Professional Documents
Culture Documents
FEBRUARY 2013
NOW READ IN OVER 100 COUNTRIES
WE GO TO las VeGAS
PISTOL SHOOTING
ARMALITE - THE AR10
SMALLBORE SHOOTING
SPECIAL ISSUE
100 COuNTRIeS eVeRY MONTH
Welcome to the new look February 2013 edition of Target Shooter Magazine
Welcome to our special Shot Show issue. Its difficult to convey the immensity of this, the greatest of all shooting shows but weve crammed in as many photographs as we can in an attempt to convey what shooting in America is all about.
After a great week in Las Vegas, its back to reality with our very own British Shooting Show at the impressive Stoneleigh Park exhibition centre on February 9/10th and of course, Target Shooter will be there, so be sure to stop by our stand and say hello. Fabulous as the Vegas Shot Show was, Im really looking forward to the new Stoneleigh Park venue. The Shot Show and Germanys IWA Show in March are of course trade only so, no matter how much you may envy the Shot Show and IWA, at least you can go to Stoneleigh and for an awful lot less! Our UK Show is now in its fifth year and thanks to the tireless efforts of organizer John Bertrand, this years Show will be at least four-times the size of the original one. John is well aware of the importance of target shooting and his rifle focus area will be crammed with accurate rifles and custom gun builders and honestly, you will see stuff here that wasnt even at the Shot Show. This is your show continue to support it and it will grow and grow!
vinceb@targetshooteronline.com
Yvonne Wilcock
yvonne@targetshooteronline.com
Steve Thornton
steve@stevethornton.co.uk
March SCOPES
Tactical Turrets
This scope has the largest zoom ratio of any FFP scope ever made,additionalfeature is the 0.05 Mil centre dot, this was designed not to obscure the target on higher magnification.
A feature of First Focal Plane (FFP) design, also known as Front Focal Plane, is the reticle scale value does not change over the entire zoom range of the rifle scope. Also the POA does not change over the entire zoom range. This simplifies use of the reticle for ranging and holdover in conjunction with ballistic charts.
NEW
Side Focus 10 yards ~ Infinity
March FX 5 - 40 x 56. The worlds most powerful first focal plane scope...
For UK & EU: marchscopes.co.uk - Call 01293 606901 or info@marchscopes.co.uk For Australia & NZ: BRT Shooters Supply - PO Box 1124 - Springwood - 4127 Queensland, Australia. Phone. 07-3808 4862 - www.marchscopes.com.au
Editor - Vince Bottomley vinceb@targetshooteronline.com Advertising and Office Manager - Yvonne Wilcock. yvonne@targetshooteronline.com Compiled, Designed & Web Production by Steve Thornton. www.thorntonconnect.com Jeanette Whitney - Studio photography. Yvonne Wilcock - Equipment reviews Stuart Anselm - Project gunsmithing. Les Holgate - Match reports 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 Vince Bottomley Disclaimer
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
The 2013 National Shooting Sports Foundation Shot Show in Las Vegas. Once again your intrepid Target Shooter team braved the temptations of Las Vegas to bring you all the news from the NSSF Shot Show! The Show was of course held in the shadow of last Decembers Sandy Hook school massacre and the tragedy, plus the possible restrictions involving the ownership of certain firearms, frequently came up in conversation with stall-holders as they wait to hear President Obamas proposals. THE HANDLOADING BENCH - 7.62x54R (Conclusion) by Laurie Holland. Its time to finish this look at our 120 year old, albeit anything but geriatric, cartridge and see how it performed on the range. Reprising handloading processes to date, Lapua brass was used throughout, although I now have some S&B and PPU examples to compare against the more expensive Finnish brand (Table 1). Note the large divergence between the weights and capacities of the Lapua and PPU examples. This is so great that a warm load worked up in PPU brass would likely be too hot in the Finnish brand, QuickLOAD showing a near 5000 psi chamber pressure difference. The Armalite AR10 by Vince Bottomley & Laurie Holland Pt 2. In our January issue, we started off the Armalite project by installing a new barrel chambered for the 6.5 Hornady Creedmoor cartridge. The original barrel was chambered for the 308 Win. and, although its difficult to fault the 308 cartridge as a great all-rounder, it did pose some extraction problems with our manuallyoperated rifle. Page 68 Page 52
The SEB Joy-Pod: An Introduction by Laurie Holland. The F/TR shooters jungle drums are beating out a message, quietly but insistently theres a new generation of competition bi-pods on the way and theyre joystick controlled. Mere rumours? Actually no, and TargetShooter has the distinction to have prototype model No. 1 on test. With the word getting round, opinions have been mixed on US shooting forums, no comment that Ive seen here yet, as nobody outside of Diggle Ranges seems to have noticed anything going on.
Page 86
The Long View by Des Parr. The F-class World Championships Page 76 and the independent traveller The shooting highlight of 2013 for the long-range target shooter will be the F Class World Championships, to be held in Raton, New Mexico in August. If that wasnt enough, the USA F Class Nationals will also be held, immediately before the Worlds. The GB squads have already been selected, however that does not prevent any independent shooter going along to take part and this months article is aimed at the independent traveller who wishes make their own way to Raton in August for either or both competitions.
Page 82
This Smallbore Business by Brooksie. Shooting standing on a Scatt machine, or similar electronics. First let me state, that before graduating to an electronic machine of any sort, the basic training process must be well in place before any attempt is made to move to electronics to gain the finer motor skills of standing shooting.
Regulars
& more
Page 100 FROM THE BENCH Page 66 THE LONG VIEW Page 76 SMALLBORE - BROOKSIE LATEST NEWS
Page 100 Latest News from around the world. Disabled Shooting The British Shooting Show Ladislav Ninger - Obituary Sportsmans Association UKPSA News And more...
REVIEW
SPECIAL ISSUE
The 2013 National Shooting Sports Foundation Shot Show in Las Vegas
SPECIAL ISSUE
Once again your intrepid Target Shooter team braved the temptations of Las Vegas to bring you all the news from the NSSF Shot Show!
7
REVIEW
REVIEW
Media Day...
The Show was of course held in the shadow of last Decembers Sandy Hook school massacre and the tragedy, plus the possible restrictions involving the ownership of certain firearms, frequently came up in conversation with stallholders as they wait to hear President Obamas proposals. British shooters are well used to knee-jerk reactions by wellmeaning but vote-seeking governments in the aftermath of such tragedies - where the gun is held to blame rather than the perpetrator. Who blames the car when a fatal road accident occurs?
Yup it looks like a summers day bright sun, clear blue sky but boy was it cold!
REVIEW
9
Media Day
The one thing that separates the US Shot Show from all the others is Media Day. The day before the indoor show opens, members of the media are bussed out to the 1000 yard Boulder City Gun Club range, which is about half an hour from Vegas. At this time of the year, the ambient temperature should be around 58 degrees F but, this year, something went horribly wrong and it was hovering around freezing for the whole day. Yes, it was sunny with a clear blue sky but a stiff breeze meant that we were all teetering on the brink of hypothermia after just a few hours but not before we had shot some pretty interesting stuff.
10
REVIEW
REVIEW
11
REVIEW
12
Media Day is where we actually get to not only meet the manufacturers but also use their products i.e. we spend a day shooting guns of all types. Its a great commitment for a manufacturer to put their products up for test and rifles and pistols will typically fire hundreds of rounds over the course of Media Day hopefully without a malfunction. It gives us a unique opportunity to speak to firearm designers in person, learn more about their products and the thinking behind those products. Of course, its not just firearms - designers of accessories like bi-pods, scopes, stocks and of course ammunition all bravely put their kit not only on show but on test as well. We couldnt visit everyone and mention every product but we are pleased to list all of the 150 or so vendors who were represented: 3 Gun Nation Action Target Alliant Powder American Tactical Armalite Battenfield Beretta Birchwood Casey Blackhawk Browning Butler Arms Cabot Guns Caracal Cassidian Optronics Chiappa Firearms Colt Comp Tac Victory Gear Cutting Edge Bullets Daniel Defense Del-Ton 511 Tactical Aimpoint Alpen Optics Ares Defense Ashbury PO Bennelli Bergara Barrels Black Rain Blue Force Gear Burris Cabelas Caldwell Carl Zeiss CCI Speer CMP Command Arms Crimson Trace Dallas safari Club Darex Doublestar Corp
REVIEW
13
REVIEW
14
DPMS EOTech Ergo Grip ESS Eye Pro Fausti USA Federal Flir FNH USA Fostech Outdoors Freedom Hunters Galco Gunleather Gamo USA Glock Harris Publications Heckler & Koch
Kel Tec Hornady Houlding Precision Italian Gun Grease IWI US JARD Kahr Arms Kalkomey Kawasaki Kestrel Meters KodaBow KRISS Kroll Int KWA Performance Lansky Lasermax
Lasermax Leupold Lewis machine Maglula Matthews McMillan Meopta Mission First Tactical MyTopo NRA Youth Prog Otis Para Parabellum Armament Phil Phillips POMA
Promatic Propper RAAC Firearms Redring USA RCBS Remington Rock Island Arm Rocky Mtn. Elk Found Ruger Sako SAR Arms USA Savage SCI Foundation Sig Sauer Silencerco
REVIEW
15
REVIEW
16
Simunition Sisk Rifles Slide Fire Solutions Smith & Wesson SOG Knives Springfield Armory Steyr Streamlight Sure Shot Game Calls SureFire Swarovshi SWORD Intl SWR Suppressors TenPoint Crossbow Ten-X Ammo The Mako Group Safariland Tikka Tracking-Point Trijicon USFA Vanguard Viridian Laser Sights Walther Weaver Winchester WingOne WR Case & Sons Xs-Products Zippo ZMB Indusriesg Nationa. Shooting Sports Foundation And the following companies provided equipment to make the day run smoothly such as targets, ear and eye protection, vehicles etc:
Birchwood Casey Blackhawk Champion Crosman DOA Tactical Benches Funker Tactical GSM Outdoors Honda Generators Mule Deer Foundation Promatic Slide Fire Solutions Sure Shot Game calls Professional Outdoor Media Association Ive never been mad about shotguns but now that my home club is running Practical Shotgun comps. Im a bit more of a fan. Practical shotgun is all about rapid fire, plenty of mag. capacity and steel targets. Most shotguns fire from a under-barrel tube mag. but AR style guns with detachable mags. are now beginning to emerge. Unfortunately, the one I was about to shoot had fallen victim to sand and grit after several hours use but I did get to shoot an interesting pump, the super-short KelTec KSG with two tube magazines giving a 15 round capacity.
REVIEW
17
The 1911 pistol in its original 45 ACP chambering is my personal favourite but when you get around to shooting the Glock in either 9 or 10mm you realise just what a good pistol this is and why many professional users choose it including the British Army. In this pic Im shooting the new 45 ACP Glock - no, I dont like plastic pistols but you cant deny - its a great concealed carry gun. Glock have used a single-stack mag. to keep down the width of the pistol grip and fitted a slimmer slide to make the gun more suitable for concealed carry. Springfield Armory have gone down a similar route with their XDS 45ACP Micro, holding just five rounds in the single-stack mag. again to keep down the overall size. Sig Sauer have followed
REVIEW
the same route with their P250 and in spite of very short barrels, they dont kick as much as you might think. The AR15 is currently in the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Why does anyone need an assault rifle they ask. Shoot one and you will want one! It can be anything from a fun plinker to an accurate competition gun and was well represented at Media Day in all its variations and it doesnt take long to realize just what a superb rifle this is. Although it is now available in a wide assortment of chamberings including 338 Lap. Mag. I think it handles best in the 223/5.56 NATO. This rifle is so easy to shoot well.
18
REVIEW
19
Now for something really naughty! The Slide-fire. This is a simple plastic replacement stock which converts a semi-auto AR15 to full auto! It has no moving parts which is why its legal in the USA. It cleverly relies on recoil to do the job. Difficult to explain but by holding onto the pistol grip and pulling forward with your hand gripping the fore-end, the rifles goes full-auto! I found it difficult to control initially but it scores 100% for funfactor! One of the most amazing things at Media day was the Tracking Point scope bringing jet fighter lock-andlaunch technology to shooting. Now before you get too excited, this is not in the price-range of the civilian market but for a military/police sniper or wealthy hunter it could be a sound investment.
