Target Shooter

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2 Target Shooter
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Welcome to the November Issue................Target Shooter
Sections
13 European Benchrest
Championship 6 Shooting Sport News
by Bruce Lenton
12 Shooters Calendar

18 Duracoat process
35 Basic Rimfire and by Chris Parkin
Air Rifle Benchrest
technique 23 Shooting Black Powder
by Carl Boswell Pistol by Chris Risebrook

25 9th World Military & Police

Sniper Championship -
44 Brocock Aim X Part 1 by Rob Hunter
Pistols
28 2010 Diggle Fly Shoot
by Tim Finley by Vince Bottomley

51 Iron Plate Action Shooting
the 1911 by Vince
Bottomley

59 Hanloading Bench 57 Website of the Month

by Laurie Holland
73 This Smallbore Business

Association Pages

82 NRA

86 UKBRA
69 IPC Shooting World
Cup 2010 88 UKBR22
by Don Brooke
91 F- Class

93 Quigley
77 Getting started
in Gallery Rifle - the 96 Gallery Rifle
Ruger 10/22
100 UKPSA
by Gwyn Roberts

4 Target Shooter
 Editor(s).
Carl Boswell and Vince Bottomley
Advertising and Office Manager
email; admin@targetshooter.co.uk
Contributors
Vince Bottomley Tony Saunders Chris Parkin
Laurie Holland Chris Risebrook Carl Boswell
Don Brook Alan Whittle Gwyn Roberts
Les Holgate Andy Dubreuil Tim Finley

Webitorial - November 2010

If, like me, you were expecting a televised feast of shooting from the Commonwealth Games in India,
then, like me, you were disappointed. Shooting is one of the main events for India, so I’m sure it was
well covered TV-wise but, as usual, the BBC chose not to show us much. This was a great pity as UK
athletes acquitted themselves very well - our total UK shooting medal haul was 40 – including 13 golds.
The total gold medal haul for the whole England Team was 39, with 9 of these won by shooters.
Scottish shooters accounted for almost half of their Team’s 26 medals, including four golds.
Our smallbore shooters acquitted themselves very well with 14 medals – including four golds. Prone
Rifle shooter, Jen MacIntosh of Scotland accounted for two of these (one in a pairs event with Kay
Copland). Well done ladies.
UK Clay shooters accounted for another nine medals including four golds.
Our England fullbore guys really excelled with fourteen medals (again counting ‘pairs’ medals as one)
with no less than four golds – all down to Parag Patel who made a clean-sweep of the fullbore singles
events. I wonder if this makes Parag the most successful 2010 UK Commonwealth Games athlete? As
well as four golds, he also had four bronze medals!
England pistol shooter Mike Gault has achieved this honour in past Games – with of course little
recognition from the UK media. This year, Mick was hoping for a single gold medal to make him the
most successful Commonwealth Games athlete of all time but it wasn’t to be, with just a bronze and a
silver but is it any wonder, with the abominable restrictions placed on our pistol shooters.
Elsewhere, we have listed the achievements of UK shooters in full, plus a little bit of controversy which
marred the fullbore event.

Vince, Carl & Andy

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

Andy Dubreuil - admin@targetshooter.co.uk Copyright © Trinity Digital Publishing Ltd

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
S hooting at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
– New Delhi, India brings success for the
UK teams but bad feeling at the Fullbore event
Unfortunately, Target Shooter couldn’t afford to
send a representative to India but we are listing
below, the medals won by UK shooters. They have
done us proud but they will get little recognition
from our media so the least Target Shooter can
do is list their names and achievements. I stress
that these results are ‘provisional’ as some results
have been difficult to obtain at times. Please take
the trouble to read through this list of names – our
shooters at least deserve that.
Fullbore 300 yards
Gold – Parag Patel – England
Pairs Fullbore 300 yards
Silver – Angus McLeod & Ian Shaw – Scotland
Bronze – Jon Underwood & Parag Patel – England
Fullbore 500 yards
Gold – Parag Patel – England
Bronze – David Calvert – N. Ireland
Pairs Fullbore 500 yards
Silver – Angus McLeod & Ian Shaw - Scotland
Bronze – Parag patel & Jon Underwood – England
Fullbore 600 yards
Gold Parag Patel – England
Pairs Fullbore 600 yds
Silver – Angus McLeod & Ian Shaw – Scotland
Bronze – Jon Underwood & Parag Patel – England
Fullbore 900 yards
Gold – Parag Patel – England
Bronze – David Calvert – N.Ireland
Pairs Fullbore 900 yards
Silver – Angus McLeod & Ian Shaw – Scotland
Bronze – Parag Patel & Jon Underwood – England
Pairs 10m Air Pistol Men
Silver – Nick Baxter & Mick Gault – England
10m Air Rifle Men
Bronze – Kenny Parr – England
6 Target Shooter
Pairs 10m Air Rifle Men
Silver – James Huckle & Kenny Parr – England
Pairs 25m Pistol Women
Gold – Julia Lydell & Gorgs Geikie – England
Pairs 25m Pistol Men
Bronze – Mick Gault & Iqbal Ubhi – England
50m Rifle Prone Women
Gold – Jen McIntosh – Scotland
50m Rifle Prone Men
Gold – Jon Hammond – Scotland
Bronze – Matthew Hoyle – N.Ireland
Pairs 50m Rifle Prone Women
Gold – Jen McIntosh & Kay Copland – Scotland
Silver – Michelle Smith & Sharon Lee – England
50m Rifle 3 Position Men
Silver – Jon Hammond – Scotland
Bronze – James Huckle – England
Pairs 50m Rifle 3 Position Women
Bronze – Kay Copland & Jen McIntosh – Scotland
Pairs 50m Rifle 3 Position Men
Silver – James Huckle & Kenny Parr – England
Bronze – Jon Hammond & Neil Stirton – Scotland
Pairs 50m Rifle Prone Men
Gold - Neil Stirton & Jon Hammond – Scotland
Silver – Mike Babb & Richard Wilson – England
Pairs Trap Women
Silver – Abbey Burton & Anita North – England
Pairs Trap Men
Bronze – Aaron Heading & Dave Kirk – England
Singles Trap Women
Gold – Anita North – England
Silver – Shona North – Scotland
Singles Trap Men
Gold - Aaron Heading – England
Pairs Skeet Men
Bronze – Richard Brickell & Clive Bramley –
England
Double Trap Men
Gold – Steven Walton – England
Bronze – James Kneale – IOM
Single Skeet Men
Gold – Richard Brickell – England
There was little information on the shooting events
in the UK press but clearly there was trouble at
the Fullbore event and I did find one or two choice
comments from a fullbore competitior in the leading
Indian newspaper, the Hindustan Times.
Quote:
A leading Australian fullbore shooter, here for
the Commonwealth Games, has termed the
competition at the Kadarpur Ranges a ‘farce’. As
reported by Hindustan Times on October 14, the
event was marred by angry protests with many
aggrieved shooters holding up the competition,
forcing the Chief of the appeal jury and other
officials to rush to the range to bring sanity.
James Corbett, 51, arguably the best fullbore
marksman in Australia with over three decades of
experience, has written to the Hindustan Times
saying:
“We are devastated by the ineptitude of the
promoting body (National Rifle Association of
India and Commonwealth Shooting Federation)
in providing a clear set of rules. Our reputation
and sport was brought into disrepute by a few
individuals who had no integrity of the competition.
The host nation must take responsibility and
therefore I humbly ask the Indian Prime Minister for
a written apology to every one of the 42 shooters
who participated in the fullbore competition.”
Corbett, who was accompanied by fellow shooter
Geoff Grenfell, said that the hard work put in over
the last four years had come to naught.
“We came through an extremely tough elimination
series to determine the two best shooters to
represent Australia. In April, we travelled to New
Delhi for the CSF Championships (a pre-event
for the Commonwealth Games) at Kardapur.
However, it was apparent from day one that the
target system was faulty with some of the earlier
300m shooters having to fire over 20 rounds to
have ten counting shots recorded on the monitor.
The contractors for the targets, Suis Ascor, were
having great difficulty in ensuring reliability of the
system. The software engineer revealed that the
operating system was 30 years old. We held a
meeting with CSF Chairman Graeme Hudson and
told him there were a lot of deficiencies.
When we arrived at the Games Village on October
1st we were shocked to discover that the contractors
had failed to rectify the target system during the
six-month rest. A managers’ meeting was called.
It was agreed that in the event of unusual, missed
or unexplained shots, the shooters would be given
another round to fire as a provisional shot. After
five days of practice, a few targets were deemed
to be terminally malfunctioning.
We commenced the competition with much
apprehension. On the fourth day, both Geoff and
I were leading in the Pairs match and were placed
first and second in the individual match. The fifth
day can only be described as hell. At the longest
range, the 900 yards competition, targets started
to fail and so did tempers and the ability to control
order. Geoff’s target malfunctioned so badly that
at one stage he was battling to record a hit.”
Both Australian shooters saw their scores plummet
and they were not alone. Almost all teams bore the
brunt.
“Rules were not being applied evenly for all
countries and written protests started to circulate.”
He said.
T S Dhillon, sports manager at Kadarpur said
“Australians are bad losers. They are crying foul
because they finished below the Indians.” The
hosts finished eleventh whilst the Australians
came 14th in the Pairs.
He conceded there were protests but claimed there
was nothing in writing. “There were 42 shooters,
we cannot appease everyone.” He said. (Target
Shooter has it on good authority that written
protests were made).
End of quote.
Clearly, the electronic targets just weren’t up
to the job and seemingly little was done by the
organisers to try to rectify things. In fact, according
to comments on various internet forums, it sounds
as though they tried to cover up any problems
rather than solve them. Nonetheless, it didn’t seem
to affect England’s Parag Patel, who will hopefully
give us a full account of things via the NRA Journal
in due course. Unless of course you’d like to write
it up for Target Shooter Parag?
Target Shooter 7
I nternet Forums
No doubt about it, internet forums are now a part of
all our lives and very useful they are too – as a source
of information and a great way to meet or keep in touch
with like-minded shooters.
Most are quite specialised, based around a specific
shooting discipline or even a particular weapon. Best
of all, they are free, informative and readily accessible
to all.
A new forum has just appeared aimed at the UK-based
22 rimfire benchrest shooter. The moderator is young
Jake Healey, who has already made his mark on the
8 Target Shooter
international competition scene at the tender age of
fourteen. Check out Jake’s forum at www.north-
ernarea22benchrest.webs.com
Another brand-new forum, which ambitiously seeks to
cover the whole of the target shooting scene is The
Target Range forum started by our very own Andy
Dubreuil – one third of Trinity Digital Publishing – as if
he didn’t have enough to do!
We must stress this forum is not in any way connected
to Target Shooter magazine and this is purely Andy’s
personal venture. You can access Andy’s forum at
www.targetrange.webs.com
J ohn Nosler 1913-2010
John Nosler inventor of the famous Nosler
‘Partition’ sporting bullet and founder of the
these near handmade bullets and improving the
results. During the 1947 British Columbia moose
hunting expedition, one shot became one kill with
eponymous and very successful bullet manufacturing the Partition bullet, same results on smaller Oregon
company died on 10th October at the ripe old age species. Friends wanted copies, the word got
of 97. Mr Nosler was born in California where he about ..... ultimately, the hobby became a business
grew up on a farm, became familiar with machinery and the trucking outfit was sold to finance a bullet
from an early age, and initially put his considerable manufacturing operation in the attractive town of
mechanical and business acumen to good use in the Bend. The rest as they say is history. Today, Nosler
garage trade rising rapidly from being a depression Inc. is that rare beast in the corporate world, a large
era teenage school-leaver who persuaded a local firearms related company that remains family owned,
Ford garage to take him on as a virtually unpaid John’s son Bob Nosler now in charge.
cleaner to being its foreman in a couple of years,
then getting his own Ford agency in his early Although Mr Nosler officially retired in 1988 at the
twenties. It was this venture that took him to Oregon age of 75 when he sold the business to his son and
where a one-vehicle sideline trucking fresh fruit and daughter in law, he continued to go into the office on
vegetables from his native California turned into a a daily basis until shortly before his death. He also
substantial and highly successful long-distance continued to shoot at both targets and game until
haulage business during World War 2. a very advanced age. Readers interested in his life
story, shooting and manufacturing tales can indulge
As an avid target and sporting shooter, his business themselves by buying a copy of his biography: John
success allowed him to indulge these pastimes Nosler Going Ballistic by John Nosler as told to
including an annual fortnight long trip to British Gary Lewis, published by Gary Lewis Outdoors in
Columbia to shoot moose, an adventurous and 2005 and available from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.
expensive undertaking in those days. It was one of com. We can confirm that this 220 page book is a
these trips in 1946 that produced the incident that ‘darn good read’, as well as being a testament to a
ultimately gave the shooting world today’s Nosler talented individual and the American ‘Can Do’ spirit.
Inc, best known for making bullets but also supplying
high quality brass and rifles under its name.
John Nosler had treated himself to a Winchester
Model 70 in .300 H&H calibre, then an exotic
big game cartridge, but found the .30 calibre
soft-point bullets of the time were overly fragile
for its velocities, often breaking up instead of
penetrating – or perversely, over-penetrating
and failing to expand. Early and excessive
expansion was a particular problem with BC
moose which liked to roll around in swamps
then dry out in the sun, already tough hides
acquiring a thick coat of hard dried clay. One
such bull took four shots before it even showed
a hit, then several more to finish the job.

Nosler was depressed in having a state of the

art rifle whose bullets weren’t up to the job and
decided he’d do something about it himself
rather than simply complain, or move back to
the old low power .30-40 Krag cartridge. The
original partition bullet was devised on a piece
of scrap paper in the trucking company office
and manufactured in its workshop by machining
cavities into sections of copper rod and
pouring molten lead into them in the absence
of core casting and swaging equipment . Fred
Huntington, founder of another young Oregon
business, RCBS was involved and helped
by supplying expertise, dies, and presses to
reduce the time and effort involved in producing
Target Shooter 9
10 Target Shooter
 V alkyrie Rifles
New
Gunsmithing and
Custom Rifle
Building Venture
Our look at South
Yorkshire Shooting
Supplies’ operations
in the September
issue mentioned that
Dave ‘Baldie’ Wylde SYSS’ gunsmith Dave
‘Baldie’ Wylde was in
proudly displays his record the
breaking 500yd Fly Shoot process of going
group shot with a .338 independent as a full
Lapua Magnum Surgeon time gunsmith and
rifle that he built custom rifle builder.
This has now
happened with the creation of his own operation,
Valkyrie Rifles which remains situated alongside
SYSS at Everill Gate Farm, on the edge of the
village of Broomhill in South Yorkshire. Dave and SYSS
proprietor Roger Francis haven’t formally announced
the new arrangements at the time of writing, but the
giveaway was Dave’s new website http://www.valkyri-
erifles.net a professional looking and comprehensive
effort which lists the services provided, contact details
etc. A chat with Dave confirmed that yes, he is now
up and running as an independent rifle builder, but he
B erger Bullets Rationalises Its Product therefore expensive business for a manufacturer, and
Range most Moly fanciers now use DIY treatment kits. So,
There hardly seems to be a week go by that doesn’t
see an announcement from Berger Bullets that it has
introduced yet another new bullet, to the point where
a particular weight in a given calibre has two or three
models, some available in Moly-coated form. The
result has become a bulging, some would say
confusing, product range, especially with many
models available in both ‘Hunting’ and ‘Match’
versions. The inevitable has now happened with the
company announcing that a number of older models
that no longer sell well are to be withdrawn. In the
target bullet field this involves its 50gn and 62gn 0.224”;
62gn and 70gn 6mm; 85gn 6.5mm; 182mm XBT 7mm;
and 155gn 0.308” models. There are alternatives
available in each case, usually newer and more
efficient designs, such as the 155.5gn BT FULLBORE
which replaces the original and lower BC 155gn match
bullet. A couple of varmint bullets have gone too.
What is perhaps equally interesting is a statement
by Berger marketing manager Michelle Gallagher
announcing an end to the provision of Moly-coating
on several models. She notes the company watched
the rise in popularity of this treatment after its initial
introduction, followed by a decline, and now a
considerable revival. However, while the materials
are cheap, applying them is a time consuming and
and Roger will delay the official announcement until
1st January 2011. Both remain on good terms and
continue to collaborate on many aspects of their
activities, only Dave will now trade independently.
Valkyrie Rifles provides a full range of gunsmithing
services – rebarrelling, restocking, threading
muzzles for sound moderators etc as well as
continuing to undertaking semi-custom ‘tune-up’
work on Remingtons for both parties – but will
increasingly see Dave expand his bespoke custom
rifle building activities, also experiment in new areas
such as semi and full-custom modification of Tikka
rifles. He will continue to provide his excellent
Duracoating finishing work and other services.
We in TargetShooter wish this likeable and really
competent new gunsmith well – the demand for top
quality services is this line of work still far outstrips
the availability of skilled and experienced people
offering such services. And ..... anybody who shoots a
five-shot 500 yard 1.152” group with a self-built .338
Lapua Magnum rifle (Diggle Fly Shoot, August 2010),
really does deserve to succeed!
Dave will work at his Everill Gate Farm workshop
Tuesday to Saturday most weeks, but visiting is
by appointment only. There is contact and location
information on the Valkyrie Rifles website including
an ‘online contact form’. Telephone: 07889 388378;
email: dave@valkyrierifles.net
a list of bullets which are no longer available in Moly
coated form has also been published, and although
Ms Gallagher’s statements don’t make this plain, a
look at (the yet to be updated) products list on Berger’s
website appears to show a clean sweep. So, if you like
your Bergers factory-Moly’d or want to stick with some
older and to be withdrawn uncoated models, it would
be a good idea to check the link below and ring the
company’s UK importers to see if there are any still
in stock. For further information, visit Berger Bullets’
Blog (‘The Berger Bulletin’) which also contains a lot of
interesting material on Berger’s products and getting
the best out of them, such as ‘tuning’ VLD bullets to
your barrel: http://02b0516.netsolhost.com/blog1 and
Berger Bullets’ main website address (http://www.
bergerbullets.com). These bullets are imported into the
UK and also retailed by Norman Clark Gunsmiths Ltd.,
Rugby, and Tim Hannam in North Yorkshire.
Target Shooter 11
 Calendar of events over the next few months
If your club or association has events you want to publicise here then email us.
5 Nov to 7 Nov European F Class
Championships (National Shooting Centre
(NSC), Bisley) Contact(s): Mik Maksimovic
6 Nov Start of Probationary Members Course
2010/5 (National Shooting Centre (NSC),
Bisley)
This course is primarily a course in safe
handling and provides an introduction to
Target Rifle, Gallery Rifle and Black Powder
Pistol. Each course consists of five separate
lessons. Course date to be allocated once
entry conditions are fulfilled. All applications for
Probationary Membership should be made to the
NRA Membership Secretary.
13 Nov to 14 Nov Range Conducting Officer
Course Two day course - successful candidates
will be qualified to conduct live firing on MoD or
TAVRA ranges. Contact Maureen Peach - NRA
13 Nov NRA Shooting Club Day (National
Shooting Centre (NSC), Bisley) Multi-discipline
NRA Shooting Club Day. All disciplines welcome.
Open to all full members of the NRA - contact
Charles Perry
20 Nov Day 2 of Probationary Members Course
that started on 6 Nov (National Shooting Centre
(NSC), Bisley)
This course is primarily a course in safe handling
and provides an introduction to Target Rifle,
Gallery Rifle and Black Powder Pistol. Each
course consists of five separate lessons. Course
date to be allocated once entry conditions
are fulfilled. All applications for Probationary
Membership should be made to the NRA
Membership Secretary. Heather Webb
20 Nov Saturday, 20 November 2010
To Sunday, 21 November 2010 Fees include
NSRA registration costs, course attendance and
assessments where necessary. They do not
include meals and accommodation.
Email: tony.king@gbtsf.co.uk
27 Nov Day 3 of Probationary Members Course
that started on 6 Nov (National Shooting Centre
(NSC), Bisley) This course is primarily a course
in safe handling and provides an introduction
to Target Rifle, Gallery Rifle and Black Powder
Pistol. All applications for Probationary
Membership should be made to the NRA
Membership Secretary. Heather Webb

Welcome to GT Shooting.
The premier shooting sports shop in Surrey

Fullbore & .22LR Optics

Black Power Ammunition
Air Rifles and Pistols Reloading equipment
Used rifles and Pistols and more...

