Homemade stocks

A few of us went to a youth prone match today and as with any trip to another club, you learn so many little things.

Ok, this is an equipment centric post, sorry.  Getting youth to shoot should not be focused on equipment!  But....we need to have functioning equipment first right?  One of the guns I always suggest when they ask me what to get for a youth is the CZ Scout.  It is light weight (5.5 lbs), small and amazingly accurate for the money.  I am not current on the whole CZ marketing strategy as the move from the 452 action to the 455.  Based their website, the Scout is still based on the proven 452 action which is a good thing! Any used or new Scout will work.

Other than a Cricket, it is the smallest, commonly available 22LR for youth today weiging in at 5 lbs vs the Cricket's 2.5 lbs.

The purpose of this post is to share my story with making a youth silhouette stock.  The take away can be; how easy it is to make a quick and dirty stock as well as how you can make a stock to help withe head position, cheek weld.

Material was to pieces of Baltic birch plywood glued up.  Cut the blanks to the desired profile before gluing them.  Rout out the inlet and bed (fit) by using

bondo.  No need to get fancy.  the hardest part is keeping the "depth" of the stock the same as the factory stock so the factory action screws and metal fit on the new stock just as they did on the old stock.  Measure twice, cut once.

Then get out a rasp and a cold beverage of your choice and shape the stock.  The next day sand, file, rasp and repeat for the right size.  If I were to do mine again I would make the "wrist" of the stock smaller.  Otherwise, it works great.

To the right, if you look closely, you can see the bondo.  Bed the action with bondo and save yourself inletting in plywood.  Not fun!  It took me a work week of evenings to get this stock made.  Then let the shooter pick out their favorite color at the store and have some fun.  Always make it fun!

The shape of this stock lets the kid get the heel of the stock into their shoulder while also getting their head holding the stock and gun more steady.

It does not need to be beautiful.  if they can get their head in the right position and hold the gun with more bone on bone support and less "muscle" hold, they will be far more excited with the results. 

Next up on the Scout is figuring out how to put iron sights and a rail on it!  We saw a Scout fitted with an aftermarket rail and iron sights and it looked like a very promising 5.5 lb target gun for 3P.  Or, if your child is bigger and ready for a gun ready for 3P, you can buy a CM-2 Youth aka Cadet. Here is some info on these guns but they weigh 7.2 lbs and now we are getting into a heavier gun.

Blog restored! PHEW!!

Below is an email I sent to folks on 4/9/13 who have previously attended a silhouette match and are on the "silhouette distribution" list because my BLOG was down.  Google has just restored it and I thought I would ensure the letter is here as well.  There are some good links and general info.  Of course there is also some stuff you may not understand.  Contact me if you have questions.

I wrote....

1. Some of you may have noticed my blog is gone.  Google's "automated system" disabled it 4-3-2013 and even after my "human" plea asking they restore it, no response as of yet.  I remain optimistic as it was disabled due to SPAM.  Based on what I read, all my external links suggest I am "SPAMMING" to a bot-program analyzing blogs when in fact I am sharing information.  For now, if you need this year's schedule, go HERE for NH or HERE for all the various Metallic Silhouette matches in the NE quadrant of the country.
2. May 18th clinic at PSI.  I would like some helpers and some new folks to come out and ask all those questions you have never been able to ask.  The intent, for the first half of the day, with no guns going off, ask questions, get some background, find out some things you might not have known.  In the afternoon, have a fun mini match with a veteran and learn the ropes in a no pressure environment.  This was a great success last year and I hope we have some folks who want to attend this year.  If you're a veteran, bring a new shooter!
3. Volunteers.  There are three core non shooting responsibilities at a monthly match.  Steel set up, calling the line and stat shack.  This year I am going to try something different because...I want to shoot to get ready for Nationals.  I am going to ask for 3 volunteers to call the line.  8:30 - 10:30, 10:30 to 12:30 and 12:30 to 2:30.  This will be "pre arranged" I hope and those that volunteer get a free shoot that day.  Send me an email telling me which time slot you want. First come first served.  Steel setting is a non issue really.  Stat shack is an issue which I have not resolved.
4. 1/5th Squadding.  May 19th things WILL BE DIFFERENT for 1/5th shooters...in a good way.  If you are a club rifle, cowboy or pistol shooter, nothing changes and you don't need to read this.  If you shoot 1/5th, the AM time period will be SQUADDED! The PM will be McDonalds style.  What does that mean?  If you want to shoot 1/5th squadded with a shooting partner/spotter or even some person you don't know, you pay your money and get assigned a partner.  You will be assigned an animal and a relay.  This "1/5th am registration" will end at 8:45 and the teams get called to the line at 9 to the 1/5th barrels. Even if some folks are already shooing, the 1/5th barrels will be "reserved" for the squadded teams.  Then, just follow the range commands and we hold a squadded match simultaneous to cowboy, club etc who will be putting their numbers on the board for 1/2 scale animals, business as usual.  In the AM, no numbers will go on the board for 1/5th.  When the 1/5th squadded match is over, we return to business as usual. I suspect squadded match will be done by 11.  Casual shooters are not affected.  You don't have to shoot squadded if you don't want to. New shooters will get the help they need from a spotter/coach to tackle the more difficult 1/5th game.  Teams can practice as a team for Nationals in Ridgeway.  The only negative I can see, if you want to shoot 1/5th squadded, you have to get out of bed and get to the range by 8:30 so you can get yourself on the list.  If you sleep in....you can shoot 1/5th on your own or non 1/5th stuff whenever you arrive.  
5. Don't forget, April 13th, first match is at Georgetown, MA put on by Tom Cannon, match program HERE.  Second match in April is John Bartlett's CLA match April 28th, match program HERE.  And, Purgatory is up and running. Their dates are in the schedule and they look forward to seeing you!  PSI match program HERE.  Sorry, I don't have the PFFG program yet.