REVIEW
What does it do? It makes it difficult to miss for one-off long shots! Apart from reading the wind, this scope really does do everything! If it did that, it would make competitive target shooting pointless. The Tracking-Point (after youve inputted your ballistics) allows for range, temperature, barometric pressure, spin-drift, cant and inclination. Wind input is down to the shooter. (See display page 22). This is the display you see when looking through the scope, which I got to try at 1000 yards. After placing the aim-point on your target, you then spot your target by pressing a small button inside the
20
trigger-guard. The display now drops and you must raise the rifle back onto your target thus compensating for range. Back on your aim-point and. pull the trigger nothing happens...Why? Because you are not exactly on your chosen target and the Tracking Point wont let you fire and miss! Adjust the aim and... bang! You cant help but hit it! Wow what a piece of kit!
We are looking at $20,000 if you want one now but, in five years... ?
REVIEW
21
The top right diagram shows... just how complicated it is! But, it works I tried it and Ive got the T-shirt to prove it! If your curiosity is aroused, have a look at the website at www.tracking-point.com A more affordable version of a do-everything smart scope in a similar vein is also offered by Laxco www.laxcoinc.com but it is no where near as sophisticated.
REVIEW
Although the AR15 is a great ergonomic platform for a tactical rifle, you can always go the bullpup route and Israeli Weapons Industries were displaying their new TAVOR assault rifle. (See image below) Is there an advantage to the bullpup configuration? Try double-tapping said the IWI guy. I did - so much easier to stay on target with elbows tucked-in. An awesome rifle. Of course, theres much much more and Media Day is all about shooting but lets go indoors for the real Shot Show and see what else is on offer.
As always, new ammunition was hot at Media Day particularly the brand-new 17 Winchester Super Magnum Rimfire. With a tiny 20gn bullet zipping out at 3000 fps this will obviously appeal to varmint shooters. It appeared to be very accurate at 100 yards but it could make an interesting out to 300 yards range cartridge. Cant wait to test it. We should get the Savage B-Mag bolt-action rifle from Edgar Brothers later in the year. Winchester were also displaying their new 338 Lapua round. This cartridge is becoming ever more popular and it was very pleasant to shoot in Savages braked tactical rifle and very accurate too.
22
INDOORS!
Media day was fun as always but, it was freezing and I was glad to be in the warmth of the enormous Sands Expo exhibition space for the next few days.
One of my must see products was the new 15 to 55 zoom target scope from Nightforce,. .
REVIEW
23
24
REVIEW
almost outgrown its venue with many stands looking quite cramped, especially with the large crowds, which can make photography quite challenging.
How do we review the Shot Show? The official Show guide runs to 200 pages with each exhibitor having only a paragraph so how can we hope to convey whats on offer over a couple of dozen pages? Obviously, we cant so we must cherry pick a few interesting items bearing in mind the restriction in exporting firearms related products from the USA, which is a real pain for the rest of the world. OK, where do we start?
please the F/TR shooters and, the body-tube stays at 30mm so no need to buy new mounts if you upgrade. It comes with a nice fine cross-hair/dot reticle which I like but, if you must have more dots and lines you can spec. the new DDR. Turrets adjust in eighth-minute clicks which some long-range target shooters prefer. The one at the Show was silver with black adjusters looked OK but all black is an option. Judging from their other new model the BEAST (Best Example of Advanced Scope Technology!) they obviously fear competition from Schmidt & Bender as well. At two and a half pounds, weight saving clearly wasnt a design priority with the Beast and this is a really rugged 5-25 tactical scope embodying every feature you could possibly want, offering a massive 120 MOA of adjustment with its 34mm body tube. First focal plane of course as this has now become the fashion with military spec. scopes though personally, with the range-finding equipment now available, I still need to be convinced on the need to estimate ranges with a reticle. Leupold did have a new VX6 target scope on show but at 3-18 it wont attract any serious long-range shooters although a 4-24 is also in the making but its just not big enough. Most serious F Class shooters will be looking for at least 32 power for 1000 yard work and the success of March and Nightforce should be a wakeup call to all scope manufacturers. At least Kahles have seen the light with their new 1050. All the quality German optics companies have the ability to make fantastic long-range scopes for target shooters but for some reason, dont see the market but, like Schmidt & Bender, Kahles have now woken up! Kahles have given some thought about the things that we, as target shooters, need. You can reach your windage and elevation knobs from the prone position with your right hand but then, to (side) focus you need the right hand. Kahles have addressed this by putting
Scopes
What about scopes? One of my must see products was the new target scope from Nightforce, offering a 15 to 55 zoom range. Nightforce must be aware that March are stealing their customers and much thought had gone into the design of this scope, taking care to keep the weight down. At 28 ounces, its half a pound lighter than the NSX or Benchrest models which should
REVIEW
25
the focus ring on the elevation turret and theyve added a rather large wheel to do this a bit like the side-focus wheels used by air-rifle field-target shooters. With a rested rifle, using either hand to adjust is not really a problem but, with a supported rifle, I can see the advantage as the right hand is the free hand so to speak and, in field-target, range-finding adjustments are constantly required. Its a great idea but it looks naff but you can remove it if you are an F Class Shooter! It also has a little pop-up reminder button on the top of the turret so you dont forget which revolution (of three) you are using. The Nightforce scopes and the Kahles are what we would call high end optics both in quality and price
but lower down the scale I found an interesting scope from Millett/Bushnell in their tactical series. The scope is in the 6.5-25 magnificantion range and has a 35mm body tube so plenty of adjustment, with big targetturrets, side-focussing and a superb tactical camo finish. OK, Im sure the origin will be Chinese and its difficult to assess optical quality in a show environment but the picture looked very good and Im sure the price will be right. There is now a move to offer smart scopes which do everything - mainly for the hunter market. The Laxco auto targeting digital riflescope is one such beast and offers bullet-drop compensation, built-in range-finder, tilt compensation and the like but, the daddy of them all is surely the Tracking Point scope offering jet fighter lock and launch technology turning your rifle into a precision guided firearm. We were able to try it on media day and it does exactly what it says on the tin!
26
REVIEW
Rifles
Unless you have visited the Shot Show, you just would not believe the number of companies now making the AR 15 rifle for every application military, target, home defence, plinking etc. If you were in the market for one just how would you choose? All are bristling with pic-rails, levers, handles etc. Any colour you can dream of is available from bright pink to camo. Traditionally chambered for the 223, almost any caliber is now possible and my particular favorite was the one milled from solid titanium and chambered for the 300 Win.Mag Top that! But, AR15s aside, what else? Armalite, that legendary AR manufacturer now offer a bolt-gun chambered for a variety of cartridges from
the 308 to the 50BMG. Naturally, the rifle is all-black, mag. fed and sports a military-style brake. Not cheap but presumably built to mil.spec. More affordable are the tactical-style rifles from Remington and Savage. Savage have face-lifted their 10 and 110 BA tactical models with more pic-rails and improved butt. They are also offering other bolt-guns with detachable magazine, decent stocks from HS Precision and McMillan. Remingtons tactical rifle also comes in the PSS stock, (green) with a detachable AI magazine, longish medium-weight barrel and brake. The Ruger 10/22 is probably one of the worlds most popular rifles who hasnt owned one? They are
REVIEW
27
Now, dont get too excited its way beyond the pricerange of all but the professional or serious hunter.
used for a variety of competitions and the number of aftermarket accessories available is second only to the AR15! Everyone offers upgrades to make this a better, more accurate rifle so what could Ruger do that no one else has done? They made it into a take-down thats what! The rifle can be simply split into two parts in seconds making it fit easily into say a rucksack. Theres an excuse to buy another!
The advent of CNC machinery continues to inspire the production of the aluminium rifle chassis. Remingtons is still one of the best, followed by Accuracy International but there are endless other examples. The Whiskey 3 version is unusual in that it is made for the Tikka T3, Sako M995 as well as the Remington 700 footprint. It comes as a folder option and starting at $919 its good value. Traditional fiberglass stocks seem to be on the wane - Manners and McMillan were exhibiting but I didnt see much I hadnt already seen but Kelblys did have a new stock, the KTS. It was billed as a tactical stock but
28
REVIEW
doesnt follow the traditional McMillan A5 style being somewhat larger but looked fine with their big new repeater action designed to use cartridges like the 338 Lap Mag. Incidentally, Accuracy were showing their AX PSR - a three-barrel tactical rifle kit all neatly contained in a Peli case and offering 308, 300 Win Mag and 338 Lap mag. options needing just one Allen Key to swap barrels.
Other Stuff
One thing I really wanted to see at the Show was the new press from RCBS. The press represents some lateral thinking from RCBS by moving the die rather than the cartridge-case. It is very compact with a massive ram. My old Rockchucker was bought when I started shooting 30 years ago and it was second-
REVIEW
29
REVIEW
hand then! This new press will definitely be finding a place on my reloading bench as soon as they become available in the UK. Lyman were showing a compact version of their reloading combo. Hopefully the simplified format will lower the price. They were also showing some new electronic scales. Forster have a new measuring tool for re-loaders which appears to be well thought out. In addition to measuring and comparing the cartridge overall length, it can also measure case-bump. This is something which has confused some shooters and this tool should simplify things it will certainly be on my shopping list. Of course, at any show, there are vendors out to make a buck by selling you a good idea that you dont really need snake oil! Cleaning fluid and gun-oil tend to fall into this bracket and obviously many shooters clean their rifles a bit like you clean a car if it looks nice and shiny its clean. If you are a competition shooter, I dont need to tell you the importance of proper cleaning and Im always on the look out for genuine products which do the job. Last year, we discovered Swab Its which are now stocked by Fox Firearms in the UK and, if you havent tried Swab Its, you should. This year, my cleaning discovery was Boresmith. This company make a range of useful products including some nifty cleaning brushes but what caught my eye were the patches. If you stuff a square patch up your bore and then open it up when it comes out the other end you can see how the patch has scrunched-up in the bore. In fact, sometimes they sometimes get stuck fast. Boresmith have addressed this and come up with an ideal shape patch which is a modified triangle. OK not earth-shattering but, if you can get it the right shape why not? I have a few samples to try so a full report in a later issue of Target Shooter. Currently Boresmith dont have a UK distributer but anyone wishing to become one could e-mail sales@ rigelproducts.com In some respects, a barrel is the most important part of an accurate rifle and, most accurate rifles be they F Class or benchrest will have a very heavy barrel.
30
However, most competition classes are limited by weight so there is a limit to how heavy or long our barrels can be. The carbon-fibre wrapped barrels from Christiansen Arms once looked promising but I know of no one using one in competition but what about this take a heavy barrel, turn it down to a a slim profile and spray it with titanium to bring it up to heavy profile again result, a stiff barrel which is lighter. Could it work? Well, I saw examples of it on the stand. Cost? Well, its not going to be cheap is it? But, the process is used in the jet engine industry and if a barrel manufacturer took it on... Check out www.gunwright.com Whilst on the subject of barrels, Fred Feddersen was very enthusiastic about his 10/22 rimfire barrels, claiming benchrest accuracy. Difficult to assess a barrel without shooting it but the internal finish on these barrels was visibly excellent and could be an alternative to the usual 10/22 aftermarket barrels.
Shotguns
Practical Shotgun is certainly on the increase in the UK and there were lots of tactical shotguns and accessories at the Shot Show. I got to shoot the amazing Kel Tec KSG bull-pup tactical which holds 14 rounds in two mag. tubes. Mesa Tactical, who exhibited at Media Day, have an amazing range of practical/tactical shotgun accessories. Unfortunately, bits of plastic are subject to ITAR export restrictions and it would be good to get a proper importer for shotgun accessories in the UK Im sure there would be a good market. In addition to the AK47 shotgun, the AR15 platform is now becoming popular and it will be interesting to see how these impact on the UK PSG scene. Weve only covered a handful of the exhibits but hopefully the accompanying photos will convey something of what is on offer out there.
