10m update Match #3

I finished my 3rd Monday evening match at Pioneer.  Starts about 6:00 every evening.  I hope I can keep the attendance going.   Here are the details.

I started this blog years ago to fight winter gloom.  I am going to have another run at it.  Since this is a blog and not a "website" I am just going to comment on my learnings and then update the original airgun post with my progress or if nothing else, journey.

Last week I had practiced, trained, prepared and it did worse than when I showed up cold turkey.  That was an emotional blow.  So much so, I did not even post about match #2.  Now, a week later, I reflect back on things and my general conclusion is, I tried too hard.  Vs. just letting the shot happen I was trying to make the shot perfect.  As a result it ate my lunch.

Week 3:  I took the week off from practice and just went cold turkey after last weeks results.  I got there a bit stressed due to some family issues at home.  I had low expectations.  I was there to stick with my plan to shoot air each Monday.

To my surprise things went better than week 1 or 2.  I just shot.  I took my time.  I avoided as much as possible taking the shots that were forced and instead took shots feeling natural. 

So, I learned or noted the following issues:

• Don't get too aggressive on the trigger.  Squeeze is still king even with a light trigger.  Aggressive or confident breaks resulted in poor follow through.  Wait for the trigger to break.
• Don't fight for the perfect look to the point you get tired.  Rest the gun if your not getting a natural good look.  Work on NPA.
• Don't rush even when the pistol guys walk out.  Fight the urge to rush.
• Work on "re-entry" after changing the targets after 20 shots.
• Validate accuracy of current pellet.  I had three shots that were perfect IMO and the printed 2 rings away from break.  Whoa!
• Bring stapler to get the target at max height.  I fight the low bulls.

Original 10m air post with updated results.

My 1/5th gun history, Part I

So often the people I socialize with in the game of Silhouette ask me about my equipment.  It's always about equipment, equipment, equipment.  Sadly I fall into the same trap.  Good equipment just puts more of the burden on the shooter.  But, entry level equipment does not "remove" the burden from the shooter. Good shooters will still shoot high counts with average equipment.

A story first.  Winnsoboro, LA.  Friday before the match there must be 30 shooters practicing, confirming zeros.  And why not, they put up 400 1/5th animals, yes, 10 banks!  I have my NS522/Weaver KT-15 shooting Wolf MT.  I was on turkeys with a young girl from Florida.  I knew her a little as we were squadded together at the Sunshine Classic a few months earlier.  She had a beautiful factory Anschutz 1712 in a Miestergrade wood stock.  Leupold scope and shooting Eley EPS.  After a year of shooting she was already a master shooter and boy could she shoot! 

Anyway, I turned a turkey and I invited her to show me her stuff and knock it down.  She replied shyly that her Dad sent her with just one brick so she had to conserve ammo.  I acknowledged her response, but to make things fun, I offered her my gun and ammo.  Her eyes lit up and happily took me up on my offer.  One shot later the turned turkey was on the ground.  After I picked my jaw off the ground, I smiled and offered her to continue shooting.  She politely and said "thank you, one was enough."  Obviously it was not the gun, ammo or sight settings.  It was the jerk behind the trigger which limited my performance.

Lesson learned.  It ain't the equipment dummy!  Or is it?

Struggling with new Anschutz

Another story.  Pe Ell, WA.  1710/MacMillan/Leupold 6-20x/Wolf MT.  2005 as seen to right.  In short, I was having one of those crappy days.  Managed a horrible 23.  Fighting something.  One of those times when I should have stayed home but home was 2,800 miles away.  I was shooting with the TX gang, Motl, Kuney, Pharr, Clark.  Mark Pharr, in an effort to cheer me up, offered to let me shoot his gun.  Seeing as how Mark Pharr is one of the top Silhouette gunsmiths and competitors, he never shows up with the same gun twice.  Needless to say, he had a new very nice rig.  A custom Ultra Light Action (ULA), repeater, Lija barrel, Timney trigger and his prototype stock in wood.  I knew nothing about Ultra Light Arms at the time or that his stock would become the basis of a popular fiberglass mould.

