Target Shooter

TARGET SHOOTER MAGAZINE
DECEMBER 2012
MAGAZINE
NOW READ IN OVER 100 COUNTRIES
GB EURO F CLASS champs

Team GB do the double in F/TR & Open at the European Championships Team GB squad member takes the individual F/TR
BORESCOPES
PRECISION SHOOTING Shooting News

HANDLOADING BENCH
Practical Rifle Shooting
DCR RIFLE BUILD
SMALLBORE SHOOTING
124 pages of pure shooting

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NOW Read WORLdWIde BY OVeR 10,000 dedICaTed ReadeRS IN OVeR
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Welcome to the new look December 2012 edition of Target Shooter Magazine
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March Hats
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Webitorial December 2012

Welcome to the festive season a time for celebration, for spending time with loved ones But not for everyone.
Last month, I featured the incredible decision by one of the UKs major retailers of newspapers and magazines to impose a ban on the sale of shooting related magazines to anyone under the age of 14. That, dear reader pales into insignificance against what I have to tell you this month Sgt. Danny Nightingale, a Special Forces sniper who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was sentenced to 18 months in military detention by a court martial last week for possessing a 9mm Glock pistol! The court was told that he returned to Britain in a hurry after two friends were killed in Iraq, leaving his equipment including the pistol to be packed up by colleagues. In 2007, Sgt Nightingale was serving in Iraq as a member of Task Force Black, a covert counter-terrorist unit that conducted operations under orders to capture and kill members of al-Qaeda. He also helped train members of a secret counter-terrorist force called the Apostles. At the end of the training he was presented with the Glock, which he planned to donate to his regiment as a war trophy. But in November 2007, two of Sgt Nightingales closest friends, Sgt. John Battersby and Cpl. Lee Fitzsimmons, were killed in a helicopter crash. He accompanied both bodies back to Britain and helped arrange the funerals. In Iraq, his equipment was packed by colleagues, one of whom placed the pistol inside a container that was sent first to the SAS regimental headquarters in Hereford, then to his home where it remained unopened until 2010. In May 2010, Sgt Nightingale was living in a house with another soldier close to the regiments headquarters when he was posted to Afghanistan at short notice. During the tour, his housemates estranged wife claimed her husband had assaulted her and kept a stash of ammunition in the house. West Mercia Police raided the house and found the Glock - still in its container. Thankfully, the sentence has caused widespread outrage, even amongst Members of Parliament but Danny Nightingale remains in prison. If you are also outraged by this injustice, please consider signing the petition below; http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/military-justice-overturn-the-decision-to-jail-sgt-nightingale-for-18-onths Lets hope that sanity prevails and Sgt. Nightingale can enjoy Christmas with his family like the rest of us and, let us spare a thought for those who are still bravely serving their country overseas. PS - As we were about to go on-line, the Court of Appeal ruled that Sgt. Nightingales sentence was excessive and reduced it to12 months, suspended for 12 months, thus freeing Sgt. Nightingale immediately. Not a perfect solution, but at least Sgt, Nightingale is back with his family and hopefully will be allowed to resume his Army career. Well keep you posted.
TAB Gear Tactical iPad Carriers March Polo Shirts
Christmas Gifts...
Two great books from the master ballistician Bryan Litz. Plus padded protective TAB iPad cases, March quality clothing and caps and of course Bore Stores to protect your
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Available from - marchscopes.co.uk - Call 01293 606901 or Email info@marchscopes.co.uk
Editor - Vince Bottomley vinceb@targetshooter.co.uk Advertising and Office Manager - Yvonne Wilcock. yvonne@targetshooter.co.uk Compiled, Designed & Web Production by Steve Thornton. www.thorntonconnect.com Contributors - Vince Bottomley - Laurie Holland - Ken Hall - Don Brooke - Chris Parkin Tony Saunders - Vanessa Duffy - Liz Woodhall - Des Parr - Richard Utting David Thompson - Mike Davenport - Peter Whormersley Back Page Photography by Steve Thornton - ThorntonConnect.com Cover Photography by Steve Thornton Disclaimer
Vince, Yvonne & Steve

Vince Bottomley - vinceb@targetshooter.co.uk Yvonne Wilcock - yvonne@targetshooter.co.uk Steve Thornton - steve@stevethornton.co.uk
The website www.targetshooteronline.com 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. 3
Contents
Pages 6 - 62
Contents Continued & More...

Page 102 The Berger Bullets Reloading Manual First Edition by Vince Bottomley. I always recommend the purchase of a good reloading manual to shooters who are about to start reloading but which one? Basically, reloading manuals fall into two categories those produced by powder manufacturers - like Vihtavuori, Hodgdon, Accurate Arms etc. or the ones published by bullet makers like Sierra, Speer or, as in this case, Berger.
december 2012 Issue
GBFCA - THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS - This event is the largest international F Class competition in the world and this year, it attracted 184 entries, drawing teams from every corner of Europe - from the Ukraine in the east, to Ireland in the west, Spain in the south and Scandanavia in the north. In all, shooters of 13 nationalities were present with over half the entry from outside the United Kingdom a truly international event. Page 68 HANDLOADING BENCH - the 7.62x54R (Part 2) by Laurie Holland. Moving onto tools and components, I bought a set of run of the mill Lee dies from Hannams Reloading alongside the Lapua cases Ive used throughout. To my slight surprise, Hannams had a set - or six - already in stock. Henry Krank, the other UK Lee distributor will keep plenty of sets handy too Id imagine, as they sell a fair few Mosin-Nagant rifles and also have Prvi-Partizan (PPU) ammunition, bullets and brass in the calibre.
LATEST NEWS... & LOTS MORE... Page 106 A new bi-pod from SEB. Sebastian Lambang - of SEB rest fame came over to the UK recently, to visit friends and customers and to try his hand at F Class shooting. In case you didnt know, Seb is an accomplished benchrest shooter, having represented his country at several World Benchrest Championships.
22 Rimfire Benchrest by Carl Boswell. A short one this month, in the form of a match report - one of the last for the 2012 season, as nights are closing in and weather conditions become more difficult. Whilst we may not Page 64 be competitive in difficult conditions if we are shooting in postals, its good training as it brings up a variety of new or different conditions to work with. Each target can be a new learning experience, if we let it! LATEST NEWS Page 106 FROM THE BENCH Page 104 THE LONG VIEW This Smallbore Business by Brooksie. Page 52 SMALLBORE - BROOKSIE Page 86 DISABLED NEWS Pages 110 UKPSA NEWS Page 116 The TIM STEWART INTERVIEW Page 44
The Hawkeye Borescope from Gradient Lens Corporation. A borescope is an optical device that is used to see inside things that would otherwise be inaccessible for viewing. Borescopes were first developed to look inside of cannons. Another version, known as an endoscope, was designed for the medical profession. Refined many times over the years, endoscopes have resulted in the wonders of minimally invasive surgery.
Regulars
& more
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The DCR British-made Action by Richard Utting. Having been mighty impressed by 6.5x47 Lapua using 123gr Scenars at 3130fps with sub 10fps spread using RL17 and 140 grain A Max bullet at 2920,fps I still wanted more.We always do! As slippery, accurate and fun as 6.5x47 Lapua is, I fancied a 284 Win. slinging the 162 grain A Max (G7 BC 0.307) over 3000fps - possibly over 3100. I thought it best not squeezed into a short action, unnecessarily compromising powder room and efficiency. I wanted a custom action that was silky-smooth and strong and a pleasure to use. Page 90 Page 86
Kneeling shooting the ultimate challenge! So, OK, off the subject of prone shooting for a while plus, prone shooting is pretty easy when you start to think about the position events. Actually, you can play 18 holes of golf in around the same time as a position match and both can be just as frustrating! One of the biggest problems for kneeling shooters is the international standard, in that a good K (kneeling) performance is pretty much the same as for the prone section. In fact I have seen (and done this) where the K shoot was actually better than the prone result.
European F Class Championships November 2012
The European F Class Championships.

Bisley England.
The largest F Class competition in the world..
Main photography by Steve Thornton
The European F Class Championships.

Bisley, England.
This event is the largest international F Class competition in the world and this year, it attracted 184 entries, drawing teams from every corner of Europe - from the Ukraine in the east, to Ireland in the west, Spain in the south and Scandinavia in the north. In all, shooters of 13 nationalities were present with over half the entry from outside the United Kingdom. A truly international event.
As in past years, we will split the report into several sections with Target Shooter writers Des Parr and Laurie Holland giving match reports from the firing-line as they shot their respective disciplines. But, before we get to the shooting, lets have a look inside the tent...
The weigh in. Like an airline check in - am I overweight was the thought in every shooters mind
The Tent!
Five years ago, the tent was simply an old army tent dispensing free tea and coffee kindly provided by two charming ladies. Now, the tent has evolved though Im pleased to report that the tea and coffee and the charming ladies who dispense it - with good humor and a smile - are still there! The tent is the hub of the Europeans and this year, we had a number of interesting things to look at in the tent which has now grown into a marquee!
Fox Firearms
Brian Fox, a long time supporter of the GB F Class League was once again displaying an impressive range of consumables powder, brass, bullets etc. but he also carries a comprehensive stock of just about everything for the F Class shooter, from SEB rests and bags, barrels, bi-pods, stocks, scopes, rings and even a few complete rifles. If youve forgot it, lost it or broke it, Brian can probably help! He even loaned out the superlight Mystic Precision bi-pods to a couple of F/TR guys who failed to make weight! If you missed it, check out Brians shop on line at: www.foxfirearmsuk.com
F Class open were the first detail to open the individual championships
Seb donated a NEO rest to the raffle. Mik Maksimovic greatly accepts...
Sebastian Lambang
Seb Lambang, of SEB rest fame the rest used by at least half of the Open Class competitors was paying a flying visit to the UK with wife Lilly to say hello to his many friends and customers. Seb is really a short-range benchrest shooter but, as his rests are now as popular with F Class shooters as benchresters, he wanted to try F Class shooting and gamefully
jumped in with both feet and shot the Europeans for his first ever F Class event! Naturally it was a steep learning curve but he was beginning to get the hang of wind-reading - by his last match! Nonetheless, he thoroughly enjoyed himself despite the Bisley temperatures being a good 30 degrees C below his
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native Indonesia! www.sebcoax.com Seb was called upon to perform surgery on several shooters rests and Seb generously donated a brand-new SEB NEO as a raffle prize won incidentally by world F/TR Champion Russell Simmonds. Seb is a great innovator and he also brought along his prototype joystick bi-pod. This was a work of beauty and purpose and Seb left it with me for evaluation. Look for the write-up in our Latest News section.
Hawkeye Borescopes
In attendance for the first time this year, we were pleased to welcome Ken Harrington of Hawkeye borescopes. I met Ken many years ago and last year we met up again at the World Benchrest Championships in France. Ken was happily borescoping any competitors barrel and generously donated a top of the range borescope as a free draw prize which as it happens, was won by Target Shooter scribe Des Parr. Im sure Des will put it to good use! Ken was also hoping to set up a European distribution system with a new UK importer and Target Shooter will be the first to let you know who this will be. Read our review elsewhere in this issue. www.gradientlens.com Still not convinced you need one? Look at it this way - a borescope costs less than a new barrel what I call a no brainer! Brian Fox of Fox Firearms UK is the European importer and I can tell you that buying direct from America with postage, handling, duty and VAT - will cost you more than Brian is charging. www.foxfirearmsuk.com
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Walker Custom Rifles

Probably the most impressive exhibits in the tent were on the Walker Custom Rifles table. Peter Walker builds rifles for many of the UKs top shooters including World F Class Champion, Gary Costello. This weekend, Peter had brought along just about the most extreme rifle I have seen in the form of a 408 Cheytac, built on a ten-inch BAT action and bedded into an enormous McMillan stock. As usual, it was finished to Peters flawless standard and came with its own dedicated Peli-case featuring laser-cut foam. Peter also had an F Class Open rifle on display which was in fact commissioned by Gary Costello. The woodlaminate stock was lacquered to a glass-like finish which impressed all who saw it. There are few UK gunsmiths who can work to Peters standard and his rifles have an equally impressive record on the range. Contact Peter via his website at www.walkerrifles.co.uk
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Current world champion Gary Costello of March Scopes getting ready to shoot...
of scope is no place to scrimp if you are serious about your shooting. World Champion Gary Costello is the sole UK importer so you can be sure of the right kind of help when choosing your new March scope. www.marchscopes.co.uk
Dolphin Gun Company

Dolphin Gun Company were displaying one of their famous aluminium-stocked rifles which are almost available off the shelf. Simply give them your spec. and you will have your brand-new custom rifle in a matter of weeks rather than months. Please note that the new F/TR European Champion Tim Stewart used a Dolphin gun and current World Champion (and third place in the Europeans) Russ Simmonds is also using a rifle smithed by Dolphin. www.dolphinguncompany. co.uk
Osprey Rifles
Osprey Rifles have had a display of their custom F Class rifles in the past but proprietor Stuart Anselm is also Captain of the GB F/TR Rifle Team which will contest the World Championships in America next year. Things are now getting serious training-wise and the Europeans provided an opportunity for a dry run for the GB Team so, Stuart wisely decided to scale down his usual tent display and spend his time on-range and thus restricted his display to an array of Team clothing and the superb EVO F/TR bi-pods, for which he is UK and overseas distributor. www.ospreyrifles.com If you missed out on your souvenir European 2012 clothing contact Stuart on stuart@ospreyrifles.com - you might pick up a bargain!
In addition, Dolphin were displaying their new action. Previously, Dolphin have relied on Barnard and Nesika actions but they now have their own action from the Custom Shooting Technologies stable in Kentucky USA. www.cstmtech.com This action at first glance a simple Remington clone displays several unique features, which you can read about in our January issue.
March Scopes UK
These fabulous scopes are the choice of many F Class shooters no wonder, they offer superb optics and very accurate adjustment, a great choice of reticles and, a reputation for reliability. In addition, they are much lighter than say a Nightforce so a favourite of the F/TR shooters who are always weight conscious! Of course, quality doesnt come cheap but again, choice
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HPS Target Rifles Ltd

John Carmichaels HPS company - builders of the Gemini stock systems and supplier of quality reloaded target ammunition - have long supported F Class shooting and John has usually had a display in the tent. This year however, he has recently moved into permanent premises on Bisley Ranges so he was absent but close by. We wish him well with his new venture. www.hps-tr.com
Rifle Weigh-in
This year, organiser Mik Maksimovic thought that it was high time we weighed rifles and the tent was the place where this was carried out. The Europeans has grown rapidly to become the worlds premier international F Class shooting competition and it is essential that things are done properly, particularly if we are to establish meaningful records etc. Not surpisingly, one or two rifles were over-weight but not to the extent that the limit could not be met by the removal of one or two bits and pieces like cheek-pieces and the like! Thankfully, no one was excluded from the shoot.
European F Class Championships November 2012 Next year, Im sure that all competitors will ensure that their rifles comply, in advance. The organisers are not out to exclude anyone but, particularly in F/TR, where most competitors have had to make weight-related sacrifices in the building of their rifle, it is only fair that everyone complies with the rules. If you would like a space in the tent for the 2013 Europeans, nows the time to get in touch with organizer Mik Maksimovic at mik@mikdolphin.demon.co.uk
Joe West Rifle Stocks

Joe Wests stocks are relatively new to F Class shooters but he has a good range of sound designs, which created plenty of interest amongst competitors. The stock blanks are well finished and very competitively priced and, to have a UK-based stock-maker producing this quality of product, is great news for GB and European shooters. Joe is using an extra long laminate blank to produce his stocks, rather than the standard 34 inch blank which most stock-makers use. This means that we can now have the really long stocks, favoured by many Open Class and F/TR competitors. Joe can supply un-inletted stocks or inletted for most actions and barrel sizes. His adjustable cheek-pieces are superb and you can see more on his website at www. joewestriflestocks.com
Aimfield Sports
Also present but not displaying in the tent this year were Sightron scope importers, Aimfield Sports. Proprietor John Dean was, like Stuart Anselm, competing in the Europeans and decided that it would make more sense to ply his goods out on range. This seemed to work and, in between shooting, he was doing a brisk business, selling not only Sightron scopes but also Aimfields superb drag-bags and mats. www. aimfieldsports.com
Joe West Rifle Stock
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The Open Class Competition

By Des Parr
Excitement and anticipation mounted as the European Championships approached. The match is both the culmination of the GBFCA National League and a prestigious international match in its own right.
The course of fire for the European Championships follow the same format as the World Championships - 2 sighters and 15 to count for five stages, followed by a 2 & 20 in the last 1000 yard stage. The Championships are held over three days and many competitors arrived early in the week to make use of informal practice targets a strategy that has paid dividends for some competitors in previous years.
There are of course two classes F/TR for the 8.25kg. rifles shot from a bi-pod and chambered for the 308 Win. or the 223 Remington and the Open Class with a 10kg weight limit and shot from any rest and chambered for any cartridge up to 8mm which does not exceed range safety limits. There is a two-day individual event and also a one-day team shoot for eight-man national teams.
As I compete in the Open Class, I will cover that aspect of the competition and leave the F/TR Class to Laurie Holland.
Friday, Stage 1 at 800 yards

Friday dawned cold and damp, a low pressure front had moved in and seemed set to stay. That said, the important factor to note was the light breeze - a gentle 2 MOA wind drifting straight across Bisleys famous Stickledown range.
Grant Taylor (pictured) analyses the wind for a 3rd GBFCA national league win in a row...
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A blow-off period precedes the competition and the sound of 60 Open Class shooters rattling off their shots to foul and warm barrels for the first relay would have certainly woken the neighbours! 800 yards is, for many shooters, an odd distance, we dont get anywhere near enough opportunities to shoot it, therefore theres always the danger of overestimating the corrections required. That said, it clearly did not pose any danger to three guys - who all racked up the same impressive 75.11v. They could only be split by counting back their last shots. In first place we had a relatively new face, Barry Dowsett, who last three shots were V bulls, in second was the familiar figure of Olaf Jones on two V bulls and taking third place, from the West Country was Tony Marsh with one V. The lesson here? If youre going to drop V bulls, try and do it early on in your string not at the end! It is always good to get the first stage over with, it calms nerves and enables everyone to focus on the match. It was especially good to have reasonably benign wind conditions to begin with this gave everyone confidence in their ammunition and rifles - or not - depending on if they had done their load development home-work. Open Class can be very unforgiving, theres no hiding place for those who dont put the work into their ammunition and rifles.
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By 11 oclock, the sun had thankfully woken up and provided a little warmth on our backs - not much but then it is early November. Theres a Bisley theory that as the sun rises and burns off the overnight dew, it may lead to odd elevation problems. If so, then it didnt seem to bother the GB Team Captain David Kent who scored an excellent 73.10v with his 7mm 270WSM. Only three V bulls separated him from the one-time World F Class Champion, Wolfgang Scholze from Germany, on 73.7v in second place. In third place, with a still perfectly respectable 73.5v was that man again, Olaf Jones. Olaf certainly was having a superb morning - with silver and bronze stage medals to his credit already, things looked promising.
So, that was all for the Friday mornings shooting, though of course, the F/TR guys were doing their stuff as well. There was a stampede to the caf at the clay-shooting ground, resulting in a familiar log-jam of hungry shooters. Older and wiser competitors had come equipped with their own rations.
where to look for inspiration but then again, this was his very first F Class competition his gun is often seen at 1000 yards but in benchrest competition! In second place, all the way from Ireland was Enda Walsh, also on his very first visit to Bisley, with a solid 72.3v and, just to show how difficult it was, the current World Champion Gary Costello was in 3rd place, also on 72.3v once again, placings were decided on countback. At that distance, in that wind, quite frankly anyone who managed to break 70 was doing well.

