Police Sport UK Open comp 9-11 Sept
Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 1:16 pm
Last week I enjoyed 3 days of shooting at Bisley with a great bunch of guys and girls with whom I have built several friendships with over the years and continue to build more.
This year I returned to F Class (TR) after a long time of not shooting it in comps.
As is always the case I did not get all the practise that I wanted and ended up relying on Litz ballistic soft-wear to fill in some gaps on my range card. Thankfully he was close to the mark and I started every distance in the black.
Everyone comments on the 400 yard target being so small, thankfully it did not come as a shock to me as I have shot on them before, but for some it really did mess with their thinking.
400 & 500 yards were OK nut nothing great, 600 yards and I was able to see more of the mirage, had settled down a little and had moved away from the right hand side of century to wards the middle.
900 and 1000 yards were shot the next day and I felt much more comfortable. Throughout I was plotting my shots and overall I was pleased with my Horizontal stringing. My 185 berger home loads were doing their job even if I was not reading the wind that well. I hope at some time I will be able to go through them with Tim and see what he can tell me.
This year saw a new comp of 2+15 at 500 yards. I felt much better shooting that and saw a number of V's being registered, only getting 4 x 4's, all the rest 5's. I thought I was in the running but ended up a couple of points short. At one point my wind reading was spot on, I just kind of clicked which 2 flags to watch and understood what that meant to me. It would be nice to improve on that and carry it o to all distances.
The Mc-Queen was ran at 300 yards with the normal 200 yard target and scoring. Shooting with the F Class bi pod on was a little strange but not a problem. The but crew were making things interesting with some no shoots being teasingly shown as they passed open windows. In the end I shot a 50.1 which at the end of the first day saw me in the lead. I was eventually knocked off by a purpose built rifle in 6.5x47 Lapua - Ovenpaa/Father Christmas please take note!
Gallery rifle Advancing Target.
Ran by the PSNI lads and lasses again and they do a great job of keeping it going and being fair. Two miss feeds on my second and third runs saw me miss 10 points. Looking at the final scores I could have won that - always the could haves!
Target shotgun
A learning curve again for me. At some point since last shooting TS I had added a chunky low powered optic to my SG. It was not until I turned my SG over to load it did I realise the Bloomin thing was completely unsuited and was in the way. As it turned out I could not hit squat with it on so I quickly took it off and used the Mk1 eye ball, as it should be. I did have day glow style open sights on it, I need to try and find those again - although there is rumour of a 12 gauge AR coming soon from a certain RFD that visits this forum, so I may be tempted.
Practical Rifle
The least said the better.
After having problems with feeding in previous comps, I made sure that all my rounds fitted in to the AICS magazines that I have. Sadly what I had not realised was that they were still jamming, only a little but enough to not get picked up by the bolt.
The bolt also was failing to cock, a problem that I have hopefully identified to be a trigger sear issue - or more correctly a dirty trigger unit.
I only got a few shots off and once again had to watch others enjoy a imaginative course of fire. I don't think I have managed to complete a PR course of fire since loaning the NRA's Mini 14 - which worked if not zeroed.
Sadly I live so close to Bisley that my wife expects me home each day after shooting
so I miss out on the evening socialising, that a side I had a great 3 days shooting and now have very little ammunition in my cabinet.
Decision time as to what to load next as I am out of most components.
Should you get a chance I highly recommend shooting at the PSUK which is every year in Sept. The shooters are all still club average and everyone has a chance of doing well if you shoot well.
DM
This year I returned to F Class (TR) after a long time of not shooting it in comps.
As is always the case I did not get all the practise that I wanted and ended up relying on Litz ballistic soft-wear to fill in some gaps on my range card. Thankfully he was close to the mark and I started every distance in the black.
Everyone comments on the 400 yard target being so small, thankfully it did not come as a shock to me as I have shot on them before, but for some it really did mess with their thinking.
400 & 500 yards were OK nut nothing great, 600 yards and I was able to see more of the mirage, had settled down a little and had moved away from the right hand side of century to wards the middle.
900 and 1000 yards were shot the next day and I felt much more comfortable. Throughout I was plotting my shots and overall I was pleased with my Horizontal stringing. My 185 berger home loads were doing their job even if I was not reading the wind that well. I hope at some time I will be able to go through them with Tim and see what he can tell me.
This year saw a new comp of 2+15 at 500 yards. I felt much better shooting that and saw a number of V's being registered, only getting 4 x 4's, all the rest 5's. I thought I was in the running but ended up a couple of points short. At one point my wind reading was spot on, I just kind of clicked which 2 flags to watch and understood what that meant to me. It would be nice to improve on that and carry it o to all distances.
The Mc-Queen was ran at 300 yards with the normal 200 yard target and scoring. Shooting with the F Class bi pod on was a little strange but not a problem. The but crew were making things interesting with some no shoots being teasingly shown as they passed open windows. In the end I shot a 50.1 which at the end of the first day saw me in the lead. I was eventually knocked off by a purpose built rifle in 6.5x47 Lapua - Ovenpaa/Father Christmas please take note!
Gallery rifle Advancing Target.
Ran by the PSNI lads and lasses again and they do a great job of keeping it going and being fair. Two miss feeds on my second and third runs saw me miss 10 points. Looking at the final scores I could have won that - always the could haves!
Target shotgun
A learning curve again for me. At some point since last shooting TS I had added a chunky low powered optic to my SG. It was not until I turned my SG over to load it did I realise the Bloomin thing was completely unsuited and was in the way. As it turned out I could not hit squat with it on so I quickly took it off and used the Mk1 eye ball, as it should be. I did have day glow style open sights on it, I need to try and find those again - although there is rumour of a 12 gauge AR coming soon from a certain RFD that visits this forum, so I may be tempted.
Practical Rifle
The least said the better.
After having problems with feeding in previous comps, I made sure that all my rounds fitted in to the AICS magazines that I have. Sadly what I had not realised was that they were still jamming, only a little but enough to not get picked up by the bolt.
The bolt also was failing to cock, a problem that I have hopefully identified to be a trigger sear issue - or more correctly a dirty trigger unit.
I only got a few shots off and once again had to watch others enjoy a imaginative course of fire. I don't think I have managed to complete a PR course of fire since loaning the NRA's Mini 14 - which worked if not zeroed.
Sadly I live so close to Bisley that my wife expects me home each day after shooting
so I miss out on the evening socialising, that a side I had a great 3 days shooting and now have very little ammunition in my cabinet.Decision time as to what to load next as I am out of most components.
Should you get a chance I highly recommend shooting at the PSUK which is every year in Sept. The shooters are all still club average and everyone has a chance of doing well if you shoot well.
DM