REVIEW
31
32
REVIEW
REVIEW
33
34
REVIEW
REVIEW
35
36
REVIEW
REVIEW
37
38
REVIEW
REVIEW
39
40
REVIEW
REVIEW
41
42
REVIEW
REVIEW
43
REVIEW
When you arrive in Las Vegas, at McCarron airport, it is just a short drive to the strip, home to some of the largest and most luxurious hotels in the States. Again this year, one of those hotels, the Venetian, which is attached to the Sands Expo Centre, would be hosting the Shot Show. To give you some idea of the size of the show - if youve been to the NEC at Birmingham, the halls at Shot Show 2013 could easily be comparable in size. What you have to remember though is the NEC is an out of town, purpose built exhibition centre but, walk out of the Shot Show and you are in the corridors and lobby of the Venetian hotel... it is immense!
The Target Shooter crew were billeted at the Trump International hotel, yet another huge and very impressive Vegas hotel. (Before anyone asks we paid for it out of our own pockets, treating the trip as a holiday as much as a trade fair!). One reason for using the Trump was Jim Kelbly of Kelbly Precision Rifles and manufacturer of the famous Stolle action was exhibiting at the Shot Show and had kindly included us in his entourage, so we could enjoy a discounted rate - thanks guys, much appreciated. The Shot Show opened Tuesday but Monday was Media Day. This is where the manufacturers, both large and small, took over Boulder City Shooting Club range to let the media see and shoot their wares (a tough job yes but someone has to do it!). Coaches had been laid on with various hotel pick up points and not knowing what to expect, I was surprised that the coach was full and this was just one of many coaches. It was only a 30 minute drive
44
to the range and this was when I first realised the scale of the show and shooting in general in the US. The massive car park was full with hundreds of people milling around. The range consist of several pistol ranges, shotgun facilities and a 1000 benchrest range with each
know how many rounds would have been fired over the course of that day from 223 to 338 and everything in between but it must have run into the tens of thousands, all for free (I wish I could have brought the brass home and weighed it in!) By about 4.30 we had had enough, not of the shooting, we could have gone on for hours but the cold was starting to be too much and the poor guys on the stands who had been there all day must have been frozen. We had tried a huge array of handguns, rifles and machine guns but now it was time to go. We didnt try everything, there wasnt time but
manufacturer taking their part of the range (it is hard to say but there must have been close to 150 exhibitors on display). The one down-side to the day was the weather although sunny, it was extremely cold and very windy, not what you would expect for the middle of the desert near Vegas but it was now or never so we just had to get out and live with it. We decided to work our way from one end to the other, playing with as much as we possibly could (err...... I mean testing and evaluating!). The variety on show was amazing, every conceivable variety of AR 15 derivative as well as pistol, shotgun and rifle. When you think of what we are allowed to shoot in the UK, it was hard to take it all in and we shot revolvers, semiauto pistols, normal rifles, AR 15s and even a machine gun (I shot an AK74 with the unusual but excellent Slide-fire system that turns a semi-auto into full auto! A simple sliding butt-stock lets recoil do the triggerpulling - hard to comprehend and hard to shoot but, once you get used to it, an extremely fun idea). Range targetry was anything from conventional paper targets to steel plates, with the odd zombie thrown in for good measure! (Dont ask - but basically a fun rubber/plastic target). I now started to realise why the AR15 is so massively popular in the US who wouldnt want one? I dont
we had sampled a good cross section and I had now seen at first hand how huge the sport of shooting is in America. So with the shooting over it was back onto the coaches and back to Vegas - just in time for a free lesson in a casino on how to play craps but thats another story!
45
REVIEW
The Show itself ran from Tuesday through to the Friday and covered five halls in the Venetian Hotel and the Sands Expo centre. Unlike shows in the UK, this was a combination of civilian, military and police exhibitors and access was available to all. The two largest halls contained most of the names you would be familiar with such as Glock, Smith and Wesson, Remington, Leupold, Savage etc. (there are far too many to list but you get the picture). Three smaller but still large areas were mainly police and military with various brands I had never come across but also hosting companies such as Nightforce. The thing that struck me on day-one was the huge number of exhibitors - stretching from one extreme to the other in the shooting world. To give you some idea - on one stall you could look at ladies underwear made for concealed-carry pistols then, a couple of stands
Despite the availability of a Shot Show app to help plan your route between your favorite exhibitors, we decided the only way to tackle it was to go up and down each aisle, in turn, or we may miss something. Product variety on display was vast, some new products which I am sure you will soon see in the UK such as new cleaning products - set to revolutionise your cleaning regime with one product that can severely cut down on carbon fouling by cleaning the bore and also leaves a film on the inside to protect the barrel. Unfortunately there are also many things we will never be able to have in the UK, such as the new range of pistols from Walther or the stunning titanium AR15 chambered in 300 Win Mag! Even though the exhibitors had realised that, as Brits, we could not have some of their products, it made them no less helpful when demonstrating their goods. By the end of day one we just managed one hall and not the largest - handgun after handgun and I never knew you could have an AR15 in so many colours! Want a gun safe you can walk into like a walk-in wardrobe or a rifle-display cabinet that automatically drops into itself if tampered with thus making it impossible to steal from (something straight out of a Bond movie), well they have it. Day two and we needed to get round a bit quicker or we would run out of time. We went for breakfast to the Peppermill - just down from our base at the fabulous Trump Hotel - on the advice of a local One meal may be enough for two! he said. He wasnt kidding the pancakes were the size of pizzas!
REVIEW
away you could be looking at infra-red night-vision sights to be used on the machine gun on a helicopter gunship.... this show is vast! The other thing that struck me was the number of visitors. I have attended many trade fairs in connection with my day job but this was something else. When you consider this was just a shooting show (OK, visitors from all round the world but it still just a shooting show) the number of attendees was immense. It was like trying to get on a tube in rush hour and yet again showed how big shooting is in the States.
46
Day two was also busier - which I didnt think was possible, today we went into the largest hall, the hall with all the household names. A small contingent of British stands were in here with Eley in prime position with Team USA on the stand wearing their gold medals from the Olympics. Celebrity endorsement seemed to be the norm on some stands as queues formed to get autographs. Most seem to be pay per view TV stars from the American shooting channels. Again, an indication on how many shooters there are in America when the pay per view TV hunter on the Remington stand has people falling over themselves to get a picture, yet the Olympians at Eley have plenty of time to talk to you.
Stock manufacturers, amongst many other things, seemed to be popular in here with several on display. Some new and interesting innovations here as well with some nice folding stocks, a carbon fibre wrapped forend which dissipated heat so as to avoid mirage and an ingenious attachment for your shooting kit from Eberlestock which you put on your bag to make a shooting-stick cum rest when out and about in the field (difficult to describe but, if you hunt, try to get to see one, it is very clever and neat).
when we Brits are not allowed to own them. One final spin around a few stands and that was it, or least that was the plan - we still stopped for another five hours! At one point we also bumped into a shooter from the European F Class circuit who had come over from Spain - Eduardo Abril de Fontcuberta - he was promoting his new book on military snipers and training of snipers via Paladin Press. There was still another day to go but I was going to leave that to the other guys - now it was time to sample the bright lights of the town that America calls Sin City and see how long it would take to lose a few dollars at the casino (I am not going to say win as the only ones that win are the casinos!) and of course, no trip to Vegas would be complete without a visit to the Grand Canyon. Pictures and explanations of new products I will leave to more senior scribes in this magazine as this is more of an overview from a first timer. Suffice to say, this is really the most amazing variety and display of shooting equipment I have ever seen or fired. Like Vegas itself, you have to see it to believe it, it is almost too much to take in. So, with all the travel, jet lag, cost, would I go again...? Dont be ridiculous! Of course I would - I have only been back two days and I am saving up again already!
As mentioned previously, the mix between military and civilian was clear to see, body armour, helmets, tactical gear all evident and it was obvious some of the shoppers were looking not from a sport perspective but more as a matter of life or death in some far flung country. Want some CS canisters or gas pellets, grenades for underneath your M16, we can find them in here, or how about what looked like a VW camper with a grenade-launcher on the roof! By day three I was starting to flag, there are only so many M16/AR15 rifles and handguns you can handle -
REVIEW
The first load manual from the renowned manufacturer of precision rifle bullets. Contains range/field/competition-tested loads tailored for Berger bullets in 71 different cartridges using all brands of powder. There are technical articles on a wide range of subjects by Bryan Litz, John Barsness, Eric Stecker, Walt Berger himself, and other respected experts in the field. Informative section for the new rifle shooter, including a Handloading Basics chapter, plus a full biography of the man who started it all, Walt Berger. Fascinating reading even if you never load a single round!
Lyman Deluxe Check Weight Set Precision weights to verify scale accuracy 39.33
Micro-Touch 1500 Electronic Reloading Scale 63.80 Ezee Flow Powder Trickler
Full range of height scale adjustment handles virtually any reloading scale 18.10
Rifle Ammo Boxes Available in a wide range of sizes for most calibers from 2.94 Gun Cleaning Patch Catcher 9.35
email:sales@hannamsreloading.com
Peckfield Lodge, Great North Road, Leeds LS25 5LJ Tel 01977 681639 Fax 01977 684272
www.hannamsreloading.com
BSS_FULL_PAGE_AD_2012_RIFLE.indd 2
23/10/12 11:24:15
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.
All Lapua case weights fell within a 1.5gn variation over a 25-piece sample, over half within a mere halfgrain. 20 PPU cases covered around 3.5gn and S&B consistency fell between the other two. The maximum allowed length for the 7.62X54R case is 2.114-inch with a trim-to value of 2.105. My Lapua cases were all well under either figure when new and did not need trimming at any stage despite some being loaded and resized three or four times, still under the 2.100-inch mark on their final resizing. The others were longer, S&B almost maximum after firing factory rounds and before sizing, PPU approaching the trim-to figure. A set of Lee dies was purchased and cases were fulllength sized on each firing, only laterally backing the die out in the Redding T7 press turret to reduce the amount of shoulder set-back. Four 0.310-311-inch dia. bullets were loaded within a 123-186gn range but, I concentrated on two 174gn models, Hornadys FMJBT #3131 and Sierras HPBT MatchKing #2315. 25 examples each were loaded with smaller diameter 30-cal bullets, Lapuas 185gn D46 FMJBT and Sierras 180gn HPBT MatchKing to see how these slightly undersize models would perform in what is really a 303 calibre rifle despite its 7.62mm designation.
Lengths
Before moving onto primers and powders, there was one other decision to be made COAL, or how deep to seat the bullets. The official overall length is 77mm (3.031-inches) putting it into the same bracket as many of its late 19th / early 20th century military contemporaries, 7.5X55mm Swiss (77.7mm), .303 British (78.11mm), 7.92X57mm Mauser (82mm), and .30-06 (84.84mm) but, as with the others this was partly determined by the early use of long round-nose 200-220gn flat-base bullets seated to the bottom of the case-neck. Try to load the aforementioned 174s out at threeinches plus and their parallel shanks are barely in the neck. I loaded the Hornady at 2.98 in., the Sierra MK around 10 thou longer and the bottom of the bullet shank/boat-tail junction was around half way down the case-neck in both loadings. The short, little 123gn
53
The Load testing set-up on the bench with the essential spotting scope alongside.
Lapua brass was used in all test loads. Capacities varied considerably between PPU and Lapua cases.
54
Two Ps
That leaves the other consumables primers and powders. Brazilian CBC Magtech 9 standard Large Rifle models were used throughout seated by one of Lee Precisions recently updated hand tools, the AutoPrime XR. This latest version of the venerable tool is instantly recognisable by its square primer holder/ flipper/magazine and is in my humble opinion superior to the fancier and more expensive ERGO model. Anybody whos used the Auto-Prime I have for more than a quarter century and worn out/broken I dont know how many over the years will feel at home with the newest model but it really is much improved. It provides a more positive feel as primers go in, the magazine incorporates a primer feed channel that stops the old problem of a gaggle of the wee beasties hanging up together so you had to tap or shake the tool to get them to move down into the tool head. Perhaps best of all, theres a secondary rod above the tool body that runs parallel to the seating plunger and lifts one primer at a time out of the feed channel prior to dropping it under the shellholder as the operating handle is released, thereby isolating that being seated from those in the magazine. This should eliminate the double-feeding of two primers that happened occasionally with the original tool and if God forbid, you do something really unfortunate or suffer some weird static electricity effect or similar that causes primer detonation during seating, it should be limited to that one example between the case and seating punch with no chance of a chain reaction spreading to those in the magazine. Not many shooters have come across Magtech primers. Ive used them on and off for years having first discovered them through the late David Shaw who traded as Reloaders from a terraced house in Scunthorpe around 20 years ago. They were much cheaper than the American models, so much so at that time that David said he had trouble selling them, his customers dubious that they could be any good at the asking prices.