After lunch we all assembled on the 1000 yard point. As ever, matches are won and lost at this, the longest distance. The weather by now would play a much greater role - it had turned decidedly windy. No matter how bad conditions get, there always seem to be some folk who have a handle on the situation. So it seemed anyway as Phil Sammons managed to record an astounding 72.5v. Clearly, Phil seemed to know
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Fellow Scot, Grant Taylor took third spot just one point behind on 216.17v. It seemed the Celts from the northern and western fringes were setting the pace for the first day of the European Championships. There is more to shooting that just punching holes in paper, it is a social event, a gathering of like-minded folk. Theres always much to discuss whilst on the firing-point and even more in the bar afterwards. In the evenings, competitors enjoyed good food and good company in the various locations in and around Bisley camp. Saturday dawned bright, cold and dry, in complete contrast to the forecasts earlier in the week thankfully. Could the over-night leaders hold on to their positions would the challengers press home their attack and topple the front runners? All would be decided today.
So, that concluded the festivities for Friday. What a good Friday it had been! Looking at the daily aggregate, we had three shooters who had not featured in any of the stage medal placings, yet they had managed to maintain high consistent scores. In first place was Anthony Dunne from Ireland on 217.14v and just one V-bull behind was Scotsman Lee Tomlinson on 217.13v.
Saturday, Stage 4 at 800 yds.

At 800 yards the target which of course is correctly scaled for 1000 yards - should appear 25% larger but sometimes, this still does not make it any easier! The wind was decidedly stronger than previous days 800 yards and, instead of Fridays gentle introduction with a 2 MOA wind at 90 degrees, we now started out with double that. It was much more difficult to keep em in the middle. Marco Been from Holland overcame worries about his car breakdown problems and made it seem easy, with a remarkable 75.8v and Barry Dowsett seemed to be a specialist at 800 yards by taking his second medal with 75.6v, just ahead of Greg Thompson with a still-superb 74.8v. Greg was making a very welcome return to competitive shooting.
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Lee Tomlinson was crowned the European Open Class Champion
Saturday, Stage 5 at 900 yds

Falling back to 900 yards, the wind maintained the level of difficulty, only with the obvious addition of another 100 yards to compound the challenge. No matter the degree of difficulty, someone always prevails. One of our Italian friends made short work of it - Maurizio Battaglino shot a simply amazing 73.8v. For some shooters, pressure is needed to bring the best out of them and so it seemed, as Lee Tomlinson scored a superb 73.2v to take second. Another competitor from Ireland, Daniel McKenna was clearly on good form to take third with a respectable 72.5v.
Stage 6 at 1000 yards

Luck plays a significant role in shooting - the target you are squadded on, who you are squadded with and which relay youre shooting on. The computer squadding programme used at the Europeans minimises these factors by ensuring an even mixture of starting times, targets and partners. That said, there is no accounting for Mother Nature and so it proved for the last detail. Shooters on first relay after lunch really had to work hard to break 90. Later, the guys who had the good fortune to shoot in the last detail enjoyed
near mill-pond calm where a perfect 100 could have been on the cards. Such is life, we just have to accept that nature will intervene at times. Lee Tomlinson fought hard in relay 1 for a well-earned 96 points - a fine score but totally eclipsed by Valter Bonis truly outstanding 98.8v in detail 3, followed by that man again, from Italy, Maurizio Battaglino with a superb 97.10v. Another of our Continental friends, Norbert Eilmess from Germany took third place with a super 97.9v. The level of accuracy possible with F Class rifles in good wind conditions is truly phenomenal. Significantly, all three stage winners shot in relay 3. The Saturday aggregate made interesting reading, out in front by 2 clear points was the tough new campaigner from Italy, Maurizio Battaglino on 244.25v closely followed by the only member of the Border Barrels gang, Lee Tomlinson on 242.17v. Taking third place, from Ireland, was Daniel McKenna with a solid 240.10v. By 4pm when the NRA hooter signalled close of shooting, the Europeans was over for another year. It was now up to Karen Robertson in the stats caravan to tally up the scores and let us know where we stood. Credit to Karen, it did not take her long.
Lee Tomlinson was crowned the European Open Class Champion and what a worthy winner he is. Lees total tally was 459.30v out of a possible 475 points. Lee has shown great dedication in entering GBFCA League matches up and down the country, often camping out in wintry conditions to keep costs down. Not only that, he is an honourable sportsman too. Lee had the opportunity to string-shoot one of his details, when his squadded partner failed to appear. Instead of taking this chance to string-shoot, Lee asked to be squadded with another shooter, giving somebody else the benefit. Such good sportsmanship shows Lees excellent character. He is a good shooter and a good guy too. What a great ambassador for Border Barrels. In second place was Maurizio Battaglino from Italy. Clearly, we are going to have to keep an eye on this guy! As a relative newcomer to Bisley, coming second over many more experienced Bisley specialists was a remarkable achievement. Maurizios final tally was 458.38v. Taking third place was the now familiar name of Irishman Daniel McKenna with 452.26v. It looks like our friend Daniel has benefited from practice at the new Tullamore in Ireland. Clearly, he is a great asset to the Irish Team.
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THE F/TR PERSPECTIVE

By Laurie Holland
THE F/TR PERSPECTIVE

By Laurie Holland
For many F competitors The Europeans is both an end to and highlight of their competition shooting season the biggest of the seven annual GBFCA League fixtures with some 80 F/TR competitors this year, the toughest competition and the greatest number of shots down the barrel. It not only becomes bigger each year but entails a longer visit to Bisley Camp each time around. Until recently, most home competitors arrived Thursday midday or early afternoon, managed to squeeze in 10 or 20 practice round - the last few maybe fired in failing light during the short winters afternoon, the wind dying away. Then itd be straight into competition less than 24 hours later on Conversely, an increasing number of visitors arrived 24 or 48 hours earlier, got themselves fully acclimatised and in fighting form, not to mention having a day or two to suss out the wind. The result was that the natives were hammered on day one last year and only managed to catch up and ultimately see some individuals pull ahead on the second day. So this year, I and most of my fellow British F/TR competitors travelled on Wednesday, many having a full practice shoot that afternoon, and used Thursday to get fully into the groove. Mentioning sussing out the wind - it doesnt matter what the weather forecasters say beforehand, or Bisley regulars tell me about Stickledowns many and varied wind conditions - its ALWAYS westerlies when I shoot there, that is from the left. It may have a southern component (from 7 oclock) through to being a northwesterly (10 to 11 oclock) and we saw all of those this year but it nearly always blows from somewhere within that arc during my visits.
This year, like every year too it seems, we had dire tabloid newspaper warnings of Early Arctic Winter Onset, a condition that sees snow lie as far south as the Midlands, maybe even the South, with an accompanying freezing northerly airflow. Maybe itll be different this time I thought, half welcoming the prospect as I hate Bisleys westerly condition. But, come All Hallows Eve and the calendar slipping out of October into November ..... it was mild with winds from the customary direction throughout.
Panic Stations
Anyway, come Friday morning, I was as prepared for bloodless combat mentally, physically and equipment wise as Id ever be. Or, so I thought. As has no doubt already been explained, F-Class and F/TR each had one full relay of 60 shooters, the remainder providing a mixed third group. I was squadded in the F/TR-only detail and we were the last to shoot in Match 1 at 800 yards. Thursday through Saturday saw variations on a single daily weather pattern: the day starts cold, a low sun angles in from behind, the air is nearly still with light breezes from the left just getting going; the wind then rises and veers around to run from 7 to 11 oclock directions during subsequent hours steadily strengthening to peak sometime between late morning and early afternoon, while clouds appear and give varying light conditions; finally, the wind eases right back during mid afternoon often changing angle in the process, the cloud disperses to give a low sun coming in from behind and left. Being the last to shoot at 800, we got the wind up and running if still not at full strength well thats what memory says, but my wind plot disagrees. We also
The Ukraine F/TR team rifles under wraps...
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had lots of time to prepare ourselves and our kit. Id set everything out behind the car in plenty of time, checked and rechecked the scope was correctly reset to 800 yards elevation, the 9-MOA windage from Thursday afternoon practice taken off. There was a gear innovation to - a spotting scope to view the target line and try and spot wind trends. Maybe 20 minutes to go, so Captain Confident thinks hell get off his rear, set the rifle up, and attach the bi-pod. Bi-pod? nowhere to be seen! Throw everything out of the car onto the ground, still no pod. Exit Captain Confident, enter Private Panic! Id used it the previous day, so it HAD to be in the car somewhere then the horrible realisation dawned. Id returned to Canada House with a load of other residents the previous day, all looking to clean their rifles in the lodges gun
room, so had taken the bi-pod inside to clean the rifle on a table or the floor if need be. However finding a vice free, Id put the pod down in a corner and, youve guessed it, quite forgotten that when I retrieved the rifle first thing Friday. It was too late to return to the lodge and I didnt know how to access the secure room anyway, so a frantic trawl of the F/TR contingent took place to see if anybody had one spare, Dario Sanchez from Spain fortunately able to lend me a modified Mystic Precision. Saved, just in time to run back up the line and get set up still, on the plus side, I get to check the Mystic out in real life competition, a model that Editor Vince rates highly. I could claim any subsequent failings I exhibited during the match were due to this unfortunate incident but I cant say that as I made a dream start with 5 and V
sighters, converted of course, followed by another two Vs. This is too easy! thinks he and of course it was, with the first big wind pick-up of an MOA plus putting Shot 5 out at 3 oclock, not nearly enough compensation applied. Whilst memory says the wind had got up by now, the wind plot records the lowest values of the weekend peaking at a mere 4-MOA, that causing this 4. After that, the plot shows a long series of reductions on every shot through numbers 6 to 11 bottoming out at 2-MOA before regaining a minute by the last shot of this 15-round match. I lost a point mid series just leaking out at 10 oclock not getting windage off fast enough, convinced a pickup must come probably sooner rather than later. I was sure I finally saw it, a substantial pick-up at that, as I prepared to take shot 11, and applying uncustomary
boldness put an additional three-quarters left on to get a 3 at 9 oclock that looked right on the line ARRGH! the corrected wind had dropped a further quarterMOA despite what the flags said. Three or four minutes (time-wise that is) on and the conditions for shot 12 looked just as I had (wrongly) read them for 11. I was in that familiar quandary should I trust my obviously flawed judgement? ... Or, follow the wind plot that showed a now unbroken six-shot series of declining wind values? ... Or, split the difference?
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The media interview current world F/TR Champion - Russell Simmonds. TEAM GB Vice Captain.
Might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb I reckoned and stayed with the scope setting to find the wind really had picked up now to score a V. Seeing every other target close by showing a 3 or a 4 was some comfort for the previous b*llsup. A strong finish with three more Vs and that was 71.9v, a good V count but I was cross about that three and reckoned Id be lucky to be in the top 40 with four dropped points. As it turned out, there were no possibles, very different from Open with its bucket-full of them and only Italian Fabrizio Giuggia scored 74; Marco Grasso led seven shooters on 73 with eight Vs, the home teams Steve Rigby on the same score but losing out on count-back. There were only three other Brits in the top ten - Steve Donaldson, Tim Stewart, and John Cross taking 8th to 10th places, so the visitor competition factor had if anything increased further since the previous year. My nine Vs put me at the top of no fewer than thirteen on 71 for 18th match place, so the 3 hadnt been quite as big a disaster as Id feared, even though just making the wrong side of the line cost eleven places. I was in good company though in that 70-72 band, so felt slightly less unhappy.
Dispelling a Bete-Noire
Come 11 oclock and its another 2+15, now at 900 yards. The wind really has got up now and looks horribly inconstant people coming off the line dont have the appearance of those whove enjoyed themselves. I was really nervous both 900s had been disasters the previous year in what I remembered as similar winds, the Friday effort being the nadir of a poor weekend, ping-ponging from three to three.
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Set up on the point and things dont get better the borrowed Mystic pod hasnt got enough elevation even using the lower of my two rear bags. So, its jacket off, fold it up, and put it under the feet. Not a great set-up but it worked surprisingly well, only one point lost on elevation and 13 of the 16 shots taken within the V rings half-MOA height, in fact predominately running under half that. So ... that excuse wont wash shame! I try six-MOA left for the first sighter for a 2 at 3 oclock, 7 actually needed, a good call for its successor sees a 5 just out of the V at 9 oclock, converted and were in the groove, only were not as there is a big let-off next shot that I massively underestimate and its another 3 at 9 oclock apparently right on the line. Nearly three minutes
came off over shots one to three that corrected to exactly 5 MOA, then the wind climbed back up to 8 MOA over the rest of the match but unevenly in a series of jagged steps on the plot with only two pairs of shots seeing less than MOA changes and five pairs with a full MOA or more. A curates egg of a performance good in parts produced 64.3v, same as my partner Altcar 101s inimical Tony Donnachie, someone I always enjoy shooting with, giving us 24th equal match places. As noted, elevations were strikingly good, one 4 at 11 oclock the sole exception an inexplicable -MOA above the norm. This was shooting 168gn Berger Hybrids over VarGet at around 2925 fps MV.
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Talking elevations, occasional strange effects now appeared. Late in the match Tony got a low 5, barely in and a glance through the spotting scope showed all adjacent targets shots in the same place, one leaking into the 4. Aim high! says the all-knowing inner voice so I did and just scraped a 5 at 12 oclock! Whatever condition had applied was obviously transitory, but no damage was done using initiative this time anyway. John Chambers took the match on 70.3v, Ukraines Evgeniys 69.3v was good enough for second with Russell Simmonds and Target Shooters photographer and webmaster Steve Thornton shooting the sole 68s, Russell with three and Steve with two Vs. The last named trio aside, everybody else whod made the top ten in Match 1 had fallen back, Steve Rigby and Tim Stewart the least sharing 66.3v for 12th equal. But this was early days and there was still a 2+15 at 1000 yards to come, our detail on immediately after the lunchbreak when the wind would likely peak.
European F Class Championships November 2012 only earning the match medal but putting him into the overnight F/TR lead. Those whod done well in Match 1 generally now did so again with Andrew Burgess in second on 68.3v, Fabrizio Giuggia back in form for third with 67.3v leading Eduardo Fontecuberta on V-countback, Sergey Gorban, Steve Rigby and Russell Simmonds all back in the top ten too.
The overnight lead looked like this: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Steve Thornton Steve Rigby Russell Simmonds Sergey Gorban Evgeniy Scherbakov John Chambers Fabrizio Giuggia Mark Bannon Maksym Semonovykh Tim Stewart 208.11 205.12 205.10 205.9 203.10 203.8 203.7 202.14 202.5 202.5
Magpie Alley
Im squadded onto Target 42 for this last match of the day sharing it with one of the Netherlands contingent if memory serves not quite in the notorious Magpie Alley but high enough up the slope to catch the wind more than those on the lower target numbers. Perhaps because of this, my 800 and 900 yard matches good elevation consistency now abandoned me, despite having my own bi-pod back on the rifle. Six points lost here through this cause. If Id read the wind well, itd have mattered less of course, but I didnt. The wind plot looks like a drunk spider has zigzagged its way down the graph, an early massive pick-up showing it peak at 9MOA followed by a rapid descent to 6 over three shots before jumping around in MOA to 1 MOA steps between 7 and 8 values for shots 5 to 15. Passing quickly over my score which well conveniently forget, it was our man Steve Thornton shooting his 155gn Aussie Shrapnel (BJD-HBC bullets, not my name but that applied by those irreverent 101 RC Scousers) over VarGet who now shone, his 69.3v not
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As per last year, that was a very strong showing by Ukranian competitors - with three in the top ten. Also notable were Steve Thorntons lead, a highlight to consistently good 2012 GBFCA League performance. The other Steve (Rigby) having one of his best days of the season too and finally Tim Stewart, the ebullient London based South African, an enthusiastic collector of F/TR gadgets and handloading accessories, whod come from nowhere in under a year to lie 9th equal overall.
Day 2 No easier
Saturday dawned like its predecessor, maybe a bit colder first thing but again with blue skies and light winds. We were first out in Match 4 at 800 and I was squadded with likeable Ricky Carless way over on Target 48, but if you have to shoot a match in Magpie Alley, better this one at the shortest range and with the lightest winds.
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European F Class Championships November 2012 My memory is that being first out, there wasnt a lot of wind showing, just enough changes in the breeze to easily lose a point or five, but memory is a truly fallible commodity. The corrected wind plot says it started on 4-MOA left, briefly fell away to 3, quickly recovered to 4 to run between there and 5-MOA for the rest of the match, jinking around as always but nothing bigger than MOA changes between shots. Thankfully, elevation consistency improved, a point lost to a half MOA drop out of the group early on, two more lost on wind leakers one each side for 72.6v just beating my partner by a single V, despite his telling me sincerely beforehand that his barrel was quite shot-out. As with the previous days 800, I wasnt entirely delighted with my performance as I expected a large raft of 74s maybe a possible or two from the top boys but nevertheless improved to 17th match place. Up front, Steve Donaldson led six shooters on 74s sharing eight Vs with Evgeniy Scherbakov getting the gold medal on V-countback. Steve Rigby was third equal with Mykola Bozko on seven Vs and Tim Stewart moved up a place or two overall with his 74.6v, leaving Irelands Joe McLoughlin as the last competitor on 74 (four Vs). Fabrizio Giuggias 73.2v might only have scored 14th match slot, but kept his aggregate looking good especially as Russell Simmonds and Steve Thornton had shot 71 and 70 respectively. There was some movement in the top ten after this match, two of the Steves changing places - Rigby now a point ahead of Thornton as the first two, with Ukrainians Evgeniy Scherbakov and Sergey Gorban third and fourth and Russell Simmonds down a couple of places in fifth. Steve No. 3 (Donaldson) moved up three slots into the top 10 from this strong performance and Tim Stewart a couple, now 9th and 8th overall respectively. Perhaps more significantly, top aggregate scores had closed up with only three points now covering the top
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nine places and with the two hardest matches of the weekend to come, 900 on the last detail before lunch and the 2+20 1000 yarder second detail on after the break, both in that late morning/early afternoon strong wind period.
Crucial Match
Match 5 at 900 started off windier than its predecessor, 8-MOA (corrected) for my first sighter, falling off in a series of zigzags on the graph to 5 by shot 10, before slowly moving back up over the next three or so shots, with a final massive pick-up at the very end. Whilst my elevations werent quite as good as at the same distance the previous morning, I only dropped a couple of points from this cause and there would have only been a single shot outside the 5-ring if windage had been spot on throughout. Nine shots made a near horizontal line in fact. (I was delighted by this as Id had serious match-wrecking elevations on my two chassis stocked Savage 12 PTAs, one each in 223 Rem and 308 Win, until Id done simple Araldite skim-bedding jobs on them the 223 is also back to its original form potentially capable of doing well in long-range matches again.) My shoot was spoilt by a couple of poor wind calls, an early 2 caused by a 1 MOA let-off and a later 3 from the same cause. My match (and weekend) high-spot was without doubt the last shot in this match where I saw the flags pick up and how and screwed 1 MOA additional left windage on taking the setting from 6 to 7. I was sure I was about to make a complete horlicks of the shot as I squeezed the trigger, a 2 or 3 way out left bound to be the result. Sure enough, Id misread the change but through an under not overestimate, the hit in the middle of the 4-ring at 3 oclock a 2 to 2MOA pick-up! That gave me 67.2v, a score I felt had to be reasonable in the conditions with the icing on the cake being the sight of threes, twos and even ones scored on other targets for that extreme wind shift.
Whilst it gave me 7th equal match place with Andrew Burgess, 67s paled compared to the winners performance, Tim Stewart way out in front with 73.3v, a score that would have put him 2nd in Open, and that on Vs not points! Klaus Trietchen was runner-up on 69.2v with Joey Barfe and Fabrizio Giuggia on 68s in that order on Vs, Spanish competitor and accessory manufacturer Ramon Fito in 5th equal alongside Alexandr Nikolaev sharing 67.3v. Steve Thornton had a miserable match and his 59.1v dropped him 10pts down the leader board, similar things happening to Messrs Scherbakov and Gorban. Two other Steves, Rigby and Donaldson, likewise Russell Simmonds stayed in contention and the aggregate scores now saw Tim lead Steve Rigby by a single point and Fabrizio Giuggia by two. Russell Simmonds was 4th, seven points adrift and Steve Donaldson had pulled up further just trailing him for 5thoverall. Still, with the final match offering 100 points, the wind remaining hard and Russell past-master of doing brilliantly under such conditions, only a brave or foolish person would have bet on the final outcome as we broke for lunch. The two Steves (R&D) and Fabrizio were obviously on great form too. The only certain thing was that Tim would feel under considerable pressure its so easy to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in this situation, or dollop as we Diggle shooters call it!
European F Class Championships November 2012 5s and one V marked up, the other 20 odd targets showing high 4s at 6 oclock! Anyway, it was eventually our turn and I found myself squadded with another 101RC member, Billy McIntyre who was shooting well and lying somewhere around tenth overall. After the previous days 1000 yarder, my expectations werent overly high as it did not look at all easy. As before, elevations deteriorated, four points now lost from this cause, albeit four out of 100 is preferable to six out of 75. I just couldnt get to grips with the wind which started at 8-MOA and ended up barely half that falling away in a series of ragged steps and partial pick-ups, so it was a mediocre 80.3v against Billys respectable 88.6v. (The flag I should have watched was pointed out to me afterwards, useful to know as Ill surely shoot in similar 9 to 10 oclock left winds here in the future). The big question was how had Messrs Stewart, Rigby, Giuggia, Scherbakov and Simmonds done? Russell took the match on a superb 95.6v - two points ahead of Fabrizio and three ahead of Steve Donaldson. Only five competitors broke 90 but crucially one was Tim on 91.2v and that was good enough for 4th equal for the match and the European F/TR title. Evgeniy Scherbakov and the other two Steves, Thornton and Rigby found themselves in adjacent 30th to 32nd match placings on 86.4v, 86.3v and 85.2v respectively, not poor scores by any means, but not quite matching their earlier superb performances. Still, its consistency that wins League rounds and the European event. Nevertheless, Steve Rigby took a well deserved 5th overall. Mentioning consistency and League rounds, sharpeyed readers might note the absence of mentions of Adam Bagnall whod already got the 2012 GBFCA F/TR League Championship sewn up. Adam wasnt shooting badly (well maybe he was by his standards!) running
Denouements
I stayed on the range for an alfresco snack while most of my fellow F/TR competitors headed out for eating establishments. It let me watch the wind - especially during the final matchs first detail, that of the main Open contingent. The wind briefly fell off during the break but had started to pick up rapidly by the time shooting resumed. It was also clear something was affecting elevations fairly regularly during this detail as I watched the targets through a spotting scope. On one occasion, panning across, I could only see two
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European F Class Championships November 2012 11th at the half way mark but some sort of marking issues saw him well down in this final match with a clear target given. Watching the first detail shoot this match, the sharp, low winter sunlight had highlighted the poor state of the target centres, their five-rings clearly showing as badly shot up and heavily patched in the spotting scope picture not surprising given high round counts and huge numbers of fives, so Im sure there were one or two such funnies where shots likely slipped under patch edges.
him 30th equal with Joan Monells and 10th F/TR place man Billy McIntyre would have been around 60th yes, it was hard!
Sunday, the Teams Match 1000 yds