Our premises are located at

53 Chipstead Valley Road, Coulsdon, Surrey, CR5 2RB
www.gtshooting.co.uk

Tel: 020 8660 6843

Fax: 020 8660 6843

12 TargetWe are conveniently situated near the M23 & M25.

Shooter
Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 10.00am - 5.30pm
 European Benchrest Championships 2010 –
Holles, Austria
The reloading tent – our home for the next four days
Having shot benchrest for just a couple of years,
you can imagine when I was asked if I fancied
going to the ‘Europeans’ as part of the UK Team,
I was thrilled. Of course I said ‘yes’ but this was
way back in December of last year so, for the
last few months I had been trying to figure out
how it all works.
It’s now late August so with bags packed and
more reloading gear than I could shake a stick
at, Dad and I set off for Austria. We knew it
was going to be a long slog - a night ferry from
Newcastle to Amsterdam, then 1200 km through
Holland, Germany and into Austria. 30 hours
later we arrived at a lovely hotel about 30 miles
from Vienna and about 20 minutes drive from
the range. The hotel was kindly booked for us
by fellow benchrest shooter, Jack Searle who
unfortunately had to withdraw from the Team
at the last minute. (Many thanks Jack – a top
choice).
We had Monday to relax and see a bit of Austria,
then we met up with our other team members,
Tom Morris (who had also driven) and Martin
Miles, (who elected to fly) for a spot of dinner.
Over dinner we were introduced to several other
benchrest shooters from all over Europe, who
made us feel truly welcome.
Tuesday morning and it was off to the Holles
range. It’s a military range and we were greeted
by a small army of helpers who were setting up
the targets and a large reloading-tent. By this
stage, the heavens had opened and it was just
like normal Diggle weather…… a lot different to
the 30 degree heat we had enjoyed the past few
days.
by Bruce Lenton
We set up our wind-flags, reloading and cleaning
gear and chatted to the masses of other
shooters who were steadily streaming in. The
one thing that struck me as a newcomer was the
friendliness of everyone - they would all come
up, shake your hand, introduce themselves
and start having a chat. It was like one large
benchrest family coming together.
The rain finally abated and we got chance for
some informal practice. Someone told me the
wind at Holles was not as bad as Diggle! Don’t
make me laugh - the range has a bank at either
side, with various gaps in it and then a big baffle
about 10 yards in front of the firing point. It was
soon apparent that, although the wind wasn’t
howling, it was ‘interesting’ to say the least.
Practice over, it was back to the hotel, some
food and an early night - getting psyc’d up for
tomorrow……. 100 meters Light Varmint.
Wednesday dawns and sun is shining - a
complete opposite to yesterday. The local
Mayor was in attendance at the opening
ceremony, along with the regional army chief,
oh and someone by the name of Ian Kelbly of
the famous American Kelbly (Stolle) dynasty. He
was to be our Range Master for the duration of
the competition.
Finally, it’s time for Ian Kelbly to say those
immortal words “Relay One to the benches!” We
are off, the Championship is underway. The UK
Team was not shooting until Relay 4 so we had
a bit of time to see what was going on; this was
really useful and I learnt a lot. It also steadied my
nerves a bit, as I saw all the groups appearing
on the ‘wailing wall’ - some small, some average
Target Shooter 13
 The mass of wind-flags! Unfortunately,
they weren’t always this benign

and some not so small. I am now thinking to astonishing. However, they did have a dedicated
myself ’watch the flags, watch the flags’. Relay team of at least half a dozen young soldiers.
Three is half way through their detail - I better It was the end of day one and we were down to
get my rifle and ammo. the wailing-wall to collect our targets and see
how we had done. The one thing that quickly
Sat at the bench, the first thing that strikes me became apparent was that a very small mistake
is the mass of wind-flags in front of me, I have could cost you dearly and you could drop 20
never seen so many in my life and I have to places without even making a serious dollop. If
keep remembering which set of flags to watch! you were lucky, the reverse could happen and
My thanks must go to the Deletangs from you could go up 20 places. At the end of day
Monaco, whose flags we used mostly as they one, Team UK were hovering around mid-pack.
were also squadded to the same benches. They Now it was off for another fine Austrian meal
had no less than 25 wind-flags with them, not with our newfound friends. It was a great spirit
to mention all their gear and their dog - aptly in our wee group - there were folks from France,
named ‘Benchy’. Monaco, Germany and even Botswana and
It was now 30 degrees in the reloading-tent Siberia!
and with shooting, cleaning and reloading plus Day 2 was identical to day one, glorious sunshine
the obligatory trip to the ‘wailing wall’ the time and clear skies. Today was the 100 meters
between relays flew by. Soon it was lunch and Heavy Varmint. The UK Team were shooting the
what a joy to have catering on site - Austrian same rifles for the entire competition but others
sausage, bread, cheese, pastries you name it. had brought dedicated ‘heavy’ rifles for the HV
stage.
The range and organisation was perfect, the The temperature was soon well into the twenties
speed at which they managed to change all and by mid-morning had passed 30 degrees in
the targets, and reset the moving-backers was the reloading-tent. This morning’s hot topic was

The aptly named ‘wailing wall’

14 Target Shooter
the Belgian shooter who was shooting next to tricky, the baffle and the gaps in the banks
UK Team member Tony Lenton. He shot a tiny provided some really interesting conditions. The
group of 1.37mm in the Warm-up Match - that is bench-rotation was also fun as we never shot
0.049 inches in real money! There was a small from the same bench twice, which made the
debate as to whether or not this was a new world change-over between relays a rapid exercise.
record; in the end it wasn’t but he was still a very
Note to self - next time, take some kind of cart to
happy chappie. move gear up and down the line.
It’s often said that you don’t win benchrest
We had another great day, plenty of good fun on matches, you lose them - by inconsistent
the benches and in the reloading-tent. We soon shooting. Today was testament to that, the
established a cleaning and reloading regime on Belgian who shot the magical group in the
our somewhat rickety table that allowed us all Warm-up only finished in the twenties. For
to co-exist in perfect harmony. It is considerably once, I managed a very consistent shoot with
harder to clean, reload etc. on a small folding only 50 thou. between best and worst groups. I
bench than you would think - without upsetting was going to be happy no matter where I came
Martin’s scales or Tom’s powder-thrower! based on this but at the end of day two Team UK
The glorious sunshine held but that wind was were still mid-pack.

Those three shots are

well under a quarter
UK shooters Tom Morris and
of an Bruce
inch. This is one
Lenton prepare to do battle!
accurate rifle!

Target Shooter 15

Now the targets are moved back to 200 meters.
This whole process took less than two hours and
my goodness, they were slick. We need some
target-changers like these guys!
A fantastic Chinese meal was in store this
evening for our little group, I have no idea what
we ate, maybe I don’t want to know, but my
word it was good, thanks to the Chinese wife
of Philip Octo, a French shooter. She did the
menu selection and we all ate till we could eat
no more. When you next see Tom Morris - ask
him about the sauce!
Friday dawned and it was the start of the 200
metre shooting (Heavy Varmint). I had never
previously shot my 6PPC at more than 100
yards but with a bit of help from our crowd they
told me how much elevation I needed. Stage
one successfully passed! We all quickly moved
the Deletang’s wind-flags and reset them. No
language barrier here when you have aircraft-
carrier like hand-signals to work with!
At 200 meters the groups naturally got bigger.
We had vertical stringing, horizontal stringing,
diagonal stringing….. it’s a whole different ball
game! The weather forecast was predicting rain
and wind for today but my shorts were still on
and I didn’t think it was going to come. As Relay
3 was shooting their third match, the wind started
to pick up and almost everyone’s groups started
to grow. By the time the UK shooters took to the
benches, the rain was lashing down and the
wind was howling…… normal Diggle conditions
at last – yippee!
I was having a reasonable day and Dad said
“Just shoot one good group and you will be
OK”. So for Match 4 I hold it together and shoot
16 Target Shooter
Sixth place but no smile from Martin Miles!
17mm - that will do when others are getting
50mm groups. Match 5 and the rain is now
bouncing down, the road resembles a river and
the sky was jet black and the wind was really
up. The Finn and the Italian either side of me
did not know what to do and I just said it’s like
being back at home! I could hardly see where
my shots were going as the target was so wet
but, as I put the fifth shot in, I saw a small group
in the bottom of the mothball……. 13mm - I will
take that - yes please - especially when the
wailing-wall was littered with 70mm plus groups.
Just after the shooting finished guess what?
The wind and rain stopped…. typical. We
covered up all our gear in the reloading tent with
tarpaulins to stop dripping condensation, given
the amount of water in the atmosphere by now.
The tent became packed when the rain came as
the Belgians and Italians had previously happily
cleaned outside. It was the end of day three and
Team UK were still languishing mid-field.
Another good night out followed but, by this
stage, I think it would be fair to say that we were
all getting a little weary.
Saturday dawned, the majority of the rain had
passed but it was noticeably cooler. Again it was
200 meters, but this time Light Varmint. Today
was Martin Miles’ day, he shot some amazing
groups and ended up 6th overall on the day….
well done Martin.
The rain mainly held off but the wind was up and
down all day, which made for some really mixed
conditions. No Warm-up match today as we had
to get packed up sharpish so that we would be
in time for the prize-giving dinner. Tony Lenton
had some good groups today - due to work
commitments Tony had only managed to shoot
benchrest twice this year before the Europeans
and was thrown-in ‘at the deep end’ so to speak
when, for various reasons, other shooters had
to cancel but by the end of the event he was
really getting into the swing of it.
So it was back to our hotels to freshen-up and
don our team shirts. We had a wonderful dinner
with speeches and a plentiful Austrian buffet,
it was like an Olympic awards ceremony with
national anthems played for all the various
winners and medals presented. A final chance to
unwind and chat about the four wonderful days
that had just flown by. We may not have won
any prizes for shooting, but I think we definitely
had the best team kit - many thanks to Martin
Miles for organising this.
The ‘Europeans’ is essentially a Team event
and each country is allowed to send just one
four-man team. For the record, the UK Team
didn’t win any medals this year – Italy won the
Gold, Germany Silver and France the Bronze.
However, there is an individual European
Champion and for 2010 it is Jean-Louis Espinet
of France.
I must at this point thank everyone who helped
to make this event such a success. I have
competed in international events in the past
in other sports but the Austrian Benchrest
Shooting Association put on possibly the best
run international event I have ever attended,
from the registration process to the target-crew
and prize-giving - all were superb. Also, many
thanks to Ian Kelbly the Range Master who ran
a great range and was always happy to help out
whenever needed and give advice to all.
On a personal note, I have made a huge number
of friends through going to this event and I will
definitely attend some more overseas events in
the future. Shooters will do anything for you and
will always help out.
All that was left now was the long drive
home………
Interested in benchrest? Check out the UKBRA
website at www.ukbra.co.uk

Portsmouth Gun Centre Ltd

295 London Road
North End
Portsmouth
PO2 9HF
Opening Times Tel 02392 660574
Mon 9.30 - 5.30 Fax 02392 644666
Tues Closed
Wed Closed E-mail sales@portsmouthguncentre.com
Thur 9.30 - 5.30 Website www.portsmouthguncentre.com
Fri 9.30 - 5.30
Sat 9.30 - 5.30
We stock a full range of Rifles, Pistols, Air Guns, Shotguns, Ammunition,
Reloading Equipment and Accessories. All major brands stocked including BSA,
CZ, Air Arms, Marlin, Ruger, Umarex, Uberti, Cometa, Pedersoli, Berreta, Lincoln,
Webley, Pedersoli, etc.

Target Shooter 17
 The DuraCoat© process - by Chris Parkin
The gun is completely stripped and masked where necessary prior to sand-blasting
We have serialised Chris Parkin’s tactical rifle that it was too much to do before the Diggle Egg
build in the August and September issues of Shoot so I shot the gun 100% functional but ugly.
Target Shooter magazine and, following one or After the competition, I took the gun back to
two queries regarding the DuraCoat process, Valkyrie Rifles (www.valkyrierifles.net) in South
we have asked Chris to write a further piece Yorkshire to have the coating done by proprietor
specifically on this subject. I’ll let Chris take Dave Wylde. Dave’s work is first class and he is
up the story............ rapidly becoming the ‘industry standard’ for the
Well, the gun was finished, the first shooting DuraCoat process in the UK. He was more than
results were excellent but more work was still happy to let me hang around for the morning to
to be done. The stock needed its final sanding allow me to get a better understanding of the
process and photograph the various stages
and oiling and I had decided I didn’t like the
involved. DuraCoat is available in over 140
look of the stainless barrel on a blued action. I
colours, so like Henry Ford, I chose black - flat
looked into some coatings but as ever, advice
matt-black.
and examples were close at hand so I decided
to try the DuraCoat finish to improve the looks Of course gloss finishes are also available and
of the metal work. like many colour coatings, an infinite number of
colour blends can be achieved if the customer
I had seen DuraCoated guns before but never wishes. DuraCoat themselves produce and
paid too much attention to them so, like a lot of supply a multitude of ‘peel-and-coat’ camouflage
things in life, I decided to ‘dip my toe in the water’ stencils from which everything from DPM to
and see for myself. I spoke about this from the digital camouflage can be created but Dave
start of the rifle build but, as time was tight and has had his own masking patterns cut to his
the gun ideally needed to be bedded into the own design. These are thinner than the usual
stock before the coating was applied, I realised commercially available stencils and this helps

18 Target Shooter
 Sand-blasting the components

prevent a build-up of paint which can give a like the chamber are sealed, the tenon threads
‘stepped’ finish between the camo. colours. If masked and the crown protected.
you wish, you truly can create your own work of
art but obviously it all adds to the price. Like any good painting or coating process, all
The coating process the work is in the preparation and this part of
The gun is dismantled fully into its component the job takes several hours to ensure a good
parts and everything to be coated is then end-product, with both aesthetic finish and
de-greased and lightly sand-blasted. The adhesion being of equal importance. DuraCoat
sand-blasting ensures an even surface finish is not just a pretty paint job, it is also a metal
and of course helps to give a good ‘mechanical protector and I was getting the latest ‘SL’
key’ for the paint to adhere to. The barrel, version which contains Teflon for ‘self lubrication’
recoil-lug and action are then de-greased again purposes. I have to say whilst watching the
and re-assembled - ensuring all the witness process, looking at previously finished items
marks exactly re-align prior to coating. I was and talking to Dave, I realised all these factors,
also having the bolt, its shroud along with the which I had never appreciated before, added up
20 MOA Weaver scope rail and bottom metal to the fact the coating was far more than just a
coated for a fully homogenous finish. visual improvement!
The DuraCoat is applied with an airbrush and
In a similar way to normal painting, areas are is mixed with a hardener - the amount varying
masked off to avoid over-spray both during depending on ambient air temperatures and
sand-blasting and the painting process itself. equipment used for spraying. Several coats are
Dave’s attention to detail was impressive, little applied depending on the exact gun component,
things like protecting the proof marks prior to its location and of course, if you want a
sand-blasting to avoid them getting dulled and multi-coloured finish such as a camouflage
polishing up the bolt head and non-load bearing pattern, several colours as well. The finish at
sections of the lugs. Of course critical areas a minimum is literally microns thick but can be
Target Shooter 19
 The bottom-metal freshly sandblasted
and degreased ready for coating. Good
preparation work is essential

built up in areas subject to heavy wear - such as oven.

the bolt handle - to aid long term durability. DuraCoat themselves like to compare it with
Being 100% non-artistic and terrible at painting a fine wine - it improves with age! It boasts
of any type, I foolishly asked Dave how long flexibility - to promote toughness as much
it had taken him to master the airbrushing as hardness - helping to avoid the chipping
techniques and the associated equipment used. associated with some competitor’s ultra-hard
He very dryly said the last 20 years of custom yet correspondingly brittle finishes.
painting motorbikes had given him a leg up. After two months of use and three or four trips
When the painting was finished, I set off in and out of the stock, I can report no marking
home and agreed to come back to pick up the whatsoever. To be fair, I only gave it five days
gun later when it had cured and the bolt and before I re-assembled the gun and shot it.
bottom-metal fully reassembled. The following Dave did tell me a little trick though, something
morning I received a text saying it was all done that would not have been noticed until it is
and being the impatient bugger I am, I went to too late……………. when a Remington 700
fetch it and was delighted with the results. The ejects the brass it tends to spin the fired case
gun looked a perfectly uniform satin black from backwards and the case hits the rear right hand
carefully masked crown to bolt-shroud with the receiver bridge in the same spot every time.
Weaver rail and bottom-metal all suitably sombre It happens so fast you can hardly see it. Over
to match. I couldn’t wait to get it in the stock. the course of a few thousand rounds this will
mark the DuraCoat. The cure - a tiny piece of
Although the DuraCoat becomes touch-dry in 20 matching protective tape applied to the spot and
minutes and can be handled within an hour, the hey presto, no marking.
hardness and durability of the coating takes 4-6 To complete the job, I spent several more
weeks to fully develop. After the paint is air-dry hours sanding, buffing and Tru-oiling the stock
however, Dave bakes the parts to speed up the over the course of those five days and got it
hardening process in a controlled-temperature looking superb. When re-assembled with the
20 Target Shooter
The DuraCoat process starts – note masked bolt-head

DuraCoated barrelled action, it was finally And for more information on DuraCoat:
finished and I was very pleased with the end www.duracoat-firearm-finishes.com
result. The trusty old 308 action had come back
to life.
Thanks to:
Valkyrie Rifles: www.valkyrierifles.net

The completed rifle

Target Shooter 21
 Tel/Fax 01722782432
Email; ags.westlake@virgin.net/ Website; www.westlakeengineering.com

The Taurus ML Revolver is converted from a Taurus .357 Magnum Long Barrelled Revolver.
The cylinder is removed and a Yoke extension fitted, this contains the spring loaded
plunger that frees the action when the yoke is closed. As this extension cannot be removed,
it prevents the re-fitting of the original cylinder. The Barrel is shortened to approximately 5
¼ inches and the wristbrace is removed.
A new cylinder is made which has pockets for shotgun primers at the rear with a small
flash hole through into the chamber at the front. The chamber is made to accept .357” lead
wadcutter bullets. The conversion of your pistol costs £330.00. Extra Cylinders are £180.00
each. If you do not have a pistol I can order a new pistol from the Importers.

Now open and accepting membership applications.

Multi discipline ranges with 10m, 25m & 50m Indoor ranges.
Air, Rimfire, Centre fire Gallery and black powder welcome.
Open six days a week. Pre-booking recommended.
Winter competitions to follow. Café and Shop on site.

22
www.thetunnel.co.uk or 01297 560049
Target Shooter
 Shooting the Black Powder Pistol
Part 10 - John Maslin Cooper

by Chris Risebrook
Compared to an Arms Fair the
choice is more limited, but the
Pic 1 prices should be nearer trade
than retail. I had spent hours
poring over the catalogue
and making copius notes - for
all the good that did me. For
a start, viewing is limited, in
that everyone else wants to
examine the lots, and there
just is not the time to give
each item the careful scrutiny
you would like. Just to confuse
the issue, there are a number
of lots not illustrated in the
catalogue, some of which
sound very tempting. In fact,
these items are not illustrated
Apologies for the jump in article numbers last
for a very good reason. Catalogue space is
issue - editors eyes. Now back to normal.........
limited, and the auctioneer is obviously only
or as good as it gets!!
going to illustrate the best items. This does not
I made two mistakes last week.
The first was going to an auction,
and the second was not keeping
my hands in my pockets! At the
checkout, I was informed I had
purchased five pistols, which just
shows what happens when you
don’t pay attention. This was my
first experience of an auction,
and it was an experience - an
expensive one! I wanted to
compare it to an Arms Fair, and
the object was to observe rather Pic 2
than bid - fat chance!

