The case capacity is about 60 grains and we fired a single round in competition! Sadly, the
don’t fill the case – be it a 6mm or 6.5. so, I barrel didn’t last any longer! Neither did the
shortened my last 6-284 case by 50 thou. and brass, so the saving was minimal and I didn’t
called it the 6mm Xtreme. This also gives a win the Championship, so not really worth it. I
longer neck and it is a very effective cartridge. did have some reasonable groups but it was
We also have another advantage that Bill definitely not up to the standard of the Xtreme.
didn’t have – Tubb’s excellent 115 grain 6mm
DTAC bullets, which leave the muzzle at – well, We’ve now ticked-off six of our ten fabulous
respect your range velocity limits and keep it sixes. Let’s have a look at the Swiss Match,
down to 3250 fps! The 6mm Xtreme does not 6-6.5x47 Lapua and the Tubb 6XC. These three
give better barrel-life than the normal 6-284 cartridges are very similar (see picture) and there
but it was good enough to secure me the 2008 is very little to choose between them. If I was
UKBRA 1000 yard Championship, so I can’t looking at mainly long-range performance out to
ask more than that! The Lapua brass as always 1000 yards then it has to be the 6XC – now that
is superb and I no longer select or gauge my Norma brass is available – as it holds marginally
brass – just neck it down, neck turn and shoot in more powder than the other two. Having said
competition – barrel-life is so short you can’t afford that, this is the only one of the ten cartridges
to waste it fireforming! The 6-284 is also pretty that I haven’t actually had a rifle chambered
hard on brass and primer-pockets are loose after a for, so I can’t speak from actual experience.
couple of firings - after five firings they are scrap.
The 6.5-284 brass is now very expensive and if Tubb initially wildcatted his 6XC cases from the
you work on 500 rounds per barrel, that’s 100 22-250 case but sadly, Lapua don’t make 22-
cases and 500 bullets, primers and powder. That 250 brass* Remember, no matter what you do
works out at about £2.00 a bang! Frightening! to a case to ‘improve’ it – unless you start off
with good brass, you are wasting your time!
Although I’m no ‘penny-pincher’, I did think about David initially commissioned his own brass
a way to save a bit of money and decided to but now that the round has established itself,
replace the 6mm Xtreme with a 243Win. Norma offer the 6XC case so it makes this
Improved. I reckoned I could still drive the 115 cartridge a real contender for the long-range
grain DTAC bullets at 3200 fps and maybe rifleman.
the barrel would also last longer - as I would
Target Shooter 43
In addition to good brass, we also need good round a 6.5mm. It will deliver the same velocity
bullets and here’s where Tubb did long-range with a 123 grain bullet that the Swiss Match will
shooters another favour, with his superb 115 deliver from a 105 grainer and if you want less
grain DTAC bullets. These heavy 6mm bullets recoil, go for Lapua’s 6.5mm 108 grain Scenar
are made by Sierra and the long, needle-like and even more velocity. But, I digress, this
projectiles need a barrel with a fast twist to article is in praise of the ‘sixes’ not the six-five!
stabilise them. Tubb recommends a 1 in 7 for
his DTAC bullets in the 6XC which will push ‘em Before we leave the Swiss Match, I must mention
out at 2900 fps but they will stabilise in a 1 in the 6mm Smack. The Swiss Match Ackley will
8 if you can keep the velocity over 3000 fps. hold about the same amount of powder as the
Remember, never spin a bullet faster than you 6XC and is very impressive at long-range. There
need to – the faster we spin ‘em, the more any are few Smacks about but UK shooter, Martin
defects will show up. Miles has done very well with his, both in 1000
yard BR and F Class competition, finishing a
Can the 6XC really cut it at long-range? Run splendid 18th out of 146 competitors in the F Class
these figures through your ballistic programme. Worlds at Bisley last July – all those placed above
Consider a 155 grain 308 bullet with a BC of him were using the 7mmWSM or the 6.5-284.
around 0.508 travelling at around 2950 fps
or the 140 grain Sierra Matchking, BC 0.535 Are there any other sixes we should be including
from the 6.5-284 at similar velocity. The DTAC in this article? Well, the bog-standard 243
with its 0.585 BC, also leaving the muzzle of a Winchester is included in my top ten.
6XC at 2950 fps., will retain significantly more Although it was introduced as a factory round by
velocity at 1000 yards and buck the wind far Winchester way back in 1955 by simply
better. Not only will the little six outperform many necking-down the 308 case, the late great
larger cartridges – and here’s where we begin Warren Page (author of The Accurate Rifle) had
to see the true beauty of these little sixes – they already done the ‘wildcatting’. The cartridge is
are so nice to shoot, with negligible recoil. Don’t so ‘overbore’ that Parker Ackley – of ‘Ackley
forget, recoil is not just a thump in the shoulder, Improved’ fame apparently refused to further
it’s also rifle upset and accuracy-killing vibration. ‘improve’ it. There are thousands of factory rifles
chambered for this cartridge and although it has
That leaves just the Swiss Match and the a reputation as a ‘deer-slayer’ no one regards it
Lapua 6-6.5x47. The Swiss Match is a as an ‘accuracy’ cartridge. Most factory rifles are
beautiful little case – made by RWS so the quality is offered with a 1 in 12 twist to handle a stubby
excellent and I got quite excited when I first expanding hunting bullet but to shoot
‘discovered’ the case in America of all places match-grade 105 grain bullets, we really need a
and I just couldn’t wait to build a rifle. Obtaining 1 in 8. Take Parker’s and Warren’s advice – use it
brass was a small hurdle – Ruag UK refused to straight with good, reasonably priced brass from
sell me any brass so I had to get it direct from Lapua, dies from any of the major manufacturers
Europe – minimum order 1000 pieces – £660 have a great long-range target round which
just for the brass! The rifle’s accuracy exceeded should equal the 6XC. Barrel-life? Don’t even ask!
expectations and barrel-life is not too bad (I’m
still shooting it) and when Lapua brought out *The 22-250 case will be offered by Lapua in 2010.
the 6.5x47 it solved the brass problem – run the
Please mention
6.5x47 through the Swiss Match full-length body
die and out pops a 6mm Swiss Match case!
when using
Is the Swiss Match any better than the 6-6.5x47
advertising in the
Lapua? No – the shoulder angle is the same at
magazine
30 degrees and the marginally longer neck offers
To ADVERTISE in this space
no accuracy gain. Stick with the 6-6.5x47 and
contact us at
its small primer - which appears to handle the
customer.services@
pressure better. Having said that, I think Lapua
targetshooter.co.uk
got it exactly right when they made their new
44 Target Shooter
Target Shooter Magazine An advert with a hard copy magazines can only
can offer your company say so much about your product. With cost and
the kind of advertising that limited space, most have to keep it direct.
a hard copy magazine But with a online magazine the advert takes on
cannot offer. a whole new way of advertising, as it can be
Our readers can, with a the front door to your website and all those
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Target Shooter Magazine is a publication of Trinity Digital Publishing Ltd
Target Shooter 45
By Gwyn Roberts
Bob Clark’s Southern Gun Company
has been at the forefront of Custom Gun
building in the UK for the past 40 years and
I was fortunate enough recently to try out
their latest creation, the 9mm Lever Release
Rifle which is directly aimed at the Gallery
Rifle market. The particular rifle that I
tested belongs to a good friend of mine Dave
Emery, who has been known to tinker with
all sorts of firearms in his spare time over
the years, but having a family and working
full time as a firefighter certainly doesn’t
leave him with many hours left in the week
to do this! For the test, we arranged to meet
up at John Scott’s excellent Two Rivers
Shooting Club in Hartland, North Devon so
I could see for myself what all the fuss has My first offhand target S&B 115gr 10 shots @
been about over the last 12 months or so, wasn’t too bad, but it did 50m How good would
waiting for this new rifle to finally emerge. end up being one of the this rifle shoot
worst that I shot at 25m with some developed
To perform well in any of the GR during the test! loads?
competitions you must have a rifle that is former, I just wasn’t sure to be honest if a 9mm
both accurate and reliable, and starting with the round could be accurate when shot through a
carbine length barrel. There was only one
The excellent A.R.M.S quick release mounts enable way to find out however so I started by taking
you to instantly change from one type of scope to off the red dot that had been fitted and
another without any loss of zero! replaced it with the 4-16x mildot scope
that Dave had also brought with him, then
continued to walk the bullet holes across
the target until they were printing point of
aim. Happy that they were “there about”
I first of all put some 147gr fmj S&B’s
through it off the bench to see how they
went and although the groups were ok,
they were certainly nothing to write home
about with the groups printing at around
1½ - 2in for 10 shots. Dave then handed
me some 115gr fmj’s from the same
manufacturer to try which surprisingly,
instantly transformed the next group I
shot into a single ragged hole! The two
46 Target Shooter
Production rifle
following groups produced exactly the same one at SGC over the years to make sure that their
hole results so I enthusiastically put up a DP1 9mm rifle fully satisfies the requirements of both
target at 25m to see how well I could shoot the rifle the Home Office and Police Authorities to finally
offhand. Considering the rifle didn’t exactly fit me get this rifle into production, and what a good job
properly (more of that later) and I certainly wasn’t they did of it too! The basic design of the rifle is that
used to the trigger, I was more than pleased with of a blow back action and the bolt is locked back
my first target of the day! Only 3 tens with the to the rear after every shot is fired. The shooter
rest being X’s wasn’t the end of the world, and the then releases the bolt forwards again (stripping
scores got even better as I became more familiar the next round off the top of the magazine in the
with the rifle and had a bit more practice with it. Atprocess) by pressing the release lever located
15 & 10m every shot went repeatedly put into the on the left side of the lower. This is usually where
X ring so shooting straight 300’s with the X count the safety catch is on the AR and it’s simply been
around 27 or above is certainly achievable if you relocated onto the other side of the action. Once the
play your part right. The barrel definitely seems to bolt is fully forward, the shooter can then depress
prefer the lighter weight bullets between 115 & 125 the trigger to release the next shot and the cycle
grains, and the accuracy of the 9mm round through continues again. This reloading action does make
a 15” barrel certainly surprised me, making this it easier for the shooter to stay on target and should
rifle more than capable of winning any of the GR help avoid any cross shooting during a 1500 or
matches that we compete in, straight out of the box! Multi Target match when you can have 20 – 30
targets nestled quite close together. The rifle also
A lot of time and effort, as well as countless hours highlighted its excellent handling qualities at the
of R&D work has been done by Bob and the team end of the day when we refitted the red dot and went
over to shoot the Bi-
More than accurate enough for anchi steels with
Gallery Rifle competitions! the limited amount
of ammunition that
we had left. Tracking
cross the frame from
target to target was
much easier than
having to rack the
action each time
and this allowed
you to take slightly
more time on each
plate to release the
shot which may help
you improve your
score on the day.
