I have benchrest shooting on my mind today, so for fun here's a target I shot at an IR 50/50 match back in July. It would have been my first 250 target in a match, had I not blown the last shot.



Looking through the scope:



I shot it during the 13.5 lb. class- the 3rd and final target of the day. My score on the 10.5 lb. target was a 248-13x with the first miss was on #20 (another close target). Conditions were light but switchy, and the range is surrounded by tall spruce trees with some pockets inbetween for sneaky breezes.

A few days before the match I shot a couple of 249s and 250s in practice- my first outdoor 250s. I haven't yet shot that 250 in a match. Next year!

My rifle is a Suhl 150-1 with a 16.5" twist factory Suhl barrel (it originally had a 19" twist barrel), Leupold 40x scope, "lite" Harrel tuner, and a cedar/carbon fiber stock I made. I was shooting Eley match and use a Caldwell BR front rest base with a Greenlaw windage top, and Protektor rear bag.

It's those 249s and all the other "except for that one" targets that keep us shooting benchrest and other events where every shot counts.

It always amazes me when someone looks at, say, a smallbore prone target with a score of 200-19X, and they point to the lone 10 and ask "How'd you do that?" They would do better to point to the 19 Xs and ask "How'd you do that?"

Nice shooting.

Thanks JohnD, hopefully I can stay cool if I find myself shooting a clean target again next year. At least it isn't my rifle's fault... and I do have some more of that good lot # of ammo.

Evan,
Send your rifle to Dan Killough and he will run your rifle in his Eley test tunnel. He will tell you what ammo works best.

Butch that would be nice but probably too spendy. Thankfully there's a decent 50 yard indoor range near me that I can use for ammo and equipment testing. I tried 13 lots of Match last year and did find some good stuff. I still miss Eley Team.

I re-barreled my rifle with another factory Suhl barrel last winter and it didn't shoot well until Jim Kobe re-crowned it for me, then it really came alive. I'm glad I don't need to go through that again.

We'll see what next year holds. I'm slowly working on another wood/carbon fiber laminate stock for the rifle, this time with curly maple and curly cherry. Maybe it will be done in time for matches? Not sure.

Go to Dan's website. I believe he has pricing there. I don't think that at his prices I could pass up the chance to do it.
http://www.killoughshootingsports.com/

quote:

Originally posted by Evan K.:
Butch that would be nice but probably too spendy. Thankfully there's a decent 50 yard indoor range near me that I can use for ammo and equipment testing. I tried 13 lots of Match last year and did find some good stuff. I still miss Eley Team.

Jeez I'd like to find an indoor 50-yard range in our area. Is there an emoticon for envy?

How did you decide to recrown? I wonder about that from time to time, but don't see a visible problem with my 513T's crown. It's just old.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
Go to Dan's website. I believe he has pricing there. I don't think that at his prices I could pass up the chance to do it.
http://www.killoughshootingsports.com/

Unless I'm not mistaken, they only let you test Tenex at the range and that just isn't feasible with my shooting budget. Half a case of Match is a good year for me, and believe me I wish I could do more.

quote:

Originally posted by TomP:
Jeez I'd like to find an indoor 50-yard range in our area. Is there an emoticon for envy?

How did you decide to recrown? I wonder about that from time to time, but don't see a visible problem with my 513T's crown. It's just old.

I have few complaints about the range... I wish the benches were sturdier but it still works as long as you aren't next to someone blazing away with an AR or AK. It DEFINITELY beats trying to shoot outdoors in the winter months, like almost half of my year!



On the crown, when I installed the new-to-me barrel it all seemed fine visually- it was another factory Suhl barrel with a bright, 16.5" twist bore (the original factory barrel was 19" twist and shot poorly in colder weather). The previous owner kindly gave it to me for free, so who am I to argue with that?

When I first took it to the indoor range to test with a few lots of Eley, the rifle was bad. It was shooting very erratic 3-shot groups at 50 yards... it would put two shots in one hole and spit the third out up to an inch away, or just scatter all three. I was hoping to see most groups under .25" like it did with the previous barrel, if not better. The majority of bullet holes were oblong in shape too, which was not a good sign (reminded me of the instability I was getting with the 19 twist in low temperatures).

After that shooting session I pulled the tuner off the barrel to inspect the crown and saw this:



Not good- I was looking for a nice, even star pattern. That is what made me think the crown was the culprit after that initial (awful) range session. As soon as it was redone, it went back to shooting tiny bughole groups in testing and I started shooting 250s in practice with it. This was my first time with a bad crown.