I declined, knowing I had to grow up and figure out my own gun.  But, after another horrible Saturday afternoon match, I asked him Sunday morning if the offer still stood?  He said sure but there would not be enough ammo for any practice.  No worries on my part, the weekend was now just a learning trip as I was out of the running for any sort of prize.

ULA in prototype Pharr stock, click to enlarge

To make a long story short, I went from a 23 Sat morning to a 33 on Sunday morning.  Although the ULA, pictured to the right, had feeding issues, which is why Mark does not use them anymore, it shot lights out.  It was like a laser beam.  I broke on the animal, the animal fell.  Stock was awesome, it just stayed put.  After that, I knew it was time to upgrade my gun.  But, a $2,000 custom gun???  If I had the money it would have flown home with me!

In summary:

So there you have it.  Conflicting stories.  There is no right answer.  It is a journey.  But, a journey where you must proactively seek out information.  Experiment, take notes, filter emotions from fact.  The best advice is to shoot what you own and travel to as many matches as possible and talk with EVERYONE. This hobby is more about information collection, socialization and discovery than it is about winning.  You will find the silhouette gang quite helpful and will often let you try out if not use their equipment.  The 1/5th game is not easy.  After a year of practice on the 1/2 scale animals my first 1/5th score was a 12.  Today, I am a solid AAA shooter but not a master.  There are many shooters who never shoot less than a 35.  I have never been there and not sure I ever will.  But I keep trying.

Trigger Control

I've been asked to comment on trigger control.  The question is, do you hold and wait for an unexpected trigger release or do you hold, and when you like the sight picture, do you deliberately squeeze the trigger?  The shooter had been advised or was of the opinion that a surprise or "unexpected" break was better than a "deliberate" break.  But, recent results at the range was disproving his belief that "unexpected" was better than "deliberate".  And, the concern was, "deliberate" trigger technique would create bad habits.

Because silhouette is shot outdoors, we have wind to contend with.  The likelihood of success by holding on the animal and waiting for the trigger to break while the wind is calm is low.  I support a concept put forth by Lanny Bassham, the subconscious yet deliberate release.  This is far more sophisticated than what I would call "snatching" at the trigger while the sights are on the animal.  I think this is the bad habit the shooter is worried about by adopting a deliberate break.

When I started out with my NS522, which had more creep than my Anschutz, I developed what I called the "boa constrictor" trigger release.  With a solid 2lb trigger I would gently squeeze the trigger just a little more each time I had a good sight picture.  Eventually, the trigger would go off while on the animal with trigger SQUEEZE, not pull or "snatch".  This worked very well for me and broke the tendency to "snatch" at the trigger.

When I moved to the Anschutz two stage trigger, I found this technique unnecessary.  Either it broke cleaner or I improved my technique.  But, my technique comes from a great deal of practice in order to develop what Lanny calls the "subconscious" shot.  You really need to read the book discussed here or an article that can be found here.  Navigate to [Document Library], scroll down to [Training] and click on 1.  Truly, buy the book used from Half.com. 

The general concept i'll compare to driving a standard car.  When you need to shift you don't think about the timing of the clutch.  You subconsciously depress the clutch, shift, release the clutch.  It should be the same with shooting.  You have to practice so that when the sight picture is right, you subconsciously squeeze the trigger without thinking.  If you have to think about squeezing the trigger then unwanted results will occur.

The next major issue is the isolation of the trigger finger from ones hold.  This is my biggest challenge.  Clean breaks where there is no movement after you break the shot.   You should watch the bullet in the scope go down range, see the animal fall and hopefully the paint fly.  This is where we all want to be.  Yes Virginia, you should always see the animal fall in your scope!  And, now you know why white animals are preferred.  You can see your hits as they happen.  Much harder to pick up the point of impact on fast moving black animals.

The only way to work on this is by using various drills.  Here are a few that I have picked up but I am sure there are others.

