Welcome

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

May 2009 Issue

No 5 Jungle
Carbine Club Features

Basic Rifle F Class

Maintenance
Tactical Rifle

Gallery Rifle

Rimfire, Air Rifle and

Centerfire Benchrest
Target Shooter 1
FT Scope Review • Classic Rifle• New Products • and lots more…..
 ACCURACY OUR FIRST PRIORITY
The Tikka concept is simple, pure and performance-orientated.
Now, with the introduction of factory-threaded barrels for moderators, in the
most popular right-handed calibres, this excellent rifle just got even better.

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

The Tikka T3 Lite features an all-black, sturdy, but lightweight, fibre-glass reinforced polymer
Tikka T3 Lite stock with positive checkering for improved grip and comfort. The cold hammer forged barrel
has a traditional blued finish. Also available left handed.

Tikka T3 Lite Stainless
Shooters facing extreme weather conditions require their rifle to be a trusted, hard-wearing
companion, offering faultless long-term performance. The Tikka T3 Lite Stainless is ideally suited;
made from Tikka’s high-grade stainless steel with a glass fibre reinforced polymer stock, this
model gives the double advantage of easy maintenance combined with great looks. Also available
left handed.

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

For further product information and details of your local Centre of Accuracy
TI0309UD

2 stockistShooter
Target please call GMK Ltd on 01489 587500 or visit www.gmk.co.uk
 Target Shooter 3
 Welcome to the 2nd month

.......of Target Shooter
22 Basic Rifle Maintenance Sections
by Vince Bottomley
6 Shooting Sport News

10 Shooters Calendar

14 ‘From the Keg’ with Ken Hall

35 No 5 Jungle carbine
by Richard Wild 19 Support your Local Gun
Shop

28 Mini Rifle Competiton

51 SEB Rest by Carl Review
Boswell
30 Air Rifle Equipment
Scopes by Stanley Shaw

58 Spring 43 Gall Actions by Vince
Bottomley
Action
Weekend By 46 Sylwester Los by Haley
Gwyn Roberts Platts

76 Springfield Untertl by Rob

Hunter
62 Hunter Field Target
82 Shooting Website of the
Scopes by Tim Finley Month

93 Your Rimfire Gallery Rifle

Part 2 by Gwyn Roberts

69 Reproduction No 99 Gun of the Month

32 Scope Brackets by
103 Club Feature
Nigel Greenaway


84 Rifle Twist
Rates
Part 1 by Laurie
Holland

4 Target Shooter
Association Pages
105 NRA
Editor(s).
106 UKBRA Carl Boswell and Vince Bottomley

110 UKBR22 Advertising and Office Manager

Andy Dubreuil. email; admin@targetshooter.co.uk
111 F Class UK
Contributors
114 Gallery Rifle Vince Bottomley Richard Wild Hayley Platts
Laurie Holland Tim Finley
116 UKPSA Carl Boswell Rob Hunter
Nigel Greenaway Gwyn Roberts
118 Letter Page Stanley Shaw Ken Hall
Webitorial

Wow, is all I can say about the response to the first magazine! As we get to the publication of the
second instalment, we are in double figures for the amount of unique views of the website and the
first magazine. This currently stands at approximately 15,000 people worldwide.

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

Carl Boswell - carl@targetshooter.co.uk and Vince Bottomley - vinceb@targetshooter.co.uk

Copyright © Target Shooter Magazines

Disclaimer
The website www.targetshooter.co.uk is part of Target Shooter magazine with all contents of both electronic media copyrighted. No reproduction is permitted unless
written authorisation is provided.
Information, prices and data is believed to be correct at the time of posting on the internet which is on or around the 1st of each month. Advertisements that are firearm
related are from companies or individuals that Target Shooter magazine believes are licensed to hold such firearms and accepts no responsibility if companies or
individuals are not so licensed.
Letters and photographs submitted by members of the public to Target Shooter magazine will be accepted on the basis that the writer has agreed to publication unless
otherwise stated. Target Shooter magazine has no control over the content or ownership of photographs submitted.
The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily the views of the publishers and relate to specific circumstances within each article. These are the opinions
and experiences of writers using specific equipment, firearms, components and data under controlled conditions. Information contained in the online magazine or on the
website is intended to be used as a guide only and in specific circumstances caution should be used. Target Shooter Magazine does not except any responsibility for
individuals attempting to recreate such testing using any information, data or other materials in its electronic pages.Publishers of Target Shooter magazine.

Target Shooter 5
 Shooting Sport News

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

RUAG is loading the NRA 2009

move that caused ructions amongst the body’s
TR-shooting members! The NRA hoped that BAE-
RG would realise it was drinking in the last chance
saloon, and given that it had produced some good-
shooting lots in recent years, would produce a top
quality vintage for 2008, but this was not to be!
Four producers were approached in the second
half of last year, and quotes plus batches of 155gn
7.62/308W obtained – RG, Lapua, HPS-TR, and
Swiss conglomerate RUAG which encompasses
RWS and Norma ammunition brands in its range
as well as a huge military supply business. The
first three were ‘off the shelf’, while RUAG loaded
cartridges specially to meet UK TR requirements.
contract ammo with the existing 155gn
Sierra MatchKing (No. 2155) in RWS .308
Winchester cases over a RUAG powder.
With new 155gn bullets that give improved
long-range ballistics in the process of
being introduced by both Sierra and Berger,
future ammunition supplies offer the
prospect of further performance
improvements too, irrespective of who gets
subsequent NRA contracts. The NRA will supply the
new ammunition at £65 / 1,000, described as being
“around cost”, to ‘Imperial’ competitors on the strict
basis that all cases are returned for eventual resale
to handloaders. With RWS’ reputation for making
quality .308W brass, we have to hope they don’t all
end up in the USA!
We have to congratulate the NRA for
sourcing ammunition through such a robust and fair
process. Anything that improves ammunition
consistency in one of our major disciplines is to be
welcomed – especially if we get the chance to buy
some of the fired brass in due course!

6 Target Shooter
Andrew joined ELEY Limited at the start of April taking over from Mike
Semens-Flanagan who was promoted within the IMI group, in which 20 MOA Picatinny Scope rails

The Picatinny rail has now become

ELEY is a subsidiary of.
Prior to joining ELEY, Andrew was the Business Development Director
for IMI Indoor Climate in Sweden. Originally from Kent, Andrew brings
with him a wealth of experience in high quality - volume manufacturing
and experience in developing and introducing world beating products.
Andrew commented on his new appointment:
“Eley is a tremendously exciting business to lead. The combination
of working with the most passionate customers and shooters, highly
motivated colleagues, and world beating products is a wonderful
opportunity. We will continue to invest in the development of our
products and processes, so that Eley retains
its lead in ammunition technology, that quality
continues to improve, and that Eley remains
the Choice of Champions”
Andrew’s first week at ELEY coincided
with the start of the 2009 ISSF World Cup
shooting competition, with the first
stage being held in Changwon,
Korea. Results in show ELEY’s
Tenex brand has retained its
supremacy in accuracy from the
success in 2008, winning 13 medals at (see pic). At the moment they are
the first World Cup in Korea including only available in Savage fit but if the
five gold. Andrew is looking forward to
continued success at the second stage,
which kicks off next week in Beijing.
the preferred civilian mount standard
as well as the military standard and
this is good news. It means that if all
your rifles are fitted with Picatinny
bases you could easily service sev-
eral rifles with just one scope and
rings.
The Badger Ordnance, Ken Farrell
and NICE bases are superb but with
the current dollar/pound exchange
rate, the cost of a rail is approaching
£100 by the time you get it over here,
pay duty and Parcel Force handling
charge. Surely there must be some-
one over here with CNC machinery
who could knock these out for a com-
petitive price.
Well, that’s exactly what Wayne at
North West Custom parts thought
and I’ve just seen the first sample
market demands more will be avail-
able. www.nwcustomparts.com

As an aside to the story on the opposite page, BAE Systems –

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

Target Shooter 7
BERGER REDUCES BULLET that show how they really perform at long ranges,
and is pressing manufacturers to move from
BC VALUES existing G1 drag curve based BCs and ballistic tables/
Berger Bullets has recently revised the quoted programs to the G7 standard. This gives far more
ballistic coefficient (BC) values for most if not all accurate velocity, trajectory, and wind drift projections
of the bullets in its large range of Match Target BT for ranges beyond 500 yards. Expect some debate
and VLD (Very Low Drag) bullets. Bryan Litz, the on this subject in long range shooting circles! Berger
company’s ballistician, explained that this Bullets had promised to have its first ever
results from a change in methodology with BC handloading manual in print last autumn, but
values now calculated through experimental results publication has been delayed with no
measuring velocity drops over distance instead target date quoted now. One has to wonder if the
of computer generated figures ‘BC-issue’ is at least partly behind this deferral.
based on the bullet shape and
theoretical efficiency. Most
bullets see a BC reduction of
something between 4 and 7%,
but some almost ‘escape’,
and there are a few that suffer
significant reductions. The
new BCs are those shown
in the ‘Products’ list on the
company’s website – www.
bergerbullets.com. Berger
stresses that the bullets
themselves have not been
changed in any way.

As an example of the
amount of change, here Berger Bullets has revised its
are some old and new bullets’ BCs downwards
values for a selection of 0.308” dia. Match
bullets.

Old N e w
155gn Match BT
155gn VLD
175gn VLD



0.453
0.472
0.528



0.438
0.439
0.498
S ightron Scopes

Whilst over at IWA last month, I got wind of a new UK

185gn VLD 0.569 0.549
190gn VLD 0.574 0.570
210gn VLD 0.631 0.617
It should be noted that ballistics programs such
as Sierra Infinity hold the old values in their bullet
databases, and these should be adjusted if
running a plot for a Berger bullet especially over
very long ranges to avoid over-optimistic results.
For instance, in the above sample the 155gn VLD
sees a particularly large BC reduction. Running its
‘old’ and ‘new’ BCs through Sierra Infinity VI (at
3,000 fps MV) sees an increase of nearly 6-MOA
needed in elevation increase to go from a 100yd
zero to 1,000yd, and the classic 10 mph 3 o’clock
wind deflection increases by 2.5-MOA at that range.
Incidentally, Bryan Litz (a member of the US Palma
team and a top Prone Long-Range competitor on that
side of the Atlantic) only recently joined the Berger
Bullets team. Bryan has recently made quite a name
for himself by publishing 1,000yd match bullet tests
importer for Sightron scopes. I was having a go at the
Sightron guys, telling them how we all wanted the
fixed 36 power for benchrest and the 8-32 zoom for F
Class but we just couldn’t get hold of them in the UK.
We eventually did get an 8-32 for test but only
because Laurie Holland sent to America for it! It
turned out to be a cracking scope with very accurate
adjustment and an optical quality equal to Nightforce.
The 36 power scope will of course interest both rimfire and
centrefire benchrest shooters as it weighs in at around a
pound and there is a new ‘Big Sky’ version available, which
I am given to understand is noticeably better than the old
version. I’ve had a word with the new UK importer and he is
convinced that he can bring these scopes in at a price
which will be competitive with the 36 power Weavers.
Target Shooter is hoping to obtain one very soon for
review.

8 Target Shooter
S PECIAL REPORT Last in is this piece brought
to us, that we think will be worth everybodies
time reading;
In July 2008 two prominent and well-respected
members of the NRA had their estate car broken into
whilst away from home on a weekend of shooting
competitions in the North of England. They stayed at
a hotel that had CCTV and good lighting in the car
park. They had taken handguns, ammunition and
removable parts of other rifles into the hotel leaving
only those larger rifles concealed in the boot of the
car, which was itself fitted with an immobiliser. Stolen
from their car in the early hours by four masked
persons were the rifles that had been concealed in
accordance with the Home Office Guidance to Police.
In September 2008 their local police force revoked
their certificates and these revocations were
appealed.
On 8th April 2009 the case was heard before the
Crown Court. However, whilst at the court
awaiting the calling of the case, through their
legal representatives, the appellants served
on the respondent police force’s legal
representatives the full grounds for the Appeal
supported by legal argument and numerous character
witnesses four of whom were at court. The Appellants
were very confident of succeeding in their appeals.
Their objective was to recover their firearm
certificates. The police had opposed the appeals
even suggesting a short time before the hearing that
the appeals should be withdrawn but at court saw
the sense in a compromise whereby they agreed
to the court making an Order for them, the police,
to reinstate the certificates within 14 days upon the
appellants agreeing to review their future
arrangements for the transit of firearms and
ammunition. An amicable agreement on costs was
also reached.
It is clear that despite the appellants following the
standard advice upon security of firearms and
ammunition in transit and overnight away from
home, thieves were able to smash the windows of
the car and steal firearms.
The Firearms Act 1968 requires certificate holders
to take reasonable precautions as to the security of
firearms and ammunition when not secured at home
in the approved cabinet. What is “ reasonable” is a
matter for the opinion of each police force although
quite detailed advice is contained in the relevant
police and Home Office publications. In this case the
police claimed that the advice had not been followed
whilst the appellants insisted that it had been followed.
The compromise at court was sensible and, for the
merits of that case, an acceptable way out of the
polarised positions each side held, thus avoiding
the additional cost and time of a drawn out hearing.
What this case does show is that where the leg-
islation requires such “reasonable precautions..”
police may well view any situation where guns
are stolen from a parked and unattended car as
NOT having had reasonable precautions taken
and then revoke the loser’s certificates leaving
the holder with no guns, possible prosecution for
breach of certificate conditions and no certificate.
The only resolution to the problem is to apply
much higher security in the vehicle or keeping all
the firearms and ammunition with them personally.
The merits of this case were not tested in this par-
ticular court case as a sensible resolution was
found. Whilst the law does not require absolute
security, this police approach to the subject means
that the loss of firearms, whatever precautions are
taken, is likely to result in certificate revocation.
So, preventing such loss by ALL possible means
is the only safe way to proceed. The current ad-
vice from the 2000 Home Office document led to
a difference in interpretation by the police on one
hand and the appellants on the other and its ap-
plication did not prevent the theft of these guns.
Police had suggested that physical means of secur-
ing guns to the chassis or body of the car is rea-
sonable or taking them into the hotel. Anything less,
they considered, was not reasonable. Of course the
case of R –v- Chelmsford Crown Court (ex parte
Farrer) 2000 makes it impossible in law for certifi-
cate holders to leave their firearms and ammunition
in hotels even if secure means are provided unless
only that holder has access to them and that is an
unlikely situation. Enquires of hotels in the area
concerned resulted in none having such facilities
and none wishing to have firearms taken into their
premises anyway given the choice. So, for the fu-
ture more diligent enquiries are suggested as to
overnight stay locations prior to selection and higher
physical security fitted in vehicles used for the transit
or unattended overnight storage to prevent thefts.
Jeff Hide
Knights solicitors
A
nd finally....... We are thinking about
running a few personal advertisements
in the magazine for selling you own items.
Please contact us via the customers servic-
es email address by the 17th of each month
to place personal adverts.
Target Shooter 9
Calendar of events over the next two months
If your club or association has events you want to publicise here then email us.
Sat 02 May
NRA Open Day (National Shooting Centre (NSC),
Bisley)
Visitors will be able to try shotgun, air rifle, fullbore
rifle, sporting rifle, laser clays, precision snap,
practical and historical rifles to name but a few, all
with one-to-one coaching.
Contact(s): Libby Gendall NRA
2nd May 100 yd Benchrest Diggle Ranges
3rd May 1000 yd Benchrest Diggle Ranges
Contact via UKBRA website
Sat 09 May to Sun 10 May
The English Eight Club, National Rifle Club of
Scotland & Welsh Rifle Association Spring
Meeting. Match Rifle (F-Class Rifles may be used
if desired but cannot take any of the prizes except
for the Cash Sweep)
2+15 at 1000, 1100 & 1200 yards on each day
Contact(s): English VIII Secretary
10th May 100 yds Benchrest Bisley Ranges
Contact via UKBRA website
Sat 16 May to Sun 17 May
Range Conducting Officer Course (National
Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley). Two day course -
successful candidates will be qualified to
conduct live firing on MoD or TAVRA ranges.
Contact: Maureen Peach NRA
Wed 20 May NRA Shooting Club Day (National
Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) Multi-discipline
NRA Shooting Club Day. Targets have been
booked on Cheylesmore and at 100, 200, 600 and
900 yards. If you would like to attend you must
book in at least a week in advance by contacting
Heather Webb.
Fri 22 May to Sun 24 May Phoenix Meeting
(National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) and
Arms Fair. This multi-discipline meeting has its
roots in pistol calibre firearms but there are also
plenty of competitions for Black Powder, Air and
Fullbore from 15 yards to 1000 yards. As well as
all this shooting you can visit the Arms Fair held
in the Bisley Pavilion. Contact(s): Brian Thomas
NRA
25th May Egg Shoot 100/300/500 yds Diggle
Ranges Contact via UKBRA website
Sat 30 May
Start of NRA Probationary Members Course
2009/3 Contact(s): Heather Webb NRA
10 Target Shooter
5 June to Sunday 7th june - Scottish Open
Championships (Blair Atholl (Scotland). This
years Scottish Open Prize Meeting will be held at
Blair Atholl. Further information and entry forms
may be obtained from Allan Mabon in due course.
http://www.scottishrifleassociation.org.uk Contact
Allan Mabon
Sat 6th – 7th June MLAGB National Pistol
Championships, Bisley
6/7th June - GB F Class League Round 2 Bisley
(mik@mikdolphin.demon.co.uk)
6th June NRA Shooting Club Day (National
Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)
Multi-discipline NRA Shooting Club Day. Targets
have been booked on Melville and at 100, 200,
300 and 1000 yards. All disciplines welcome. If
you would like to attend you must book in at least
a week in advance by contacting Heather Webb
at the NRA.
12th to 14th - British Intl 50m Championships
Friday, 12 June 2009. The Championships run from
12th to 14th June. Contact NSRA
Fri 12 June - AGM of National Rifle Association
(National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)
Annual General Meeting of the NRA. To be held
at Bisley at 5.30pm. All members are encouraged
to attend.
18 June - NRA Shooting Club Day (National
Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)Multi-discipline
NRA Shooting Club Day. Targets have been
booked on Melville and at 100, 200, 500 and 900
yards. Contact Heather Webb.
20 June - Club Instructor Course - NSRA Cost
- £75.00. Fees include NSRA registration costs,
course attendance and assessments where
necessary. They do not include meals and
accommodation.
Sat 20 June - MLAGB Long Range Rifles Branch,
900 yard Champs. (am), 1000 yard practice (pm),
Bisley.
20 June to Sun 21 Jun LMRA v Welsh XX
(National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)
Sun 21 Jun Surrey RA Civilian Cup (National
Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)
27th June Hampshire Open Prize Meeting
(National Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley)
 Target Shooter 11
12 Target Shooter
 100 - 104 Lowtown, Pudsey Prvi Partizan Catalogue
Henry West Yorkshire, LS28 9AY
Tel: 01132 569 163 / 565 167
Fax: 01132 574 962
available on request
Visit our new website:
Krank Email: sales@henrykrank.com
Open Mon - Sat, 9am - 5pm
www.henrykrank.com

Available at
all good
gun shops
Prvi Partizan top quality hunting & target ammunition and reloading components

PPU RIFLE PPU HANDGUN PPU PRIMERS

AMMUNITION AMMUNITION Priced per
Priced per pack of 100 Priced per pack of 100 pack of 1000

P111 Small Pistol Primers £22.00

P222 Large Pistol Primers £23.10
P333 Small Rifle Primers £22.00
A193 22 Hornet SP 45gr £39.60 A298 32 S+W Long 98gr w/c £22.44 P444 Large Rifle Primers £23.10
A032
A203
222 Rem SP 50gr
222 Rem FMJ BT 55gr
£39.60
£39.60
A112
A044
9mm Luger 115gr FMJ
9mm Luger 115gr FMJ
£22.44
£22.44
PPU BULLETS
A132 223 Rem SP 55gr £39.60 A033 9mm Luger 124gr FMJ £22.44 Priced per
A188 223 Rem FMJ BT 55gr £39.60 A166 9mm Luger 147gr FMJ £22.44
A495 223 Match 75gr £51.70 A140 38 SPL RNFP 158gr £22.44 pack of 100
A253 22-250 Rem SP 50gr £49.50 A326 357 Magnum 158gr RNFP £27.94
A211 22-250 Rem SP 55gr £49.50 A339 357 Magnum FPJ 158gr £33.66
A212 22-250 Rem FMJ BT 55gr £49.50 A222 44 Magnum 180gr FPS B008 22 FMJ BT 55gr £11.22
£38.28
A270 243 Win SP 90gr £49.50 A221 44 Rem Mag FPJ 240gr B484 6.5mm FMJ BT 110gr £13.75
£38.28
B083 6.5mm FMJ BT 139gr £13.75
A134
A047
243 Win SP 100gr
25-06 Rem PSP 100gr
£49.50
£54.23 PPU BRASS B127 7 FMJ BT 174gr £14.19

CASES
A208 6,5 x 52 Car FMJ BT 139gr £54.23 B105 7mm 158gr Grom £21.95
A084 6,5 x 55 SP BT 139gr £49.50 B010 30 FMJ RN 110gr £14.25
A083 6,5 x 55 FMJ BT 139gr £49.50 B009 30 FMJ BT 145gr £14.25
Priced per B007 30 FMJ 139gr £14.25
A227 6,5 x 55 SP RN 156gr £49.50
A161 270 Win SP 130gr £49.50 pack of 100 B099 30 FMJ 150gr £14.25
A027 270 Win SP 150gr £49.50 B345 30 FMJ BT 174gr £14.19
A141 7 X 57 FMJ BT 173gr £49.50 C193 22 Hornet £15.95 B366 30 FMJ BT 175gr £14.19
A400 7mm - 08 PSP 140gr £53.90 C032 222 Remington £19.25 B074 7.62mm FMJ 123gr £13.75
A024 30 Carbine FMJ RN 110gr £41.25 C132 223 Remington £18.70 B143 303 FMJ BT 174gr £14.19
A034 308 FMJ BT 145gr £45.65 C211 22/250 £26.40 B006 303 FMJ BT 190gr £14.19
A020 308 SP 150gr £48.95 C134 243 Winchester £27.50 B348 8mm Match FMJ BT 198gr £17.33
A362 308 PSP BT 165gr £49.50 C118 6,5 x 52 Carcano £39.60 B351 8mm 185gr Grom £23.98
A363 308 HP BT Match 168gr £59.29 C083 6,5 x 55 Swedish £30.36 B323 30 Grom 170gr £21.95
A366 308 FMJ BT 175gr £49.50 C027 270 Winchester £28.05 B140 38 158gr RNFP £5.94
A035 308 SP 180gr £49.50 C345 7,5 x 55 Swiss £34.32 B339 38 FPJ 158gr £13.64
A028 30-30 FSP 150gr £49.50 C030 7,62 x 39 £27.50 B221 44 FPJ 180gr £15.95
A346 7,5x54 French FMJ 139gr £53.90 C020 308 Winchester £29.15 B180 45 FMJ 230gr £15.95
A345
A094
7,5x55 Swiss FMJ BT 174gr
30-06 FMJ 150gr
£53.90
£53.90
C346
C031
7,5 x 54 French
7,62 x 54R
£34.32
£31.68 PPU BLANKS
A365 30-06 HP BT 168gr £53.90 C128 8mm Mauser £31.68 Priced per pack of 100
A323 30-06 Grom 170gr £66.00 C470 7.62 Nagant £34.32 BL18 5,56 (223) £37.40
A066 30-06 SP 180gr £53.90 C483 6.5 Grendel £35.64 BL22 7,62 x 51 (308) £46.20
A041 7,62 X 39 FMJ 123gr £46.20 C385 6.5 x 51 Jap £39.60 BL28 7,62x39 (7,62 Russian Short) £46.20
A169 7,62 X 54 FMJ BT 182gr £53.90 C383 7.7 Jap £41.36 BL32 7,62x54R (7,62 Russian Long) £46.20
A143 303 British FMJ BT 174gr £50.60 C424 7 .92 x 33 Kurz £39.60 BL40 7,92 ( 8 x 57 Mauser) £46.20
A267 375 H&H Mag 300gr £135.30 C417 8 x 50 Lebel £52.80 BL50 303 British £46.20
A128 8x57 JS SP 196gr £49.50 C384 8 x 56 Mannlicher £41.36 BL60 30-06 ( 7,62 x 63) £49.50
A348 8x57 JS FMJ BT Match 198gr £59.29 C413 7.63 (30 Mauser) £20.35 BL70 9mm (9x19) Parabelum £22.98
A351 8x57 JS Grom 185gr £66.00 BL80 38 SPL £22.98