With the World Championships less than a year away, the European Championships Team matches had added interest this year, as the GB Open Captain David Kent wished to use the opportunity to trial some new caps. David had plenty to choose from - a nice situation for a Captain to be in. In any team match, it is the coaches who deserve all the glory they make all the tough wind decisions and we had two of the best. In fact, we had two of our World Championship coaches - Martin Townsend and Bill Richards. It was a tricky time to shoot as the flags were absolutely sodden following the morning monsoon. It was so easy to be caught unawares with little drifts this way and that. Some shooters were simply unlucky in missing the 5 ring by only the slightest of margins. Now, even though the heavy flags were difficult to read, it still made sense to crack on as the morning progressed, so did the wind speed. By late morning any teams still shooting had to contend with strong gusts that were actually lifting the trade tent off its anchor pins! In the end, Great Britains score of 747.52v was enough to prevail over the Irish and German teams. All credit to our superb coaches Martin and Bill, they steered us home safely again!
F/TR 1 2 3 4
Great Britain Ukraine Germany Republic of Ireland
714.36 711.29 678.19 677.26
Rutland Open 1 Ukraine 375.20 2 Europe 1 371.20 3 Dill Germany 366.19 4 65/8ths 353.10 Rutland F/TR 1 Wolf Hounds 308.05
Note: The Teams match is for eight-man national teams but teams of four may enter the Rutland Cup match. Full results for the whole of the European Championships can be accessed on the GBFCA website at www.gbfclass.co.uk The European Championships is run concurrently with the final match in the GBFCA National League Championship and, for a separate more detailed account of the whole 2012 GBFCA season, see my report in The Long View. It would be churlish though to fail to mention the 2012 League winner here. Grant Taylor had prevailed again! For an incredible third time, Grant is the GBFCA National League Champion. Another Italian shooter, Fabrizio Giuggia, also ran a close second to Tim Stewart in F/TR Class, finishing just two points adrift and just nudging World F/TR Champion Russell Simmonds into third place. Congratulations to both these gentlemen.
The final aggregate top ten scores and positions were: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Tim Stewart Fabrizio Giuggia Russell Simmonds Steve Donaldson Steve Rigby Klaus Trietchen Andrew Burgess Sergey Gorban John Chambers Billy McIntyre 439.23 437.17 436.24 431.24 430.24 428.16 426.21 426.24 426.18 424.22
Epilogue
Organising and running the biggest F-class match in the world takes a real effort not just for the week of the shoot but for virtually the whole year preceding . This year, organiser Mik Maksimovic was suffering with a back injury which prevented him shooting as he could barely walk without the aid of a stick. Soon after the Europeans were over, Mik was admitted to hospital for surgery on his back which, we are pleased to report, was successful. We wish Mik a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back on the firing-point next year. We all owe a great debt of thanks to Mik and wife Tina. So, that concluded the 2012 European Championships, it is now the biggest international F class match in the world and is certainly destined to grow bigger and better in future. If you are an F Class shooter, anywhere in the world, you are welcome to shoot with us next year.
So, great results for Tim, Fabrizio, and Russell whod all shot consistently well throughout and outstandingly in some individual matches. A great final result too for Steve Donaldson whod really pulled up the leader board on the second day. And .... commiserations to the other two Steves, Rigby and even more so Thornton. My memory is that conditions were generally difficult and even when they briefly seemed easy, a sudden MOA pick-up or let-off would come out of nowhere to bite you on the rear. Still, as noted memory or impressions are fallible, so how did F/TR compare to Open, a better indicator? With the top five F/TR shooters agging in the 430s, that was around 20 points down on their F Class Open equivalents. Tim Stewarts 439.23v would have given
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Rising Stars?
For most UK shooters, Bisley is a very familiar range and there are many Bisley specialists amongst the GBFCA competitors so, it is all the more remarkable for an overseas shooter to break into the top three in the Europeans. This year, it was Italys Maurizio Battaglino who impressed with his second place in Open Class just one point behind Lee Tomlinson and ahead on V bull count. In front of every great shooter is usually a great rifle and Maurizios rifle came from the GAC company in Italy. (Above right) Check out their website at www.armeriacamuna.it
Open 1 2 3 4
Great Britain Republic of Ireland Germany Italy
747.52 728.42 721.33 701.26
Visit the GBFCA website at www.gbfclass.co.uk for more information.

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2012 European F/TR Champion

Tim Stewart
Vince Bottomley Interviews 2012 European F/TR Champion Tim Stewart

VB Tim, many congratulations on winning the 2012
European Championship. The internet forums have been quick to flag-up the fairly tale last to first achievement is it really true you finished in last place in 2011?
European F Class Championships November 2012 1st 76th 77th Anselm Stuart GB Forgot name Stewart Tim Spain GB 452.33v 276.2v 148.8v
VB - We always like to start off with a bit of background.

I love that accent when did you leave South Africa?
TS The accent typically Saffa I guess! I left South

Africa in January 2009 and my family joined me in June 2009. I still have two business interests there but we are committed to making our futures in the UK.
TS Hi Vince. Firstly thank you on the congratulations.

I owe many people a big thank you for their contribution and support, starting with Mik and Tina Maksomivic, Peter Hobson, David Bonwick, Russell Simmonds, Ross Opperman, Tony Marsh, David Lloyd, Paul Harkins, Adam Bagnall and Robert Oxford to name a few. Of course the all-important Minister of Finance, my lovely wife Audrey and my two girls, since they tolerate a lot of reloading and firearms stuff in my house.
VB What got you into shooting Tim and when did you
get interested in F Class and the GBFCA League?
TS Briefly, I did IPSC in the late 80s and early 90s (got Regional colours and shot in the 91 World Champs) and then moved across to IDPA in about 2004. I took up hunting from about 2000 but never had chance to shoot much above 250 yards (with a 300 Win Mag that could hardly hit a dinner plate at 200 yards).
I moved to London in 2010 and per chance read about F-Class shooting in the UK and, after some enquiries and mail exchanges with Mik Maksimovic of Dolphin Gun Company, I was invited to Bisley at the end of June 2011 during Round 4 of the GB F Class League. I watched the League shoot, met numerous great shooters and decided that this looked much more fun than golf. I simply like recoil therapy more! Mik actually had my first rifle there (Stiller Predator, Bartlein, Jewel trigger, AI-AX Stock) with him and I was sold on the spot! I got the NRA membership application that very day and became a NRA probationary member soon after. Just before the Imperial I came down on practice day and watched Mik and Peter Hobson preparing and practicing. I fired five shots with Miks 7mm Open Class rig at 1000 yards my first ever shots past 500 yards got some Vs and addiction hit - wow!
...and yes, in 2011 I did come dead stone last!

It was the best thing that ever could have happened to me in my F Class endeavours. I learnt more in and from the Euro-2011 than I could have in 2 or 3 years of mediocre muddling! All excuses and reasons aside, it gave me solid reality slap and made me buckle down, plan and focus! So all I took home in 2011 was a seriously battered bruised and ego plus a slap from Mik for being stupid! Yes, he did slap me NCIS style just like Gibbs! The memories bring tears to my eyes! To the disbelievers, the score summary for 2011 is below (Only some 302 points behind the winner and 128 points behind 2nd to last place)!
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think most people under estimate the importance of the correct bullet weight/barrel-twist combination to ensure optimum and consistent accuracy.
course move as you shoot more rounds down a barrel.
Bullet Seating: I then do my final seating on the Sinclair

Arbor press and Wilson dies to seat my bullets. I confirm run out every fifth cartridge. I do not get measurable run-out using the above system.
European F Class Championships November 2012 Because of my police background and training I prefer to hang on my gun. I feel that in F/TR the shooter is more an integral part of the system and free recoil is more suited to the domain of Open Class rigs.
VB Tell us about your current rifle the one you used

to win the Europeans. Obviously its a 308 but what action, stock, scope etc are you using?
VB Although the 308 is one of the worlds most

popular cartridges, making it work at long range takes some skill. Would you care to share your reloading secrets with our readers?
TS Ask Mik and he will tell you I never listened to him

the first time round! So, in July 2012 Mik and I had several discussions and specified the rifle as follows: Dolphin aluminium F/TR/Tactical stock as foundation with the stunning Nesika Classic action. Bartlein 1:13 barrel, a standard 308 SAMMI chamber with a long throat. Kelby trigger. Scope is a Nightforce 12-42 BR with NP-2DD reticule mounted on Dolphin Scope Mounts with a 20 MOA rail. Dolphin Trakker Bipod. She is a two-toned black and silver and I need a name for her besides my Precious! I got her less than three weeks before the Euros, only had 2 practice sessions with it, so needless to say I am ecstatic how quickly the gun and load development with Mik got me up, running and competitive.
RESULT: The net effect is that I have ES (extreme

spread) of 6-9 fps over 5 shots. That is vital for long distance accuracy and consistency. Note: all things being equal, a variation of 20 fps with a 155gn bullet at 3000 fps will change impact point 0.3 to 0.4 MOA in elevation. In my mind, long-range shooting needs four major components in sync, just to be close to the top-twenty in any UK League Match - never mind winning. 1. Fundamentals and consistent Match protocol: know your elevations, wind dope and plot sheets and shooting review process. 2. Firearm System: all equipment rifle, scope, bipod, bags ship-shape. 3. Ammunition: accuracy before speed, consistency. 4. Shooter: mind set, focus, confidence. If you fail in any of the above components it will be long day on the range (and a longer night of ribbing with the unmentionables from Liverpool).
VB Wind-reading is of course the key to successful

long-range rifle shooting. There were some tricky details in the Europeans at Bisley where you pulled some big points on the competition. Any tips for the rest of us?
TS I have been reloading mostly pistols since 1988.

My first hunting rifle was a lemon deluxe and, in trying to improve its accuracy, I become a darn good reloader, at least for hunting rifles and hunting distances. After the Euro-2011 I decided that ammo consistency is the absolute key part of any successful shooters overall systems and that was my focus. I invested in the best equipment I could and I try to consistently reload to my defined load specification.
My key considerations and approaches are: Case Prep: I do full case preparation (primer pocket
uniformed, flash hole uniform, uniform case length trimming, neck turning) and general batch cases by weight. All of the above to try ensure consistent and uniform neck tensions and case volumes.
TS My primary objective going into Euro-2012 was to finish in the Top 20. Needless to say, after last year, even that could have been argued as being bold! I decided that to achieve that I had to avoid making big mistakes but tolerate and accept small ones. I also knew that in all stages I would make a mistake (or even several) on any given shot but my control process was to Identify - Correct - Relax Proceed so was to let it go and focus on the next shot.
The key for me was to not blow any stage knowing that all shooters over two days would face different challenges. The Saturday (day 2) at 800 yards where I got 74.6v, with Steve Donaldson winning with 74.8v (and only 4 Vs separated top 6 shooters) helped me catch the leaders from Day 1 (End of Day 1, I was 10th aggregate). The 900 yards gave me a quantum boost was it was arguably the toughest stage I have ever shot (I shot with Ramon Fito a great calm bloke). Simply, I just got into the zone and just syncd my wind calls to the actual changes very well. The wind was dropping and increasing (true wind ran 3.0 to 6.0 MOA) with very rapid drop-offs and gusts plus we had some very rapid directional changes between 9.00 to 11:30. As soon as I had finished I just knew that was a special stage for me, not sure who had bigger eyes me or Ramon! But how important it was in the overall
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Case Sizing: I always full length resize (Redding

Bushing Dies) and trim every second reload or after annealing. I target 0.002 in. neck tension.
VB Lets talk about bullets. Its one of the great

debates amongst F/TR shooters are you a light or heavy bullet man? What twist and length of barrel are you using?
VB Set-up is critical in F Class particularly F/TR. Tell

us about your bi-pod and back bag. Do you try and shoot free-recoil or do you prefer to hang on to the rifle?
Bullets: I point my bullets and then sort them by both

weight and bearing surface. I use the Shooting Shed reloading tools (www. http://shootingshed.co.uk) to do this.
TS Well, I won the EUROs using the Berger Hybrid 155s in the 1:13 30 inch Bartlein - so I am a touch biased! This combination produced stunning accuracy and consistent elevations in tricky winds.
All my barrels to date have been 1:13 so that has precluded me from validly experimenting with heavier bullets so I will defer comment at this stage (not saying I havent tried 185 gn but no way I will make any conclusions on that testing). I have heard/read that those experimenting with heavier bullets in 308 have had a harder time tuning and maintaining the load (specifically elevations). I
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TS I concur 100% with your statement Setup is

paramount to success and this is an area that I need to work on much more. It is way too easy to slip incrementally into bad habits or change something under match pressure. I use the small SEB back bag with 2 ears and, with the Dolphin Trakker Bipod, I have a very stable platform. I did have some new gun settling issues in the Euro-2012 that affected my focus (lesson learnt). I am tempted to get a lower back bag but my obelix chest is a limiting factor.
Powder: I use a Redding No.2 Beam Scale and the