Target Shooter 47
Whilst shooting I liked to
keep my thumb resting
lightly on the lever and
this caused no problems
at all, but care must
be taken not to try and
release the bolt too
early in the reloading
cycle otherwise it will
smash into the working
parts. If this is done
a couple of times by
accident it shouldn’t
cause a problem, but if
it is done repeatedly you “Weak” shoulder operation and
will be faced with an shooting is made very easy!
expensive bill to fix it
which will certainly not be ammunition along with some Magtech lead bullets
covered by the warranty so be warned! Although as well should you need them, and I’m sure there
SGC recommend using commercial ammunition are plenty of other “sources” around the country
in the rifle, they do accept that owners may also that will be able to get you some too if you look
want to use home loads to help keep the costs around.
down etc, and this is fine providing that quality
ammunition is made and used. Be aware that The feeding reliability of the rifle was extremely
bulging the barrel or cracking the receiver by using good on the day and should never become an
under or over powered reloads will not be issue as long as you keep your magazines in
accepted under warranty conditions, as it good order. As with any magazine fed firearm you
quite rightly wouldn’t be by any other firearms must always make sure that the lips are checked
manufacturer either! On the ammunition side of regularly to make sure they are not bent out of
things I know that Pete Starley at Midway UK will shape, as dropping them onto a hard surface
be able to supply you with plenty of Wolf 9mm during a mag change etc will sometimes cause
this to happen. SGC
machine all of their
major components in
house and as standard,
this rifle is fitted with the
SGC Mk6 lower with the
forward assist plunger
and is machined from a
6lb billet of aircraft grade
alloy to eventually give
you a 1¼lb part. When
you have to pay £4000
per ton for the alloy, and
get just £350 per ton
when you sell it back
as scrap, it gives you a
much clearer idea about
just how much these
parts cost to produce in
the first place. The upper
used on this rifle is their
The release lever sits right above the grip, and
own dedicated 9mm
Dave’s rifle has been fitted with one of SGC’s
version which features a
left hand cocking uppers from the .223 smaller ejection port as
version for R&D purposes, so he says…..! standard as is equipped
48 Target Shooter
or 10/22 clone either.
Here’s part of the second batch of 50 Mk 6
You can pay anywhere
lowers waiting to be hand finished!
from £70 to £350 for a
replacement stock for your
Ruger, but who sells
them for an underlever?
To shoot to your potential
you must have a rifle
that fits you properly and
the good thing about
this rifle is that you can
customize everything
from the size, width or
shape of the fore end or
butt, down to the type of
grips that you will use.
They even sell one grip
with the usual “T” bar cocking handle on the top. that comes complete with
The 15” fully floating barrel with a 1 in 16 twist rate various sized moldings and spacers so that you
is fitted with an A2 muzzle break and is covered can achieve the proper grip to trigger reach for
with one of the
short round
fore ends that
is found on their
V22 rifle. The
opposite end is
complimented
with a TDI
collapsible butt
which is very
quick and easy Grips......….
to adjust and
will fit most of
the shooters out there. As I mentioned earlier, an any size hands. Try finding a set of those for your
AR type rifle does not usually fit your average 6’3” Marlin! A quick scan on the SGC website or any
+ person, but neither does a Marlin, Winchester other for that matter will show you just how
customisable these rifles are
so making one fit you perfectly
shouldn’t be much of a problem
at all.
50 Target Shooter
Target Shooter 51
PROTECTIVE FIREARMS COATING
MIL-SPEC corrosion protection designed for the US Military for Special Weapons
● 500 hour salt spray test
● Abrasion protection
● Impact resistance
● Will not attract dust
● Non-reflective
● Exceeds Military requirement to “resistant to chemicals” i.e. acid, ammonia, paint remover etc...
● Outstanding temperature resistance - over 500F/260C and as low as -350F/-212C
● Huge selection of colours from Flat Black to Dark Earth
52 Target Shooter
A critical examination of the 2009 Imperial
Meeting Ammunition – Part Two.
By Chris White
The NRA Imperial Meeting, the largest target rifle
competition in the UK, has always imposed ‘issued
ammunition’ on competitors, relying until this year on
British military ammunition producer, Radway Green.
Unfortunately, Radway will no longer supply ammunition
to independent Associations like the NRA, so they had
no option but to go elsewhere. After various ‘trials’,
ammunition supplied by RWS was chosen. Target Rifle
shooter Chris White looks a little closer into the RWS
product.
Target Shooter 53
9 of the targets shot - up to 900 yrds on these My reference earlier to Captain Mainwaring reminds me
examples - with the variety of ammunition of one of my (many) Dad’s Army favourites. In ‘Sons of
the Sea’ Mainwaring acquires a boat and decides that
on test
a rapid response river unit would be a good idea. The
at each distance were shot with a dirty barrel. The platoon gets lost in the fog, drifts out to sea and then
exceptions being ‘The Association’ shot at 300 yards get washed ashore to hear carousing in a dance hall.
with HPS ammunition in the English XX Meeting and We know these are French Canadians but Mainwaring
the 900 yards shoot in the Welsh meeting. The latter thinks they have landed in France. The platoon board a
was the only opportunity to shoot VMS ammunition freight train and Mainwaring orders them to throw their
at 900 yards. The following twelve diagrams show rifle bolts from the train to prevent their P14s being
the plots for the “best of the bunch” for each brand. used by the enemy. As the train begins to slow he asks
What matters here is the elevation plot. Declared bad Sergeant Wilson, “What’s the French for ‘what is this
shots are ringed on the plot. Reference to the wind station’?” Wilson replies, “Ou est la gare?” The train
plots will indicate that some of these shoots, particular- comes to a halt and the van door is gingerly opened
ly at long range were conducted in somewhat tiresome to reveal a gent in a bowler hat, complete with rolled
wind conditions. Having to make big wind changes, umbrella and briefcase. Mainwaring says, “Ou est la
particularly across zero, can have a loosening effect on gare?”. Gent with umbrella, “Eh?” Mainwaring cups his
ones groups as can the need to get shots away quickly hands to his mouth and shouts, “Ou est la gare?!”
before a transitory condition changes. Brief pause, “Oh! La gare est Eastbourne actually!”
The results are tabulated in table 3. Moral of the story: compliant with security requirements
your bolt should never be far away from your rifle.
Experienced shooters will know that weekend
meetings at Bisley are pretty intensive affairs with Now, back to business. To try to relate these results
little time to leave the range, whereas the Imperial to actual ammunition performance, rather than
consists of bursts of activity with long periods of shooter performance I looked for an event where
potential boredom. It is necessary to chill out and whilst equipment limitations would mean that, in the rifle/
sitting round the barbie in an evening scoffing steak shooter/ammunition interface the biggest influence
and supping full bodied wine may be OK, it certainly on the end result was likely to be the shooter.
isn’t OK through the day. We need some light relief.
In June, I had occasion to shoot in a club competition
Having waded through this dusty stuff so far you at Thorpe Cloud. The conditions require a rifle of
probably need some light relief and, having researched pre-1945 design, firing a contemporary cartridge to be
and written it, so do I! shot at 300 yards on a 300 metre UIT target. Target
54 Target Shooter
sights are permitted. This competition is immediately bull being angularly the smallest over the commonly
preceded by a 20-shot shoot at the same target with shot at ranges, tight groups are essential. Similarly
an NRA Target Rifle. Experience indicates that most at 1,000 yards where again RWS appeared to be
shooters perform better on this target than they do 14% worse than HPS and 20% worse than my own
on an NRA target. They have to! Despite being fairly ammunition - in fact no better than ammunition which
tired I was able to hold exactly one minute of elevation. I considered inadequate. It has to be said, however
In addition to this I was concerned that the that this ‘inadequate’ ammunition produced a 49 at
Steyr, with over 6,000 rounds through its barrel, 1,000 yards at Altcar, with the dropped point being
could be seen as a limiting factor. With my own down to an over ambitious twiddle of the wind-knob.
ammunition this rifle produced an elevation spread of
0.66 minutes at 1,200 yards in the Welsh. The rifle’s performance at 1200 yards in the Welsh
is an unarguable pointer to its ability to keep the 155
Before we leave the topic of purely subjective testing, bullet stable at long ranges. Despite this, RWS out
here’s another firework I want to throw into the embers. performed HPS at 600 and 900 yards and matched my
I experienced a drastic, fatal and inexplicable wind own ammunition at 900 (albeit on a sample of one).
zero failure on the Steyr during the final at 1,000 yards On this basis then, one could say there is not much
in the Scottish Open at Blair Atholl in June. Fortunately to choose between the two brands. One cannot
Altcar Rifle Club have Thursday evening long-range expect commercially produced ammunition to equal
shoots at this time of year and, to try to establish if the the quality of hand crafted ammunition - nor did I.
problem was transitory, I shot there on two consecu-
tive weeks at 900 and 1,000 yards respectively. The The evidence shown in table 2 would indicate that
ammuntion shot was a collection of dog ends of batches ballistic performance i.e. wind bucking ability, is near
of my hand loads all of which had escaped being enough identical between the three brands. Both
shot previously because total indicated run out was in HPS and RWS, at their best, showed good enough
excess of 5 thou. This produced a total spread of 0.86 performance in my rifles for me to have scored
minutes at 900 yards and 1.0 minute at 1,000 yards. ‘possibles’ at all the ranges concerned - providing I
had shot straight and got the wind right. Shooters and
After all this what conclusions can we draw? Associations will probably make their decisions based
Not surprisingly my own ammunition outperformed on price. Either way competitors should have no
both HPS and RWS. The best I could squeeze out of grouse if they have to shoot either of these products.
the RWS at 300 yards was not as good as I squeezed
out of my M17 in one shoot; which is, perhaps, dis- Finally the completely subjective opinion. Did RWS
appointing. The best RWS elevation at 300 yards was show an improvement over RG. I’d say absolutely!