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

Target Shooter 13
 A regular column whereby Ken Hall keeps us up to date
with black powder cartridge rifle shooting in the UK.
This month Ken offers a newcomers guide to the
QSA and shooting the black-powder cartridge rifle.
The Quigley Shooting Association (QSA) and the
Single Shot Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Club
of Great Britain (SSBPCRCGB) are now firmly
established as the premier UK associations
devoted to the use of black-powder ‘buffalo’ type
rifles in competition. Events are held
throughout the year and, as luck would have it,
the Clubs are situated at opposite ends of the
country (Diggle Ranges & Bisley) thus making
this type of shooting accessible to most regions.
The aim of this article is to provide a few pointers
for those who have bought or are contemplating
buying a BPCR with a view to trying the
aforementioned competitions, or maybe simply
14 Target Shooter
sample the fun of shooting these interesting rifles on
their local range.
Having said that, I am mainly involved with the QSA
though we do have a couple of inter-club
team-shoots with the SSBPCRCGB guys every year.
The Competitions.
The Quigley competitions were conceived with
the intention of offering similar challenges to
those faced by the buffalo hunters of the old
American West and of course inspired by the
Quigley Down Under film starring Tom Selleck.
QSA events are held at Diggle Ranges in the
north and consist mainly of rifle shoots at 400
and 600 yards, where the targets are the Quigley
bucket (watch the Quigley Down Under video!) and
a half size buffalo, or occasionally steel silhouettes.
Ample sighters are normally allowed and then
Accuracy in action - BP style

it’s usually fifteen shots to count at each distance
but our competition rules are not ‘set in stone’ and
continue to evolve to suit the requirements and
interests of the membership. As in any target rifle
competition, shots are indicated by the butt’s crew.
In addition, we also shoot the 1000 yard Billy
Dixon competition, which celebrates the famous
Adobe Walls ‘long shot’ of 1874, when Billy was
seen to hit an Indian on horseback with his Sharps
‘Big 50’ at a distance later verified as 1,538yds. As
our maximum range is 1000 yards, we replicate this
by using a two-thirds size target. We also have a
few short-range events at 200/300/400 yards –
a facsimile of Colonel Berdan’s ‘sharp-shooter’
US Civil War test, a mini Billy Dixon and a mini
Quigley competition, both shot with pistol calibre rifles.
The Rifles.
QSA rules specify a cut-off date of 1895 for rifles and
equipment, so any original or reproduction American
rifle coinciding with that date and having an
external hammer is permissible. Some replicas in
current production might include the Remington
Rolling Block, the Trapdoor Springfield, the
Winchester 1885 ‘high-wall’, the Winchester 1886,
the Marlin 1895 and of course, the many variants of
perhaps the best known - the Sharps.
Whilst any of these rifles are up to the job, it
is worth noting that those listed as ‘target’ or
‘sporting’ versions are generally most suited to
competition shooting due to their longer and
Two happy winners
heavier barrels and the availability of good quality
fore-sights and rear tang-sights. The excellent
Pedersoli catalogue from Viking Arms is a good
place to start, though models are available from
other European manufacturers such as Armi Sport
and Uberti. As you would expect, the United States
also exports some very fine rifles, Shiloh Sharps of
Montana and C. Sharps Arms are perhaps the best
known over here, but they do tend to specialise and
rifles are generally built to order and are therefore
more expensive, with a waiting time of around a year.
Ammunition.
This simple word can lead to much consternation.
Whereas it is a relatively simple choice to select a
suitable rifle, when we come to deciding what to
feed it with we meet a variety of ideas. QSA rules
state that any calibre over .35in is admissible.
Bullets must be of lead only (no jacketed
bullets or gas-checks). The most popular calibre is
undoubtedly the .45in - in various cartridge lengths
– with the 45-70 being the clear favourite. The
maller .38 and .40 cals are gaining a following in
this country but the heavier 45 bullet is pretty much
essential for the longer ranges. Unfortunately,
commercially made ammunition is not available,
you must make your own and there are many
choices of powder, primer, lubricants and of course
compression - cue for a separate article in the future
here!
Equipment.
As with many shooting sports, buying the rifle
Target Shooter 15
is only the start! With the BPCR there are many
challenges to overcome and that is what
discourages many shooters from trying it.
When black-powder is burned it leaves behind
a lot of residue and this is not user-friendly. The
problems caused by fouling are many and varied. A
certain amount of fouling is necessary to ‘condition’ the
barrel and maintain relatively constant velocities.
Accuracy can actually suffer from over-cleaning
the barrel between shots, just as readily as it can
suffer from the effects of insufficient cleaning. A
happy medium needs to be found that works for you.
The solution to the fouling problem is as varied
as the number of people involved in the sport –
every one has their own idea of barrel cleaning.
Most shooters will bring along a cleaning-rod, dry
or pre-lubricated patches, cleaning solution and
perhaps a blow-tube (to breath moist air into the
bore between shots – which hopefully keeps the
fouling soft enough to be pushed out by the next
bullet!). Others use two or three rods, with both dry
and lubricated patches and brushes and pass each
through the barrel after every shot. Watch what
others do and try and find a method that works.
Consistency from shot to shot is the desired result.
The black-powder fouling creates another problem.
The life of your rifle and your brass cases can be
seriously reduced if the harmful salts left over from
firing are not neutralized or removed as soon as
possible. A means of combating this effect is
required. Some shooters will de-cap and drop their
fired cases into a ‘neutralizing’ solution (soapy
water!) immediately after firing and clean their
rifle on the point. Others are happy to clean when
they get home. Either way, it is essential that
you do not leave the rifle or cases unattended
for any length of time or their usefulness will be
rapidly impaired. No special cleaning procedures are
required but you must do it as soon as possible!
Shooting the BPCR
If you look at any old prints of the buffalo
shooters you will almost invariably see the use of
‘crossed-sticks’. Any type of shooting will
benefit from a stable firing-position and in the QSA
the use of cross-sticks is permissible. This simplest of
supports can be fabricated by anyone of modest
ability and provides an excellent shooting-rest. I
know of no suitable commercially available product
and so firers are forced to make their own and as a
consequence we see everything from the elaborate
to the rudimentary. The key phrase here is ‘spirit of
the original’- in other words, we don’t want to see
something like a steel tripod with windage and
elevation adjustment – keep it simple and authentic
-looking.
16 Target Shooter
A decent shooting-mat along with good wind/
waterproof clothing, whilst not compulsory, is
desirable, as shooting takes place in the open in all
weathers. Although our basic aperture-sights are
capable of good accuracy, they offer no
magnification, so a good spotting scope is useful if
you want to see your fall of shot.
In future articles, we will look at the cartridge itself
in more detail and I’ll show you a few gadgets and
gizmos, which make shooting these fascinating rifles
more successful.
Questions and comments please to;
khall6548@aol.com
Match report
This year’s Quigley Championship got under
way on the 4th April, sandwiched between two of
the best days so far this year but match day was
probably the windiest day for some considerable
time. Despite this, some very good scores were
achieved at 400 yards, although a few struggled
somewhat when we dressed back to 600 yards.
After the first round, Dennis Richardson lead with 63
points, with Ian Hull, Dave Coleman, Dave Bownass
and Ken Hall all close behind with scores in the 50s.
The wind seemed to do the impossible and get worse
as the day progressed and in stage 2 at 600 yards,
scores in the 30s and 40s were the norm. However,
Dennis kept up the pressure and scored an impressive
57 points to clinch the match with a total of 120 points.
Results.
1. Dennis Richardson Browning Hi-Wall .45/70
2. Ian Hull Sharps .45/90
3. Dave Gregory Sharps .45/100
4. Richard Healey Sharps .45/70
5. Ken Hall Winchester Hi
Wall .38/55
Our next competition takes place at Diggle Ranges
on Saturday May 16th. Feel free to turn up on the
day and shoot with us or if you prefer, just come
along for a chat and see what ‘Quigley’ is all about.
The following week, May 23rd, we depart from out
usual format with our ‘Tight Group’ competition.
This gives you a chance to see just how well your
hand-loads are working when shot off a bench at
100 yards.
Please mention us
when using
advertising
in the magazine
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Target Shooter 17
18 Target Shooter
Support your local gun shop
‘York Guns’
The customer’s view of the retail area on entering showing
one part of the clothing displays.
John Smith started York Guns up around 30 years
ago as a one-man band. With a passion for, and expertise and direct experience in any shooting sport.
encyclopaedic knowledge of, vintage and antique
arms, that was a large part of the shop’s original
business alongside the obligatory well-used BSA
Martini target rifles and Brno Model 2s. Pistols
and revolvers old and new featured heavily too.
After a few years the workforce doubled in size
with the arrival of Gary Hyde, now the company’s
managing director and grew steadily from then
on, but by the 1990s the original premises were
massively overcrowded at busier times and
restricting further opportunities. Somehow or
other, a wholesale supply business was also
being run from a desk shoehorned into a perennially
overcrowded storeroom upstairs. Building and
relocating to a new bespoke shop and trade
warehouse facility on the outskirts of the village
of Dunnington east of York in early 2003 was a
vital step in meeting John and Gary’s aspirations
for the business. It provided a huge increase in
the amount of space and a quantum leap in the
quality of the ‘retail experience’, saw further rapid
expansion in product lines, staff numbers (now 14),
and wholesale activities.
The shop provides a full service to the shooter,
not just locally, with customers throughout the
country and abroad. One beneficiary of the
increase in space was clothing, there never hav-
ing been room for it in the old shop. A big increase
in the number of guns and rifles was accompanied
by a move upmarket. YGL is Beretta’s Premium
Dealer for the North of England, and holds
similar status for Browning, Caesar Guerini and
others. There is something for nearly
every clay or game shooter though
including a large choice of used
guns. Around 100 rifles are on
display, with yet more stored
out of sight. Most are sporting
models these days, although
you’ll find some heavy-barrel
tactical types and the odd target
model. With YGL the country’s main
supplier of Schmidt & Bender
riflescopes, a Zeiss ‘Centre
Partner’ and stockist of Leica,
Leupold, Nightforce, Burris, Hawke
and Steiner optics, there is plenty
of choice in this field too. Nearly
every employee is a keen and active
shooter, the workforce able to provide
Most shotguns, rifles and optical goods in
stock are listed on the company’s website
(www.yorkguns.com) the ‘current stock’ section
updated weekly, over 90% of the shotguns also
having images attached. An online retailing facility
is a recent development.
Wholesale or ‘trade sales’ is an important
activity, all products also offered to shop
customers too. It encompasses a varied mix of
products and price levels providing dealers with
some of the cheapest shotguns going, while at the
other extreme, Schmidt & Bender riflescopes offer
phenomenal build quality and durability, but cannot
be described as ‘budget’.
Recent additions to the product stable include the
popular Muck Boots range of ‘super-wellies’, and
York Guns has just become the importer of GSG’s
.22LR copies of the H&K MP5 machine-carbine,
with a new GSG-47 (‘Kalashnikov AK47’) model
imminent.
YGL’s founder and chairman John Smith.
Target Shooter 19
 Continental Shooting Supplies
North Ayrshire Shooting Ground, Blackstone Farm, Dalry, Ayrshire KA24 5HN
Tel: 01294 833297 Fax: 01294 833312 e-mail: enquiries@continentalshooting.co.uk

Continental Shooting Supplies is based at the

North Ayrshire Shooting Ground, a first class
all-weather facility for the Skeet, Trap and
Sporting disciplines.
We welcome customers to our shop, where a
friendly chat and expert advice are always
available.

You can also purchase goods from us by mail order.

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

20 Target Shooter
 Jackson Rifles
Parton, Castle Douglas, Scotland DG7 3NL
Tel: (01644) 470223 Fax: (01644) 470227 jacksonrifles.com

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but weTarget
We are happy to give advice and information to retail customers, Shooter
only supply the trade 21
Jackson Rifles is a division of Forge Consulting Ltd, RFD 108 (Dumfries & Galloway) ts0904
 Vince Bottomley
Basic Rifle Maintenance
We mentioned the possibility of an article covering
basic rifle maintenance in the April issue of Target
Shooter and enough of you responded to make it a
reality, so here goes.
We’ll keep it simple and restrict it at this stage to the
centrefire bolt-action rifle and we will start with the
bolt itself.
The bolt is a key part of our rifle. Not only does it close
the breech, sealing the pressure-chamber, it also
extracts the fired case and provides ignition via
the firing-pin striking the primer. It is this latter
function that concerns us most when it comes to
maintenance.
Lock-time - the time taken for the firing-pin to strike
picture one
22 Target Shooter
the primer after we have pulled the trigger - is
measured in milli-seconds. Even though the
lock-time is unimaginably small, movement of the
rifle can occur in this time-period and if it does,
accuracy will obviously suffer. Clearly, a fast
lock-time is desirable - even more desirable with a
hand-held rifle, where movement is more likely to
occur.
A number of factors will influence lock-time
but the one that we can do something about
is the firing-pin/spring assembly. But first, let’s
dismantle our bolt. Most bolts are designed to
easily ‘field-strip’ and even if our featured bolts
are different from your rifle, you’ll be surprised
what you can find on the internet. (In less than a
minute I had a YouTube video of a Mauser bolt strip).
The spring assembly usually screws into the main
bolt-body (e.g.Remington, Winchester, Stolle) but
some bolts employ a bayonet-style engagement
(e.g. Howa, BAT) or even a screw-on cap (e.g.
Savage, Barnard, RPA).
Picture one shows a few types – from the left:
Remington, Winchester, Howa and Barnard.
We will concentrate on the Remington as it is
one of the most popular and I just happen to be
trouble-shooting a light-striking problem with one.
Using a suitable stripping tool, we can compress
the spring and easily unscrew the firing-pin/spring
assembly. We now have two parts – picture two -
 a very small amount of
grease on the threads or
bayonet prior to
assembly.
Picture three, below,
shows the angled
cocking ramp. This
should be completely
free of burrs to ensure
smooth operation. You
can put a tiny dab of
grease on the ramp.
That’s it, apart from
a visual inspection to
see that the pin is not
unduly worn or bent and
there are no signs of rust
anywhere. Dry off any
excess WD40 with
kitchen roll and
picture two re-assemble using the
stripping tool to
compress the spring.
put the spring assembly to one side and we’ll deal
The bolt is now ready to use but don’t forget to
with the bolt-body first.
grease the back of the bolt-lugs lightly and a tiny
The problem here is the likelihood of crud
bit of grease on the camming-point before use.
accumulating deep down inside the narrow passage
(Picture four). Please be very sparing with the grease
that guides the firing-pin. Gases blow back through
– do not get grease anywhere near the bolt-face.
the firing-pin hole and if you’ve ever pierced a
Unfortunately, we need to take things a bit
primer, this is where the small metal disc ends up. An
further with our Remington as we have a problem.
aerosol of auto carburettor cleaner (Halfords) is
Light-strikes can be due to a number of things:
useful here . Spray inside the body and swill out
the crud. If it looks very dirty, use a pointed stick –
Firing-pin protrusion: Generally we are looking
like a kebab stick with a cleaning patch attached.
for something around 0.05 inches (fifty thou.) The
Shine a torch inside to ensure it’s clean. Whilst
Remmy is spot-on at 51 thou. so this is not the problem.
you’re at it, spray the bolt-face with the cleaner –
Excessive headspace: If headspace is too great,
particularly around the extractor and ejector pin.
it will have the same effect as lack of firing-pin
Depress the pin a few times to make
sure it’s running free. If you have
picture three
access to an air-line, give it a blast
inside and out and the job is done.

Now for the spring assembly. I’m

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

Target Shooter 23

protrusion – leaving a small gap between the bolt-
face and case-head but when the go-gauge was
inserted, headspace was spot-on. Again, if you over-
picture five
bump the cases on re-sizing, it will shorten them and
exhibit the same problem as excessive headspace.
Primer problem: This is rare but not unknown so
worth checking. Duff primers are uncommon but if
they get damp or oil on them, they won’t fire. The
remedy is to replace a few primers and try again. I
popped out the CCI primers (using a Lee universal
pictures si x and seven
24 Target Shooter
picture four
de-priming die) and replaced them with Federal –
no difference. There was an indentation from the
firing-pin impact but not quite enough to fire the primer.
On taking the pin and spring apart, the problem is
revealed. Moisture has found its way into the bolt and
the pin is rusty. Look at picture five and you can see
that corrosion is particularly bad under the spring (I’d
actually cleaned off the excess rust with steel-wool
before this pic was taken) but we are more concerned
with the bit that slides inside the shroud. It’s a close
fit and the light corrosion was causing the pin to drag
very slightly – enough to cause an ignition problem.
The rifle had been laid up over the winter, allowing
the corrosion to form. A good clean with wet ‘n’ dry
paper soon had it looking as good as new and a
light application of WD40 will prevent re-occurrence.
Whilst the bolt was in pieces, it was a simple job
to fit a new spring. Springs for the popular rifles
are available from www.brownells.com for a few
dollars - picture eight. For a few dollars more, you
can buy a slightly stronger (longer) one which will in
theory give you a shorter lock-time. It arrived within
a week!
One last thing to check - particularly if your rifle isn’t
as accurate as you think it should be. Check that both
bolt-lugs are making contact with the action lugs. The
 know what could be caus-
ing the accuracy problem.

Finally, never store your rifle with

the bolt cocked or the spring
will soon lose its tension. If you
prefer to leave the bolt in the
rifle, close it on an empty
chamber and pull the trigger to
un-cock it. If you store the bolt
separately – best for safety –
de-cock it by twisting the shroud
to drop the pin. Re-cock using
the stripping tool. Bolt stripping
tools for popular actions can be
obtained from Sinclair
International in America. www.
sinclairintl.com Barnard bolts
picture eight come apart without any tools, as
innovative may09.qxd 3/26/2009 11:03 AM Page 1 do RPA and Savage – except
back of both lugs should appear shiny. If one looks for an Allen-key. In the absence
shiny but the other doesn’t, there’s not a lot you can of a stripping tool, you can improvise (see pictures
do about it – it’s really a machining job to true ‘em up si x and seven) with a bit of wire and a washer (or 5p
and it probably isn’t worth the cost as you could end up coin) in the case of Remington bolts!
having to adjust the headspace but at least you
More basic rifle maintenance next month.

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Target
Shooter 25
Target Shooter 25
26 Target Shooter
 Target Shooter 27
 Thurnscoe Rifle Club Mini Rifle Competition
By Ross Burrough
Sunday 19th April saw the first Mini Rifle
competition held at Thurnscoe Rifle Club located
a couple of miles from South Yorkshire Shooting
Supplies between Barnsley and Doncaster. Originally
a range built for the Home Guard during the war and
since purchased by the club, the range is outdoor and
offers ranges up to 100yds catering for .22 rifle, Air
Rifle, and Black powder pistol. The club also has shared
Mini Rifle in action
access to a 100m full-bore range used once a month.
Mini Rifle was introduced as an alternative to
practical pistol shooting after the handgun ban
but for unknown reasons has never achieved the
status or popularity of the previous discipline. The
competition naturally lends itself to .22 semi auto rifles
and various types including the Browning Buckmark,
obligatory Ruger 10/22 and, increasingly, the new
GSG-5 (.22 MP5 replica) are evident at competitions.
Earlier this year some of the guys from Thurnscoe
visited Worcester Norton Shooting Club on one
of their Mini Rifle Open Shoots to take part and
hopefully learn how to stage competitions of
this type at our own club. Bob Oakley and the
guys at Worcester Norton gave us a warm
welcome and gave us a great days shooting during
which we learnt all about the Mini Rifle discipline
including safety procedures, courses of fire, targets, and
scoring. Worcester Norton run these competitions
on a regular basis and are extremely experienced
in setting up safe and challenging courses which
prove to be great fun. On our return to Yorkshire
we began the process of gathering the required
instructions and equipment necessary to stage this
type of competition ourselves. Sunday saw this
project come to fruition when we held our first
competition.
Although starting off overcast the sun gradually
burnt through giving us a rarity in Yorkshire that
28 Target Shooter
being a warm sunny day. The range had been
prepared and 3 separate stages set out ready for
the thirteen competitors taking part. After the Range
Action Safety Plan had been communicated to the
shooters a walkthrough of the first stage took place.
The main aim of this discipline is to challenge the
shooter by introducing obstacles and different
shooting stances. The shooter is accompanied
through each course by a Range Officer who
ensures that the competitor follows all safety and
competition procedures. The course of fire is timed
with the total points scored divided by the time taken
to give a final score for the competition. Go too fast
and you can loose accuracy or go too slowly and
increase the time taken, the idea is to achieve a
happy medium to give the best overall result.
Preplanning also becomes important as some
courses require magazine changes which can
extended your time if you are caught by surprise
halfway through shooting a string.
The competition started at around 10am and finished
just before 2pm. The overall results were as follows:
1st Dave Wylde 327 points
2nd Jeff Steed 292 points
3rd Mark Hardcastle 280 points.
Full stage results available at www.freewebs.com/
thurnscoerifleclub
The main aim of the day was realised as
everybody who took part expressed their enjoyment
and are now looking forward to the next competition.
This was initially set for June but due to popularity
another may now be staged next month. Our
thanks go to Bob, Gareth and all the guys at
Worcester Norton for introducing and instructing us
in this challenging and addictive shooting discipline.
Prizegiving at the match
 Target Shooter 29
 Outdoor Air rifle sports – Starter Equipment Part 2
In issue number 1 of Target Shooter magazine we
had a look at the possible starter air rifles for one
to pursue outdoor disciplines mainly, Field Target,
Hunter Field Target and Air Rifle Bench Rest. Now
Which scope to get ? You need a
starter scope capable of handline
both ft and hft.
that we took a decision on the type of air rifle to
purchase, it’s time to decide the scope to fit. The
scope requirements vary between FT, HFT and Air
Rifle Bench Rest disciplines. We must first understand
these requirments before attempting to purchase
an all rounder scope, so as not to be disappointed.
In HFT you require a scope that is able to show you
clearly at target from distances of 7 yards to 41 yards,
without adjusting the parallax. This means that range
finding through parallax adjustment is not possible.
One can’t dial in the turrets for the target range. An
HFT a scope must have low magnification to allow
clear view of all target ranges and a visual capability
to aid the shooter in estimating the range of a known
target size. The shooter must also have means to
Hawke Varmint scopes are a good
choice amoungst airgunners.
30 Target Shooter
Stanley Shaw
determine and calculate the point of impact (POI)
on the target without touching any part of the scope.
In Field Target the shooter is able to utilize all
functions of a scope. Here one can use parallax
adjustment to determine the target range and use
turrets to dial in zero for each range. The shooter
in FT is able to manipulate any magnification that
suits him for all targets in ranges between 10 to
50 meters. The FT shooter would require a scope
that is capable of providing him with accurate
range estimation at a high magnification for more
accuracy. He would prefer a side wheel parallax
adjustment. This design is more ergonomic then
front objective lens focusing bell which is
sometimes hard to reach when shouldering the air
rifle. This side wheel parallax adjustment allows
the shooter to keep target in sight whilst fine
tuning on the focusing to get the best range indication.
In Bench Rest like FT the shooter is able to utilize
his scope to the full. However Bench Rest
scoring targets are static at a one known measured
distance so there will not be the need to focus or
find the range for each shot. The bench rest
shooter is more inclined to use turrets to fine tune
his shots on target at a high magnification. He needs
to do this by dialing in or calculate from reticule
the POI according to the wind direction and
conditions developing during his shooting time. High
magnification and crisp image enables the bench
rest shooter to clearly define the scoring rings
outline on targets at set ranges of 25 or 50 meters.
The novice target shooter will ask, if
there a scope that I can be used for
all these disciplines? The answer is
YES. However the huge diversity of
scopes on the market will confuse
one instantly. We will be discussing
some scopes that are ideal as
starter scopes, but before we
mention specific scopes we should
concentrate on scope features which
one need to know before purchasing
a the best possible all rounder scope.