Choices
That leaves powders. With a case capacity falling between those of the 303 and 30-06 allied to 30-calibre, youd expect the 7.62X54R to be a flexible number, and it is. Throw in the variety and choice of powders available to the handloader in that middle burning rate band between Viht N135 on the fast side and N160, IMR/H4831 on the slow side, all likely to work at least reasonably well and I could probably have tried around 15 different propellants. In the event, N135 was chosen for the little 123gn Lapua FMJs and gave over 3100 fps with fairly good groups, otherwise everything was in the N140 to H4350 range. With my N140 supply nearly used up, I switched to the Commonside Firearms distributed Swiss TR140, a powder whose behaviour is so close to the Finnish number that I regard them as clones. Even before I get into results, Ill say that if you want to keep things simple in this cartridge choose a good quality 174gn bullet and load it over Vit N140/TR140 its all you need to keep your Mosin-Nagant happy. Three obvious choices were discounted on purely selfish grounds Hodgdons 4895 and VarGet, Alliant Reloder 15. With limited stocks, all three of single production lots, dedicated to my long-range 308 Win and 223 Rem F/TR loads, there was no way I was going
55
Four of the six bullets tried, all 0.310-311-inch dia. The two 174gn models from Sierra and Hornady in the centre were mainly used.
to consume any of these precious powders in the ancient Soviet clunker! Hodgdon still got in on the act though with its H4350, the slowest burning powder tried. Lets move onto another obvious choice, that which I confidently expected to be THE star performer with its mix of apparently ideal burning rate and specific density. QuickLOAD predicted Viht N150 would achieve or better 50,000 psi at a near 100% case fill-ratio allied to complete charge consumption. In practice, it performed superbly with the Sierra 174, but not quite as well with the same weight Hornady you win some, lose some!
56
I tried three propellants that many readers will either be unfamiliar with, or only have a vague recollection of Lovex SO62 and SO65 and IMR-4007SSC. The Lovex duo comes from Explosia, a large propellants and explosives manufacturer in the Czech Republic via Westlander Limited, a small UK outfit located in the West Yorks/Lancs border region. The range is known to some British shooters under different designations from when Explosia supplied many Accurate Arms products under the latters name. Accurate was taken over by Western Powders, which packages and distributes the all ball powder Ramshot
range and there was obviously some falling out subsequently as this American company switched suppliers away from the Czechs for its acquisitions. We still get the Czech manufactured powders here though, although theyve reverted to the Lovex brand name and the makers European designations which are SO.. for extruded stick numbers, DO.. for double-base ball types. (Ill look at these and other new powders in a future issue.)
SO62 is what used to be sold as Accurate Arms-4064, a singlebase tubular number with a similar burning rate and characteristics to that most flexible of the traditional US IMR powders, DuPont IMR4064 (still in production but now in Canada and part of the Hodgdon group). 4064/SO62 has lots of applications in mid-size cartridges from 22-250 Rem/220 Swift up to The much enhanced Lee Auto-Prime XR hand priming tool and cheap Brazilian CBC 30-06 class numbers and even 375 Magtech 9 LR primers were used throughout. H&H Magnum. It was a standard powder for mid-range accuracy loads in 308 and 30popularity of and huge number of applications for 06 for decades in M1A/M14 and M1 Garand service the latter. QuickLOAD suggests real-life use doesnt rifles when combined with 168gn or 175gn Sierra MK support the manufacturers specifications though as it bullets. generally needs noticeably heavier charges to achieve VarGets pressures and velocities. With it being a Whilst this suggests its an old product, SO62/AA-4064 relatively bulky stick type too, this means youll run is a recent introduction here I used to regularly ask out of room in the case or run it heavily compressed in Westlander Ltds Chris Pearson if he could acquire it applications where a case-full of VarGet just produces as I was sure it would prove a very useful addition to full velocities as in 308 Winchester, especially when the our powder ranges. (You can buy genuine IMR-4064 COAL is restricted so the bullet is seated on the deep too these days as Edgar Brothers imports it, but SO62 side. is cheaper if you can find a retailer who stocks Lovex powders). For those unfamiliar with 4064 - that is most I reckon SO65 will turn out to be an excellent choice British shooters - the burning rate is similar to that where there is a bit more case capacity available and of Hodgdon H4895 and of the long gone and much a burning rate between that of VarGet and H4350, missed Alliant Reloder 12. (or Viht N140/N150), suits older roomy cartridges such as 7.5 Swiss, 303, 30-06, the various Mausers SO65 is another and in this case, newly introduced, and suchlike. Im sure there are lots of more modern tubular job which allegedly has the same burning rate as VarGet, a characteristic which the importer is understandably keen to capitalise upon given the
57
Six of the eight powders tried (Viht N135 and N140 missing).
cartridges where itll work well too. ( This may prove to be a winner in the 6.5mm Hornady Creedmoor with 120-130gn bullets mentioned elsewhere in this issue). That leaves IMR-4007 SSC, a fairly recent introduction from Hodgdon/IMR but one you only rarely see mentioned even on the US shooting forums, suggesting its not yet found many outstanding roles in the cartridges that are currently in and generating posts. Starting at the end and working back to the beginning of its name, SSC = Super Short-Cut, it having very short stubby tubular stick kernels allowing high case fill-ratios and providing consistent charges from mechanical powder measures. Its a singlebase propellant with a burn rate filling the large gap between #4320 and #4350 in the IMR range (so why 4007, not something logical like 4335?) that
58
puts it somewhere close to Viht N540-N150 and the aforementioned Lovex SO65, slightly slower burning than N140, VarGet and Reloder 15. Its a very versatile powder suited to a huge number of cartridge/bullet-weight combinations. However, apart from proving ideal for the stubby Winchester Super Short Magnums and some .22-250 Rem loads, it doesnt seem to have caught on and rarely gets a mention in loading manuals probably because it rarely produces top velocities in any particular cartridge/load combination. Ive read it also works very well in the WSM and SAUM short magnums, but Alliant Reloder 17 has taken all kudos and interest here with its outstandingly high velocities (and barrel wear!). Id bought my stock as it looked like it might be ideal for heavy bullets in 308 Win F/TR loads and, whilst
Bullets were seated fairly shallow to just under 3-inches COAL. Hornady 174 FMJBT left and Sierra 174 MatchKing on the right.
59
On the Bench
Before I give the results, Ill say a little about testing these loads off the bench. I thought this would be an interesting but probably deeply unfulfilling exercise Im spoiled by too many top grade custom rifles with precise and light triggers, heavy stainless limited-production precision barrels and high-power scopes with 56mm objective lens diameters. Here was this piece of Tsarist/Soviet junk with its horribly nonergonomic stock, tiny 3.5X PU scope, trigger creep and pull-weight so great that other people could shoot whole matches while I waited for the rifle to make its first round go bang. Actually, against the odds, I really enjoyed the experience! The rifle was shot rested throughout, my Sinclair front-rest having its adjustable All-Purpose rest-top installed and positioned way back compared to normal use so the bag-sides gripped the widest part of the forend not that much ahead of the action not ideal but still more stable than using one of these large bag front-supports, range box, or similar. Targets and aiming-marks had to be rather different from my usual practice because of the 3.5X scope and its reticle form. I usually print A4 sheets consisting of a one-inch grid with superimposed half-inch dia. Aimingmarks onto card for my load testing targets, before cutting the sheets in half crossways to give A5 size target sheets. I then shoot four to six groups on each. In this case, I obviously needed MUCH larger aimingmarks and pieces of card, so shot two groups only per A4 target, sometimes only one.
60
The choice of aiming-mark was important and took some experimentation black circles and squares were tried trying to leave a small white gap between the pointed tip of the vertical post reticle and the bottom of the mark in the aim, as in shooting with a blade or partridge iron-sight. That didnt work. I eventually found the best option was to stick a pair of two-inch dia. - better still three-inch diameter - self-adhesive Birchwood Casey orange targets onto the grid. The orange was light enough to just see if the rather indistinct reticle tip overlapped the bottom of the mark even so, Im sure aiming errors added a bit (lot?!) of vertical into some groups leaving me with the situation of wondering whether some 4+1 groups were truly that shape and size, or Id injected one to inches into the group size. Most load combinations comprised 25 rounds, of five by five-round batches. Theyd initially cover a 2.5 or 3.0gn charge weight spreads, but as I became more familiar with the cartridges characteristics, that was narrowed to a two-grain spread incorporating four half-grain steps. (The RCBS ChargeMaster 1500 automatic dispenser is a boon here!). Many lowest charge groups consist of only two or three shots as re-sighting was almost often needed a change of load usually seeing the 100-yard POI move by up to six-inches and, in extreme cases, nine to twelve inches vertically and three to six laterally so a clean backing sheet tacked to the target frame was usually essential at this point to find the first hole in a new set of rounds. (Within 25-round batches, each half-grain charge weight increase would see the mean POI rise an inch or two, and after a certain pressure/ velocity was reached, charge increases moved the POI rapidly to the left as well.) This also means that you really need to test and zero your M-N handloads under such conditions trying out a new combination at 500 or 600 yards in a competition or practice shoot is likely to be a frustrating experience. Talking about seeing holes, a spotting scope and stand was another essential accessory, as there was little chance of seeing shots through the low-power PU riflescope.
The target set-up. Two, more often three, A4 sheets mounted transversely, two groups shot on each sheet. The point of impact changed considerably as charges rose, the final group here (bottom right) moving nearly three inches to the left of its predecessor (bottom left) for a half-grain charge increase.
61
Comments
As always, the results speak for themselves but a few comments are in order. First and foremost is the issue of what is good, bad, or indifferent when judging group size in this sort of rifle. Talking about the Nagant to a top GB F/TR shooter during the European F-Class Championship meeting at Bisley elicited the response hed owned three of these rifles in sniper form over the years and couldnt get any of them to shoot at all - by which he meant produce sub three or four-inch groups. So, my example is obviously a very lucky find. Quite frankly a lot of these rifles and I include our own 303 Number 4(T) and the German 8mm sniper Mauser amongst them struggled to achieve twoMOA groups when new, never mind after suffering unknown amounts of military ammo down their barrels with an equally unknown but probably inadequate cleaning regime by todays standards. So I regard three-inch 100 yard groups as acceptable, ~2-inches as very good and 1-1.5-inches as being in the Ive fallen really lucky with this example category. So far as velocities go, I only obtained a handful from early testing thanks to the miserable weather we had in the north of England over most of 2012 allied to the bulk of the work being done during the back end of the year with short dark days that killed my chronographs functioning. Ill just say I wasnt looking for any highspeed loads. Despite the M1891/30s 29-inch barrel, 2450 2600 fps with 174-180gn bullets was more than good enough. The best groups generally came with pressures in the 40,000 45,000 psi range (QuickLOAD estimates) and, I doubt if anything I used hit 50,000 psi (against a CIP allowed maximum average of 56,565 psi). Certainly nothing showed anything approaching high pressure indications in terms of flattened or cratered primers and hard bolt lift. As previously noted, full62 Both lots of factory ammo performed well. (Three-inch aiming mark / one-inch grid.)
length sizing was an easy task and that would be only partly down to the efficacy of the big Redding T7 press and use of Imperial sizing wax as the case lubricant the cases were simply not being stretched very much at these pressures and Im sure would give a life of many loadings and firings. So far as low pressure symptoms go - the classic one being sooted-up cases due to poor case obturation in the chamber - this only happened with Lovex SO62 where for some reason or other I chose a rather low range of charges at 43.5-45.5gn, the lower end only expected to produce some 39,000 psi according to QuickLOAD. All charge-weights produced this ghastly symptom (I hate filthy cases, chambers and bolts!) bar the top one so, I had a second attempt with the powder raising charges to 47gn in smaller steps, that weight producing 10,000 psi more than my original starting load as estimated by the program, 49,108 psi for 2743 fps. Thats for the MatchKing by the way, not the 174gn Hornady as actually used on the range, since QuickLOAD doesnt have Hornadys #3131 in its database. Perhaps because test shooting took place on my coldest load-testing outing of 2012 where temperatures didnt rise above minus-four C, these
The 174gn Sierra MatchKing over Viht N140 / Commonsides TR140 is always a good bet in this cartridge. (Two-inch aiming mark / one-inch grid.)
higher charges burned dirty too. Or.... maybe 7.62X54R and SO62 simply dont get on that well but I doubt that for two reasons: it burns very cleanly in the not dissimilar 308 Winchester cartridge; I shot five groups in the Nagant that cold day that ran between 1 and just over two inches despite my trigger finger feeling like it had died from hypothermia. The 0.3090-inch Lapua D46 load produced a couple of respectable efforts, the 0.3083in. Sierra MatchKing was poorer than the norm with everything above three inches. Moral stick to 0.310-311-inch bullets despite what the American manuals say, unless youre loading for a Finnish 7.62X53R barrelled rifle. Two factory rounds were tried from Sellier & Bellot and Prvi-Partizan. Both did well with most shots going into two-inch groups but the occasional flyer taking some out to three see comments above on aiming difficulties though! That leaves the little 123gn Lapua FMJ flat-base with its deeply concave lead core - when you look up its rear end. Id worked a couple of loads up shortly after I bought the rifle some years ago and eventually settled on 51.0gn Viht N135 as a shortrange (up to 300 yards) combination. It gave some impressive groups in this original range-test but, Im sorry that I cant say exactly what, as I mislaid my targets and notes.