Target Shooter 23
 Pic 3
mean the rest are all turkeys, but there are some
horrors, as I found out to my cost!
We have all seen the interminable auction
programmes on TV, with dealers bidding whilst
hiding behind pillars, trying to blend into the
wallpaper. In fact, this auction was quite
civilized, and once I had broken the ice by
making the first bid, it was all too easy to get
carried away. On the first lot of interest, I
resolutely stuck to my limit, and was promptly
outbid - by £10! I then made the cardinal error of
bidding on the next lot, which I had not inspected
properly, and of course, got saddled with it;
serves me right. The rest of the auction varied
between bottom-numbing boredom, while
endless uninteresting lots passed by; boxes
and bags of books, buttons and bayonets,
interspersed with periods of frenetic activity,
trying to keep track of the interesting bits. The
trouble is there is no time to consider the current
bid; an instant decision has to be made, and
that’s when it can all go pear-shaped. I was not
even sure if I had won some bids, such was the
speed of the turnover, so the result was a bit of
a shock. However, when a dealer in front of me
at the checkout had to enquire whether or not
he had bought a blunderbus, I did not feel quite
such an idiot.
Convinced I had bought a collection of real
dogs, I deliberately did not look in the bag until
the next day. Actually, it was not as depressing
as I thought. The result was five revolvers, two
rimfires and three percussion. The percussions
are all a bit of a mystery to me, a Manhattan,
24 Target Shooter
a Cooper, and a James Harper, of which I
presently know very little, even less, and
absolutely nothing whatever respectively. So,
hopefully, some research will provide the basis
for a future article. In the meanwhile, I will
describe the two rimfires, simply because they
are easy.
Photo 1 shows the two revolvers, which are
both by Forehand & Wadsworth. These came
from the fertile mind of Ethan Allen, a maker of
cutlery and shoe making tools in Grafton
Massachusetts. Although I have seen him
described as the same person as the famous
Ethan Allen of the American Revolution, this is
quite wrong. Our Allen was born in 1808, and his
namesake died in 1789. A Doctor Lambert had
designed a shotgun walking stick and engaged
Allen to manufacture it for him. This work
persuaded Allen to get into the gunmaking
business for himself, and in 1836 he went
into business with his brother in law Thomas
Wheelock and made several thousand
underhammer single shot pistols, known as the
Allen Pocket Rifle. In 1837 Allen was granted
a patent for the first double action pistol in
America. Combining this with another patent
enabled him to expand his business into
making the pepperbox revolvers for which he is
best known, and which formed the core of his
business for many years. In 1837 he formed a
partnership with another brother in law, Charles
Thurber, and the firm, now known as Allen &
Thurber moved to larger premises in Norwich
Connecticut in 1842. By 1854, he had moved
 Pic 4
to an even larger site in Worcester, Mass, and
Wheelock finally became a full partner but died
in 1864, Thurber retired in 1856.
With the westward expansion, the Gold Rush
and the Civil War, there was a considerable
market for Allen’s products. Allen had daughters,
but no sons, and on Wheelock’s death he formed
a new partnership with his sons in law Henry
Wadsworth and Sullivan Forehand. Allen died in
1871, aged 63.
Wadsworth retired in 1890 and the company
was remaned Forehand and Co. Forehand
died in 1890, and the company was sold to
Hopkins & Allen in 1902. In 1917 this company
was taken over by Marlin to make components
for the Browning Automatic Rife, and of course
Marlin is now owned by Remington.
Phew! That’s the history bit done. Now to the
revolvers. Photo 2 shows the .41. This is a six
shot with a 3” octagonal barrel and a non fluted
cylinder. It has a spur or sheathed trigger, which
to me never looks quite right on a revolver, but
the first Smith & Wessons, Marlins,the Colt New
Line and all the Saturday Night Specials all used
this system, and it was a standard feature on
derringers. It is chambered for the same .41 rf
short cartridge as used in derringers. It is marked
with patent dates of 1861 and 1871. Note that
the locking bolt stops are in the front in the
cylinder rather than the rear. There is a loading
cut-out on the right, and unloading is by pulling
out the rod under the barrel and poking out
the empties. A finger nail would probably work
better, but if you needed to reload in a hurry, you
were probably in the wrong gun fight anyway.
The second revolver shown in Photo 3 is a
.32 six shot with a 2.25” round barrel with a
conventional trigger guard and a double action
mechanism, and is marked with patent dates of
1871 and 1873. This time, the bolt stops are at
the rear of the cylinder. Allen did not normally
number his guns, so it is difficult to know
exactly when each was made, but, to me, the 32
looks so much more modern than the 41. The
walnut birds head grips I find very pleasing. In
Photo 4 I have shown the .32 together with the
Harrington & Richardson described in a previous
article for comparison. Both are nickel plated with
surprisingly little wear for their age, but the H&R
has retained its shine, whereas the F&W has
gone dull.
The F&W is plated overall, whereas the H&R
has a blued hammer, trigger and trigger guard.
It is estimated that at least half a million pistols
were made by Allen and his various companies,
all for private sale - he never received a
government contract. Interestingly, he does not
seem to have been a successful rifle maker.
Now, the next time I go to an auction, I will stick
to my chosen lots, and not bid on anything else
- and pigs might fly!
Target Shooter 25
•
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Jo, Al and the GGC Gang shot here!

You can too. Call me to book...
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or call Andrew Venables on 07767 365804 / 01686 440782
or email on andrewvenables@aol.com

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Tel: 0161 430 8278 or 07941 958464
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26 Target Shooter
 Quality Shooting Sports Accessories
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MTM ammo cans are a great way to store bulk or boxed ammo.
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Peckfield Lodge, Great North Road,
Target Shooter 27
South Milford, Leeds , LS25 5LJ
 Ninth World Police & Military Sniper Championships
Budapest Hungary 2010 Part1- I need a rifle!
In 2008 I was invited to the ‘World Police and
Military Sniper Competition’ in Budapest, which
in the sniper/tactical circles is billed as the ‘best
of the best’ with teams attending from around
the world.
Although I’ve attended many similar
competitions, the skills required to compete
at this level meant that it was something of a
‘baptism of fire’ but I had a great time, made
some good friends and vowed to go back the
following year. Unfortunately, shortly after
28 Target Shooter
by By Rob Hunter
arriving back in the UK, I left to take up a post
in Afghanistan, so in 2009 I missed out but this
year I managed to pull some strings to get my
R&R rotations to fall in the last week of May - just
in time to coincide with the competition dates.
Having attended the competition before, I knew
that a good level of psychical fitness was going
to help, so after several months serious training
in the 45 degrees heat of an Afghan summer, I
felt I was at least fit enough.
Although it was difficult to co-ordinate things
from Afghanistan, I managed to sort the flight, only usable if the weather conditions permit but
organise a shooting partner and order various it also does away with the need for a separate
parts for an unfinished project – a 6.5x47 tactical spotting-scope.
rifle - just in time for my return to the UK in early
May. I have to admit, the quality of the S&B product
range is outstanding in the field of optics. The
As soon as I had recovered from the three-day focus at all magnifications snapped-in quickly
trip back to the UK courtesy of the RAF, I headed - and more importantly clearly - into view. The
off to York Guns to pick up the new Schmidt turret clicks are very solid clicks, almost to the
& Bender in 12-50x56. This is a custom-built point of being hard to turn! After mounting it
scope which is fitted with a new reticule that I on the rifle, I used a grid pattern at 100 yards
had worked on for the last eight months with to verify that the scope tracked consistently -
the technicians at Schmidt & Bender to make which it did - making solid adjustments in both
the P4 reticule a little finer. I felt that this was windage and elevation. (See Oct 2009 Target
necessary in order to make the really precise Shooter for full review)
shots that would needed and also ‘hollow out’
the heavy black side-bars in the reticle so they The scope is quite heavy at 1150 grams (2lb. 8oz).
become ‘see-through’ so to speak. This would This is a bi-product of the ‘mil spec.’ build using
assist spotting moving targets entering the field a very thick body-tube but I’m more than happy
of view. S&B also made the turrets to ¼ MOA to carry some extra weight in the knowledge that
clicks and turn anti-clockwise for more elevation it will not fail at the first hard knock in the field.
and the same with the windage to match a This was particularly relevant as, whilst I was
Leupold and other US built scopes that I am working on it, I dropped the rifle and it landed
most familiar with. on the rear eyepiece! This shattered the flip-up
cover but the scope was otherwise un-marked
I’ve never owned a Schmidt before - due to the and more importantly, function was un-affected.
fact the top-end of the magnification range was
only 25 power and, I also prefer a wider zoom The fit of the scope to the rifle is just as critical
range. Yes, the 20 - 40 high-end magnification is as any other aspect of the project and indeed

Target Shooter 29
 skimping on rings would negate the
quality of the whole build, so the
rings I choose for this job were a new
offering from US Optics, made from a
combination of steel and aluminium
and with a super-large bearing surface
of ¾ inch, ensuring the scope would
not be going anywhere under recoil.

The second component I had to collect

was a sound moderator. I have used a
mod. on most of my rifles for the last
eight years and find it much easier to
shoot with one rather than without.
Also, it’s big help in ‘health and safety’
department whilst surrounded by other
shooters on the range.
The reduced muzzle-flip helps you to
see your round going into the target
and helps speed up the follow-up shot.
Both of these factors are relevant on
land and in on-range competition.
Lastly and maybe most importantly, it
helps with my shooting technique. The
reduction of felt recoil, noise and rifle-
jump all help to overcome the dreaded

30 Target Shooter
‘flinch’. 5 The aluminium external tube - or body
The moderator in the photographs is a relatively - of the moderator. Another nice touch
new offering from SYSS (South Yorkshire here was to knurl the exterior of the
Shooting Supplies). They have taken some of tube allowing extra grip with cold, wet
the best ideas in moderators and brought them or gloved hands.
together into one unit to give the best all round
performance in all of the above areas. Finally, moving onto the rifle itself, I have got to
The mod follows the best of the present designs say after using the 6.5x47 Lapua built by Vince
principles and comes in four parts: Bottomley for me in 2008, I am completely
hooked on this small, low recoil, flat shooting
1 The ‘spider’. This is the internal part little cartridge. So, with a 1 in 8.5 barrel blank
of the unit (usually unseen except from Bartlein Barrels USA and a new Surgeon
when stripped) that screws onto the action from SYSS, I set off to see gunsmith Andy
end of your rifle and comes back over Massingham.
the barrel, this is also known as the
‘secondary’ expansion-chamber. It Andy is also a good friend and keen shooter
also holds the threaded bush that and he has been building his own rifles as well
screws onto your rifle barrel and as commissioned projects for several years
provides extra strength and support. and I’ve shot with him many times so I have
seen what his handywork can do. So, I had no
2 The ‘primary’ expansion-chamber reservations in handing the build project to him.
tube. This is a tube that fits inside the A few weeks later the barrelled-action, complete
moderator body-tube and locates the with a threaded crown and invisible thread
baffles. This also helps to strengthen protector, was ready for me.
the moderator body at a crucial
pressure-point. The stock was also a ‘no-brainer’. McMillan, in
my opinion, produce probably the best stocks bar
none and are used world-wide by police, military
3 The stainless-steel baffle stack. Five and civilians alike. The A5 Tactical I chose for this
in total and all identical so they can be rifle is a multi layered fibreglass construction with
rotated if required. a foam-filled core which makes sure there is no
vibration or noise transmitted through the stock.
4 The end cap. This comes with a The products used in the manufacturing process
thoughtful gadget – a ‘key’ to help by McMillan mean that if some alterations are
remove the end cap. required for fitting the action to the stock or
adjustments in the magazine well, they can be
done easily with some basic tools. I fitted some

Target Shooter 31
quick-release sling swivel cups, these are great
little gadgets that allow the sling to on and off
in seconds just by pressing the plunger on the
swivel, (also available from McMillan).
The stock comes pre-inleted for the action
and the trigger floorplate so the bottom-metal
aftermarket floor-plate (another product from
SYSS) drops straight in. This enables me to
use the Accuracy International five and ten-shot
magazines. So with all the work done and the
parts assembled, I used titanium Devcon to bed
the rifle action and the trigger floor-plate into the
stock. Once done, this in effect welds the three
parts (action, stock and floorplate) into one solid
32 Target Shooter
part, ensuring that once the two action-screws
are torqued to the correct foot-pounds, nothing
will move.
Due to the lack of time, the only thing that I
wasn’t able to do was have the rifle painted but
I will be paying a visit to Dave Wylde at SYSS to
get the whole rifle finished in ether a Kryolon or
a Duracoat overcoat when I get home next time
but for now, having barely had time to obtain a
decent load and zero the Schmidt & Bender, it’s
off to Budapest and the Ninth Police & Military
Sniper World Cup.
More next month.
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34 Target Shooter
 Basic Rimfire & Air Rifle Benchrest
Techniques

I role an article like this out every so often to help
remind myself most of all, but also others who
are willing to read. It is particularly hard to write
such an article as shooting technique for rimfire
and air rifle benchrest can be quite individual.
However the basics remain the same and this
can be brought down to one key factor, which in
essence is the same for most forms of shooting;
be consistent in all that you do in preparation
and while you are shooting – work always in
the way you train and shoot. The notes below
By Carl Boswell
are ‘gleaned’ from a variety of shooters; some
that have been researched and some who
contributed ideas for this article. Can I thank
them now for their time and effort. If I repeat
myself here, in terms of things I have said
before, I apologise now. Do have a think about
what I am suggesting again!
Preparing Equipment & Setting up the Rests
• Set up your wind flags – Sometimes in
competition we only have about fifteen minutes

Without windflags you may as well

throw the bullets down the range

Target Shooter 35
 Think about your bag and rest - prepare them for the job at hand

of the wind at any moment you are shooting.

Have as many of these as you can use and
spread them out at different distances between
to do this, and set up you and your target, either as a ‘tunnel’ or in the
rifles, so training is way you feel is best for you; these must be at the
paramount here to get it same height as your rifle and the same position
right! Flags will basically each time so you get used to reading them in the
allow you to view that state same way for different conditions. Train as you
would shoot in a competition.
Bag alignment for good • The sand in the front rest should be evenly
tracking is vital, seen distributed in the bag; you can use a small piece
her with a variety of of dowel to flatten it. This should to be checked
rests every so often as the sand or medium will move.
Both front and rear bags should be compact and
tight. (Bang it down a few times to make sure
that it is flat; possibly by gently slamming onto a
wooden bench!) Some bags, often the cheaper
ones, can become convex shapes at the base,
so forcing the sand to flatten is imperative. I
tend to use SEB bags now as they are one of
the best out there and are
a very good price. They
fit all the requirements for
benchrest shooting and
can be obtained via Fox
Firearms.
• Bag alignment is really,
really important!!! The rear
bag must be in line and as
straight as possible with
the front bag at all times. I
often use a cleaning rod to

36 Target Shooter
 Placing your rifle in the bags is very important for good tracking

help me set up alignment,

as this quickens the process
and in quite accurate. Bag
alignment will need to follow
the centreline of the rifle
stock, as the rifle recoil will
follow the bag setup. The
rear bag’s ears should be
in alignment with the front rest’s rear leg and
pointed at the target. Also make sure bags are
placed on the bench in a comfortable position
for you. Gently pat the legs of the front rest to • The front bag needs to be adjusted to fit the
ensure points
are firm and
stable.
A level on your rifle and
your rest really helps
with setup.
Try to make sure
this is as close to the
front of the bench as
possible.
Use the level on the front rest to guide
your setup; the front rest should be
completely level on the bench.
rifle comfortably. This depends on if
you have a bag or an adjustable rest.
Whichever you have the front of the
rifle should sit comfortably and track
easily. The front bag should not be so
tight that the rifle does not move as
it is illegal in most rules but will also
disadvantage accuracy. So while
setting up the rests, you need to
ensure the rifle will move in a straight
line backwards and forwards; so use
a very light tension when tightening
the front bag adjustment screws,
to allow easy indexing or tracking (The
movement backwards and forwards in the
set up rest and bags). This again needs a
bit of experimentation until you get what you
want.
• You can use talcum powder, unscented,
on leather bags or silicon spray on condura
bags before placing the rifle in the rests;
this allows a smoother slide back and forth
and acts as a lubricant. The same can be
achieved using Teflon tape attached to the
front and rear of the stock – often called
stock tape, funnily enough!!!
• The rifle can now pressed down into the
rear and front bags, which can be moulded

Target Shooter 37
 This mariners wheel has now - not shown - been extended for better access and
speedier use.

or shaped to take the form of the rifle. The doesn’t’!

front of the rifle should protrude about
two inches from the front rest; the forend
laying against the stop – this is important for
consistency testing while you are shooting, so
the rifle is always in the same place!! The rifle
butt should be placed in the rear bag so it is level
with the back of the rear bag, sitting comfortably
in the whole of the rear bag. Again, experiment
with these methods until you are happy with
you setup. Remember, ‘everything works until it
• Try not to place the rear bag too close to the
pistol grip of the stock as this may cause vertical
groups; the closer to the butt of the stock the
better – for me it is at the very rear of the rifle.
Positioning can be experimented and you will
find what works for you.
• The very end of the forend of the stock is
possibly not a good place to put the front rest,
as this can be a place on the stock that vibrates
the most. The thing here is knowing your rifle

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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
38 Target Shooter www.benchrest22.org
 The speedscrew is a real must
so you can tune
the best place to
place the both
bags.
• I tend to use a
bubble level on
the rifle, as well
as the rest, to indicate that the rifle is level and near
the same aiming point when indexing or it has been
subjected to recoil.
• The stock can now be pushed and pulled
through the bags testing for fit and indexing.
The rear bag can be moved to line
up the target if it is not in position.
Index the rifle backwards and forwards until
you are happy with the fact that the sights, and
therefore the rifle, are returning to the same
aiming point – take your time with this is you can!
• As the bags and rest are now set up, they
should not be moved again. If they do go out
of alignment for any reason, then the procedure
above should be followed; unless the match
has started! Good tracking of the rifle is easy to
observe and the easiest way is to view the
crosshairs in the scope which should move in a
vertical line up and down whilst indexing the rifle
in the bags. Push and pull with your hands only
and make sure the forend is against the stop on
the rest each time you go to shoot!
• Vertical movement is achieved with the
mariners wheel and final adjustments with
the rear leg screw or speedscrew; if you have
one. My own rest now has the mariners wheel
extended as this aids quick movement. The
speedscrew for quick elevation is a must. (Some
people use a range of joystick rests, like the SEB,
but I have never got on with these – but they are
good products). Set the rear front rest leg screw
to a central position and adjust the mariner
screw so the rifle is aligned with the center of the
target. This will allow you to have a good range of
movement on the rear leg screw or speedscrew
up and down for fine adjustments. Remember
after each shot the rifle is again slid forward
and then backwards to check alignment, after
loading the rifle is then pushed against the stop.
• Once you have moved the mountain, as it were,
and set all this up; stand behind your bench
to confirm for yourself that everything looks
aligned and the setup is centred. Also make sure
handles are tight on the front rest. If you think of it
you could use a marker pen to mark placements
to hasten the setting up process and to ensure
that if anything does move you can see where
the original position was and move it back.
• Try and attach a level to the rifle so that a check
can be made each time you shoot that the rifle is
vertical. Any cant will push the shot out into the
black.
Sequence of Shooting
• Adjust the rear bag to ensure a straight smooth
track of the cross-hair on the target from top to
bottom. Look through the scope and adjust the
Target Shooter 39
 Making sure you cross hair is aligned and returns to POA is imperative. Tracking and
consistent placement of the rifle will help. Don’t forget to place the rifle against the rest stop
front rest for elevation with the mariners wheel or smoothly from one row to another. It should not
rear leg screw (speedscrew). Once on centre of be necessary to make left or right adjustments
target lock the front post. with the rear leg of the front rest for the gun to
• Index the rifle into the bags by sliding the gun track properly if it was set up first on the center
back and forth. If the gun is properly aligned of the target, but if needs be this can be done. At
the cross-hairs will be perpendicular to the 50m there is so little movement from side to side
target (not canted) and the rifle will move (approx 6mm each way) on the overall target

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40 Jamie Beyerle
Target Shooter
Lots and lots of sighters on this 50m target. the more the better to get the ultimate score.
that it should not disrupt the alignment. If
necessary to do this slide the gun back and forth
while looking through the scope. Move the rest’s
rear leg left or right until you are satisfied with
the guns tracking correctly again.
• Ensure you always place the forend of the rifle
against the rest stop.
• Place sight crosshairs on the sighter ten ring
and adjust the rear screw or “speed screw”
up and down. If the gun is setup properly the
crosshairs will also track in a straight line when
the rear speed screw is used. If it doesn’t minute
left or right adjustment of the rear leg may be
necessary. The second check on tracking is that
when the rifle is moved back and forth on the
bags, the crosshairs should return very closely
to the original aiming point.
• The basics are that the rifle should, when shot
or tracked, “return to the point of aim” (POA). It
should also do this in a straight line, with little
jittering. You won’t get completely consistent
return to POA with sandbags, but it won’t be far
off, and if the bags are properly set up, it won’t
take much to get you back to the aiming point.
• Both tracking and bag/rest alignment should
be checked before firing, but should remain
true when firing. If they aren’t happening, check
the position of the rear bag. When setting up a
rear bag, lift the rifle so it will clear the ears, and
wiggle it slowly left and right. The centered
position, where you feel the least resistance,
should be right over the groove in the rear bag.
Lastly. Are you comfortable, with chair the
right height, are you warm enough, etc; Being
confident in yourself is also about how you feel,
so don’t forget this and don’t rush it.
Shooting from the Benchrest
• Lots and lots of sighters; as you have a least
five sighter blocks on most targets. I took lots of
sighters in the recent European Championship,
as I needed this to read the conditions. Some
shooters spend a large amount of the 30
minutes available shooting sighters, watching
conditions so they can emulate a good sighter
into a good record shot. This works for me also!
Also think about shooting a sighter every time
you move from one row to the next! This takes a
lot of discipline and practice.
• Use a smooth trigger action - a deliberate
Target Shooter 41
 stock even though it does ‘brush’ it ( add
talcum to your right cheek as a precaution if
you want to). During set up, try to make sure
that the rifle will point back at the POA after
recoil/tracking forward. You may wish to use
the rear bag to adjust aiming point, but some
people feel that there was too much room
for error, even though rear bag-squeezing is
traditional and used by many it is also much
faster others say not to touch it at all.
• Your setup, bags, rest and rifle will move;
Light hold or free recoil - the choice is yours!!! and this is exaggerated by the scope when
someone moves or if you are unlucky
enough to practice next to someone
shooting blackpowder for instance. Even
small movements will be noticeable. A
tighter front bag may help, but good tracking
may be given up for this solution. If you have
to contact with your shoulder and cheek use
only the lightest touch, so that no pressure is
exerted on the rifle. Another tip is use a bag
of some sort to support your trigger hand so
tiredness and excess movement does not
transfer to the rifle. Ignoring all movement
squeezing action not pulling. Technique is and sounds while shooting is vital.
everything here, but work out what is best for Any minor movements because you are
you and do it the same each time. Personally I startled, even by your own muzzle blast, will
go for virtually no contact of the rifle apart from affect your shot. Try not to move any part of your
the trigger – lots of practice needed here. body except your trigger finger when firing. As
• Most resources on the web and a lot of someone said to me recently; lacking a pulse
shooters will tell you to shoot ‘free-recoil’. This also helps as no movement is transferred to the
means that everything is set up on the bags rifle. If you can pull this one off and shoot well
and the only thing you touch when shooting is then you are lucky!
the trigger. (The main drawback for this is you • After all this practice....... practice......... and
need a very light trigger pull). Another method is again practice. Consistency with everything
the light hold and is usually described as a little produces those elusive 10X’s…
thumb pressure with the trigger hand, applied If I have missed anything out, I apologise. Again
straight down. This can be hard to do with both this is meant to be the basics, as things can get
consistent pressure and good trigger control, a lot more complicated when you start to read
until practiced. In theory, from those in the wind, mirage, flags, ‘shooting off’, etc, etc. Not
know, you shoot 10.5lb or Unlimited free recoil. all can be explained here, as it would be a book,
In Sporter class you can allow your shoulder to probably written by better shooters than me.
touch the stock, and wrap your fingers around Maybe in the next year we may have something
the pistol grip. You just have to be consistent in along those lines as groups of people are talking
what you do to be successful. about writing one at the moment. For the time
• Other alternatives are to hold the rifle with your being good luck with your shooting and never
non trigger hand; at the front or back to add ending experimentation.
‘weight’. This can cause poor shoots if you let These basic techniques do work, not only for me
you non trigger hand steer the rifle instead of just but many other shooters. However you do have
adding weight. Again a lot of practice if you do to decide what works for you. If you are getting
this. high scores then stay with the technique that is
• Touch only the trigger with the pad of your helping you achieve that. More importantly you
trigger finger keeping your cheek off the can share it with the rest of us.