• The Troy Lawton circle drill as found here.  This was covered in post found here.
• The modified Troy Lawton drill.  I met with Troy when I was first starting off and he watched me shoot.  His counsel, at home, take the bolt out of the gun and hold on a dot and simply work the trigger back and forth and discover the hold, the whatever, to ensure the gun does not move while your trigger finger is moving.  Whether technique or muscle memory, work through it to reduce any movement of the rifle when the trigger finger breaks the shot.
• Dry fire, dry fire dry fire at home.  And, at the range.  Chris Winstead also coached me and he gave me two big nuggets.  First, never take your finger off the trigger after releasing the shot.  Stay with the trigger.  Any muscle movement that close to follow through is a bad thing.  Second, when practicing with live ammo, always shoot once and then dry fire on the shell three times noting any issues and taking corrective action.  Then shoot another live and repeat and repeat and repeat.....
• Practice practice practice to build up the subconscious.  It works!
• See this POST and watch the trigger finger.  Bill dry fires 100 shells every lunch break.  At home, he has 33 feet and dry fires whenever he can.

So, in short, in my opinion, you have to break deliberately on the animal using your subconscious trigger finger. And, to do that, you have to develop a serious at home drill regimen.

2012 New Hampshire Metallic Silhouette Schedule

After some this and that with our respective clubs, your fearless match directors, John, Dave and Jud have hammered out the schedule for this year.

2012 NH Silhouette Schedule.

Please print one out for yourself and a friend.  Of note would be the following:

• The first match will be CLA at Pemi, April 29th
• Pioneer is going to have a clinic for new and aspiring shooters May 19th
• There are some rule changes for Cowboy as noted HERE.
• PSI program for NRA Approved monthly matches HERE. 
• Granite State Regional program is work in process.
• NRA rule book Pistol HERE, Rifle HERE.

Have questions, suggestions, ideas, offers?  Send me an email durantjud [at] yahoo.com

See all blog posts, go HERE.

What is Silhouette you ask? 

The short version is this.  Silhouette shooters shoot from the standing position without any support.  We shoot at profiles of four steel animals; Chicken, Pig, Turkey and Ram. Each at a set distance as per the NRA rule book as per the links above..  There are typically 10 of each animal making a total of 40 possible "hits" or points.  If the anmal falls off the stand you get a point.  The shooter with the highest points wins.  The shots are taken in string of 5, each string is allowed up to 2 minutes and 30 seconds.  A line officer calls the line giving range commands.  After your two strings on the first animal is completed, you move to the next animal, adjust your sight settings and have another go at it after you return from setting up your fallen critters.

The challenge:  Shooting off hand makes this a shooters sport, not an equipment sport.  Learning your rifle, ammo and your ability is fun.  I like to call it organized plinking.  Plenty of folks say it also helps their hunting season.

Here are a few links.

Pioneer Sportsman webpage with details of how the game is played in NH.
An excellent website put together by a shooter.
An older website which I used when I was trying to figure out what I just saw.

Inspiration Video on 1/5th turkeys

I watched this video and at first I was confused.  Usually shoot offs are sudden death here in NH.  But, I gather at Nationals, it is best of five.  If by some chance you tie in the bank of 5, you start a second bank of 5 and so on and so on until the winner is determined.  If you can believe it (read the details under the video), they were tied hit for hit up until the 15th shot.  Yes, they needed three banks of 5 to settle a tie which in itself was 35 animals.  It can be done!

Fun video once you tune out the background noise.  It took me a second viewing to wrap my noodle around what was going on.  It starts at the beginning of the 2nd bank of 5.  Notice the gender of the top silhouette shooters in the country!

10 Meter Air Rifle, first time out in 2012

Target #5, two of five 10's.  And almost a pinwheel.

New Hampshire has had an odd winter. No snow.  Can't say I miss the pre sunrise frolic with the snowblower, but lack of snow comes lack of revenue for the State.  Today is the NH Primary, so what better time to blow the dust of the old Silhouette blog and see if anyone is out there.