63
Table 2 RESULTS (100 yard 5-shot groups) Factory Rounds Prvi Partizan (PPU) 182gn FMJ: Average 2-inch Sellier & Bellot 180gn FMJ: Average 2-inch n/r Handloads (FL Sized Lapua brass + CBC Magtech 9 LR Primer) Powder Charges Groups Comments 5 x 5-round groups. 3143 fps / 68 / 13 (ES/SD) 2580 fps / 48 ES (46.5gn) Undersize bullet Undersize bullet 2493 fps / 12 ES (46gn) 3 ex 5 groups 1.1-1-inch 2 ex 5 groups under 1-inch 2577 fps / 40 ES (46.0gn) 2635 fps / 40 ES (47.0gn) Small group. QL estimates 2693 fps/47,413 psi for 49gn. Sooted cases.
Sooted cases (very cold). Outstanding combination. QL estimates 2759 fps / 50,656 psi for 47gn.
2615 fps / 80 ES
123gn Lapua FMJ (0.310) p/n S405 Viht N135 51.0gn 2-in (average) 186gn FNM FMJ Flat-Base (0.311) Viht N140 45.5-46.5gn 2-2-inch 180gn Sierra MatchKing (0.3083) p/n 2220 IMR-4007SSC 47.0-49.0gn 3.1 4-inch 185gn Lapua D46 FMJBT (0.3090) IMR-4007SSC 47.0-49.0gn 2 3-inch 174gn Sierra MatchKing p/n 2315 (.311) TR140 44.0-46.0gn 1.1 3-inch IMR-4007SSC 47.0-49.0gn 2 3-inch Viht N150 45.0-47.0gn 1.1 2-inch 174gn Hornady FMJBT p/n 3131 (0.3105) Viht N140 44.0-46.5gn 1 4-inch Viht N150 45.0-48.0gn 2 4-inch IMR-4007SSC 47.0-49.0gn 0.95 2.1-inch Lovex SO62 43.5-45.5gn 1 2-inch Lovex SO62 45.8-47.0gn 1 2-inch Lovex SO65 47.5-49.5gn 1 4-inch Hodgdon H4350 49.0-51.0gn 1 2-inch
64
Advertise With Target Shooter Magazine and be seen by over 10,000 readers every month.
All adverts in Target Shooter Magazine are LIVE LINKS. No other off the shelf magazine can deliver such a high UNIQUE VISITOR rate with the simple click of a mouse...
Email Yvonne for more information. Click here... Get MORE UNIQUE VISITORS to your website with Target Shooter Magazine.
IMPORTANT NOTICE These components and loads performed safely in the authors rifle: this cannot be guaranteed for other firearms. Good handloading procedures should be used working loads up from low starting levels while looking for signs of excessive pressure. Note comments on the large variations in case-make capacities which will affect pressures.
Competitions
Whilst many shooters were sleeping off the effects of Christmas, 600 yard benchrest shooters were back on the benches the day after Boxing Day for round three of the UKBRA 600 yard winter series. For December, we couldnt complain about the weather and sure enough we had some decent groups. Chris Gleave shot a remarkable sub. two-incher with his 308 Accuracy International off a bi-pod and put one over on Darrel Evans and Sean Broxham who normally dominate the Factory Class. Overall winner was Light Gun shooter, Ian Dixon shooting his 6-6.5-47 Stolle and Gary Wrighton won Heavy Gun in his first outing with his 6.5-284 built by Callum Ferguson of PRS in Scotland.
In January, we should have been back on the benches for round four of our 600 yard series but, we were thwarted by the weather, with snow making range access impossible. Next shoot 24th February. If youd like to try 600 yard benchrest, just turn up at Diggle for 10.00am with your rifle and ammo. E-mail me on vinceb@targetshooteronline.com for more details.
Other Stuff
Obtaining benchrest quality bullets in the UK is becoming ever more difficult. American bullet makers can no longer ship to us unless they have the necessary paperwork and, for the small custom manufacturers, its not really worth it for the tiny UK market. Whilst over in Vegas for the Shot Show, I got to visit Don Lahr of Precision Ballistics, a cottage bullet maker who does have an arrangement with a shipper for overseas orders and, in addition to the range of 6mm bullets, Don also makes a range of 6.5 bullets. Next month well have a closer look at Dons custom bullet making set-up but meanwhile, check out www.precisionballisticsllc.com
Heavy Gun:
1st - Gary Wrighton. 6.5-284 PRS Nesika. 3.655 2nd - Bob Nicholson. 6.5-284 Barnard. 4.281 3rd - Dale Almond. 308 Barnard. 4.836 Small group: 2.727 inches. Gary Wrighton
Factory Class:
1st - Chris Gleave. 308 Accuracy Intl. 4.339 2nd - Sean Broxham. 6.5-284 Savage. 4.364 3rd - Darrel Evans. 6.5x47 Accuracy Intl. 5.001 Small group: 1.883 inches. Chris Gleave
66
www.osprey308.com
The Armalite
By
AR10 Part 2
68
68
Fox gets his next delivery of 6.5mm barrel blanks from Bartlein Barrels in the USA. (Sods Law when Brian had barrels, we couldnt get a chamber reamer; we now have the reamer, but no barrel!) Getting an answer to the second part of the question is more problematic. Thanks to the post-Hungerford ban on semi-automatic centrefire rifles, few British shooters have experience of modern semi-auto type target and
Smallest 6.5s. Left to right: 6.5x47 Lapua, 6.5 Hornady Creedmoor and 260 Rem.
sporting rifles, whether in gas or UK-legal manually operated versions, so Ill describe the issues. Both versions function identically except that the latter lacks a gas port in the barrel and the associated feed to an operating piston, or in the ARs case the bolt carrier and bolt as it employs direct impingement gas operation. Fire a round and the semi-auto version uses a tiny part of the propellant charges gas production to unlock the bolt, move it back the length of the receiver
69
69
movement has forced the bolt and attached fired case rearwards - only marginally but enough to break the cartridge-case to chamber interference-fit to allow easy bolt opening and case removal or to use the proper jargon has effected primary extraction. A gas-gun also turns the bolt to unlock it then simply applies sheer brute strength to yank the case out of the chamber a brutal process. The force applied is so great and its build-up so rapid, that if the cartridges load is too high for the rifle leaving a super-tight case to chamber fit (or other problems exist such as rough and/or very dirty chamber walls) the extractor will tear through the back of the case leaving it stuck. Apply this setup to manually-operated derivatives and what youd think was an everyday task now sees the human operator grunting and cursing as he (or she) struggles with an apparently locked-up bolt. Once enough force is applied to overcome the chambers hold on the case and get it moving at all, the resistance disappears and the bolt flies open. The little 223 Rem. cartridge generally works well in this set-up until you try using RG 5.56mm NATO surplus in your straight-pull, or really stoke your home-loads up. My experience with the cartridge in straight-pull AR-15s is that loads that generate up to an estimated PMax of ~58,500 psi according to QuickLOAD work fine. Exceed somewhere between that figure and ~59,000 psi and the primary extraction issue rears its ugly head, the required effort rising rapidly with each subsequent 100 or 200 psi increase in chamber pressure. Use a larger case with a much greater case/chamber contact area and life inevitably gets harder even if you dont increase pressures. The 6.8mm Remington SPC case extracts sweetly with factory ammunition pressures Ive yet to try handloads with this cartridge. The 308 Win. is hard work, sometimes almost impossible to get the bolt open unless pressures and hence MVs are kept well down. I dont know how this trio compare in surface area but, if you take their internal capacities as measured by the weight of water they hold, the 6.8mm Rem SPC has a value of 117 and 308 Winchester 193 where 223 Rem. has a base value of 100. The 6.5 Creedmoor is a little smaller than the 308 at around 180, but still massively larger than the 223 Rem.
AR cartridges. Left to right: 223 Rem. and 6.8mm SPC (AR 15); 260 Rem. and 308 Win. (AR 10) operating mode reappears, the mainspring pushing the bolt forwards into battery, stripping a new cartridge from the magazine and chambering it on the way. So far, so straightforward. The problem arises from the lack of cam-powered primary extraction in semiauto designs. When you lift the bolt handle on your Remy 700 or similar turn-bolt action, its base is forced backwards by a curved section of receiver acting as a mild cam. When the handle reaches the top of its stroke, and before you start to pull it backwards, that
70
70
ball powders that can produce erratic pressures and velocities, severe muzzle flash and blast at the sort of pressures Im looking at.
When the rifle was still in its 308 Win. form, I found that primary extraction stiction would appear with loads that QuickLOAD estimates produce somewhere between 50,000 and 53,000 psi. There is no hard and fast dividing line as the brass and powder used have an effect. I tried four or five makes of case and found Lapua seemed less prone to hard bolt opening a shame as I intended to keep this brand for my long-range F/TR rifle loads and use R-P, Winchester and old Norma examples I had spare for the SSR-10! The Krieger barrel liked Lapuas old 170gn B476 FMJBT Lock-Base design (now discontinued) and 44gn N150 grouped consistently under half-MOA at 2650 fps MV with easy bolt opening at an estimated pressure just below 50,000 psi and that was adopted as my standard load.