Target Master Trickler System and I load my powder to the second decimal in grains and a Lab quality digital scale. (Tip - take care when pouring the powder from scale pan to funnel because some kernels can bounce out - easy not to spot, and yet that defeats the object of careful measurement).
Bullet - Lands: I first use the Dolphin Accuriser to

measure the specified optimum distance from the lands. This is very important in the final fine-tuning of the load and is a moving target since the lands of
European F Class Championships November 2012 match standings only struck me later, when I saw the response of my fellow shooters to the score 73.3v score. After the 900 yard stage was complete I heard I was in the lead and I suddenly realised it was my event to lose. I knew Russell Simmonds was after me and no lead is safe with him chasing you! I had great positive support from my fellow competitors and team mates. The pressure was on me and, to be honest, up until then I have never had a good 2+20 at Bisley. I had lunch with some good friends at North London and Robert Oxford gave me sage advice (he does a have a Gold Medal at the Commonwealth Championships you know) and Mik repeated it. Just continue doing what you did to get where you are and relax! Steve Thornton (a fellow team GB member) shot the 1000 yards with me and he was a star! He is so calm and quiet it really helped me relax and focus and I just tried to relax and repeat my process and method. I did mess up and lost a clear point on shot 13 but this I only realised when Steve Thornton and I did the scorecards! In the end I managed a personal best of 91.02 (true wind started at 5.3 MOA and went down to 0.7 MOA with one shot to shot change of 1.4 MOA). Russell Simmonds did a 95.6v at same time - I did tell you he is a true champion and never gives up! The last detail had a massive wind drop off about 6 or 7 shots in and suddenly Fabrizio Giuggia from Italy (a great gent - he and I went over the match and that last stage the next morning) was in the running - if he could score 95 points. He ended on 93.4v and my heart started again. Can you imagine the slap Mik would have given me I lost due the Euro-2012 by 1 point due to scorecard error!
My Biggest Change and Lesson

I think what made a big difference for me on day 2 (compared to day 1) was that I finally settled with the new firearm and I did not force my shots. I decided waited for the condition if it was required and trust my wind calls. But I will admit sometimes making the shot was filled with angst and I absolutely was dreading the targets return since the conditions were really sneaky and it played with your mind. Russell Simmonds, a true champion, gentleman, master wind reader and world class competitor that he is, helped me improve beyond words. Bang for buck the best training you can buy! I acknowledge that owe him much and I am happy to continue learning from him. You can contact him on www. precisionreloadingservices.co.uk/services.html (No dont - you will improve too much and become more competition for me).
VB Have you any concerns regarding the conditions

at Raton it will be hot and the elevation is higher than any UK range.
TS I lived on the Highveld in South Africa (6000ft) so the dry heat conditions in Raton are not that foreign to me.
I understand that Raton has devilish and rapidly changing wind conditions and with even better conflicting flag and mirage combinations (sounds like a bastard offspring of mating Bisley with Diggle maybe?) I think it will be a great challenge to compete there and, for me personally, I have to get more shooting in tricky winds conditions and reading mirage in the next 6 months. In terms of loads and external ballistics we need to be aware of ambient temperature and barrel heating in string shooting. Our American, Australian and South African cousins are all practising hard and that is great for the sport and competition. So all this is part of the fun and the steep learning curve I am on.
As for TIPS - you must be joking!

Please, I am a newbie and I will readily tell you I am still learning massive amounts (mostly by making mistakes). But what has worked for me follows:
VB Now that the Europeans are over, I guess the

World Championship in Raton USA in 2013 is the next thing on your mind. Have you always been aiming for a place on the GB Team?
1. Read the books and understand the science and

maths behind the art of wind reading. Then re-read them!
TS Yes Raton 2013 is very clearly marked on the

calendar. I did say to myself I was going to Raton, be it as part of GB Team or as an individual. Luckily for me the GB Team invited me to join the squad for a training weekend in late August 2012 and that focussed exposure to the top UK F/TR shooters improved various areas of my shooting. A place on the F/TR GB Team was a both the dream and goal but I honestly expected I would take longer to get there. I still have to get used the idea of winning Euro-2012 and making the GB team! Stuart Anselm (Team Captain) and Russell Simmonds (Vice Captain) are really working hard and I believe Team GB will reap the benefits.
2. Shoot with the best and see how they do it, ask
questions and then listen.
3. Attending the F/TR Bisley training weekends and

attend NRA wind-reading courses (Bill Richards) was a great jump start.
4. Dont just pound out shots Assess Shoot Plot

Review ..repeat! As Mik will tell you, trigger-time is best way to learn.
VB Obviously, in the run-up to the Worlds you will

be getting in as much practice as possible with the 308 but what about afterwards? Any plans to go into Open Class for 2014?
5. Try to do some wind reading off the gun by lying

down next to another shooter and try to make windcalls for them. Call it an objective test since it really focusses your mind on the wind calibrations.
VB Are you having a new rifle built for the Worlds?

Will it be to exactly the same spec as your existing rifle or do you have a few improvements in mind?
TS What, you crazy? My Minister of Finance will have

me mounted on a wall! I am currently enjoying the challenge of F/TR, to shoot the best possible score in a wind with the 308, trying to stay close to the scores of the Open Class calibres. I do believe in five years I may look at Open Class but for now, I am badged F/TR, since it is the best place for me to learn and develop as a long-distance shooter.
6. Take the precision reloading and wind-reading

course with Russell Simmonds! Two months before the Euro-2012 I spent a full day at Bisley at 600 and 1000 yards with Russell Simmonds on the 1-on-2 Wind reading Course he offers. It was here I had an epiphany whilst having a true master wind reader guide instructing me. Russell saw that I was making a small but very important mistake in my wind plotting-decision process that was resulting in confusion in my mind and result. This one thing helped me clarify and improve my process, never mind the other nuggets of gold and wisdom.
TS The rifle I used in Euros is going into a big safe (well at least the barrel is). I am going to ask Mik to install a GPS tracking bug in it to be extra sure where it is at all times! Big Rich and Ross are already the designated bodyguards for my My Precious.
Honestly I dont see how I could get a better and more accurate firearm system! Now I will have to beg the Minister of Finance for more money so I can get a near replica made to practice till Raton and then that will become a backup.
VB - Like most of the serious GBFCA League shooters,

you have done your share of travelling this year to shoot F Class but what is your favourite UK range?
TS Well to be honest Diggle just floored me! Well at

least the number 6 target frame did knock me out cold in August!
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European F Class Championships November 2012 I have to date only shot on 4 UK ranges. I would be very hard pressed to choose between Diggle and Bisley! Bisley is the Grand Dame, timeless classic but with a surprising not so polite twist and taunt. Diggle is the Weird Drunken Auntie, quirky and full of character, giving with you sweets with one hand and suddenly slapping hard with the other. As for Blair Atholl, she is the sleeping Scottish beauty that turns into a screaming banshee for no rhyme and reason!
I occasionally drop the fixed bi-pod and revert to folder and shoulder, just to remind my sprocket of the basics. I loaned my back-up gun to a very experienced TR shoot at the Euro and the setup of fancy F/TR rigs took him a while to master.
VB - Tim, many thanks for sharing your thoughts with

us. Im sure your detailed reloading information will be greatly received by budding F/TR shooters everywhere. We wish you a successful 2013 season and hope to see you with a medal round your neck after the Worlds.
TS - Vince, thank you for a great magazine and one last

thing - I just want to thank the whole GB team (F/TR and Open) and all the F Class competitors from Holland, Germany , France, Spain, Ireland, Italy and the Ukraine (and many more) who have supported me. It made my surprise win so much fun and memorable. The F Class community is truly an extended group of kindred spirits and I have made some truly great friends within in it.
VB Finally, is there anything you would like to see

changed in the F Class/FTR rules weight, bi-pod etc.?
TS This is a tough one. I think F Class is an amazing shooting sport and the growth supports that. In particular F/TR has given the old dame 308 cartridge a massive boost and facelift. We are now shooting a larger variety of bullets, at such speeds and so accurately even at 1000 yards that the expectations of the calibre and what we can do with it has jumped upwards dramatically.
So, if F/TR is to make a fundamental change (for example limiting bullet weights to say a max of 175 grains - just an example), we must realize that we may hamper some of the spirit that drives the valid improvements and maintains the challenge of our sport. Any change must be discussed and accepted well ahead of any world champs (say two years). I do believe there is a merit in a Back to Basics F/TR Class, limited in some key ways (e.g. weight, barrellength, scope-magnification) to allow and ensure that the bloke with a 24/26 inch more bog standard/ basic rifle can still pitch up with a sock bag and shoot competitively. This could be a great entry level class for our sport so we can continue to bring in fresh members (well new to our sport anyway we are mostly older blokes). I believe this is the perfect class to bring in mentored youngsters and introduce them to this awesome and challenging shooting sport. It allows us to loan a simpler basic gun to a shooter and they can compete.
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To all those that helped me on my journey I say Thank you and I look forward to 2013 and Raton! Keep safe.
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advertisement for Border Barrels. He is also a fine example of good sportsmanship see the Europeans article elsewhere for details of that. In previous years, the F/TR League has boiled down to a popular double act - the Russell and Adam show. Those two stalwarts of the League are now part of a trio - Paul Crosbie joined them this year and started taking a good share of the silverware back to Scotland. Since Tim Stewart won the Europeans, that select group may soon become a quartet. Adam Bagnall at last had his day, in winning the 2012 National League - for so long he has lived in the shadow of Russell Simmonds, now it is time for his star to shine brightly. The National League Championship is the toughest title to win. Well done Adam, your perseverance has been rewarded. Our F/TR guys have been doing a lot of experimentation with the 308Win. this year. The great debate has raged over whether slow and heavy bullets beat fast and light. Prudent shooters will say it depends for it seems that at 1000 yards, conditions favour the slow and heavy option. Match Rifle shooters have always been held up as an example of shooters preferring heavy bullets over light ones. Their results seem to indicate the superiority of such big projectiles. Take note though, that the Match Riflemen shoot on a much bigger, more forgiving target. Small variations in elevation may go undetected on that big bin lid target but will be exposed on the much tighter F Class face. A few years ago, anyone shooting F/TR would have used a simple Harris bipod, now you can hardly find one on the line everyone uses big, wide, rigid aluminium and carbon fibre structures - Tony Donnachies looks like part of the Forth Rail bridge! Still, these wide, stable platforms clearly work, as the results show some superb shooting. Long may F/TR continue to innovate and progress. It is great to see how standards have risen, there is simply nothing like competition to force up standards of performance. It is particularly good to see talented new faces appearing in the League. They provide a
The long View

News from the GB F-Class Association by Des Parr
The Long View by Des Parr
Its been another great season for the GBFCA League, with shooters vying for positions on the two GB Teams that will contest the World Championships next year in Raton, USA. Des Parr tells us who did what in 2012.
The 2012 GBFCA National League is over and what a year it has been; for the most part cold, wet & windy - very windy in fact. It all adds up to the make the League the most difficult test in F Class. To win, the shooter has to master three different ranges, in all weathers and at distances from 500 to 1200 yards. It is a challenge that attracts the brightest and best F Class shooters from Great Britain and Europe.
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It is always tough at the top and the 2012 season was no different. The main contenders in both classes were vying for position right up the last match just as it should be. Grant Taylor and Lee Tomlinson were pretty much neck-and-neck up until the Europeans and, in the end, it was Grant who prevailed, winning National League for an incredible third time. Lee was not left out, he took the other big prize - winning the European Championships at the biggest F Class competition in the World. It seemed right and fitting that our two biggest stars should share the glory in this way it kept everybody happy! Grant is clearly a remarkably talented and consistent shooter. It was a close thing though, he might not have made it to Bisley - thanks to a helicopter ditching in the North Sea, Grant only got back onshore with limited time to load his ammunition and get down to Bisley. Grant does all his own rifle work, so he can be doubly proud of his achievements. If there were points for dedication, then Lee would certainly have a few camping out in October in the Highlands of Scotland, it makes you shiver just thinking about it. Lee also does his own gunwork and is a great
Adam Bagnall winner of F/TR GBFCA 2012 league
fresh challenge to established shooters and are an inspiration to new recruits. The GBFCA National League goes from strength to strength as numbers attending matches keep on rising.
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European F Class Championships November 2012 interest in short-range F-class shooting. It is an aspect of F Class that we should perhaps investigate further in future to see how we can cater to any unsatisfied demand. Short-range shooting provides an ideal way into F Class competition shooting for those with no prior experience. The three matches at Diggle are always good fun, regardless of what the weather throws at us and this year was even better due to having a tea stall in the butts what an excellent innovation! I am thankful for the squad of hard-working members we have there - Les as the main organiser, Vince and Jeanette
Anyone who leaves their entry too late risks being left without a shoot high-profile shooters dont get any special treatment. It is good to see the 1200 yard Long Range Challenge really taking off in popularity. It was slow to start but now really seems to have caught the imagination of F Class Open shooters in particular, where they can see what the big guns are really capable of. That said, I recognise that this match presents an especially difficult challenge for the F/TR shooter. The Short Range League match was particularly popular, appealing to a wider section of the Association membership, which is perhaps indicative of more
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Grant Taylor - 3 times winner of GBFCA F Class Open league.
Grant Taylor - 3 times winner of GBFCA F Class Open league.
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as Range Officers on the firing-points and Ian Dixon for making the target frames. Thanks to continued range improvements, it is now possible to drive to the foot of the 1000 yard firing point, which helps tremendously with the logistics of getting heavy equipment to and from the car park. Throughout the year, there have been calls for the rules regarding rifle weight to be more strictly enforced and, to this end, the Association has obtained calibrated scales which were used for the first time at the Europeans. It was notable that some shooters fell foul of the weight limit. For 2013, I hope to see the scales in use much more often you have been warned. Trials and tribulations of the year included the stringshooting escapade. What seemed like a good idea at the time was never repeated enough said! Other highs and lows? Id say that included the partial failure of the electronics at Blair Atholl in May, followed by a perfect match in October in absolutely glorious sunshine. The highlight of the year must surely be the European Championships (covered in detail elsewhere). The Europeans are the crowning glory of the National League and is the biggest international F Class match in the World - how can anyone top that? All credit to Mik and wife Tina and Dolphin Gun Company for their hard work where would we be without such good folk who put so much effort into the Association? www. dolphinguncompany.co.uk I am most grateful for the support of our trade sponsors. Thanks to John Dean of AIM Fieldsports for very kindly donating his superb gun bags and mats to the National League winners. John is a popular character and has a well-earned reputation for being an excellent person to deal with and many League shooters use his Sightron scopes. www.aimfieldsports. com
Stuart Anselm of Osprey Rifles and partner Yvonne continue to expand the range of GB F Class Association kit. I am grateful to them for taking the initiative with this; it all helps to raise the profile of the Association. I understand they sold out of beanie hats at the Europeans - understandable in the cold windy conditions but there are still a few fleece jackets left if anyone wants one at a bargain price. www.ospreyrifles. com Brian Fox of Fox Firearms has thankfully recovered from a health scare and seems like hes fighting fit again. Brian is a generous supporter in kind to the Association. I am very grateful for all the help he has given us. www.foxfirearmsuk.com Thanks to all the traders who have supported the League, we are grateful to them for their continued goodwill, please bear them in mind when stocking up on supplies.
2012 European F Open Champion

lee tomlinson
So thats it for another season, it has been the best yet. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to share the company of so many good people on and off the ranges. Best wishes to everyone for Christmas and I look forward to seeing you all again next season.
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BSS_FULL_PAGE_AD_2012_RIFLE.indd 2 23/10/12 11:24:15
22 Rimfire
By Carl Boswell
22 Rimfire
By Carl Boswell
22 Rimfire Benchrest by Carl Boswell

Note wind-flags pointing in opposite directions...
A short one this month, in the form of a match report one of the last for the 2012 season, as nights are closing in and weather conditions become more difficult. Whilst we may not be competitive in difficult conditions if we are shooting in postals, its good training as it brings up a variety of new or different conditions to work with. Each target can be a new learning experience, if we let it!
The match was held at Novio Magnum Pistol Club and this is the second rimfire benchrest match arranged at the Club this year, much to the credit of the Club committee, who built more benches in July. There is an ever growing interest for rimfire and air rifle matches, so I can foresee a number of them being arranged in the new year. Lets hope so. A shooting calendar of open matches is being developed for next year, which is good news. This will provide shooters with a range of opportunities to compete shoulder to shoulder and share their experiences. Matches held this year have gone a long way to increasing interest and experience of shooters in rimfire and air rifle benchrest, so good news all round. With the type of weather we have in the UK at this time of the year, with snow coming in from the north on the day in question - and in France, as I discovered later that day when driving through it in Europe - it was going to be an interesting day.
Wild and woolly is one way of describing it, extremely tricky is another, with winds topping 30 miles per hour coupled with the cold conditions, we were lucky in that at least the sun did stay with us for most of the day. Its was not going to be an easy shoot but, this is the nature of the game. Some call it fun, others insanity! The first relay set the tone for the day. Certainly the scores are low for a match of this type but, the conditions did not do anyone any favours. Keeping the barrel consistently warm kept shooters on their toes. As the wind varied greatly in direction and speed within seconds, quite a few rounds of ammunition were used by most shooters to sight-in and keep the barrel warm. I have shot at Novio ranges for about nineteen years and the 50 metre range provides different experiences every time I shoot there, which is good for training. I have to say and club members would agree, the wind during the match was some of the trickiest I have ever experienced there. Although we have to accept the conditions we get, the aim is to be as accurate as possible. Certainly colder conditions do not do much for consistency and this was the case. Not the best scores ever but it was a great match because it was fun - even if we did have to keep the generator running for most of the day to keep warm in the log cabin.
Junior medals: Bronze Josh Kingaby, Gold Thea Bradley, Silver Achille Boswell
3rd 4th 5th 6th Alan Grayson Scott Grayson Chris Risebrook Gary Kingaby 710 710 702 700 18x 16x 11x 16x The new season starts again in the New Year, around the end of January and open matches will be advertised in the near future. The Brass Monkey Match in March will be one of the biggest open matches and is run by Portishead club near Bristol and is always a lot of fun.
Having three junior competitors at the match was also really nice, as we could put up medals for these youngsters. Junior competition is still an area that we need to exploit in this country, as is the case around the world. We need more people below the age of eighteen to compete both nationally and internationally. An idea possibly for other readers to consider. The aim of course is accuracy and shooters performed in the conditions they got during this match. That is the most important thing - they performed and shot well on that range, in those conditions, on that day. My thanks to them for making it fun and all of the range staff who gave up their time for this event. Without the range officers, scorers and range staff, matches like these cannot take place.
Bronze Alan Grayson, Silver Colin Renwick, Gold Carl Boswell
Winners:
Results:
1st 2nd Carl Boswell Colin Renwick 721 23x 711 18x
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Handloading Bench the 7.62 x 54R

by Laurie Holland

by Laurie Holland
Handloading Bench The 7.62 x 54R Part 2

Cases are available from Lapua, Prvi-Partizan (PPU) and through firing factory ammo, both PPU and Sellier & Bellot.
HANDLOADING BENCH - the 7.62x54R (Part 2) by Laurie Holland