Pioneer Sportsmen in Dunbarton, NH is trying to revitalize the air program.  We can hang 8 steel backstops from the ceiling in the indoor 50ft range. They also act as target holders at 10 meters from the 50 ft firing line.  It works quite well every Monday night.  I decided to go last night and see just how rusty I am.  My benchmark was from a 2008 shoulder to shoulder team match against Reading Highpower's Team October 8th.  We fought and clawed to get 4 shooters to represent Pioneer.  Glenn G., John M., Mark M. and Jud D.  It was a timed event shooting side by side.  I managed a 539 (93 90 90 85 87 94). Better than my usual.

Last night, Match #1, ouch.  515 (87 83 87 88 90 80).  I lost my zen at the end allowing an AD leaving me with a 5.  That is a good way to throw away points.  I had three ADs for the night.  5, and a 6.  The other was on target when it broke and was an 8.  I managed eleven 10s, five of them on my 5th target!  The key to that moment, catch yourself doing something right and repeat it.  Obviously I failed to follow my own advice.  Those pistol shooters shoot fast.  I need to block that out of my head.

Goal?  To shoot a 540 before the air season is out.  If I shot a 90 once, I can shoot it 6 times in a row if I work at it.  I figure this is good practice for Silhouette although the triggers are vastly different.  I struggled with my trigger last night.  It seemed to behave differently.  Rough in a word.  Sometimes it was clean to the 2nd stage which you could feel.  Other times it was rough to the second stage and as a result I could not feel it.  I made sure I felt for it when I was close to center.  I few times that saved me.  Twice it cost me.

Match #1  515 (87 83 87 88 90 80)
Match #2  510  (85 89 85 86 82 83)
Match #3  532  (94 87 83 91 89 88)  (season high, 94/100 tied best ever 10 shots)
Match #4  530  (87 90 90 93 89 81)
Match #5  524  (86 84 88 91 85 90)  
Match #6  517  (88 85 88 87 90 79)
Match #7  524  (82 91 88 91 84 88) 

    

Toughts about the trigger, its shape and use.

Anschutz trigger shoe

At the last match of the year we took some time shooting different rifles to get some relative comparisons.  One such rifle I shot I found it hard to work the trigger.  Try as I might to squeeze the trigger I could not make it work for me.  Each "snap" of the trigger resulted in a downed animal.  Odd I thought to myself.

At the time the issue bothered me.  The entire pad of my finger engaged in the wide, curved trigger shoe is what felt different.  I am not going to suggest I understand the physiological make up the of the human finger pad, but for me, I like to feel the trigger pushing through all the "flesh" right to the bone.  Not sure that makes sense to anyone but I will expand.

When I shoot my gun I actually put the very tip of my finger pad on the bottom of the trigger.  Effectively I am pushing on the bottom "point" of the crescent shaped trigger shoe.  Sure, sounds odd, but it works for me.  Not only does it give me a different point of leverage, but it gives me a very certain engagement of the pad of my trigger finger.  I don't like to have 160 degrees of my finger engaged in the trigger.  I want just 5 degrees of my finger pad engaged so I can really feel what is going on.

As I think back to various exposures I had, this preference does make sense to me.  For those fortunate enough to have the 5018 Anschutz trigger, you can fit all sorts of trigger shoes to it because it has a "rail" on which the trigger staff and shoe can be fitted.  This enables adjustment forward and back as well as cant.  In short, you can hang just about anything off the trigger due to the handy rail which might be a reason so many people fit this trigger to other actions.  The caption picture came from the Anschutz website and I recall one gentleman raving about this trigger.  At the time I was a novice and I did not even try it, but I filed it away in the memory banks for this blog entry 10 years later.  Back then I was still trying to figure out how to sight in my rifle let alone the arcane world of changing out your trigger shoe!

You don't have to have an Anschutz to try this concept.  Put your finger on the very end of the trigger.  See what it feels like.  See if you can get a non "fleshy" 5 degree engagement of the trigger and whether it feels better for you.  To me it is crisper.