71
30 cal. match bullets; the 0.264 123gn model is very well suited to the smaller 6.5mm cartridges including the Creedmoor. Their G7 BCs are 0.236 and 0.265 respectively (Bryan Litz, Applied Ballistics for Long Range Shooting, 2nd edition). Do QuickLOAD Charge-Run tables for the pair and its immediately obvious the Creedmoor/123gn combination generally produces around 100 fps higher MVs compared to the 155/308 at the same (50,000 psi) estimated pressure. Couple that to the 13% higher BC of the smaller calibre bullet and its going to perform better on the range or field flatter trajectory, higher retained velocity and less wind drift. The figures for the classic 10 mph crosswind are just over 4-MOA for the Creedmoor at 600 yards, and a full-MOA more for
disappointment, far less satisfying to shoot than its little brother, all down to the functioning problems. The answer to the second question lies in the realms of external ballistics. If pressures and velocities are limited by the extraction issue, 6.5mm bullets should perform better in terms of retained velocities and wind drift than equivalent 30s. Lets examine a couple of examples using QuickLOAD and Lapua Scenar bullets. The 155gn Scenar is the most efficient of the companys
the 308/155, the gap rising to 2-MOA at 1000. This assumes 2800 fps and 2700 fps MVs for the pair, the 6.5mm bullet remaining just above transonic speeds at 1000, the 308 suffering the trauma of traversing the entire transonic speed range before just dipping below the sound barrier. If we look at tactical and McQueen type competitions, I ran the external ballistics for the pair at 300 yards (the longer of the two McQueens distances) and assumed a 5mph wind-change from 90-degrees, actually rather a large gust or let-off on most ranges. The Creedmoor
72
72
bullet would move ~3, the 308 another half-inch, maybe a just large enough difference to lose you more points. Looking at the 300 yard wind figures also shows why youd likely go for the bigger AR model in this application. The 223 Rem AR-15 is limited to low-BC (~0.190 G7) 77gn bullets seated deeply when magazine operation is needed and COALs are thereby restricted to 2.25-2.26 inches. The 77gn Sierra MK at 2700 fps moves 4-inches in our 5 mph wind change. However, in its favour, the 223 produces considerably less recoil and rifle disturbance in the aim than either of the bigger numbers. Anyway... moving onto the rifle in its born-again 6.5mm form, my experiences playing with the 308 Win. cartridge in the AR-10 as recounted above should have taught me something. That is, to use the invaluable QuickLOAD program to come up with a selection of load combinations that will likely perform at around 5053,000 psi chamber pressures. How does one decide this? Good velocity allied to > 85% case fill-ratio and 99-100% of the charge consumed within the barrel. (Several powders give good forecast velocities and fill the case but, only see 90-96% charge burn at these relatively low pressures). Initially at any rate, Ill avoid double-base powders partly to preserve barrel life but also because past experience suggests such powders often need higher pressures to perform consistently. This particularly applies to ball powders that can produce erratic pressures and velocities, severe muzzle flash and blast at the sort of pressures Im looking at. Well, thats what I should have done, not what I did. Ill blame Hornady for this as the company produces two factory match loadings, 120gn and 140gn A Max at 3020 fps and 2820 fps in a 28 inch barrel. It goes further and publishes the components and charge weights used in these loads: F210M primers, 44.5 and 41.9gn Hodgdon H4350, COALs of 2.720 and 2.800 inches respectively. So, being in a hurry, I thought it made sense to simply copy Hornadys loads starting a grain or so down and working up in small steps with 3-round batches. But, hang on a second . factory ammo specs . full SAAMI pressures?
In the immortal words of Homer J. Simpson: UHH, DOH! You guessed it hard bolt opening, like REALLY hard opening. Run these loads through QuickLOAD, and the estimated PMax values are actually a bit down on SAAMI maxima but, no harm done anyway, as Ill just put the unused rounds to one side to wait for the eventual arrival of the turn-bolt Stiller. The other item of note about this first outing was that it took place on Diggle Ranges in mid December in a distinctly hostile environment. Vince and I almost had the place to ourselves, there being precious few other lunatics around willing to brave half dark, freezing conditions with a vicious wind blowing up the valley. Worse, wed barely put a round downrange when it started to snow - light for a few minutes then filling the air with swirling flakes by the time wed fired three 3-round batches. Discretion proved the better part of valour, especially in my case as I use the highest section of the trans-Pennine M62 motorway in my Diggle visits. Whats that? Did we actually hit the target? Batch 1 (140gn) was used for sighting-in; batches 2 and 3 (120gn with Vince shooting the second of them) ran somewhere around three-quarters inch at 100 yards, so no reason to break out the bubbly or bewail a disaster in the making typical first outing results. For next month, Ill see if the Lothar Walther tube likes the 123gn Lapua Scenar and well give N140 and N150, Lovex SO62 and SO65, IMR4831 a try. Then after that, Ill maybe give a few doublebase numbers (N540/N550, Hodgdon Hybrid 100V, Reloder/Elcho 17) a whirl to see what sorts of velocities are available from these high-energy propellants and whether they perform consistently at 50,000 psi. There will eventually be a full report on loading and shooting this interesting new cartridge in both AR and Stiller rifles.
73
73
Website : www.ospreyries.com e-mail: stuart@ospreyries.com Tel : 0161 408 3555 Mob: 07861 399066
Open Season Ad 23/4/10 14:58 Page 1
Also available KG mil-spec weapon cleaners Carbon remover Copper remover Bore conditioner Gun oil Dry lubricants Solvent & Degreaser
Open Season Ltd Oxford, UK GSM: + 44 (0) 7771 607481 | E mail: rupert@openseasonltd.com | Web: www.openseasonltd.com
www.eleyammunition.com
website and return it with the official invitation to the matches. A formal invitation will be supplied on request from the Bald Eagles Rifle Club, who are the match organisers. See their website at: http://fcwcusa.org/ For your first permit, allow up to 12 weeks for it to be issued, subsequent permits seem to be issued much quicker around 5 weeks or so.
The shooting highlight of 2013 for the long-range target shooter will be the F Class World Championships, to be held in Raton, New Mexico in August. If that wasnt enough, the USA F Class Nationals will also be held, immediately before the Worlds. The GB squads have already been selected, however that does not prevent any independent shooter going along to take part and this months article is aimed at the independent traveller who wishes make their own way to Raton in August for either or both competitions.
Accommodation
Having got the vital permit, next youll need to secure accommodation in Raton. This is where a bit of local knowledge comes in handy; on my visits to Raton I have paid from $39 up to $120 in a variety of chain and independent hotels. The cheapest option is long gone but there is no shortage of rooms, expect to pay on average around $70 per room. There is accommodation on the Whittington range, it falls into two categories; bunkhouses and founders cabins. The bunkhouses offer basic accommodation with shared bathrooms and self-catering kitchens. They sleep 15 in small shared rooms and cost $26 per
The Bureaucracy
The first step is to obtain the necessary permit to enter the USA with a rifle. This is quite straightforward really; just download the 6NIA form from the BATF
76
range space will be very limited act now or live to regret it.
person. The other type of accommodation is the Founders cabins. These are large, modern and stylish detached cabins. They have four ensuite bedrooms with twin beds and cost $35 per person. Realistically, I expect there would be little or no chance of the Founders cabins being available in 2013 as demand from the USA is likely to be high.
Car Hire
Car hire will be your next priority to arrange, this should a pleasant surprise, as car hire in the USA is very cheap. For example on my last trip to Raton Ebookers offered a compact economical car from Dollar for just 300 for 18 days a bargain. Car-sharing needs to be thought out carefully. Small compact economy models should be avoided, unless it is to be used by an individual. It is best to hire at least a mid-range size car for a maximum of two shooters. This is simply due to the sheer amount and bulk of kit required and the space it uses up. Not only is the equipment bulky, it can cause damage if all lumped in together in a tight space, the lack of space can cause irritation between the shooters too. So, as a rule it is best to hire larger vehicles they are so cheap to hire that the added cost is not significant.
Getting there
Raton does have its own little airstrip but, it is not served by any scheduled flights, the nearest cities with regular connections are Denver, Albuquerque and San Antonio. By some peculiar quirk of geography, Raton is exactly 204 miles from each of those three cities. Connecting roads are of equal quality, so really the only difference is which city can offer you the best selection of flights and prices. Denver is the more popular destination of the three, so flights there are just a bit cheaper, though August is high season so expect to pay about 900 depending on the airline and flight time. Try to avoid Heathrow if at all possible, although I know that it is nigh impossible for many have to use it. One year, the security checks took so long that I missed the flight. Another year I built-in two and a half hours and still ended up sprinting to make the flight! I would now advise building in three hours at least, if using Heathrow. Flying via a regional airport is by comparison far more efficient and cheaper. As a rule it is best to avoid code-sharing airline arrangements. Fly with one airline for the whole journey, as two airlines can mean double the risk of non-cooperation, differing rules and meeting incompetent staff. Sadly, all airlines now seem to charge extra for carrying two checked bags. Firearms can attract extra charges, so allow for an extra 50 per leg.
Travelling
On landing at either Denver or Albuquerque, you would be well advised not to make the 204 mile journey to Raton immediately. By the time you land, you could have been on the move for 18 hours. Instead, seek a hotel about an hours drive from the airport and stay there for the night to recover from the journey and proceed to Raton bright and refreshed next morning. There are plenty of places to stop along the Interstate 25 - I can recommend the town of Castle Rock if arriving via Denver.
Ammunition
Going abroad with a rifle usually means having to make arrangements for ammunition as well. You are
77
allowed to carry up to 5kg of ammo. per person. That is not enough for all the shoots and to avoid any hassle carrying it, you may opt to make your ammo. in Raton. For components, simply use your preferred US supplier and have items shipped to the range or hotel. Whittington centre staff are helpful in taking delivery of parcels, so it is feasible to have equipment sent there to be held in their locked goods receivable room for you.
Raton and the ranges are at an altitude of around 6500 feet, thats pretty high for most folk and some dont acclimatise very well, suffering from headaches and nausea. Unfortunately, theres very little comfort to offer; just drink plenty of water, take it easy and avoid alcohol. The range points North, extends to 1000 yards with 100 targets. The most significant feature is that the firing points have been constructed from coal-mine tailings. As you might expect, this is filthy stuff and very jagged. As a result the firing points are rough, with many small, sharp stones. The points are consequently uncomfortable and extremely dirty. As a consequence, it is absolutely essential to have a wellpadded shooting mat. A thin sheet of PVC or canvas will not save your ribs, hips and knees from getting cut and bruised. The mats sold by AIM Fieldsports would be ideal. Normally, there isnt any food available on the range, though for big matches a catering wagon is brought in, supplying burgers etc. at reasonable cost. It is expected that for the Worlds there will be adequate catering provision. Water is available in the butts and in the range offices but it is of course absolutely imperative for shooters to bring plenty of their own bottled water. The hotels all provide ice free of charge for filling cool-boxes. Due to the dry hot wind, lips can be a problem, so having lip salve is essential. Due to the hard, stony firing-points, cut elbows is a realistic problem, so having elbow-protection is essential, if not then come prepared with band-aids and antiseptic wipes. Obviously, due to the bright sunshine, sunglasses and sun-blocker are top priorities. A wide-brimmed hat or at least a baseball-cap with a neck-protector would be essential.
Eating Out
Dining in Raton is limited to just a handful of restaurants, this is not a problem - though in August with an additional 300 visitors in town, it may be wise to make reservations. K-Bobs is a steakhouse and a range sponsor, it is reasonable and economical, though nothing special. The Sweetshop is a little bit more refined, though still very basic by British standards, it provides reasonable food at slightly higher cost. There is a 24 hour diner Dennys, a US chain which is basic & cheap. The Oasis diner is a traditional US diner; it is adequate for lunches or breakfast. Apart from those places, there are the ubiquitous McDonalds, Subway and a drive-in Sonic. There appears to be just one pub in Raton, called the White House, it sells mostly bottled American beer.
The Venue
The NRAs Whittington centre is located 11 miles south of Raton, it is an impressive range complex, covering over 30,000 acres, it caters for every target shooting discipline and hunting too. It has a souvenir shop and accommodation.
The Competition
The day starts early, I usually timed my arrival at 7.30 each morning and was regularly among the last arrivals but nothing happens until 8am. There is little or no tradition of using paid markers in the US, so competitor marking is the norm even
78
in big matches. Marking is expected to be fast and accurate; hence two competitors mark each target, sharing the job. On the whole, it works; shooters give other shooters the sort of service they expect and you know who is marking your target and can hold them accountable. The downside is that is makes for a very busy day; youre either shooting or marking with very little time in between. As soon as the detail is finished, the markers race out of the butts whilst the shooters are likewise racing to get off the point and into the butts. It all feels quite frenetic. It means you get nowhere near the amount of time in between details that you would in the UK so by the end of a long hot days shooting you can be pretty tired exhausted frankly. Shooting in the World Championships is all stringfiring. Basically, each shooter is allocated a block of time, usually 20 minutes and can use that time as they see fit. It is an interesting way of doing things and has some merits. For example, with a fast butt-marker, the shooter can get all his shots off in remarkably little time cutting down the chance of getting caught out by wind changes. The location of the spotting-disc can be used to get immediate feedback on any gradual changes - following the spotter. String-shooting can give rise to some pretty impressive scores. The downside is that it is very hard on the barrels, as they get very hot no wonder the Americans change their barrels so often. As a minimum, expect to shoot at least 500 rounds thats including the Individual and Rutland Cup team shoots and the US Nationals. By the end of that your barrel may well be on the point of giving up!