scope mounts. one piece mounts are a must on
spring air rifles.
Most scopes will be featured with strange numbers
for example 6-24X44 or 10X50. This is a way to
define the scope magnification and lens diameter.
The first number or two numbers separated by a
dash (-) is referring to the scope magnification. A
6-24 means that the scope has a variable zoom
from 6 to 24 times. A single number means that
the scope has a fixed zoom for example 10 times.
A 10X magnification scope in theory must show
you the image 10 times closer then when viewed
with the naked eye. The number followed by the
X sign is the objective lens diameter. The bigger
the diameter of the objective lens, the more light
will reach your eye. This results in a brighter
image. Scopes manufacturers will specify also the
Tube Diameter. The most common is the 25mm
and the 30mm. The tube diameter is referring to
the central tube dimension. Here the light entering
the objective lens is converged onto the reticule
and finally towards the eye bell lens. The bigger
the tube the more bright and crisp is the image.
The next very important feature is the MOA
(minute of angle) setting. There are 3 types
available the ½” at 100 Yards, ¼” at Yards and
1/8” @ 100 Yards. Without going in detailed
For Air Rifle BR – quality over gadgets. good magnification (min 24x) & a clear image (min 44mm
objective lens and min 1” tube). avoid ½” @ 100 yard for air rifle short range shooting. ¼” moa is
a good choice, 1/8” moa is better.
explanation of MOA this means the distance
changed in point of impact (POI) of a projectile when
the turret is moved by 1 click at a fixed range. On
a ½” @ 100Yards scope one click moves the point
of impact by ½ “ at 100 yards. 2 clicks on the same
scope will shift the POI by 1” always at 100 yards.
This also means that at 200 yards, 1 click shifts the
POI by 1” and at 400 yards 1 click shifts the POI
by 2”. The same scope requires 4 clicks to shift 1”
at 50 yards. A scope which has a setting of 1/8” at
100 yards requires 8 clicks to shift the POI by 1 “at
100yards. At 400 yards this scope requires 2 clicks
to shift 1”. The same scope requires 16 clicks to
shift 1” at 50 yards. This automatically shows you
that a 1/8” MOA scope give you more fine tuning
capabilities on your POI at far and close ranges. All
the rest displayed in the specifications of a scope are
cosmetic or quality features available for the scope.
So what should one look for in a starter scope?
1. Variable magnification and parallax that
allows us to see clearly with with the lowest
magnification targets as close as 7 yards and as far
as 41 yards. (HFT)
2. A variable magnification and parallax that
allows us to see at a higher magnification targets
between 10 and 50 meters.(FT)
3. A reliable Parallax that is accurate enough at
a particular magnification.(FT)
4. An MOA setting that can give us the flexibility
of finer tuning in our scope zeroing. (BR)
5. A crisp clear image. Lens quality – Scope
Target Shooter 31
 Scope turrets. ½’ – ¼ “ – 1/8
“ moa to fine tune your point
of impact.
Quality. (FT,HFT,BR)
6. A reticule that enables us to determine the
point of impact at all ranges from 7 yards to 50
meters. (HFT-FT-BR)
7. A reticule that enables us to determine the
target distance by comparison.(HFT)
Now we know what exactly we are looking for the
problem is the price range window. Scope can be
as cheap as dirt or more expensive then the air rifle
it self. Here you need to take a certain approach
in your decision. Remember you decided to get a
starter air rifle. It doesn’t make sense to purchase
a top notch scope costing 3 or 4 times as much as
your air rifle! After all you’re shooting your air rifle at
ranges not longer then 50 meters. Go for the 1/3 rule
it works quite fine. If you invested £360 in an air rifle
get a scope within a price range of £120.
You will encounter a lot of scopes, all with
different specs for the same value,
however we can narrow our search
further by applying our basic
requirements. The scope choice also
depends on the type of air rifle you
purchased. A scope on a PCP will Zos scopes not a bad starter
not sustain any damage from recoil. choice for pcp air rifles
However a scope on a spring air rifle will
32 Target Shooter
suffer. A cheap scope on a spring air rifle without the
correct mounts can easily be destroyed in less then
100 shots. The following condensed specifications
will give you good results in all the 3 disciplines.
1. Helium filled scope.
2. Variable Magnification from 6 to 24 times
(minimum).
3. Objective diameter 44 mm (minimum).
4. Tube diameter of at least 25mm (minimum).
5. MOA of ¼ “ @ 100Y (minimum).
6. A mil-dot reticule.
7. Sunshade.
If you are mounting a scope on a spring air rifle go
for less cosmetic features and concentrate on built
quality. If a PCP air rifle is what you have, then one
can afford to go for slightly less quality build, and more
cosmetic features, but be careful. Always use a good
1 piece mount for springers and have good mounts
for PCP’s. Mount manufacturers like Sportsmatch
or Hawke are good enough on sub 12ftlbs air rifles.
Various scope manufacturers offer a good
selection of scope in this price range,
Nikko Stirling Platinum Nighteater 6-24x56 &
Hawke Varmint II 6-24x44 are two of the best
entries, can install with a certain assurance
on springers and PCP’s. If you bought a
starter PCP system and would like to install
an exotic variable high magnification
scope, with side wheel parallax
adjustment that is impressively accurate
at its maximum magnification, includes
sniper type turrets with 1/8” MOA clicks,
a 30 mm tube plus an illuminated Mil Dot
reticule, including a side wheel and a sun
shade get a ZOS 10-40X50 AE scope.
This is “a made in China scope” like most
big name scopes anyway, but it offers
value for money.
In the next issue we will start
setting up our air rifle – scope
combination and explore the
different tests we need to carry out to understand
better our air rifle and the right pellet combination
required in outdoor air rifle target shooting.
 Target Shooter 33
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LEE ENFIELD No5 Mk1 JUNGLE CARBINE
The Lee Enfield rifle Number 5 Mark 1 carries with
it a curious mixture of romanticism and mystic. The
Jungle Carbine brings with it a reputation for brutal
recoil and a wandering zero that often makes accurate
shooting a frustrating exercise bordering on cruelty.
The Jungle Carbine is the epitome of Georgian
military beauty. Conceived of during the grey
days of World War Two, it carries with it echoes of
a more extravagant era. The finer aspects of rifle
aesthetics rarely impact on the design of military
rifles, let alone on the design of a rifle whose key
development period occurred in the last 12 – 18
months of the Second World War.
A Design Enigma
However, the little carbine carries an air of vicious
beauty. From the flash hider, which provides little
The lineage of the Jungle Carbine can clearly be seen when
compared with a Martini-Enfield and Lee Metford cavalry
carbine. (Photo by Daniel Cotterill)
Richard Wild
The Mk. 5 Jungle Carbine (above) is a rugged
and attractive military rifle but brings with it a
reputation for brutal recoil and a wandering zero
that can make accurate shooting a frustrating
exercise. Keen observers will note a
successful 1Bn Green Howards patrol taken
during the Malaya Emergency, June 1952.
more than an aesthetic embellishment and may
actually erode accuracy, to the lightened receiver
that flexes under high pressure cordite loads, to the
hard rubber recoil pad that magnifies felt recoil, the
.303 Jungle Carbine appears built for its menacing
military appeal than its ability to produce accuracy.
Nevertheless, the Jungle Carbine has a number
of characteristics that should make it popular with
the Infantry, especially those operating in the dense
jungles of Southeast Asia. And when on military
operations in dense, dark rain forests, battling steep
Target Shooter 35
terrain, humidity and poor food, these points should
not be overlooked. It certainly fulfils the basic
requirements of a military weapon. It is short, it is
both simple and handy to use for an average sized
Projectiles used for testing. (l - r)
85 grain Hornady XTP, 125 grain
Sierra, 150 grain Taipan, 174
Sierra Match and 185 grain lead.
war-fighting, using one ammunition load for all 303
rifles and machine guns is understandable. But the
174 grain Mark VII bullet and cordite loads are not
the best choice of components when the rifle weighs
two thirds that of its parent rifle, the No 4. But
when a mainline weapon fails to reach its potential
because of this, hard questions need to be asked
and a more detailed explanation of how and why this
carbine didn’t make the grade needs to be sought.

History and Development Lightened rifles were

under consideration during late 1942. The
concept is far from new as the thousands of
Martini-Henry cavalry and artillery carbines not to
mention the Lee-Metford and Lee Enfield carbines
of the 1890s can prove. The SMLE No1MkIII was
a radical step forward in 1907 because, for the first
time, all Arms and Branches of the Armed Forces
were issued with the same size and weight rifle.

shooter. It is light to carry, compact and it can Given the speed that the basic dimensions of
quickly put down a lot of firepower with its ten shot the Jungle Carbine were decided on it becomes
magazine and charger loader – even under stress. apparent that the designers were probably
A short sight radius with a large ‘ghost ring’ rear working from a known pattern. A check of
peep sight are not handicaps when average other British military carbines from the last decades
distances during conflict can be measured in of the 19th century reinforces that view. A Lee
feet and where the enemy is rarely seen. It was Metford cavalry carbine made in 1891 and a Martini
also issued with a short, functional Bowie-style Enfield cavalry carbine from 1895 are the same
bayonet that could be used in a variety of support length as a 1945 manufactured Mk. 5 Jungle Carbine.
roles aside from fighting. But a light weight rifle is
rarely a success when the cartridge it uses delivers
Except for the change to the No. 4 style action and
an uncomfortable amount of recoil and muzzle blast.
peep sights, the Lee Metford is much the same
But when you do use it with Mk VII cordite roundsrifle as the Jungle Carbine. Handling the Metford
you certainly begin to notice its idiosyncrasies.
carbine is like its Lee Enfield successor as they both
When it simplifies the logistics support for share the same handling characteristics as well as
many of the same flaws
Close up of the front stock and flash hider. The amount of wood as the Jungle Carbine.
removed saves weight but prolonged exposure to tropical heat In June 1943, the
Infantry Weapons
and humidity would have had to have caused warping. The flash
Development
hider looks like a bell and rings like one too after every shot. Committee forwarded
a proposal for lighter
rifle for use mainly in
the battlefields of South
and Southeast Asia. Of
note was the realisation
that long range
accuracy was not to be a
major factor in its design.
Rather it should seek
to be as accurate as a
No. 4 up to 400 yards.
Initial tests at Bisley in
mid-July 1943 using
shortened No. 4 rifles
found that accuracy from
the carbine was com-
parable to the long rifle

36 Target Shooter
 A close up view of the Jungle Carbine receiver. A simple bedding technique using light
carboard holds the action tight in the stock. The pink colour produces a tighter hold.
out to 500 yards but recoil and muzzle flash were
considered “excessive”. After further troop trials to
address problems with muzzle flash and endur-
ance, the design of the “jungle carbine” was ap-
proved on 21 March 1944 - less than a year after
the concept was proposed. The official designation
of Mk. V was announced in the List of Changes on
12 September 1944.
A Lightened Rifle
The Jungle Carbine is truly a lightened version of
the No. 4 rifle and a true No. 5 immediately stands
out against any after-market builds. Non-essential
metal has been removed from the No. 4 build where-
ever possible. The knox-form, where the barrel joins
the action, is scalloped while parts of the action has
had
metal removed. The bolt handle on the Jungle
Carbine has also been drilled out. Disassembley of
the carbine also exposes the amount of extra wood
that has been removed. Space under the barrel
channel has been routed out and the butt stock not
only has a shorter screw holding it to the action, it
has also been substantially hollowed.
Myths and Misconceptions - Recoil
The recoil pad is a contradiction in both terms and
design. Logically, a softer and larger recoil pad
would be the best option but rubber technology at
the time could not survive the rigours of military
life. The option that became standard is harder
and thinner at the butt than required and actually
magnifies perceived recoil due to its wedge-like shape.
Other problems were encountered once the rifle
entered service in the tropics. Storing the rifles in a
conventional manner caused the rubber to
compress. The oils of the time also caused the
rubber to deteriorate over time. But the recoil
generated by a No. 5 using service ammunition is
no more severe than a No1 MkIII* with its brass butt
plate – for the odd angry shot or two. Both will bruise
after a while but the Jungle Carbine will no more
break shoulders than a similar weight rifle in 308.
Barrel Life
Hot cordite rounds in the MkVIIz with corrosive
Berdan primers will wear the lighter barrel of the
Jungle Carbine out faster than a No. 4 used in a
similar fashion. Troop trials suggest that maximum
useful barrel life is between 6000 and 12000 rounds.
Bearing in mind the service that the average surplus
Jungle Carbine has seen, a check of your barrel’s
condition in the lead up to any load testing is advisable.
Target Shooter 37
 The Jungle Carbine bayonet. A Bowie design and a
collectors’ delight when found in good condition.

Wandering Zero random wandering. If you wish to remove the flash

eliminator from the barrel be aware that the pins
The biggest challenge to working with the Jungle enter from different sides with the one closest to the
Carbine is its habit of wandering around the muzzle entering from the right and the pin closest
target. This “wandering zero” at long range is to the action entering from the left. Be prepared
interesting to watch and the author has recorded to find light corrosion in the join but this should
a perfect figure of eight pattern that emerged polish up well with oil and fine wet & dry paper.
during a 12 shot Deliberate application at 300 yards.
Reloading for the Jungle Carbine
There are two main causes for this habit and
many more theories. The first is the use of With hand loading these days, however, there
powerful 303 loads in a lighter action. Loads that is an alternative to being beaten black and blue
shoot well in the thicker steel of the No. 4 action with expensive surplus ammunition. With the
appear to cause the body of the No. 5 to flex at a point availability of light bullets in .311 produced for the
around where the locking shoulders are located. 7.62 x 39 cartridge as well as pistol bullets in 32
calibre we have a range of suitable candidates
The simple solution when shooting Mk. VII to begin experimenting with. However, with 60
ammunition is to replace the No. 5 action with a No. 4 plus year old, rear locking and wartime production
action. But then you don’t have a Jungle Carbine actions it is important that the reloader make sure
anymore. that their rifle is up to the loads being developed.
The second cause of inaccuracy, and perhaps the For burn rate comparisions with Australian powders
most serious, is the use of the bell-shaped flash cited below see: www.reloadbench.com/burn.html.
eliminator. The flash eliminator we see is the The lightened carbine load owes its genesis to the
product of wartime conditions and was designed, differences in recoil between Martini-Henry rifle and
tested and approved in period of less than six months. the carbine version. It was found that shooting the
If the Mk. 5 design was under scrutiny today, there shorter, lighter carbine with the 480 grain bullet and
is little doubt that a different design would emerge. 85 grains of black powder designed for the rifle did
nothing for accuracy or morale of the troops using it.
In the first place, the flash eliminator acts like a The introduction of a less harsh loading using a 410
piece of plasticine on the end of a tuning fork. grain bullet and 70 grains of black powder went a long
In effect it interferes with the harmonics of the way to making a more user-friendly unit. Furthermore,
barrel and means the bullet is more likely to leave the either load could be used in the rifle and the carbine.
muzzle at a different point in space from shot to shot.
The aim to develop an workable load with the Jungle
In addition, the bell shape “rings” when struck and Carbine was similar. Find a load that would shoot
would appear to set up a different harmonic field at accurately with acceptable recoil that would deliver
the end of the light and whippy barrel during rapid the required results in either military rifle competition
fire. While this is important to create the turbulance or in the field.
and extra burn area needed to break up the
gases that cause the muzzle flash, more modern There are three different jacketed bullet weights
options are lighter in both profile and design and worth spending time experimenting with and
probably would not affect the basic accuracy of the which will cover the needs of most shooters. The
rifle. Removal of the flash eliminator is supposed to lightest bullet for the 303 is the 85 grain XTP pistol
tighten groups and remove much of the zero’s bullets from Hornady. Speer 125 grain soft points,

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

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

Target Shooter 39
Sierra 174 grain Match: This is the load used in
a competition-tuned SMLE. Using 39.1 grains of
AR2208, this load averaged 1980 fps or a loss of 370
fps in the shorter barrel. Recoil during the test
session was mild and fast follow-up shots were
possible. 185 grain lead: Bang, poof. A cloud of lead
just beyond the muzzle. More work needed.
Using pistol powder offered a possible low recoil
alternative to heavy loads. When coupled with the
125 grain and 150 grain bullets a load of 12.5 grains
of AP-100 with a cotton wool wad produced an
accurate short range load that had very little recoil.
The 125 grain Speer soft points gave the best
accuracy with inch groups at 50 metres. They also
recorded a decent velocity of 1100 fps. With such
a small amount of fast burning powder in the large
case it is extremely important that a filler is used
otherwise ignition and pressure problems will occur.
Conclusion
The Mk.V Jungle Carbine was rushed into
service at the end of a six year World War with
little testing and a poor understanding of the
conditions it would see service in. If history is to
be any judge then the Jungle Carbine was a failure
as a military weapon. But then, the introduction of
the SLR into British service in 1957, increased the
firepower for the infantry and consigned the military
bolt action rifle to highly specialised roles.
But many of its characteristics are being reinvented
today. Jeff Cooper’s Scout carbine concept shares
many of the basic concepts developed for the Jungle
Carbine in its light weight and simplicity. With the
benefit of hindsight, a Jungle Carbine designed
today would have a different flash suppressor or
maybe a muzzle brake and a stronger action. But
many of the things in the existing design, its portability
and its pointability stand out, would remain the same.

Email : stuart@ospreyrifles.com

Tel : 0161 4083555

Osprey Rifles
‘The Savage Specialists’

We still have a limited supply of precision target actions

for sale at £500 for your next custom project. The new
RRP is £920 so grab a bargain while you can

URL : www.ospreyrifles.com

40 Target Shooter
 Chris Potter
Country Sports

Over 900 new & used guns in stock at any time.

Shotguns, Centrefire, rim & air rifles.
Large clothing & footwear departments.
From world class shooters to beginners - we can help.
Expert advice and guidance!
Visit our webshop – WWW.GUN.CO.UK
or call us on 01892 522208
2-6 Grover Street TEL: 01892 522 208
Off Camden Road FAX: 01892 543 515
Royal Tunbridge Wells EMAIL: MAIL@GUN.CO.UK
KENT TN1 2QB
WWW.GUN.CO.UK
Target Shooter 41
 HPS Target Rifles Limited
The Home of System Gemini Equipment
and
Target Master Ammunition
System Gemini TR701 and TR702 Fullbore Rifle Stocks, FR703 Smallbore
Visit our Home page: Rifle Stocks, FC704 F-Class/Bench Rest Rifle Stocks, Butt Plates, Handstops,
Bipods and Other Accessories plus Smallbore and Fullbore Test Rigs.
www.hps-tr.com SYSTEM GEMINI – FOR TOP CLASS SHOOTING

for a list of this year’s

trade shows that HPS
will be attending.

Target Master Ammunition:

On Bisley Camp:
The NRA Armoury stocks
our .223 Rem Sierra 69 & 77
grain & our .308 Win Sierra
190 grain ammunition.
The NSRA shop stocks our .223
Rem Sierra 69 grain & our .308
Win Sierra 155 grain & 175
grain ammunition.
HPS is an HSE Licensed
Commercial Manufacturer of
ammunition since 1993.
All HPS ammunition is CIP
approved, packaged and
labelled according to UN
regulations for UK and
International Transport.
HPS are also Liability Insured.
H PS
B R I N G IN G Q UA L IT Y A N D
I N N O V A T IO N T O T H E S HO O T ER
The stock range currently comprises:
.223 Rem., .308 Win., .303 British, 6mm BR
Remington/Norma.
Machine or Hand Loaded all using Sierra as
our standard bullet.
However, other makes of bullets such as (but not restricted to):
Berger, Tubb D-Tac , Lapua, Hornady, Speer, Nosler, etc. can be supplied
upon request.
Other calibres to special order including: (but not limited to):
22-250, .243 Win, 6.5 x 47, 6.5 x 55, 6.5 x 284, 7mm WSM, 7.62 x 39,
7.62 x 54R, .300 Win Magnum., 300 WSM, and .338 Lap Magnum.
All ammunition available in minimum lots of 50 rounds, 400, 500, 800 or 1000
round containers, depending on calibre.
HPS TARGET MASTER - WHEN YOU WANT THE VERY BEST
Also:
Reloading components:
CHECK OUT OUR VERY
COMPETITIVE VIHTAVUORI
POWDER PRICES !