32% bigger than the best HPS elevation and 38%
bigger than my own ammunition. With the 300 yard
Target Shooter 55
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56 Target Shooter
Rifle and Range Bags
By Nigel Greenaway
My previous articles on Practical Rifle (PR) and Above - BlackHawk Long Gun - the Rolls Royce
Civilian Service Rifle (CSR) shooting concentrated of bags
on the differences in the courses of fire and the rifles will be required to walk between the target frames
required for these exciting competitions. Space did and the area underneath the mantlet, often having
not allow for more than a cursory look at the other to step sharply to one side as people rush to bring
equipment needed and the rifle bags and range bags targets down for marking. The sickening crash you
required to carry everything. then hear behind you is your rifle or scope as it
strikes the hard metal edge of the target frame. If
This article will cover the latter requirement in some you pass this test then propping your rifle up against
depth because if you are going to spend £1,500 plus the wall by your bench or resting it on its bipod under
on a modern rifle and telescopic sight it would seem the bench is also a recipe for disaster as the press
a false economy to skimp on the quality of the rifle of bodies and shuffling feet wreck havoc with your
bag required to protect your investment and carry it unprotected kit.
comfortably. The rifle and range bags described will So having decided that you need to buy a rifle bag,
suit any rifle discipline so it would
be a good idea to remind ourselves
about the specialist requirements
of PR and CSR, particularly the
need to carry comparatively large
quantities of ammunition and kit
to and from the firing point and
the butts. This can happen twice
in one day and some of the worst
accidents I’ve seen inflicted on rifles
have occurred in the butts. A
chamber safety flag might allow
you to carry your rifle safely
slung from your shoulder but as
soon as you enter the butts the
fun and games start. If firing has
commenced and you have not
reached your target number you
Right : The kit you have to take
with you on a shoot!
Target Shooter 57
range tables, course of fire, etc.
58 Target Shooter
I-SHOT S.E.R.T
Velcro backing for customised fitting. On the outside small pouch on the side which will take a 20 round
it has the popular Molle straps which allow various mag plus smaller pistol mag pouches that will
pouches to be attached for a completely customised accommodate my grass clippers (vital when you find
package. As standard it comes with three double long grass obscuring your view a foot or two forward
mag pouches for 6x30 round AR15magazines, a of the firing point). Single open top mag pouches
I-SHOT S.E.R.T
Target Shooter 59
BlackHawk Long Gun Pack Mat
can be ordered to fix to the front or side so that you firing point and the target is a Fig11 on a pole with
have an upright mag, free of mud or gritty gravel, no backer for your two sighting shots. The other
within easy reach for a quick reload. Over all this is a pictures show the variety of Warrior pouches available
large flap, the inside of which has a clear plastic map – in the bottom left of the group is a foldable dump
pouch which is great for holding the course of fire pouch in its folded state and the single pouch pictured
for a quick reminder without having to worry about is the foldable dump pouch in its deployed position.
the rain. It is a very well designed bag, made from UK Tactical provide fantastic customer service and
high quality and hard wearing materials. I have used do a great job supplying our lads abroad with those
one of these bags for the best part of two years and soldier proof bits of kit that can prove invaluable.
would be lost without it – I’ve discovered that its
height also makes it an ideal rifle rest. UK Tactical A good choice for a rifle bag to accompany the Warrior
recently sent me some extra pouches including a Grab Bag is a new Operational Tactical Drag Bag
couple of magazine dump pouches. The latter are from AIM Fieldsports www.aimfieldsports.com,
used by the military to dump empty mags in to for designed to accommodate conventional bolt action
refilling when they have a quiet moment! For scoped rifles up to 49 inches in length. It differs from
civilians they can be used in the same way but are their well known AIM50 and AIM60 Drag Bags in that
particularly useful for collecting empty brass – it lacks the latter’s large external pockets and hence
especially important if you reload your own ammo. the price drops from £139 to £99 but it is still made
The picture shows the large dump pouch fitted to the with 1000 denier cordura and the usual extra thick
front of the Grab Bag and their large admin panel closed cell foam padding. Given the quality of the
attached to its front – courtesy of the Molle system. bag this is exceptional value for money whilst still
With its Velcro front it is a great spot to attach my incorporating the stowaway rucksack type shoulder
stopwatch and store my Kestrel wind gauge – straps of its more expensive brother. Another feature
supplied to me many years ago by Richard Paul that I like is the full length pocket for a rifle cleaning
Russell Ltd www.r-p-r.co.uk It is another one of those rod running along the length of the spine of the
invaluable gadgets, now commonplace amongst bag. The number of times I’ve heard the cry from
military snipers, which can save much embarrassment the firing point for a cleaning rod to clear a jammed
if your day’s shooting starts on the 500 or 600 yard round only to hear every one say “I’ve got a rod in
60 Target Shooter
barrelled AR15. These
rectangular shaped bags
are regarded as discreet
bags because their shape
does not shout rifle bag.
Their shape actually
allows them to hold
two or even three rifles/
carbines – two in the main
compartment if not
scoped and one, with
a folding stock, in the
external large pocket. A
particularly useful feature
is that both compartments
employ the MOLLE or
PALS system to allow
securing straps to be
positioned to suit different
rifles plus magazine
pouches. I tend to use
the large external pocket
to hold a double mag
pouch and other Warrior
pouches plus all my
waterproof clothing,
gloves, etc. They are
very well made, using
1000 Denier Cordura
with two sets of external
D-Rings to allow
versatility of shoulder
strap placement, heavy
The Blackhawk duty steel hardware and
Sniper Drag Bag lockable zippers.
on your scribe’s
back What really sets these
bags apart is the very
high level of protection
the car” which is often a round trip of
1000 yards! The bag has a system The Blackhawk
that allows internal securing Sniper Drag Bag
straps to be positioned to hold any open
type/shape of rifle, including the
comparatively short AR15’s (there
is now a shorter AIM40 bag but I’ve
not had a chance to test one yet).
Target Shooter 61
offered. Not only do they have the usual padding but worried that all the various securing/shoulder straps,
there are also large hard plastic rectangular sheets which lie underneath the mat, would intrude when
zippered in to the inside. These are designed to help lying topside. However, I found that my stomach
the bag stay semi-rigid and will not allow the outline lay on a flat portion, where there were no straps
shape of the rifle to become visible from the outside underneath, whilst my elbows rested forward of the
whilst increasing the level of protection from, for underlying shoulder strap section which kept my
example, a sharp object falling and cutting through chest clear, thanks to my elbows. On this section
the conventional soft padding. The American there is a generous full width portion of grippy
Marine Recon units have selected S.E.R.T bags for HawkTex for your elbows. Obviously a lot of serious
their demanding applications – enough said! thinking has gone in to the design of this bag - it is
packed with features which reflect its £175 asking price.
Tacfire Systems www.rifle-cases.co.uk kindly supplied The final rifle bag is at the Rolls Royce end of the
what must be regarded as the Rolls Royce of the spectrum and is priced accordingly at around £240.
combination bag/shooting mats – the BlackHawk The Blackhawk Sniper Drag Bag oozes quality
Long Gun Pack Mat. Again made with 1000 denier and is a full blown sniper drag bag with stowable
Nytaneon® this high quality piece of kit can be used rucksack shoulder straps and two large external
as a rifle carrying case, a backpack, a drag bag and pockets. There is also an internal pocket which is
as a shooting mat complete with Velcro removable ideal for ammo boxes or even a silencer. Internal
pouches, one for a notebook and one for ammo – straps secure the rifle but there are also securing
a very nice feature which allows you to set up the straps in each of the large pockets – useful for
mat to suit left or right handers. In addition there holding a spotting scope. The case is fully padded with
is a weapons cleaning kit pouch and separate bolt closed cell foam and has extra heavy-duty zippers
pouch. Perhaps less useful is the Hydrastorm® with dual sliders, which allow the bag to be opened
hydration system pouch for your water but it is just completely and used as a shooting mat. Along the
the right size to stuff your waterproof trousers and spine is a long pouch to hold a cleaning rod. Overall
jacket! Full wrap around carry handles or concealable Length 51”, front cargo pouch is 9.5” x 23” x 2” and
back pack harness straps (fully padded) & waist the rear cargo pouch is 9.5” x 12” x 2”. This bag
belt can be used for transportation. The bag opens really can carry a hell of a lot of kit and it was in
up with two fold out sections – one for the rifle butt constant use by me when I used my Parker Hale M85
and another with extra protection for the rifle muzzle in PR events. Blackhawk products are stocked by
with a hard plastic crown protective cover lined both www.uktactical.com and www.rifle-cases.co.uk .
with closed cell foam and three sets of securing My thanks to UK Tactical, AIM Field Sports,
straps to hold the rifle securely. Suddenly a bag that Tacfire Systems, Stockade Products and Richard
previously measured 28 inches long (71 cms) by 13 Paul Russel Ltd for supplying the equipment
inches wide (33 cms) lengthens to accommodate and bags featured in this article – judging by the
most rifles up to 50” in length (127 cms). When speed, efficiency and helpfulness exhibited by
opened up as a mat it is 27.5 inches wide (70 cms) all of these companies I have no doubt that their
by 50 inches long (127 cms) – plenty wide enough prospective customers will receive the same service.
but just stops short of your knees when shooting
prone. The closed cell foam insulation and padding
does a remarkable job of providing comfort. I was
62 Target Shooter
Gun of the Month
great
Shootk great
Loo
www.eleyammunition.com
64 New
Target online shop coming soon
Shooter
with a full range of ELEY apparel
Lilja Barrels - USA
By Andy Dubreuil
Lilja barrels have Above - Matt Emmons win Gold and Silver Medals at the 2008 Beijing
been around for Olympics using Lilja Anschutz model 2007/13 drop-in barrels!
24 years now and
celebrate the 25th barrel making and Dan got interested in what he was
anniversary this month and are one of the leading doing and how he was doing it, but after a couple
barrel makers in the USA and exporting all around of year his friend lost interest in the business and
the world, and I thought I would catch with Dan Lilja turn to Dan to see if he want to buy all the tooling
on the phone to find out about the man and the Lilja machines, then in 1985 Lilja barrels was born when
name. Dan setup business and started by himself making
When you speak to Dan he comes across a nice centrefire barrels in a town called Plains in Montana.
quite spoken man you may think he never steps out Today Dan has a much larger premise as they
of the office and may even play golf! Well you would moved into a new building back in 2005 and
be wrong, Dan loves the outdoors and with his employs 9 people within the company. Lilja have
family they love to hunt camp and ride their horses. invested in the very best of equipment and have
Dan was shooting benchrest back in the 70’s two rebuilt and design ball-screw-driven Pratt &
and loved the sport and has always been Whitney controlled gundrills, a Hass TM-3P CNC
interested rifles and what make them tick, and then milling machine used for fluting, octagon work and
in the early eighties a friend of his got started in rifle milling work on their drop-in barrels and other
applications.