Moving onto tools and components, I bought a set of run of the mill Lee dies from Hannams Reloading alongside the Lapua cases Ive used throughout. To my slight surprise, Hannams had a set - or six already in stock. Henry Krank, the other UK Lee distributor will keep plenty of sets handy too Id imagine, as they sell a fair few Mosin-Nagant rifles and also have Prvi-Partizan (PPU) ammunition, bullets and brass in the calibre.
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by Laurie Holland
Lee die set, the cheapest on the market, but well made nevertheless.
The American tool manufacturers nearly all list die sets for the cartridge, an inclusion that might seem surprising but there are historical factors in play. Apart from the rifles and carbines current popularity in the USA as cheap surplus arms, American shooters had a relationship, I wont call it love affair, with the original obr. 1891 rifle long before most people had even heard of it or its cartridge in this country. That was thanks to the Imperial Russian government placing an order for 1,500,000 rifles and 100 million ball cartridges with two US firms, Remington Arms and Westinghouse New England in WW1. By the time the various 1917 revolutions came around, the companies were turning out rifles by the score - thousands per week, but then it all fell apart, especially once Lenins Bolsheviks seized power and sued for a humiliating peace with Germany. To cut a long story short, the Russians reneged on the contracts leaving the American companies in a deep hole holding a huge and growing stock of rifles that hadnt been paid for and facing bankruptcy. The USA had now entered the war and was in the process of turning a peacetime army of 150,000 into one of millions with Springfield and Rock Island arsenals overwhelmed by the consequent demand for rifles. With Uncle Sam forced to turn to private arms-makers, there was simply no question of letting Remington and Westinghouse fail, so the US government became the unwilling purchaser of hundreds of thousands of Mosin-Nagants and millions of rounds of ammunition. The US Armys opinion of these rifles was so low that there are only a handful of recorded instances of them being issued even for training or to reserve forces. (When Britain had been in an identical pickle three years earlier because of a chronic shortage of SMLEs, she swallowed her pride and bought 6.5mm Arisakas and ammunition from Imperial Japan to let recruits handle real rifles and get some live firing in.) Many of these Mosin-Nagants were sold to American citizens via the NRA during the 1920s and 30s, the proud owners paying $3 - a tenth of their original cost. Most were crudely converted into sporting rifles during the depression era by people desperate to feed themselves and their families. The results could

by Laurie Holland
hardly be described as works of art but, being tough brutes, I imagine most were still in use until well after WW2 when handloading took off and before they were replaced by superior Winchester 70s and Remington 700s. Hence loading data still being provided in many American reloading manuals even if they only list IMR powders and havent been updated in decades, likewise dies listed by Lee, RCBS, Lyman, Forster, Hornady and Redding all with full-length sizers, although I note that RCBS seems to make a neck-die too.
Metal Bits
Cases are readily obtained too, Lapua from Hannams and PPU from Henry Krank as previously mentioned. Incidentally, the former is packaged as 7.62X53R which is the Finnish version of the cartridge but, theres no change in case dimensions, so dont let that worry you. York Guns Limited has just started importing and distributing some of the large Czech. Sellier & Bellot ammunition and components ranges and, whilst that doesnt include this particular case, it does include reasonably priced 180gn FMJ ammunition using Boxer primed cases, so theres another source. That leaves bullets and, as I touched on in the last issue, Russian/Soviet manufactured rifles have barrels which are around two thou oversize internally compared to a true thirty, giving them a nominal 0.310 inch groove diameter, not far removed from 7.65mm/303 dimensions (0.303 inch bore/0.311 inch groove diameters). Unless you are very lucky in obtaining a relatively tightbore rifle, the 0.308 inch bullets that are used in most loading manuals data will most likely group poorly. Shooters who are into Nagants often slug their barrels, (pushing a slightly oversize oiled lead slug down the barrel and measuring the barrel groove diameter on what comes out at the muzzle) and, as is usually found
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by Laurie Holland
312 inches, identical to what a 303 calibre rifle should have. Whilst I didnt measure the barrel on my rifle, pushing a 30-cal cleaning jag and cotton patch down it needs as much effort as my 308 Win rifles. Thats inaccurate and subjective, but you can sometimes feel a difference between tight and loose barrels. On this basis, I considered it worthwhile trying a couple of undersize bullets to see how they worked out that was the 0.3083 inch 180gn Sierra MatchKing and some ancient and slightly larger (0.3090 inch) 185gn Lapua D46 step-boat-tail models, the Finnish company producing these bullets in a range of diameters in 0.001 inch steps many, many years ago. So what bullets should we look to buy for these rifles? Its a little confusing as some suitable products are listed alongside true 308s by their manufacturers, whilst others fall within the 0.303 inch calibre bracket. Lapua makes a light (123gn) 0.310 in. dia. FMJ directed mainly at 7.62X39mm users, but it works fine in its larger and older sibling. Hornady offers a 0.3105 in. dia. 174gn FMJBT, and Sierra has one or two 0.311 in. dia. bullets in its range including the excellent 174gn HPBT MatchKing. PPU (Prvi Partizan) also lists 303-cal bullets and their FMJ-BTs in 170, 174, and 190gn weights, available from Henry Krank in West Yorkshire, are fantastic value at 17.26 per 100. However, although listed as 303 cal, theyve been on the skinny side when Ive measured them. (Ive not bought any recently though, so current examples may be full diameter.) Ive got a stash of Portuguese (FNM) 186gn 303 calibre FMJs and some Greek (HXP) 174gn British Mk7 copies available too, but only tried the FNMs in a single load combination as I dont think either model is available anymore. While 0.310-312 in. diameter bullets, the higher end of this range being true 303s, are generally better suited to Russian made Nagants, they will likely produce slightly higher pressures than the loads in US manufacturers data. I wouldnt get unduly exercised by that as most such loads are on the conservative side. (A lot of the older American data uses loads worked up in examples of the old US manufactured contract rifles anyway.
Redding T7 press with decapper, Lee FL sizer, Lyman M expander and Lee seater dies installed.

by Laurie Holland
Its said these were the most closely toleranced Mosin-Nagants made outside of Finland, as Russian government inspectors were so thick on the ground in the Remington and Westinghouse factories and so finicky about standards that only perfect examples were passed fit for delivery to Russia. So, their barrels were probably made close to the nominal dimensions and would therefore handle 0.308 bullets adequately.) Incidentally, if youre lucky enough to find a pre-war Finnish (SAKO or VKT built) rifle, they use 0.300/0.308 in. dimensioned barrels and appropriate size bullets as well as having a different chamber throat / leade setup, so do perform well with 0.308 bullets as described in the Vihtavuori reloading manual. In this case, 0.308 in. dia. models should be used as 0.303 class bullets are oversized. Yes I know confusing!
The Lee expander ball is dimensioned for 0.308 bullets.
Straightforward?
My initial thoughts on describing the handloading processes for this cartridge were that its a straightforward proposition. For a start, its being 30 (ish) calibre and falling between 308 Win and 30-06 case capacities, pretty well guarantees considerable flexibility and tolerance as well as having a surfeit of suitable powders available. Recommended types range from Viht N130/N133 at the fast end, best suited to 123-150gn bullets, to IMR and Hodgdon 4350 at the slow end for 174200 grainers, or even Viht N160 if you fancy loading 220s. With Vihtavuori quoting its most accurate combinations more often than not with N140, one with N150, that means the 4895s, IMR 4064 and 4320, Accurate 4064/Lovex SO62, Hodgdon VarGet, Alliant Reloder 15 and many other powders in that burning rate bracket will almost certainly perform well too with 150-190gn bullets.
Lyman M expander die and its 31R size mandrel is designed for .303 calibre (0.311-312) bullets.
with older mass-produced military rifles, get a range of diameters. Some barrels run as large as 0.314-0.315 inches and will never be comfortable with 0.308 inch bullets, whilst those with dimensions on or close to 0.310 inch should perform reasonably well. Most apparently run at 0.311-
Cases are available from Lapua, Prvi-Partizan (PPU) and through firing factory ammo, both PPU and Sellier & Bellot.
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by Laurie Holland
However... having started on a premise that

handloading this 7.62mm is straightforward, a number of exceptions came to mind. So many in fact, it started to remind me of the famous What have the Romans ever done for us? discussion in the Monty Python Life of Brian movie. The first is the already discussed bullet diameter issue. But it doesnt stop at procuring the beasts, as it also affects our sizer die insofar as different diameter expander balls are ideally used for 0.308 in. and 0.311312 in. diameter bullets. Some makes of 7.62X39mm die include two versions to cater for cartridges to be used in a Ruger Mini-30 (0.308 in. groove barrel and bullets) or in SKS/AK rifles (0.310 in.). The Lee 7.62X54R dies expander measures 0.307 in. and is therefore intended for 0.308 in. bullets. You can use it with 303 cal bullets but, they will be a very tight fit in the neck with excessive case-neck tension in my view. I got around that by taking the decap/expander stem out of the die, decapping and expanding the brass as separate operations, the latter using a .31R Lyman M mandrel type expander. That worked fine until I came to load the Sierra 180s when I forgot to reinstate the sizer dies original expander, or use a .30 mandrel and the result was inadequate bullet tension, it being possible to move the bullet in the neck using finger pressure. Then there is that unusually large diameter bevelled rim, so large it has a unique shellholder, or two versions of same if you also use a Lee Precision hand priming tool. As far as I can see, no other cartridge uses the Lee #16, Hornady #23, RCBS #13 and so on. So, itll almost certainly be a waste of time raking around in your loading bits box hoping to find a suitably dimensioned alternative shellholder if you find youve mislaid the item.
Headspace
There is another issue related to the rimmed setup case to chamber fit and adjusting the die in the press. What do I mean by that? Rimless cartridges headspace on the shoulder, or to put it into plain English, they must be a close fit lengthwise between the bolt-face and shoulder section of the chamber just enough clearance for the cartridge to be chambered easily. In precision ammunition, were looking for a mere 0.001in. to 0.002in. clearance. Rimmed (and belted) ammunition is different. Headspace is determined by the fit of the rim (or belt) between the bolt-face and the front end of the rim/belt recess machined into the rear of the barrel/chamber. As the cartridge is securely located at its back end, this set-up allows the manufacturer to chamber the barrel with deliberately oversize dimensions up front where the top of the case-body and shoulder section lie giving a loose cartridge fit in this area. This offers advantages to military users and dangerous game hunters, principally 100% reliable chambering and ignition even when the barrel and its chamber are filthy, glowing red-hot from continuous firing, and/or the ammunition is dented, dirty, or out of specification wartime manufactured stuff, and so on. Where clearances exist, the case simply fire-forms up to the chamber dimensions. This might be great for soldiers and lion hunters but doesnt do much for the target shooting handloader resize that blown out case back down to something close to its original dimensions and a massive amount of brass-working takes place on each firing/re-sizing cycle, doing nothing good to case life, or probably accuracy. One answer is neck-sizing but thats not necessary if you set your FL die up properly. As with rimless designs, it comes back to measuring and comparing fireformed against sized/unfired cases straight out of the die and adjusting the sizer-die in the press to avoid pushing the shoulder back more than a few thou. Unlike most of the 303 Enfields Ive owned over the years, visual inspection of the cases and the amount of effort needed on my Redding T7 press-

by Laurie Holland
handle to full-length size them fooled me into thinking my M1891/30 was fairly tightly chambered. Nevertheless, in the interests of doing things properly in researching this feature, I thought Id measure the before and after case-head to shoulder dimensions using a Hornady L-N-L comparator and headspace gauge insert. The results surprised me fired cases measured 1.659in. 1.660in., whilst after full-length sizing with the die set to the default position (base in hard contact with the shellholder at full press operation) the reading changed to 1.622in., - 38 thou of shoulder set-back, far too much. The answer is to back the die out and reset it using the headspace gauge (not an accurate term, but we dont seem to have a better one) so that sizing only moves the shoulder a little, 0.003-0.005in. Its also a good idea to try a few sized cases in the rifle chamber to ensure they still chamber freely before undertaking the final loading steps. Another tip here is to de-cap the fired case before measuring it as any primer protrusion will give a false reading.
Bullets: 123gn Lapua, 174gn Sierra MK HPBT, 174gn Hornady FMJBT, and 186gn FNM FMJ.
Fairy Rings?
Ive included a picture of case-necks from brass fired in an Izmash Tigr-04 straight-pull (Dragunov type) rifle I reviewed some years back and youll see they have a strange ring at the base of the neck. Wow! What sort of chamber reamer do these Russians use? was my first thought on seeing these cases. Ive since read that it is a requirement in Putins Russia for any civilian firearm chambered for a military cartridge and allows the police to see at a glance if spent brass at the scene of a crime came from military issue or commercial weapons. I dont know if this is true and moreover doubt whether theres any benefit to Russian law enforcers from such a regulation but it does suggest strongly theres a significant problem with lost military weapons in post-USSR Russia!
Old 0.3090 diameter Lapua D46 FMJBTs were tried.
Russian and Scandinavian manufacturing practices often produce deep conical shape depressions in the rear of the bullet core.
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by Laurie Holland
In any event, the ringed chamber didnt cause any problems and sizing ironed the rings out but I suspect that the case might fail prematurely at that point after a number of firing/sizing cycles. Also out of interest, I ran a box of newly loaded cartridges using several times reloaded Lapua brass over my concentricity gauge to see what sort of readings I got with ammo loaded in the budget Lee dies and using Hornady 174gn FMJs. Readings ranged from 0.001 to 0.012in. run-out; the mean for 53 cartridges was 0.006in. with a standard deviation of 0.0029in. This would be regarded as a poor result when loading long-range match or other precision ammunition but is good for this sort of application I once measured fifty 303 handloads which averaged ~20 thou run-out in a range of nil to 40! It says a lot for the Lapua brass quality considering theyd been fired several times in an ancient military rifle whose chamber will in no way be of comparable quality and concentricity to that in a good modern sporting rifle, never mind a custom-built precision rifle. So that just leaves the choice of primers, propellants and charge weight ranges plus results on the paper which Ill cover next month to finish this report off. As already noted were spoilt for choice with this cartridges capacity and calibre combination making it well suited to a large number of powders I reckon I could have tried more than 20 varieties, but that would have been silly as well as taking forever, so it was a case of sticking to a few obvious candidates plus some others that I particularly wanted to try out.
Measuring case-head to shoulder length with a Hornady L-N-L comparator and headspace gauge.
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Fired cases from a modern Russian Izmash Tigr straight-pull rifle.
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Hawkeye Borescope Review
The Hawkeye Borescope from Gradient Lens Corporation
The Hawkeye Borescope from Gradient Lens Corporation

A borescope is an optical device that is used to see inside things that would otherwise be inaccessible for viewing. Borescopes were first developed to look inside of cannons. Another version, known as an endoscope, was designed for the medical profession. Refined many times over the years, endoscopes have resulted in the wonders of minimally invasive surgery.
Since then, the Hawkeye Borescope has become the standard among gunsmiths, benchrest shooters, firearms manufacturers and forensic scientists. Because of its image quality and low cost, the Hawkeye has become the standard in aerospace, automotive, medical manufacturing and metal working industries as well. Forensic Scientists (the real CSI guys,) use the Hawkeye to determine barrel-twist and land count, to examine sound suppressors and to preserve valuable DNA evidence that can link a firearm to a crime. Manufacturers depend upon the Hawkeye in Research & Development, when they need to inspect the quality of incoming barrels and in quality assurance on the shop floor. How many of you own a borescope? Maybe one percent? Yet, if we put things into perspective, a borescope costs about the same as a new barrel (fitted) and probably a whole lot less than your riflescope. I bought mine about ten years ago and honestly, I couldnt manage without it. If you are a serious competition shooter, trust me you need a borescope. Lets have a look at why.
Borescopes have benefited from the technology developed for endoscopes. Industries such as aviation paid premium prices for medical endoscopes because lives were at stake. The Hawkeye Borescope was designed by Gradient Lens Corporation and introduced at the USA Shot Show in 1996. Designed for gunsmiths, it was a sell-out because it produced sharp images at a
Barrel cleaning
That green eye-piece denotes the special shooters edition

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sixty-five percent saving!
We all know that fouling is the thief of accuracy as benchresters are fond of saying but, its true a dirty barrel or a coppered-up barrel will not give its best. But how do you know if your barrel is clean and free of copper? You dont unless you have a borescope! Yes, Ive cleaned barrels until the blue stops coming out but, the borescope doesnt lie there could still be copper in there.
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Running-in