42 Target Shooter
 Knowing your conditions
Helps to keep your aim true
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Wind speeds

Cross Winds

Air Pressure

Humidity

Temperature

Dew Point

Wind Chill

Altitude

Time and Date

Graphical Display

Data Logging


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Tel: 01590 679755
Target Shooter 43
 BROCOCK AIM X PISTOLS

by Tim Finley
Tim as ever seriously putting products throught their paces.
Having been a fan of pistol shooting since I shot air powered pistols and even used them to win
my first push in barrel pistol many, many years the odd FT and HFT pistol events, plus a few
ago I have amassed a quite large collection of medals at Bisley with my Buckmark LBP rimfire

44 Target Shooter
pistol.
Brocock are now an established name in the
world of airgun manufacture. They have now
come up with a series of precharged pneumatic
air guns based upon a common power plant
and basic design. This is nothing new as the old
firm called Titan did it first back in the 1990’s,
but Brocock have done it today with much more
finesse. Titan then became Falcon which is
still doing the same thing too. Back to Brocock
and from a standard design of a rear end of a
precharged pneumatic airgun action a whole
range of air rifles and even pistols can be made.
All share the same trigger unit and cylinder dia
with the length of the air reservoir being altered
to suit each application, long for rifles and short
for pistols, turning the trigger blade upside down
is the trick used to get over the differing trigger
positions needed with rifles and pistols. The
breech block can be changed again to suit the
rifle or pistol application. I first saw the prototype
of the Brocock Aim X pistol back at the IWA show
in Germany three years ago, the production
models are now more refined and in this test I’ll
be looking at the long and short versions of the
Aim X.
The short version is called the Atomic and as it
name intimates at, it is a small pistol but mighty
Target Shooter 45
powerful. It is amongst the smallest PCP pistol
made. I have a Titan MP six inch barrelled PCP
air pistol and the Atomic about the same size.
The long version is called the Grand Prix and
is a real handful compared to the Atomic, this is
despite being only 100 grams heavier and less
than two inches longer.
Both share the same wooden furniture, the
stock/grip is held on by one screw in front of
the trigger guard CHQ. The pistol grip itself is
ambidextrous and has some laser cut checkering
for a sure hold, with a nice fleur-de-lys pattern at
its bottom of the panel CHQ. The walnut stock is
shaped to form the trigger guard too, the stock
has nice flowing lines and is comfortable on the
aim. The air reservoir is in the normal place for
PCP’s i.e. underneath the barrel. The end of
46 Target Shooter
the compressed air cylinder has a screw off cap
under which is a push fit quick fill coupling. There
is a nice design touch followed on several parts
of the Aim X. A spiral grove pattern has been
machined around the dust cap for the quick fill
and this pattern is also cut into the cocking bolt
knob and the thread cap on the end of the barrel.
Moving on to the cocking procedure, there is a
small pressed steel lever on the rear right hand
side of the breech block. Pushing this down
releases the cocking bolt, which is under spring
tension. It flicks back some 29mm to exit the
pellet probe from the barrel. If needed a pellet
can be loaded at this point before the weapon is
actually cocked, which is a nice feature as long
as you always remember you have loaded a
pellet without cocking the action. The pistol does
not have any other safety features, it can be
de-cocked by holding back the bolt and pulling
the trigger. The Atomic comes fitted with open
sights, the rear of the breech block differs from
the Grand Prix as it is machined higher than
the front 11mm dovetail with the rear adjustable
open sight screwed onto the top of it. On the
Grand Prix it has a full 11mm scope dovetail
along the top of the breech block and the rear
open sight is clamped onto the back section of
the rail. The Grand Prix can be bought without
open sights and I can see any potential buyers
of the Grand Prix for pistol events in Field Target
and Hunter Field Target going for the none open
sight option.
For the chronograph tests on both pistols I filled
them to 190 bar, the instruction manual states
200 bar is the maximum fill pressure but from
experience I know if you fill to that max fill level
the first dozen or so shots will be at a lower feet
per second value, with a simple knock open valve
system on a PCP you have to find the optimum
fill pressure in order to get the first shots you get
at the same relative speed as the ones twenty
or thirty shots down the charge. Filling to the
maximum fill pressure will only cause this dip in
the first run of shots. You have to experiment with
each individual PCP to find its own fill pressure
to deliver the most number of shots with the least
variation. It’s called finding the power curve of
the compressed air powered airgun. Both of the
guns on test were .177 calibre, the Atomic gave
me 50 good shots within feet per second with
10.5 grain Bisley Magnum pellets. These were
at the 4 and a half foot pounds mark Dropping
the fill pressure down to 185 bar on the longer
cylindered Grand Prix gave a better power
curve with 20 feet per second variation and still
at a pokey 5.5 foot pounds of power. The much
smaller Atomic gave the same 50 shots but half
a foot pounds or so down in power compared
to the Grand Prix. For a .177 calibre pellet firing
pistol it is not as efficient at .22 but the 50 shots
for such a small gun is still very impressive. I
have a Titan and a Daystate PCP pistol and the
Atomic gives me more shots on its power curve
than either of them.
The two pistols on test did differ in one big way
when it came to the barrels, on the Atomic the
barrel is completely free floating ( meaning
it is only held on to the gun by it’s fixing into
the breech block. The Grand Prix has a barrel
clamp, which also serves as the front post sights
for the open sights. The barrel on the Atomic
is a bigger diameter than the Grand Prix. This
means the system for fitting a muzzle brake or
moderator is totally different on both pistols.
The Grand Prix has an external 10mm thread
machined onto the outside of the barrel. It then
has a ½ UNF adaptor which screws onto the
barrel. The Atomic has a female thread turned
into the end of the barrel, this is a ½ UNF female
thread so a moderator with a male thread can
just be screwed straight into the gun. If you have
a more normal female threaded muzzle brake or
moderator then Brocock have a ½ UNF female
Target Shooter 47
 Aim X Atomic at 10 yards
to male adaptor, this has the familiar angled slot
pattern CNC’d around it’s diameter.
When it came to range testing I took the two
precharged pneumatic pistols out to my rimfire
range rather then going up to my six yard loft
range first. To shoot two such powerful pistols
at six yards is no real test for them. I wanted to
shoot them both at 10 yards, which is the range
I zero my Field Target and Hunter Field Target
pistols in at. On whose two disciplines targets
can go out to 30 yards. With always a few 25
yard targets thrown in on every course of fire. I
tested the Atomic first with its open sights, the
front red fibre optic sight is protected by a hood,
you may think this is a mistake as the point of
a fibre optic sight is that it gathers the available
light and shows a bright red (depending upon the
colour of the fibre optic rod) dot to the shooter.
Brocock have already thought of this by opening
out the sides of the metal hood with long slots on
either side of the hood. It did work very well and
I was able to shoot a 18.9mm center-to-center
five shot group at ten yards with the Atomic
using 6.8 grain Hobby flat headed match pellets.
I fitted a Hawke red dot sight then and found as I
expected the group sizes come down markedly.
The Grand Prix gave me 17.2mm center-to-
center five shot groups with Bisley Magnum
10.5 grain pellets. Fitting the red dot optical sight
brought it down to a very respectable 12mm
at 10 yards. The better groups with the Grand
Prix were most likely down to a few factors. The
48 Target Shooter
Grand Prix has a longer barrel, this may or may
not aid accuracy but the longer sight base for
the open sights most certainly does help with
accuracy. The Atomic is still an accurate pistol
and its shorter action is easy to handle over long
shooting sessions. All the shooting I did was with
a two handed grip, I found the stocks\grips very
comfortable and a left-handed shooting mate
of mine confirmed they are ambidextrous. He
also found a new grip with the butt of the pistol
grip in the palm of his hand and a supporting
finger on the flat underside of the trigger guard
section of the wooden stock. Brocock also sent
one of their new Wraith moderators this has the
same pattern of radial slanted slots which form
a common theme on of the AimX pistol range.
I found it a very good moderator indeed, it has
been designed by Brocock themselves and has a
very clever baffle system. Why should you need
a moderator on a target pistol, well for at least
two reasons. You can practice in your garden
or in my case my loft range without annoying
anyone with the crack of the air discharge. Also
the added weight at the front is favoured by
some pistol shooters as an aid to holding a very
stable sight picture while on the aim. The factory
set trigger pull on the Grand Prix was more than
the Atomic but both trigger let off’s were very
predictable. I can see the plain trigger blade
of the AimX’s being replaced by brass one’s. I
will get Pete Dutton to come up with a flat blade
with which I can adjust the angle to the pad of
 Aim X Grand Prix open and red dot sights

my finger. Both pistols have a black alloy blade Overall length - 315mm ( 12 3/8”)
which has four holes machined into it’s face, I Weight - 1.3Kg (2lb 13oz)
presume to give a texture to the blades surface Price - £ 250 rrp
or I could be wrong and it may be a small attempt
at weight saving. Model - Aim X Grand Prix
Of the two marks there is very little to choose in Type - Precharged Pneumatic pistol
terms of accuracy, I myself decided to buy an Barrel length - 250mm (9 3/4 ”)
Atomic as it’s diminutive dimensions appeal to Calibre - .177 or .22 ( .177 on test )
me and the power levels of 4 ½ foot pounds is Action - Single shot, bolt cocking
more than adequate for FT/HFT events. I can Sights [- Open, adjustable.
shoot it with the very good open sights or fit a red Trigger - Two stage adjustable
dot. I fitted a short plastic Sound Biter moderator Trigger pull weight - 998g ( 2lb 3oz)
to mine, again to try and keep the size and Overall length - 365mm ( 12 3/8”)
overall weight of the pistol down. If a high shot Weight - 1.4Kg (3lb)
count is what you are after then a Grand Prix in Price - £ 270 rrp (£295 when fitted with open
.22 calibre would be the way to go. For FT and sights)
HFT then a .177 is the best bet, again the Grand
Prix will have the slight edge on the shot count
but it is a bigger gun. Brocock have come up
with a winning combination in the two pistols,
either way you will have a top quality PCP pistol.

Specification
Distributor - Brocock 01527 527800
Model - Aim X Atomic
Type - Precharged Pneumatic pistol
Barrel length - 200mm (8 ”)
Calibre - .177 or .22 ( .177 on test )
Action - Single shot, bolt cocking
Sights - Open, adjustable. Front fibre optic
Trigger - Two stage adjustable
Trigger pull weight - 594g ( 1lb 5oz)
Target Shooter 49
50 Target Shooter
 Iron Plate Action Shooting – Action Air
Shooting’s 1911 Pistol

by Vince Bottomley
The 1911 Colt is a design masterpiece and Umarex and AAS do it full justice
Last month, we had a look at the discipline of delays, it arrived.
Iron Plate Action Shooting which came about
as a result of an e-mail from Mark at Action Air Wow, was I impressed on opening that parcel.
Shooting. Would we like to try a hopped-up 1911 The 1911 was uncannily similar to the one
pistol? stolen from me (by the Government) in 1995
The pistol that Mark described in his e-mail – right down to the matt-black finish, polished
sounded too good to be true – especially to slide, beavertail grip-safety, red-dot sight etc.
someone who thinks the Colt 1911 to be the etc. Weight-wise, it was bob-on and it was
most perfect semi-auto pistol ever designed! great to feel a 1911 in my hands again. The
A package was soon negotiating its way to my red-dot mount was far better than my old one,
home address via the fiasco which masquerades with a mount that incorporated a well-placed
as the Post Office but eventually, after a few thumb-rest on the left, which provided a really
steady grip with the standard
Colt synthetic grips.

The box also contained

another strange item which
wasn’t at all familiar – a holster.
But it didn’t look anything like
a holster – not my old holster
anyway! There were also
some magazines, a box of
177 pellets and a bag of Co2
canisters. One thing the box
didn’t contain was a set of
instructions but I suppose I’m
flattered that Andy assumed
Could be 1995 again! I’d figure it out on my own!
I soon sussed out how to

Target Shooter 51
 The 8-shot magazines resemble a tiny
revolver cylinder and work in much the
same way
charge the tiny rotary eight-round magazines
and it only took me a few seconds to access
the breech – press the 1911 slide-release catch
and the slide snaps forward to open the breech.
Each magazine is similar in operation to a tiny
revolver cylinder and easily drops in place. I was
a bit ‘fumbly’ at first but I would guess that the
IPAS guys and gals will do a mag. change in
about five seconds!
Now we need some ‘air’. I found a ‘door’ - where
the base of the magazine would be – it opens
but although I knew it was something to do with
the Co2 cylinder, I didn’t know what. Eventually,
I found that the grip had to be removed to insert
the cylinder. Once inserted, the cylinder is held
tight against the valve with a thumb-screw so
that when the ‘door’ is closed it pierces the
cylinder. We are ready to go!
The pistol is designed to be shot ‘double-action’
and the grip and trigger was so good that it
wasn’t difficult to do this and I was surprised by
Open the
slide....
52 Target Shooter
my grouping on a target at 15m. Of course, there
is no recoil but the pistol makes a satisfying ‘bop’
on firing so no need for muffs but eye-protection
must be worn as pellets do fly back towards
the shooter occasionally. By this time, a few
interested club members had gathered so it was
time to let a few others have a go. How long
would the air last? Mark recommended changing
cylinders every 25 shots but we were able to
play much longer but eventually we noticed
that the pellets weren’t properly penetrating the
paper target.
One member produced his own Co2 target
pistol – single-shot, iron sights – the ‘dogs’ but
amazingly, I was unable to better my grouping
with the 1911 – and that was shooting rapid-fire
double-action! This is one user-friendly pistol
and I can imagine that those who enjoy this
discipline can put in some fast and accurate
shooting.
You-tube video - http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=07hscQq-ha4&feature=related
& pop in the mag.
 Changing Co2 cylinders
involves flipping off
the right-hand grip and
opening the ‘door’ on the
base of the grip. Closing
the door pierces the
cylinder.

Of course, Iron Plate Action Shooting is exactly
what it says – dinging steel plates against the
clock – far more satisfying than punching paper.
Unfortunately my little rimfire range didn’t have
any steel plates but I did and it was great to
shoot this little gun at home, in my garden,
unencumbered by the rules and regulations
surrounding firearms.
In November – Sunday the 21st to be precise –
the National IPAS Championships will be taking
place at Sywell Range, Northampton Shooting
Ground, just off the A43, post code NN6 9TE. If
you have any aspirations to try this fascinating
new sport, a visit to these Championships would
be a good starting point.
Now, although there is a vast array of Co2 pistols
out there, this one is a bit special. Umarex of
Germany are one of the better makes and in
addition to being a very authentic replica both
in terms of weight and appearance (it’s made
under license with the blessing of Colt), it has

Up to this point I hadn’t

tried the Ghost holster
and belt and to be
honest, this needed
more sussing-out than
the pistol. It’s clearly
‘sate of the art’ for action
shooting but apart from
posing for the pic, I
decided that far more
practice was needed
before I could make
proper use of this in a
‘quick-draw’ mode – the
last thing I wanted to do
was drop the 1911!

Target Shooter 53
 The target on the left was shot by me at 15m – eight shots,
double action in about 20 seconds! The right-hand target was
shot using a dedicated single-shot Co2 target pistol.

also had the benefit of an Action Air tune-up.
This involves completely stripping the pistol and
reworking many of the parts and fitting various
custom-made bits to turn the gun into a match-
winning competition race-gun. You can see
some of the new parts from the pictures - the
compensator, beaver-tail grip-safety, over-size
Co2 release, red-dot sight mount etc. Other bits
you can’t see improve the gas flow and trigger
and general functioning of the pistol.
Air Action Shooting only supply complete guns
and do not do tune-ups on existing guns,
preferring to work with a brand-new guns to
avoid existing issues in old guns that may be
present. Check out the sales flyer for both the
Colt and the Smith revolver, it details the work
AAS do plus prices etc - from Action Air Shooting
Tel:+4420 8808 4847

OK, OK – I’m not wearing eye protection and I should be –

even if I am just posing for the camera!

54 Target Shooter
Rifle Work Ammunition Development
 Re-barreling work Assistance in Ammunition Development up to and
 Fitting of Moderators and Muzzle brakes - Reproofing of including .50 BMG
Rifle required
 Trigger work – See Trigger work

Ballistics Testing
Offering Ballistics testing for research
and development purposes to Stanag,
NIJ and V50 testing of composite and
steel materials. Including High speed
photography and Certifiable Results of
tests.
Dolphin are now proud to announce
that we are ISO 9001:2008 BSI
certificate No FM32560 for our
Ballistic testing.

Dolphin Gun Company & Ballistic Services (a division of Hobson Industries )

2 Vine Street
STAMFORD
Lincs
PE9 1QE
Tel: 01780 481567 or 0774 7771962
Email: mik@mikdolphin.demon.co.uk

Website: www.dolphinguncompany.co.uk

Please feel free to contact us at any reasonable time to discuss any requirements that you may have.

Target Shooter 55
56 Target Shooter
 Website of the Month

Shoot Review is a community run website that

allows you, the reader, to write a review about your
array of manufacturers and models to select from,
favourite shooting grounds and guns – what a first!!
with details of each model provided for the viewer.
The club side of things needs to be worked
There is an online database of shooting clubs, all
on a little, but this is down to all of us to submit
types of firearms and accessories to fit any ones
information to this steadily growing resource. We
needs. The website even lets you comment on
know what it is like trying to get clubs to submit
articles that have been written and for you to supply
information for this magazine. So come one and
your own comments – nice one!! Links are also
come all and help fellow shooters out! Regional
supplied to the websites pages on Facebook
maps have now been incorporated into the
and Twitter pages – oh how the world of digital
process of selecting clubs which is an excellent
media has grown over the last few years to help
feature.
the shooter.
There are a number of resources on this website
which you would have to pay for, especially thinking
The website is well thought out, supported by
of some CD’s that are on the market. What’s more
appropriate advertisers and ‘does what it says on
important is you can leave your own views on the
the tin.’ Obviously it needs our support as target
reviews that are written for the website – nice feature.
shooters so this is your chance to support a good
Mark the owner of the site has done a superb job
digital product that genuinely has our interests at
this year in developing this website and it is very
heart.
much worth a look. Again it is about supporting what
Readers can search for firearms and there is a vast
is out there, so let’s have a look. Until next month.