Lilja today make barrels
for all kinds of
competitive shooters
from .22lr Rimfire and
Centrefire and up to
50cal barrels. Over the
years many shooter
have won with Lilja
barrels, the list is
huge but back in 1991
Steve Turner won the
BR-50 three times
in a row with a Lilja
barrel, in 1995 K.C.
Young shot 2 World
records in I/R 50/50
that was taken over the
year after with Steve
Arnold shot 5 World
records and the list
Precision Rifle Barrels in all calibers - goes on with 14 new
World records set 1998.
rimfire and centrefire But Lilja have even
had their success in
Target Shooter 65
years to perfect the
.22 Rimfire Precision Barrels - these barrels that shooters
come in a variety of configurations used to day and it’s
this kind of dedication
and some are even ‘drop in’ that makes Lilja one of
the top barrel makers
in the world and
specially within the
rimfire fraternity. I asked
Dan on his thoughts
about running in new
barrels as some
shooters views are
that you have to put
a number of rounds
down to run a barrel
in, but Dan is very
confident that Lilja
barrels should be able
to be shot straight out
of the box, he says you
the Olympics, back in 2004 in Athens with Matt just need to put enough
Emmons winning gold in the 50 meter free rifle through to build the wax from the rounds for it to
prone and Ashley Adams of Australia winning silver settle in and you should be there.
in the Paralympics. And only last year in the Since Dan knows his barrels inside out I
Beijing Olympics Matt and Katarina Emmons won thought I would ask him how would he clean
gold and silver medals using Lilja Anschtz model a lilja barrel and this what he had to say “for a
2007/13 and Warren Potent won a bronze with a competitive Rimfire barrel I would clean it every
custom Blieker which was furnished by Lilja. 300 rounds and I would take a patch and I like
Lilja barrels have done many testing’s over the Butchers Bore Shine and I would wet that patch
66 Target Shooter
and run it through a few times. Then I would run a are growing up fast and he hopes to get back on the
copper wire brush fitting, I like a loose fitting maybe range again soon which I am sure for a lot of our
like worn out brush and give that a few strokes down American readers
the barrel then another couple of wet patches with would be a pleasure to see him behind a rifle again.
the Butchers Bore Shine, and then one dry patch To think that Dan’s business only happened when
and then fire a couple of shots to build up some wax someone decide sell up that he took the plunge
in the barrel and that should be it”. To keep a rifle and it has paid off to be one the successes in the
shooting well and to get back to that constancy, Dan rifle barrel industry. Dan will continue to push the
believes it down to the cleaning process and the boundaries to make his barrels the best he can and
one he has described is one of the best and since will continue testing so shooters can have a barrel
he makes the barrels I would take his word for it. they can depend on shot after shot.
Exporting barrels over the
last year has got more
expensive and Lilja have
to conform to the export
licensing prices that are
incurred, it used to be
around $75 to sort all the
paperwork out but now it cost
around $350. So it would be
better to go through the major
importer for your country to
find out when a shipment is
coming through and see if
your gun dealer can get one
of those at the time. You can
find details on Lilja website
of all the major importers
around the world to get in The latest CAD/ CAM
contact with. Dan hasn’t shot
equipment is used
for some years, but his sons
Target Shooter 67
☆ 2007 Pan American Games
3x20 Gold Medalist
☆ 2007 WC Milan 3x20 Silver Medalist
☆ 2008 Olympian 3x20 Fifth Place
☆ 5-Time NRA Camp Perry
3x20 Junior National Champion
☆ Multiple Women’s NRA Camp Perry
National Champion
If you want to shoot like
a champion, choose Lilja!
www.riflebarrels.com
Lilja Precision Rifle Barrels, Inc
PO Box 372 • Plains, MT 59859
Tel: 406-826-3084 • Fax: 406-826-3083
Jamie Beyerle
68 Target Shooter
SA09/54/e
Target Shooter 69
Field Target USA style
By Paul Cray
Paul is an American shooter who picked up on Consider at that time there was no internet and the
Target Shooter via the internet, saw that we carried level of global communication was no where near
field target reports and was kind enough to pen this what we have now and you get an idea of how far
article on FT on the other side of the pond and a report and fast the game travelled in that short period
on the 2009 US National Match. I sometimes moan of time. In my opinion, this is a testament to how
about the 250 mile drive to Bisley – I won’t do again! wonderful and unique the game of FT is. Two short
years later, the first National match took place in
As far as we can tell, the first Field Target match that was Indianapolis, Indiana. The governing body of FT in
held in the USA took place in 1984. The location was America is AAFTA http://www.aafta.org/ and it’s main
California. What’s important about this date is that it’s purpose is to promote Field Target clubs in the United
only four years after the actual birth of FT in England! States and oversee and maintain a set of rules that
everyone can compete under. Currently, there are
70 Target Shooter
Me shooting in the match
over 45 AAFTA affiliated clubs shooting in the US. difference but it’s very slight and nowhere near half
as some people may think. And any slight advantage
There are two main differences between FT here with trajectory is equalized by the fact that in American
in the USA and in Britain. First is rifle power and FT you will see a 1” KZ at 50+ yards and ¾” KZ’s out
the second is the shooting harness. With the sport to 40+. So shooters must do their home work and
starting in England where air rifles are restricted make sure that scope clicks are bang on. And again,
to 12ftlbs of energy at the muzzle, the format when you encounter target at very close ranges, for
and course layout evolved from that view point. example, between 10-15 yards, you’ll see KZ’s ¼”
Although, one can purchase a rifle with greater power, and 3/8th” and as we know, there are lots of clicks
a FAC is required in the UK. So it’s reasonable on your scope this close in so you’d better be ready.
to assume that a greater number of people can
access to 12ftlb rifles and that’s what gets used. The harness is another difference. I’ve never used
one, and personally feel it goes against the spirit of
There are no such restrictions on air rifles in the the game in so far as it really removes a lot of the skill
US so consequently, the air rifles folks had here in getting into position and holding while one waits to
were mostly above 12ftlbs. Indeed, in it’s infancy, release the shot. It’s in the rules and that’s that and I
shooters were encouraged to come and shoot do support anyone that uses one, but I’d rather have
with whatever rifles they had in order to boost the satisfaction of training my body into being stable
participation and this practice was very successful without it. Thankfully and they must be commended
in doing so. AAFTA now dictates a muzzle-energy here for their forward thinking, the AAFTA has created
of no more than 20ftlbs and this was initially put a division for competitors that want to compete the
in place to prevent damage to the targets. Most way - the way the rest of the FT world does! So we
shooters run their rifles at 19ftlbs or close to it. have a WFTF (World Field Target Federation) division
with a 12ftlb limit and no harnesses that means the
When I shot American rules FT, I ran my rifle with small but growing group of guys and gals that want
JSB heavy pellets (10.2 grains) at 880 fps which to shoot this way compete on a level playing field.
translates to 17.5ftlbs of energy at the muzzle. There
is not the huge advantage in pellet trajectory and wind I shot my first Field Target match in January 2002.
hold-off that one might think shooting 20ftlbs versus After spending the ungodly amount of $20 on a BB
12ftlb. In my experience anyway, my windage pistol and some paper targets some years prior,
was basically the same whether I shot 11ftlbs or I got hooked on target shooting and found myself
17.5ftlbs! When I say basically, I mean there is a constantly shooting, or at least, thinking about
Target Shooter 71
2200 mile round trip to get there!
72 Target Shooter
now it seems,
we always have
lunch at the
match when all
the shooters
come in and the
guys ‘n’ girls of
Texas out did
themselves with
the spread they
put on. Truly
exceptional!
Target Shooter 73
L aunching the brand new airgun marque of Prestige Airguns, the Kub family comes in a trio
of exciting carbine-format models - the SB (side-bolt), RB (rear-bolt) and SL (side-lever) - each
available in .177 or .22 and with ambidextrous thumbhole or sporter woodwork in walnut.
The Kubs weigh-in at just 6.5 lbs., yet are stacked with features - including an adjustable butt pad,
plug-in charging, on-board air gauge, adjustable two-stage trigger, re-settable safety, threaded
muzzle and a 10-shot rotary magazine. Notwithstanding its compact dimensions, a Prestige Kub
also returns upwards of 100 full-power shots per air-fill thanks to its self-regulating firing valve.
Against feather, fur, metal or paper targets, the new Prestige Kubs are the connoisseur’s choice for
handling and performance. A pride born to make your shooting more rewarding.
74 Target Shooter
This Smallbore Business
By Don Brook
One of the most important parts of a prone any form of progress into good prone scores.
position for small bore is to ensure the forward This section will be the subject of a later expose’
position is set up correctly. as the shooter will soon find that the rifle fit
I have seen so many that tried to have a forward is extremely difficult to find among the large
position geometry built around a rifle that did selection of rifles on the current market.
not fit the shooter, and really struggle to gain
Target Shooter 75
“Position of the left elbow” This should be 75 to 80mm (3 to 31/2”) left of the fore end of the rifle.
This is ideal and allows for a strong support platform for the prone position.
It should be understood right at the outset, There are three main areas to work on, and these
that a good prone position allows for a method are the forward hand located in the sling stop (A)
that simply does not move. In fact, plus the left elbow position, (B), so that the
if you watch a very good prone shooter position of the butt in the shoulder (C) is
in action the rifle seems to be dead still. allocated correctly.
Also in fact, is that when the rifle is fired, It should be understood that the butt position is the
there is a very small movement at the muzzle ONLY variable in the geometry and is capable of
end of the barrel, and this is the factor movement in the position. The other two points are
that a new chum should be looking for. firmly locked in place, starting with the left hand /
The actual hold area is quite small, and the rifle glove firmly in contact with the sling stop under the
recoil is minimal. Once this is achieved, then the fore end of the rifle. (A) It is of paramount
door opens to the really high, and very satisfying importance that this position of the left hand is
results that are expected from a prone specialist. maintained, as the all important position tension
You only need to study the world records relative to sling control depends a great deal
for prone events to understand that prone on the position of the hand stop, when you are
perfection demands a 100 percent effort, in both refining the position.
techniques, and results.
