This blog is, I hope in tone, neither ex cathedra nor a rant. Author Brian Woodroffe Sec., Treas., Police Liaison Officer, Web Master
Another thing ... a member asked why the
championship was only 2+15 at 3,5 and 5 again. I explained that this
was a consequence of changing from 3 distances to 2. However on
reflection, there is no reason why we should not make it 2+15 at 3
& 5 (GA style), and a further 2+20 shoot at 500 yards.
That would make a total of ex-250.
I must say I now have a definitive shooting
reason - i.e. beyond what some might say is mere laziness about getting
out of bed so early on a holiday - as to why I would prefer the club's
shoots to commence at 11:00am, and not 10:00am. It is that early
and late in the season, the sun does not shine onto the target face
until later in the day. This Sunday we had good sunshine, but directed
into the shooters' face, whilst the target remained in gloom.
May be those who shoot with telescopes [and I notice some long sun shades!] are not troubled by that sort of lighting, but I find it less than ideal. I started the day with an apperture of 1.2mm, and finished the day with 1.05mm. More telling - but then again it could be a fluke - I got no Vees at all in the first 10 gloomy shots, but finished with 5 Vees! Further I have now plotted my elevations, and whilst not conclusive, the 300 diagram shows elevation settling when the light was good, a behaviour continuing at 500 yards. Plots sheets here
I know there are other members who would prefer a later start time due to work patterns, travelling, what-ever and I know there are some members who would prefer to start shooting earlier still. One certainly cannot please all the people, all the time (;-)
Beyond that how did things go?
GAVII - At last a summer's day like we should
have. I really enjoyed the day, good weather, good turn out,
interesting cnditions, and [for me] the first time to break 70 this
season. Congratulations to PC on a double-poss. I thought
the conditions much more difficult at 500 than 300, but a quick
averaging of the scores showed only a 2 point reduction. Still plenty of opportunity for improvement.
13-Jun was not as wet as the weather forecast suggested - nor
like the previous weekend in Assynt (see photo). The
conditions were fair.
Also I hear that Tr/F rules are being
changed to allow any bullet weight. That rather closes the
gap between Tr/F and F-open, and that being so, one has to wonder what
is the point of the trivial distinction - IMO. One thing is
for sure, Tr/F will have to move to F-open target dimensions - again IMO
Mellon Udrigle beach; Gruinard Bay.
I was writing the rules - as agreed at the AGM -
that Tr/F shall be to
Bisley rules. What strikes me is how good a rule book the 1979 book
was, that I inherited in 1979 when I started full bore shooting.
An improvement upon its successors, even! With the
exception
of droping the 3mm mat rule, I can think of no technical rule change
that has been for the better.
What this leads up to is
(Tr)F-class. I sympathise with Cln Farquhhason's aims, that by
adding a 'scope and a bipod people could be kept on target shooting.
This was a laudable aim. But throwing it open to all calibres and
removing most other rules, with the vain hope of encouraging hunting
rifles, was two steps too far IMO. Unfortunately
Tr/F does not put the genie back in the bottle. Tr/F [as 308W-sized
F-open], is not a halfway house between the rule-stablecontrolled
discipline of TR and the most anything goes F-open.
It would be much better if Tr/F were Atholl Tr/F; ie a TR
rifle with 'scope & bipod.
I was once shooting at Bisley in a threesome of Maj R.Fulton, an American and myself. In weight order of equipment, the American had the most (requiring a golf cart), myself a middling amount and R.Fulton the least. Needless to say the scores followed the talent, and not the equipment!
You will have seen the calendar. I hope you are able to come
to the
events. You should know of some of the constraints that occur when
setting the programme: -
Given the above, find at least 12 dates, preferably before the big meetings of July. OK, not all the constraints are hard, such as avoiding double bookings, but you do see the issues and if the calendar causes you problems, at least you know what I had to deal with!
Last shoot of the season. The weather was against us
and those that turned up to shoot only shot at 500 yeards - being
mindful of the weather that had just been, and is again in Cumbria.
So that was GAXIV completely washed out, and GAXV adandoned
too. It makes me wonder why we try to shoot in November; too cold when
standing about, too little light to see the target well and likely one
and ones equipment gets a soaking.
Congratulations to tthe class winners; MBarlow, PSandie, ERogers.