Traditional Wooden
PO Box 308 Stocks, Rifle Barrels and Actions
Quedgeley, Gloucestershire Point Master Shooting Mats
England GL2 2YF Gloves, Caps, Slings, Gun Bags, Rifle Boxes,
Weatherwriters, Capes
Tel: +44 (0) 1452 729 888 RPA and Centra Parts & Accessories
Fax: +44 (0) 1452 729 894 Complete Rifles Built to Customer Specifications Plus
E-mail: info@hps-tr.com Re-Barrelling, Full Rifle Servicing, Repairs, and
Refurbishment Service
Website:
42 www.hps-tr.com
Target Shooter
 New Rifle Actions from RG Rifles Scotland

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

Target Shooter 43
action with tiny ejection-port. Not only that, especially shooting-related but, most gunsmiths
Savage will sell their ‘target’ action separatelywith any sort of reputation report full order books
and have made them available to shooters at and because 90% of custom actions currently
reasonable cost. Rifles built on these actions emanate from the US, Russ is able to take
tend to shoot very well. advantage of the weak pound which is forcing
up the price of American sourced products by
Incidentally, I’ll point out at this stage that a significant amount. In addition, a swingeing
the Savage target action has just had a $2500 license is now mandatory for American
massive price-hike but I happen to know that firearms exporters.
Osprey Rifles have two or three left at the
old price of £500 which includes a trigger. Russ has represented his country World level
Subsequent actions are likely to cost 70% more! in Benchrest competition and he has also built
E-mail stuart@ospreyrifles.com if you want one. rifles for many UK benchrest shooters – what
better pedigree could we ask of an action-
The Savages are still a mass-produced designer/manufacturer? His new actions follow
product however and stiffness is only part conventional two-lug design and are made on
of the problem we need to address if we are his Haas CNC machines. A selection of actions
to design an action for ultimate accuracy. In suitable for various applications are now in the
ddition to stiffness and trueness, we need pipeline.
precise bolt to body fit, good support for the Although disciplines like benchrest and F Class
barrel-tenon, provision for a quality trigger, a are the destination for many custom-actions,
decent bedding-area and perfect ‘timing’ and there is also a big market for the foxing-rifle –
lock-up. or accurate ‘field’ rifle. You don’t need to be a
competition shooter to enjoy using a fine rifle and
Some may question the wisdom of launching if you are having a new rifle built, you will need
any expensive ‘luxury’ item in today’s climate – to source an action from somewhere! Little point
44 Target Shooter
in choosing a rattley old Remy – yes, it might
save you a few pounds but the second-hand
value of a rifle built on a Remington will be nowhere
near that of one built on a proper custom action.
Remember, once you have your custom action, it
can be re-barrelled and re-stocked ad infinitum.
In the pictures are two of Russ’s actions - one
single-shot with heavy tang area suitable
for competition rifles and one repeater with
Remington-pattern tang and magazine
cut-out which would form the basis of an
accurate field rifle. Both are 8” long and designed
to take the shorter cartridges. A long action and
mini action for PPC/BR cartridges will follow.
A Gall action starts life as a lump of 17/4 PH
stainless-steel, which is hardened to 39
Rockwell before machining to 1.36 inches in
diameter. The raceways and internal cam are
EDM cut. The tenon-thread is the popular 1.0625
inches in diameter by 18 tpi as used on many
US custom actions and they will accept any
Remington style trigger. The Remington-pattern
action will accept bottom-metal designed for a
Remmy and employs a pinned recoil-lug. The
receivers are drilled and tapped 6 x 48 for scope
bases.
The bolt is machined from one piece of
ABSOLUTE PRECISION
Probably the most accurate rifle you will own
www.rpainternational.co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 845 880 3222
high-carbon EN30B tool steel. It starts off as
a 10 lb. block which produces two 8 oz. bolts
complete with handle. These are heat-treated to
45 Rockwell after rough machining then ground
to final dimensions. A Sako-style extractor
and spring-plunger ejector are employed. The
bolt-face is offered in 223, 308, PPC and
magnum, with stainless-steel shroud and fluted
body.
All work is done by Russ in-house with the
exception of the EDM work and heat-treatment.
The recoil-lugs and firing-pins are sourced
from Pacific Tool & Gauge – for the moment.
As you can see from the photographs, the
actions have gone well beyond the prototype
stage but there are still one or two minor issues
to be addressed before Russ is totally happy
with his product and he will not release these
actions until he is 100% satisfied. However, he
hopes to be in full production later in the year
and he is currently building himself a 1000
yard benchgun and a 100 yard benchgun to
show-case his actions and you can bet that
Target Shooter will be first with a review. Meanwhile,
check out Russ’s website at www.rgrifles.com
RPA Interceptor
RPA Ranger
RPA Elite
Target Shooter 45
 SYLWESTER LOS; up and coming Champion

Hayley Platts
SYLWESTER LOS
REPRESENTING THE RODING RIFLE &
PISTOL CLUB

Sylwester came to the UK in 2005 having

already succeeded at the highest levels in
shooting. Sylwester’s shooting career began
aged 9 in Poland having grudgingly landed
a place on the school team for the national
primary school league. Finding the sport
enjoyable and challenging Sylwester eventually
spent ten years in the Polish national team. In
1997 in Helsinki he became European Champion
for 50 metre free pistol and a year later in Spain
became World 10 metre air pistol Champion.

Since resuming his 10 metre shooting career in

this country and coached by girlfriend Monika
Baraniak he has won the NSRA British Open,
Surrey Open, British Pistol Club Open where he
virtually stayed in the mid to high 570 scores.
At the February 2009 British Champions at
Bisley Sylwester won the mens title with a score Sylwester_and_his_winnings
of 584. Just to put this in percpective, 584 would
have given Sylvester a silver
medal at the Beijing Olympics.

Roding is Sylwester’s home

club and offers him as
much support as a club can,
however it would be great
to see Sylwester attracting
a sponsor to enable him to
train and compete towards
an Olympic medal. His
proven track record as a
former European and
World Champion shows his
pedigree and he is a great
bet for any would-be backer.
To contact him email at;
www.rodingrifleandpistol-
club@yahoo.com
Sylwester winning another award

46 Target Shooter
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www.intershoot.co.uk
G.T. Shooting
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The premier shooting sports shop in Surrey

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Tel: 020 8660 6843
Fax: 020 8660 6843
We are conveniently situated near the M23 & M25.
Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 10.00am - 5.30pm
Target Shooter 47
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                
               
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              

                 
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              
            

          



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

48 Target Shooter
 Target Shooter 49
 Visit our NEW website at

Henry
100 - 104 Lowtown, Pudsey
West Yorkshire, LS28 9AY www.henrykrank.com
Tel: 01132 569 163 / 565 167 100’s of
Fax: 01132 574 962 photos of

Krank
Email: sales@henrykrank.com antiques
www.henrykrank.com for sale
Open Mon - Sat, 9am - 5pm online

All pistols and long guns are availble: Essential Accessories

 On licence (firearms licence required for pistols and shotgun licence required for long guns)
- available to collect in store or delivered to your local registered firearms dealer.
 Inert (no licence required) - available to collect in store or delivered direct to your door. Flat Powder Horn
Supplied with a 72g spout.
Brass spring loaded button dispenser.
Length 28cm. £41.40
Long Land Pattern Brown Bess
Large Horn Flask
On licence £390 Inert £357 Brass button
Short Land Pattern Brown Bess On licence £380 Inert £341 dispenser.
Used by english troops during colonisation of indian + amercian territories. Length 33cm. £49.80
Brown Bess Mod 1778 Musket On licence £380 Inert £341
Specification similar to Short Land Pattern Brown Bess but without the brass nose cup. Leather Shot Flask £40.80
Brass rocker type double shut-
Brown Bess Flintlock Musket ( India Pattern ) On licence £306 Inert £247
ter top which has two settings,
Brown Bess Flintlock Carbine On licence £306 Inert £247 throwing 1• or 1• oz.
Length 216mm.

Baker Inert Flintlock Rifle Hawksley Copper

On licence £504 Inert £434 Rope Flask £42.00
Baker rifle of the early 19th Century. Adjustable nozzle
which has 4 settings -
throwing from 2• to 3• drams
Indian Charleville Musket in quarter dram increments.
On licence £318 Inert £280 Length 197mm.

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

English Pattern Doglock

English Pattern Dragoon Pistol Pistol Loading/Cleaning Kit £27.60
On licence £216 Inert £203 On licence £246 Inert £218 Suitable for use with all pistols and re-
Early Dragoon holster pistol dating from Early English doglock pistol dating from volvers. Comprises of one 20.3cm
around the 1740's. Barrel 30cm. around the middle of the 17th century. steel rod, nylon filament & phosphor
English Short Light Dragoon Pistol bronze brushes, wool mop and bullet
On licence £216 Inert £203 puller. Available in 36 or 44cal.
As above but with 23cm barrel. Rifle Loading/Cleaning Kit £31.20
As above but with three steel rods.
Available in .36 to .45 or .50 to .75 cal.
Pietta Black Powder Revolvers Coast Guard Extension Rod Additional extension
Percussion Pistol rod for muskets. £4.80
On licence £153 Inert £107
Coast Guard pistol circa 1855. Brunox Cleaning
Pietta Rem 1858 Texas £196 Kit Offer
Pietta Rem 1858 Competition £598 1 x Brunox 100ml Gun Oil
P. Rem 1858 Competition Stainless £738 1 x Brunox 300ml Gun Oil
P. Rem 1858 New Model Army Target £243 1x Roll 4x2
P. Rem 1858 Army Target Stainless £330
Lancer Percussion ONLY
Pistol
£9.95 + +
On licence £169 Inert £147
Pietta Le Mat Cavalry Model £838 A faithful reproduction of the
Pietta Le Mat Army Model £838 1842 percussion Lancer pistol.
Pietta Le Mat Navy Model £838
STOCKISTS OF:

Pietta Colt 1851 Navy Steel £216

Pietta Colt 1851 Conf. Sheriff's £177
Pietta Colt 1851 Navy Ni. D/L Grips £336
Pietta Colt 1860 Army Steel £243
Pietta Colt 1862 Spiller & Burr £206
Postage
50 & packing £4.00 per order.
Target ShooterAdditional p&p charges apply for firearms + explosives. Above prices correct at time of printing.
Seb Rest on Review

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

For those new to the sport, they

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

The whole rest looks and feels fantastic

and ‘does what it says on the tin’

Target Shooter 51
 pedestal rests with mariner’s
wheel et al! This was something
completely different and novel.
At first glance the one thing that
anyone would say - and have - is
that the SEB rest is built like a
battleship. It is well constructed
and engineered. The tolerances
within the engineering are very
fine and this goes to show the
level of precision of its designer
and manufacturer, Sebastian
The joystick controls all movement and Lambang who is an accomplished
‘locks’ into position when released. No BR shooter who competes at
need for the mariners wheel or speedscrew ‘world’ level. The base has a
any more ‘hammertone’ finish, although
custom finishes can be requested
can be very beneficial . Not having to complete two – including polishing to a mirror-
operations - vertical and horizontal movements - finish. I think this service may have lapsed but
to get precisely onto the next target is a massive it is worth
boon, as this time can be used to observe the c o n t a c t i ng
surrounding conditions and let your hand the company
automatically guide the rifle into the next target dia- via their
gram. website to find
out.
New Toy
When I first unpacked the
rest I must admit there was a
feeling of excitement as this is
a product I have seen, but used
very briefly. (It’s all about having The
a new toy to play with). All the other whole thing
rests I have owned or weighs in at
reviewed have been the standard 21.3 lbs or 9.7
kilo’s, which is a lot,
especially if you
have to transport
it and your other
equipment any
distance or from one
country to another but,
once on the firing-point,
weight is a bonus.
However this provides a good insight
into how well the design has been
considered and developed.

Development of the SEB rest

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

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

adjustable fore-end stop, levelling screws, etc.

separate
thum-screws.
Stability and good
design sense indeed!
However, a further feature
is that the dual posts are set
on a pivotal base so these can be
rotated, greatly aiding rapid set-up, with-
out having to move the rest once you
have set it on the bench or firing-point.
Set-up time is often limited in major
competitions and this is a great
feature which doesn’t appear on any
other rests. Other features are similar
to those you will be familiar with on
other rests, such as the bubble level,
Using the rest
Using the coaxial rest is child’s play in the extreme
as you have a joystick to manoeuvre the aim
of the rifle around the target. The new range of
SEB rests have a 40 MOA adjustment, so this will
allow the whole target to be viewed easily.
The front bag, that is also made by SEB to
fit the rest, is well constructed with wide
parallel sides that keep their shape. It
is made from leather and a micro fibre
material that is designed to have better ‘slick’
properties than Condura, for smooth
tracking. At the present time the bag only
comes in a three-inch wide format for the
Light Varmint and Heavy Varmint classes.
I you want to shoot sporter class using
this rest then you will need to look
elsewhere for a bag but the fitting is
standard.
SEB’s rear bags are constructed in the
same way, with the same materials and
very well made, sturdy and well designed.
Although not available at the time of review I
have actually ordered one for my own use. The
cradle or plate the front bag sits in is
strongly constructed from aluminium alloy and
like the rest of these parts is highly polished. Two
adjustable side plates provide compression to the
Compression of the front bag is altered using the large
knobs - a handy feature that is

Target Shooter 53

Large adjustable pins are very useful for getting
height just right
The SEB rest in situe with LV rifle
54 Target Shooter
bag depending on what is needed for the rifle
you are using. The knobs controlling these are
large enough to get the compression you need
without ripping your fingers apart. (For those that
have had this experience this is an added bonus).
Setting the coaxial mechanism does take a
bit of practice, and this is where some may get
frustrated. (Now I say this with baited breath as the
rest comes set up and calibrated for heavy rifles
over 13 lbs so no messing around. My rifle weighs
in at 10.5 pounds so I had to adjust otherwise the
action became sloppy). Set the pins too tight and
the mechanisms can seem a bit sluggish when
moving the joystick around the target. Set them too
low and the cradle will proverbially fall. Therefore
you will need to play around with this a bit if you
are shooting light varmint at 10.5 pounds or one of
the sporter classes. Once adjusted, the rest works
well and Sebastian will help you out to configure
if you get stuck – like me – so send him an email.
In centrefire benchrest where group shooting is
the name of the game, it’s often necessary to get
five shots off in around 15 seconds – to ‘catch’
the wind. This is the technique employed by the
600 and 1000 yard shooters, so some prefer the
rest to be set on what I would call ‘sloppy’ – too
sloppy to support the weight of the rifle – but in
this mode, it can be returned very quickly to the
aim-point without ‘stiction’ or jerkyness. If you do
like the rest to support your rifle in ‘sloppy’ mode,
try fixing a weight to the front of the joystick spin-
dle. This will then ‘counterbalance’ the weight of
the rifle and your rest will work as smooth as silk.
The one thing that I could not get used to during
testing is that the SEB
rest did not need parts
locking down after I
have set up on a target.
After going through
this process for so
long it now feels alien
to not do otherwise
and this is my only
‘beef’ with this system;
even though the rest
will not move, if set up
properly. Having used
the SEB rest for a
number of practices I
can safely say that it
‘does as it says on the
tin’!
It is relatively easy
to set up, the
quality and finish
are the best and
this says a lot about
the manufacturer
of this product. I have had products from some
manufacturers who seem to think that they come
in kit-form and the consumer is the one who
finishes off any rough parts. Not so the SEB - it is a
superbly made product!
I am not sure about giving up my pedestal rest
just yet, as it is something I have got used to; it
also does all that it is meant to and has served me
well over the years. Maybe it is the control freak in
me that likes to lock everything down and say to
myself ‘this is precisely aimed and locked’.
Possibly this says more about my own
psychological makeup than anything else, or it is
just the way I have developed in this sport? If I did
trade up then a coaxial system would be my first point
of call. I would like to take the SEB rest away for a
few months and really work it in competition, get it
tuned to my needs and get myself tuned to it as well.
The cost is also a determining factor, as investment
in this product does not come cheap. At £498 the
SEB is not the cheapest rest on the market, but
other ‘coaxial’ rests are even more expensive, so it
is fair to say it is the cheapest coaxial around. It is
imported into the UK by Brian at Fox Firearms. This
is good news, as currently we only get the Caldwell
range of rests that are commonly found in this
country through a number of retailers. (Over the
last few years we have tended to import equipment
ourselves as groups or individuals from the US or
The SEB with counter balance weight for lighter rifles
Italy). Brian also supplies the front and rear bags, both
of which I have already said are very good products.
So if you want a rest that has an innovative design,
is extremely well constructed and employs all of the
current best practice in the benchrest sport then this
is what you are looking for. Like any of the products
I review it is something you will have to work with
to get the best out if it and yourself. Until next time!
Final thoughts - SEB rest modification
One of the issues with a SEB rest is rifle-support.
If you set the joystick tension tight enough to
support a heavy rifle you will find that the
movement becomes stiffer and jerky, making it
difficult to get back exactly on aim-point quickly.
The alternative is to back-off the tension so the action
once again becomes silky-smooth and add a
counterbalance weight to the front of the joystick
spindle where it protrudes from the front of the rest.
The size of the weight will depend on the weight of
your rifle but this shooter has come up with an ad-
justable one. If you look closely at the pic, the weight
slides back and forth so it can accommodate different
weights of rifles. The bar diameter is about an inch
and I know that an inch of barrel weighs about 4 oz. so
if the weight is 4 to 5 inches long it will be just over a
pound. It works really well and I can’t wait to make one.
Target Shooter 55
 http://www.foxfirearmsuk.com/
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'Caption Competition' (no prizes!)

Vince (sitting behind) talking to fellow benchrest and F-Class shooter Ian
(Willie) Dixon in the foreground at Diggle.
“What is Vince describing with his hands?”
56 Target Shooter
 LaserScope
In Ballistic Plex and now
NEW Ballistic Mil-Dot reticules
The LaserScope is
the successful
integration
of a laser
rangefinder
with a quality
riflescope
to create an
affordable,
compact and lightweight package that
stands up under severe recoil.
The LaserScope is a technologically
sophisticated instrument that looks and
handles a bit differently to a conventional
riflescope. It functions not only as a self-contained
single unit, but also comes with a remote activation
switch that straps to the forend of the rifle to allow
more convenient and steady operation of the laser.
Additional features include:-
● micro-sized advance circuitry
● high performance lens system
● unique ultra-low Burris mounting configuration

Quad Scope
NOW 40mm Objective
3–9 x 40mm Ballistic Plex Reticule
The new Burris Fullfield II Quad Scope is the ultimate
aid to the Sako Quad rifle. The rifle has the option of
up to four interchangeable barrels; in .22LR, 17 Mach II,
17 HMR and .22 Magnum. The new Quad 3-9 x 40mm
riflescope has four resettable adjustment dials, colour
coded to match the colour coding on the Sako barrels.
Once all four barrels have been sighted in, the scope
can be adjusted to the corresponding dial colour when
the barrels are interchanged, with no loss of zero.

The scope will work just as well on other rifles with

interchangeable barrels, or on standard rifles used to
shoot different types of ammunition for
different applications. Long-range riflemen
can also customise settings for shooting
multiple distances.

For further product information and details

of your local stockist, please call GMK on
01489 587500 or visit www.gmk.co.uk
www burrisoptics.co.uk

Target Shooter 57
Burris Laserscope/quad advert.indd 1 4/2/09 10:49:14
 Gwyn Roberts
A record number of 180 shooters shot the first open
Gallery Rifle competition of the year at Bisley over
the weekend 28th & 29th of March under what turned
out to be very challenging conditions, depending on
what day you shot on. Friday was really a mixture
of clear skies followed by a bit of wind, then rain,
then back to nice clear skies again and the only thing
that remained constant all day was the cold. And
believe me, it really was cold! On the Saturday the
conditions certainly worsened and at times the gusts
of wind were enough to blow the sights completely
off the target during some matches, as can be seen
clearly by some of the final scores that were posted.
At around 10.30am I turned up to shoot the Bianchi
Barricade match on Stickledown and the
wind was simply horrendous! When the
targets turned to face you they looked more like
melons in the scope as the flimsy backing
boards being used were bending so much, which
meant that some shots went low and others straight
depending on where the board was at the time you
released each shot! At 25yds a gust of wind blew me
right off the target half way through a string of six
so I simply stopped pulling the trigger, unloaded and
proved clear to the R.O, then packed my rifles up
for the day. In conditions like this, if I can’t keep the
sights on the target then I won’t pull the trigger! The
weather on the Sunday however couldn’t have been
better and this was when many of the winning scores
were shot. As well as being warm and sunny the
Saturday…. and Sundays Tony Cooper enjoying his first Bisley experience
weather!
58 Target Shooter
whole time, the wind flags didn’t move all day either
which is very unusual on Stickledown that’s for sure!
It was nice to see some new faces attending
Bisley for the first time this year and I’m glad that it
didn’t end up being too daunting for them in the end,
although some did have a few restless nights leading
up to it! At the end of the day it’s just a gathering of
shooters from different clubs enjoying their sport, and a
helping hand is always available to those that need one.
One shooter who didn’t need any help was Norman
Brown who was the only shooter at the meeting to
set a new British Record using his LBR in the Timed
& Precision 1 match. Scoring a maximum of 300pts
and 19x, he beat Charlie Sears’ record of 17x that was
set back in 2006 so a big well done must go to Norm!
Another shooter to put in a first class performance
was Mel Beard in the Bianchi GRCF match finishing
just 2 points off the maximum of 1920. It would have
been great to see Mel clean it as it’s only been done
once before by Layne Chisholm, when he went over
to the U.S to shoot it a few years ago. Unfortunately
though a single 8 dropped on his last match, the
Mover, put an end to that but I’m sure he’ll be out to
make amends at the Phoenix! Taff Wilcox was also
on for an easy win with a 300 28x in the T&P1 GRCF
until a lever lock up in one of the shorter stages caused
him to shoot a “skidder.” This meant he dropped
10 points off in the end to finish with 27x, which
 to get to know the other range officers and shooters
at the same time. You can then take this experience
back to your club and help build up our sport at grass
roots level as it were. E-mail Brian Thomas at the
NSC if you can spare a bit of time!

As a start to the season the Spring Action

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

Dave Holt shooting with one of his

“bigger” rifles.

The standard in some of the shorts events will

certainly give the national team selectors
something to think about at the end of the year
with a lot of them being put up by our up and These guys have probably “heard it all”
coming shooters. Having a high x count is nice, but
but have you?
consistency is really the key if you want to get into
one of the teams and this is what we are looking for,
as well as commitment of course! By the way, if any of quality printing firm to produce the targets for future
you are eligible to shoot for Wales, please make sure competitions, so you can’t ask for a fairer response
you drop me an e-mail before the end of the season. than that! There is a huge variety of competitions
available in the Gallery Rifle world for people to enjoy,
To hold a competition of any size you must first of all regardless of what type of firearm you own so why not
have enough help and R.O’s on the day otherwise it’s come out and have a go with us. I’m sure you’ll have
just not going to happen. With this in mind, if any of you a good time! A full set of results for the Spring Action
are thinking of going to the Phoenix (May Bank Holiday Weekend is available on the Galleryrifle.com website!
weekend) and won’t be doing that much shooting,
then why not volunteer
to help run one of the
ranges? It doesn’t matter
if you aren’t a qualified
RCO or you haven’t got
that much experience
as there will always be LBR shooting with
someone there to guide Team Derby
you and it’s a great way

Target Shooter 59
 Westlake Engineering
Manufacturer of Target Pistols
Walnut Tree Cottage Camp Cottages
Druids Lodge Salisbury
Wiltshire England
SP3 4UQ
Tel/Fax 01722782432
Email ags.westlake@virgin.net
www.westlakeengineering.com
RFD Wilts. 157
Taurus .357 Muzzle Loading Revolver

The Taurus ML Revolver is converted from a Taurus .357 Magnum Long Barrelled
Revolver. The cylinder is removed and a Yoke extension fitted, this contains the
spring loaded plunger that frees the action when the yoke is closed. As this extension
cannot be removed, it prevents the re-fitting of the original cylinder. The Barrel is
shortened to approximately 5 ¼ inches and the wristbrace is removed.