Target Shooter 57
58 Target Shooter
HANDLOADING BENCH - 90gn BULLETS IN THE .223
REMINGTON (Part 1)

By Laurie Holland

Above - Can .223 Rem hack it against .308W in long-range F/TR matches as here on Bisley’s
famous Stickledown Range during last year’s European F-Class Championship meeting?
I’ve long been fond of the little Remington number an 11.8” (300mm) long 0.25” (6.35mm) dia. steel
and am now on my third and fourth rifles rod with a short smaller diameter section on the
chambered for it, with number five coming along end that is pushed into the action. It comes with
soon. The quartet’s past and present members two stepped steel collars that are locked into
embrace four barrel twist rates – one inch in 12”, position on the rod with thumbscrews, and a
9”, 8” and 7” for very different bullet weights and two-inch (50mm) long 0.7” (18mm) dia. Delrin
lengths. The fastest twist-rate belongs to the body that fits most receivers (other sizes available
Savage 12 PT, McRees stocked F/TR rifle built for smaller dia. actions such as some Sako/
to handle inch and a quarter length 90gn Berger Tikka models). Operation is simple and quick
VLDs, and whose concept and build were requiring the rifle with bolt removed, bullet,
described over the August to October issues fired case with spent primer still in situ, and a
of TargetShooter. I had intended to cover cleaning rod (to knock the bullet out of the leade).
handloading the cartridge in all its guises in a The bullet is dropped nose first through the action
major series starting next year using three rifles and chamber to lodge in the leade, use of a
and loading bullets as varied as the 36gn Barnes cleaning rod guide recommended to set it in
‘Varmint Grenade’ and 90gn Berger VLD, but such straight. The tool body is then inserted into the
has been the interest aroused by the Savage F/ rear of the action and its locating pin turned down
TR rifle’s long-range performance that I’ve been into the bolt handle recess. The rod is inserted
prevailed upon to do an early report on loading through the body, small diameter section leading
the 90s. and pushed forward until it contacts the bullet
base, and a collar slid along the rod until it contacts
More COAL the rear face of the tool body to be locked into
But first, I promised last month that I’d look at the position. The assembly is now removed from the
Sinclair International Seating Depth Gauge to rifle, the bullet knocked out, and replaced by the
finish off my look at these tools. This neat device fired case. The gauge is reinserted into the action
uses the same principle as Vince Bottomley’s after sliding the second collar onto the rod in front
cleaning rod plus collars, but works from the rear of its partner. The rod is pushed up against the
end of the barrelled action. The tool consists of case-head, held there, and that collar also locked

Target Shooter 59
The Sinclair Seating Depth gauge, a simple but effective tool for identifying the COAL that
puts a bullet into the lands
down abutting the gauge body. You now take Onto .223R
two measurements with callipers – the distance So let’s make a start with the mouse-gun cartridge
between the collars and the bullet length – and in this extreme form covering rationale, metallic
add them together to get the COAL of that bullet components and loading methods this month;
when seated into the lands, adding or subtracting component sorting and preparation, propellants,
a little to take it out of the leade on a loaded round, powder weighing, loads and results next. I
or seated to be jammed a little deeper in when covered the rationale in Part 1 of ‘Breaking The
using VLDs. I tried it out on the Savage F/TR rifle Mould’ three issues back, but I’ll summarise
and compared it to the results from recalculating it as attempting to obtain .308 Winchester
the COAL using the Hornady / Stoney-Point long-range ballistics (wind drift values and retained
gauge and modified case method described last 1,000yd velocity) while only producing a quarter
month. This gave an in-the-lands COAL of 2.709” of the larger F/TR contender’s recoil and torque.
for a Berger 90gn VLD against a reading for that Setting ballistics objectives was easy as the two
same bullet of 2.696” from the Stoney-Point tool. 90gn Berger bullets have readily identifiable high
The 0.013” difference most likely arises two ways: performing 0.308” match bullet equivalents.
dropping the bullet into the leade through the rod Bryan Litz calculates average G7 BCs of
guide likely sees it seat itself a few thou’ deeper 0.262 and 0.281 for the twenty-two calibre BT
into the rifling than pushing it in gently with the Long-Range and VLD models respectively, values
Stoney-Point’s pushrod, and the difference that closely match those of two recently introduced
between the length of the fireformed case high-performance Berger BT Long-Range 0.308s
measured by the Sinclair tool and that of an in 175gn and 185gn weights with BCs of 0.264
unfired modified SAAMI spec case in the and 0.287. So, with the 90gn 0.224” VLD’s BC a
Hornady / Stoney-Point gauge, making the mere 2% lower than that of the thirty calibre 185gn
former a bit more accurate. Incidentally, with 1,089 – a difference that may be accounted for by the
rounds through the barrel, it was more than time accuracy parameters of the test methods anyway
to recalculate seating depths to counter throat – we can assume that their relative performance
erosion, this measured as 0.021” from new – on the range depends upon the MVs that the
smaller than expected given an almost exclusive cartridges can give them. Why thirty calibre, and
diet of 90gn bullets and maximum loads of why focus on the 185gn Berger BT L-R? F/TR
double-base powders, and pretty well in line with is limited to .223R and .308W, the latter used by
that expected from a .308 Win TR rifle on a diet of all bar one (me) of the 46 registered GB F-Class
155gn 2,950 fps loads. Association shooters who have submitted an F/
TR score in a national league round this year.
60 Target Shooter
High BC 0.224” match bullets against ballistically equivalent 0.308s. Left: 80gn Berger VLD
paired with the 155.5gn BT FULLBORE – .22 Cal 80s can only compete marginally with the
best .308W 155gn loads, and that at shorter ranges. Centre: 90gn Berger VLD and 185gn
Berger BT L-R – well matched in the two cartridges if .223R can produce high enough
velocities. Right: Berger 210gn 0.308” VLD – there is no ballistically equivalent 0.224” bullet
The 0.308” Berger 185gn BT L-R is currently the so as always it’s about getting the optimum
most popular choice amongst the top contenders mix that suits rifle and shooter, and this is not
making it an excellent baseline in any comparison. necessarily the same for everybody.
My own .308W 185gn BT L-R load runs at just
under 2,800 fps with excellent accuracy, but I have Pros & Cons
heard of MVs approaching 2,900 fps from others, Table 2 lists my estimation of ‘pros and cons’
so the target MV from the 90gn VLD in .223 Rem of ultra-heavy bullet .223R against .308W. The
is defined as being in the 2,750 to 2,900 fps range economy argument is mixed as Lapua .223R
– as always subject to good accuracy (0.4-MOA brass is more expensive than .308W (£57.83 per
or smaller five round groups) and small velocity 100 v £47.95) and may not last as many firings in
spreads (20 fps or less). equivalently heavy loads. American shooters
mostly use Winchester brass and my previous
How does .223R/90 compare to the .308W with experience of this cheaper make is fairly
various bullet weights and models? Table 1 lists good, but recent Lapua ‘Match’ headstamped
comparative BCs for the two 90gn Bergers against examples are so outstandingly consistent, I’ll strongly
a few outstanding 0.308” designs. To summarise, recommend you buy them if that’s at all possible.
.223/90 beats any .308/155 load hands down They probably have stronger case-heads and
ballistically, can realistically be expected to match web areas too than most American makes, so will
.308W loads using mid weight bullets, but will fall take more abuse before primer pockets slacken.
behind the .308W loaded with new generation Bullets and powder provide a good saving,
high-BC 208-210gn VLD type bullets in maximum although the former depends on make and
loads that give 2,550 fps and higher M|Vs. model of course. The RRP for the two 90gn
However, these very heavy models incur Bergers is £32 / 100 compared to £47 for heavier
penalties, particularly additional recoil and torque, Berger 0.308s, but competing Sierra and

Target Shooter 61

There are only three 90gn 0.224” bullets
currently available in the UK. Left to right:
Sierra MK, Berger BT Long-Range, and
Berger VLD
Hornady models are not as expensive. .223R
uses around 20gn less powder per cartridge, a
It is important to use Lapua .223 Rem brass that is sold as ‘match’ to get the high-capacity
version of the case as well as match quality case to case consistency
62 Target Shooter
40% reduction and potentially significant for the
high volume competitor. The big question mark
is barrel life both for the cartridge’s utility and
per-round cost. Based on early .223/90
experience involving the 90gn Sierra MK and its
recommended 1-6.5” twist, plus the chambers
used in US Service Rifle AR15s, barrels went
‘sour’ at low round-counts as soon as the throat
saw significant wear and tear. The problem is the
high length to calibre ratio of these projectiles, the
90gn VLD running at an exceptional 5.6 calibres
length compared to 4.4 for the 0.308” 185gn BT
L-R, or 3.7 for the original 155gn Sierra Palma
MK. The argument goes that the higher the length
to calibre ratio, the more important the throat
configuration and condition in ‘setting the bullet up’
in the rifling and the greater the sensitivity to any
problem in this area. Note though that the longest
of the thirty cal 210gn VLDs has a length to
calibre ratio of five, so this may be an issue
with the most ballistically efficient .308W loads
too. Both cartridges are run with very ‘hot’ loads
anyway in long-range F/TR, which when allied to
target ring sizes half the diameter of those used
in Fullbore and Target Rifle disciplines sees much
shorter barrel ‘accuracy life’ than traditionally
expected with either cartridge.
These are both ‘Match’ cases, the recently manufactured version on the left is headstamped
as such and seems to have slightly greater capacity
The reference to small bullet holes refers to tar-
get marking problems especially if the target cen-
tre becomes badly shot up and heavily patched.
I had my last shot in a 30-round regional ‘Open’
match marked as a ‘miss’ recently. Well, maybe
I did miss, or the bullet broke up in flight, or
whatever! Actually no, as the marker (a friend and
very reliable individual) told me afterwards that
he saw the bullet strike the backstop sand and it
was ‘right in the group’ so confidently expected to
find the shot in the four-ring at least – but neither
he nor the Butts Officer could find it and no hole
equals no score. This is a fact of life in shooting
small calibre rounds in competition, and you have
to come to terms with it happening occasionally,
trusting competition organisers to provide a
generous supply of target centres to the markers,
which they should do for F-Class competitions as
a matter of course anyway.
The final issue is getting the .223 to shoot well
and produce small MV spreads. This applies to

Luvverly brass – Lapua’s .223R is more expensive than its .308W, but is better made in the
writer’s opinion

Target Shooter 63
 finicky than .308W. A downside of small powder
charges is that any variation has a considerable
effect on pressures and velocities, charges
running at ±0.1gn consistency likely producing
a 25 fps MV spread from this cause alone and
a 0.3gn total weight spread running at 1.2% of
my long-range match load charge weight in the
cartridge compared to 0.65% in my equivalent
.308W/185 load.

Metal Bits
Let’s put bullets out of the way. There are only
three 90gn 0.224s available in the UK at the
moment: a Sierra MK and the aforementioned
Bergers. The SMK has a slightly lower BC than
the Berger BT Long-Range model at 0.256
(G7), but more significantly has a reputation
for breaking up in flight if driven at the sorts of
speeds we’re aiming for. For various reasons,
it appears to be very barrel throat sensitive
affecting accuracy and whether it stays in one
piece all the way to the target. Both Berger
models appear to be exceptionally well made
with very little bearing surface length variation
Forster bushing-bump die set with Ultra seen when measured in callipers fitted with
Competition micrometer seater (for the .308W ‘comparators’, produce small weight variations,
as it happens) and have nicely and consistently formed
the cartridge when loaded with any of the heavier noses / tips with small meplat (hollow-point)
match bullets and not just 90s. I reckon it takes diameters. The other manufacturer which
much more time and effort to get everything just produces a 90-grainer in this calibre is
right for F/TR competition, .223R being more Swampworks with its JLK bullet range http://www.
swampworks.com/jlk/ with a single VLD design.
The bushing-bump die sizes the neck and also resets the shoulder position, this
determined by using a Hornady L-N-L / Stoney-point headspace gauge on a fully fireformed
case and setting it back 0.001-0.002”

64 Target Shooter
Using two .22 calibre ‘bullet comparators’ to measure a 90gn Berger VLD’s bearing section
length. Out of the box consistency is exceptional in these bullets – a bonus for long-range
shooting
Looking at the manufacturer’s list of dimensions, it
is a little shorter overall than the Berger equivalent
with a marginally longer bearing section, both
having 18-cal radius nose sections, so should
perform similarly. I know that someone in the trade
is hoping to import JLK match bullets in various
calibres, so this model may become available
here in the future. (Norman Clark has imported
some in the past and has the odd JLK model still
in stock too.)
I’ve already said I use Lapua brass throughout,
starting with some older examples previously fired
once or twice in another rifle and left pretty well
as Lapua made them. They are only employed in
initial load development with recently purchased
examples which have been fully ‘prepped’ and
sorted used exclusively in final testing and
matches. One has to be a little careful with this
manufacturer’s .223R cases as it used to make
a thick-walled military specification version for
handloaders which had a significantly smaller
capacity which increases pressures substantially
as well as restricting usable powder charges
and velocities. It then switched to a thinner-wall,
higher-capacity version dubbed ‘Match’, but this
word only initially appeared on the carton.
Current brass is headstamped ‘Match’, so if you’re
offered any Lapua .223R cases without this word
on the case-head ask to see the box, and if this
isn’t possible be wary. My long-range match-round
cases come from three recent manufacturing
lots which vary slightly in their neck thickness,
but are extremely consistent within each lot in
most of their key features. After fireforming in my
chamber, they have an ‘overflow water capacity
weight’ of 30.6gn which according to the 6mmBR.
com ‘.223 Info Page’ section on handloading
the cartridge puts them right at the top of a list
produced some years back of .223R case
capacity by make (http://www.6mmbr.
com/223Rem.html).
These recent ‘Match’ headstamped cases also
have a slightly higher capacity than I found on the
earlier ‘Match’ but not so headstamped examples,
so appear to be particularly thin-walled lots. This
may seem arcane and academic, but is very
important in loading this small capacity cartridge
to the limit with such heavy bullets – and avoiding
problems caused by excessive pressure.
The other metallic component is the primer,
and small rifle magnum or benchrest types are
essential in any reasonably warm .223 Rem load,
not just in 1,000yd 90gn examples. Standard
Small Rifle primers use 0.020” thick brass cups,
while Magnum and BR versions are 0.025”. You
will crater or even pierce standard primers such
as the CCI-400 and Remington 6½ in .223 Rem
with loads that produce normal working through
Target Shooter 65
Like many small cased cartridges, .223R is primer-sensitive. Laurie has had good results
from PMC and CCI Magnum primers, but the CCI-BR4 seems too ‘hot’ for the powder charge
size
maximum pressures (55,000-60,000 psi). These
thin-walled models were designed for early small
calibre centrefire cartridges such as the .22
Hornet and .218 Bee that employ low pressures
by today’s standards. You might get away with
them in the .222 Rem, but not anything hotter.
I’ve used Russian made PMC SR Magnums and
the CCI-450 equivalent throughout. (The PMC is
marketed as ‘Wolf’ in North America and is no longer
available in the UK, sadly.) I’ve found this pair
to give very similar results and regard them as
virtually interchangeable. Conversely,
comparative primers tests in .223/90 with the
CCI-BR4 benchrest model gave noticeably
different results – 50 fps + MV rise, significantly
larger MV spreads and bigger groups even after
powder charges were adjusted to reduce
velocities. I believe that the BR4, in my lot at any
rate, is ‘too hot’ for the .223R and its 24-27gn
powder charges and should be restricted to
66 Target Shooter
larger cartridges such as the PPCs, BRs and
6.5X47 Lapua. Priming was done throughout with
hand tools for their sensitivity, initially the Lee
Auto-Prime, more recently the excellent 21st
Century Shooting model described in the News
section in last month’s issue that really lets you
‘feel the primer in’ with a little extra pressure to
tension its anvil.
Tools
I’ll defer describing case sorting and preparation
tasks to next month’s issue when I cover loads
and results and briefly describe my loading
practices and tools. My older load development
brass was initially full-length sized in a Hornady
New Dimensions sizing die set so that shoulders
were only just pushed back enough to give easy
chambering before trimming them back to 1.750”
in an L. E. Wilson ‘lathe-type’ tool. Firing this
cartridge with full pressure loads and full-length
 Table 1  after FL sizing, not as they come out of the rifle
– important as the latter often deceives. After
sizing, they fitted the Savage’s minimum-SAAMI
90gn 0.224” Bullets’ Ballistics Comparison with 0.308” Models 
chamber well with only a little resistance to final
bolt opening and primary extraction from being
marginally oversize in the web area – but no
0.224” 90gn Berger BT Long‐Range (0.262 G7 / 0.512 G1) 
problem for this application.
Lapua 155gn Scenar (0.236 / 0.462) 
New ‘Match’ headstamped cases were inspected
Sierra 175gn MK (0.243 / 0.475)  and found to be in excellent condition, not a dent,
scratch, or nick to be seen, so were not full-length
Berger 175gn VLD (0.255 / 0.498) 
sized. Checking lengths showed them to be at
Berger 175gn BT L‐R (0.264 / 0.515)  the bottom of the allowable 1.750-1.760” range
with tiny (0.001”) case to case variations, so
  trimming was not needed. They were sized
before use however, with the die that has been
used on them throughout, a Forster Bushing-Bump
0.224” 90gn Berger VLD (0.281 / 0.551) 
model, a neck-sizer type that employs
interchangeable bushings available in 0.001”
Lapua 155gn Scenar (0.236 / 0.462)  diameter increments and also regulates the
case-shoulder position, in this case adjusted in
Berger 185gn VLD (0.281 / 0.549)  the press to set shoulders back by 0.001” from
hard contact with the front of the chamber –
Berger 185gn BT L‐R (0.287 / 0.560)  not as though this is an issue with new brass it
Sierra 190gn MK (0.270 / 0.527)  usually having six to eight thou’ headspace in my
chamber before fireforming. Necks were sized
Sierra 200gn MK (0.285 / 0.557)  down a little more than needed, then expanded
back out using a Sinclair E22 mandrel in that
Sierra 210gn MK (0.316 / 0.619)  company’s expander die body ready for neck
sizing
 
each time – as I had to do for my turning, but also giving near ideal tension on the
straight-pull Southern Gun Co. SSR-15 – sees bullet for the first loading.
cases grow rapidly with trimming needed every
two or three cycles. Always measure your cases To be continued next month.
Table 2 

.223 Rem – Pros and Cons v .308W 

Pro  Con 
 Very light recoil and torque (around a   Finicky to load. Difficulty getting MV 
quarter of .308W’s)  spreads down 
 Economical – cheaper bullets, less   Query over barrel accuracy life due to 
powder  super‐long bullets 
 Lighter barrel profile acceptable   Small holes in target 
(increasing weight allowance available   Small case capacity requires great care in 
for scope and bi‐pod etc)  load development and handloading to 
 Equal accuracy to .308W  avoid overloading  
 More development potential to come?   Cannot match ultimate .308W loads’ 
(ie .223R development as a Palma / F‐ ballistic capabilities (210gn VLDs) 
Class long‐range cartridge is recent and   Less bullet choice (only two models at 
limited compared to that of .308W.)  present) 
 Exceptionally consistent and efficient 
Berger bullets. 
 
Target Shooter 67
 
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 The IPC Shooting World Cup at Stoke
Mandeville October 2010

by Olivia Delamere
The Great Brain team achieved outstanding The first event was a Falling Target competition,
success at the recent IPC Shooting World Cup similar to the shooting discipline in Biathlon,
at Stoke Mandeville. where the competitor has 2.5 minutes to hit five

Target Shooter 69
discs. In the SH1 Category, Matt Skelhon won
the first gold of the day and Karen Butler took
the bronze medal. Lotta Helsinger of Sweden
was the silver medallist.
Matt Skelhon said, “it’s a great feeling to win the
first medal at a disability shooting event held in
Britain. The fact that it’s a gold makes it even
more satisfying. I hope that this will be the first
of many at this event for the Great Britain Team.”
The GB Disability team had more success on
Friday. Di Coates won the gold in the R2 Air Rifle
Standing event for women with Lotta Helsinger
(SWE) in second place and Monica Lillehagen
(NOR) taking the bronze.
Di, who has competed in seven Paralympic
Games said, “I am fully focused in my attempt
to compete in my 8th Paralympics in 2012. This
event has given all of the GB team a taste of
what it will be like to compete in a top level event
on home soil”.
In the R1 10m Air Rifle Standing competition
for men, Nathan Milgate came first with Werner
Muller (AUS) and Norbert Gau (GER) in second
and third place respectively.
The final British medal of the day was yet another
gold, this time won by Rob McLeary in the R4
10m Air Rifle standing (mixed). He beat Victoria
Wedin (SWE) and Tanong Chanan (THA).
On day three, in the 10m Air Rifle Prone R3 mixed
SH1, Matt Skelhon took the gold for Britain with
Monica Lillehagen (NOR) taking the silver and
Kazimier Mechula (DEN) coming third.
Matt, gold medal winner in this category for
70 Target Shooter
the Beijing Olympics said, “Its a great feeling
to win my third R3 gold of the year. It makes
it even more sweet to win in my home country,
in front of my family. I am as motivated as ever
in my shooting and I’m looking forward to the
opportunity to defend my title on home soil at
the Paralympic Games London 2012.”
Another medal was won for Great Britain in the
10m Air Rifle Prone R5 Mixed SH2 with Adam
Fontain taking the bronze. Jonas Andersen
(DEN) taking the gold and Viktoria Wedin (SWE)
taking the silver medal.
Adam, 20 from Basildon, said “I’m delighted to
win a medal at this world cup and play a part
in the success of the GB team. Our medal hall
proved that Britain is a force to be reckoned
with. ”
The IPC Shooting World Cup reached its
conclusion on Sunday 3rd October with the Air
Pistol Competitions.  In the in the P1 event, the
Gold medal was won by Bordin Sornsriwickai
of Thailand won the gold medal, with Poland’s
Filip Rodzik in 2nd place and Gyula Gurisatti of
Hungary in the bronze medal position.  Team
GB had two competitors in the Final, Chris
Summerscales and Adrian Bunclark.
 