Thinking about the AGM [more work reconcilling the acounts:(], people should be thinking about what they might like brought up. I, for one, would like to see Tr/F adopt either Atholl rules (i.e. no back bag & 1.5kg trigger etc.) or go fully F-class (i.e. white centres)
So that is GAs X & XI scores in, and the
tables are beginning to take a familar shape.
Sunday 27 was an interesting day. For myself, I have recently
had
an update to the prescription in my shooting spectacles and I think my
results show the value of that expenditure. [JHStewards]
There are was quite a bit of wind but it was up the range; my
plot sheet showed at 500 yards from 2-right to 1½-left. My
score
at 300 yards would have been helped by not getting a crow! Also it was
interesting that the elevation zero had moved
by 1-minute. I had not used this rifle (Musgrave) for a year
or
so and was giving it a try before going to Bisley for the L&M
match. I have had this rifle from since 1979 and the
elevation
has not moved ever, even having been rebarelled. It just makes you ask
two questions, why this
time? and why
is this shooter registration stuff needed?
As for the first, I think that is because my position has changed. As
to the second, I do not know. On the one hand, so long as one keeps to
a standard load and position, then, at short range at least, you will
hit the black year upon year and I see little value in shooter
qualification. However a long range it is a different story;
10
counting hits out of ten is a significant measure of success - period - but again
shooter qualification will not help for it is an on the day issue
[in my opinion!].
A very wet and windy weekend. The shoot scheduled for Saturday by another club on the range was abandoned, whilst my guests in Edinburgh had a great time on the Royal Mile, followed up by the Tattoo. [The Swiss drummers were the high light.] A special thank you to Howard for running the range. It looks like I shall be unable to attend GA9. The next shoot GA9, 30-August, is the championship.
It was a bit dissapointing that only 4 of turned up for GA7. No doubt the factors of holidays, Bisley and the prospect of poor weather put people off. Indeed as I arrived at the range I wondered whether we would get a shoot in for there was mist hangig in on the hill - soon blown off. Because we were unsure of completing the shoot, we commenced at 500 yards. Then because the weather held dry-ish, and with the prospect of good afternoon, we shot 300 yards. The path up to the top flags was very over grown indeed.
Mike Barlow shot for the winning Scotland team in the Elcho;
photo here,
result here
Both
off-site.
What next? I have received two communications from the
Scottish Government,
here
and here.
The contrast between Members of Parliament trying their damnest to
keep, what they claim to be, personal details just that personal, and
the Scottish Government's ability to release what they should keep
private is interesting.
Interestingly, given that I can guess who asked
for these details, and given that person is a fellow shooter, I am not
in the least bit surprised that the details will go no
further.
Some more photograpghs ...
Liatach from
Loch Clair.
Ben Eighe and the big house on the Coulin estate.
Ben Eighe
Perhaps there is something to be said for going fishing?
Liatach from the single track A896!
GAVI: Congratulations to Paul Crosbie on the first 150.xx of the season, and thanks to Robbie (etc) for setting up the range. It is welcome to hear that there were new faces, and also that there was the return of some less regular attendees.
While you folks were shooting, I was enjoying the stuning
views near
Sheildaig, Loch Torridon, and here are just two pictures; First a 180
degree
panorama of Loch Clair including Ben Eighe (right) and Liatach (centre,
right, IMO the most impressive hill in all of Scotland, although Stac
Pollaidh is very stiff competition): -
Second a panorama from Strome Ferry on the Sunday of GAVI, Plockton
towards
the left with the Cullins of Skye in the background: -
GAV - a great day for a shoot! Dry for a start, which was not the case for the previous GA. It was bit cold to start with, and so I wore water proof trousers, which made me sweat after lunch. I was disappointed in the low turn out. The conditions were tricky, a strong fish tailing wind with a 4 minute spread at 300 yards, from about 3 right to 1 left. I got a good score 71.x, well I thought it good. The contitions remained the same at 500 yards, although my performance was lamentable -- never mind the mantra of keeping a magpie off one's card, outers!