A new cylinder is made which has pockets for shotgun primers at the rear with a small
flash hole through into the chamber at the front. The chamber is made to accept .357”
lead wadcutter bullets.

Each chamber is charged with Herco powder ( as per .38 S&W Spl data) and then the
bullet is pressed in. Once the chambers are charged the shotgun primers are inserted
into the primer pockets at the rear of the cylinder. The loaded cylinder is slid onto the
yoke from the rear and the yoke closed. The pistol is then ready to fire.

A loading press is provided to facilitate seating of the bullets at a uniform distance

into the chambers.

The conversion of your pistol costs £270.00. Extra Cylinders are £150.00 each. If you
do not have a pistol I can order a new pistol from the Importers. A Taurus .357
Magnum LBR costs £675.00

You will need a variation on your FAC for a .357/.38 Muzzle Loading Revolver, and
for each extra Cylinder you want.
60 Target Shooter
 It’s simple. When you add
up the accuracy, performance
and value of our Match, Hunting
and Varmint bullets, it makes
choosing Sierra easy.
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online
Hunter Field Target Scope Test
This is the first part of a four part series on scopes
which lend themselves to the sport of Hunter Field
Target or HFT for Target Shooter online magazine.
HFT has not been going for that long but, as Field
Target did, it has driven forward the technology and
Zeiss eye bell
62 Target Shooter
Tim Finley
understanding of the rifles and scopes that are used
in the discipline.
The over-riding factor with HFT is the ‘scope rule’-
the aiming device cannot be altered by the shooter
once they have shot the first target
on the course. With targets from 8
yards to 45 yards it is asking a lot of
the scopes and lenses, Why?
Because scopes suffer from
parallax error. The yellow star is the
reticle and the coloured squares
the target as viewed through the
scope.. In real terms the reticle
is not focused in the same image
plane as the target, so it moves
position on the intended target as
you move your eye/head about at
the rear of the scope.
The practical upshot of which
is, if you do not have your eye in
exactly the correct same spot in the
center of the scope, the reticle will not
actually be aiming where you want
it. That is if the scope has not had
its objective lens adjusted to eliminate the parallax
error.
In FT we use this adjusting of the objective lens to
focus the image and eliminate parallax error and
it also rangefind’s the distance to the target when
we read off the ranges marked on the parallax
adjustment front lens or side-wheel.
Not so in HFT, the objective and therefore the
parallax, cannot be changed once you have started
shooting. So with the 25 yard parallax, eight yard
targets will look blurred and so will 45 yard targets. Bushnell 10 mag mildot
Only the 25 yarder’s will look pin-sharp and have no
parallax error at all. If you move your head from side
to side the reticle will remain in the same place, but
only at 25 yards.

Hawke SR6 reticle

Zeiss3-9 reticle

Bushnell 4-12 Balistic Plex

another layer to the problem. 90% of HFT shooters

use a mildot reticle to range-find. Although originally
made for tactical sniping at long ranges, the mildot
reticled scopes can be used to bracket range-find on
the kill zones of HFT targets themselves.
Therefore in HFT a compromise must be reached
for scope magnification and parallax settings. The Bushnell 4-12 front end
bigger the magnification the more blurred the scope
will be at the extreme ranges but - and here’s the
fly in the ointment - the lower the magnification the
bigger the exit pupil size and the greater the
potential parallax error.

Exit pupil = Objective lens size

Magnification

Throw into the mix the reticles needed to range-find

the disc sizes at various yardages and it adds

Target Shooter 63
Discs are normally 40, 25 or 15mm in diameter. For
example with a 40mm disc the size it appears at
Bushnell 10-40 rainguard
certain ranges with a true mildot scope are:

YARDS MILDOTS
8 5.5
9 4.9
10 4.5
12 3.7
15 2.9
17 2.6
20 2.2
25 1.8
30 1.5
35 1.3
40 1.1
45 1.0

The magnification power used

on HFT has really been chosen
by the use of mildot scopes. Ten
times magnification has always
been the favored magnification
in the sniping world and so it
has proven in HFT, as it allows
the shooter enough mag to aim
accurately at 45 yards and still
be able to see blurred 8 yard
targets.
Targets for the test
The aim of this introductory
article is to set the scene for the
through him - thanks Pete. I’m not a bad HFT shot
biggest ever side by side HFT scope test of all the
myself, wining the odd UKAHFT round, two Platinum
favoured HFT scopes, giving their good and bad
badges in our NEFTA Hunter series (Five Gold
points and what parallax error you can expect at
awards) and the Gathering title in 2005 and 2007
certain ranges, along with a run down on the ideal
(coming 3rd in 2004 and 2008). So, I reckon I know
settings used by the top HFT shooter in the world.
what makes a good HFT scope.
I enlisted the help of Pete Sparkes early on in
Next month, Part Two will look at eight scopes. The
the project and obtained two of the test scopes
first is the EB Sniper 10x42
Mildot scope, a favourite of Pete
HFT scope test lineup Sparkes, it has the most wins of
any other HFT scope out there.
Next a pair of Bushnell’s, the
10x40 3200 Elite Mildot which I
used to win the Gathering as did
Paul Wilson in 2006. A new one
in 2007 was the 4-12x40 3200
Elite with a Ballistic Plex - very
useful for aiming off in a wind.
A brace of Lightstreams next -
the one first focal plane scope
in the test, the 4.5-14x44 and
their new 3-12x40 Mildot 2nd
focal plane scope - this is a
pre-production prototype.
The MTC Viper 10x42 is

64 Target Shooter

MTC sidewheel SR6 - with the Nick Jenkinson
have used one in HFT comps myself.
Bushnell 4-12 turrets
next and is, at the time of writing, the second
pre-production test scope featured here - kindly now! You will have to look at next month’s free
loaned for this test by Gary Cooper of MTC. It is on-line issue to find out my results.
aimed squarely at the HFT market so that is why it is
included, it does have their SCB reticle fitted too.
Hot on the heels of those two
preproduction scopes is another, line up for the next few
in fact the only one in the world issues
so far. A Schmidt and Bender
10x42 Klassik fitted with a P3
Mildot reticle and re-parallaxed
to 20m.
reticle but S&B kindly agreed
to build one for me as I helped
them out with the design of the
first focal plane reticle in their
12-50x56 FT scope. I won the
2007 Gathering with the S&B
and came 9th in the first HFT
World Championships in 2009.
The next is another German
scope but from the 1980’s world
of FT - the Zeiss 3-9x36 is used
by a few of today’s top HFT boys
for its quality of glass. Thanks
to Pete Dutton for the loan of
the scope. Lastly is the Hawke
designed reticle it gives the HFT
shooter the opportunity to aim off
in a more precise manner and I
So, those are the scopes. The test will
involve using mildot calibrated test
sheets devised by Brian Samson, a
top HFT shot and the man behind the
NEFTA Hunter Series. These sheets
have the exact size in Mildots that should
appear at given ranges. I will be using
15, 25 and 45 yard sheets as the asis
for the test but other sheets every five
yards would be put out too. The scopes
had to be placed in a cradle built by Pete
Dutton attached to a camera tripod so
I could freely move my head around to
measure the parallax error. Damn, I
appear to run out of space for this month

Whilst I was working with them

on the new FT scope, I looked
through their spec. sheet
of scopes and thought the
fixed 10 mag., 25mm bodied
hunting scope - if fitted with a
mildot reticle and re-parallaxed
to 20m - would make a top
HFT scope. The Klassik is not
available with a P3 true mil-dot

Target Shooter 65
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66 Target Shooter
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68 Target Shooter
Reproduction No.32 Scope Brackets
Over the years the value of complete, shootable
No.4(T) sniper rifles has continued to rise – no doubt
Scopes Brackets – Three
original No.32 scopes
helped by the introduction in 1989 of a new 600 yard
sniping competition run as part of the South London
Rifle Club classic event. These competitions evolved
in to the famous Trafalgar meeting and there are
now several 200 yard McQueen, snap, double snap,
600 yard and 900 yard sniper competitions for which
No.4(T) and the later L42A1 sniper rifles are eligible.
The demand for these rifles remains insatiable the
total price for even a miss-matched rifle and scope
Rose KD – close up of
the rounded profile Rose
Brothers brackets, marked
JG or KD
Nigel Greenaway
is likely to be £2,000. For a correct matching rifle
with its scope tin, leather sling and lens caps, Scout
Regiment spotting scope and wooden transit cases
- then the price will be upwards of £3,500 and more.
All this has resulted in a veritable cottage industry of
miss-matched rebuilds made up from genuine rifles,
non-matching scopes and mount brackets, all the
way through to rifles where the only genuine sniper
Dalglish Bracket &
Dalglish N92 – close up of
the squarer profile
Dalglish bracket and its
distinctive N92 code.
item is the No.32 sniper scope.
For those lucky enough to have a correct No.32
scope it is relatively easy to fit it to a suitable scope
less No.4(T) or even a basic No.4 or to make an
Dalglish plus Repro – close up of an original
Dalglish compared to a part finished reproduction
which matches the Dalglish style
Target Shooter 69

Pattern – one half of the Pattern to cast 8
brackets
L42A1 lookalike. However this process of refitting
scopes only started when Roger Payne, an RFD and
an expert on these rifles, who regularly has a stand
at the Birmingham International Arms Fair, decided
in 1990 to make reproduction scope brackets.
Without the bracket you really are stuck and
the rifle is only eligible to enter the military class
competitions if a contemporary mounting system is
used.
Roger has, over the years, made five batches of 100
brackets, cast out of malleable iron and machined
just like the originals, using original blue prints.
Experience and minor tweaks have made each
successive batch better and the quality is so high
that, to quote the noted authority on the subject,
Peter Laidler, when answering a question on one
of the internet collector forums “…about 50 or so
of Roger Payne’s brackets were utilised on the
latter rebuilds of the L42’s destined for War
Reserve stocks and they were indeed perfect. It’s
ironic that some of the L42 owners out there who would
probably shudder at a repro anything, probably
have an MoD fitted repro bracket. Does that make
it a repro? The owners of those rifles can at least
be assured that they have one of the dedicated War
Reserve Stocks held at xxxxxxxx in Berkshire. The
steel stock and quality assessment was done at the
T h u m b
screws – like 18 and 19 or 202 and 203, on the side of the
the two
originals
with springs
are at the
top.
70 Target Shooter
material labs at Shrivenham and even that was the
same horrible black-heart (or was it white-heart...?)
malleable cast! It’s such an old formula that I can’t
find the mix in Machinerys handbook any more!”
The purpose of this article is to show the
considerable effort that goes in to making the
brackets – something that I know about because
I have joined Roger in helping to make the latest
batch. They are made to tight tolerances to ensure
that they collimate within acceptable limits when
fitted to genuine rifles (something that can’t always
be said about some of the Indian made copies that
have recently appeared). Roger’s brackets are
difficult to distinguish from an original and have
helped pair up many a No.32 scope with a suitable
rifle which would otherwise have continued to gather
dust in a corner. The value of a complete rifle, even
if the rifle and scope are mismatched, is far greater
than the sum of its parts so the brackets are a great
investment. However, before describing this labour
Dalglish Rose – Looking down on the
scope rings and fitted cradle screws of
a Dalglish bracket above a Rose
bracket.
of love, a history lesson is in order.
WW2 Scope Brackets
There were two British and one Canadian
manufacturer of the brackets that held the No.32
scope to the rifle. Rose Brothers of Gainsborough
in Lincolnshire marked their brackets with either JG
or KD and Dalglish of Glasgow marked theirs N92.
Other markings will be successive numbers,
cradle cramps or scope rings as we would call them
today. Some of the early scopes having single letter
prefixes or suffixes. The reason for these numbers
is to prevent the caps being put back on the wrong
cradle. After 1950 the bracket had the rifle serial
number stamped on it. Original brackets without a
number will have been sold out of service before
1950. Sometimes you will find brackets with two or
three different rifle numbers stamped on them with
the previous numbers struck through. The
Canadian REL made brackets always had the
rifle serial number engraved on them. Rose

Machining Jigs
Brothers’brackets have more rounded edges whilst the
Dalglish brackets have more square edges – as
you can see from the picture. Roger’s brackets are
copied from the Dalglish type.
During the war Holland and Holland carried out most
of the conversions – in the process matching scopes
to rifles with precise machining of the mounting pads
fixed to the side of rifle actions so that scopes would
be precisely in line with the bores of the rifles with
reticules centred so that the maximum number of
adjustment clicks are available for elevation and
windage. Hence each scope is collimated to its rifle
and the scope number is then stamped on to the
butt of the rifle so that scope and rifle remain as a
matching pair. Brackets might be swapped when
trying to salvage a rifle or scope – hence it is quite
common to see different rifle numbers stamped on
the bracket but this could be a laborious process
with armourers trying different barrels to ensure
correct collimation. Having said that, I’ve never
had too much of a problem trying different brack-
ets, a well made one of the correct dimensions and
machining will line up well enough to ensure enough
Box of Machined Brackets prior to hand
finishing
adjustment is left in the scope for relaxed civilian
shooting. Notice the emphasis on well made as
some of the foreign made reproductions need
considerable work to make them even fit on to
original mounting pads and collimation is often
non-existent so that most of the scope’s adjustment
is used up in one direction to even get close to the
target.
So what work is involved to produce accurate
reproduction brackets that have been described as
“perfect” by Peter Laidler? The answer is lots of
time, effort and considerable expense. Specifically
the following elements are required:
1. A “pattern” is hand made by a pattern maker so
that a number of casts can be made in one go – in
this case eight brackets. The pattern is made in two
halves – one half is shown in the picture. A skilled
job in itself which is then followed by the skill of
casting in malleable iron. A cast bracket is shown
from a previous batch which was broken out of the
mould too soon and then proceeded to bend slightly
before cooling – hence it had to be rejected.
2. Cradle screws - a special tapered pattern that
cannot be purchased off the shelf. These are what
hold the scopes rings and eight are needed for each
bracket so it makes sense to get 1000 made (I have
some spares if anyone needs them).
3. Thumb screws – two per bracket, used to secure
the bracket to the rifle. They are specially designed
so that the circumference of the round thumb piece
allows the correct tension to be applied by thumb
and index finger. There have been many reports that
the foreign made thumb screws have been known
to shear off under thumb /finger pressure leaving
the threaded portion stuck in
the mount pads! Again more
spares are avilable if needed.
The picture shows a batch
– the two originals are at the
top with the small springs
that help achive the right
tension without damaging the
bracket.
4. Machining jigs – another
hand made and expensive
item which is required to hold
each bracket prior to
precision machining. The same
company has been used
for the last three batches so
quality and accuracy is very
high.
Target Shooter 71

Reproduction bracket prior to hand finishing
– red areas are those where metal needs to
be removed.
5. Machined brackets prior to hand finishing with a
power file. It takes about one hour to hand finish each
bracket prior to stamping the rings so that remain
matching then shot blasting, parkerising and spray
painting with black suncorite (the official British military
finish). The original brackets had quite a rough
wartime finish with obvious pits and marks from
casting and finishing. Too smooth a finish makes
a reproduction bracket stand out from an original –
hence we deliberately try to retain the wartime look.
expensive “pattern” with them. More time and effort
would then be taken to find another company and
more money expended to pay the pattern maker.
This time it was my job to find the pattern maker and
I made sure that I retrieved the pattern.
Hopefully it is now fully appreciated just how
much time and effort goes in to making these
reproduction brackets. The availablity of these high
quality brackets has resulted in a dramatic increase
in the value of No.32 scopes – they typiucally fetch
between £700-£1000 depending on condition and
the mark (Mark 3 or 2/1 scopes are easier to zero
so they tend to fetch more). If the scope comes
with a bracket then this adds £300-£400 to the

Over the years Roger has found that the skills

needed to fabricate these brackets seem to be
disappearing. With each batch of 100 brackets
taking about 2 or more years to sell, to a select band
of shooters and collectors, it might be as long as
three years before, for example, the company who
cast the brackets is approached for another batch.
More often than not, Roger has found that the
original company has gone bust – taking the
Reproduction - not quite finished
package. If you are lucky enough to have one of these
scopes then purchasing the bracket will be a sound
investment. This latest batch of British made
brackets cost £200 each, but then quality never did
come cheap.

Can you tell them apart????

72 Target Shooter
 Henry
100 - 104 Lowtown, Pudsey
West Yorkshire, LS28 9AY
Tel: 01132 569 163 / 565 167
Fax: 01132 574 962 Quality reproduction

Krank
Email: sales@henrykrank.com pistols and rifles
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Target Shooter
Above printing.
prices correct at time of73
74 Target Shooter
 Target Shooter 75
 OLD ‘FRIENDS RE-UNITED’ - SPRINGFIELD &
UNERTL

I’ll declare at the onset that I’m not especially a fan
of old firearms. Yes, they’re very interesting from
an historical perspective/curiosity/collecting point of
view and, if that’s your thing, then a visit to the Royal
Armouries in Leeds is a must.
It’s fine if you can afford to buy stuff to just polish
and hang on your wall but just how good were these
rifles, considering the quality of steels and methods
of production? Or perhaps I should say -
how accurate were they - compared to what
we have come to expect of modern rifles?
Rob Hunter
Choose your weapons
That’s a tough one - there were several different
‘sniper’ rifles used throughout the Vietnam conflict -
that is rifles which were pressed into service to fulfil
the role of a sniper rifle. The old adage ‘today’s wars
are fought with yesterday’s technology’ is as true
today as it was then.
At the start of the conflict in Vietnam in 1959, there

The Plan
Having made my dismissive statement on
historical arms, I should say I do have a more
than passing interest in the Vietnam war and
its weapons so, sometime ago, after reading
about the extraordinary shots and exploits
of the famous snipers from that era, such Scope and rifle
as Carlos Hathcock and Chuck Marwhinny, togehter in
I got to wondering, given their age and perfect
production methods, just how accurate were harmony
their rifles. Or were these well-documented
extraordinary shots just a case of these
men being truly exceptional marksmen.

Only one way to find out...aquire one! Or

should I say re-create one - to the same
specification as the original sniper rifle and
test it. A great idea maybe but naïve to say
the least. The problem being I didn’t realise
that the necessary bits and pieces to create
this test are becoming increasing hard to
get hold of. Sorry, let’s amend that - I should
have said very (hens teeth type) hard to get.

76 Target Shooter
 The Scope looking nearly new
was no official sniper training program or defined
weapons. Everything was mothballed after WW2
and only slightly ‘re-kindled’ for the Korean conflict.
So, shortly after the start of the Vietnam war,
Lieutenant Jim Land managed to convince the upper
echelons of the USMC of the value of scout snipers
for reconnaissance and harassment of the enemy
on their own ground. In 1960, the first of the Marine
Corps scout snipers graduated from their two week
course at the Hawaian based sniper school (one of
whom was one Private Carlos Hathcock) though at
this time there was no official issued sniper rifle and
it was a case of whatever the local armourers had
at hand - this inevitably meant left-overs and
ad-hoc weapons from WW2 and the Korean conflict.
M1903A1 Sniper
In order to make this a tough test, I ruled out the
Remington and Winchester rifles that stayed in
service throughout the major part of the Vietnam
war as they are basically the same rifles that can
The Unertl 8X reticle
be bought off the shelf today. Of course, the semi-
auto rifles such as the Garand were out because
of our nanny-state government has ruled that
we can’t be trusted with such WMD. So I decided
on a real tough test - the Springfield M1903A1.
To be totally historically correct, this rifle was well
past its sell-by date when the Vietnam conflict
started, having seen the majority of its use in WW2 and
Korea but there are actual documented cases and
pictures of this rifle being used in action against the VC.
The sniper rifle was usually built on, or around, the
Springfield 30-06 National Match rifle which was first
accuracy tested and gauged and then fitted with
what was the current top of the line Unertl scope.
The Scope
The Unertl 8X scope was based on the Unertl
target scope. This was quite a bold step for the
military, in as such that the official thoughts on the
use of scopes for military use was in favour of very
low power - i.e. 2X or 4X - at the most 6X. The
rationale behind this low magnification was to give
the shooter the biggest field of view possible. This is
fine but it doesn’t help the sniper to deliver pinpoint
accuracy as we understand it today. The Unertl reticle is
however a very fine cross-hair which affords the user an
uncluttered view and best of all, a very precise aim-point.
Its worth noting that it’s only in the past couple of
years that the British Army has moved up from a set
magnification of an 8 power Schmidt &Bender to the
variable 12 power, a move that was way overdue; so
as you see, the US Army was way ahead of its time.
The Unertl scope has a few other things going for
it too. The rear mount or housing has external
micrometer ¼MOA clicks for windage and
elevation. This external adjustment may look a
Target Shooter 77
 one on top of your wardrobe
An amazing group size - better than
that a long-forgotten uncle
imagined left you, it’s probably worth
around the five-grand mark!
So for those – like me -
who want to recreate the
Springfield sniper rifle, the
next best thing is the 8X
target scope, which is in
effect exactly the same
scope but even these are
becoming increasingly
hard to get hold of. It took
me the best part of year to
find a good one and get it
over from the States. Note
the original wooden box
and brass fittings that the
Unertl scopes were
bit crude but it’s actually a very good method of dispatched in - no card
making adjustments on a scope as it does away with board here!
all the very small moving parts that would normally
be hidden inside the tube and thus inaccessible. The The other question I always get asked about
downside is, it does become a place where dirt and this scope is “What is the spring for?”. Well, the
general junk can accumulate in combat conditions. scope was designed to move within its mounts
under the recoil of the rifle and the spring is
Not surprisingly, there is still a healthy second-hand simply there to return the scope to its original
market for Unerlt scopes. They do have a position so maintaining the correct eye relief.
somewhat cult-following around the world and
the holy-grail amongst collectors is a true USMC The Rifle
8X sniper scope. These were stamped and serial I started the search for a Springfield ’03 rifle around
numbered on the side of the tube and if you have the same time as the scope and I thought this part
was going to be reasonably straight forward, after all

The old and the new!