In the Women’s P2 Air Pistol competition there
was further success for the Great Britain team,
with Jean Guild getting the silver medal and Pam
Grainger taking Bronze.  This took the GB medal
haul to a total of 14 for the whole competition (6
gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze).
 
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 World Cup Success 2010
- 12/12 Gold medals in 50m events
- Warren Potent equals world record in Prone
with ELEY Tenex
- Total of 37 medals won using ELEY
in World Cups 1, 2 and 3

Champions shoot Tenex

72 www.eleyammunition.com
Target Shooter ELEY - the home of Tenex
 This Smallbore Business
Continuing on from the original article, where I
addressed the relaxation resulting from progressive
muscle relaxation being a home based exercise, the
next segment still under relaxation response is that of
relaxation by imagery.
You must understand that even those with highly
developed superior intelligence, are still only using a
fraction of the power within the human mind.
Rifle shooting, and particularly small bore, have a
dependence on mind control to register the really high
scores that consistently win a prone rifle match.
Relaxation by imagery is just one of the mind facets
that a small bore shooter can develop to benefit the
fight against any form of competition anxiety. Once this
problem is recognised within the structure of the match,
a prone rifle shooter is able to employ the methods to
alleviate any form of developing anxiety.
In the case of the sudden realisation that “Hey, I can
win this match !” whereupon the anxiety register can
elevate drastically…. So badly that it becomes a
physical problem with a hold that suddenly reaches .7
on the Richter scale. The pulse rate also goes through
the roof, and this exacerbates the hold problems,
combined with the Fear of Failure (FOF) as the mind
elements go berserk..
Learning the mental skills that deals with this problem,
is totally controlled by mental gymnastics that are
very closely related to relaxation. You simply relax by
thinking about this!
In my own case, I learned this skill once again from my
Sports Psychologist, and I reckon that this skill opened
the door to the really big stuff in my small bore prone
shooting.
I developed a “key” to relaxation by imagery when
the spots psyche indicated that every shooter has the
ability to relax firmly already set into the mind simply by
By Don Brook
recalling something from their lifetime that facilitated
the ability to relax. There are many available, in what
ever is assembled by imagery, and this applies to all.
In my own case, I was standing on the banks of Lake
Porirua in New Zealand, when I saw a quite large
Pelican glide past.
This Pelican seemed to be etched in space about
30cm above the mirror smooth surface of this
magnificent scenery, as he glided past me. The only
thing moving on this Pelican was the fletch feathers
on his outstretched wings as he majestically flew past
me. He just swished past, reflected in the smooth
surface of the lake, and then put his webbed feet into
the water, and with hardly a ripple settled onto the
surface.
I was moved by this, as he paddled off.
I have been able to re run this “mind stuff” at will,
and often use the image when the anxious moments
develop in a performance. I just calm down, relax, and
“see” the way through a dilemma. “Percy” Pelican has
long been a part of what I do!
Like I said above there are many examples. Some
like to use the imagery of standing in the cool water
of a stream, or in the eddies of the surf at the seaside.
Some imagine the effects of oil flowing, warming the
legs as it slips down to the feet. Or the coolness of
falling snow, the quiet stare in the eyes of the family
cat, or dog, be it whatever contributes to relaxation.
Many also bring to mind family members, the image of
a favourite Son, or Daughter.
Imagery plays a huge part in the formation of a
successful shooter, and is developed further when the
goals are also encased in their own imagery segments
of “Mind Stuff”.
This is what I mean when I say that you win the
matches in the preceding weeks, then go out the match
day and prove you have done the work. AND, NO, it is
not that simple! It does take a controlled patience, and
practice, and the sooner the shooter learns to develop
Target Shooter 73
imagery techniques, the better.
The better examples of this is in sports such as weight
lifting and diving. You see the athletes developing their
mind when faced with a weight on the end of the bar
they have not yet reached in their standard, yet, up it
goes as the technique of lifting the thing is played in
the fore front of the athletes mind. I have seen many
examples of this….
I used this to great effect in my time at the top, and
often visualised being relaxed, and setting my goals
for the upcoming match. In mind stuff, I could “see” the
whole shooting process. Of being relaxed as I shot the
match, sometimes overcoming some imaginary glitch
in the performance, even to the point of standing on
the presentation dias with the gold gong around my
neck. The effect of imagery and relaxation is endless
if you learn to apply the single most effective process
in the body, the human mind.
Above in the text I mentioned about winning the match
through the week, then going out on match day and
proving you have done the work. In relaxation and
any form of imagery, you need to understand that the
techniques are carried out perfectly. There is never a
poor shot released, and you simply become used to
the excellence of your own performance. In effect, you
expect to hit it hard!
Within the competition environment, there is always a
10 minute preparation time, and on match day the time
spent rehearsing your own standard of excellence
as you wait behind the firing line, or even down into
your position, is time that is serious business for a
competition shooter. The only thing not ready as
you have already set up your gear, is the mentality
confronting a performance. After training for months,
(sometimes years depending on the goals) the final
preparation time is devoted to relaxing, and getting
your mind up to the level you need. The wind study,
getting things in place for wind combat methods, or
performance goals is all a contributory factor of “Mind
74 Target Shooter
Stuff”.
In the preceding training weeks, I spent a fair bit of
time with relaxation by imagery with my pet Pelican,
“Percy”, and worked out a great deal of the method
of the match based on contingency planning if
something did go wrong at some point. These factors
are also exercised in your mind, purely as having
things in place to combat a problem if it did transpire.
In effect when you arrive at your allocated firing point,
you are completely set up to excel.
Anxiety often develops if the performance is suddenly
out of your comfort zone, and I will leave you in this
article with this thought.
You are shooting standing with a comfort zone of 95x
100 for a ten shot string, (380 points aggregate) when
you suddenly become aware that you have fired nine
straight 10’s. What are you going to do? Shoot a five
so you can feel more comfortable ? I have seen this,
even in my own shooting, and being familiar with my
pet Pelican, resulted in the first 100 I shot standing in
a competition.
This was fired in an Oceania championships in New
Zealand, and I was thankful for my techniques with
Percy to alleviate the colly wobbles afterwards. The
pay back came when my Kiwi Mates said to me, “
Brooksie, NO ONE shoots a 100 on their feet.” I was
not impressed with their thinking, because I had seen
that great British shooter Mal Cooper shoot quite a few
of them!
The mind stuff I put together that day was based on
being relaxed, staying relaxed, and reaching for a
score outside my comfort zone level. Every SINGLE
shot I fired that time was a product of preparation. I
learned a great deal about myself that day…….
Think about it, this works!
Brooksie.
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76 Target Shooter
By Gwyn Roberts
After reading some of the negative comments
posted by obvious “experts” on one of the UK
shooting forums recently it made me wonder
just how many people might be getting put off
taking up Gallery Rifle because they are being
led to believe that you simply must shell out the
best part of nearly £1500 on a “custom” rimfire
rifle and scope just to get started in our sport.
The same idiots also state that the standard
10 round magazines are completely unreliable
and that the only part worth keeping if you buy
a Ruger 10/22 rifle is the receiver. Err….Really?
Usually I would just dismiss stupid comments
like these but when they are made by people
who arrange to meet up at the Phoenix Meeting
one morning just for a quick coffee and a look
around the trade show for an hour or two and
then bugger off home again rather than actually
competing in any of the events, it tends to light
The new finish on the action and barrel does seem pretty durable
but I’m still not sold on the colour. It still does its job though!
my fuse if you know what I mean.
In order for us to be able to attract more
new people into our sport it’s obviously very
important that the initial start up costs are kept
as reasonable as possible whilst still allowing
the newcomer to be competitive with their
equipment on the line. Now I’m no expert either
but you don’t need to be Einstein to know that
you don’t need to own an expensive “custom”
rifle just to be able to shoot a decent score, and
with the previously mentioned expert’s opinions
still ringing in my ears I decided to go out and buy
a standard Ruger 10/22 to help show anyone
thinking of taking up Gallery Rifle what can be
achieved with just a basic rifle that’s had a few
simple tweaks done to it. Once again though,
this idea ended up being a last minute decision
and after seeing some of the cheaper used/
Target Shooter 77
 on the floor by accident. Some people of
course think it is a cost cutting exercise and
the real answer probably lies somewhere
in between the two, but there’s no point in
debating about it because at the end of the
day this is exactly how they are going to
arrive in the future.
Now the three main issues raised were
you had to spend out a lot of money,
the standard magazines don’t work and
everything else on the rifle is useless apart
from the receiver so I’ll look at them in that
order. A second hand standard 10/22 will
set you back somewhere in the region of
Although the housing is now polymer it shouldn’t £175 to £275 depending on its condition
make any difference to any inside tuning work. whilst there are of course, more expensive
abused examples that were available locally I ones for sale because the owners have
decided to opt for a new one instead as there fitted some cheap useless (for GR) scope and/or
wouldn’t be much difference in price but the a moderator but you won’t need these so make
quality would definitely be a lot better. A quick sure you negotiate them off the asking price. If
phone call to the ever helpful Jeremy at Viking looks is more important than function and you
Arms had a silver one on its way and it arrived on feel you would rather have a nice shiny new rifle
the doorstep 2 days later. Now that’s what I call instead, you should find that a new one will cost
good service! Now to me a black one would be you somewhere in the region of £295 for one
black, and a silver one would be silver i.e. shiny with a blue/metal finish to around £350 - £375
stainless steel looking but not anymore as on for a new type silver/grey one. So far the initial
opening the box, I was greeted by a brand new outlay for either a new or used rifle doesn’t look
grey one! The finish on the latest 10/22 barrels too frightening although I would steer towards
and receivers is not the usual metal finish but is a used one if the price was right, when for
now more of a duracoat painted type of finish comparison just a “custom” receiver and bolt on
which does take some getting used to, but that’s their own could set you back between £290 &
progress I suppose. Another major change is that £375 depending on where you bought it from.
the trigger housing is now made out of polymer Looking at this particular rifle then, as time was
(as is the barrel band) and this has apparently running short the first thing I wanted to do was
been done to prevent breakages as some of the take it down to the range and put four or five
old cast units were prone to cracking if dropped hundred rounds through it to see how good the

Here’s the standard Weaver/airgun mount which I’ve started to

modify to fit into a Ransom rest type block for future accuracy
testing at 50m.
78 Target Shooter
 Once the trigger’s been lightened and the stock fits
properly I’ll be able to compare the scores against
those that I usually shoot
reliability was and lead up the barrel a bit before
testing it for any sort of accuracy. Before I did
this though, I decided to tap out the holes on
top of the receiver to a much more versatile
and stronger 4mm thread size compared to the
smaller American sized thread that it comes
with as standard, which equates to somewhere
around the 3mm mark. This would also make it
much easier to mount the spare rail that I had in
my shooting box as the one that’s supplied with
the rifle is very shallow and has a raised dovetail
section in the center which is designed to take
the much narrower air gun type scope rings. This
shape makes it nigh on impossible to mount any
normal type rings onto it but then there’s lots
of other standard rail/ring combinations that
don’t fit together properly either, so you must
always make sure that you use a combination
that fits together perfectly. I always machine my
own canted scope rails to fit the contour of the
Warne type rings as this ensures a perfect fit
regardless of which scope I decide to fit onto my
rifle or pistol. I recently managed to acquire two
second hand scopes for £75 each which were
in excellent condition saving me at least around
£85 on the retail prices and this will certainly
help to keep the overall cost of this project down.
The first was a Simmons 6.5-24 x 50 but the one
I decided to fit onto this rifle was the excellent
Edgar Brothers’ 5-20 x 50 Optimate scope.
Once the scope and rail were attached I then
sighted the rifle in at my local range for 25m and
continued to put around 400 rounds of both SK
and CCI Standard ammunition through it onto
some Multi Target small bore targets. I managed
to hold the vast majority of the shots inside
either the X or 5 ring with maybe 10% of them
dropping into the 4 ring but I certainly wasn’t
disappointed with my result considering the
stock didn’t fit me properly, and the trigger pull
weight was somewhere between 8lbs and
towing a bus. The trigger action and pull
weight on the 10/22 is by far its weakest
point but it just requires time rather than
Left and next page - Removing the
barrel band and releasing some
tension on the action screw made quite
a difference to the 10/22’s accuracy.
You can see how much pressure was
exerted by the high point on the fore
end against the underneath of the
barrel. Making sure it is free floating
will improve both the accuracy and
functioning of the rifle.
Target Shooter 79
huge amounts of money being spent on it in
order to make it good enough for most people to will help produce decent results
shoot in a competition with it.

The most pleasing thing about this rifle to me was

its reliability straight out of the box. Even though
nothing had been run in as it were, I experienced
no malfunctions whatsoever throughout the test
session which is a definite improvement on what
I’ve been experiencing lately that’s for sure. I’m
still convinced that the rather loose chamber
(compared to a Bentz or Match) dimension is
the biggest contributing factor to the reliability of
a standard 10/22 rifle as most of the problems
people seem to be having with them is with an
aftermarket barrel fitted. A not so tight chamber
be much easier to accomplish with a wooden
obviously isn’t ideal if your goal is achieving the
rather than a plastic one. It will certainly take a
ultimate in accuracy, but I for one would prefer to
shoot a rifle that works 100% reliably rather thanbit of time and effort to change the profile of the
one that you just know is going to jam up on you stock so that it fits me properly but it won’t cost
at least once during a match. much money and it will certainly help to improve
my performance with it when it’s done. As for
When ordering the rifle I specifically asked for the magazines, I have around 25 standard
one with a simple wooden stock instead of the factory ones and have very, very rarely had any
normal black synthetic option because I’ve problems with any of them over the last 14 years
never found a stock that has fitted me properly that I’ve been using them, and the same goes
straight out of the box anyway, and they have all for most of the other shooters out there on the
had to be modified in some way and this would circuit too. I strip and clean every single one
of them before a big competition and as long
Using decent ammo……..
as they are not full of sand or mud there is no
reason at all why they shouldn’t work properly.
One thing worth mentioning is that Ruger advise

.....for example!!

80 Target Shooter
1½ turns of tension on the magazine spring/plate
but I put 3 complete turns on mine. I find that if
you shoot a lot of matches over a long weekend
in all sorts of dirty and wet conditions the extra
tension always seems to ensure the last round
is pushed up to the top properly, whereas a
weaker spring tension might not always do this,
but see what works best for you at the end of
the day.
I’m not really sure how many rounds this barrel
will require through it before it settles down and
gives its best accuracy results but I put a few
groups down range anyway just resting it on top
of my gun bag to see what could be achieved
on the day. At first I wasn’t that impressed to be
honest as I was getting some vertical stringing
along with the odd flyer here and there but a
quick cure for most of this was done by simply
removing the barrel band. This certainly helped
to tighten the groups up and things were later
improved on again by loosening off the action
retaining screw as the barrel was definitely
binding up inside the fore end and was nowhere
near free floating. In fairness though many of the
aftermarket stocks that I have used in the past
also needed some relieving inside the barrel
channel and this issue will be addressed in the
near future. I may get the barrel shortened and
re-crowned as I don’t need the screw cut thread
or sight post on the end of it, and this might help
increase the accuracy of the barrel at the same
time, although I think the groups achieved both
free hand and off the bench would be more than
adequate to achieve a good score with in any of
the shorts events. Once the trigger group has
been sorted out properly I really can’t see any
reason for not being able to shoot straight 300’s
with it all day long in a T&P1 match, providing
you do your bit right of course.
Unfortunately due to me moving house this
month I just haven’t had time to start any of the
modification work that can be done to this rifle
so this will have to be resumed next month when
I’ll cover some of the things that you can do to
make the stock, ABR, trigger unit, magazine
release, bolt and some other bits and pieces
work a little better.

Rude Fat Dog

Custom Firearms
RFD 621 Devon & Cornwall
Section 5

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Target Shooter 81
Autumn has spread her glorious colours over interesting bit was:
Bisley ranges although all the signs are for
a hard winter. The bushes are dripping with “We’re guided by the feedback that we receive
berries and the sweet chestnuts are big enough and to that end I’d like to assure you that I’ve
to be mistaken for conkers. Bumper crop indeed registered your complaint on our audience log.
for both people and squirrels alike, however This is a daily report of audience feedback that’s
those chestnut trees ought to come with natural circulated to many BBC staff, including members
warning signs about the spiky case combined of the BBC Executive Board, programme makers,
with gravity – especially in our car park! channel controllers and other senior managers.
The audience logs are seen as important
I’m sure that you, like me, tried to keep up to documents that can help shape decisions about
speed with the commonwealth games shooting future programming and content.”
events whenever they were on. You, like me,
were probably disappointed by the lack of TV Does this mean that if they get lots of complaints
coverage given to our medal winning athletes. they will listen? Hmmm……
The catchup programmes weren’t too bad and I
did see a nice interview with Mick Gault when he However, despite poor coverage, our guys did
announced his retirement. However, compared a magnificent job gaining 10 gold, 9 silver and
to the amount of time given over to people going 13 bronze (at least that’s all I could find from the
down with ‘Delhi Belly’ it was pretty poor. One official site!). Parag Patel also broke the games
of my colleagues wrote and complained about it record in the Fullbore Queens Prize Open,
to the BBC and got quite a good response. The scoring 396.42v with David Calvert taking the

82 Target Shooter
bronze medal with 393.35v. Parag also got a This was primarily a team competition and
bronze medal in the pairs with Jon Underwood. attracted entries from England, Scotland, Channel
The European long range championships took Islands, Wales Germany and Ireland. They shot
place over the weekend of the 16/17th October. at 800, 900 and 1000yds on Saturday followed

Parag, Jon & Jeremy

Target Shooter 83
by 900 and 1000 on Sunday. All distances were line with our charitable objectives when put up
2 sighters and 15 to count. England were in the against the financial forecasts given to us.
lead from Scotland by 5 points at the end of play
on Saturday and forged even further ahead on The basic mistake that we made was that in
Sunday to win by 13 points even though they had our enthusiasm to be charitable we made the
12 fewer V bulls. The final scores were England mistake of giving benefit to shooters based upon
4317.338, Scotland 4304.350, Channel Islands forecasts rather than known income. This is not
4254.301, Wales 4136.256, Germany 4124.235 a mistake we will make again.
and Ireland 4084.265. George Gilpin won the
Individual Championship with 73.6. In the meantime we have to cut our cloth
appropriately by looking at cutting costs and
...................... increasing income to put us back into the black
in 2011.
Secretary General, Glynn Alger’s Notes
Cumbria
NRA Finance
The NRA gave evidence to the Parliamentary
As you may now be aware the Association has Home Affairs Committee (HAC) based upon our
announced a deficit for the end of 2010. As submission which was in line with that agreed
expected our critics are forecasting gloom and with the British Shooting Sports Council. The
a return to the old failings of the NRA prior to evidence was given to the HAC by Geoff Doe
2001. our Firearms Liaison Representative in the initial
meeting in September.
The previous £2 million plus debt was
accumulated with little comment over an The key recommendations are:
extended period, due to a lack of business
planning and financial management. The excuse • The Firearms Acts of 1968 – 1997 should
used by many at the time was we went into debt be consolidated into a single Act
due the Commonwealth Games. In reality the • No wholesale review of firearms
short-fall from the Games was approximately law should take place in the current
£250,000. I will let you do the maths. emotionally charged climate
• Any new firearms legislation should be
This time it is different. The Association has divided into two acts; criminal justice
notified all of the membership in an open and matters and licensing administration
honest manner that it is going into the red, on • Appeals against police licensing decisions
the basis that this something we can fix by next should be dealt with by tribunal
year. • Airgun control laws should not be
devolved to Scotland
Why did this happen you ask? In truth we • The current regime for licensing rifles
got our budget forecasts wrong. As a result should not be extended to shotguns
having made assumptions about our income
we believed we could be more positive going During the course of the evidence being given
forward. We employed more staff to try to it became apparent to those present that the
improve service, driving costs up. At the same HAC members had little or no knowledge of
time having listened to members we invested firearms use or the law, in particular the various
in new toilet blocks at Bisley, supported teams, hoops that shooters have to leap through to get
discounted prices to young shooters, in an effort a Firearms Certificate. This being the case we
to bring them into the sport, sold high quality must be wary that the Committee through a lack
ammunition to members at a very low price of understanding or knowledge do not propose
compared with its real retail value and gave inappropriate legislation that could further
interest free loans to clubs nationally allowing damage our sport.
them to buy their ranges or to improve facilities. The paradox of any such efforts by the authorities
All of these decisions made sense and were in to go down the route of even greater restriction is

84 Target Shooter
that they would not have stopped the tragedies
in Cumbria or Northumberland.

In an effort to ensure that the HAC are

better informed and to create an appropriate
relationship, the NRA, NSRA and the CPSA have
arranged the opportunity for the members of the
Committee and their staff to come to Bisley to
shoot, rifle, pistol and shotgun so that they have
a positive experience and are able to get a view
on the current legislation in an informal setting.
It is hoped that at some stage the Committee will
come to Bisley a second time to take evidence
for their enquiry.