Of course, we are just talking about barrels. Ive used my borescope for a few other things like inspecting the inside of the bolt body for debris (after blown primers), looking inside cartridge cases (for head separation) its even useful for a critical inspection of the most important bit of your barrel the crown. And of course, once you have the ability to look inside previously inaccessible things, lots of other non-shooting related possibilities emerge. As we said at the beginning of this article the borescope wasnt invented for shooters! Ive had my borescope a good few years but I only met the borescope man Ken Harrington of Gradient Lens Corporation about five years ago at IWA, the German based European shooting exhibition. Since then, weve kept in touch and we met up again at the 2011 World Benchrest Championships in Volmerange, France where Ken was busily borescoping competitiors barrels. At a benchrest match, competitors are a lot more aware of the importance of a perfect barrel.
Its not unusual to see barrels like this the shooter is always amazed to see that copper!
Barrel wear
How do you know when your barrel is shot out or more importantly, when its peaked given its best and is on the downhill slide. This can be particularly important if you are about to enter a major championship, which will significantly increase the roundcount. If your barrel is on the limit you could find your shoot is ruined not good if youve travelled abroad to a major competition and spent a considerable amount of money now, a borescope seems cheap right? One of my 308 F/TR barrels was only about a 1000 rounds old but it was refusing to print the tiny groups it had when just run-in. A 1000 rounds for a 308 - thats nothing it couldnt be shot out - could it? I was using a double-base powder and pushing 155 grain bullets well over 3000 fps as many F/TR shooters do. Initially I never even thought of borescoping it at such a low round-count, preferring to try different loads, new brass you know the routine. But, after several fruitless testing sessions, I resorted to the borescope. I just couldnt believe the state of that barrel for the first couple of inches forward of the chamber! It was destined for the scrap bin. Without a borescope, I could have gone on playing with that barrel wasting ammunition, competition entry fees etc. etc.
As well as copper-fouling and erosion, you can also use the borescope to search for tool marks, defects in chambers and rifling. We all know whats involved in running-in a barrel dont we? Or do we? How many rounds does it take to run in a barrel? Why is this important? Well, under benchrest conditions, something like the 7mmWSM will have an effective (accurate) life of maybe 450 rounds. Forty-five rounds represents 10% of the barrels life. Does it take 40 or 80 - or even more - to run in the barrel? And, at this critical time, are you getting all the copper out?
Nice bit of copper in there but look at those marks probably left over from the deephole drilling of the bore. We like to think a new barrel wont have those marks... If your new match barrel looked like this would you be happy?
You trust your gunsmith right? He cant possibly be responsible for your struggle in getting that new barrel to shoot as good as the old one can he? If you cant see his work, how do you know? Is that chamber properly finished? Is that leade even? The rifling perfect? The Hawkeye offers two viewing angles - the zero degree direction-of-view provides an impressive view of twist and the ninety degree direction-of-view allows the viewer to inspect the chamber, leade and bore from muzzle to breach. It also allows the gunsmith to inspect his work BEFORE removing a barrel from the lathe.
This shot shows the machining marks on the rifling caused by the reamer. This is typical of any new barrel and this is what you are smoothingout when you run-in your new barrel. It can take anything from 50 to 100 rounds to do the job but without a borescope how would you know?
Gunsmithing problems
Visually, the new model is very little changed from my own but of course, I dont have the luxury of the video camera and nor do you need one as the magnifying eyepiece and illumination give an absolutely superb picture. However, if you are a gunsmith, its very convenient to be able to show a customer exactly why his rifle isnt performing how it should do. Or why the expensive new barrel you have just fitted for him a couple of weeks ago is now coppered-up and will never give its best until it gets a proper clean!
The tiny video camera snaps onto the eye-piece and plugs into your laptop
The video camera
Just recently, Ken contacted me to tell me about the latest Hawkeye borescope, fitted with a video camera and one or two other updates and wondered if I might like to have a look at one. I didnt need a second ask and within a week it arrived.
Initially, the inside of a barrel, when magnified, needs a little interpretation to make out exactly what you are seeing. Most shooters will have never seen the inside of a barrel new or otherwise. When I got my first borescope, I took the opportunity of looking through as many brand-new barrels as I could via my friendly local gunsmith (thanks Pete) and I quickly got to know what a new match barrel
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An interesting story
looks like - compared to a new, mass-produced factory barrel. You wouldnt believe the state of some brandnew barrels fitted to factory rifles! Ive seen some real horror stories and I dread to think of the problems the poor purchaser would have trying to get his rifle to shoot accurately. I wonder what your local dealer would say if you took your borescope along to help with the selection of your new or secondhand rifle! But why not? Its your money! OK back to our video borescope. The first job was to install the software on my laptop via the supplied CD. Now Im not brilliant at such things but I followed the instructions to the letter and hey it worked! The video camera is a purpose-made job for use with the Hawkeye borescope and clips securely over the eyepiece. Its then connected to your computer via the USB port. The light source of the borescope is provided by two AA batteries and, for normal viewing by eye, the light should be turned up to maximum power. With the video camera attached, too much light can cause screen burn-out so the light needs to be turned-down to give the required image. Although its tempting to use maximum magnification, better detail is obtained by using an image occupying about a quarter of the computer screen which is still a massive magnification of course. Colour contrast could be better for picking out traces of copper and, for me, there is no substitute for viewing via the eye-piece but the video camera is a great customer tool for the gunsmith and will quickly frighten him into ordering a new barrel!
Heres a real-life problem the borescope recently solved. A brand-new factory rifle was shooting so far to the left at 100 yards that we couldnt get it on paper. A bent barrel maybe? Yes, bent barrels are not that unusual but normally they will only throw the shot a foot or so this one was throwing the shot a few yards. I decided that maybe the problem was the crown, although to the naked eye it looked OK. I decided on a closer look with the borescope and the problem was immediately revealed a piece of the land about an inch long was totally missing at the end of the barrel! Gasp! Id not seen anything like this before. I had to cut two inches of the barrel to get into good rifling. After that, no problem. Thank goodness for borescopes.
The borescope featured in the photographs accompanying this article is the recently introduced Shooters Edition of the Hawkeye Borescope identified by the green eyecup. This version features upgraded optics and a new mirror technology that protects the mirror from the harsh chemicals we routinely shove down the barrel of our firearms (always clean and dry your barrel before inspecting). The company promises 360 inspection of lands and grooves with the clarity of a medical endoscope.
Still not convinced you need one? Look at it this way - a borescope costs less than a new barrel what I call a no brainer!
Still not convinced...
Without doubt, cleaning or lack of it is the biggest problem for a lot of shooters, who then visit their favorite gunsmith for a new barrel. This is where I get a few of my own barrels. Often, the only problem will be a dull, dirty, coppered-up bore. Chop off the tenon, rechamber, give it a damn good clean and hey Ive got a free barrel! My two tactical rifles are currently sporting recycled barrels. If you are a serious shooter, you will appreciate the need for an accurate rifle. You will know when accuracy falls below an acceptable level but you wont know why. Thats why you need a borescope. Honestly, it will save you money and it will ensure that your barrel gives its best throughout its competitive life. Some shooters think that it would be smart to buy a flexible borescope to inspect their firearms. Not a good idea! Flexible borescopes utilize fiber-optic strands to transmit light and images but are incapable of producing images of equal quality to solid optical glass. Furthermore, an industrial quality flexible borescope costs far more than a rigid scope. Inexpensive flexible scopes are generally not repairable - the bill for those that are can reach thousands of dollars.
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This SMALLBORE Business

In figure one, I have set up my K position for the photograph, just in street clothes, to indicate the complexities of the position and give the readers an idea of the basics. I think it is extremely important to gain some lower body stability first, almost to duplicating your prone position in respect to the support geometry of the rifle.
Also explained in fig one (text) where the forward shin bone of the leg needs to be vertical. The leg is situated about 75mm to the left of the barrel, which allows for a flat spot on the knee where the elbow is situated. The elbow position NEVER varies!
This Smallbore Business

by Don Brooke
Kneeling shooting the ultimate challenge!

So, OK, off the subject of prone shooting for a while plus, prone shooting is pretty easy when you start to think about the position events.
Actually, you can play 18 holes of golf in around the same time as a position match and both can be just as frustrating! One of the biggest problems for kneeling shooters is the international standard, in that a good K (kneeling) performance is pretty much the same as for the prone section. In fact I have seen (and done this) where the K shoot was actually better than the prone result. The second problem, given the one above which overrules all, is that K shooting requires a large amount of specific training just to gain some comfort in the position. It also gives one an idea of why the ISSF actually varied the program for the 3 x 40 to shoot the K section last, due to health reasons! Years ago we shot prone, kneeling then standing and the cramped position of the K section actually did some
damage to the bodies of the shooters, obviously in the legs. Hence the variation in the program, which is based on medical opinion. The beginner to K will have enormous worries just to gain some stability but, the rewards for diligence are great. There have been, in my era, some incredible K shooters and one thing stood out for all of them in that the shooters were very fit, and supple people. Even that incredible Brit, Barry Dagger, (who is still around and one I keep in constant contact with) who is a tiny guy but, he had a magnificent K ability. A great deal of Barrys skills lay in his attitude to K shooting but I know his set of skills took a lot of work! His position was classic, he did everything right and the results showed. I cannot do K shooting any real justice in a short article, just necessary to say that you need to work solely on K for quite a while just to get some comfort, and to be able to sustain your position for the 50 or so shots. As you go along there will be a number of refinements that will affect the hold movement, as many of you shooting K for the early period will see that infernal sideways
There are three things to look for, early in your training which make a huge difference...
thrash of the hold and struggle to get anywhere near stopping it! There are a lot of good books devoted to position shooting that the new chum needs to read, just to gain an understanding of what needs to be done to allow refinement and obviously enough still time to get a good, well aimed shot away. I know that my own shooting, without these books available - until Position Rifle Shooting by Pullum and Hanenkrat arrived in my letter box - to give me some idea of the way to devote my time. Since then, The Ways of the Rifle by Maik Eckhardt will help a great deal. I struggled for a long time to get a correct lower body position and also went right back to the basics quite a few times. Consequently a lot of my time learning to shoot K was wasted. My own position and obviously the hold, developed over a long period of training, given that in order for my selection in various teams I HAD to shoot a lot of prone events. My long preferred event (3 x 40), had to take a back seat to prone results, as there were a minimal number of position specialists in Australia at the time. I had to gain selection in prone events first, and shoot the position matches as a secondary event due to the amount of belly shooters in Australia. They still have not awoken to the fact that a position shooter actually trains three-times harder than a prone specialist, so prone is not going to suffer too much if the training programme is worked out carefully.
Included in Fig One, is the position of the left leg and knee relative to the rifle (shown from above.) Note the position of the rifle at about 75mm (3) to the right of the knee with the leg vertical in both aspects. The position takes a lot of refinement in the early stages of assembly, but if you stick to fig one criteria, your journey to a prone like hold will be hastened considerably.
If you study Fig. 1 look for the upright foot under the buttocks, which really should be an extension of your spine . The forward leg should be vertical in respect of the shin bone, with the forward knee about 75mm to the left of the stock. In my opinion these are crucial aspects. It is only then that the kneeling roll under the foot/buttocks can arrive at the required dimensions to help with both the comfort and stability required. I used to sit in my position watching TV - to gain some form of position endurance and the aspiring K shooter will need to devote this much training time! It does take a long time to be able to simply get up out of position, without the lower position numbness that does set in... believe me, I have seen shooters, (including myself) that have tried to stand with totally
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numb legs. The results are quite funny, particularly for your club mates as you lay there with pins and needles coursing through your legs. (Ahh, the pain...) I can assure you all it did not take me too long to arrive at a resting position which is illustrated in fig.2 and allowed the blood to flow through into my legs and feet. You will note that the underneath foot, forward foot and my right knee was not moved in this exercise, nor was the left elbow on the left knee. The method was to break the rifle out of position, rest the hook on the firing point (note that the bolt is still closed on an empty case, to keep the bore warm until the resting period was complete, and the rifle returned to your assembled position after resting - only then was the case ejected and even then after a couple of dry fired releases.) I simply took the rifle out of the shoulder and rose up, resting the whole position on the front foot, and allowing the blood to return to the muscles. It was then a simple matter to re-assume the lower body position in far more control than when the position deteriorated due to being unable to feel the position correctly, nor relax it completely. I found this was the only way I could train K for an extended period of time, when I started to look for the other nuances of a good K performance. I always - later in my career - looked for a K score that was up there with my prone result. This was the attitude I had developed and I often fired well into the high 390s for a K training result. My sequence for K was quite fast eventually but not until I learned to sit on my K roll for a very long time just to get some endurance in place. Once the hold came down to a reasonable skills level, then I was able to get the shots away accurately and so gain the benefit from my training.
As explained in the figure two text, this shows the resting position without moving any of the lower points of reference. The shooter removes the rifle from the shoulder, and kneels upright, with the rifle on the shooting point (Hook). Note the still vertical shin which now takes the weight of the forward position, while the blood is allowed to flow into the foot on the kneeling roll. It takes about 2 minutes for the pins and needles to subside, which indicates you can return to position. Note, the bolt is still closed on an empty case.
This shows Figure 1, outlining the most crucial part of the lower K position. It is really important that the foot becomes an extension of the spine, with a vertical aspect. Under no circumstances should there be any rotation of the foot away from this vertical position. It does take a lot of position training to gain some balance, and form with this...
Contact us today to see what we can do for you and make your products work to their full potential, in a way that is the future of magazines and advertising. With over 10,000 readers a month, in the UK and around the world.
To my readers out there, who have been there and done that, will they recognise the buzz you get out of a high K performance. Very sole satisfying guys, believe me!
K shooting is actually a lot of fun! It just takes a long time training to gain the enjoyment...
Email Yvonne Wilcock at admin@targetshooter.co.uk
Brooksie.
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The DCR British-made Action

By Richard Utting

By Richard Utting

by Richard Utting
Richard takes us through the build of his first custom rifle built on the DCR action, a new premium-quality rifle action made in the UK!
Having been mighty impressed by 6.5x47 Lapua using 123gr Scenars at 3130fps with sub 10fps spread using RL17 and

A Review by Richard Utting
140 grain A Max bullet at 2920,fps I still wanted more... We always do!
As slippery, accurate and fun as 6.5x47 Lapua is, I fancied a 284 Win. slinging the 162 grain A Max (G7 BC 0.307) over 3000fps - possibly over 3100. I thought it best not squeezed into a short action, unnecessarily compromising powder room and efficiency. I wanted a custom action that was silkysmooth and strong and a pleasure to use.
I thought Id spec. the chamber reamer specifically for my bullet, giving me the best chance of suitability. The step up in ballistics should be very decent if all went well - Id be gaining speed, BC and bullet weight and Id be getting these top-class ballistics with nearly three-times the barrel-life of some of the other hot calibres.
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By Richard Utting
I phoned around and started getting some prices. The ever-helpful Brian Fox at Fox Firearms could do me my choice of custom action (Barnard, RPA and his own GBR etc.) on any barrel of my choosing (TrueFlite, Bartlein etc) for a killer price, as usual. Id source a stock and bed it myself. My build price would be reduced a lot as I didnt need any complicated work to get a magazine system fitted, as I was perfectly happy with single-shot.
After getting advice from Brian Fox, I phoned Steve Kershaw. He always has something interesting to say and I always run things past him. He immediately agreed with my suggestion that I should go right-

By Richard Utting
bolt, left-port, enabling me to load the next cartridge with my free left-hand, thus removing any problems with breaking shoulder-contact with the stock when loading. He also had a McMillan Prone stock that I immediately liked the look of. Whats not to like?
A few reasons why I like single-shot rifles:

1) Cheaper to build as there is much less smithing to do and you dont need all the magazine bits. 2) Much larger area to bed, as there isnt a big hole in the bottom of the action. 3) In addition to bumping the bullets meplat against the feed-ramp, theres always the possibility of a miss-feed when using a magazine. With a single-shot rifle, you can chuck the round in and itll always chamber right in. 4) If you use a cartridge-holder, correctly positioned, putting in a new round isnt much slower than feeding from a magazine.
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By Richard Utting

By Richard Utting
He also suggested I contact a company called DCR (Devon Custom Rifles a new branch of DCE Holne (R&D) Limited) making top-quality actions and firearms products in the UK, who were interested in bringing out some very exciting new products that I might be interested to test and review. I spoke to a very enthusiastic chap at this company who was full of ideas about bringing a premium range of actions out, entirely designed and made in the UK, along with all sorts of other excellent-sounding new products. I really enjoyed his keenness and was very excited to see a UK company making top actions. We immediately started specifying my action. DCR allow total customisation of the action to your needs! We wanted RB-LP, long action fine, simple enough but, DCR also asked for dummy rounds so that they
could cut the ejection port to just the right length for me. What firing-pin size and weight would I like? What finish on the bolt, what engraving, what tenon length, what threads, what rail? Amazing! Between Steves gunsmithing input and mine, we specd a very special product that should perfectly match my needs. When it came to materials and coatings, I left it for those two to go through as it was over my head I got the impression that finishes were being used that would enable cutting-edge hardnesses and ridiculously sweet tolerances, fit and finish. Now, I could have bought a Barnard and got a totally world-class action, no delays and no risks but, I love my UK-built RPA Quadlite action on my 204 and I wanted to try another UK product from a really progressive and exciting company. I trusted DCR to make it - true, strong, smooth and, even better 100% tailored to my requirements. Having Steve Kershaw build it up to his
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By Richard Utting
insane standards, pillar-bed the stock and generally run the projectwell that filled me with total confidence as always. I spoke to Brian Fox again and he had a nice Bartlein heavy-contour 7mm barrel in their new gain-twist. I was interested to try the gain-twist, so had that sent to Steve for the build. The rifling starts at 8.5T and speeds up to 8T - not a big change but it might give me a few extra fps. I got annoyed by a spectacular lack of progress when I contacted one American reamer-maker, so gave the competition a chance. Dave Manson at Manson Reamers got back to me straight away and was interested and professional. He sent, promptly and on time, a very smart-looking reamer that Steve and I had specified, primarily to suit the 162 grain Hornady A Max bullet, necked-up Lapua 6.5-284 brass, seating fairly long for maximum powder capacity and running a no-turn neck - allowing a decent amount of neck clearance. Steve wanted flutes under the reamer pilot for his flushing-system, so we went with that. A few months went by as DCR built the prototype action to my liking. I received excited texts, e-mails and photos detailing the actions progress and I could absolutely tell the passion that was going in to making it the very best possible. In the meantime John, the firearms manager at DCR, made a lighter, mag-feeding short action for himself and another chap, to be chambered in the excellent 6.5x47 Lapua. The results from that 6.5x47mm build were staggeringly good and made me all the more excited. Finally Steve Kershaw called me to say it was all built. One of the things I really like about Steve is simply this: give him the parts and hell have your rifle built AND proofed in a week. Its excellent he seems to walk them through proof personally, so theres never any delays! I didnt really know how excited to be as I drove to pick up the rifle: an action is just big and strong and straight and thats that, right? What I hadnt considered was how pleasing it is to cycle the bolt on an action that is so tight you can barely even move the bolt when it is right back but still remains so silky smooth that it glides seemingly