Tubb trigger, see article

For more on trigger technique your can read the article below.  See that they too get away from the crescent shape and strive for a smaller "contact" patch of your trigger finger.

This entry is getting a tad obscure but I am running out of new material.  If you have something you want discussed shoot me a comment.  Of course you can always use a bent nail.  :)

Enjoy!

Tubb article on trigger technique.

Air guns as a practice tool

With the temp just at freezing this morning it is a good sign that outdoor shooting will soon be less than optimal for both equipment and human.  I will say that my buddy John C. in Alaska shoots year round.  Hint hint.  But, for now, NH is a fair weather crowd and given the amount of effort it is to put on a match, that is fine with me.

But I am going to work hard on air this season.  Most of what I would write is available on other sites so I will keep it brief and share only one personal experience and then provide some links for ongoing reading.

When in Dallas I had a three car garage.  Keep in mind your garage was also the only storage you had.  I was able to create a nice 33 ft range and I practiced all the time.  At first I had a cheap Chinese knock off which I tuned as best one could.  In other words, I learned a lot about spring airguns.  I shot it a bunch and finally took it to an airgun silhouette match and shot well enough to start in AA.  I was hooked.  I did the math as to range fees, ammo, miles driven, time etc and justified the purchase of a TX200 mfg by AirArms.  This gun could be used as both a practice tool and was appropriate to shoot in 2 of the 3 MS Airgun divisions.  Why not!  I spent 3x on an airgun than what I had spent on my first rimfire!  CRAZY!

I started shooting it in my garage and wow what a difference!  What a beautiful instrument.  My at home scores went up but more importantly, I TRULY had a revelation of what Lanny Bassham writes about.  The subconscious or "reflexive shooting".  Meaning, you don't think about taking the shot, you just reflexively take the shot.

I was at some match in small bore and my practice took over.  It is hard to describe but effectively I envisioned my dot on the animal at home and simply repeated what I was doing at home at the match.  Dot here, wiggle there, finger squeeze.....pow....ding.  I was not thinking about anything, I was just repeating what I had been doing at home over and over.  Sadly, that level of practice has not been attained again.  But I know it works and I know what I need to do if I want to improve.

I am a huge advocate of at home air practice.  It would be best to use a scope on some form of scaled animal.  I will see if I can include a link to the scaled 10m animals for air.

Here is one by Dave Imas, a very good shooter and coach on the left coast.  He is also the one with mile high scope rings under Too hot, too cold.

Imas

Second, is one of the best off hand shooters in Silhouette.  David Tubb's review of how to get the most out of an airgun for at home practice.

Tubb part 1.   
Tubb part 2.

10m scaled Silhouette target

10 meter air in Munich 2011

Tom W. recently asked me to do a write up for the Pioneer website regarding our fledgling air program.  There are a few blogs which I also watch which are heavy to Pistol Bullseye. Tom is working very hard to improve the indoor range and the overall condition of the PSI club house.  Under the basic rule of thumb, people will take care of something that looks nice, we are not only improving the mechanicals but also the cosmetics..  We are also doubling the air handling equipment which has an advanced "multistage" air filtration system.  They are being installed this week.

In my write up I mentioned that in Europe, 10m air is a huge sport.  Although I am only a web based spectator and reader of what goes on, I believe my assessment is accurate.  To demonstrate, I thought I would include the photo above.

To give proper credit, the photo came from the below link under the Munich 2011 album.

https://picasaweb.google.com/110058510710131713019

Evapo-Rust continued

Evapo-Rust helped my mould but I did not take any pictures.  I was organizing tools, inherited tools.  Trying to have the tools I need at the ready and the tools I own but don't need in storage so they won't rust.  This nice antique Stanley carpenters square sadly got left in a drawer where mice made a nest and their pee destroyed some nice stuff.  In short, mice can ruin just about anything with either teeth or their waste.

Click one, then again to enlarge

I put the square in a open container and let it sit for about 18 hours.  For me, the experiment is done.  it works well and the non toxic part is a plus.  But it ain't cheap.  $9 for a quart.  Small pieces , it is great.  Big stuff, you have to buy a lot to get it immersed.