The left elbow is already locked in place by it’s
This in itself demands a very high developed position on the firing point (B) so this does not move
attitude factor, and this too will be the subject of either once the position natural aiming point is
a further article some months down the track. established. The single point sling then locks the
left arm in place, as it stretches between the biceps/
This month I will set the forward geometry out triceps muscles to the left hand and hand stop
for the readers, viewed from the right side of a position, so the new shooter should now be able
right handed shooter, and you will need to study to see where the butt in the shoulder becomes the
the photographs intently to follow the sequence. variable in the position. Every thing else is locked
76 Target Shooter
“Bad position fault” Because of a loose sling the position of the left elbow creeps under the
fore end. (Sometimes well under.) The problems progress to a canted head position, draws the
left shoulder down as the arm is stretched forward. You will find diagonal groups on the target
sometimes well out of the 10 ring from 10 to 5 o’clock.
in place, by the tension across the bottom of the Obviously the cheek piece height may need
inverted triangle of the geometry exerted by the adjusting to reach this, but I cannot stress any
sling. further just how important this is. Now you will
understand why I say that rifle fit is extremely
If you go to the photograph and simply draw a important if you want to shoot world record
triangle with the allocated numbers above, it scores prone.
should form an inverted triangle, and this then will To establish the correct butt pressures depends
give you a better idea. The triangle should be very on two things as well. The correct length of the
close to equal distances between points “B” and sling itself across the bottom of the inverted
“A”, and “B” and “C”. This will then be quite close to triangle of the position geometry, giving the
having a position geometry that works quite well effect of the sling actually holding the rifle up in
as the long line of the triangle (points “C’ to “A”) will the position. It should feel as if the left arm is
coincide along the bottom line of the rifle stock. being supported in the position, not allowing any
further forward “falling” of the front arm.
WORKING ON THE PERFECTION OF THE Once this is attained, then the position of the
POSITION. butt in the shoulder can be adjusted to gain
considerable pressure, (force) into the position
Once the position is established along those of the butt itself in the right shoulder. If you
guide lines above, the pressure of the butt in the have a free rifle with an adjustable in length
shoulder becomes extremely important, and this butt plate, then moving the butt out to gain
area, has two contributing factors. Not only is the pressure needed is a viable facility.
the length of the butt relative, as the cheek piece However, the fine tuning can also be
pressure of the face helps to lock the butt of the dependent on the position of the hand stop
rifle in place in the shoulder. The facial pressure (Point A). It should be understood, that once the
on the cheek piece needs to be consistent, but forward geometry is established, you can adjust the
also allow the eye to be placed exactly behind pressure of the butt in the shoulder by moving
the centre of the peep sight. You need to be point “A”.
dead centre behind the peep.
If you move point “A” (The hand stop)
Target Shooter 77
together with the sling attaching point within
Forward it will effectively bring the whole rifle
backwards in the position so increasing the
pressure in the butt. The Place to
It is a mistake to think that tightening
the sling will increase the rearward
Shop at Bisley
pressure of the butt in the shoulder. In fact,
you can effectively destroy a good position The NSRA,
by doing this, as it has a tendency to
introduce a position that cants the rifle away Lord Roberts Centre
from the face and brings the rifle more over
the left elbow so that the forward hand is well Now in stock ~ the popular
Morini CM84E ISSF ‘Longarm’ Free Pistol
to the left of the elbow position. The tell tale
of this problem is a recoil on shot strike that
oscillates, or moves sideways causing a
“benediction” type movement of the rifle in
recoil. Price: ~ £1210.00
FAC Required
Conversely, if you move the hand stop back
towards you, this actually lessens the butt
GEHMANN Shooting
pressure as it takes the rifle forward in the Products Main Retail
geometry and allows the forward arm to fall Stockists.
forward away from the support platform of the
position. This is a primary cause of low shots
on the target, and is difficult for the new chum
to trace as a source of a problem.
78 Target Shooter
The Alfa CO2 target pistol
from Merseyside Armoury
By Hayley Platts
I was really chuffed when Target Shooter approached the gun and I will shoot it, that’s what I love to do
me to see if I would test and evaluate the new Alpha and what I am good at, but give me a instruction
C02 sport pistol. With so few trade stands now at the manual and a spanner set and my eyes glaze over. So,
Open Shoots it is a rare treat to try a new pistol and armed with my ‘on loan’ Alpha I headed to my home
have your own chance to put it through it’s paces. The club, Swadlincote Rifle and Pistol Club enlisting the
pistol was sent via Livens, Burton on Trent’s gunsmith - capable technical knowledge of Nigel Marshall
established in 1850, although this new pistol is definite- and Ken Foxall, and the three of us eagerly got the
ly not of that era! Nick at Livens took the opportunity to Alpha set up and ready to shoot (well two actually….)
take a few shots with it which gives him an insight into
how the pistol performed having seen it at a trade fair.
Firstly the pistol comes in a sturdy attractive case
which isn’t too heavy and this sets the tone for
Any of my shooting friends know that I am no the pistol itself. Tools and a weight came with this
‘techno geek’ it’s definitely more a case of give me pistol. I was issued with the model finished in red with
matching trigger shoe, and I am infomed a blue
The Alfa CO 2 pistol comes well equipped
version is also available. The overall quality
of the Alpha is really excellent and certainly a
fantastic looking pistol for the price. The RRP
is £419
Target Shooter 79
beautifully made and mainly strippled to keep
Hayley ‘field testing’ the Alfa CO2 pistol sweaty palms under control! It is adjustable
and with minimum effort I found a
comfortable stable hand position in the
grip. The trigger is fully adjustable although
personally I did not have to make any changes
to it. Sight wise you have options to switch the
foresight around. With an allen key the whole
foresight unit comes out and you can de-
cide which option suits you best although if I
am honest none of them gave me the level of
daylight each side of the rear sight that I
am used to, which may be a little tricky in
poorly lit ranges. According to the manual they
recommend aiming directly underneath the
black of the target, which I duly did. First
few shots were left and low, adjustments
however were easy on two wheels at the rear of
the pistol to move my shots higher and to the right.
The other thing to get used to is the kick when you
fire but it only took me a couple of shots to master
and I really wasn’t aware of it after that. What I was
really aware of, was what a brilliant accurate pistol
it turned out to be. I absolutely loved shooting it
and after my first card was shooting 8’s, 9’s and
10’s. My last two cards were 46 and 44 making 90.
After just an evening of shooting with a ‘alien’
pistol I was shooting only a tad under my cur-
rent top ability with a pistol at 10 metres.
It is fun to shoot, the matter of clicking the
hammer button forward after you have loaded the
mechanism by pushing the button forward. The pellet seemed to snap me into concentration mode.
trigger had a firm stop before taking up the second It looks the part and as I have have previously said it
stage and was positive and crisp. Once I had is a beautiful piece of kit. For the price I would say
sighted it in I could call my shots incredibly well and I this would be a great purchase for youngsters being
felt there was no doubt in where you had placed your introduced to target shooting , it is extremely accurate
shot. On this Sport model you can add a weight by and any young shooter should be proud to take that
placing this on to the barrel jacket and seeing as the to the range, and there is the aspect of being able
grove is the full length of the barrel you can easily to afford and budget for their shooting as well as the
position your weight wherever it is most effective for convenience to be able to shoot the Alpha powered by
you. Without the weight the pistol comes in at 1025 the C02 bulbs. I would also imagine this pistol would
grams? be ideal to have in the cabinet at the gun club as a loan
gun for new members as it provides the shooter with
The wooden two piece anatomical pistol grip is an accurate gun and with minimal fuss it is simple to
adjust it to suit each person who wants a few shots
with it.
Some interested shooters at Hayley’s club The Alfa CO2 pistol is available from Merseyside
Armoury - contact 07717 222533
80 Target Shooter
Classifieds • Classifieds • Classifieds • Classifieds •
ALFA - Affordable
alternative .22LR & 357 LBR Carbine
Now available in .22LR
BES Products
Manufacturers of hand made;
.303 Mk V1 @ MkV11 shape jacketed bullets ( flat based )
.577/450 480 grain paper patched Martini Henry.
.458 Sharps Creedmoor paper patched 540 grain match
bullets.
.310 cadet 120 grain bullets.
ALFA Co2 Target Pistols now in stock
By Laurie Holland
I’d intended to move onto bullets this month but brass doesn’t produce ammunition with big
people have asked for a bit more information on variations, especially if we’ve paid extra for a
basic case preparation, so I’ll take a quick look at premium make? Sadly, yes! There are so many
this subject for our shiny new brass. The object of variables that affect cartridge behaviour that a
the exercise is to get some consistent batches for range of pressures is produced. Ten years ago,
match use and which help produce ammunition Art Alphin and a group of top sporting shooters
with minimal pressure and velocity variations. collaborated to produce a reloading manual called
Minimal variations? Surely modern commercial “Any Shot You Want .....The A-Square Handloading
One case preparation task should be done for any ammunition – chamfer the inside case-mouth
edges to ease bullet seating. Standard and ‘VLD’ chamfer tools
82 Target Shooter
Case-neck measuring
kit: Lyman neck mike
front; Sinclair case neck
sorter behind and an
expensive Starret tube-
micrometer based neck
measuring tool on the
left
and Rifle Manual”, a must-have incidentally if you were under 5,000 psi (in a cartridge with an allowed
want to handload big stuff for African and Maximum Average Pressure of 62,000 psi SAAMI;
dangerous game. Uniquely, this manual gives 60,175 psi CIP).
MV and chamber pressure extreme spread (ES)
and standard deviation (SD) values, as well as The causes of such variations, which don’t
averages. Looking at .308 Win, nine loads are necessarily turn into as huge MV spreads as you
provided for the 180gn Nosler Ballistic Tip might imagine (the 10,100 psi ES load had an 87
each comprising three charge weights for three fps velocity ES), are partly understood through
powders, and pressure ES values for those nine research and empirically acquired experience as
loads varied from 2,200 to 10,100 psi; only three to what does or doesn’t work, but there are still
Target Shooter 83
Another type of flash-hole reamer that uses
interchangeable pilot stops, this one designed
for .17” and .20” calibre cases
large dollops of guesswork and opinion about this Some of this cannot be influenced by the handloader,
subject. Some factors are case design; but there are things we can address – reducing
propellant characteristics; load characteristics (high variations in case capacities (via case weights),
fill-ratios with little unused space are generally ‘bullet-pull’ (through neck thickness), and ignition.
superior); various ignition (primer related) factors;
‘bullet pull’ (pressure needed before the bullet moves I used some measurements to identify case
out of the case-neck, mostly down to neck-tension). variations as an indication of quality last month.