78 Target Shooter
there were thousands of Springfield National Match
rifles made. When I started to ring round the dealers,
I was greeted by either a stunned silence, a sharp
‘sucking of air’ type noise or just plain laughter. Not
an encouraging start but the one name that did crop
up time after time was that of Andrew Kukielski of
Colenso Arms. Not only is Andrew a collector of this
type of rifle but he is also one of the few people in the
country who is regarded as an expert and as such
that makes him an invaluable source of knowledge
of where to get the various bits and pieces. Great, so
I handed the problem over to him (a problem shared,
a problem halved...) and true to his word, 6 months
later I got a call saying he found one, in very nearly
mint condition. It was in great nick for a rifle that was
built around the 1920`s.
OK, got the rifle, got the scope, just a case of
getting them together. Did I say just? As usual
nothing is that simple - the scope mounting-blocks
have to be fixed in set designated positions, one
on the barrel, one on the action. This pre-deter-
mined distance is what sets the value for the scope
adjustment clicks. Probably the only gunsmith in
country with such a jig to do this job is gunsmith Roger
Mason of Essex, who luckily was a friend of Andrew’s.
A few phone calls later and all the bits were off to
Roger to be assembled. Three weeks later, the
woodwork on the fore-piece had been altered
and the scope-blocks fitted and the scope was
on. The whole rifle had been stripped, serviced
and cleaned to bring it back to almost as-new
condition. Several days later and project that I
had worked on for a year -without seeing the
majority of the parts - landed assembled in my lap.
Given that I said at the start of this project that
I wasn’t a fan of old military rifles, I fell in love
with this rifle as soon as I un-packed it. It’s light,
well balanced and comes up to the shoulder
really well. Andrew had even managed to get
me an authentic leather sling to finish it all off.
Please mention
when using advertising
in the magazine
However the point of this exercise was not to stroke
it but to shoot it and find out what it’s capable of.
Feed Me
Luckily there’s lots of loading information out
there for this rifle and the 30-06 cartridge. A
search on the net soon throws up loads for
everything from 155 to 220 grain bullets. I had plenty
of 155 and 168 grain Lapua match bullets and in
order to give the rifle the best chance, I gave it the
best equipment to work with - Lapua brass and
Redding competition dies and in order to be a little
more gentle on the bore, I moly-coated the bullets.
I then ran two test batches and both showed similar
promising results. Interestingly, the best groups were
with 48.5grains of Vihtavuori N140 which delivered
a muzzle velocity of 2650 fps. Both batches showing
groups at 100 yards with all five shots touching. I took
the two best loads and ran the same test at 300yds.
The 168 grain Scenars really came into their own,
giving me a 10 shot group of 2 ¾ inches - that’s sub MOA!
But how would it fare against a modern rifle? As a
comparison test with a typical current sniper-type
rifle, I shot the Springfield alongside a friend`s Sako
TRG with a 8x32 Nightforce scope at 300 yards. The
Sako does have smaller five-shot group at 3 inches
which was only to be expected but the old rifle did
put up a good show on the day with a 3¾ inch group.
This was not very a scientific experiment but I
did wind the power down to 8X on the Nightforce
to make it a more level playing-field but it does
show what this 70 year old rifle can do. I would go
further by saying that with some more load
development and in more experienced hands than
mine, I’m sure that this rifle could do much more.
Conclusion
Going back to the beginning of this article I asked the
question “How accurate were these rifles?” The answer
is - more accurate than I ever imagined - sub MOA!!
Target Shooter 79
 AIRGUN SPECIALIST IN HEREFORD
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S/H . 222 RUGER ST C/W DEERFIELD SCOPE £575.00 LEICA TRINOVID 10x42 EX DEMO £750.00
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S/H .25-06 TIKKA MASTER £400.00 SCHMIDT & BENDER 6x42 HUNGARIAN 1" RET A7 £260.00
S/H .25-06 BLASER OFF ROAD £1,050.00 LISENFELD 6x42 1" TUBE RET 4A £150.00
S/H . 270 BLASER OFF ROAD S/CUT £1,050.00 ZEISS DIATAL Z 6x42 1" TUBE RET 4 £375.00
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S/H . 375 BLASER OFF ROAD PRO (AS NEW)£1,675.00 Z6 2.5-15x56 BT £1,299.00
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S/H . 308 SAKO A11 £475.00 Z61 1.7-10x42 £1,395.00
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80 Target Shooter
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Target Shooter 81
 Shooting Website of the Month

Website of the Month – Varmint Al’s
www.varmintal.com
The word ‘varmint’ hasn’t found its way into my
copy of the Oxford English dictionary as yet
but, as far as I can make out, it’s an American
term for an animal that isn’t worth eating but
still fun to shoot. I therefore avoided Varmint
Al’s site as I’m not really fond of looking at dead
animals - unless they are on a plate with gravy
and vegetables.
Al and learn all about him, his lifestyle, pets,
family etc. but in addition there is plenty of
useful stuff for the shooter. The site is padded
out with powder burning-rate charts, holiday
pics, free targets and of course the
aforementioned dead animals. Al is also a radio
ham and if that’s your scene you could even
have a chat with him. Al clearly leads a very full
life and if his site is anything to go by, he enjoys
every minute of it. Good on yer Al!

However, I did stumble across one of his

stress-analysis features on another website
and decided to take a look. Remarkable – is
the best word I can think of to describe his
work and un-missable to anyone interested
in what really happens to barrels, actions etc.
when we pull the trigger. Please take a look,
you will be amazed – the graphics are fantastic.

You can spend a pleasant hour with Varmint

82 Target Shooter
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Target Shooter 83
 The HANDLOADING BENCH
RIFLING TWIST RATES (Part 1)

Laurie Holland
Although rifling twist and bullet stability fall under Take away rifling and you’re restricted to the round
the ‘external ballistics’ heading, understanding this musket ball which has lots of disadvantages –
issue is important to the handloader to choose bullets low weight for calibre; tiny bearing surface to seal
that are both optimised for the shooting purpose and powder gasses behind it in the barrel requiring wadding
match the barrel twist rate in use. It’s also an important or a patch; poor external ballistics. Some of you might
consideration for those purchasing custom rifles or comment that early rifled arms fired round balls which
having existing shooting sticks rebarreled – it’s no good seems strange as spin seems superfluous given this
discovering that the rifle won’t perform with the bullet shape presents the same shape to the air irrespective
you want to use after receiving it from the gunsmith of its orientation, and the centre of gravity should
because the twist rate isn’t optimal, or in the worst-case coincide with its physical centre, so a degree of
scenario, suitable. tumbling in flight shouldn’t affect the trajectory.
The very name ‘rifle’ indicates that this feature is at Rifling did in fact improve accuracy through imparting
the heart of our tools. Rifling imparts stability to the consistent spin to the ball, a problem with smoothbore
bullet during its flight by making it spin around its muskets being a tendency to impart spin in a random
longitudinal axis. Take this stabilisation away and any manner leading to inconsistent trajectories.
elongated projectile tumbles in flight producing nil
Gyroscope
accuracy and a severely curtailed range. ‘Stability’ means
imparting a force to a projectile that keeps its tip Spin-stabilisation utilises gyroscopic force to
pointing at the target, but achieving this isn’t restricted to
stabilise the bullet. A gyroscope always tries to
rifling. Fins or arrow flight-feathers at the rear end of the
return to its original alignment, so spin-stabilisation
projectile represent an older method which is still used in
provides an inbuilt ‘steering effect’. Our key measure in
modern devices including missiles, aerial bombs, determining whether a bullet will be stable is the
and tank cannon shells. It has not been successfully coefficient of gyroscopic spin or Sg, a value of
adapted to smallarms so far, the American ‘SPIW’ 1.0 or more deemed stable, but with 1.4 usually
project to produce a supposedly lethal while virtually recommended as a minimum. The Sg for any
nearly recoilless ‘individual weapon’ that fired combination of bullet, velocity and rifling twist rate
‘flechettes’ (small-calibre darts) at very high velocities
is easily found using Miller’s Twist Rule, but why do
proved a failure after much work and expenditure. we need to stabilise our bullets, gyroscopically or
otherwise, at all? The
Bullets and their larger cousins, artillery shells, come in all shapes and technical reason is that
sizes, and all must be stabilised except for round balls (and even they a projectile encounters
benefit from being fired in a rifled barrel). considerable resistance
as it pushes its way
through the air and this
has the effect of
imparting an equal and
opposite force pushing
backwards on its front
end. This is not focussed
on the extreme tip as
you’d expect, but on a
spot lying further back on
the central axis – up to a

84 Target Shooter

As soon as the
round ball was
replaced by
elongated bullets,
rifling became
essential.
third of the projectile’s length back from the tip. The
exact spot depends on shape – close to the front in
blunt designs, farther back in those with a long, pointed
nose. The centre of gravity (CG) also lies on the axis,
but still farther back, say around a third of the bullet’s
length ahead of the base in a typical HPBT match type.
With air resistance acting on a point well ahead of the
CG it quickly causes the projectile to turn and start
tumbling in the absence of any stabilisation, and with
the CG lying towards the rear in the sorts of bullet
designs we’re interested in, the base naturally wants
to overtake the point (which is exactly what happens
when a military FMJBT type penetrates soft tissue).
Different calibres, shapes, weights and lengths see
varying distances between these two key points – the
further apart, the greater the turning motion in play,
hence the greater the amount of stabilising force
needed to counter it, in our case a faster rate of spin.
This is why long thin match bullets which have these
points widely separated need a ‘tighter’ or ‘faster’ rifling
twist, than short fat bullets. (To download a copy of the
Miller Twist Rate Formula spreadsheet, go to www.ac-
curateshooter.net/Blog/millerformula.xls)
To illustrate this, let’s look at two very different
cartridges and bullets. A 6mm BR Norma rifle fires a
105gn Berger Target Match VLD at around 2,800 fps
and needs a one turn in eight inches rifling twist to
stabilise it. Early .444 Marlin rifles have a much slower
(one turn in 38”) twist barrel, but stabilise the 265gn
Hornady FNJSP at 2,200-2,350 fps MV. Let’s look at
how fast these bullets are being spun: the 6mm rotates
at 252,000 rpm at 2,800 fps, while the .44 only has
41,684 rpm at 2,200 fps, under 17% of the former’s
rotational speed. (Current Marlin 444s have a 20”
twist rate, so modern examples see the bullet rotate
at 79,200 rpm at 2,200 fps MV, faster but still only a
fraction of that used in the 6mm.) Hang on, how often
have people told you that heavy bullets need a fast-
er twist rate than light ones, so our first finding is that
bullet weight is not what determines the rate of spin.
The reason for the vast difference in spin-rate needed
is down primarily to the difference in their lengths as
measured in calibres, and to a lesser extent to their
very different shapes. Measuring 6mm Berger VLDs
gave an average length of 1.238”, and their diameter
is 0.243”, so a typical bullet is 5.095 calibres long,
let’s say 5.1 calibres for the longest examples in the
carton. Hornady 265gn forty-four bullets came out at
0.807” ±0.001” and their diameter is 0.429”, so a bullet
is only 1.88 calibres long, or just over a third (37.5%)
that of the 6mm match bullet’s length using this form of
measurement. The Miller formula gives Sg values
of 1.47 and 1.39 for my 6BR and .444 examples
respectively under standard atmospheric conditions
(59ºF, 29.92” Hg pressure). Turning to 0.22 calibre,
Table 1 gives the lengths, Sgs and required twist rates
for a selection of 0.224” calibre bullets at .22 Hornet,
.222, and .223 Remington velocities. You’ll note a
relatively small change in bullet length is magnified on
conversion to calibres and this can have a substantial
effect on the required twist rate.
Military
I started my fullbore shooting with vintage military
arms which led me to the mistaken belief that there is
one ‘correct’ twist for each calibre – one turn in 10” for
0.30” and 0.303”, 8.8” for 8mm and so on. (To avoid
constant repetition of the ‘one turn in….’ formula, I’ll
use the actual twist figure from now on as in ‘10T’
for a full turn every ten inches.) This still applies to
military smallarms, to a lesser extent to factory
sporting arms, and not at all with custom target and
pest rifles. All 7.62X51mm (7.62 Nato) service rifles that
I know of retain the late 19th century 10T twist as used
in the original .30-06 and 0.303”, despite 7.62mm ball
cartridges being loaded with relatively short 144-
The cover of the 1980s Speer No. 10 manual
shows a bullet in flight and the shock-waves it
generates as it passes through the air. This
resistance acts on the bullet attempting to force
its nose out of alignment, and leading to
tumbling if there is insufficient spin to stabilise
it.
Target Shooter 85

The 6mm (0.243” dia) 105gn
Berger VLD on the left needs
an 8T barrel, while the short,
fat Hornady 0.429” 265gn JSP
bullet on the right manages
with 38T
148gn FMJBT bullets which were successfully
stabilised in 14T TR rifle barrels in the pre-155gn
era. The current Nato standard for 5.56X45mm rifles
and machine-guns is an even faster 7T. The civilian
sporting equivalents in factory rifles are 10T for .30-
06, 12T for .308Win, and 12T for .223Rem, albeit you
can find 9T variations for this cartridge (Remington
‘tactical’ models such as the ‘Police Rifle’ and
700SPS Tactical; and all Savage .223Rem rifles), the
occasional 8T as in the Tikka T3 Tactical. You can
even specify the military 7T rate in the Savage Model
12 LRPV (Long range Precision Varmint) rifle
alongside 9T barrelled versions. Now this is a huge
variation in some cases, especially amongst 5.56mm
and .223Rem models!
The UK L2A2 military 5.56mm
cartridge uses a 61.7gn FMJBT
bullet which has two cores – lead Blair Atholl in the Scottish Highlands is probably the UK’s highest
in the rear; (lighter) steel up front. rifle range for civilian target shooting. Its altitude reduces air
Throw in an airspace in the bul- density, but the region’s prevailing cool temperatures partly
let tip, and you have a long bullet
for its weight at 0.915”, but note
that it is shorter than the 105gn
6mm Berger VLD when converted
to calibres (4.1 v 5.1). Moreover,
rotational speed is a combination
of the rifling twist rate and MV, and
we know the 5.56mm is a hot little
number in its current milspec guise.
Let’s do the numbers – 6BR gives
the 105gn Berger 252,000 rpm at
2,800 fps MV from an 8T barrel,
while the 5.56mm has a nominal
3,100 fps MV in British L2A2 / US
86 Target Shooter
M855 forms, equating to nearly 320,000 rpm from a 7T
barrel, an increase of more than a quarter despite the
shorter bullet.
What this tells us is that the military chooses ‘over-fast’
twist rates. Why? It lets them use any available
ammunition that will chamber in the rifle in an
emergency, say tracer or armour-piercing rounds that
likely employ longer bullets; secondly, Sg figures and
the twist rates needed to achieve sufficiently high
values are calculated for standard environmental
conditions, or reasonable deviations from such, while
armies prepare to fight in extreme conditions, in
particular the polar regions in winter with their
exceptionally cold, dense air – I’ll return to
environment. Even so, 7T seems excessive for 5.56mm,
at least with the standard 62gn ball round, Miller’s
twist formula computing an Sg of 2.43 under standard
conditions, and 1.99 in Arctic winter temperatures.
We know that this bullet is fully stabilised when fired
from 9T barrelled rifles such as the standard Southern
Gun Co. SSR-15 or Remy 700PSS, the Miller formula
predicting an Sg of 1.47 from this twist rate. If you’re
among the many shooters who’ve tried to use cheap
62gn 5.56mm fodder in a 12T barrelled .223Rem rifle,
you’ll know it doesn’t work, and the Miller formula tells
you why – an Sg of 0.83, well below the minimum 1.0
stability factor.
Air Density
We’ve said the objective is to stabilise a bullet with a
given set of characteristics composed of its weight,
shape, and by far the most important factor, length
in calibres. Achievement involves three ingredients:
rifling twist rate, muzzle velocity, and the environment
into which the bullet is launched. Let’s dispose of the
last of these first. Despite constant moaning about the
British weather, we see few extremes, and it is unusual
for a target shooter to be out in air temperatures below
0ºC or above 25. Likewise, our rifle ranges lie between
sea level and around 1,000ft altitude. This may not
apply elsewhere with American shooters testing
counter this.
ammunition in much lower winter temperatures while
competing over some ranges at much higher altitudes. 62 RG + 64 Berger FB Match + 55
With the destabilising force on the front of the bullet M193
caused by air resistance, it varies according to altitude and
temperature, thickening it and increasing resistance
appreciably if both are low, thinning it and having the
opposite effect if both are high. You cannot do anything
about this apart from ensuring that you spin the bullet
fast enough to cope with the worst conditions that you’ll
shoot in. Let’s look at the 1.131” (3.67 calibres) long
155gn 0.308” Sierra Match King fired from a .308Win
/ 7.62mm TR rifle at 2,950 fps MV through a 13T
barrel, this twist rate now the most common in TR
and Palma rifles. I’ve listed a range of environmental
conditions inTable 2, and you can see that the calculated SG
varies between 1.51 at standard barometric pressure
for sea level (29.92” Hg) in 0 degrees F (-18ºC) air,
exceptionally cold for daytime in the British Isles, to 1.82
in a hot summer’s day on the upland ranges of Diggle
or Blair Atholl. In fact, 14T is more than adequate for
any likely conditions with this bullet in the British Isles.
Let’s say you’re only ever going to load the SMK and (rpm) is calculated by dividing the twist rate by 12 and
use the resulting .308Win rounds in ‘Palma Rifle’ at the then dividing MV by the result of the first calculation to
American NRA Whittington Centre range complex near get revolutions per second, multiplying by 60 for rpm.
Raton, New Mexico. Assuming the range is situated at My 6mm BR example sees 8 (inch-twist) divided by
a similar altitude to the town which is listed at 6,680 ft 12 = 0.6666. Divide 2,800 (fps MV) by 0.66666 and
above sea level, you would expect to encounter lower we get 4,200 and multiplying by 60 gives us 252,000
air pressure, standard barometric pressure being 23.7” rpm. We rarely if ever need to know what the bullet’s
Hg at this height. With summer temperatures reaching rpm is, but it’s instructive to know just how fast a bullet
80ºF according to the local weather station, our 13T spins in one load combination compared to another,
barrel now gives the 155gn SMK Sgs that could reach especially when doing something extreme like firing a
2.24. As rates with values above 2 degrade accuracy, tiny 40gn 0.224” Varmint pill out of a 7T barrel at high
you’d be better off with a 14T barrel if you confined your velocity! The reason I bring rpm up here is that it’s
shooting to this bullet over this range, and you could regularly said by ‘firing-point experts’ that if a twist rate
even safely specify 16T. is inadequate for a bullet, just increase the load and
MV ‘a bit’, and all will be well.
MV + Twist
The rate of spin, hence stabilising force is a result of Let’s take the cartridge that probably causes more
the interaction of the rifling twist rate and MV (muzzle confusion than most – .223 Remington. The widely
velocity). Rotational speed in revolutions per minute

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

Target Shooter 87
 0.224” bullets (3). Bullets designed for .222 Remington with its 14T barrels, plus one or two later
.223Rem (12T) examples. Left to right: 50gn Sako FMJ, 50gn Norma FMJ, 52gn Speer Match,
53gn Hornady HP Match, 52gn Sierra MK, 52gn Hornady A-Max Match (.223Rem), and 55gn M193
FMJBT (.223Rem)