So, if the idea of travelling independently to Raton to take part in the F-class Worlds and US Nationals appeals to you, best get the wheels in motion now, the BATF permit is the only thing that is out of your control, so best get your application in now. The World Championships only comes around every four years and it may be a very long time before it returns to the USA, it will be a massive attraction, so range space will be very limited act now or live to regret it.
79
TO BUILD AN EYE-CATCHING & SUCCESSFUL WEBSITE TAKES NOT ONLY CREATIVITY AND PASSION BUT ALSO A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE TYPE OF BUSINESS WE ARE WORKING FOR!
WE HAVE FULL DIGITAL STUDIO & LOCATION FACILITIES WHICH CAN CREATE STUNNING BESPOKE IMAGES FOR YOUR WEBSITE AND OTHER MEDIA. OUR 30YRS OF EXPERIENCE IS YOUR GUARANTEE OF QUALITY!
EYE CATCHING WEBSITES WITH EASY NAVIGATION & SEARCH ENGINE FRIENDLY CONSTRUCTION. WE BUILD WEBSITES THAT YOUR CUSTOMER WILL APPRECIATE & ENJOY USING!
SECURE ONLINE SHOPS CAN ATTRACT NEW BUSINESS WORLDWIDE! WE CAN INTEGRATE AN ONLINE SHOP WITHIN YOUR SITE TO EARN YOU EVEN MORE SALES...
SHOOTING GLASSES
n cr r pres0th iFpt2i0o3 Bring you Sun 1 eb 1
Sat 9th & to the show
PRESCRIPTION
ZEISS - SPORTS
HighFit, Wide View, Performance Prescription glasses for Target Rifle, F Class, Benchrest, Clay, Game, Rough & Air Rifle Shooting Target Orange, Vermillion, Yellow, Brown, Purple,Clear, etc Our polycarbonate lenses are tinted specifically for target, F Class, clay and game shooting. Optimum clarity requires different tinted lenses for different light conditions
J.H.STEWARD (BISLEY) have been helping shooters for over 30 years Best advice given on all vision aspects of shooting
Specialists in Eye Dominance problems - FREE fix-on microfoil
www.stewardsportsglasses.co.uk
by Don Brooke
hammered and the follow-through just does not exist! The position needs to be able to sustain a hold that stays reasonably steady and the new chum may find that the hold just does not produce any form of steadiness at all. There are lots of dry-fire techniques to maintain until the position of the rifle stays even somewhere near the target and many shooters find the position far too problematical at first. There are those around however, that that do not give up and simply learn to hold the rifle still enough to produce scores above the eight ring, then with more work, gain the nine ring so that their skills become far more interesting. So this then, is the area I am to focus on for this article, when the shooter learns to hold it still enough to register scores into the 90s, or with a hold inside the nine-ring generally and so able to make use of the Scatt machine. (My readers out there, I wish I had access to these things when I was training, let me tell you!) The stability of standing to register consistent
82
This shows the jagged trace lines of a hold pattern than needs a lot more work to stabilise. The trace can actually exceed the total aiming mark. As indicated in the text, the trace starts from the left (#1) and wants to return to its origin, which creates the jaggedness of the pattern. Even so, the shot may stay inside the ten ring with luck, given the trigger release sequence and follow through indicated by the blue trace line. (See text.)
shots in the eight-ring or above can only come from diligent training both on the range, and with dry fire techniques at home. I had to work hard without a coach, to sustain any form of skills for well over two years, just to sort out a position that pointed at the target and thus be able to work on the shot release/follow through sequence. In fact, it was not until I met a lot of my shooting friends on the circuit, that I gained any real information to be able to gain some form of momentum. I learned a lot from blokes like Mal Cooper, Barry Dagger from the UK, then the USA coaches such as Bill Krilling, whom I met in Munich, 1972 after I shot my way into the Australian Olympic Team with my prone skills. I also had an extremely informative session with a great Canadian coach, Jack Clinton and his shooter that year in Marty Klepf. These guys steadied my progress into the big standing shoots I was able to reach. I was also really fortunate one year in Strassbourg, to shoot alongside of Mal Cooper when he fired that incredible 397 points, to be the only smallbore shooter I have ever seen clapped off the firing point. Even a number of the great Russian shooters applauded his effort that day! BUT, it brought to my attention that you could shoot scores like that standing, and that 397 points actually eclipsed his prone shoot! (396..) I was stunned by
This (fig 2) shows a trace line of a hold approaching the nine and ten ring generally. The shooter has a much improved point of entry (#1) dictated by a better Natural Aiming Point. The trace line shows four points where the red line moves outside of the ten ring, while the blue line, after a successful shot indicates a trigger release sequence that needs a lot more work. The follow through is non existent in this case, given that the blue trace lines moves even off the aiming mark in total. (See text) This shooter would perhaps register ten shot scores in the high eighties (87 plus) up to 92.
if you look at fig.1, you will see the illustration of a reasonable standing shooter as they hold into the eight-ring. In this case, the hold trace approaches from the left side, and settles around the aiming mark, and you can see the ragged sharp angles of the hold trace exhibited on the Scatt screen. This shooter is battling the hold, (indicated by the left side direction of movement to the aiming mark, of which more on this below) trying to muscle the rifle to stillness long enough to gain a release window where the hold is relatively still. Usually the shot is released with a belt on the trigger and, notice the follow through sequence (blue line) that
83
The follow through process of all position shooting is crucial to results. The ability to register a hold window long enough to release a well executed shot is a product of many long hours of training, not only in shooting skills but also in physical fitness and very high mental processes. If you look at fig.2 for example, you will see the development of a hold pattern/ release window that is very obviously a lot closer to the ten ring than the example shown in fig.1. This shooter has worked hard on his position and the hold and has established a release window of around four seconds of steadiness, allowing him to release a steady shot. The red trace shows the direction of assembly of the position under breathing, the hold window, where the trace stays within the ten ring long enough to fire the shot. However, the blue trace line would indicate a less than perfect release sequence and follow through pattern even though the shot stays in the ten ring. (More luck than good management!) OK, as with the last issue of Target Shooter, I have illustrated a very good standing hold and shot release /follow through sequence (fig.3). This illustration
84
is what you should be looking for on an electronic monitor. This shows a shooter such as Matt Emmons (USA) whom I consider to be the best standing shooter in the world today. His approach from the 11 oclock sector, then the settle on the nine and ten ring, together with a hold window he establishes to register the shot release and follow through trace. Get hold of it like Matt has, and you too would be up there with him! Finally, bear in mind however, that NO electronic system can show you a live-fire recoil-trace and this can affect shot nomination factor, particularly for standing, or the heavier recoil of the 300m rifle. (Not unless you blow a big hole in the electronics! Just kidding!) Go for it shooters, big things CAN happen when you devote the time, work load, and thinking processes, after analysis of methods worked on with the aid of modern electronics...
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.
85
Joy-Pod
The F/TR shooters jungle drums are beating out a message, quietly but insistently theres a new generation of competition bi-pods on the way and theyre joystick controlled.
86
The SEB
Mere rumours? Actually no, and Target Shooter Magazine has the distinction to have prototype model No. 1 on test. Read on...
87
With the word getting round, opinions have been mixed on US shooting forums, no comment that Ive seen here yet, as nobody outside of Diggle Ranges seems to have noticed anything going on.
Mixed opinions? The anti-F/TR evolution - lets make everybody shoot Remy 700PSS rifles off cheap Chinese copies of the Harris bi-pod brigade - are unsurprisingly appalled! Yet more complexity and expense taking F/TR further away from shooting real rifles (whatever they are). At the other extreme, Ive seen forum posts by shooters who reckon this will be the next step in F/TR evolution and a game-changer. Others are already asking if its match legal, moreover, should it be so? These comments and opinions are from those whove yet to see a photo of the prototype, never mind got any real information about it, or when production examples will appear on the market, if ever and, what theyll look like, do, cost, or anything else!
The Joy-Pod on the authors 308 Win. Savage. Will it cope with the inevitable movement on the firing point under this cartridges recoil?
This is all good rip-roaring rollicking fun and adds to enjoyment and interest in the discipline, so Im not knocking it or anybody else were all entitled to our opinions. Its also a pointer to the influence Sebastian Lambang has had on precision shooting in recent years largely through his superb joystick front-rests, widely used in Bench Rest, F-Class and goodness what other shooting activities. The J-Pod, or Joy-Pod, springs from this likeable Indonesian engineers fertile brain and superb design and manufacturing skills. A thread currently running on the AccurateShooter Forum about his Neo joystick controlled front-rest under the heading of SEB Update now runs to 18 pages and has received an astonishing 258 posts with 36,899 views as I type this. Now thats real interest and respect!
Enter Scuttle
Anyway, there IS a prototype and it WAS forwarded to Brian Fox at Diggle, Fox Firearms UK and our SEB products importer, late last year. Its a sign of the great respect that Seb holds Brian in and Id like to think his views on British F and Bench Rest shooters too, (especially one V. Bottomley, Editor of this fine journal), that it has come to Britain for testing / evaluation, rather than the hugely larger US shooting scene and its many fine participants as did the initial prototype batch of Neo front-rests. Since Vince doesnt shoot much - if any - F/TR these days since he fell under the evil influence of the Dark Side (F-Open), it has fallen to the GB F/TR scenes very own Fred Scuttle* (see photo) to have a go. Now in many ways Im not the right person to test a joystick pod no, not because Im b***dy useless (What do you mean, of course you are!), but because Im a turret clicker. While Steve Donaldson might aim-off three
88
target frames down the line to get his windage right, plodder here is carefully twiddling the windage turret and noting each move on the plotting sheet and taking three times as long as Steve does to get the shot off. The raison dtre of a joystick design is to assist you to aim-off, and do it fast and accurately. Ah well, Ill just have to try it and suppress my natural inhibitions, I suppose.
Fred Scuttle? Does this really look like Laurie? Well maybe...
Principles
In its basics, the Joy-Pod idea is simple. Take one conventional F/TR type bi-pod with adjustable leg heights and ski-feet and put a miniaturised joystick controlled head onto the legs that lets you move the aiming-point laterally and vertically, both together in combination if need be. Its mounted to the rifle by a robust Anschutz style rail fitment, nothing unusual there, so the interesting bits are between the leg pivot points and the rifle forend.
Our intrepid contributor uses his 223 Rem Savage in competition with the prototype SEB Joy-Pod from a nice dry covered firing point (not!).
89
Well give you a full description of the prototype and report on whether it worked next month.
The working bits the moving pod-head in its default spring-loaded raised position
90
The action is a Remington clone no, let me correct that it is a Remington footprint but there, any similarity ends. This action has some revolutionary new features which may have appeared on other actions but if so, Ive certainly not seen them. Yes, there is little wrong with a straight copy of the Remington 700 with a few tweaks of course, which most of the current clones will boast but, this action, from Custom Shooting Technologies (CST), is bristling with innovation. Custom Shooting Technologies? A visit to their website www.cstmtech.com tells us more. The company was
established in 2002 and, in addition to their actions, they also offer some nifty bits and pieces for that other industry standard the Ruger 10/22. So what makes the CST action so special? What makes it worthy of our attention, when there are a dozen other Remington clones currently on offer including several from UK manufacturers. Firstly, lets look at what makes a custom action superior to a mass-produced factory action. Why is it worth spending an awful lot of your hard earned on a custom action? Well, obviously, tolerances on any mass-produced product can never be held as tight as a custom manufacturing outfit and you will hear of gunsmiths offering blueprinting of actions like the Remington. In other words, re-working the action so that it is more like what the designer intended! Its not difficult to see how things can be improved. If you own a factory action, close the bolt (on an empty chamber!) and pull the trigger. Now wiggle the back of the bolt and you will see some slop in evidence. Have a look at one of your fired cases is the firing-pin
accurate equipment is the first and essential step on the road to the winners circle!
strike exactly in the centre of the primer? Probably not. Why not? Because little in that action is quite as it should be. Think about what happens when you close the bolt on your Remington. The rear of the bolt is lifted ever so slightly in cocking - thanks to the slop and angled
93
Note coned lugs on front and rear of bolt-body Note coned lugs on front and rear of bolt-body
This shot shows the matching coned locking surface in the rear of the action
to seat dead-center and square every time, regardless of bolt diameter fit or wear. With this system, pressure to all locking-lugs is maintained even after the sear is released when pressing the trigger.