Sinclair primer pocket tool handle and carbide ‘uniformer’ bits. Hand operation is a hard tedious
job if much metal needs to be removed on a large number of cases
84 Target Shooter
Sinclair pocket uniformer in a power tool adaptor –
cordless screwdrivers have transformed this and other
case preparations jobs
First stage preparation simply takes this process of a particular weight. There is the practical issue
further. Identifying the modal neck thickness and too of most people loading and using 50-round
case weights, plus the normal range of variations ammunition boxes, so having batches of twenty to
present lets us remove examples that fall too far thirty something cases is unhandy – that’s why it’s
outside the norm. Let’s take a couple of examples. better starting with 200 examples than 100, to get two
We’ve measured case neck thickness on a or three by 50-case batches, and one practice box.
reasonable number of cases – say 20 – each at
three points around the neck, and noted the results. Moving onto the powder charge ignition issue,
A glance down the list of measurements shows that this is most influenced by the choice of primer and
batch mostly averages 0.016” ± 0.005”, examples how well it matches the case size and powder
falling within 0.0155” – 0.0165”. A few will have nil characteristics, but variations in the component’s
or virtually nil variation, most will have a half to full seating in its pocket and the flash-hole diameter /
thou’. If the brass is good, only a few examples will uniformity also produce pressure variations. This
be outside, either in having a larger overall variation is particularly so for some American made brass
(eg 0.015” – 0.017”), or with good consistency that has the flash-hole punched through the web,
around the neck but at a different measurement as opposed to drilled. This leaves brass ‘wings’ or
(eg 0.015”, 0.015”, 0.0155”). If you have 1,000 burrs, some quite long, set irregularly around the
pieces of brass to play with and lots of time, you edge of the hole inside the case, and these can
could batch the cases into a fair number of groups, introduce a random element into the primer flame
but we’re more likely to have a sample of 200 and distribution and charge burn. (You can often see
we’re not going to neck-turn, so decide to segregate the burrs – look through the flash-hole of a new
on a 0.001” maximum, or maybe half that if the case from the primer pocket side while angling and
manufacturing lot is really consistent. Depending turning the case. If the light is good, it reflects on
on how the measurements fall that could be two the clean brass to illuminate them). Almost every
groups covering 0.015-0.016” and 0.016-0.017”, or reloading tool company now sells flash-hole
one batch only based on the range originally quoted ‘uniformers’ that cut holes to a common diameter,
of 0.0155-0.0165” with everything else used for more usefully remove the ‘wings’. Some use
short-range. interchangeable neck-pilot collars that fit on the
tool stem as a ‘stop’ so you need to buy one for
We now undertake a second stage segregation on every calibre you load, while others like my Lyman
weight separating cases out by 0.1gn steps, the model come with a multi-calibre cone shaped stop.
final batching again depending on the statistical
distribution that shows up. If 90% fall within a What all such tools have in common is that they
small central range of say 1.0-1.5gn, but 5% are index on the case-mouth, so the amount of cut is
out each side, lighter and heavier, remove those affected by variations in case-length, often requiring
outside the main group, especially if they are well cases to be trimmed before attending to flash-holes.
outside as sometimes happens. Or, there only may Some people like to cut marginally deeper than
be a 1-2gn overall variation spread around a modal required to de-burr to put a small bevel onto the
weight and it’s feasible make the split either side flash-hole edges, to act as a venturi and improve
Target Shooter 85
Measuring case run-out is always
useful and the occasional out of true
case shows up
primer flame distribution inside the case. If you do has rounded corners at the side / floor junction) and
this, it really does have to be a tiny amount as going cuts pockets to a common depth so every primer
deep will weaken the case-head or produce can be seated identically in relation to the case-head
undesirable ignition changes. I’m not sure if these face and firing pin reach. It also cuts the floor so it
tools always uniform flash-hole diameters in is level and at 90° to the case-head – with American
American cases anyway, as some of the apertures cases having swaged pockets, then having the
in punched brass are already of a larger diameter flash-hole violently punched through the floor, they
than the tools’ reamer tips. If we’re talking Lapua, usually end up slightly concave, and with variations
RWS, and Norma brass with drilled holes, there in depth and shape. Why does all this matter?
are few if any burrs left inside the case, and if we Seating the primer fully with some tension on the
want to be sure all flash-holes are absolutely round anvil is vital to getting consistent charge ignition
and of a consistent diameter, precision handloading and pressures – numerous tests have proven this
suppliers such as Sinclair International sell very – and variations in the distance between the top of
precise reamers that index off the primer pocket. the primer cup and the bolt-face caused by primer
The two Sinclair models (for large and small pocket depth issues can affect the power of the firing
flash-hole sizes) open them to a size 0.001” above pin strike marginally. I’m kidding aren’t I? Teensy
the nominal measurement. Since .308 Winchester weensy changes in how the primer is hit and
normally has the large (0.080”) size, the reamer indented surely don’t affect ammunition
cuts the hole to 0.081”. performance! They won’t in an AK47 or WW2
Lee-Enfield, but allegedly do in a finely tuned and
The other ignition related activity is to ‘uniform’ the accurate modern rifle, but there are mixed views on
primer pocket with an appropriate cutter, again this amongst some long-range shooters – more on
available now from most tool manufacturers. Doing this in a bit!
this squares the pocket up (American brass usually
86 Target Shooter
Complete rejects for one reason or another necessarily the same things)? If I’m asked for
including an out of true example advice, I say buy Lapua brass, and ignore the primer
pocket and flash-hole because they are machined /
What is not in doubt is the importance of
drilled and very consistent in this make. If shooting
consistent ignition. Here’s an extreme example
is at shorter ranges (up to 600 yards) and not in
from the 2008 GB F-Class Association League
benchrest type competitions, that’s it really – just
rounds. Gary Costello who shoots a 7mm/270WSM
chamfer the case-mouth to ease bullet seating . If
rifle in ‘Open’ was on a roll with first places until the
longer ranges are involved, measure the necks, if
August round at Bisley when he finished 21st and a
nothing else to cull the odd bad one out, also weigh
massive 50 points below the winner. In the
and batch cases. Most handloaders can weigh
F-TR class, .308 Win user Stuart Anselm was
them even if it’s on beam scales that aren’t overly
consistently in the top five until the September
handy, but how do you measure neck thickness?
Diggle round where he was 13th (out of 15
The Sinclair case sorter is handy, but a cheaper if
entrants) and 66 points below the class winner. Both
slower method is to use the Lyman 0.0001” (tenth of
were mystified by a sudden collapse in their rifles’
a thou’) neck ball-micrometer which has an RRP of
performance until they carried out short-range
£45.70 and has wider applications. If you’re starting
accuracy testing over chronographs and found
off from scratch, consider the three-in-one RCBS
huge velocity spreads. They had changed primers
and Forster case measuring tools, called the ‘Case
to a make that is rated highly in precision shooting
Master’ and ‘Co-Ax Case and Cartridge Inspector’
circles, but either didn’t suit their loads, or there
respectively, the latter retailing at £80.50 plus £3.87
was something amiss with that production
each for calibre-specific pilots needed to measure
batch. Returning to their usual caps sorted things
the neck thickness. Both measure bullet and
out immediately, and Gary went on to finish
case-neck runout, and case-neck thickness using a
the season as the GB F-Class champion.
0.001” dial gauge. You don’t need really expensive
super-dooper micrometers here that measure down
Right, all this is a bit of mouthful to swallow, and
to 0.0001” as you’re working to half-thou’ tolerances,
may well put newcomers off long-range shooting
and that’s easily seen on a one thou’ gauge or mike.
disciplines. It’s certainly been tedious describing
I regard flash-hole uniforming / burr removal as
it, and I haven’t even mentioned neck-turning!
essential on American brass, and prefer to uniform
What would I recommend, and what do I do (not
Target Shooter 87
The easy to set up and adjust Sinclair NT4000 neck-turner has given Laurie the neck-turning bug.
Any turning at this stage is carried out on pre-batched cases and involves very light cuts
their primer pockets too, even for shorter range cuts pockets and reams flash-holes using a 0.084”
work. If you have a cartridge concentricity gauge tool he obtained after finding Winchester brass
tool (run-out gauge), or the RCBS or Forster multi- often exceeded the 0.080” standard. Top Palma
purpose tools that do this, I’d recommend a final and Fullbore as well as a former NBRSA 1,000yd
check – measuring the case-neck run-out – before benchrest champion Jerry Tierney de-burrs
using the cases. I’ve found the very occasional Winchester cases, but doesn’t bother uniforming
example that shows significant run-out even though flash-holes or pockets. Both men say their chronograph
the case weight and neck-thickness figures are testing backs up the need for uniform flash-holes, or
fine. What is excessive? Run-out should be around not! Follow up what the top Americans do though,
0.001-0.0015” or less in good brass that has been and many have systems of marking a case whose
full-length resized in a good press-die combination, shot goes out of the group at long range. If it
certainly under 0.002”. The odd brand new but happens twice, the case is dumped. Also, these
‘banana case’ turns up that has 0.003” or even much and many other American top competitors say
more, and resizing doesn’t cure the condition – positive things about recent Winchester brass, while
scrap such cases as the loaded round will invariably a certain British benchrester and all-round precision
have even greater run-out on the bullet. What do I shooting ace with connections to this publication
do? Actually, I do the lot – even with Lapua – and makes a spitting noise when I say ‘Winchester’, or
‘clean up’ the necks as well on a neck-turner to take he sees me using it! Next month, I’ll comment on
the high spots off – after batching them in out of the the relationship between MV extreme spread and
box condition. This really isn’t necessary, but having accuracy, and how this relates to the new Lapua
given myself one of Sinclair’s new premium NT4000 .308 Palma small-primer case mentioned in the
turners last Christmas, I’ve got a bad dose of ANTS, News section, before making a start on bullets.
Addictive Neck-Turning Syndrome. Sad, isn’t it?
Of course, there is little out there to excite the Interestingly, the question of the many different factions
shooter though we do get the odd ‘Future Weapons’ which seek to represent shooting was raised. Should
and the like from Discovery. In America, they there be one governing body? This was the subject of
do have actual shooting programmes and we extensive market research not too long ago and, in spite
are almost there with the Fieldsports Channel. of an overwhelming endorsement from shooters up and
down the country, to amalgamate the NRA, NSRA
OK, not strictly a TV channel because you watch and CPA, it sadly appears to have died a quiet death.
it via the internet on your computer and, until now,
I had only had a cursory glance at the first one as I’m The pistol ban was also discussed with reference to
not really a ‘fieldsports’ shooter – I simply spend a not only the Olympic GB Team but pistol shooters in
lot of time, money and effort to make small holes in general. Surely it’s time to bring back at least Olympic
cardboard – though I am partial to a nice bit of venison pistol shooting and give our athletes the opportunity to
(thanks Jack!) so I will not condemn those who are! properly train. It has been said many times before that
the prohibition of a recognised Olympic discipline should
However, the latest offering from the Fieldsports disqualify a nation from hosting the Games but no one in
Channel made me take another look - entitled ‘ What’s authority is willing to address this. When the nine million
Boris’s problem with Bisley’ - a reference to the 2012 pound Olympic shooting venue is demolished (at further
Olympic snub to Bisley as the obvious shooting venue. cost!) let’s hope there is a possibility of some legacy in
the form of surplus equipment for shooting and Bisley.
