…I went to my first 1,000 Yard Benchrest match last weekend. In my first relay, I sent all 10 rounds over the top of the target because I clicked the scope backwards while sighting in (DOH!). In my second relay (Light Gun) I put ten shots into a 6.855" group! Woohoo!
Rifle: Stolle Polar action slimmed down .200" to fit in a McMillan Tooley MBR stock/ Krieger 1in9 fluted barrel in 6.5 Gibbs/ Swarovski 6-24x50 in 1-off rings with taper built, by Jerry Stiller/ Jewell 1.5oz trigger.
I used to be a good rifleman (and pretty good with a handgun, too), but years of slacking off probably left my gunnery skills dangling like an impotent penis.
If I ever get on my feet (read: free time and ability to spend many hours a week at a gun range) I’m gonna have to whip myself into shape.
Back in the good old days, I used to spend time on the range with a Gold Cup .45 all the time, at Uncle Sam’s expense. After I got out (if I’d made the President’s Hundred, you bet your *ss I’d still be in), I made a go of it on my own nickel with a $3500 Colt .38 Super. Money got too tight and I switched to a Benelli M95 .22LR. Match grade ammo is dirt cheap by comparison and I can still afford to shoot. I recently was given a 1932 vintage Browning .22 Semi-Automatic by my grandparents as it was in poor repair and was no longer functional. A little elbow grease, light gunsmithing and a new extractor returned it to firing order and I’ve added a 3-9x scope (almost as big as the rifle) for a little more range. You can have a lot of fun on the cheap with .22LR and maintain your edge for very little expense.
OK, so it’s not quite as much fun as a big-bore autopistol but I’m still shooting whenever I want.
Sub-MOA in your first match! I’m impressed.
What’s an Anschutz 1813? What type of shooting sport is this? I don’t know much about the other diciplines, I’m a beginner. I did fire in a 1,000 meter Prone match in Switzerland a year ago. We were allowed to use front rests and rear bags, so I suppose it was like F-class.
When I was in High School I used to spot targets at the local rifle range to earn a dollar. I noticed when I started checking results that the same guys won nearly every week.
To change this I would, once in a while, pick some shooter as the lucky one for the day and whatever they shot, I’d pull down the target, cover the real hole, mark it as a bull and throw it back up.
If they were good enough to tell from the splash that I was wrong, they would ring up to check the score and I’d stop but usually they took the score.
In a similar vein of pointless benevolence I was once retrieving a golf club I’d left by the green at the par 3 I’d just played. The green was not visible from the tee. The next group were playing on and as I walked across the green I kicked one of the balls into the cup. It was great waiting at the next tee for them to discover the “hole in one”.
I shoot smallbore rifle, at the moment 25 yard indoor prone (it’s winter here) and in the summer 50m outdoor prone. This is the rifle sport shot in the Olympics. It might not have the image of fullbore but it is very technically demanding and I like the international aspect to the sport.
Anschutz is probally the most popular manufacturer of smallbore rifles. The 1813 is an older model but one that suits me quite well without too many fancy adjustments to make.
I was begining to think I was the only .38 Super shooter left. I shoot an unmodified Gov’t series 80, usually with handloads to keep the cost down. Don’t get as much range time as I like, and my skills are certainly getting rusty.
Cool! I shot NRA smallbore when I was in highschool, with an 1813; nice rifle!
I currently plink with my Savage .22 semi-auto, but when I really want to vent I blow holes in the desert with my 1903.
30-06 can be so satisfying… and it’s great to live where I can just go off the road 100 yards and blast away with nobody to care.
Wow, that is impressive. Sub MOA at 100 yards is pretty good but at a thousand is outstanding.
Cowboy shooting has taken most of my time this past year but I’m going to get back with the Phoenix ARA (.22 rimfire benchrest) group this fall again. ARA has no classes so sporters compete against 50lb rail guns. I’ve actually done pretty well with a stock Anschütz 64MP and 24X Weaver off a Hart rest with sandbags. The 64 has an okay action, excellent barrel and trigger - a hefty ten ounces - but isn’t finicky. It’s an easy rifle to shoot well even for a schlub like me. I get a lot of satisfaction beating someone who paid more for a reciever than I did for my rifle. The range is at the base of South Mountain so the wind is always shifting and gusting. Reading wind flags becomes more important than having the best rifle so it’s not just an equipment race. I switched to a 36X BSA Platinum scope and will shop for clamping windage top for my rest when they start again in September.
Going out in the AM to break in a Savage 10FP. It’s going to be setup strictly as a varminter but I’m looking to get the most it’s capable of.
I’m glad to hear you guys talking guns the way you are.
Most of the time it is “…when you pry it out of my cold dead hands”. I’m sure a lot of resident antis have never listened in on real gun owners conversations.
Hey Padeye glad to hear varminting mentioned.
ABC had a call in poll last night where they asked if it was OK to carry a gun (don’t remember the actual question) and 77% said YES. Finally some common sense.