In the meantime the NRA will continue to take

part in, monitor and comment on any evidence
sessions as they occur.

The other worrying issue, particularly following

Cumbria, is the failure of the police to date to
report on the circumstances surrounding the
obvious operational failure to manage and
minimise Derek Bird’s tragic rampage around
Cumbria.

Traditionally the police will try and offset some

of the blame to the shooting community by
recommending the introduction of yet more
bureaucracy. This will be resisted.

…………………………..

To help us continue our work you might like

to consider NRA membership which is a very
good buy at the moment. £50 will get you
through to the end of 2011, normally £95!! For
more information and an application pack see
our website, www.nra.org.uk, or email Nick
Halford on memassist@nra.org.uk. All full
memberships include a substantial insurance
package as well as many other privileges.

Heather Webb
Membership Secretary

Target Shooter 85
 From The Bench
VINCE’S REGULAR COLUMN
WHEREBY ACCURACY NUTS
CAN KEEP UP TO DATE WITH
THE ACTIVITIES OF THE UKBRA

Competitions 1st Darrel Evans 6PPC Sako

0.4446 in.
The last of our 100 and 1000 yard benchrest 2nd Andy Wolley 6PPC Sako
competitions were scheduled to take place at 0.7168
the beginning of October and indeed our 100
yard benchrest shoot did go ahead in unusually Small group
warm mild conditions. For our 1000 yard shoot
the following day, it was a different story with Darrel Evans 0.349 inches
torrential rain and gale-force winds forcing a
cancellation – the shoot is now re-scheduled for It has been another great year with the UKBRA
Saturday October 30th - which was to have been Championships, attracting no less than 80
our first 600 yard shoot of the winter series. Best shooters. However, this is somewhat down on
laid plans......... previous years and maybe reflects the general
recession. Although benchrest is no more
Despite the favourable conditions for the 100 expensive than any other shooting discipline,
yard shoot, aggs were not great but Ian Dixon the cost of travelling and where necessary,
took his fourth win of the year and with it, the overnight accommodation can make it so.
UKBRA 100 yard Heavy Varmint Championship. Diggle is the only facility shooting 600 yard and
Darrel Evans also wrapped up the Factory 1000 yard benchrest, so some shooters must
Sporter Championship – with best four out of travel considerable distances to compete. 100
five straight wins to count, he couldn’t be beaten. yard benchrest can also be shot at Bisley with
the British Benchrest Club, who are affiliated to
Results: the UKBRA.
100 yards Heavy Varmint:
Our Champions for 2010 are therefore:
1
st
Ian Dixon 6PPC Walker BAT
0.2902 in. (av. of five 5-shot groups) 100 yards Heavy Varmint
2
nd
Martin Miles 6PPC RGR Stolle
0.2918 1st Ian Dixon
3
rd
Vince Bottomley 6PPC TGP BAT 2
nd
Vince Bottomley
0.2922 3
rd
Jack Searle

Small group: Factory Sporter

1st Darrel Evans
Martin Miles 0.171 inches 2nd Andy Woolley
3
rd
Darren Grundle
Factory Sporter:

86 Target Shooter
 Darrel Evans has once
again dominated the 100
yard Factory Sporter
Class with his 6PPC Sako

Smallest group of the year: some competitions rather than group – similar to
what the 22 rimfire guys do. You can use exactly
Jeanette Whitney 0.113 inches the same rifle and equipment and classes will
be the same. Keep an eye on Target Shooter
600 yards Light Gun and our shooting calendar at www.ukbra.co.uk
for more details.
1st Jack Gibb
2nd Jeanette Whitney
3rd Vince Bottomley

Factory Sporter
1 st
Phil Gibbon
2nd Darrel Evans
3rd Bruce Lenton
Small group of the year:

Brian Webb 2.035 inches

The UKBRA AGM was held following the October

shoot. Next year, we are planning to hold more
100 yard shoots and, in the hope of attracting
more shooters, we will be shooting for ‘score’ at

Target Shooter 87
 In association with
As our own championships draw to a close
lets hear from downunder about their recent
nationals, with a detailed analysis and a personal
view from Rebecca Richards.
Australian RBA Nationals 2010
The 2010 Australian RBA Nationals was recently
contested at the Jim Smith Smallbore rifle range
in Brisbane, Queensland, with the event run by the
Clifton Benchrest Union.
This event, held over two days from Saturday July
31st to August 1st, was well attended, with 54
shooters competing for prizes donated by generous
sponsors. For some, this event would contribute
towards qualification and selection to the Australian
Benchrest Shooting Team, heading over to the US
next year for the Rimfire Worlds.
The first dayʼs competition started with a cold, but
quiet and gentle breeze, to ease all the shooters into
familiar routines and lull the senses, where holding
off on the edge of the 10 ring was usual.
However, by the start of the second round, the breeze
had picked up significantly, was nervous and shifty,
the strength indicators were horizontal, and picking
each shot was the order of the day. Many people
Australian shooters on the line at the RBA Nationals
88 Target Shooter
suffered with big point losses during this round, but
the top shooters seemed to cope with the breeze
better, so didnʼt hemorrhage as many points.
After partaking of a salad and cold-cuts lunch, we
proceeded to shoot the third and final card for the
day, with the breeze moderating somewhat, but its
shiftiness was still evident, with some wild shots
experienced by many. This last round was a chance
to catch up on competitors, rebuild the confidence,
and round out the day with great scores.
The final dayʼs shooting started with similar
conditions to the previous day, with very still and
quiet conditions. The best scores of the day
occurred during the first round, but even these scores
were tricky to achieve, as the soft breeze threw up
unexpected verticals, so a nice string of 10ʼs would
be rudely interrupted by a 9 at 12:00. None-the-less,
smiles from a lot of competitors were seen, as the
scores reflected the gentle conditions.
As the day warmed up, and the thermals blew
through, the breeze grew stronger, but never reached
the strength of the Saturday. The second round of
the day was tricky, but high scores were achieved
with a bit of patience, planning, and watching
the time.
 Bill Collaros with his trusty Feinwerkbau
The last round of the competition was shot
after lunch. Only a few points separated the leaders,
and in some cases, only a few centres. As a result, it
was a nervous firing line for some. Just like the last
round on Saturday, the breeze dropped, but the flags
were nervous, and needed full attention in order to
avoid silly shots.
After two days of competition, the overall results
were:
John Patzwald scored 1474 (63x) to be crowned
2010 RBA Nationals Champion
Mitchell Taller scored 1471 (82x) placed second and
was crowned Junior Champion
Robin Cox placed 3rd with 1471 (64x), and was
crowned Senior Champion
Les Flood placed 4th with 1470 (58x)
Brett Wilson placed 5th with 1469 (56x)
Rebecca Richards placed 6th with 1464 (68x) and
was crowned Womens Champion
Kathy Larkin placed 7th with 1462 (68x)
Stuart Elliott placed 8th with 1461 (66x)
Stuart Neale placed 9th with 1461 (62x)
Bill Collaros placed 10th with 1461 (60x)
Well done to all competitors!
Rebecca’s perosnal diary of the event.
After driving twelve hours or so from a balmy
Brisbane winter (about 26 degrees C), through peak
hour traffic, construction zones on freeways, rain,
bitingly cold wind, sleet, and even some snow, to a
cold, wet Sydney night, I parked the car, and began
to unload the gear into the garage. My brother-in-law
met me inside, took one look at the RBA cards, and
said matter of factly, “gee, anyone could hit those
targets, even I could!”.
So that marked the end of the 2010 Australian
RBA Nationals for me, held over 3 days from 30th
July to 1st August, in the Jim Smith Smallbore
complex within the Belmont rifle range, just outside
of Brisbane, Queensland, organised and run by the
Clifton Benchrest Union.
I drove up to Brisbane on the Thursday, taking about
12 hours or so, and thankfully, the trip was quite
uneventful (though rather long, even though I took
a shortcut). Along for the ride was my trusty custom
FWB rifle, about 500 rounds of Lapua eXact ammo,
a Caldwell Rock BR front rest, and my sister (for
moral and emotional support). Doing the maths a
few days beforehand, I thought Iʼd only consume
about 250 rounds, but in the end, I came away with
about 60 rounds spare!
Friday 30th was the first “unofficial” day of the
competition, being the practice day. This was the
time to look around the complex, find which benches
Iʼd be shooting from, lay out some flags, oogle over
the myriad other rifles (there were 54 competitors at
the event), and get used to the idiosyncrasies of the
range itself.
One piece of advice given out by the locals was to
never shoot in the dead lulls - the POI would always
be low at 6:00. I tested this out during practice, and
found it to be rather true!
Iʼd only ever competed in one other local RBA shoot,
which was held a few weeks prior. The RBA targets
are much harder than the targets I normally shoot
(which are based on the ISSF smallbore target rifle
dimensions), as the target area is smaller - the
10-ring is smaller at 7mm diameter, and the centre
X is about 1mm diameter. We were due to shoot 6
cards of 25 scoring shots per card plus unlimited
sighters over the following two days, so a perfect
score would be 1500(150x).
Friday was devoted to tweaking the barrel
tuner, getting the “game face” on, psyching out the
competition, and (more importantly) socialising.
I didnʼt begin to feel the nerves until the next
morning, the first day of competition shooting.
We were split into three details (myself in the
Target Shooter 89
second detail), 30 minutes per detail, would be
shooting three of the 6 cards, and would have to
rotate amongst the 18 benches. This meant that the
details were noisy, busy affairs.
The breeze started off quite mildly from the
right, almost at 3:00, but by the time the second
detail was underway, the breeze had ratcheted up
quite a bit, the propellers on the flags were a blur of
colour, and the tails were horizontal! Iʼd never shot
in a breeze this
strong before, and was holding off in the 7-ring to
drift the round across into the 10, or so I led myself
to believe. The sighters looked like theyʼd been hit by
a shotgun blast, sweat was streaming into my eyes,
and I was panicked! What to do?
After 10 minutes of blazing away into the sighters,
with nary a group forming, I stopped, looked at my
timer, and wondered whether the comp was gonna
be over for me. Nineteen minutes to do 25 scoring
shots. So I moved to the next sighter, shot 3 quick
rounds, they magically formed a nice tight group, I
wound on about a MOA of windage, and a tad of
elevation, moved to the first scoring target, and shot
a 10.
With a heightened sense of confidence, I proceeded
to drop 12 points over the remaining 24 shots, and
stepped back off the firing line with 5 minutes to go.
When the tails on the flags were horizontal, I scored
10ʼs. When they werenʼt, well, ….
The saving grace was that everyone else shot as
badly as I did, which kept me in the game. Luckily,
after lunch, the breeze calmed down, but kept
shifting and turning enough to keep us all constantly
on our toes. Put a round in the chamber, close the
bolt, look down the scope, aim, quick glance at
the flag, aim off a tad on the edge of the 10-ring at
3:00, squeeze the trigger, and watch horrified as the
impact is low in the 9 ring, and the flags had changed
90 Target Shooter
from 3:00 to 12:00.
At the end of the day, there were smiles all round,
the rifles were cleaned and packed away, and peo-
ple relaxed around a beer, a coffee, or a soft drink,
while waiting for the scorers to compile the results
and post them up.
The weather report for the second (and final) day
was encouraging. The day started cold, clear, and
blessedly still. The breeze didnʼt really begin to wake
up until the second detail, so I was able to put in a
very nice 249(14x). The lady I was chasing (Kathy
Larkin) in the aggregate scoring also shot a 249(18x),
which ended up being the highest card for the day.
When the breeze finally woke up, it was very shifty,
and nervous. I had been suffering shots the day
before where theyʼd go into the 8-ring at 1:30, and
was discussing it later when Mitchell Taller gave me
a gem of advice. The flags were showing breeze
from the right, but the bottles (indicating the wind
strength) were lifting back towards the breeze,
pushing my shots out towards the 1:30. No more
problems of that nature this day!
Another 3 rounds, another 3 shifts of benches,
it came time to firing the last shots of the
competition, and then a sigh of relief at surviving
another event with nerves intact. It took me about
two minutes to fire that last shot, a 10 to finish the
event.
After much deliberation by the scorers, the
protest period passed without incident, they
finally placed the dayʼs final result and the
aggregate scores on the boards for all to see - (see
first article).
 The Long View
News from the GB
F-Class Association
by Les Holgate

The final round of the 2010 F Class League numbers expected to be in excess of 160, this
will be shot at Bisley in the first weekend in will be the largest F Class shoot ever held in
November. the UK - and possibly the world - with more
countries represented than even the last World
For a few shooters, the effort, time and money Championships. Target Shooter scribes Vince
they put have put into their shooting throughout Bottomley and Laurie Holland are both shooting
the year will be rewarded with trophies and – in the F/TR Class - so you can rely on a full
prizes but for most of us it will be time to reflectreport in the December issue of Target Shooter.
and think how we can improve over the winter
months to be in the top group of shooters next It isn’t just Target Shooter scribes who have
year. I know which one I will be in - I am not switched to shooting F/TR - this time I am also
planning on buying any silver polish! giving it a go – a change from my more usual
Open Class. I haven’t jumped ship - or gone
The final round also coincides with the European over to the ‘dark side’ - as people keep telling
F Class Championships and this year, we have me - I just wanted to give it a go, seeing as my
a record entry of overseas competitors. It is also 284 Win. Open Class rifle is currently being
Bonfire Night over the weekend of the shoot re-barrelled by Pete Walker of Walker Custom
and in addition to the Shoot Buffet we have a Rifles.
firework display laid on (not sure what some
of the foreign shooters will make of this but it The 284 has served me well, giving significantly
should be a good night) - as if organiser Mik better barrel life than the 6.5-284 and only
Maksimovic didn’t have enough to do! slightly inferior ballistics to the all-conquering
7mmWSM. To save time and effort however,
The shoot takes place over the Friday and the new barrel will have a ‘no-turn’ neck – I’m not
Saturday with the ‘individuals’ and Sunday convinced that a ‘tight’ neck is really necessary
devoted to a team shoot and with the numbers – or wise - for F Class competition.
attending there could be a lot of teams shooting
on the Sunday, not just the National teams. With But that isn’t the only reason I am giving F/TR a

Target Shooter 91
go. As many predicted, F/TR certainly seems to (30-32 inches) heavy (but remember that 18lb
be the growth discipline and in my home club, weight limit) and of ‘match’ quality - if you want
Diggle, it now accounts for the vast majority of to have any chance of regularly finding that half
F Class shooters. In most League Shoots this MOA V bull!
year, F/TR shooters have outnumbered Open
Class competitors. It isn’t just rifle that’s evolving, it is also the
bullets we use. When F/TR first stared, almost all
One thing I won’t miss is carrying around that shooters were using the 155 grain bullet. Now,
heavy front-rest - it must be worth trying F/TR there is a move towards the heavier bullets –
just to avoid that! Maybe less to carry but it is 175, 185 and even 210 grainers. It seems to be
certainly no easier to shoot, as I am finding a route that is yet to be confirmed as a ‘must do’
out! The F/TR guys have really pushed the and Laurie Holland is currently ‘tipping the apple
performance of the 308Win. cartridge over the cart’ – if not exactly overturning it – with his little
last two years and the best of the F/TR shooters 223, shooting 90 grain bullets!
regularly secure top ten placings in the Open
class! Whether it’s Open or F/TR you want to shoot,
you don’t have to have to have a limitless budget
Although the F/TR Class was started to cater to compete. When it comes down to it, it’s just
for shooters with ‘standard’ 308 rifles and Harris you, that little bullet and the wind. They are the
bi-pods, the top shooters have now gone the main factors and despite all the other excuses
custom route and the humble Harris is a thing we use and hear - and they are countless (barrel
of the past with some weird and wonderful shot-out, bullet blew up, bad relay, poor marking,
contraptions appearing, which offer far better powder different to last batch, socks too tight!!)
stability. The latest offering - imported from the wind will always be your main opposition,
America by Fox Firearms – is a fantastic regardless of your budget. Come and try it!
aluminium and carbon-fibre affair weighing www.f-class.org.uk
just 19 ounces but costing almost as much as
a proper Open Class front rest! (Look out for a
review in Target Shooter very soon).

Any hope that the F/TR class would be a cheaper

‘entry-level’ class has evaporated, though of
course the barrel-life of a 308 is maybe five
or six times that of a 7mmWSM, so that does
represent a significant saving. Whilst on the
subject of F/TR barrels, they should be long

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

QUIGLEY SHOOTING ASSOCIATION, END

Ken Hall and
OF TRAIL SHOOT Oct 9th 2010.
Hi-Wall

Dave Malpas,
Uberti
Remington

a horrendous full-on wind meant that everything

had to be weighted down to prevent it becoming
airborne.
The long run of wet and blustery weather
The black powder cartridge rifle and
preceding the Quigley Shooting Association’s
muzzle loading rifle or musket comps were
second End of Trail event of the year, led the
shot at 100yds, and 25yds for muzzle loading
organiser, Ken Hall, to plan the shoots so that
revolver.
advantage could be made of the covered firing
Event 1, for muzzle loading pistol,
point. As things turned out, the day was dry, but
Greg Hoskin checks Ken Jones, Ruger Old Army
Mike Davenport’s
target

Target Shooter 93
 Paul Seymour, Win ‘76 and Dennis Richardson Win’66

consisted of a benchrest type Tightgroup shoot, Event 5, also for breech loading black
in which each firer shot four separate groups at powder rifles consisted of 5 shots at a reduced
25 yds on a standard pistol target, group sizes silhouette of a mounted Indian.
were added together and an average taken
to determine the winner. This was won in fine Event 6, also for breech loading black
style by Mike Davenport using a Euroarms .44 powder rifles consisted of 5 shots at a modified
cal Rogers & Spencer to achieve an average turkey target, Ken Hall managed to win these
of 2.37in. (His smallest group measuring a three with his Uberti Hi-Wall in .38-55.
fantastic 1.83in). Runner-up was Dave Malpas,
using his Uberti Remington in .44 cal, with an Black powder competitions always seem to bring
average of 4.9in. out the best in shooters, and all who attended
had a really relaxed and light-hearted day.
Event 2 was for muzzle loading rifle and _____________________________________
consisted of ten shots at a racetrack target at
100yds. Dennis Richardson won this with a THE QUIGLEY SHOOTING ASSOCIATION.
score of 89 achieved with a .50in Lyman Tryon
Rifle borrowed from Ken Jones. Ken Jones SEPT QUIGLEY COMPETITION.
came second with a score of 86. (Don’t you hate
it when that happens?) The penultimate Quigley shoot of the season got
under way on Saturday 25th September with, at
Event 3 for breech loading black powder last, a dry outlook for the day with a fairly light,
rifles, consisted of five shots at a “V” notch target but nonetheless tricky, wind to cope with.
at 100yds. Dave Malpas hit nearest the “V” to As usual, Stage 1 at 400 yds consisted of two
win this one using his .45/70 Sharps. sighters and fifteen shots to score at the Quigley
bucket at 400 yds. It never fails to amaze me
Event 4 was 5 shots at a reduced buffalo that, with the talent on show, we seldom get
target at 50yds with breech loading black powder more than eleven hits on the bucket, a testament
rifles to the difficult conditions at Diggle even on a
mild day. As we broke for lunch the field was
94 Target Shooter
 John Ellin with his original Alexander Henry in .45-100.

pretty close, Dennis Richardson led with a

creditable 59 points being chased by Ian Hull Richard calculates the sight setting while Gary
and Richard Healey, spots the shot
each with 51 points. Resuming after lunch,
stage 2 was the buffalo silhouette at 600 yds
and top scorer on this stage was Ian Hull with
57 points followed by Eric Todd with 51 points
and Richard Healey with 50 points. Unusually
for Dennis, he could only manage 39 points
at 600yds leaving the way open for Ian and
Richard. It was interesting to see one of our
members, John Ellin shooting paper patched
bullets through an original Alexander Henry
falling block rifle in .45/100.
The final scores were as follows.
Pos. Shooter.
Score.
1. Ian Hull Sharps 45/90
108
2. Richard Healey Sharps 45/90 101
3. Dennis Richardson Br Hi Wall 45/70 98
4. Ken Hall Uberti Hi Wall 40/65 89
5=. Eric Todd Sharps 45/90 88
5=. Gary Allsopp Remington 45/90 88

Details from
khall6548@aol.com

Winner and runner up - Ian and Richard

Target Shooter 95
 Gallery Rifle & Pistol News

Gallery Rifle Update addition to all the regular favourites the Timed
and Precision Three Match for LBR and LBP is
The clocks go back over the last weekend in available. To add to the diversity there are also
October, signalling the end to the Gallery Rifle 200 metre rifle in three classes, the McQueen
season, or nearly. and, growing in popularity, target shotgun
events. Your last chance to post a good score
The last event this year is actually the third of if you are bucking for inclusion in your Home
the International Gallery Rifle 1500 Matches International or the GB Squads.
which is held at Leitmar in Germany on the 13th The weekend of the 23rd and 24th October sees
and 14th November. Captain, Ashley Dagger, is the Trafalgar Historic Arms Meeting and there are
taking the GB Squad to compete with Germany gallery rifle matches for the classic enthusiasts.
and Ireland. The match is an open event so I am going along to try my hand and I will let you
if you fancy joining in details are available on know how I got on next time, but first I thought
www.galleryrifle.com. Good luck Team GB, I it worth devoting a few paragraphs to Classic
will report your progress next time. Gallery Rifle for those who are wondering what
Working backwards the Autumn Action Weekend it’s all about.
at Bisley is on 30th and 31st October. The spring
and autumn meeting have traditionally been Classic Gallery Rifle
used to trial new events and those events that
take a little more time or range space, so in This year the NRA Gallery Rifle Sub-Committee
Plate 1

96 Target Shooter
 any rifle (of qualifying calibre) with any sighting
system, except those which project dot onto
the target. The usual style of rifle found in the
open class is the box magazine rifle with straight
pull actions and more recently the lever release
rifles that have become available from Southern
Gun Company.

