I've been doing a lot of practice on High Power this past week or so. I've shot several reduced Slow Fire scores in the 90's with one that could have been a possible (97-5 followed by a 96-5). I have also turned in some good offhand scores with a new high score of 95-3x, sitting (new stage high of 187-9x) and rapid fire prone practice (new stage high of 189-5x). I am knocking at the door of master or shooting Master at least a portion of the time for everything but standing (which is a solid 92.5 average).

It's High Power Season. I'm still shooting some silhouette matches (and will be shooting 2  this weekend). But most of my energy has been directed toward High Power. I have made some headway.

1. I now have a functional sitting position that works and finally gives me higher scores than standing. I'm mostly in the mid-90's in practice. And my match scores have ranged from 90-93.

2. I have a new personal high for offhand. Last week in the Creedmoor Cup I fired a 10 shot string of 95 in offhand. That was a good feeling. My average is still around 90, but it is moving up.

3. I am also working on some solutions to some slowfire prone issues. The weird thing is that my 200 yard work with the 22lr, has shown me that I can shoot slowfire. But I am working to solve some vision issues during that final stage of the match. Last week I experienced a double bull with one on top of the other. You can imagine how well that string of fire went. On second thought, don't imagine. I made some changes, shot yesterday and the vision issue was MUCH better. The funny thing is the day before the problem, I has an appt. with the eye doc and got a clean bill of health although my right eye had gone down to 20/25. These issues have made it difficult for me to score well in 20 shot strings. I can run 5 or so 10's and x's and then wind up with a few wide shots.

Here is a mod I made to my coat that comes from Nancy Tompkins. The straps pull the neck down so that it doesn't press against the back of my head in prone. It did seem to help. I should probably spend more time shooting prone without the scope.

A lot to cover.

First off I have continued practicing for the 200 yard rimfire matches. Two weeks ago while doing some ammo testing, I shot a 10 shot  1.5 moa (3 inch group) at 200 with the .22 using Remington White Box ammunition. This was shot prone with sling and no external support or shooting coat. That was fun.

Last weekend and most of this week I was out of action with gout or pseudo gout in my knee. I felt much better today. I wanted to get a zero with my Service Rifle since I had put in a new front sight (.072). I got the rifle zeroed after 3 shots or so and then shot a 6 shot 1 moa group (sling, prone, shooting coat). The other four though were a problem that made me question myself. the were individually something like a 2.5 MOA group. As I was packing my rifle I discovered that my rear aperature was very loose. I didn't even think of checking it while shooting. I will need to add that to my prep time or pre-prep list.

The good news is that I am shooting slowfire prone better than ever before with both the rimfire and the centerfire. This is really good news for me.

New Airgun

I have ordered an FWB 300S. This will be my new practice air rifle and I will use it for shooting postal Airgun matches. I need to send the Crossman practice upper off to have the valve replaced (it is leaking air into the chamber).

For more information about the 300S, see the article below.

http://airgun-academy.pyramydair.com/blog/2012/02/fwb-300s-vintage-target-air-rifle-part-1/

Training Journal Week 3

Friday: off
Saturday: Zero's for rimram rifle (.22lr liner in 1885 .45-70), incomplete. Shoot 20 shot .22LR match at 200 yards with bolt rifle. Targets 3 and 3.5 MOA steel plates. 12-20 final score 2nd place. Scope lacked the elevation adjustment to shoot at 200, wound up using Mildots and a hold of 1 mildot. 4/10 of 7 inch target, 8/10 of 6 inch target.
Sunday: .22 ammo testing at 50 yards.Shot Remington White Box Target, Eley Club Xtra and CCI STD Velocity. Best results were white box with 2moa groups, prone, no sling, no support.
Monday:Daisy 853 Indoors. Iron sights 10m Rifle target. It was hard to get in the groove. I kept noticing the trigger being different between shots.
Tuesday: Dryfire using Scatt system. Only 2 shots out of 9 ring. Most shots felt good. This is my main reason for shooting silhouette (to improve Highpower Offhand). 

Training Journal Week 2

Friday: Off
Saturday: Outdoors.10m airgun. Later actual distance work on chickens, pigs and Rams.. Results posted tonight. Only got in 25 yard practice due to time. Results were 17/40 (4 chickens, 7 pigs, 2 Turkeys, 4 Rams). Note that the 4 Chickens were in the second 5 shots.
Sunday: Off. Working with other shooters, spotting for them, and helping with zeros.
Monday: Indoor Airgun. Iron Sights at 10m16/40 (3 chicken, 6 pig, 1 Turkey, 6 Ram) on the silhouette, but some really good practice on the NMAR SR target.
Tuesday:Indoor Airgun. Iron sights at 10m 15/40 (4 chicken, 6 pig, 3 turkey, 2 Ram)
Wednesday: Install .22lr liner in BPCR, install sights, zero and group shoot. Looks capable of excellent groups with Eley Club Xtra (from 2003).
Thursday: Airgun, indoors Iron sights SR target.

There are some really good training and practice ideas at http://www.riflesilhouette.com/instructions/practice.html

There are scaled targets, descriptions of matches, advice on equipment, and training advice.


Another good site for silhouette is http://durant7.blogspot.com/