Normally this stuff goes in my BLOG but it is gone for now.  For the month of April and most of May....I think this is a good start for new and veteran shooters alike.  Questions, email me.  Forward this to anyone you think might be interested in shooting.  Hopefully my blog will be back soon.  Look forward to seeing you May 18-19th at PSI!

Jud

10 meter Air Rifle match # 16

Twenty one 10s!  Now the less good news, one 5, two 6s and four 7s.   ARGHHHHHH!  Woulda coulda shoulda! 

In truth, the only reason I went to tonight's 10m match is because.....I run it.  Only one other shooter showed and he shot a pistol.  I had not shot since March 11, the last match.  Issues have kinda gotten in the way and 10m AR has kinda faded in my priorities.  What a perfect time to shoot my top score of the season right?  I shake my head in dismay.  531 with no practice!  No real engagement.  Go figure!?!?!?

I was very "muscle hold" at first which never turns out well.  I knew it and worked hard to rediscover the right position and tension again.  I had to relearn the trigger again as my 5 taught me!  Let's face it, anything less than an 8 is pretty sad shooting and I had seven shots less than an 8!

Make it a game.  There were times when things went right.  Lanny says, "catch what you are doing right and do it again".  Great advice.  "Never give up" is another cardinal rule!  Not sure who said that.  When I shot a ten, I told myself, "do it again" on the next shot and let's see how many I can string together.  Silly really.  But, it made me FOCUS!  I tried for three tens in a row once and failed but the fail was a 9.  I tried it again and I got it (shots 26, 27, 28). 29 and 30 were both nines.See a pattern here?

Then, shots #55, 56, 57, 58 were all 10s.  #59 and 60 were 9s.  I guess by playing a game of trying to string tens together helped me focus.  For any shooter, stringing 8s or just keeping it in the black could be the trick. When you do something right, work on repeating it and forget what went wrong.  Now, if I could just get shot #51 back....it was a 5 For whatever reason I did not get setup right when moving to the new target.  I know better and shot #52 was a 10!

2012-13 Season score log

#01 501 (81 81 84 85 82 88)
#02 515 (87 88 89 83 85 83) 11 7s or lower, 15 10x. previous practice 1x (3.6)
#03 485 (82 82 80 77 86 78) 19 7s or lower, 7 10x. Daisy pellets, reduced barrel weight.(3.6)
#04 494 (88 74 87 88 76 81) 14 7s or lower, 11 10x. JSB SCHaK pellets. First Tuesday night.(3.6)
#05 522 (89 88 90 88 82 88) 7 7s nothing lower, 11 10x. Many high value 9s! H&N + SCHaK (3.2)
#06 492 (75 85 76 84 86 86) 14 7s or lower, 6 10x. SCHaK (3.8)
#07 520 (88 84 90 86 87 85) 8 7s, 12 10x. SCHaK (3.8)
#08 490 (75 85 76 84 86 84) not worth noting. SCHaK (3.8)  Guest shooter.
#09 516 (91 87 86 82 86 84) 11 7s, 13 10x. SCHaK (3.8)  Must stamp out 7s!
#10 513 (88 85 89 85 86 80) 9 7s or worse, 9 10x. SCHaK (3.8)  Stock shorter
#11 518 (83 92 83 87 85 87) 8 7s, 1 6, 12 10x. H&N (3.8)
#12 502 (82 85 87 84 77 87) H&N (3.8) fist
#13 512 (91 83 84 78 83 93) H&N (3.8) fist. I shot a 3 on target 4.  ugh!
#14 526 (87 93 90 89 85 82) H&N (3.6) fist.  14 10x
#15 525 (92 86 84 85 90 88) H&N (3.6) fist.  17 10x!
#16 531 (79 88 93 91 91 89) H&N (3.6) fist.  21 10x!