To the left is a picture demonstrating the results.  My container would not let the square lay flat so only half of the square was in the liquid solution.  This exercise was more for experimentation than the desire to return this square to its original condition.  There is not much I can do about the pitting.  Right side is basically a "before" and left is an "after" illustration.  As always, click on the picture  to enlarge.

I would give it two thumbs up.  The appeal, it ONLY goes after rust and not the rest of the metal or wood or brass.  Just the iron oxide.

I guess I could test out electrolysis rust removal on the other side some day.

A Great Video by an even Greater Gentleman!

Mould maintenance and Evapo-Rust

It was a cool morning, about 6:30 and I decided to fire up the melting pot and melt my collection of junk lead and see if I could get the rythm going and maybe cast a couple hundred bullets before 8.  After cleaning up my lead mix with sawdust and getting all the dross out I began the process of getting the mould to temp.  After about 10 cycles I start looking at bullets.  Not good yet.  After about 20 cycles I am starting to look more closely because by now I should be up to temp.  Some areas of the bullet are perfect but other areas are speckled.  I inspect the mould...RUST!

About four months back I stored the mould with a full pour and left the sprues on.  Prior times I would coat with oil and just deal with getting the oil off when I got ready to use them again.  That had been a problem too so I tried what others suggested on a casting forum.  My advice, skip the 'store with cast bullet' technique and use your favorite oil.

I went to my favorite casting forum and did a search. I did the normal sheet rock screw in the bottom of the bullet and spin with your favorite polishing compound.  This did not do the trick.  So, I decided to try Evapo-Rust. Have a look at this picture to see why I decided to try it.  I did and my mould is better than it has ever looked!  An overnight soak was all it needed.  Now I just need some time to cast with it.  Other items on the to do list.  The mould is now coated with oil and awaits another day.

This stuff works and is $9 for 32 oz at AutoZone in Concord, NH.

Update on STM trial after 4 hours of tumbling

Click on photos for large image

I am very happy with how well it cleans the brass, inside and out.  I ran it for 4 hours on the dot.  I opened it up at 3 and saw some primer pockets still had a ways to go.  Another hour helped, I suspect another 2 hours would have been perfect.  Some say letting brass soak in the dish soap/Lemi-Shine for a few hours first reduces tumble time.  Separating the media from the brass was easy.  I did it one to a hand, two at a time.  Shook them in the dirty water and put in a rinse container.  Not one piece of media made it to the rinse.

The upper grainy  indoor picture is of the same nasty shells.  Left shell has the split, FC is the same, 3rd shell was the chocolate colored shell and is now clean inside and out.  Yes, they got that clean.  I can see doing this each time will keep them clean vs. trying to get five firings of primer and powder residue out. Compare the FC primer pocket before and after.  Ya ya, I did not get them in exact same order.  Next time when there is sun outside.




Stay tuned for a better photo when I can use natural light outside.

STM trial has begun, 2 pm

My Stainless Steel Tumbling Media arrived today from Utah.  Good service.  Weighed it to see if I have any loss over time.  An oz short of 5 lbs.  I guess I can live with that.  The day before I located the special cleaning stuff.  Lemi-Shine.  You can buy it from STM which is a nice thing to do or you can buy it from Walmart.  It exists in both crystal and liquid form.  I opted to stick with what STM sells which is the crystal concentrate form.  Under $4 for a bottle, UPC 7 03074 22874 4.

I was scheming with John B. as to what nasty brass I should throw at it first.  We found some very very beat up 30-30 brass which I decided to throw in with some 30-30 brass I shot a few weeks back.  This gives us a test of "normal" cleaning vs. "extreme" cleaning.  All brass had been decapped and FL sized.  I did not count the number of shells I put in.  Total brass weight was 1.5 lbs which is shy of the 2 lbs suggested by STM.  Keep in mind you have 1 gallon of water or 8 lbs, media 5 lbs so these 15 lbs capacity tumblers can only hold 2 lbs of brass or approx 100 pcs of 308 or 230 pcs of 9mm per STM.  At this stage I am less concerned about capacity and more interested in whether it truly cleans the inside of a rifle case.




