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Results wise, I had a mixed day yesterday.

I shot 2 + 10 at 300/600, scoring a 47 and 45 - Looking at my score-cards, 3 points (an inner and magpie) were dropped to poor preparation and rushing/stupidity at 600, 1 to a bad shot - 1 to a bad wind call, and 3 to vertical spread (2 MOA).....these 3 are particularly frustrating as my wind reading was pretty good (with only 1 shot outside of the bull's width out of 19 (not counting the bad shot))

The iris was really cool, but can't make my mind up about the lens - It was the first time I've used it, and while I liked the magnified image it was slightly blurred...maybe my eyes don't need one yet?...I could also see the reflection of something (barrel?) in the iris; so have ordered an anti-glare tube for the back of the sight as well.

I started with 4.1 (3.5) to 'split the difference' and still found it a little large, so adjusted it at 600 without looking at the dial which ended up at 3.5 (2.9)...I really need to force myself to try with it larger.

One other problem I had was with the adjustable cheek piece - I set it up dry-firing to what I thought was ideal, though my chin was right on the front edge of it...this became quite uncomfortable when live-firing...

...so I added some pipe lagging to it today which is very comfortable:

So, again I don't know why I couldn't string 7 bulls-eyes together...was it the cheek piece, the size of the iris, the lens or something else? - One of my biggest problems is that every time I shoot it's a competition, which means limited rounds, time and experimentation....I would love to not worry about the score, play about with the sights and shoot some groups, or even ten from a cold barrel without moving the sights at all...

Any one fancy an all day target-share (preferably 300/600) next Friday, Saturday or Sunday...? (assuming there's some available)

What rifle and stock is that, tree rat ?

It's a Swing Mk.4, with a Madco 28" barrel and a Fultons laminated stock:

The secret to success?

Practice, practice, practice!

Which is why I'm crap - must get out more . . .

Love

Karen

Absolutely Karen...and I definitely need more practice

Recently I've been shooting Gallery rifle and classics for fun, and have had some success with the old classics...but I've been shooting TR on and off since I was 15 and still haven't mastered it...

If at first you don't succeed....













...maybe skydiving isn't for you.

Hi Dougan

That's a very pretty gun, and the action looks in really good condition - not like my Swing mk5 which is showing its age (it's on its' fourth barrel, second stock, second rearsight, third foresight, second firing pin and second trigger).

As Karen suggests, you need time on the range with no competition pressure, a pile of ammo and a shooter who really knows what he's doing - Steve E are you there?

Things I would check. These days no serious TR shooter fits a 28" barrel. So that barrel is probably quite old. How many rounds through it, and what round is it chambered for? If it is set up for 144gr RG for instance, a good gunsmith may be able to get you some more performance with 155gr bullets by recutting the chamber. Also, don't be surprised if it simply doesn't work at 1000 yards - you are losing about 50-60 ft/sec against a 30" barrel and that may be enough to take your bullets down to low transonic as they get to 1000x.

Iain

meles meles wrote:skydiving

Something else on my bucket list...but the clocks ticking; and time waits for no mammal

Dougan wrote:So, again I don't know why I couldn't string 7 bulls-eyes together...was it the cheek piece, the size of the iris, the lens or something else? - One of my biggest problems is that every time I shoot it's a competition, which means limited rounds, time and experimentation....I would love to not worry about the score, play about with the sights and shoot some groups, or even ten from a cold barrel without moving the sights at all...

Any one fancy an all day target-share (preferably 300/600) next Friday, Saturday or Sunday...? (assuming there's some available)

My bold - if you changed all of those, it's probably a combination of small errors from getting used to the new gear, multiplied together. Then again, if you have a piece of spongy foam for a cheekpiece does that not lead to a variable cheek position and stock pressure?

It's well worth getting down for a practice shoot and just quietly tweaking one at a time without needing to worry about score and such. Do you fill in the scorebook graphs during/after your shoots? I find that those tell me far more about my shooting than the raw score - I seem to have developed a knack for predicting my position gradually collapsing during a shoot and cranking up enough elevation to compensate. My last 300x was a 49, but according to the graph it was one of the worst shoots I've had this season.

As for foresight lenses, I'm of the school of thought that says gadgets inevitably lead to screw-ups and blaming your kit rather than the nut behind the butt. (want proof? Talk to someone with a Gemini stock after he's had a bad shoot. Pound to a penny says he pulls out a set of allenkeys within ten minutes) Then again, the people who use lenses shoot for GB, whereas I'm bumping along the bottom of the county team ... !

IainWR wrote:Hi Dougan

That's a very pretty gun, and the action looks in really good condition - not like my Swing mk5 which is showing its age (it's on its' fourth barrel, second stock, second rearsight, third foresight, second firing pin and second trigger).

As Karen suggests, you need time on the range with no competition pressure, a pile of ammo and a shooter who really knows what he's doing - Steve E are you there?

Things I would check. These days no serious TR shooter fits a 28" barrel. So that barrel is probably quite old. How many rounds through it, and what round is it chambered for? If it is set up for 144gr RG for instance, a good gunsmith may be able to get you some more performance with 155gr bullets by recutting the chamber. Also, don't be surprised if it simply doesn't work at 1000 yards - you are losing about 50-60 ft/sec against a 30" barrel and that may be enough to take your bullets down to low transonic as they get to 1000x.

Iain

Thank you - The action and bolt (apart from a little pitting on the face) are in good condition - The barrel is about half way though it's life; that's what I was told, and it it does still does look good and shoot well - You're right about 1000; where the group opens up (even further than normal that is...), but it shoots really well at 600 and 900, though sometimes suspect at 300 (regular 2 MOA vertical spread)...?

I don't think I can blame the barrel for my scores, and I'm confident it's capable of possibles...but if it starts to look worn out, I would definitely re-barrel the lovely piece with a 30"...