Yes folks, thats what every custom action manufacturer on the planet is striving for!
There is another problem that custom action manufacturers also like to address the guided firing-pin. Its difficult to look inside a bolt with out a borescope but if you did, you would see another
difference in custom and factory actions. The firing-pin on a custom action is a proper fit over the distance it travels on release. Of course, making anything close tolerance means that it could bind, achieving the opposite effect as to what is required. This has also been addressed by CST by employing an ingenious floating firing-pin.
The single-shot actions are available left or right-hand bolt and reloading-port and bolts can be fluted, actions can be polished or matt finish. The action is machined from solid 17-4 stainless steel with the bolt from 4340 alloy and the bolt- face diameter is offered from 223 up to WSM capability. The trigger-hanger takes any Remington-style trigger like the Jewel or Kelbly. You will also see from the website that other variations of the CST action are available depending on your intended application. Of course, no one is nave enough to believe that purchasing any action will make a mediocre shooter into a winner but accurate equipment is the first and essential step on the road to the winners circle! Benchrest shooters are accuracy obsessed and one of the Worlds top benchrest shooters has been carrying out some testing with the CST - with very encouraging results. www.dolphinguncompany.co.uk
A claw extractor and a floating ejector-pin (which doesnt place a side-load on the cartridge like a springloaded one) completes the job. Incidentally, if the bolt is beginning to sound a bit complicated it isnt and is easily and quickly field-stripped without any tools.
95
st N ate L
LATEST NEWS...
s... ew
LATEST NEWS...
honour him for and no doubt we will! He started the CBRA, the Czech Benchrest Association, to mainly compete in Centerfire Benchrest shooting. Ladislav soon fell in love with rimfire benchrest, developing this extensively and bringing his national team to high profile with various achievements at international level. Since 2009, Ladislav led the European Federation, developing the second European Championship and first World Cup in 2010. This highly successful championship demonstrated his understanding of how such a competition could be professionally run, from taking care of competitors, hotels and transport, through to how each match was run with precision. So impressed were competitors that they wanted next years European and World Cup Championship to be in Plzen once again. Ladislav was already in the process of finalising the details of this when he suffered his stroke. With nineteen countries attending and a full capacity of one hundred and twenty competitors, it will be the biggest and most competitive international event for this sport so far. Sadly the tributes we will pay to him next year will not be in person but there will be tributes nevertheless. His vision of professional tournaments will live on. His vision of a growing sport will live on. His vision will live! This is what we must celebrate in death, the legacy of a person, be it small or big. Ladislav was a big man in every way, whether people understood him or not, his life contributed to others positively in small ways and in big ways. Time is short in this life, there are no practice runs! Ladislav used life to the full, even though for those of us left behind his time with us was cut short. Certainly regarding this sport, like many other people, he contributed a great deal. For this we can all be thankful. His passing is a sad loss to us all for his humour, his determination and energy. We will miss the laughter we shared, we will miss our friendship, we will miss the times you stood resolute with conviction in your purpose, we will miss you each in our own way! Ladislav was laid to rest on Friday 4th January 2013. Goodbye Ladislav and rest peacefully our dearest friend. You have been all you could have been and more. You were one of the few! Today belongs to few and tomorrow to no one. W.S. Merwin 97
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
50m 3 x 40 50m Rifle 3 x20 25m Sport Pistol 50m Free Pistol 50m Rifle Prone 25m Rapid-Fire Pistol
ISSF European Championships 2011
50m 3 x 40 50m Rifle 3 x20 25m Sport Pistol 50m Free Pistol 50m Rifle Prone 25m Rapid-Fire Pistol
50m 3 x 40 50m Rifle 3 x20 25m Sport Pistol 50m Free Pistol 50m Rifle Prone 25m Rapid-Fire Pistol
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
www.eleyammunition.com
Champions shoot Tenex
Raymond DEBEVEC (SLO) Won his 7th Olympic quota place with ELEY Tenex
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
Jackets from 99 - 650 Trousers from 149 - 500 Gloves from 23 - 55 All budgets catered for - from beginner to professional... Full range of target shooting equipment & accessories
st N ate L
LATEST NEWS...
s... ew
Each of the conferences will cover all shooting disciplines and any type of disability. We will run the same programme at each venue, so anyone who wishes to attend can pick the date and place most convenient for them. The conference programme is intended to: 1 - Show the many and varied opportunities and options that the sport offers to people with disabilities 2 - Provide information, and sources of information, particularly for clubs, shooting grounds, coaches and officials catering for different disabilities 3 - Set out plans for future development in this area of the sport Offer delegates a valuable chance to meet other people in this field, swap ideas and experiences, and make useful contacts All of the conferences have been scheduled for weekends, and will run for an afternoon, starting with a buffet lunch to meet and greet. Some of the venues are able to provide opportunities for delegates to have a shoot before or after the conference, by prior arrangement. With a view to keeping money within the sport, the facilities and organisations that are hosting the conferences are representative of a wide range of target shooting disciplines. All of them have a tangible connection with disabled shooting. Naturally, they are all disabled accessible and can cater for wheelchair users. We would like to record publicly our thanks to them for hosting these events, and we hope they benefit from more business as a result. South East Region Saturday 16th February at SportsAble, Maidenhead, Berkshire SportsAble is an integrated sports club that caters for a wide range of disabilities in about a dozen different sports. It has excellent, purpose-built facilities, including a 10-metre airgun range. South West Region Sunday 3rd March at Purbeck Shooting School,
Break out the champagne! In the final phase of the Disabled Shooting Year, the DSP is delighted and proud to announce the launch of two major initiatives. In February and March we will be holding six Regional Conferences for those with an interest in any aspect of disabled shooting. Then the year will be brought to a triumphant close with the presentation of the Disabled Shooting Awards. Now that the future of the DSP has been secured until 2017 by continued Sport England funding, we hope that the conferences and awards will become annual events.
REGIONAL CONFERENCES
The Aim: To Inform, Encourage and Inspire These are open to anyone who is involved in disabled target shooting, whether as shooter, coach, official, helper or assistant, range or ground administrator, or any other capacity. We hope to be welcoming representatives of the media and disabled sport bodies, as well as disability support organisations.
100
Wareham, Dorset The School has excellent disabled-friendly credentials and hosts events for Sportability, as well as having several disabled shooters amongst its regular clientele. In addition to award-winning clay target facilities, the shooting ground is developing Hunter Field Target and Archery ranges. North East Region Saturday 9th March at Easingwold Rifle Club, North Yorkshire This small-bore rifle club has achieved the remarkable feat of embedding itself at the heart of the Easingwold community. It has an excellent 25-yard indoor range at this venue, and an outdoor range a few miles away. The club has disabled members, and is keen to become one of the first to join the DSPs Focus Clubs Scheme (to be launched shortly). North West Region Sunday 10th March at Blackburn Rifle & Pistol Club, Lancashire This is a large, multi-discipline club (rifle, pistol, crossbow and archery) with an astonishingly extensive complex of ranges and a gunshop at this venue. It caters for members with various disabilities, and has an enthusiastic blind/VI section. East Region Sunday 17th March at Norman Cross Ranges, near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire The 50-metre and 100-yard ranges at Norman Cross are used by several organisations for smallbore and Field Target shooting. The Cambridgeshire Target Shooting Association has just been awarded a Sport England Inspired Facility grant towards the cost of transforming the site into a regional centre of excellence with an emphasis on disabled participation. West Region Sunday 24th March at Royal National College for the Blind, Hereford The RNCB offers to its students outstanding opportunities in a wide range of sports, and has had a 10-metre airgun facility for blind/VI shooting for a
LATEST NEWS...
number of years. Students compete in the national leagues and championship meetings. Register to Attend All those interested in attending are asked to complete a registration form and return it to the DSP Co-ordinator Liz Woodall. The form, together with additional information on each venue, is available on the DSP website www.disabledshooting.org.uk, or by e-mail from dsp@disabledshooting.org.uk . Register soon, as numbers are limited! Please spread the word about these conferences to anyone who might wish to attend.
101
st N ate L
Award Categories
LATEST NEWS...
s... ew
An independent panel will consider nominations for the following awards: *Outstanding Disabled-friendly Club or Shooting Ground *Outstanding Contribution by an Organisation that is not a shooting body *Disabled Shooter at International Level (Senior and Junior awards) *Disabled Shooter at Domestic Level (Senior and Junior awards) *Coach working with Disabled Shooters *Coach with a Disability (for those with a moderate to severe disability) *Volunteer working with Disabled Shooters *Volunteer with a Disability (for those with a moderate to severe disability) *Outstanding Individual Contribution to Disabled Target Shooting Please help to make the Disabled Shooting Awards a success, and show how much people are appreciated, by nominating those who deserve recognition.
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.
102
LATEST NEWS...
Three divisions were contested in the Slug League. Winners were Mark Sandford in Standard, Walter Robinson in Standard manual and Phil Swainson in Modified.
UKPSA AGM
This years AGM had to do battle with the weather but, despite the snowy conditions it was a good turn-out despite a number of members not able to attend. The first agenda item was the awarding of the Postal league trophies. Honouring our British Champions for Long Barrelled firearms and Shotgun followed this. After some lengthy reports members moved onto electing the office bearers to the Association. After the Chairmans and the Regional Directors positions were contested, Vanessa Duffy has returned to her old stomping ground of the Chairmanship. Neil Beverley is now Regional Director and Rupert Stanley is the new Treasurer. With Alan Phillips remaining as Secretary and Ken Trail as PRO. 2013 UKPSA Competition Calendar. All members have been informed of the many UKPSA matches taking place in 2013. A number of new venues have been added which can only mean more fun and even more choice for UKPSA members. Postal Leagues 2013 The UKPSA Postal leagues were a great success in 2012, with over 240 shooters participating across many different gun divisions. This years Leagues are being put together already. The Leagues are open and free to enter and as well as being simple to set up and run, they are great for the club environment.
103
www.osprey308.com
Advertise With Target Shooter Magazine and be seen by over 10,000 readers every month.
All adverts in Target Shooter Magazine are LIVE LINKS. No other off the shelf magazine can deliver such a high UNIQUE VISITOR rate with the simple click of a mouse...
Email Yvonne for more information. Click here... Get MORE UNIQUE VISITORS to your website with Target Shooter Magazine.
Kelbly 179mmX130mm
6/16/10
7:16 AM
Page 1
Introducing Kelblys Tactical Rifles. bringing benchrest precision to the tactical market. With loads of options to choose from, and pricing that shatters the competitors.
Introducing the first hunting and tactical scopes with 10 times power ratio on a variable scope. March 1x-10x-24mm and 2.5x-25x-42mm. 1/4 clicks and 25 MOA per revolution. All lenses in scopes are cemented in place, and do not rely on O rings to hold point of aim. Argon gas purged.
Options Available
Options - (Only when ordered with Rifle) Spiral Flute Barrel 160 Straight Flute Barrel 120 Interrupted Flute Barrel 160 Duracoat Barrel 60 Water Transfer Print stock 180 Dolphin Trakker Rest(long) 150 Dolphin Trakker Rest(short) 140 Dolphin Muzzle brake 100 Long F/TR additional forend 100 Short additional forend 80 Open/Bench rest Style forend 140 VAIS style Muzzle Brake 120 Thread for Moderator; 60
Including fitting , proof and invisible end cap.
120
Dolphin Gun Company - Southwold - Donington on Bain - Lincolnshire - LN11 9TR - England Telephone +44 (0) 1507 343898 or +44 (0) 774 7771962. www.dolphinguncompany.co.uk - mik@mikdolphin.demon.co.uk
Target Shooter will be at THE BRITISH SHOOTING SHOW so please, stop by our stand and say hello we will have a few of your favourite writers manning the stand, ready to answer all your reloading and shooting questions. We look forward to seeing you there...
NOW Read WORLdWIde BY OVeR 10,000 dedICaTed ReadeRS IN OVeR 100 COuNTRIeS