And an real close up showing some ultra nasty range brass and one normal piece in need of cleaning before reloading.  The relatively clean piece was last cleaned by corn cob and is R-P.  The others are either FC or Winchester so I can separate them in the unlikely chance that they all look the same after 4 hours in the tumbler.

Click on image for a close up look at this brass pre tumble with STM media.

For a seemingly endless discussion about STM, go here.  Over 41 pages of posts on this forum....with better pictures than I am able to produce.

Starter Rifle...adults, again.

A few months back I made a post about what to get as a starter gun.  I would hate to think of the amount of digital ink that has been expended on this topic by others on the multitude of forums out there.  And, I don't want to suggest I have any better insight than the other guy.  I could say the sky is blue and some will say it is black.  This is just information.

I listed the NS522, CZ452, if the "gun you own" will not suffice.  Sure, move up the price point and you can look at Sako Finnfires, Kimber HS or any Kimber 82.  A Ruger 10/22 or 77/22 are options but typically need some TLC so I don't include them.  The Win 52B Japanese version is a good gun but they no longer trade for small money.

For value, the biggest sleeper is the Remington 541, 580, 581 and 582.  These rifles are generally available and are known for their VERY FAST lock time.  541s have some collector appeal and are not as affordable as they used to be.  580 is a single shot and likely the best value for the $$$.  581 is magazine fed and I am guessing were the most commonly produced.  The 582 is an odd bolt gun with a tube magazine.  Go figure!

The knock against the 58X family is the trigger is not adjustable but this link will show you or your gun smith how to fix that.  The 541 is adjustable.  My intention is not to start a stampede to the local pawn shop for these guns.  I was asked about an inexpensive starter gun and other than the CZ and I felt a used 581 or variant is a good idea.  They even made them in left hand version.  I have seen all the guns and a NS522 is still my pick.  Heavy, built like a tank, two beefy action screws, accurate hammer forged barrel.  Trigger can be improved in a similar manner to the link above.

There are so many options out there.  The best gun is the one you own and ammo it likes.

See you at the next match.

Never Give up!

Although I have preached this rule before in my blog, today's match was a friendly reminder of just how critical it is to keep your head in the game.  It is said, silhouette is not a match with 40 shots but instead it is 40 one shot matches put together.  The only shot that matters is the next shot.

For reasons I do not fully understand, bullets were not going where I was breaking on the animal.  Some testing of the upper and lower bounds finally gave me the answer I was looking for.  I was high so break lower than usual.  It took 6/10 chickens and 6/10 pigs to come to that final conclusion.  I cleaned the last 4 pigs when I became confident of the final diagnosis.  It should not have taken that long to figure out the problem but that is for another post.

Armed with this information I zeroed in on the turkey's leg.  12 out of 20 on the short line is typically terminal.  But, I was not ready to give up and my new POA on the first turkey was a hit.  I just kept doing the same thing.  Good shots on the leg and they fell.  9 out of 10 fell.  That gave me a small cause for hope.  If I could get 9 turkeys certainly I could get 10 rams.  Held on the armpit of the ram and they fell.  9 for 10 fell.  What looked to be a disaster turned into a fair showing with 30 downed animals.  I stared at the #10 ram wondering if I had another 9 in me having already missed #4 ram.  By that point I was getting worked up.  I knew I had already taken one sloppy shot on the rams and missed.  Time was running out and I needed a perfect break.  I reset even though time was short. To take a tired, sloppy shot was as good as not getting the shot off at all.  I worked hard and told myself to FOCUS and use my time wisely.  Thank goodness the 10th ram fell because I ended up tying with a 30.  One less animal and I would have been first looser.

Lesson for the day, don't ever give up even when you feel like it is time for the showers.  You just never know what lies ahead or whether others shooters could be having a bad day too!