Finally Classic Rifle is for rifles that qualify for

the historic arms events of the Imperial and
Trafalgar Meeting. I have been having a go at
the classics this year and the research I have
done may help you get started.

The Rifle

The qualifying date for “classic” is 1919; any

Plate 2 rifle designed on or before this date is eligible.
The actual rifle you use need not have been
manufactured before the end of 1919, for
decided to reorganise the centre-fire gallery rifle
example the Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE)
events into three classes. The standard class
adopted by the British Army in 1907 obviously
is designed for traditional lever action rifles that
qualifies, but the rifle continued in production
have become the mainstay of GR with any type
until well into the 1940 in Britain and even later
of sighting system. It is shot in five skill classes D
in the Empire. All SMLE rifle qualify as classic
to A plus X (for expert), each of the main events
as long as they are chambered in the original
has separate classifications and once you have
.303” calibre, so the Indian 7.62 SMLE are not
shot a qualifying score for a particular class
eligible.
you are included in that class for any national
meetings thereafter.
For GR this is good news as the usual Winchester
or Marlin models 94s pre-date the key date
The other two classes are shot as open events
by 25 years. Hold on I hear you say the rifle
without handicapping. The open class is for
may be OK but the .357” Magnum dates from

Target Shooter 97
 Plate 1 bead foresight were
missing and a scope
rail had been fitted.
Discarding the rail I
started to look at rear
sight options and I have
tried three.

The first is the excellent

Marbles tang sight
(figure 1). Marbles
started making sights
of this type in the late
1860s and a similar
product made by
Lyman is shown in their
1889 catalogue (figure
2). I have not seen the
1935 and the 44” Magnum from 1955 so they Lyman version but I am
are out, aren’t they? Well logic prevails and the told it lacks windage adjustment so the only
Historic Breechloading Smallarms Association, option is drifting the front sight over, the Marble
the guiding body for historic shooting, has version features both elevation and windage
decided that 357s and 44s are allowed as long adjustment. The Lyman is slightly cheaper but
as they are loaded only to 38 and 44 special they come in at around the £130 mark – so
velocities, 38 and 44 specials both dating from classic rifle isn’t cheap.
the first decade of the 20th century are therefore
permitted. The only disadvantage I have found with the
tang style sight is during rapid fire stages it gets
Implementation of the rules rely on shooters in the way of the thumb of the lever/trigger hand,
integrity in ensuring that they stick to the “spirit but I have still managed to get all the shots off
of the original” and a competitor must be in a in a Bianchi Match so you can live with it. The
position to justify his choice of rifle/calibre by tang sights come with a replacement butt stock
historic precedent if challenged by a match screw but they also require another hole to
official or fellow competitor. be drilled and tapped in the top tang. A local
precision engineering firm with the correct taps
So we all have a suitable under lever but surely did the job in ten minutes for £12 so not a big
you don’t expect me to shoot it with the factory problem. Tang sights don’t have any graduation
sights! marked on them but do have definite clicks, so
I have put a paint blob on the adjusting knob to
Sighting Systems ensure I can accurately return to zero and make
adjustments.
The rule here is that sights must be of
contemporary design and I am not sure If the tang sight is not to your liking then there
whether this means available at the time of first are receiver sights that screw directly into the
manufacture of the rifle or before 1919, so I holes designed for the scope base, I presume
have taken the widest interpretation and picked on originals a little gunsmithing was necessary
the latter. and my old Cowboy even has holes in the side
of the receiver for the Lyman version of receiver
I picked up a well run in Marlin 44 Cowboy sights. The Lyman 1909 catalogue shows a
and feed it with my normal GR load, which vernier style receiver sight so I think they are
performs well (ifMarlin
I do my part) and the felt recoil in the spirit. In addition to Lyman the Williams
Competition Special Company make receiver sights that fit Marlins
in minimal. When I bought the rifle the original
semi-buckhorn rear sight and blade with gold and Winchesters (figure 3). Although Williams

98 Target Shooter
sights are similar in style to classic designs they to cover the target with the aiming mark and pull
are made from aluminium to reduce cost so the trigger.
we will see at the Trafalgar whether they pass
muster. I obtained a Lyman tunnel sight for £30 and it
came with seven different elements (figure 5)
I have even found another receiver sight made and a yellow plastic filter (don’t think the classic
by a cottage industry in the good old USA. Tim boys would like the plastic filter). There are three
Skinner makes fully adjustable sights (figure 4) blades and four ring sights, the rings are most
that fit the top receiver holes of Marlin rifles, I suitable for the roundel style precision targets.
got one mail order and they are well made but The only difficulty I have found with the tunnel
the elevation adjustment is quite limited and sight is that the front elements are not distinct in
not contusive to quick adjustment. Otherwise a low light or on covered ranges, now this might
great and different product, which although only be my aging eyes but it may be worth trying one
recently manufactured the simple design would out before you invest your hard earned.
have been well within the scope of late 19th and
early 20th century engineering so I think only And finally
an absolute purist would challenge this type of
sight. If you go with the tang/tunnel option you can
see that your investment will be about £160 on
Both tang and receiver sights feature top of the cost your rifle, about the same as an
exchangeable apertures but be warned very economy scope set up, so it’s not much cheaper
small apertures may appear tempting but don’t than standard class shooting.
let much light through, I have found this a
particular problem with the all black 1500 targets But do you need to do all this before you try is
where picking up an aiming point can be difficult. out, well maybe not. Phil Cowling shoots an iron
The Lyman type 66A receiver sight retails at just sighted Marlin still fitted with the factory sights
below £100, the Williams at about £60 and the that came with the gun and he seems to give
Skinner I got for just £45 including postage and me a run for my money – well mostly pips me at
customs charges from the states. the post!

So that’s the back sight sorted, what about Next time I will report on the Trafalgar GR events
leaving the original blade and gold bead up and we can look at the scores shooters have
front? You can do but you may wish to consider been achieving with x1 magnification.
a tunnel front sight. The idea of aperture sights www.galleryrifle.com
is the “ring within a ring” concept, where your
eye naturally lines up the rear aperture with the
tunnel surrounding the foresight just leaving you

Target Shooter 99
UKPSA Association News match Hosted by Leicester Shooting Club at Tall
Trees Gun Club, Middlesborough in September.
UKPSA sanctioned matches have recently been
held around the UK. Thanks to Bob and Denise Dunkley, Roye West,
Ian Chamberlain and Steve Sheasby for an
The Home Countries Level III Shotgun Match excellent and entertaining match.
was held at Harlow Town Rifle and Pistol Club,
at harlow in Essex on the 8th and 9th of October. LBR/LBF/Mini-Rifle and Gallery Level II results:
Geoff Smith was match director for the 9 Stage,
110 round (birdshot only) match. LBO Results
1st Place Peter Starley 100%
The weather was kind to us, and it was good to 2nd Place Ronnie Graham 34.60%
see attendance from Serbia again for this match.
Unavoidably absent for the first time in more LBS Results
years than anyone can recall was Pete Starley 1st Place Bob Dunkley 100%
of MidwayUK who shoots Modified and always 2nd Place Graham Guest 97.20%
performs well. 3rd Place Ian Chamberlain 92.42%

Thanks to Geoff, Ken and the build and support MRS Results
team at Harlow for making us all feel welcome. 1st Place Vanessa Duffy 100%

Home Countries Level II Shotgun results: Match Announcements

Standard Manual Division (Pump) There is another UKPSA sanctioned Long

1st Place Martin Davies (GBR) 100% Barrelled Revolver (LBR) Level II match coming
2nd Place Neil Smith 95.16% up at Leicester Shooting Centre on Sunday
3rd Place Iain Guy 93.92% November 21st. It is a 10 Stage match with a
round count of about 130 rounds.
Standard Auto Division
1st Place Mike Darby (GBR) 100% You will need a UKPSA LBR competition licence,
2nd Place James Starley plus FAC conditioned Long Barrelled Pistol.
95.05% If you have a PSG Competition Licence you may
3rd Place David Dowding enter the Lever Action / Gallery or Mini-Rifle
92.91% Division.

Modified Division Please contact Leicester Shooting Centre for

1st Place James Harris (GBR) 100% more details. Entry is via the downloadable form
2nd Place Branislav Raketic 96.93% on the UKPSA forum.
3rd Place Howard Roberts 70.06%
UKPSA Welsh Championships
Open Division Level III Practical Shotgun match
1st Place Iain Corrigan 100% September 2010
2nd Place Michael Scarlett 94.01% Welcome back back...
3rd Place Nicholas Hockley 90.99%
Last month we used the UKPSA Welsh
Championship Level III shotgun match to
The LBR/LBF/Mini-rifle & Gallery Rifle Level II illustrate some basic theory about the importance

100 Target Shooter

of strategy when shooting a stage in IPSC PSG
(Practical Shotgun) matches. Although we
generically refer to our sport as Practical Shotgun
(PSG), it is in fact officially “IPSC Shotgun”, as
the UKPSA is the UK region of the International
Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) and
we shoot to their rules and conditions. This is
important to ensure that the same rules are
used across the world, and when we shooting
internationally, we all know what to expect. words, a 24 target stage can be broken into
I promised we would continue this theme with
a look at one of the stages from the Welsh
Championships this year, and use it to illustrate
the various shooting strategies employed.
I’ve chosen a fairly simple stage with only six
targets as the example, rather than one of the
much longer stages. This is to try to keep it
simple enough for a short article, but you have
to remember that almost all larger stages can
be broken down into smaller “chunks”. In other
three or four smaller shooting challenges of 6-8
targets each, and the competitor then uses the
Target Shooter 101
time between moving from one shooting position IPSC has an unenviable reputation for safety, not
to another as an opportunity to reload the gun. least because we all adopt simple checks into
everything we do, and the shooter always has
It doesn’t always break down an RO with him/her from the moment they come
that cleanly, but you get the idea. onto the stage with the gun, until they leave.

I will introduce some terminology first, just Competitors are allowed a few minutes to
to prevent me losing flow later on trying peruse the stage after the brief. They may not
to explain mid-sentence. Please don’t fall touch targets, but can ask to see any moving
asleep on me – I promise I will be brief... targets or mechanisms being activated by the
A match consists of a number of stages- each RO. The time is to allow you to work out the best
of which represents a shooting challenge. shooting strategy, where you need to load (if
Each stage is run by one or required) etc. You may not use a gun or other
more Range Officers (RO). “prop”, so you will usually see everyone doing
A stage always starts with a stage brief an elaborate and often comical little dance
read by the Range Officer, covering the around the stage pretending to shoot and
conditions, requirements and safety aspects load the gun with outstretched arms. This is to
for that stage, as well as telling you how try to “fix” your shooting plan into your head.
many targets, how many rounds in the gun at
the start, any particular conditions governing Once the time to look at the stage is up, the
the start of the stage (i.e. how to hold the range is cleared and the competitors will shoot
shotgun – sometimes you may not have it in the stage in a pre-agreed order. The start of
your hands when starting – it may be resting, the stage is controlled by an electronic timer
unloaded, on a tyre in front of you for example.) that emits a loud beep signalling the start, and
it records the time of each shot taken (hence
Safety is, of course, the number one consideration. why you will see the RO literally right behind

102 Target Shooter

the competitor as they move through the stage
holding a small box. He/she is also there to
ensure that there are always “2 brains per gun”
– and can step in or stop the stage instantly
in the event of a perceived or real problem).
The time for the stage will be from the
start beep to the last shot fired – and is
recorded to 100th of a second accuracy.
There are three basic Start options for the
shotgun under IPSC:
• An OPTION 1 Start: Where the gun has
a round chambered, and the magazine is
filled to the maximum rounds allowed for
your division. Safety MUST be ON.
• An OPTION 2 Start: Where the gun has
an EMPTY chamber, and the magazine is
filled to the maximum rounds allowed for
your division. Safety does NOT HAVE to
be ON (as there’s no round in the cham-
ber!)
• An OPTION 3 Start: Where the gun is
completely empty. Safety does NOT
HAVE to be ON
You may not touch your ammunition until the
start buzzer
COF : Course Of Fire (the match stage you are
about to shoot).
COMSTOCK Stage: This means you may load
as many additional rounds as you feel you need
in order to shoot all targets. There are other
types which are VIRGINIA COUNT – where you
must ONLY shoot as many rounds are there are
targets and only one shot at each target. So if
there are 8 targets you will be penalised if you
have to shoot MORE than eight rounds in order
to hit all targets. In other words, don’t miss!
There is also the FIXED TIME stage – where you
may use and load as many rounds as you wish,
but there is a fixed time in which to shoot all the
targets. Only targets shot in that time frame count.
NO-SHOOT – This is a penalty target, usually
coloured RED,YELLOW or WHITE. If you shoot this
target and it falls – you will incur a 10 point penalty.
FAULT LINE – A Painted RED strip of wood
or barrier that must not be crossed and the
gun fired while shooting. It is used to define a
shooting area, or ensure that a competitor does
not cut through any area the stage designer
wants to keep you out of. It is acceptable to
cross these lines and come back over WITHOUT
firing a shot, but if you cross a line and shoot
you may be penalised for every shot fired from
that point and certainly will get a minimum 10
point penalty! – you really don’t want to do this.
(note: I’m not going into divisions too much
here – but they are Standard Manual (Pump),
Standard Auto, Modified and Open.)
Target Shooter 103
Diagram 1 shows the stage we will be looking
at. It is a simple top-down diagram and shows
the key elements. Stage Designers increasingly
use a software program to do this, as the
stage must be sanctioned for graded matches
to ensure it presents an appropriately safe,
consistent, repeatable shooting challenge and
does not bias tall / short or left/right hand people. gun, it would present an additional angle of
Note the tyres around the stage confine.
Downrange is to the top of the diagram. Start
position is standing at position indicated
by the “S” with one foot touching a post.
Here, for comparison is a photo of the actual
stage: The start post is the white stick at
the back of the red shooting area defined
by Fault Lines (this restricts the shooting
area if you’ve read the terminology bit.) rounds as you moved from the Start to say,
Now, the photo is better because it’s in
three dimensions. It is very difficult (almost
impossible) to plan a strategy off the submitted
stage diagram. It is used to illustrate the
challenge – not include the nuances. It should
present a shooting challenge – a stage that
test the shooter’s accuracy and speed. What
is to be avoided is an obvious “stand-in-the-
middle”, straight blast-as-fast as the competitor
can muster, hence why the no-shoots are used,
and how they are positioned. A shotgun is a lot
more accurate than people often think, but you
really have to aim carefully to avoid hitting them. same position. Three were easier, three meant
Paraphrasing the actual Stage Brief with
some comment thrown in for clarity... less walking, one loading sequence (as quick as
”This stage is a COMSTOCK stage (use as
many rounds as you need) consisting of
SIX METAL TARGETS and FOUR NO-SHOOT
TARGETS. The Stage is worth a total of 30
points. (Each target is worth FIVE points.
Penalty for hitting a NO-SHOOT is TEN
points). Start Position is standing erect
with the OPTION 3 (unloaded) gun held
in both hands, with the butt touching the
hip and muzzle pointing downrange. One
foot must be touching the white post.
On the start signal, shoot all the
targets from within the confines of the
shooting area (defined by the red box).”
So, the first thing is that you are starting with an
empty gun. One of the first concerns therefore
is putting in at least six rounds to shoot the six
104 Target Shooter
targets. The distance from the start position
to the front of the shooting area is about eight
feet. It is better to be closer to the targets so
the natural thing to do is get as close to the
front as possible. As you have an unloaded
gun, you can use this walking time to load the
shotgun. Had the start condition been a loaded
“do I shoot from the start position” and balance
the necessary extra accuracy against the time
taken to move forward. As it was, this first
test was how quick can you load the shotgun.
There were two basic strategies that emerged
from this at the completion, that are illustrated
in the following diagrams. First (Diagram 1:
Multiple Shooting Positions) was to load four
position A where a fairly clear view of at least
three targets was visible. Shoot those three,
then load an additional 2 rounds as you moved
to position B to shoot the remaining three
targets. This was the most popular method
chosen, even though you had to make two
load sequences and two getting the gun into
the shoulder to aim, plus the moving time.
An alternative (Diagram 1: Single Shooting
Position) was to simply move to point B (or A
if you wished), loading six rounds and carefully
(more accurately) trying to hit all targets from the
having to literally graze a visible edge of a target
that was largely behind a no-shoot. This meant
possible) and only one aiming position, but was
slower and riskier because the margin for error
was reduced.
If you were really good, you could load six rounds
as you moved to, say Position A. Then walk to
position B shooting as you moved. This would
technically be the fastest way to shoot the stage,
but it is notoriously difficult to aim carefully as you
move and take each step. What you are actually
doing is firing a round at each step, taking your
finger from the trigger as you take the next step,
then firing... and so on. This is because you
cannot keep your finger on the trigger as you
move. What it breaks down to is a succession
of one step shooting positions and is extremely
difficult to do smoothly, accurately and fast.
Here is Martin Davies adopting the multiple
shooting position approach. Picture 2 sequence The question is, in hindsight, which strategy
shows him at position A, loading as he moves to would I follow if I shot it again. I would probably
position B and then shooting again at position go with the first one and move between both firing
B. Martin uses a Benelli SuperNova 12g Pump
Shotgun. His time on this stage was 11.77
seconds from start to completion.
I decided to shoot this using the opposing
strategy, and managed a time of 13.03 seconds.
would blow the score if you hit a no shoot!
positions. If nothing else, I would do it for interest
to see if it would improve my time and score.
Therein lies the dilemma and the challenge.
Multiple strategies almost always present
themselves. After watching an experienced
squad of competitors go through you generally
see a predominant approach start to appear.
However, I have watched and shot with the top
shooters in the UK and then tried something
different that has proved to work better (not
often though). But it may just have suited me
better because I am better, for example, at
weak-shoulder shooting , or can load more
efficiently when crouching .. or some other factor.
This is what makes it so much fun. If you haven’t
tried Practical Shotgun, I would urge you to
come along and have a go with us. You need
a Section 1 shotgun on your own FAC to shoot
competitively, but can come along with a three
shot pump or semi-auto shotgun on a Section
2 (Shotgun) licence, or borrow a Section
2 under supervision from a fellow shooter.
If you would like to know more, please look on the
website www.ukpsa.co.uk for more information,
or contact your local club. I will be covering
PSG clubs over coming issues in more depth.
In the meantime, as the Welsh Championships was
held at Border Guns PSG club, here are their details:
Border Guns PSG : Contact Martin
and Jo Davies, or Neil Evans
Website address: www.bordergunspsg.co.uk
Email:info@borderguns.co.uk
Telephone: 01588 640002

The club is situated at Two Crosses, Valley View,

Newcastle upon Clun, craven Arms, Shropshire,
SY7 8QX and welcomes new members. It is a
Practical Shotgun only club, and hosts regular
This doesn’t necessarily mean the strategy
shoot days.
was slower. I did have to load an extra round
as I was too cautious on one target that only
presented about 20cm of target area. Martin is a
better shooter then I am and he is quick loading
his gun, but on reflection, I did find the single
position strategy required painstaking accuracy.
One NO-SHOOT would take 10 points from
the maximum points available of 30 – it really

Target Shooter 105

 Next time in.....

The December issue will be out on the at the beginning of the month. Lots of follow up articles, new
reviews, news and as ever packed with the articles you want to read.
Our 2nd Christmas issue—and looking forward to the New Year

December 2010 Issue

On Test Reviews
Regular
Columns

Features ...and lots more

106 See you next month.......................................
Target Shooter