The programme was staged in the busy Sportsman Gun
Centre in Exeter at their opening launch party and it made Final topic for discussion was the subject of shooting and
a great informal ‘studio’ backdrop with all ages and sexes the young. It seems that there is a growing initiative for
of shooters trying shotguns and generally having a good shooting participation in schools promoted by the trade
natter – just like we all do in our favourite gunshop. The and it now appears on some curriculums – great news.
assembled panel was made up of David Stapley from The fact that Lord Coe was once Chairman of the
Browning International, Jamie Stewart from BASC and National Pistol Association was also not ignored
one of our Olympic skeet hopefuls and GB Team member, but, the question of why Seb and Boris snubbed
Rory Warlow. In the chair was a guy whose name I didn’t Bisley was left to our speculation. It would be nice
catch but he did a very professional presenter’s job. to have been a ‘fly on the wall’ at that meeting!
You can view the programme ‘full-screen’ and the Well done Fieldsports Channel – I eagerly await your
quality is very good – almost up to TV standard. next broadcast. Let’s hope one of the satellite stations
Click on www.fieldsportschannel.tv picks up on it and makes it a proper TV programme.
Just like in the “shorts” matches, a fast target The Practical Match - There are two targets placed
acquisition is essential when shooting the Bianchi 4½ feet from centre to centre and about 6 feet to
and the only difference here is the Start position. the top of the targets, and the shooting is from the
Target Shooter 91
Shoulder hold. LBR/LBP Weak Hand freestyle (the
weak hand must hold the grip and pull the trigger but
the other hand may be used for support)
15m
1 shot on each target in 4 sec
2 shots on each target in 5 sec
3 shots on each target in 6 sec
25m
92 Target Shooter
the Practical match you should always turn your body from the ground. The barricade frame is made from
slightly towards the last targets that you will shoot, 2in angle iron which is faced with 12mm plywood
and shooting the plates is done by either “scanning” and measures 6ft tall and 2ft wide, with the base
or “deliberate” shots. “Scanning” is basically measuring 2ft wide by 3ft deep. The shooter may
keeping the gun moving continuously across the stand on the edges of the frame but no part of their
target frame as you shoot and probably sounds harder
than it is but it’s really down to good timing and good
trigger control. The key is to keep the gun moving at a
constant speed then as the sight moves over
the leading edge of each plate, you increase the
pressure on the trigger blade so that each shot is
released smoothly. With practice, you will soon
discover the timing needed to place your shots in the
centre of the plates using this technique, and when
perfected it will enable you to shoot the plates both
faster and smoother. “Deliberate” shots are when
the shooter stops the gun on each plate, aims, then A strong, firm grip is essential when
releases each shot and this is how many people shooting Barricades!
shoot them, especially when shooting with an
underlever due to the racking action needed in feet or body may touch the floor outside the width
between each shot. It is slightly slower this way but it of the box. For safety reasons, as the barricades
does tend to be a bit more accurate for some people were originally made for use with pistols and not
so ultimately you must choose the way that works rifles you are now allowed to step rearwards outside
best for you. Ideally you should master how to use of the box, providing that no part of the foot breaks
both techniques to help you perform better in some the width fault line. The Barricade match is certainly
of the other multiple target matches out there that a hard match to shoot properly if you don’t have a
we shoot. At Bisley you may shoot the falling Plate good technique to start with, and to shoot well in it I
match from the Prone position with any GR firearm recommend that you practice securing the barrel (if
and at any distance and the course of fire is: possible) against the side of the barricade using the
hold or grip that suits you best. Most shooters in this
10m 1 shot at each plate in 6 sec (shot twice) match shoot from their “strong” shoulder from both
15m 1 shot at each plate in 7 sec (shot twice) sides of the barricades but it is possible to use both,
20m 1 shot at each plate in 8 sec (shot twice) with practice of course! If your club doesn’t have
25m 1 shot at each plate in 9 sec (shot twice) a barricade to practice with then I would strongly
suggest making one if you are going to shoot Bianchi
The Barricade Match – Two targets are placed 7ft on a regular basis. They are not very expensive to
centre to centre with the top of the targets set at 6ft make but even if you can only afford to make one,
you can always just move the targets out to the
correct distance when you need to. Make sure you
fix them firmly to the ground though to stop them
rocking from side to side, and don’t use anything
smaller than 2in angle iron for the frames as they
will simply flex when you lean against them making
them unstable, which is not what you want them to
do when you are practicing on them.
Target Shooter 93
left index finger over the top of the barrel (1) with or fore end rests against the side of it. You can then
the thumb and remaining fingers underneath the apply pressure with your thumb to help pull the rifle
magazine tube. Cup the hand around the frame of into the barricade, thus allowing you to lean into it
the barricade so that the barrel rests tightly against to help produce a stable hold. Again, this is made
it and use the fingers to grip the leading edge of easier if you have a “wing” fitted but if you haven’t,
the angle iron whilst the thumb applies opposite another alternative is to place your fingers on top
of the barrel/fore end with your thumb underneath
and then simply use the side of your hand in a
fist shaped grip (4) to apply pressure against the
barricade. Quite a few shooters use this hold
when shooting with an underlever as it helps stop
94 Target Shooter
Barricade wings that either slide on or just
screw into yourstock are not hard to make but
can make a big difference!
Target Shooter 95
35m 6 shots in 9 sec from one
side of the barricade
Barricade “ready”
35m 6 shots in 9 sec from the
position!
other side of the barricade
96 Target Shooter
you pick up the target and start shooting
as quickly as possible (especially if
shooting an underlever) or the target will
disappear again before you have got all your
shots off! During my last couple of rimfire
matches I have rattled all of my shots off
before the target reached the half way point
at these two distances as there is minimum
recoil with the .22, and I got some really good
results this way so I’ll definitely be practicing
this method over the winter months to see if
it’s the best way forwards! Unless you rack
your underlever fast then calmly squeeze
each shot off slowly during this match you
will definitely be putting holes in all over the
target so try to keep your cool and watch
the sights all of the time. At the 20 & 25m
distances you only have to shoot 3 shots per
run which is fired twice, so adjust your shooting
pace accordingly but remember to keep
everything smooth. If you use a telescopic
sight, don’t be tempted to turn the
You don’t have to have a mover base, but aiming magnification up too much or you’ll be in big
at the centre of the target rather than in front does trouble either trying to find the target in the
make it easier! first place, or certainly after every racking
action. You should also remember to re-focus
are pretty hard to get now but there will be a small
your scope at each distance before you reload so
number available early in the New Year from Rude
that you don’t forget, and as the target is out of sight
Fat Dog, so if you are interested make sure that you
behind the screen I simply aim and focus on the wire
check out their website. The best way to work out
or bank at the halfway point to do it. The course of
your lead if you haven’t got a mover base is to first
fire for the Mover is:
chronograph your ammunition to find out the FPS
(foot per second) that it is travelling at. Then, looking
10m 6 shots, target moving right to left in 6 sec
at the Mover Chart you will be able to see how far in
10m 6 shots target moving left to right in 6 sec
front of the centre of the target you will have to aim
15m 6 shots, target moving right to left in 6 sec
at each distance. It is much easier to start with if you
15m 6 shots target moving left to right in 6 sec
simply mark some lines or other reference points
20m 3 shots, target moving right to left in 6 sec
onto an actual target for each calibre and keep this
20m 3 shots target moving left to right in 6 sec
(or a reduced photocopy) with you whilst practicing
20m 3 shots, target moving right to left in 6 sec
and competing until you can remember them all.
20m 3 shots target moving left to right in 6 sec
25m 3 shots, target moving right to left in 6 sec
When shooting the Mover it is essential that you
25m 3 shots target moving left to right in 6 sec
line yourself up so that you are naturally pointing
25m 3 shots, target moving right to left in 6 sec
at the target over the last ⅓rd of its travel before it
25m 3 shots target moving left to right in 6 sec
disappears again behind the screen. Then keeping
your feet fixed in this position, rotate your upper
Next month I’ll look at the “alternative” Bianchi
body until you are in the ready position facing where
matches that can be used if no Mover or Barricades
the target will appear from. This way, as you are
are available, and see if there’s anyone out there
shooting your body will “unwind” smoothly as you
willing to have a go at putting on their own Bianchi
track the target across the range, and this will
match next year. It’s not that hard to do, and there
help you to avoid snatching your shots. You must
are people who would be willing to travel to help you
never “stop” on the target to release a shot so
out on the day should you need it!
always keep the gun moving! At the closer
distances of 10 & 15m you must make sure that
Target Shooter 97
Rude Fat Dog
Custom Firearms RFD 621 Devon & Cornwall
We build and supply Match grade, Competition winning 10/22 style rifles and equipment
We would like to wish you all a peaceful and Happy New Year !
and to thank all our customers for their support during 2009
Coming Soon: The new RFD Target-Hunter barrel - an accurate barrel for
your 10/22 rifle that has been designed for those who wish to shoot
competitively and also be able to use the same rifle for vermin control
www.rudefatdog.com
Tel: +44(0)1271 865865 Fax: +44(0)1271 865830
Club Feature
On the 25th August 2006 Chichester Rifle Club The modern facilities at the new Wellington Road
received the keys to their brand new range. It is range have already proved to be a great asset. The
a 25 yard indoor range with 8 firing points for .22 range is in great demand for County and District
calibre prone rifle shooting situated off Wellington finals and other ‘shoulder to shoulder’ competitions.
Road in Oaklands Park, Chichester. This new, state More importantly it is also leading to a growth in
of the art range, is a far cry from the converted indoor target shooting in the Chichester area.
Canadian Forces second world war hut that
had served as the club’s range for 45 years. The The new range sits in the midst of a complex of
opening of the range marked a new beginning for sporting facilities that Chichester District Council
the Club and a new chapter in the Club’s story. has developed in Oaklands Park. It also has
98 Target Shooter
Chichester University adjacent to it. In addition to considering whether to introduce a waiting list in
eight firing points the new range has a large club order to handle the demand.
room, office, armoury, fitted kitchen, toilets and a
good sized car park. It is all on one level and built to It all goes to show that modern facilities plus good
meet current standards for disabled access. publicity lead to a thriving sport.