By Richard Utting
without any resistance or snagging at all and then locks up with two fingers on the boltit is a great extra pleasure to the process of shooting a rifle. When John sent me the engineering specifications and materials and an explanation of the thinking behind their use well I started to realise this was something extra special - here are some of the facts and figures: Action: 416 (chosen over 4140 for its superior ability to keep its tolerances after heat treatment). Single-shot, right-bolt, left-port ejection. Ejection-port tailored to OAL of supplied dummy round. Action body is heat-treated to extreme hardness. Body is coated with a proprietary formula to 2-4 microns thick; this coating has exceptional tribological properties due to its high hardness and a very low coefficient of friction. The graded structure gives outstanding adhesion and toughness making it suitable for high wear reduction in many sliding applications. Action comes with a 5mm extended barrel thread. Bolt-tobody after machining post heat treatment is +/- 0.03mm. Action scalloped and engraved with the rifle builders logo. All internals hand-lapped and polished before coating and lugs lapped to achieve 100% bearing surface. Bolt: 4140. The bolts can come with any bolt-face size and the size of the firing-pin and hole can be customised for any primer type. Bolt hardened, then handle TIG welded to the bolt for added strength and comes with a 0.03mm bolt-tobody fit. Custom-made in-house firing-pin assembly fitted with a 28lb silicon spring and smaller firing-pin. Scope-rail: 416. custom in-house scope-rail made full length of action with 20 MOA built-in taper. Recoil lug: 416. oversize 7mm lug precision ground to +-0.01mm and pinned to action body. All tolerances of the action are fully customisable to customers spec.
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By Richard Utting
Now Im no engineer but it looks like theyve put some serious thought into it! The proof was in the pudding though: Ive used RPA, Barnard, Lawton, Surgeon, Remington 700 both printed and not, Howa, Tikka, Sako, Blaser, Steyr and probably some others. Sure, I havent used the other top actions but I can say this about this DCR: After a stiff load, it opens with two fingers and then slides back so smoothly as to take your breath away. At the back (and this is a long action) it is practically impossible to get it to wobble perceptibly and yet is doesnt feel like metal is riding on metal and whistling as you move the bolt forwardits very tight but also completely silky it feels like its on roller bearings. If you put a drop of oil on the lug runway opposite the loading port, then run the bolt over it, the oil is all picked up and spread uniformly along. When the cartridge is chambered, the bolt again locks up with minimal pressure its a joy. The Sako-style extractor pings the cases out sweetly too. Steves insertion of the pillars into the stock was utterly true and of the very highest quality. I used my favourite bedding compound - Pro Bed 2000 - to fully bed the action and recoil lug. When all that was hardened and polished off, it was off to the range to see if necking up Lapua 6.5-284 brass to 7mm had left me any doughnut problems. Also to see what speeds I could smoothly get the 162gr Amax to with RL17, bed in the barrel, test fps spreads etc. Well, it all went very well. After cleaning out the tinge of copper left by the heavy proof house rounds, I then got only a tiny kiss of blue after the first three shots, then nothing at all from then on (a further 29shots). Match barrels are like polished mirrors inside and you dont need to go scrubbing the hell out of them every shot! I used the OCW system to ascertain the stability of the powder as I ranged up from 52 to 54.5gr. Reloader 17.
I worked up, having a rough look at accuracy but paying more mind to pressure signs, POI stability and fps spreads. I wont worry to the Nth degree about accuracy tuning until Ive fired all the new brass at least once. Ive madly loaded too many brand new barrels only to have to retune the load again after a few hundred shots, so this time I was simply going to find a nice stable, half accurate load and use that until the brass and barrel has settled. I found to my delight that even the gentle 52gr. load gave 3000fps (barrel length is 30 inches) with a total spread of 20 fps and cloverleafing accuracy at 150 yards. As I went up, speed steadily increased until 3150 fps was achieved without sticky bolt-lift or murdered primers at 54 grains plus. Bolt-lift was still a two-finger affair and the fps spread was below 15. I settled on the milder 3000 fps load for now to settle everything in and I will then go hotter and of course tune the seating-depth for ultimate accuracy. I want sub. inch 400 yard groups. The 6.5 Steve built for me did it and so will this one. For now though, Im looking at having achieved with ease the speeds Id hoped for (even before the barrel slicks up probably another 100 fps), the A Max shooting fine, the powder being stable with regard to POI and the action totally untroubled by hot loads. All is going perfectly so far! I wished for a UK product of top quality and by all thats holy I seem to have got it! I think we may have a serious contender here; give John at DCR a call or ask your smith to get one through the trade these things are top flight, world-class, made in Blighty pieces of art! See the SharpshootingUK Youtube video review to see the detail.I am also running one of SharpshootingUKs new range of wooden bolt knobs have a look and let us know what you think! Many sincere thanks to Steve Kershaw, DCR, Brian Fox, Tacfire, Aim Fieldsports, Manson Reamers, Si-snipe et al.
FIELD TESTING
Having opted to run the rifle in with the mild 52gr. 3000fps load just to run the brass in and stabilise everything, I headed off to the 1400ft moorland shoot and prayed the weather would give me half a chance. I was using the Shooter app, which is my favourite for long-range calibres in that it combines the ease and speed of Strelok (particularly the excellent wind input dial) with spin drift and also Brian Litzs real-word G7 BC figures. I plugged in 162gr Amax and my speed, the pressure, temperature etc. and hoped it would be accurate. I set up on some 600 yard rocks and felt out the wind. It was reading about 23mph fairly steady but I thought 18mph would be about right, given the little bit of cover that the valley gives along my field of fire. Within three shots I felt that the app, the windmeter and the A Max were talking the same language. The rifle felt beautiful to shoot. The recoil being like my 6.5x47 shooting 140 A Max but longer in its pulse. I experimented throughout the day on maintaining my sight picture during follow through (ie being able to see my shots land) and got it down to a minimum of about 350 yards so was pleased with that. So the rifle was humming, the action made me smile every time I ran the bolt and the A Max were dead stable in the high windsand this was only at 3000fps. I very much look forward to seeing how theyll go at 3100 fps plus. At the end of the day, Id shot 46 bullets and did my normal clean with KG1 carbon remover. I got two black patches out and then checked for copper. Not a trace. This is what I hoped for and expected. With a match barrel, all you need to worry about is getting a carbon ring near the throat. KG1 will stop that building up. The finish inside is so good on these top barrels that copper has nothing to stick to. I still wasnt getting any copper out of my 6.5mm Trueflite after 1500 rounds.... So when this brass is all once fired Ill anneal them and then start to think about fine-tuning of speed and accuracy and will endeavour to get the fps spread into single figures as this will help the vertical at longer ranges, but for the first field day Im delighted all my hopes, and they were fairly ambitious, have been exceeded!

By Richard Utting
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BERGER BULLETS Reloading Manual 1st Edition.
The BERGER BULLETS Reloading Manual

1st Edition
By Vince Bottomley. I always recommend the purchase of a good reloading manual to shooters who are about to start reloading but which one? Basically, reloading manuals fall into two categories those produced by powder manufacturers - like Vihtavuori, Hodgdon, Accurate Arms etc. or the ones published by bullet makers like Sierra, Speer or, as in this case, Berger. So, which is best? Well, I wouldnt be without my Vihtavuori manual but then again, Sierras manual is one of my favorites. Now, we have Bergers take on things and yes, I had to have it. And, what a splendid book it is. Mine, being one of the run is signed by some of the Berger Bullets team Walt Berger of course, the lovely and talented Michelle Gallagher, top shooter and ballistician Bryan Litz and long-time Berger man, Eric Stecker. At this point, thanks must go to Spud of Spud Productions www.1967spud.com for taking the trouble to put in a bulk order to save UK shooters the shipping costs well done mate!
As well as being a great reloading manual, the book is also a fitting tribute to founder Walt and his late wife Eunice both legends in the world of benchrest shooting and, until I read it, I didnt really grasp the debt that we accuracy-nuts owe to Walt, Eunice and the early employees of Berger Bullets, like Eric Stecker. Although a primarily known as a benchrest shooter, Walt is also a keen hunter and this is what makes Berger different there are lots of cottage bulletmakers in the US making benchrest bullets but thats it 6mm bullets in 66 or 68 grain. However, Walt was keen to offer other bullets to the same high standard as his benchrest bullets. The 6mm 105gn VLD being the first long-range bullet a great story in itself. Why are Berger Bullets so highly regarded amongst those seeking ultimate accuracy? Because Walt refused to compromise on the copper jackets the concentricity of the jacket is the key to an accurate bullet. The J4 jackets were are - the industry standard and now, the J4 jacket-making concern is part of Berger. However, it wasnt always so simple and the J4 story is also a fascinating one. Before we get to the meat of the manual the Reloading Data there are loads of articles to interest and inform the shooter Basic Reloading Statistics, Powder Burn Variation, Effects of COAL, G1 v G7 Ballistics, Form factors and Setting up a VLD Bullet to name but a few, plus a brief overview of all the main rifle shooting disciplines. Hunters are also catered for with articles on varmint hunting and precision hunting. The great thing is you will know many of the authors of these articles as they are household names in the world of shooting Don Neilson, Sherri Gallagher, Nancy Tompkins, Larry Bartholome, Jason Baney etc etc. Now we get to the Reloading Data and, in addition to the established factory stuff, its fantastic to see the variety of cartridges which you rarely, if ever, see in other manuals the 17 Mach 4, 6mm Dasher, 22PPC, 6x47, 6XC, 6-284 Win., the 6.5 Grendel, 6.5 Creedmoor, 7mmWSM and SAUM etc. etc. Each cartridge is authored by more of those big names with many famous shooters taking the lead for a particular cartridge with an interesting foreword.
Mid Tompkins does the 308 Win., (hes been shooting it competitively since 1962!) David Tubb the 6XC of course, Robert Whitley the 6.5 Grendel and the 6.5x47; Walt takes the lead on the treble-two and the 300 Weatherby Magnum, though leaves the 6PPC to Eric Stecker.
BERGER BULLETS Reloading Manual 1st Edition. Given the number of cartridges covered, Berger Bullets and its partners investment of time, components and barrel wear and tear in loaddevelopment is simply vast Id reckon thousands of man-hours here making it an even greater bargain for the buyer. Thats why we see so few new or revised traditional printed book-form manuals nowadays and why Hodgdon went down the road of an annual manual produced in magazine format with copious advertisements defraying some of the production costs. The range and even choice of individual cartridges covered surprised me. Id been expecting a modest selection of entirely mainstream numbers especially for this, a first edition but there are around 75 cartridges covered in nine calibers from .17 to .30 cal. There are many surprising inclusions: 222 Remington Magnum, 250-3000 Savage, 7.5X55mm Swiss to name three that are either virtually obsolete or otherwise outside target and sporting shooting mainstreams. Thats in addition to the many recent introductions or useful wildcats, including those that Vince mentions above. You dont often see data for the 20 Tactical wildcat for instance. Being a bullet makers publication, you wont find any cartridges that use bullets outside of Bergers product ranges of course, so no 303 or 8mm numbers here. I cant find any surprising or significant omissions either, the sole exception perhaps 338 Winchester and Lapua Magnums, as the company makes two 338 dia. OTM Tactical bullet models. Im looking forward to getting into the meaty informative first section at my leisure but, even before doing so, would commend this manual to both tyro hand-loaders looking for a good reference source, as well as those like myself who already have shelves groaning under the weight of multiple hand-loading books and reloading manuals.
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And yes, Berger do include Vihtavuori and Norma loading data where appropriate, in addition to the usual American powders. So, this is not just an informative reloading manual, this book is a great read for any shooter no matter what the level of experience or interest and, if you dont yet have a reloading manual or your old manual is getting a bit dog-eared and missing those exciting new cartridges that are winning all the competitions, nows the time to put this classic book on your Christmas list.
Footnote from Laurie Holland

Like Vince, I also have one of this early print run, likewise acquired via that entrepreneurial Norfolk gamekeeper Spud but, Ive not been as quick off the mark as Vince in reading the non-loading data sections of the manual, so its very much first impressions from me. My first one is that this is a BIG book at over 800 pages - of which around two thirds encompass cartridge descriptions and load data. Its a very well produced and bound hardback too, which means its forty-odd pounds purchase price including P&P is a steal bullet manufacturers make a huge loss on this sort of book but its a long-term investment for them as hopefully a manual owner is more likely to buy their products.
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FROM THE BENCH ...

VINCES REGULAR COLUMN WHEREBY ACCURACY NUTS CAN KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE ACTIVITIES OF THE UKBRA AND ACCURACY RELATED ITEMS
FROM THE BENCH ...

CONTINUED...
Competitions
AT DIGGLE RANGES UK
We held our first 600 yard benchrest competition of the winter season and we were rewarded with another great turnout. Conditions were cold but winds light and yes we saw some great groups.
Bruce Lenton shot small group of the day with his 6BR Winchester the only shooter to go under two-inches and his four 5-shot groups set a new UK record. Five other shooters also recorded sub-three-inch groups.
A great start to the winter season.

Results:
Light Gun: (av. Of four, 5-shot groups)
1st - Bruce Lenton. 6BR Winchester. 2.812 2nd - Steve Dunn. 22 BR Stolle. 3.482 3rd - Ian Dixon. 6x47 Stolle. 3.922 Small group: Bruce Lenton - 1.94 inches
Remington Girl Toni Young has had some great groups with her out of the box Remington
Heavy Gun:
1st - Dale Almond. 308 Barnard. 4.235 2nd - Gary Green. 6.5-284 RPA. 4.403 3rd - Jeanette Whitney. 243AI Stiller. 4.772 Small group: Dale Almond - 3.27 inches
You dont need fancy equipment to shoot benchrest and it is a very civilised way to enjoy winter shooting!
Forthcoming events
Our six, 600 yard benchrest shoots are run over the winter period and our next shoot is on December 15th and then we have another - Christmas week on Thursday 27th December. If youre bored with turkey and TV why not come and shoot. All welcome, we start at around 10.00am. E-mail me at vinceb@6ppc.fsnet.co.uk if you want more information.
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Factory Rifle:
1st - Sean Broxham. 6.5-284 Savage. 4.207. 2nd - Darrel Evans. 6.5x47 Acc Intl. 4.447 3rd - Toni Young. 308 Remmington. 5.43 Small group: Darrel Evans. 3.078 inches
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Laurie Holland using the SEB POD at 1000 yards at Diggle
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on Diggles 1000 yard firing-point and Laurie had the POD mounted on his 308 F/TR Dolphin gun. Prior to the shoot, we had made a couple of tiny modifications. Firstly, we reckoned that the actual joystick needed to be longer to place the end of it nearer to the trigger, so that the shooter didnt need to stretch to hold on to it. And that leads us to the second modification. Most benchrest and Open Class shooters will hold the joystick as they pull the trigger but of course, the Open shooters front rest doesnt recoil like an F/TR rifle does. So how would it be holding onto the joystick under recoil? We decided that it might be helpful to remove the wooden knob and try and let the joystick slide through the shooters fingers on recoil. Well, according to Laurie, it worked well giving plenty of side-to-side and up and down movement. The longer handle was perfect though we might add a slight crank to it and the knob-less handle was fine in operation, coping perfectly with recoil. Although I have yet to shoot the SEB POD, I did get chance to get behind Lauries rifle and try it for size as it were. I could immediately see the advantage. The Open Class shooter (like the benchrest shooter), looks to the rear bag to provide a rock-solid support for the butt. Of course, the F/TR shooter would like the same rock-solid set-up but, this is not possible as the F/TR shooter must manipulate the rear bag with every shot squeezing and shifting it to get back on aim-point. With the SEB POD, you can say goodbye to bag-squeezing and twitching and say hello to a solid butt support. We do have a couple more tweeks in mind but from first impressions, the SEB POD definitely has promise. Its not too heavy in its present form and we have a couple of ideas to reduce the weight even further.
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Front view of the SEB POD
A new bi-pod from SEB

Sebastian Lambang (pictured on the right) - of SEB rest fame came over to the UK recently, to visit friends and customers and to try his hand at F Class shooting. In case you didnt know, Seb is an accomplished benchrest shooter, having represented his country at several World Benchrest Championships. However, although Seb originally built his joystick front rest for benchrest shooters, it is equally popular amongst F Class shooters and Seb was eager to try F Class and find out what its all about. Did Seb pick a nice little club shoot to dip his toe in the water? No way! He jumped-in with both feet and boldly entered the European F Class Championships
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the largest International F Class shoot on the planet! Not only that the temperature was some 30 degrees centigrade below what he is used to in Indonesia! A steep learning curve... Yes, Seb thoroughly enjoyed his F Class experience but, to the point of this article. Sebs interest in F Class had been sparked by the plight of the F/TR shooters who can not use a benchrest-style front rest like Sebs NEO but are stuck with a simple bi-pod. Simple? Not when Seb gets hold of it! So, Seb brought along a joystick bi-pod to Bisley a world first I think and naturally it caused a fair bit of interest amongst the F/TR guys. OK, its a prototype at this stage and Seb kindly left it with us to evaluate and report back. Target Shooter hack and accomplished F/TR shooter Laurie Holland, was keen to try the SEB POD and just a couple of weeks after the Europeans, we were
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Precision Shooting Magazine Closes

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I can remember distinctly seeing my first Precision Shooting magazine. I was over in the States on a bit of a benchrest pilgrimmage visiting as many of the locations listed in my bible Glen Newicks book Ultimate in Rifle Accuracy. We called on big Bill Gebhardt, the maker of Bald Eagle front rests and back bags. Bill couldnt have been more accommodating to two strangers who turned up out of the blue at his home late afternoon. Bill showed us his rifles and equipment and, before we left, gave us his current (June 1993) issue of Precision Shooting magazine I still have it! I read it from cover to cover about half a dozen times. Id never seen such a magazine packed with accuracy and benchrest articles. I became a subscriber and even wrote a few articles when Id learned a bit! A great honor to be published in PS. Sadly, the letter below from Editor Dave Brennan appeared in the November issue. Dave, I and thousands of other shooters owe you so much. Your great magazine informed, entertained and taught us about accuracy and accurate rifles. We thank you for your contribution to our sport and wish you a happy and healthy future.
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What to buy a shooter for Christmas... ?

I was having a look around Brian Foxs shop the other day looking for something that I would like to find in my stocking on Christmas morning. I eventually chose an Accuracy International 10-round magazine but if thats not your thing, what about these?
These beautiful CNC machined reloading trays and ammo holders are a snip at around 30 and I guarantee any shooter would be delighted with any of these. You could go one step further and have it engraved with someones name. They also make great prizes for shooting competitions. I also spotted this torch. Im not really a torch man but I have a couple. This one is really special however the power astounded me and I defy anyone to show me a better torch in this price-bracket. Even Foxy admitted that it was better than the one he sells for twice the price! They are about 75 and for another tenner, you can have a bracket to mount it on your rifle. www.foxfirearmsuk.com
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Solutions to Vision Problems

By Liz Woodall
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Shooting Glasses
Most full-bore and small-bore target shooters are aware of these, and many use them. There are two key points about them that are often overlooked. Firstly, the corrective lens for the aiming eye must be made so that the point of focus is the foresight. The average High Street optician will not know about this, which is why most shooters go to specialist shooting opticians like J. H. Steward at Bisley Camp. Secondly, the setting up of the spectacles is critical; it must be done in such a way that when the shooter is looking through the sights, (a) he/she is looking through the centre of the lens, and (b) the lens is exactly at right-angles to the line of sight. This second point is the one that is often not understood; shooters are frequently seen with their lens at an angle, which will cause distortion of the sight picture. For rifle shooters, it is also important that the lens is not touching the rearsight. A wide range of accessories is available for shooting spectacles and it is often worth checking these out. A right-handed shooter with a dominant left eye can fit an eye-blind to resolve the problem. There are sideblinders, coloured filters, iris fittings for pistol shooters, and so forth.
spectacles are not needed.
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1. Change over to left-handed shooting. For an established shooter this is an expensive exercise, requiring replacement of rifle, jacket, glove, etc. Some people are so strongly right-handed that they simply cannot cope with the changeover. 2. A horizontal periscope or prism fitted to the rearsight. This involves the least disruption to a shooters existing technique, but the setting up of the device must be done with great care. 3. Offset sights both rearsight and foresight are mounted on bars or plates that extend sideways from the sight mounting blocks, so that the sight line runs parallel to the barrel. Versions are available for both fullbore and smallbore rifles, and they do take a bit of setting up, but if it is done correctly they are a good solution. It is also possible to offset a scope sight.
Eagle Eye
This is a magnifying lens that attaches to a rifles foresight tube. It is permitted under NRA and NSRA rules, but if any visual correction is required as well, the shooter can use either spectacles or a rearsight lens, not both.
Disabled Shooting Project Co-ordinator.