used rule of thumb is that 12T caters for bullets with a comfortably stabilised. Moving to an 11T barrel at the
maximum weight of 55gn; 9T does 60-75gn, and 8T is same MV should still just see the 69gn SMK stabilised
needed for the 77s and 80s. We know that the 69gn with an Sg value of 1.11, but using the standard 12T
Sierra MatchKing works with a 10T rate (it says “7”- drops it below stability level to 0.93. Even raising the
10” twist bbls only” on the end of the box), let’s say at MV to a very ‘hot’ 3,100 fps in this rifling twist rate only
a modest 2,700 fps. You’ve got a .223Rem rifle with produces an Sg of 0.97 which is marginally unstable
a 12T barrel. Can you load the cartridge up enough but might just work in some circumstances,
to get a suitably high spin-rate on the bullet? 2,700 especially given a factor I’ll cover next month. Note that
fps makes the bullet rotate at 194,400 rpm in a 10T this significant change to the cartridge’s load and
barrel, or 216,000 rpm in the more common 9T rate. chamber pressures represented by raising the MV
How about 12T? Even an impressive 3,100 fps only from 2,700 to 3,100 fps only increases the Sg by 0.04,
gives 186,000 rpm, still well short. We would have to or 4.3%.
increase the MV to 3,250 fps – which we can’t get with Let’s look at the SMK’s main competitor in this class,
69gn bullets in this cartridge, not safely anyway – to the 68gn Hornady HPBT Match, slightly lighter so what
produce 195,000 rpm. Change the barrel twist rate by works for the SMK will suit it too, surely? (It also says
one point to 11T, and a high but achievable 3,050 fps “twist rate 1/7-10” on the carton end.) However, this
MV produces just under 200,000 rpm which should do bullet is nearly a tenth of an inch longer than the SMK
the trick, however. at around 0.991”. Run it through the Miller formula and
Let’s check these combinations out with the Miller 10T at 2,900 fps barely works with a computed Sg of
formula. The 69gn SMK is just under 0.9” long, the 1.01, 3,100 fps only raising it to 1.05, both right on the
longest example in a sample I measured being line. A 12T barrel has no chance with an Sg of 0.72
0.897”. At standard pressure / temperature, 2,700 fps even at 3,100 fps.
from a 9T barrel gives an Sg of 1.65, and the Sierra
quoted minimum rate of 10T reduces that to 1.34, still
Alright, the Miller Twist Rule is only a mathematical
model run on a small
Microsoft Excel
spreadsheet. How
does it translate
to real bullets and
barrels? I can quote
an example from
direct experience
relating to these
two bullets. Some
years back an
importer loaned me
a newly introduced
.223 Rem ‘Heavy
Varmint’ variant of
a popular rifle for
review. The nominal
62 RG + 68 HDY + 69 SMK + 70 B VLD + 70 JLK VLD twist was 9T, so I
loaded up 50 rounds
88 Target Shooter
55 M193 + 77 SMK + 80
SMK + 80 Bgr VLD + 80
A-M
split between the 68gn Hornady and 69gn Sierra
bullets, charges rising in small steps from recognised
starting loads. I sighted the rifle in at 200yd using an
existing load with 52gn Hornady A-Maxes that
performed well in my 12T Remy 700VS, and results
were good, easily holding the NRA TR target V-Bull,
1-MOA or less.
Switching to the heavier bullet loads saw a
dramatic deterioration: the Sierras found the target but
struggled to hold the 4-ring, 3-MOA plus; the Horna-
dy 68 loads wouldn’t hit the target frame reliably. The
eason was of course that the twist rate was 12”, not 9,
despite what the manufacturer had quoted (rectified in
subsequent batches from the factory). I measured this as
a fairly accurate 12T rate in this particular barrel, so the
Miller results weren’t far out – Sierra MKs not quite fully
stabilised causing a serious deterioration in grouping
ability, the longer Hornady 68s completely unstable. In
fact, Miller was a little pessimistic, as I wouldn’t have
been anywhere near achieving 3,100 fps with my test
loads, 2,700-2,900 being more likely, or SGs for the
69gn SMK in the 0.93-0.95 range compared to 0.97 at
maximum velocity.
So, let’s summarise what we’ve seen so far. First, don’t
get hung up on bullet weight as this can be misleading
with same-weight bullets in a calibre having different
lengths and requiring different amounts of stabilisation,
hence twist rate. Secondly, changing MV has
considerably less effect than changing the twist
rate, so ‘loading a cartridge up’ for a higher MV only
rarely works. Thirdly, air temperature and density affect
Makers are increasingly putting the minimum barrel twist
bullet stability, but British conditions are unlikely to vary
enough to require a change in the rifling twist rate – in
either direction.
Let’s say the Miller formula says a bullet / twist / MV
combination produces an Sg barely above 1.0, (as in
the 0.308” 155gn Lapua Scenar at 3,000 fps from a
13.5T barrel for an Sg of only 1.07), but it groups well
in 100yd testing / load development? Won’t it be all
over the place at 1,000 yards as we know every aspect
of bullet performance degrades with range? I’ll finish
off this look at the rifling twist rate issue next month,
covering this and other factors, also introduce
another type of bullet stability that is separate from the
gyroscopic variety.
Table 1
Bullet Length / Cals
MV Sg
.22 Hornet (16T is the standard twist rate)
35gn Hornady V-Max 0.516” / 2.3
2,900 1.64
40gn Sierra Hornet 0.488” / 2.18
2,800 1.67
45gn Sierra Hornet 0.533” / 2.74
2,650 1.46
45gn Hornady SPT 0.615” / 2.74
2,650 0.99
45gn Nosler Hornet 0.561” / 2.5
2,650 1.27
.222 Remington (14T is the standard twist rate)
50gn Sako FMJ FB 0.655” / 2.92
3,200 1.3
50gn Norma FMJ FB 0.645” / 2.88
3,200 1.34
52gn Speer HP Match 0.712” / 3.17
3,100 1.05
52gn Sierra MK 0.710” / 3.17
3,100 1.05
52gn Hornady A-Max 0.798” / 3.56
3,100 0.75
53gn Hornady HP Match 0.715” / 3.19
3,100 1.05
55gn Lapua FMJ FB 0.720” / 3.21
3,000 1.06
55gn FMJBT (M193 mil) 0.734” / 3.28
rates on specialist bullet boxes
Target Shooter 89
3,000 1.00 3,000 1.47
70gn JLK VLD 0.991 / 4.42
40gn Hornady V-Max 0.686” / 3.06 3,000 1.30
3,400 0.92 70gn Berger VLD 0.967” / 4.32
50gn Sierra SPT Varminter 0.691” / 3.08 3,000 1.40
3,200 1.10 75gn Hornady HPBT M 0.997” / 4.45
2,900 1.35
.223 Remington (12T Barrels) 75gn Hornady A-Max 1.095” / 4.89
50gn Sako FMJ FB 0.655” / 2.92 2,900 1.03
3,400 1.78
50gn Norma FMJ FB 0.645” / 2.88 62gn Barnes TSX BT 0.944” / 4.21
3,400 1.85 3,100 1.34
52gn Speer HP Match 0.712” / 3.17
3,300 1.46 .223 Remington (8T Barrels)
52gn Sierra MK 0.710” / 3.17
3,300 1.46 68gn Hornady HPBT M 0.991” / 4.42
52gn Hornady A-Max 0.798” / 3.56 3,000 1.60
3,300 1.05 69gn Sierra MK 0.892” / 3.98
53gn Hornady HP Match 0.715” / 3.19 3,000 2.20
3,300 1.46 70gn Lapua Scenar 0.951” / 4.24
55gn Lapua FMJ FB 0.720” / 3.21 3,000 1.86
3,200 1.47 70gn JLK VLD 0.991 / 4.42
55gn FMJBT (M193 mil) 0.734” / 3.28 3,000 1.65
3,200 1.39 70gn Berger VLD 0.967” / 4.32
3,000 1.77
36gn Barnes Var Grenade 0.701” / 3.13 75gn Hornady HPBT M 0.997” / 4.45
3,800 1.10 2,900 1.61
40gn Hornady V-Max 0.686” / 3.06 75gn Hornady A-Max 1.095” / 4.89
3,700 1.28 2,900 1.22
50gn Sierra SPT Varminter 0.691” / 3.08
3,400 1.53 77gn Sierra MK 0.981” / 4.38
53gn Barnes TSX 0.795” / 3.55 2,700 1.80
3,300 1.08 80gn Sierra MK 1.076” / 4.80
55gn Nosler BTSP 0.735” / 3.28 2,800 1.43
3,200 1.39 80gn Berger VLD 1.106” / 4.93
60gn Nosler BTSP 0.782” / 3.49 2,800 1.32
3,100 1.25 80gn Hornady A-Max 1.153” / 5.15
2,800 1.18
.223 Remington (9T Barrels) 80gn Nosler HPBT M 1.070” / 4.78
50gn Sako FMJ FB 0.655” / 2.92 2,800 1.47
3,400 3.16
50gn Norma FMJ FB 0.645” / 2.88 Table 2
3,400 3.30 Effect on a 155gn Sierra MK’s Sg at 2,950 fps MV
52gn Speer HP Match 0.712” / 3.17 caused by Temperature and Altitude (Barometric
3,300 2.59 Pressure) Changes
52gn Sierra MK 0.710” / 3.17
3,300 2.59 Altitude (ft) Air Temperature 1 3 T
52gn Hornady A-Max 0.798” / 3.56 Barrel 14T Barrel
3,300 1.86 0 ft (Sea Level) 0ºF (-18ºC) 1.51
53gn Hornady HP Match 0.715” / 3.19 1.31
3,300 2.54 0 ft (Sea Level) 32ºF (0ºC) 1.62
55gn Lapua FMJ FB 0.720” / 3.21 1.40
3,200 2.49 0 ft (Sea Level) 75ºF (24ºC) 1.76
55gn FMJBT (M193 mil) 0.734” / 3.28 1.52
3,200 2.34 1,000 ft (Diggle) 75ºF (24ºC) 1.82
1.57
68gn Hornady HPBT M 0.991” / 4.42 6,680 ft (Raton NM) 80ºF (27ºC) 2.24
3,000 1.26 1.94
69gn Sierra MK 0.892” / 3.98
3,000 1.74
70gn Lapua Scenar 0.951” / 4.24
90 Target Shooter
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Target Shooter 91
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92 Target Shooter

We left off last month with receivers, here is the final
instalment.
Triggers –
To help you reach your potential, especially in the
precision type matches, you should really try a KID
unit and then you’ll probably end up buying one!
Although I’ve always preferred a single stage trigger
it doesn’t take long to get used to take up the first
stage adjustment on the KID, (especially when a lot
of the travel can be taken out) then you are left
with a very crisp release which can be fine tuned
down to around 6 to 8 ounces if you like. Greg
Goldsworthy from Rude Fat Dog in Devon imports
them and will set them exactly how you want it
before sending them if you are not sure what to do.
These really are the best available on the market
at the moment but due to the current exchange
rate against the dollar, they unfortunately aren’t
cheap! From an investment point of view my
Jewel trigger cost me nearly £200 11 years ago,
and apart from a spring breakage last year, it is
still going strong. That’s less than £20 a year for
a first class trigger and taking a look at the build
quality of the KID unit I see no reason why they
KID triggers (bottom and right) are top
quality but a two stage trigger may not
suit everyone so try one first.
Part 2
The Sequel
Gwyn Roberts
should not last at least as long as this, if not longer!
There are two other trigger units out there that I
have tried, one has the trigger weight pre set whilst
the other is made up of ‘drop in’ components but in
my opinion they are really not worth bothering with
as they are a lot of money for poor quality. If you
can’t stretch to buying a KID at the moment, why not
just have someone who knows what they are doing
to slick up your standard Ruger trigger unit instead?
With a bit of time and effort the result will be a lot
better than just fitting one of the ‘drop in’ kits and
cost less money too. You should be able to achieve
a trigger release around the 2 ½ to 3lb mark quite
easily, and this along with an ABR should see an
improvement on the range. Another thing to bear
in mind regarding your trigger group is that some
of the matches we shoot in require you to drop the
magazine and lock the action open quickly to move
between shooting positions. With this in mind you
should have a speed lever magazine release fitted
that will enable you to drop the magazine by
pushing it forwards, and then allow you to lock
the action open by pulling it to the rear along with
the bolt. These can be operated very quickly and
smoothly and don’t cost the earth to buy either.
Barrels – Standard, lightweight or heavy?
The standard Ruger barrels are usually very reliable
Target Shooter 93
 for functioning and you can put almost any type
of ammunition through them and they’ll work just
fine, which is probably due to the ‘generous’ sizing
of the standard chamber. Typically though, they
will group at least a quarter to half inch plus bigger

VQ Stainless fluted (weight 3lbs)

Left - Whistle Pig (14oz)

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

KID stainless Match (3 - 3½lbs)

94 Target Shooter
1lb for one that’s made of alloy or carbon fibre.
That’s a big difference and is in the region of what a
large scope would weigh! If you do opt for a
stainless one, make sure that you try one out on the
range first as the longer ones can really make a
rifle very front end heavy making them a pain to
shoot with and carry around all day, although the
fluted shorter versions are all pretty comfortable to
use.

The conclusion from testing in the States is that

there really isn’t much to be gained by a 20” plus
barrel over a 12 – 16” version accuracy wise so
it’s really down to what the rifle will be used for,
although a heavy stainless version will prove to
be better for the Bench rest type competitions. For Marking your scope will give you precise
purely hunting use a 12½” tube would probably be zero at every distance
the best choice, whilst the most popular ones out
really. The only other thing left to consider then is the
on the GR circuit seem to be between 16” - 18½”
colour of which there many, and finally the price.
in length. Shilen, Volquartsen and KID are probably
the ones to go for if you are after a stainless
Sights – Iron, Red dot or Telescopic?
barrel with Whistle Pig, Volquartsen and Tactical
Most of the competitions that we shoot are ‘open’
Solutions seeming to be the most popular of the
regarding the sights used although there are a few
alloy and carbon fibre offerings. Another thing to
that are restricted to iron sights only, but these are
consider is the type of chambers used which are
generally in leagues or at the Trafalgar Meeting at
generally either termed as Match or Bentz type.
Bisley. There are a couple of shooters out there who
The ‘match’ chambers are cut to allow the round
can shoot very well with ‘irons’ but it has proved
far enough into the chamber so that the bullet is
impossible to beat the top guys who are using the
gripped by the rifling, which could mean that any
variable powered scopes. Red dot sights generally
unfired round cannot be ejected. This may cause
offer a faster target acquisition which is great for
a problem during some of our matches if a jam or
speed steels and some of the 3 gun matches, but
misfire occurs as the rules generally state a
certainly not for the majority of matches that we
maximum number of rounds to be fired from each
shoot. Although it’s obviously all down to personal
position or that the rifle must be unloaded with
preference, on a multiple target layout you may
no round in the chamber when moving between
find that a larger 42mm or 45mm red dot will allow
shooting positions. With this in mind I always opt for
you to see the bigger picture as it were, which will
a Bentz chambered barrel as removing a live round
allow you to pick up the individual targets easier
is easy and all the test results that I can find shot
compared to a 30mm tube. The 3 or 4 MOA dots
with our types of rifles indicate that the difference
in accuracy between the two types is negligible
42 & 30mm red dot scopes

Target Shooter 95

1.5 – 5 x 24, 6 – 20 x 50
and 4 – 18 x 75 scopes
are usually the ones that shooters go for as they
give a definitive aiming mark as opposed to an 8 or
10moa one that will cover half of the target. Quite
a few people have commented to me over the years
about not being able to shoot with a telescopic
scope using their weak shoulder as their eyesight
on that side is very poor. This type of scope whilst
not being ideal for the longer range stuff or the
rimfire sized targets, can overcome a lot of this
problem for many shooters as the sheer size of the
rear lens enables you to look through it and focus
on the dot using both eyes, regardless of whether
you are shooting from a strong or weak shoulder
position.
Moving on to the various telescopic type scopes,
I think it’s fair to say that unless you shoot the
majority of the GR matches with one of these fitted
on top of your rifle then your success will always
remain limited. I experimented with various
magnifications and objective sizes over the first
couple of years of shooting GR to find what which
combination worked best and the two main factors
that will enable you to score well is having enough
magnification to see the X ring on the 50m tar-
gets, along with the largest possible objective lens
that you can find. Recent discussions with some
friends’ who shoot at the top of the ladder as it
were, all agreed and used the same principles when
choosing the current scopes that they use.
Look down the line on a 1500 or ‘shorts’ line and
you will see that most of the top shooters are using
the higher powered 5-20x50, 6.5-20x50 or 6-24x50
scopes. Even at the closest range of 10m you will
be able to pick up the middle of the target quickly
on either 5 or 6x. If you can’t, then the problem has
to do with your preparation i.e. stance, head
position and presentation and not the scope. At this
distance I rarely use a setting of less than 12x
whichever calibre I’m shooting. Having an upper limit
of 20 or 24x doesn’t mean that you ever have to turn
96 Target Shooter
it up that far, but it’s always available should you
ever progress to use it. As well as being able to
aim more precisely rather than guessing where the
centre of the target is, probably the best thing about
using a higher powered scope is being able to
see your point of impact on the target. This then
allows you to either adjust your aiming point or
quickly dial in a couple of clicks should your
hits be off centre due to different lighting or wind
conditions. With a low powered scope the only time
you will get to know about this problem is when
you go down to score your target and by then it’s
too late and the points have gone! I think the only
exception to using a higher powered optic would be
for shooters who have dedicated Bianchi or Steel
plate rifles that are either fitted with a red dot or a
lower powered scope in the region of 2-10x56 or
3-12x50. Being able to turn down the power to 2 or
3x combined with a large objective lens makes it
much easier to pick up the shorter range targets
much more quickly, especially on the plates and the
mover as you don’t have much time to play with in
this type of match.
Many people have told me that the reason they
stick with their current scope (mostly in the region of
3-9x 40or50) is that they cannot keep the rifle still
on a magnification setting greater than 9 or 12 etc
at 50m – but neither can anyone else! Your
crosshairs will always be moving on the target
whatever standard of shooter you are and it’s simply
a matter of learning how to release each shot as the
reticule moves over the centre of the target. Over
the last 3 or 4 months some friends of mine have
tried shooting with both my 1500 GRSB & GRCF
rifles that were fitted with Edgar Brothers 5-20x50
scopes. After a bit of time on the range gradually
increasing the magnification settings and learning
better trigger control, they were certainly all
grouping better and getting higher scores on the
target. They all now own, or have on order a
higher powered scope which should ensure their
performance and classification improves to the next
level. Using a high magnification scope over the
years has certainly helped me to post some good X
count scores during my matches.
The reason to go for the largest objective size
possible is so that you will have a much greater field of
view when you bring the rifle up into the aim, at
every distance whatever targets you are shooting at.
Using a 1-5x20 on full power at certain distances
can mean having to scan down the target to check
that you are shooting on the correct 2 targets out of
the 34 others, during a Multi Target match. On the
same setting with a 50mm plus lens you should
allow you to see the target numbers whilst on aim,
saving you at least a couple of seconds in some
Scope covers will help keep the lenses clear and in top
condition
cases, and turning the power right up at 50m will give
you a much clearer and brighter sight picture as
opposed to that given with an equivalent 40 or 42mm
item. If you can afford to buy a top quality scope
like the Leopold’s’ or similar then the quality will be
improved even more as the power is turned up -
they also come with a lifetime warranty! Whether
the scope is front or side focusing isn’t really an
issue but ideally it should be fitted with target
turrets. These will enable you to sight in and
mark off of on a piece of tape wrapped around it
precisely your zero point for every distance at which
you will shoot. Simply walk up to the line, dial in the
distance, adjust the focus and then load when
told to, it’s just a routine that you get into and for
the people who tell me that they don’t do it this
way because they’ll forget to change the settings
each time... you’ll only do it once...... I can assure
you! Nearly all of the top shooters do this so that
they don’t have to aim off and can therefore just
concentrate on the middle of the target and
get on with the job. At the end of the day it may
well be worth considering having 2 scopes if you
want to shoot a wide variety of disciplines with a
particular calibre and invest in a good set of quick
release mounts to go with them. They really do
hold their zero well provided you fit them properly
and could well be the difference between a current
compromise and reaching your potential in
the varied types of competitions that you
compete in. Remember that in order to get the
best from any scope it has to be fitted and aligned
properly so that every time the rifle is brought
up into the aiming position, the eye is
consistently at the correct height and the correct
distance away in relation to the eye piece, so that a
clear and fast target acquisition is attained every time!
Finally, after taking the time and effort to set up
your rifles so that they fit and work properly for you,
Target Shooter 97
you should finish the job off and make sure that
the overall balance is right too! Quite a lot of rifles
tend to be front (rather than rear) end heavy but this
can easily be corrected by simply adding weight
to the appropriate end. To add weight to the front
it’s usually best to remove some material from the
barrel channel towards the front of the fore end
and fit some epoxy covered lead or a piece of
stainless or mild steel bar. At the rear, you can
remove the butt pad and hollow out part of this section
then fill with the same materials as the front. Either
modification will be discreet and should provide
you with a properly balanced rifle that enhances
your stability in all of the shooting positions that we
shoot from. This in turn will reduce fatigue and should
help to improve your performance at the same
time.
To summarise then regarding either your current
rimfire rifle or those you intend to own in the near
future, make sure that you end up with:
98 Target Shooter
An assembled rifle combination that is of the
correct weight and balance. A Stock that fits you
and is contoured to enable you to easily shoot
from any of the positions required in the types of
competitions in which you intend to shoot.
A trigger set up that enables you to release
each shot easily, smoothly and consistently.
A scope that will give you the largest field of view
and the magnification power that will allow you see
the centre of any target, at every target distance
used.
Once these are achieved the rest as they say,
is up to you! I hope that this has been of some
help and that it’s got you thinking more about
what should be achieved before you step up to
the line for a competition. Also, watch what other
shooters do and never be afraid to ask questions on
the range as no-one knows all of the answers, and
it’s the only way that we will all get to learn more!
Please mention us
when using
advertising
in the magazine
 Gun of the Month
If you want to put your rifle or pistol in as ‘Gun
of the month, please contact use at;
customer.services@targetshooter.co.uk
Our thanks
“This month’s ‘Gun of the Month’ was built by
Scottish gunsmith Russ Gall to show case
some of his skills, which include the startling
red KG Gun Kote finish, the muzzle brake and
the barley-twist fluting.
Incidentally, the Gun Kote finish is not just for
show – it’s very durable and was originally de-
veloped as a protective coating for firearms. It
is available in a full range of colours - if you
prefer something more subdued!
Russ is a keen benchrest shooter and the rifle
was built to Light Gun (17lbs.) specification for
1000 yard benchrest competition.
The heart of the rifle is a Kelbly stainless steel
Grizzly action bedded in a Kelbly BR fibreglass
stock and the stainless steel Krieger barrel is
chambered in 7mmWSM. The scope is a Night-
force BR model mounted in Kelbly rings.
The 7mmWSM cartridge will push a 180 grain
bullet at velocities in excess of 3000 fps and
Russ’s best five-shot group at 1000 yards with
this rifle is 4.4 inches!”
Target Shooter 99
 RFD Lancashire (Section 1 & 2 Firearms)
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100 Target Shooter
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Target Shooter 101
 Gunseeker.co.uk
The Ultimate Firearms Listing Site
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation

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102 Target Shooter

 Club Feature

Havant Rifle and Pistol Club

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

Following a few quotes from local companies, it

was discovered that one of our own members
designed air extraction systems, and had designed
one for a large rifle range in Dubai. Construction
is well under way, utilising a method known as a
landscape view of the ranges from the top
‘plenum chamber’, where the air pressure is even
of the butts across the width of the chamber. It is expelled
across a grid of holes, resulting in the required
The foundations of Havant Rifle and Pistol Club
air flow without a cold draught! Alterations to the
were laid when, in 1943, Havant & Horndean
smaller range have also enabled us to enlarge the
Home Guard asked for evenings to be set aside at
clubroom, whilst future plans also involve
their Drill Hall range solely for their own shooting
enlarging and improving the layout of our kitchen area.
practice. Havant Home Guard Rifle Club was
affiliated to the Society of Miniature Rifle Clubs
Members can choose from:
(now the National Smallbore Rifle Association) in
1944, and the first match, against Southern Railway
• .22 prone rifle at 25 yards, 50 metres and 100
Rifle Club, was held on 13th November in that year.
yards, including 3-position
In 1947 the club was renamed Havant Rifle Club.
• target air rifles at six yards and ten metres
• target air pistols at six yards, ten metres and
The early seventies saw the club move to its
twenty yards,
current location at Southleigh Forest. The site
• including ‘Police Pistol’ at ten metres with ten
was cleared, a club room and indoor ranges built,
turning targets
and outdoor ranges laid out and equipped. The
• light sporting rifle at twenty yards and fifty
outdoor ranges were officially opened at the end of
• metres, both prone and standing
September 1978, with an invitation team event,
• underlever pistol calibre rifle
still known as the ‘Final Fling’. Double Olympic
champion, Malcolm Cooper was Club President
1988 - 2001.

The Club’s facilities include a large clubroom

with kitchen and two indoor ranges with eight
lanes; outdoors there is a fifty metre range
with ten lanes, and a hundred yard range (also
usable at 50 metres) with twelve lanes, both
outdoor ranges having covered firing points.
New target frames have been constructed for the
100-yard range out of corrugated plastic sheets,
allowing use of all twelve firing points at either distance.
The clubhouse and indoor ranges

Target Shooter 103

 • black powder firearms. of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Games. Open
During the week, the range is open two morning events are usually accompanied by an excellent
and three evenings. The remaining two weekday barbecue, often including rabbit burgers and game
evenings are for light sporting rifle and prone stew!
shoulder-to-shoulder matches. At the weekend both
mornings and Saturday evenings are utilised. We
have jackets and slings for new members interested
in prone shooting, and club guns for some disciplines.