Target Shooter 99
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There is much debate about what Me with my CZ winning the forst UK nationals 10.5 pound
goes into making a really good class - you can start with anything, as this rifle cost 230
rimfire benchrest rifle. This extends pounds. Even the scope is a Tasco
to what makes a really good air rifle
benchrest rifle, but these tend to be
bought off the shelf with little done to
them – although this is steadily changing.
If you go onto Benchrest Central the
guys in the USA swear by custom
rimfire rifles by Bill Calfee, Bill Meyers,
et al. All well and good and I have seen
these rifles shoot – they are that good.
However, we tend to get ‘bits’ in this
country, like a barrel that is ‘smithed’ in
the USA.
With Christmas over, it’s time to start looking winning the GB League this year and also your
forward to the new season. The first GB League Shoot magnificent third place in the World Individual F
will be at Diggle on the weekend of April 10/11th. Class Championships and second in the Europeans
This will be a short-range shoot – 500/600 yards so – just three V bulls behind the winner. You have had
ideal if you are contemplating entering the world of a great year.
long-range target shooting. You may also be interested
in our F Class introductory weekend on March 20/21st. Let’s start off with a bit of background. When did you
This will be held at Bisley and will cover equipment, start shooting? How did you get into F Class? Do
shooting, reloading, wind-reading etc (see www.f- you shoot any other disciplines?
class.org.uk for the full calendar and further
details). Top F Class shooters and coaches will be in Grant Taylor - I have been shooting for most
attendance. of my life. I used to go air-rifle shooting with
my dad when I was very young. I then got into
The 2009 GB F Class League was won by accurate rifles and precision reloading and shooting
Scotsman Grant Taylor and he also did pretty well long-range vermin control. I tried my hand at
in the World and European F Class Championships. practical rifle and benchrest shooting before settling
What’s more, Grant did it with a rifle he built himself on F-Class. I still like to shoot vermin if I get the time.
– his first – that’s a pretty remarkable achievement
and I thought that Target Shooter readers might TS – I’ve had an opportunity to have a close
benefit from knowing a bit more about Grant so we look at your rifle and it looks really nice. I know
approached him for an interview. you built it yourself so tell us how that came
about and what components you are using.
Target Shooter – Grant, many congratulations on GT - I always wanted to build my own rifles and
do well with them in competition
or in the field - there is no better feeling.
TS – Have you any preference for barrels – cut or TS - OK - what about the rest of your kit – what front
buttoned – any particular make? rest are you using?
GT – I have no preference for cut or buttoned but I GT - I use a Cicognani front rest which is a Bald
really like the cut-rifle Bartlein barrels. I have two at Eagle look-alike but made in Italy. It’s a good rest,
the moment and both are awesome, they don’t foul not as good as the SEB maybe but it has done me
at all and I have two more on order as we speak. well. I intend to get a SEB joystick rest for 2010.
GT – Yes, all my rifles are tight-necks. The Shehane TS – Finally, is there anything you would like to see
is a .313 neck. changed in F Class in general? Can you suggest any
improvements for the way we do things in the UK?
TS – What equipment to you use to turn the
case-necks and what sort of clearance are you GT – I think the GB League is really well run and
aiming for? I’d like to thank all those involved in putting on
the shoots. However, I wouldn’t mind if we got to
GT – I used to use a K&M neck-turner which is string-shoot at the big matches, like they do in the USA.
very good but am now doing all neck-turning on my
Colchester lathe which does a awesome job - but TS – Grant, many thanks for taking the trouble to
expensive! do this interview for Target Shooter readers and for
sharing your information with us all. Good luck for
TS – We all weigh our powder-charges as 2010.
accurately as we can – what scales are you using
and for that matter, whose loading dies do you use?
affects the pellet/reticle relationship. This brings us age adjustment I have to put on below ten “clicks”
to crossover. You will not know how much crossover I am happy. This keeps crossover to a minimum,
you have unless the scope is optically centered in crossover can be seen on in my crude sketch called
the first place. All new scopes should come optically figure 1 when the pellet hits to the right at 10 yards
centered from the factory, a new scope out of the but is spot on at 45 yards. If you set the reticle to the
box should have the windage adjustment turret set barrel at 10 yards, which is where you have to zero
to “0”. Although cheaper scopes are just dialled at for wind with an air rifle (The pellet is not blown off
the factory to look as though they are. I check the for wind at ten yards as it could be at longer ranges
actual range of adjustment and half the full value, fro setting up/zeroing purposes), then it will be out at
making my own “0” mark if it odes not line up with 45 yards.
the manufactures mark. If I can keep the final wind- Here is another real world example a gun and scope
FIG 3 OPTICALLY
CENTERED NO
CROSSOVER
are blown off should be the same at 30 yards but scopes, the cardboard box trick works just as well.
obviously in the opposite direction. So, if you didn’t know what optical centering was you
All this relies upon the barrel being in line with the should now know and also what crossover entails, a
breech block one thing I check before putting any lot of shooters suffer from crossover without knowing
scope on a PCP fitted with a figure of 8 clamp, is the cause, the cure involves optically centering your
if the barrel is in line with the action. A lot of PCP’s scope, which should now be clear in your mind. See
have this arrangement to hold the barrel. The barrel figure 3, and next month its rangefinding in HFT.
is held in line with the clamp, which is in turn secured
by Allen key studs. To ensure the barrel is in line I
For some reason we don’t seem to have much in the way I mentioned previously, there may well be some more
of open meetings in the winter months although there unusual calibres on the line and some are louder than
is a GR Speed Shoot at Pinhoe in Exeter next month. others. Some of the existing ones can be a bit loud too.
Plenty of time for practising for those of us hardy enough There is no need to load to the maximum when you are
to shoot in the cold (northerners?) and indoors for those only trying to punch a hole in a piece of paper at 25 or 50
who aren’t (southerners?). Now’s the time to sort metres so please bear in mind that some competitors,
problems of gun fit and make the adjustments to your especially those new to open competition, may find it a
guns that somehow seem to get put off until two days bit off putting.
before a meeting. Also a good opportunity to learn Finally, the GR&P meetings at the National Shooting
a new event or brush up on an old one. If you’re Centre next year will have more club team events on
interested in some training advice we may be able to fix offer. A great opportunity to bring along an extra club
something up in the new year – just get in touch via gal- member to make up the team and give them the chance
lery@nra.org.uk. to compete with the best. There aren’t enough entries
to run them in classes yet but it may come eventually.
The other activity for the close season is a look at the
courses of fire and rules for the new season and there Here is the latest calendar for 2010 and don’t forget
are a few changes coming up for 2010. Pinhoe - it’s indoors as it’s down South.
Targets for the short events are changing but not too
DATES FOR 2010
January 16-17 Pinhoe Speed Shoot Exeter
March 27-28 Spring Action Weekend NSC
Bisley
April 17-18 Basildon 1500 Basildon
May 2 Mattersey Ten Mattersey
May 8 Frome Western Winner Bristol
May 9 Shield Practical GR&P Dorset
May 28-30 The Phoenix Meeting NSC
Bisley
June 5 Open WCSA Gallery Rifle
Warminster
DP2 DP1 June 26-27
July 10-11
Derby 1500 Derby
Fermoy International GR
Ireland
July10-24 The Imperial Meeting NSC
Bisley
much. We are going over to the European standard July 18 Mattersey Steel Shoot
Disruptive Pattern One & Two designs. They are very Mattersey
similar to the existing ones with the same size scoring July 24-25 Frome Three Gun Shield Dorset
rings but are a bit smaller and easier to fit on backing August 28-29 Gallery Rifle National
boards. They are both 455mm wide and 770mm high. Championships NSC Bisley
The biggest difference will be the addition of an X ring to September 19 Mattersey Bianchi Mattersey
the DP1 target which will help in tie situations and speed October 17 Shield Steel Challenge GR&P
up scoring. Dorset
Short event classifications (for Timed & Precision One October 23-24 The Trafalgar Meeting NSC
and Two, Multi Target, Phoenix A and Advancing Target) Bisley
have been grouped by gun type up to now. From 2010 October 30-30 Autumn Action Weekend NSC
each event will have its own classification for each Bisley
gun type. This means you will have a lot more letters November 12-14 Leitmar International GR
after your name but the general feeling is that it is fairer. Germany
Check the website in a few weeks for the new listings. (Either contact the organisers direct or go to www.gal-
Following the new definition of Gallery Rifle Centre Fire leryrifle.com for entry forms.)
AGM
I was just thinking out loud about how users that Hi Carl,
do not have access to the higher speeds of DSL, Just a quick one to congratulate you and
cable, T1, or the instant display of fiber networks, the rest of the guys on making Target Shooter
might experience frustration with the new the what it is today. You’ve put a tremendous amount
digital media. of time and effort into it and I think it looks great.
I’m also very proud to be associated with it and
Even with broadband access, there is a cultural wish you all the success it deserves!
adjustment as we change from print to digital
media; reading from a flat screen, clicking a Hope you and your family have a great
mouse button to turn pages, enlarging and Christmas and New Year and hope to see you on
scrolling. the range sometime next year.
Advertisers Index
AIM Field Sports 21 Open Season/ KG Systems 52
Allcocks Outdoor Store 18 Phoenix League 31
Benchrest Directory 68 Portsmouth Gun Centre Ltd 64
B&S Products 81 Prestige Airguns 74
Bratton Sound Gunsafes 100 Rhino Rifles 45
Bulzeye Pro 19 Richard Paul Russell Ltd - RPR 39
Eley LTD 64 RUAG Ammotec 28
Fox Firearms 21 Rude Fat Dog 98
G T Shooting 37 Shooting Bags 81
Green Leopard 100 South Yorkshire Gun Supplies 22
HPS Target Rifles Ltd 56 Southern Gun Company 50
Indelfa Industrial Electronics 100 Steyr UK 69
Lilja 68 Stockade Products Ltd 81
Low Mill Range 95 Tim Hannam 11
Merseyside Armoury 81 UKBR22 - Rimfire and Air Rifle Benchrest 102
Midland Diving Equipment 52 UKS Total Shooting Show 3
New Avon Arms 31 Viking Arms LTD 2
North West Custom Parts 100 Westlake Engineering 16
NSRA 78 Zeiss Optics 9
The February issue will be out as normal on the 1st of the month. Lots of follow up articles, new
reviews, news and as ever packed with the articles you want to read.
On Test
Features Regular Reviews
Columns
Feature
articles ...and lots more
114 Target Shooter