By far the commonest impairment suffered by target shooters is defective vision. A survey of smallbore clubs in 2008/09 showed that 42% of them have a minor vision problem requiring spectacles or some other corrective equipment. A further 2% had major problems that impinged significantly on their shooting, or were so severe that they used acoustic aiming systems instead of conventional sights. Difficulties with vision and the aiming process may be the result of simple long - or short-sight, astigmatism, a medical condition, injury, or just the inevitable effects of ageing. These are within the Disabled Shooting Projects remit as they come into the less able category. We covered the subject of blind/VI shooting in the July 2012 issue of Target Shooter. This time we are setting out some of the options available to shooters who want to get the best out of their vision. Many of these are things that simply do not occur to a lot of people, particularly those who have not been in the sport for very long. Anyone who would like to know more about how their eyes work when they are shooting could read an excellent article by Geraint Griffiths, Director of the Association of Sport Vision Practitioners, in the Winter 2009 issue of The Rifleman. A copy of the article is in the downloads section of the Disabled Shooting Projects website. Geraint has carried out several research projects on shooters vision in conjunction with the Junior Rifle and Pistol Squads.
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Telescopic Sight
In Target Shooter there is no need to go into the details of scope sights! However, for those shooters who do not do Field Target, Benchrest or F Class, there are some prone rifle competitions in which telescopic sights are permitted, such as the Any Sights leagues and championships.
Opposite Eye Aiming

It is not that unusual for a shooter to find that although he/she shoots right-handed, their right eye vision is not good enough for aiming, whilst their left eye vision is a lot better. In this situation the options are:
Blinders
Shooters use all sorts of things as eye-blinds; ammunition box lids, bits torn of targets, pirate-style black eye-patches, etc. Not all of these are a good idea. A blinder should be made of translucent material and be no bigger than is really necessary, otherwise it can upset the delicate working relationship between the eyes and affect the one that is aiming.
Rifle Rearsight Lenses

A corrective lens can be fitted into or on the rearsight, although this is not allowed under all competition rules. Both the NRA and NSRA allow the use of such a lens as well as prescription spectacles. Gehmann have recently introduced a new device called a cylindrical lens system which they say can be set up to correct long/short sight and astigmatism, so that shooting
Filters
Rifle-shooters can use coloured filters in their rearsights and/or tinted foresight elements. Pistol shooters can have a coloured lens in their shooting glasses. They are available in a wide range of colours. It has to be said that these are produced in response to the demand for shooters, not necessarily because they
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70% of all .22 World Cup and European Championship medals were won with ELEY Ammunition
More 2012 Olympic quota places won with ELEY Ammunition than any other brand
ISSF World Cup 1 - SYDNEY ISSF World Cup 2 - CHANGWON ISSF World Cup 3 - FORT BENNING
50m 3 x 40 50m Rifle 3 x20 25m Sport Pistol 50m Free Pistol 50m Rifle Prone 25m Rapid-Fire Pistol
ISSF World Cup 4 - MUNICH
ISSF European Championships 2011
To introduce ourselves we are the United Kingdom Association of Rimfire and Air Rifle Benchrest Shooting. By that we mean "True Benchrest Shooting". The Association is recognised by rimfire shooters across in the UK, with partners across Europe and the rest of the world, as the presentative body that promotes rimfire and air rifle benchrest across this country and with other partners in European and World events. Visit our website for news about national and international competitions that all can have a go at. From novice to champion shooter, everyone is welcome www.benchrest22.org
50m Mens Prone 50m Womens 3 x 20 Rifle 50m Mens 3 x 40 Rifle 50m Free Pistol Men 50m Pistol Women 25m Rapid-Fire Mens Pistol
Jackets from 99 - 650 Trousers from 149 - 500 Gloves from 23 - 55 All budgets catered for - from beginner to professional...
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Champions shoot Tenex
Raymond DEBEVEC (SLO) Won his 7th Olympic quota place with ELEY Tenex
Full range of target shooting equipment & accessories
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Apertures
The majority of rifle rear-sights have an iris fitting so that the size of the aperture can be adjusted precisely. Modern versions are generally well-made and the aperture will expand and contract concentrically. However, some of the early models, especially the very basic ones, do not, so altering them during a shoot can shift the point of aim. It is surprising how many shooters set up their rearsight aperture and never change it. If eyes are tired at the end of a long day and shooting is in a murky indoor range, they are not necessarily going to work well with a sight aperture that was fixed mid-morning on a relaxed Saturdays sunny outdoor shoot. Both the size of the foresight ring aperture and the thickness of the ring itself will affect the ease with which a good sight picture can be achieved. Experimentation is the answer here. The late Charles Trotter, one of only three people who won both the Queens Prize and the Roberts, made his own foresight rings, and as he got older they got thinner, until eventually he was using fuse wire. Setting up sights is also something that pistol shooters need to do. The width of the rear-sight notch and the foresight blade can be varied to suit individual shooters vision.
Aiming Time
Inexperienced shooters may not be aware that holding the aim for a long time can cause problems. Firstly, vision is the first of the senses to suffer when oxygen levels in the blood run low, which happens about 8 seconds after the shooter stops breathing for the shot release. Secondly, the sight picture becomes imprinted on the retina after about 15 seconds, and it is then almost impossible to tell whether the aim is central or not. Coaches should be able to help shooters establish shooting techniques to avoids these problems.
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this is not the case, the dazzling effects of sunlight can be reduced by constructing screening, or perhaps the strategic planting of trees or shrubs. Shadows (from target frame structures, trees, etc.) which pass across targets as the sun moves can be a significant problem for those with poor vision. If all targets are affected, consider removing whatever is causing the shadows. Alternatively, artificial lighting of the target may help to solve the problem. This article has covered some of the more straightforward solutions to vision problems, but it is far from exhaustive. More information on this topic can be found on the DSP website. A shooter who finds aiming is hard work should get coaching advice, and discuss the subject with club colleagues whose longer experience may have produced other solutions. The DSP is keen to gather more information about vision and aiming problems in all shooting disciplines, so that this can be made available to other shooters. Anyone who is aware of something that may be useful or interesting is requested to send details to the DSP Co-ordinator.
Disabled Shooting continued...
are actually beneficial! As Geraint Griffiths explained in the article mentioned above, some colours are usually helpful, some do not make any real difference and others are actually distinctly unhelpful! It is generally accepted that yellow improves the aim-picture in poor light and a grey filter (polarised or not) reduces glare in over-bright light. Perhaps the best advice for anyone thinking of using other colours is to do some carefullycontrolled tests to see how effective they really are.
Indoor Range Conditions

It is astonishing how many shooters are shooting below their ability because they just cannot see well enough in their clubs range. There are a number of factors that can affect their vision. Lighting arrangements are often far from ideal, making it even harder for shooters with poor vision to achieve a satisfactory sight picture. Ranges should be well-lit along their entire length. The walls and ceiling should be painted in white or a very pale colour to give an even light level along its length. Strong colours, such as the red of Linatex safety curtain material, should be masked, if possible, by white or very pale-coloured thin board or fabric (dust-sheets are a cheap option). Targets should be mounted on flat (to avoid shadows) white backing boards. For rifle shooters these need to be large enough to fill the area visible through the foresight tube when aiming.
Contact details:
Disabled Shooting Project: www.disabledshooting.org. uk, dsp@disabledshooting.org.uk Sport Vision UK: www.sportvision.co.uk A wide range of sight attachments are available from Centra and Gehmann suppliers.
Outdoor Ranges
Ideally, they should be built facing north so that the sun never shines into the shooters eyes. However, where
Hats and Visors

These are not just fashion items! Wearing a visor or a hat with a peak (some have side flaps as well) or brim reduces the amount of light around the shooters eyes and rearsight, which can help enormously, particularly in bright light conditions. The ISSF rules impose restrictions on the size of visors.
More information:
Disabled Shooting Project: www.disabledshooting.org.uk International Paralympic Committee, Shooting: www.ipc-shooting.org International Blind Sport Federation, Shooting: www.ibsa.es/eng/deportes/shooting/presentacion International Shooting Competition, Hannover: www.i-s-c-h.de Clay Target Grand Prix, Lonato: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFKzJ7ZfQzM British Blind Sport: www.britishblindsport.org.uk International Blind Sport Association (Shooting): NSRA: www.nsra.co.uk
Disabled shooting content in NRA Journal, Pull!, The Rifleman, and Target Shooter is available on the Downloads section of the DSP website.
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the costs to put on the event. At Bedford there were six divisions scored, the biggest being Mini Rifle which certainly seems to be making a comeback. Steve Allery pipped Pete Starley by just under ten points less than 2% - for first place and Dan Boswell was less than 20 points behind for third place. The next biggest division was Long Barrelled Revolver, won by Graham Guest who drove down that morning from near Durham in order to use his .45 to beat local boy Rob Adam and his .44 into second place by over 100 points. Another .44 pilot, Adam Rowsell trailed 80 points further back to end in third place.
competition calendar at Bisley. The Blue Team run an annual fund raiser for the Disabled Police Officers Association and this year it was held in conjunction with the Shotgun Festival. The match itself is a L1 IPSC match but, because of restrictions at Bisley, the course of fire is limited on the amount of movement allowed with a loaded firearm. This always presents the course designer with a challenge to come up with interesting and challenging stages that test the shooters shooting skills, not only accuracy and speed but reloading as well. One of the benefits of shooting on Butt Zero on Stickledown Range is the availability of turning targets and the mover. Combined with a dropper turner and a swinging target, there was plenty of action going on to keep the competitor occupied. The stages were made up of two slug stages, another two for buckshot and four for birdshot. The match was completed in a day with the range crew not only building the stages the day before but shooting all of them as well. Fortunately despite it being November the weather was kind. The overall winners at the end of the day were Standard Rob Adam, Standard Manual Brad Fox, Modified Clive Taylor and Open Division Andy Haines. The highlight of the day was the drawing of the raffle prizes. Top prize was a Winchester SXP, kindly donated by Pete Starley of Midway UK. Thanks also go to the NRA, Richard Glist of Tunnel Ranges, Rob Adam and Neil Beverley for their donations to the prize table. Over 800 was raised for charity.
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to do is shoot the stages, fill in the scores and send them in. The scores are collated and results published after each round is concluded. At the end of the year the results from all the rounds are put together and the UKPSA award trophies to the top three in each division across all the shooting disciplines. The Handgun Postal league catered for the resurgence of IPSC shooting in Northern Ireland and was administered by the UKPSA Handgun Commission. Shooters as far away as the Channel Islands and in Ireland competed in the League. Over 80 shooters participated in the 12 stages. Awards were presented for Standard and Production Divisions. Stephen Potts won Production and Jeffrey McComb was the top shooter in Standard Division. The Long Barrelled Firearms Postal League was aimed at shooters on the mainland and included several divisions. Again over 80 shooters participated in the four rounds, which was made up of 14 stages and required a total of 138 rounds to complete. Trophies for the division winners will be awarded at the UKPSA AGM in January.
UKPSA News by Vanessa Duffy.

Practical shooters may have been forgiven for taking a breather after the spectacular of the first IPSC World Shotgun Championships but, practical shooting continues on the home front. Heres what been happening. British LBF Championships.
The LBF match held at Bedford on 14th October was the best competition theyve held so far. Match Director Nick Weber had gone to a lot of time and trouble to have several high quality fall-forward poppers made. These were set up on the 50m outdoor range in a stage that wouldnt have been out of place at a world shoot with lots of falling steel and a pretty nippy mover. Whilst this and another shorter range stage were run outdoors, it would not be a Bedford match unless the full 50m was used at least once, with a lot of people struggling to find the targets at that distance. Running three stages outside took the load off the indoor range where the remaining six stages took place and, with two squads circulating between them there was very little down-time. The indoor stages were well thought out and challenging but also retained the fun element, utilising the width of the range (and back) for some serious scampering about in the long courses. The 2012 IPSC rule changes have meant that more rounds can be packed into the shorter stages, which also bumps up the fun quotient. As has been the case for some time, the LBF matches are open to an assortment of firearm types which helps the entry numbers reach a critical mass and recover
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Graham Guest, British Open Championship winner receives his medal from Match Director Nick Weber
Theres always a good scrap to win the 22 Long Barrelled Pistol division at these matches and, at Bedford, a solid performance by Nick Towndrow gave him a 25 point lead over Ian Chamberlain. Much further down the points table was Nick Weber in third place. In the other divisions, Stephen Belcher won Lever Release Open, Alan Wragg won Lever Action Open, and Gary Dyer won .22 LBP Open. The match ran very smoothly with all stages completed, scored and prizes given out by about 5pm.
UKPSA Postal League Results.

The UKPSA expanded its Postal Leagues to include Long Barrelled Firearms and Handgun competitions in 2012. This was in addition to the two PSG leagues that were begun in 2011. Each of the leagues has four rounds, which are made up of three or four stages. The leagues are open to all to participate in and are ideal for running as part of a club practice session or part of a club competition. Full instructions on the setting up of the stages, plus score sheets are provided for each round. All you need
LBR Standard Bob Dunkley LBR Open Pete Starley LBP Standard Ian Chamberlain LBP Open Chris Nunn Lever Action Rifle Standard Dave Rollinson Lever Action Rifle Open Alan Wragg Mini Rifle Standard Lincoln Morrow Mini Rifle Open Lee Tester UKPSA LBF Postal League 2012.
Round 4 results LA Rifle - Open 1 100.00 210.0000 24 Payne, David 2 86.08 180.7576 16 Wragg, Alan 3 80.62 169.2937 17 Davis, Alan LA Rifle - Standard 1 100.00 199.7976 19 Rollinson, Dave 2 94.24 188.2857 2 Duffy, Andrew 3 53.20 106.2970 26 Tomlinson, David
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NRA Autumn Shotgun Festival

The Blue Team Club have run the NRAs Shotgun Festivals since their inception. This year, the autumn match was later than normal due to a crowded
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(Bottom right) World Team Champions the UK Ladies Team: Josie Adam, Sharon Sell and Vanessa Duffy. (Below - David Thompson and (bottom left) Paul Kirkpatrick.
Arms Club in Kilkeel and at other ranges in Northern Ireland. Results from all the L2 matches were collated to establish the United Kingdom Practical Handgun Champions for 2012. The UKPSA National Handgun Champions are: Standard Division Paul Kirkpatrick Production Division David Thompson
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LBR Standard 1 100.00 192.7658 6 Dunkley, Robert 2 95.76 184.5978 23 Adam, Rob 3 91.75 176.8659 7 Fletcher, Rob .22RF Rifle - Open 1 100.00 203.2545 1 Tester, Lee 2 98.10 199.3965 27 Starley, Pete 3 90.75 184.4491 24 Boulter, Steve .22RF Rifle - Standard 1 100.00 179.8625 34 Kemp, Jeremy 2 98.52 177.2042 36 Beale, Clinton 3 96.81 174.1224 4 Morrow, Lincoln LBP - Standard 1 100.00 207.1605 3 Chamberlain, Ian 2 77.64 160.8318 7 Weber, Nick 3 69.66 144.3112 11 West, Roye LBP - Open 1 100.00 210.0000 17 Nunn, Chris The Shotgun Postal Leagues for slug and birdshot run a month after the LBF and Handgun Leagues and results for the year will be available in next months issue.
2012 Shotgun World Shoot Debrecen, Hungary

Apologies to James Harris. His name was missed off the list of results published in the main UKPSA article last month. James was the highest scoring Brit at the match in Modified Division so a big Well Done to James! The results should have been as follows: Modified Division
(Total 61 finishers, 19 Senior & Super Senior, 0 Junior, 0 Ladies)
16th James Harris 21st: Rupert Stanley 33rd: Kevin Strowger 34th: Pete Starley (6th Senior) 38th: Howard Roberts (8th Senior) 44th: Colin Alden 47th: Dave Joy
UKPSA Handgun Championships.

With the formation of the UKPSA Handgun Commission, promoting IPSC handgun matches was a high priority. This enabled UKPSA members and shooters from other IPSC regions to participate in L2 matches in Northern Ireland. There has been a fouryear gap since the last sanctioned match within the United Kingdom. The Handgun Commission worked with their IPSC neighbours in Ireland and between them they put on five level 2 matches in Northern Ireland. Thanks to the driving force of the Handgun Commission Secretary Fred Hanna and the work of the UKPSA Northern Ireland Organiser, David Thompson, a series of L1 and L2 matches were held at Ulster Small
AGM Date. The Annual General meeting of the UKPSA will take place at the Premier Inn, Fosse Park, Braunstone Lane East, Leicester, LE3 2FW. The meeting will be begin at 2pm. All UKPSA members are welcome to attend. Want to learn more about IPSC practical shooting, go to http:\\www. ukpsa.co.uk
Photographs by by Rob Adam, Stephen Potts and Pete Jackson.
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Contents Continued & More...

december 2012 Issue

European F Class Championships November 2012

The European F Class Championships.

The European F Class Championships.

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

Walker Custom Rifles

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

Dolphin Gun Company

European F Class Championships November 2012

HPS Target Rifles Ltd

Joe West Rifle Stocks

Joe West Rifle Stock

European F Class Championships November 2012

The Open Class Competition

European F Class Championships November 2012

Friday, Stage 1 at 800 yards

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

Friday, Stage 2 at 900 yards

European F Class Championships November 2012

Friday, Stage 3 at 1000 yards

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

Saturday, Stage 4 at 800 yds.

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

Lee Tomlinson was crowned the European Open Class Champion

Saturday, Stage 5 at 900 yds

Stage 6 at 1000 yards

European F Class Championships November 2012

THE F/TR PERSPECTIVE

THE F/TR PERSPECTIVE

European F Class Championships November 2012

The Ukraine F/TR team rifles under wraps...

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012

European F Class Championships November 2012