Stainless Steel Tumbling Media aka STM

I was interested to know if anyone uses this stuff found here?  $50 plus S&H I to get 5 lbs is an investment in media.  Based on what I can read it sure sounds like magic though.  All in the funny if not silly pursuit of clean brass.  Mostly I want to ensure the inside of my cases are clean and carbon free.  And, as of yet, I have yet to invest in any media or case cleaning system.

I was doing some research and found these before and after pictures and find it hard to imagine brass could get this clean on the inside.  I know, does it really matter and can it affect case volumes?

Before

And after

Or, go to this link and read a very long thread discussing the use of SS media.

To cant or not to cant

A number of years ago I had the pleasure of shooting in Pe Ell, Washington at the Conard Bernhardt Cup.  For those who love the 1/5th game this is one of two matches you must make before retirement.  My shooting partner was from Canada and was a Master shooter.  I was watching his prep, always hoping to learn something.  I noticed he had a spirit level on his scope which seemed overkill.  As I understood it, spirit levels were for stool shooters, not two legged shooters.  I asked him why he had a level?

He replied that he has so much cant in his setup that he wanted to confirm is scope was PERFECTLY vertical on every shot.  In Silhouette, unlike benchrest, we are changing our elevation constantly which makes us that much more susceptible to the negative implications of any scope cant.  Cant of the scope will throw off your vertical when going from chickens to Rams.  The spirit level is just one more device he used to confirm as he settled in for a center punch on a turkey that he will not have any scope cant.  Just another "belt and suspenders" strategy to ensure no dumb mistakes happen and cost you one animal.  Master shooter don't take careless shots.

Fast forward 5 years.....

Last night I found this helpful article on cant and the images I thought were worth sharing.  If you have ever zeroed in on chickens and wonder why on a calm day you have to put in some windage when you get to rams, think about the implication of cant and whether that could be a contributing factor at the ram line.  It does not take much.

Before I close I will comment as to why some people purposefully cant their rifle.  In shooting Bill Motl's gun this spring in at the Texas State match I was amazed at just how much cant he put in.  Recall you don't want to lean your head to the stock, you want to bring the stock to your head.  Sometimes this is easier said than done.  To assist, shooters will cant the rifle to their cheek and then adjust the scope to be vertical as per the above article.  I find most folks in NH shoot zero cant.  I used to shoot canted but have returned to no cant to eliminate one more variable.  With a Pharr stock the need to cant the rifle is less IMO.  Something to try over the winter to find out what FEELS good to you.  If you can find a position that feels like you could hold all day, do it.  Worry about getting your zeros in the spring.  Last year I took my whole rifle apart to fit it to me.  But that is for another post.

Cant article.

Staying with the trigger

One small tip I picked up from Chris Winstead, father of Cathy Severin and Chad, both high master shooters.

He watched me shoot 5 animals and his primary input was that I needed to work on follow through.  His point, I should be as still after the shot as I am before the shot.  Work on taking 3-5 seconds after the shot in an effort to work on follow through.  In theory, you should be able to watch the bullet hit Turkeys and Rams.  Good shooters do.

The first order of business is he did not like what I was doing with my trigger finger by releasing the trigger right after it broke.  Stay with the trigger, do not "reflexively" release the trigger.  This will introduce movement when the objective is to be perfectly still after the shot.

For practice he said after the shot always take two or three dry fires on the empty shell casing and work on ZERO movement from beginning to end of breaking on the trigger.  It takes some getting used to but after a while it does help your follow through.

Ways of the Rifle, books part IV.

I have read or should I say skimmed this book for about a week before I had to return it.  It is a reference book just like Competitive Shooting is.  There is so much to absorb.  Note the title uses the plural of way, Ways, not The Way.  The authors point out there is no one best method that one should use. Instead, it is a process of finding out what works best for you.

I am a little fuzzy on whether a second edition came out or if there is slick marketing.  This is the book I read, translated from German by Bill Murray.  If I find out more about the second edition, I will update the entry.  A simple Google search will find it from competitive shooting outlets.

Second edition looks like this.