Congratulations to Paul Crosbie for winning both TR/F and F-open at the West of Scotland meeting (scores on the SRA website ). Glutton for punishment, shooting twice but I guess it amortises the petrol costs! Talking of F-class, and talking as one who competes in TR, hasn't TR-F lost the plot? In TR/F, not only are all the F-open aids allowed, but now there is talk of opening up the bullet weight. I had thought that TR-F had returned to the Farquarson spirit of allowing [mainly TR] shooters with aged eyesight to continue to shoot. I think the West Atholl rules are much more in keeping with a restricted class, creating clear distinction between the 'any-thing-goes' of F-open, and the dyed in the wool TR/Palma. TR/F [especially with heavy bullets] had better be prepared to shoot on the smaller F-open target.
GAIII - I do not remember that now. GAIV had the prospect of a great day for shooting, after all the rain on the preceeding days. Well, the morning was fine with next to no wind. I managed to break the magic 70 without a magpie. The afternoon shoot, first detail was caught in a hail shower for most of the shoot. Myself and other competitors suffered from water ingress, and my boots are still drying.
GAII turned out to be a fine day, weather wise. We were fortunate that the screens around the firing points kept the cold strong wind away from us. The strong wind made shooting difficult; significant changes. I was well pleased with my score at 300, only 2 points dropped in the first 12, so I thought breaking 70 would be a racing certainty. Ahem, you know how on a Snakes and Ladders board, the longest snake is Pride which becomes the fall? Well ... 13th to count, a magpie down-wind! OK, 71.xx. Five hundred - different story, starting 1,0,0,5 ... did not make a good score. You win some, you loose too many.
One thing that was great was the target picture, all that light made it a black bull on a white back gound, most welcome.
Another thing, we will have to do better is the squadding. The detail was full; seven barrels equals a maximum of seven firers. Unfortunately I squadded myself in a three, whilst other F firers shot in pairs. Not unexpectedly we three finished much later than the two pairs, and hence the second detail started late as I needed to aid / coach a new start. In future we should consider making the triple be F-class and TR be squadded in pairs, what ever the consequence in terms of those shooting on a smaller Vee bull or not. The neat drawing of the extra Vee ring on the 500 face did help.
Anything that can reduce the amount of process I have to do at the range I welcome, for it increases my shooting time. To that end, the new style score cards include a box into which I have asked that members record the serial number of the rifle they use. A number of consequences result from this. Those club members with more than one rifle need to separately identify what they shoot; and for those with only one rifle recording its serial number is moot; i.e. interesting but of no special value. How various members record the serial number of their rifle is interesting . I was expecting a number and often I get a name. For instance one of my rifles is an 'Omark, Sportco M44, DG253'; i.e. its manufacturer is Omark, its model is a Sportco M44, and its serial number is DG253. OK, my rifles could be recorded as 'Grunig Elmiger', 'Musgrave' and 'Sportco', but still the serial numbers are 75133, 105322 and DG253. :)
The work that John Haynes and others had put into fixing defects in the range were obvious. The items I noticed, and I guess there are others, were the steps at the 500FP, and at the butts the new higher target legs and the improved sand retention 'boxes' in buttstop.
The results of the TR/F ballot are in, and I can not help but notice that TR/F seems to continue to distancing itself from its roots. TR/F seems to be less and less a discipline to allow tired-eye'd shooters to continue competitive shooting, and more and more following a technology [cost] curve, by eliminating more and more of what was once considered the marksmanship skills that were to be tested. I had thought that it had been realised that an anything goes attitude both increases costs and diminutes the testing of marksmanship skills, and that TR/F was a [welcome in my view] return to long established principles. But then again, what do I know, being only a tired-eye'd TR shooter?
At the AGM people were concerned at prices - why not, and who is not? However I think people need to take a reality check concerning the subscription rates. To say that F&K charges the highest membership fees of any known rifle club is unfair. As the year's accounts show, the major expenditure is on access to the range and the club's only source of income is membership fees. I think people need to be aware that most alternate facilities are not necessarily as cheap as one might initially think; e.g. double warden charges in one case & e.g. substantial petrol costs in another. When I look along the firing point, I can see that most members have made substantial investment in their equipment, and that considering membership costs as a running cost, that running cost is a very small proportion of that outlay.
Recently I forwarded a member's request concerning rabbit control. In such cases of incomplete information, it would help me if members who wanted more information contact, when possible and it was this time, directly the originator. I was acting only as a messenger.
It used to be that the score cards were laser printed, and hence were somewhat rain resistant. I have no laser printer, for like most home users, print on an ink-jet printer. Does any member have a laser printer on which they would print score cards?
