Phoenix 2013 - The 'Wailing Wall'

[Dougan]

At the end of last year's Trafalgar I was saying to Adam (Dromia) that I didn't know how well I'd shot - he said "let's go to the 'Wailing Wall'...not knowing what he was talking about, I just followed...we went to the score boards next to the main NRA building...where indeed people were 'wailing'...some in joy, and some in disappointment :lol:

So how did everyone do at this year's Phoenix...?

My Gallery shooting (GRCF lever action) was a bit pants - probably my best event was the precision...I asked to do it first, and only did it to zero in for subsequent events, and as I wasn't bothered about it, put in a half decent score for me (funny how that happens :roll: ) - then had another go at the Advancing man...this is always frustrating as I never get to practice it, so tend to stuff up the first practice :cool2: - Then on to the main event; T&P1...and exactly the same as last year dropped 1 in the 1st practice (...the easy bit..) to get a 299 :cool2: :cool2: - Then finished with the Grannet...it's a big enough bulls-eye, and there's no reason not to hit it...but managed to do so consistently, and ended up chucking my score card in the bin

Then on to the 100/200 and 300 event Sunday morning - I really liked the event...all the classes were mixed together (from BP pistol to scoped sporting rifle), and though in the 'military class' (shooting my SMLE) I shot next to one guy with a 'black' .223 and another with a 6mm wildcat with custom painted stock (a real mix tongueout )...

...I shot sitting for the first time ever at 200 (or any distance) and did OK, and was well pleased with how the Smelly and home-loads shot at 300 - As for the first detail (100 standing), it was a 'rapid', so scored in the butts, which means we have to wait for the scores to be put up...

...they're already on the Wailing Wall, but I'll have to wait until they're published on the NRA site mid-week...


...so how did everyone else do?

[Mike357]

Shot Granet on Friday (SB & CF) and as Dougan says its amazing how you can miss such a big bull. This was the start of problems with the SK+ in my 10/22. Scores were rubbish.

Sat was CF Advancing Target, TP1 and MT and again nothing startling, might have been down to my hangover!

Borrowed a another 10/22 and ammo on Sunday and shot the same as Saturday with similar results. I shot a poor 290 yet as a team we managed to secure first place. My first Phoenix Gold. Also ended up with a couple of Bronze standard medals too.

So, onwards and upwards and will be raring to go for The Nationals.

[Dougan]

as a team we managed to secure first place. My first Phoenix Gold.

Excellent result!

[waterford103]

as a team we managed to secure first place. My first Phoenix Gold.

Excellent result!

Well done ,That first Gold is the best ,more to come I hope.
:goodjob:

[Mike357]

Martin, the Aberdeen boys did really well too with one winning the "2nd Grandest Master" title (not very catchy title) They were also half the winning Scotland team too.

[User702]

I think I got a third place in the F Class 400, 500, 600 yard on Saturday (I may have a photo of that part of the wal too), but have no idea how I got on in the 800, 900 & 1000 yard shoot in the afternoon. I'll have to wait. I hate waiting.

[mr smith]

Friday was fun day with a couple target shotgun comps in the afternoon.Multi target was up first went okay bar a stove pipe,embassy cup however was a bit of a mess,RO says plenty of time in this,so first practise the only thing missing was a cigar as i went boom....boom....boom.....boom...time for reload again still the thought of plenty time in my head down prone and boom and away go the targets then i realised he meant plenty of time for those that know what their doing.Practise two went okay but practise three went tits up,during the reload a cart slipped onto the carrier and that had to be cleared by the time i did that didn't have the time to change position so just emptied the mag just for the hell of it.
Smallbore on saturday starting with multi target,pop followed by a jam,the empty case didn't extract fully and was hammered back in by the next round.Lost five shots there which was a bugger as i only dropped three points after that,bloody gun was flawless the rest of the day with some decent results.
Centrefire on sunday and shot some good scores some could and should have been better but one individual gold and another gold on the team event with Mike357 along with nine various standard medals with enough points for a grand master.

[User702]

Right then. A number of people wanted to see my two shoots on Saturday, so I've copied them out into a mini-spreadsheet attached below. I've also attached my plot sheets a a pdf (sorry about the layout) so that people can laugh at the groupings.

Comments are welcome, as are friendly insults.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/258 ... s_2013.pdf

[rox]

Comments are welcome, as are friendly insults.

• Get some bigger plot sheets.
• Record absolute elevation and windage.
• Learn to plot corrected wind and elevation graphs - only then can you see how you are grouping.

With wind whipping across Stickledown now that there's no treeline on the left people seem to be experiencing more wind-induced vertical dispersion than before, so don't assume that issues are necessarily due to ammo, technique etc until you've had a chance to establish a baseline in calm conditions.

..

[Dougan]

Well done User 702 - A very respectable first attempt - 3rd in the short range is great! (I usually judge my scores in a new competition as anything in the top half will do...) - Also well done for going for it, and shooting all the distances...I bet you were a bit worn out by the end of it

The score cards are very interesting - Without doing the plotting* it's hard to say exactly what is happening (can't judge the actual group without accounting for the adjustments) - One thing I did notice, is that you tend to go out to the right (also low with one exception) towards the end of each shoot...this could be down to technique or tiredness...I've noticed a recent pattern in my TR shooting, where I tend to drop shot 8 or 9 (of 10), which corresponds to when I start to get uncomfortable in my position.

The difference between your 900 and 1000 seems a bit much for just lack of wind-reading experience...and could suggest that the rifle/ammo combination may not be up to that distance...?

* As Rox says; it's well worth doing the plotting part of the score sheet - Personally I can't do it all while shooting, but find that even filling it in later gives a lot of info about how the rifle and ammo performs, and how good (or bad) your adjustments for the wind were...

...if you put 'plotting' into the search function on here, there have been a few very useful threads about how to do it properly.