Our membership currently stands at 165 full

members, which includes half a dozen Honorary
members, a good number of young people who
come with their parents, and a fair proportion of
female members. Although some people decide
target shooting is not for them, a steady trickle of
new applicants usually means we have around thirty
probationers. Many of our members have come from
other clubs in the area, sometimes due to their club A view of the 100 yard firing point
closing or because they want to use the 50 metre and
100 yard ranges. Absolute beginners attend sessions
on Sunday mornings, when they are shown safe A local Pony Club practice air pistol at seven
weapons handling procedures and range etiquette. metres, using the turning targets, as this discipline
When their mentor is happy with their progress, they is part of their tetrathlon competition, and a local
are given a certificate to show to the Range Officer disabled group has also visited for air rifle practice.
on the appropriate evening for their discipline(s).
Members are kept informed of club ac-
Havant Rifle & Pistol Club hosts several open tivities via the club newsletter ‘On Target’,
events, including a Double Dewar in May, the with issues in Spring, Summer and Autumn,
Portsmouth Association Shooting Day in June, and and our website, www.havant-rpc.org.uk.
the ‘Final Fling’ event mentioned above. A few years
ago the Club hosted the shooting events as part

To introduce our selves we are the United Kingdom Association of

Rimfire and Air Rifle Benchrest Shooting. By that we mean "True
Benchrest Shooting". The Association is recognised by rimfire shooters
across in the UK, with partners across Europe and the rest of the world, as
the presentative body that promotes rimfire and air rifle benchrest across
this country and with other partners in European and World events.
Visit our website for news about national and international
competitions that all can ‘have a go at’. From novice to champion
shooter, everyone is welcome
www.benchrest22.org

104 Target Shooter

 Target Shooter 105
 VINCE’S REGULAR COLUMN WHEREBY
ACCURACY NUTS CAN KEEP UP TO
DATE WITH THE ACTIVITIES OF THE UKBRA
Competitions
The UKBRA’s opening shoots of the 2009
season took place as usual at Diggle Ranges on
a bitterly cold weekend at the beginning of April.
We welcomed a clutch of new shooters to our
sport, in particular Gerrit van Rooynan all the way
from Namibia. Gerrit is living and working in the
UK and will be part of the GB Benchrest Team to
South Africa for the 2009 World Championships.
At 100 yards, the wind was so switchy it was
virtually un-readable, with several wind-flags
actually blown over and only the winner, Ian Dixon
had a respectable agg. Jack Searle took a
well-deserved second place with Martin Eldershaw
– returning from a two year sabbatical – in third.
I’m still persevering with the 220 Beggs, which
rewarded me with two groups in the ‘ones’
but I also had a couple of horrific half-inchers
yet still managed to scrape into fourth place.
Target Shooter contributor, Laurie Holland decided
that it was about time he tried benchrest and so
contested the Factory Sporter class with his ‘out of
the box’ Savage LRPV chambered in 204 Ruger.
Amazingly, Laurie won his Class, shot some super
The cap says it all – Dave Jackson did the double with a Light Gun win and
small group at 1000 yards.
106 Target Shooter
groups in the process and embarrassed a few HV
shooters along the way! I’m sure the 204 Ruger
cartridge will form the basis of a full reloading article
for Target Shooter very shortly.
Results:
Heavy Varmint:
1st Ian Dixon 6PPC Walker BAT 0.2754
2nd Jack Searle 6PPC Stolle 0.3276
3rd Martin Eldershaw 6PPC Stolle 0.3372
Small group: Ian Dixon 0.163
inches
Factory Sporter:
1st Laurie Holland 204 Savage LRPV 0.3748
2nd Darrell Evans 6PPC Sako 0.5552
Small group: Laurie Holland 0.219 inches
204 Savage LRVP
The following day, it was a trek up to the hill to
Diggle’s 1000 yard firing point. We were swamped
with entries and shooting continued long into the
afternoon. Winds on the early relays were fairly light
and some good groups were posted Diggles’ Dave
Jackson took the Light Gun win and small group of
the day with a fabulous 4.585 incher. There were
plenty of other single-figure groups from Light Gun
Class but Ross Burrough and Gerrit Van Rooyan
were the only other competitors to dip below six-
inches, both shooting low ‘fives’. Ross’s rifle was put
together by Dave Wylde of SYSS and although it is
of tactical configuration, it shoots exceptionally well
in all disciplines. Gerrit was shooting a 6mm Smack
put together by Russ Gall of RG Rifles.
In Factory Sporter it was a nail-biting finish with
Toni Young and her bog standard 308 Remmy
almost beating a trio of guys shooting their 6.5-284
Savages - until Phil Gibbon popped-in a stunning 7.533 i
ncher for his final group on the very last relay to steal
the win and post Factory Sporter small group in the
process.
had about 450 rounds up it, which appears to be
around the effective maximum for many overbore
wildcats including the 6.5 and 7mmWSM.
However I can’t complain as the 6mm Xtreme
served me well in 2008, winning me the 1000 yard
UKBRA Championship, setting a new UK 600 yard BR
record and winning my club’s Open F Class
Championship. I love the little ‘sixes’ so I’m going
for another but this time a 243 Win. Improved. This
is not a new wildcat – in fact it’s one of the more
popular ‘improved’ cartridges and I’m hoping that
it will perform well with the 115 DTACs that I was
shooting in the Xtreme. The Xtreme gave best
accuracy at 3250 fps although it was capable of a
lot more velocity. I’m hoping that the 243 Win. Imp.
will still give me 3200fps with the DTACs and maybe
better barrel-life! Hopefully, it should be ready for the
next competition.

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

Target Shooter 107

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108 Target Shooter SS06.09/58/a
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Target Shooter 109
 In association with
The three nations match between Germany, Ireland
and the UK derived from the World Championship,
when Markus Feldmann of the German team said that
he and others would like to come to the UK to shoot a
friendly match. A few words with the Irish team later and
we had an ongoing concern, so the planning started. At
this point it really is time to say a massive thanks to Ken
Stockham of Portishead club, who organised this event
and ran things with flawless accuracy from start to finish.
Without him and the good will of his club we would not
have managed to have such an event in the UK.
Arriving on the practice day the weather was calm but
raining and misty – so calm that there was no wind
movement at all. For some this is a boon, for others not
so much. Well the latter group got their wish as the two
match days were a tad bit gusty. The first day I would say
blowing in all directions, at some points at about 20 plus
mph.
This knocked a few off their feet, but we recovered and
shot on. The wind remained with us for the rest of the day
with sun coming up very quickly in the afternoon, which
brought mirage. A very mixed English Spring day! Day two
was better, with the wind still there but the sun was with
us for the entire day. (Shooting benchrest dressed in your
best thermals, as we were on day one, is not conducive to
the nature of this sport).
The German team shot brilliantly, as did a number of
individuals in the UK and Irish teams. The Germans
are very good shots anyway, as they gained silver
medals as individuals and as a team at last year’s world
championship. This is helped on by the custom kit they
are using. A lot of these rifles are built by Martin Menke,
the captain of the team, who is a well renowned center-
fire and rimfire gunsmith in Germany. He is also the 1999
world centerfire benchrest champion. Just from talking to
him I learnt a lot, as you tend to at these head to head
matches. Andy Dubreuil did very well in the Unlimited class
coming in 5th, with Brian Kelly coming in 4th overall in the
aggregate scores and Carl Boswell coming in 6th overall
from the two days shooting. In fact the top ten aggregate
All teams together - the UK won best
dressed.
110 Target Shooter
results were all UK and German shooters, with the Top 5
being 4 German and 1 UK shooter. The whole team event
was a success and the aggregate scores of each team
are below. Hopefully there will be more of these matches
around Europe in the next year. I know that Germany, Italy
and Holland have held matches already.
1st Germany - Total 8796 196
2nd UK – Total 8655 133
3rd Ireland – 8250 110
The two shooters that really stood out were the eventual
winners of course, which were Martin Menke for Light
Seated Markus Feldmann -
the overall Aggregate
winners
Varmint and Markus Feldmann for Unlimited. I have known
Markus for a few years – lots of fun and a great guy to be
around. He was the aggregate overall winner from the two
days shooting with a great score of 1478 35 x’s.
We in the UK would benefit from more of these types of
head to head matches in the future. Hopefully this will
happen as the UK nationals looks as if it will be very
popular
If anything what we can learn from this is that we need to
look more at moving towards custom actions and barrels.
This is what other nations are doing, as relying alone on
factory firearms is not going to cut the mustard in years
to come. This game is getting increasingly competitive
at international level, so it is about keeping up with the
Jones’s.
At the end of the weekend the German team went away
with most of the trophies and medals, with one exception,
Anthony Nolan of Ireland won Bronze in the Unlimited
class – well done. It was a great shoot and the people
taking part had a great time. So much so, that the Martin
and Jo of the German team have invited the UK team to
shoot in Germany sometime in October or November. We
are definitely thinking about it, with four people showing
interest so far. Will the result be the same……..well only
time will tell, so look for a report again in December!
 The Long View – News from the
GB F Class Association
The 2009 F class league would once again start
with the first round at Diggle Ranges near Oldham in
Greater Manchester.
Many of the F Class League shooters thought it
would be a mistake to have the first competition of
the year at Diggle. Not because of the range but
because of the weather. It is a long held belief was
that Diggle only gets one or two weekends a year
without rain, snow or some kind of terrible weather
of biblical proportions!
The previous year hadn’t helped Diggle’s case
because it had snowed but, with only a finite
number of weekends available, the League just had
to take it’s chances and all those attending - if they
had any sense - should bring as much wet-weather
gear as they could muster. That was what I did - I
even brought some old ski-gloves which I assumed I
would need to fight off the cold.
Once again though the Diggle weather managed
to trick everyone and it turned out to be one of the
warmest Easter shoots I can remember. The gloves
never even came out of the car and if you would
have set up a sun-tan lotion stall, you could have
made a fortune!
But enough of the weather, this is Round 1 of the
2009 GB F Class League, scheduled to be shot on
Easter Saturday and Sunday with the Friday being a
practice day for those who wanted it. The course of
When the sun shines there ain’t no finer place
than Diggle!
fire would be 2 & 15 at 800 yards followed by 2 & 15
at 1000 yards on the Saturday. Sunday would be 2
&15 at 900 yards, followed by 2 & 10 at 1000 yards.
Our League shoots will normally muster around 60
competitors but it became clear early on that mak-
ing the first shoot on the Easter weekend could limit
the amount of shooters to those brave enough to
abandon wives and girlfriends at this time of year! So
the maximum number of competitors was reduced to
48 but most of the usual faces were in attendance
and Anthony Dunne and Joe Melia made their usual
long trip from Ireland.
Restricting the field to 48 competitors meant that
we would only need four details of twelve shooters
rather than five, thus usefully cutting down on time
which always seems to be a premium at Diggle
shoots, especially when the weather delays the start
time as it did last year.
Around a dozen shooters turned up on the Friday
to take advantage of the practice day with shooting
starting off at 600 yards. Unfortunately the dreaded
Diggle weather had other ideas and most just used
the time to get a quick zero then called it a day.
The competition started bright and early Saturday
morning with the plan for the first shot to be down
range by 8.30 am. This was always going to be
difficult for the local contingent as Diggle shoots
Target Shooter 111

Eventual F/TR winner, Stuart Anselm - 308
Barnard, Robertson stock, Sinclair bi-pod
normally start around 10.30 am and most of the
previous evening was spent answering the phone
telling the ‘Dollopers’ – “Yes 8.30 am was not a
miss-print on the entry form and no, we don’t need
flood lights!”
First up would be the Open Class shooters and most
of the highest placed League shooters from last
year had entered, as had the F/TR guys, so it would
hopefully shape up to be a good competition. As
with previous years, the order would be reversed the
following day to hopefully give everyone the same
weather ‘window’. Once the ‘sneaky’ sighters were
over (sorry, I mean blow-off shots) the competition
proper got underway at 9.00 am., so almost on time.
The first distance to be contested was 800 yards and
there was only a light wind blowing down the valley
but still, at this distance even in a light wind, hitting
something not much bigger than a CD (our five-inch
V bull) with any degree of regularity is still a difficult
task. By the time the Open Class guys had finished,
seven of them had managed to keep it in the 5-ring
and two shooters, Simon Rodgers and Paul Hill put
in scores of 75.10v.
On count-back the honours went to Simon with Andy
Massingham a close third on 75.8v.
The conditions remained the same for
most of the morning and by the time the F
T/R guys took to the firing-point they also
posted some impressive scores with
Diggle’s Ian Dixon shooting the highest with a 73.4v.
The 2008 F/TR League Champion, Russell Sim-
monds and Steve Rigby were close behind, both on
72.6v.
For Match 2 we dressed back to 1000
yards and just adding that extra 200 yards
certainly brought the scores down.
Conditions hadn’t changed that
much but the wind was now
fish-tailing. One Open Class score was head and
shoulders above the others, with John Campbell
posting a very impressive 72.7v. The next highest
Grant Taylor on 70.4v, then Peter Wilson on 69.4v.
As you would expect, scores also tumbled in F/TR,
112 Target Shooter
with the highest being a 63.2v posted by Stuart
Anselm with your
Target Shooter writers Vince Bottomley and Laurie
Holland not far behind on 62.1v and 59.2v respec-
tively. When you consider that F/TR is limited to the
308 Win. cartridge, unlike an Open Class competi-
tor who can pick any calibre he likes, Stuart’s score
was good enough to have bested almost half of the
Open Class shooters.
So by the end of day one, John Campbell was
leading the Open Class on 146.8v, with Grant Taylor
close behind on 145.12v - a remarkably high V count,
especially as this was the first outing for Grant’s
home-smithed rifle in 284 Win. Improved. The F/
TR competition was also fiercely contested with 2nd
place on the day going to Vince Bottomley on 133.4v
but just in the lead, Stuart Anselm on 134.7v.
We finished the shoot in scorching sun and all
shooters who were members of the GB F Class
Association made their way into the Diggle
clubhouse for the Annual General Meeting.
which you can read about on the Association
website at www.f-class.org.uk Once the AGM was
over, the traditional shoot dinner - or obligatory
Diggle curry evening - was the order of the day.
Day two again started bright and early with yet again
more sun, possibly the first time in the hundred year
history of the range that the sun had shone on two
consecutive days! The squadding was now reversed
to hopefully even out the weather conditions and
allow everyone to shoot early morning when
conditions were most favourable.
This time we started at 900 yards with the F/TR
shooters taking to the point and again, the conditions
appeared to be fairly benign but that light breeze
was fish-tailing dangerously. None the less, several
of the F/TR guys posted great scores with Stuart
Anselm shooting an excellent 71.6v but the first
place went to Paul Harkins with a stunning 73.6v.
You will see further down this article that Paul’s
score also beat every Open Class shooter at this
distance - well shot Paul. The conditions appeared
The Open Class guys at 900
yards
 Dunne finishing on 46.2v and Peter Hunt winning
the final distance of the weekend with 46.4v.
With the final shot going down range
before four o’clock, it was time for the trophy
presentations. Each stage winner is given a GB F Class
Association medal and seeing as it was Easter,
Cadbury’s cream eggs were also handed out.
In the F/TR Class, third place award went to Steve
Rigby with 239.10v, Ian Dixon was runner-up by
Grant Taylor (left) collects his virtue of two extra V bulls on 239.12v but first place
winner’s medal from Diggle went to GB F Class Team Captain Stuart Anselm on
Club Chairman, 242.14v, so well done Stuart.
Mike Weatherhead
to be pretty much the same for the Open guys but not In the Open Class, the same thing happened with
many of them could put in a 70 plus score with the second and third places decided on V bull count with
top two being Tony Marsh on 72.1v and in first place, John Campbell just beating Peter Wilson 258.21v to
Grant Taylor on 73.2v. The gap between Open Class 258.14v but the clear winner was Grant Taylor on
and F/TR Class has certainly closed, even with the 262.15v; congratulations Grant.
disadvantage of being limited to 308’s. It had been a great weekend, thanks in no small
part to the superb weather and the competition
The final match of the weekend was another 1000 had run without a hitch thanks to several people
yard stage but this would only be a 2 & 10 round who had given up their time to ensure this would
50 - stage.
NORTH AsCUSTOM
WEST per usual,
PARTS the Diggle
16/4/09 wind-flags
1:01 pm Page 1only happen. So thanks go to Jeanette Whitney for acting
tell part of the story and just three F/TR shooters as Range Officer for the whole weekend, Ian Dixon for
managed to break the 40 barrier - Paul Dobson and making our targets and Mik Maksimovik and
Ian Dixon on 40.1v but in the lead, Steve Donaldson Stuart Anselm for doing the stats and finally, Diggle
on 41.2v. chairman Mike Weatherhead for coming along to
Conditions remained pretty much the same for the hand out the prizes.
Open Class guys with Greg Thompson and Anthony
So that’s it, Round 1 is over in this, our most
NEW important year as the World F Class Championships
WORKSHOP will be held at Bisley in July. Appropriately, the next
& SHOW ROOM League Shoot will be at Bisley on the first
weekend of June so, if you are reading this and have a
Strictly by scoped rifle and fancy having a go, please e-mail the
appointment only organiser of the next shoot, Mik Maksimovic on
mik@mikdolphin.demon.co.uk for an entry form.

2009 World F Class Championships

Come and see us at the Phoenix meeting It’s less than three months to the WFCC at Bisley in
to see the range of McRees stocks for both July and many GB F Class Association members will
be shooting either as official GB Team members or
the tactical and bench rest shooter.
as individuals.
We will be John Dean of Aimfield Sports has provided his
having a few excellent drag-bags and shooting mats for prizes
special and he will continue to do so for the ‘Worlds’ and
introductory ‘Europeans’. Aimfield Sports are now UK importers
show offers. for the excellent Sightron scopes and Sightron have
Also see the Spikes generously agreed to donate one of their superb
SS06.09/50/a

Tactical 22RF AR15s 8-32 scopes as a prize for the World Championships.
and Centrefire This prestigious event is held every four years
straight pulls plus and clearly will not return to Bisley for some
the usual range of considerable time. It will generate world-wide
custom 10/22s.
publicity so this is a great opportunity for
TRADE, MILITARY AND POLICE CONTRACTS WELCOME manufacturers to get their products showcased on
Tel: 0161 408 1155 or the world stage. Any further offers of prizes should
07710 102887 be made to Mik Maksimovic at mik@mikdolphin.de-
www.nwcustomparts.com mon.co.uk

Target Shooter 113

 Gallery Rifle News
First of all a piece of really good news.
Two well known GR competitors were
unlucky enough to have their firearm
certificates revoked after the theft of some
of their guns. A couple of weeks ago an
agreement was reached at the Crown
Court which resulted in the certificates
being returned. A full summary is in this
issue. A wake up call to us all – think
about security when you are away from
home whether it is just a visit to the club
or a trip to Bisley or even abroad – you
must ‘t be complacent and hope
that it won’t happen to you.
The first big meeting of the year, the
Spring Action Weekend, was a great
success, apart from the weather and
some of the scores, with a record entry.
Have a look at the report in this issue and,
if you didn’t go, see what you missed.
This month you have the Western
Winner at Bristol and the Mattersey Ten to
chose from as well as the Shield Steel
Challenge. Please do your best to
support one or more of these. They are
friendly competitions put on by hard
working club members.
At the end of the month, the premier
meeting in the GR calendar, the Phoenix
Meeting takes place at the National
Shooting Centre. It’s not just for GR though
as there so many events you will
probably find at least one for every gun you
own. See the article in this issue
which explains what it’s all about.
(Don’t forget that your scores in the
relevant events go into the national database
to get you onto another rung on the
114 Target Shooter
classification ladder and get you noticed by
the national selectors.)
Also at the Phoenix, teams from England,
Germany, Ireland, Scotland and Wales
will be competing in the European
Teams Match for short events. On the
Monday the national teams of Germany,
Ireland and the UK compete in the 1500
GR European Championship.
June has the Derby 1500 and not much
else we are aware of so no excuse for
not heading there!
COMPETITION CALENDAR
May 3 GR&P The Mattersey Ten - 1500,
Short Events etc. Mattersey RPC, Notts
May 9 GR&P The Western Winner – 1500
Frome RPC at Failand Range near Bristol
May 10 GR&P Steel Challenge
Shield Shooting Centre, Dorset
May 21-24 Almost any gun! The Phoenix
Meeting National Shooting Centre, Bisley,
Surrey
June 27-28 GR&P Derby 1500 Derby R&PC
(Either contact the organisers direct
or go to www.galleryrifle.com for entry
forms.)
GR&P = Gallery Rifle Centre Fire (GRCF),
Gallery Rifle Small Bore (GRSB), Long
Barrelled Pistol (LBP) and Long Barrelled
Revolver (LBR)
RESULTS
March 28-29 Spring Action Weekend
Available in full on the NRA/NSC
website or at www.galleryrifle.com.
Please go to the Gallery Rifle website
www.galleryrifle.com for more news and
information.
 RHINO RIFLES
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www.rhinorifles.co.uk Target Shooter 115
Practical shooting is a high speed multi
target discipline which tests all the aspects of
a competitor’s shooting ability by means of
varied target arrays to be shot as fast and as
accurately as possible. To prevent it being solely
a test of static speed shooting, penalty targets
are included and difficult shooting positions are
forced by means of vision barriers and screens.
In accordance with the motto Diligentia Vis
Celeritas (DVC = accuracy, power, speed) only
firearms developing a minimum power factor
(bullet mass * velocity) are permitted. Within
the Rules, competitors are allowed to solve
the shooting problems as they see fit, e.g. they
may choose to move from the start position to
a point which offers a clearer shot at the target
or to remain static and shoot slower but more
accurately.
Matches can involve the use of Handguns,
Rifles or Shotguns; most matches within the UK
involve the use of Section 1 shotguns. In any
match there are a number of stages, which may
contain from 1 to 28 targets of varying types
and distances; in Shotgun matches, different
cartridge loadings (birdshot, buckshot or solid
slug) are used as a further test of skill.
Practical or IPSC shooting is conducted under
the auspices of the International Practical
Shooting Confederation whose representative
body in the UK is the United Kingdom Practical
Shooting Association (U.K.P.S.A.). This body
administers the sport and distributes the Rules
as well as sanctioning matches and selecting
the National Teams. Globally the IPSC has over
75 member nations and is the fastest growing
of the shooting sports because of its highly
challenging fast and dynamic style and the
varied nature of the competitions.
Given that no two stages are ever alike, the
variety of matches is immense but all have a
common factor and that is SAFETY.
Because IPSC shooting involves movement
with a loaded Firearm, a high level of
competence is required. To compete in UKPSA
116 Target Shooter
sanctioned matches you need to have attended
AND successfully completed to competition
level a Basic Safety Course. These courses
are run throughout the year by Clubs around
the country and consist of 2 days of intense
training by a certified instructor in all aspects
of Firearm safety, gun handling, movement
and positional shooting as well as range
commands and other necessary information.
Because of this mandatory training and the
fact that a shooter is always supervised by at
least one Range Officer, IPSC shooting has
the best safety record of all shooting sports.
All Range Officers are experienced shooters
who have passed additional training courses in
addition to the Basic Safety Course and are in turn
supervised by a Chief RO who has more experi-
ence and training and finally the Range Master
who has had, you’ve guessed, even more training.
To find out more about practical shooting and
how to register for a basic safety course, visit
www.ukpsa.co.uk or email ukpsachair@aol.
com for more details.
Vanessa Duffy
Chairman UKPSA
Please mention us
when using
advertising
in the magazine
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Target Shooter 117

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

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

Advertisers Index
Air Arms 57 Intershoot 42
Allcocks Outdoors 35 Jackson Rifles 101
A Macleod and Son 93 Low Mill Range 70
AIM Field Sports 8 Midway UK Lyd 30
Armalon 10 Minsterley Ranges 70
Auto Target 55 North West Custom 71
Bassetts 63 Norman Clark Gunsmiths Ltd 15
Benchrest Directoryy 107 NRA 80
Border Barrrels 44 NSRA 84
Bromyard Sports and Leisure 105 Osprey Rifles 25
Check-Mate Guns 92 Rhino Rifles 22
Chris Potter Country Sports ltd 97 Riflecraft 64
Continental Shooting Supplies 98 RPA International 42
Countrymen of Derby 74 RUAG Ammotec 12
D
Daystate LTD
t t LTD 43 R
Rude Fat Dog
d F tD 11
Diverse Trading ltd 112 Prestige Air Guns Ltd 13
Dragon Field Sports 114 Section 5 11
Eley LTD 3 Shooting Supplies 95
BulzeyePro 36 South Yorkshire Shooting Supplies 29
Essex Guns 62 Steyr 102
Fox Firearms 45 Surrey Guns 95
Frederick Beesley 70 Targets Direct 93
G T Shooting 41 Theoben 110
GMK 0 Tim Hannam 21
Green Leopard 37 UKBR22 104
Gun Trader 16 UK Custom Shop 2
GunSeeker 114 Uttings
g 56
Henry Krank 0 Webley 75
Highland Outdoors 50 Westlake Engineering 52
Target Shooter
118 HPS Target Rifles Ltd 83 York Guns 77
Innovative Systems 63
Next time in.....

Target Shooter 119