310 - 400 on Break Barrel Air Rifle

Just broke my personal record, this morning, at the CDA ("Clube Desportivo do Arneiro") Break Barrel Air Rifle 10 meter match with a score of 310 / 400 (on the previous 2 matches, this year, my scores were 279 and 309). 

2 consecutive impacts (scored 2 x 8) on one of the match practice targets

My score notes on the 40 shoot match ( 4 x 10 shoot series) - overall 310 / 400 points

I competed at 09h00 AM on Line # 2, using a German HW ("Weihrauch") Model 35 4,5mm break barrel (springer) air rifle mounted on a custom made Ginb tropical wood stock with metal engraved buttstock and metal engraved  trigger guard, and, my vanity treat, a silver side plaque, with my name and Ginb "seal" engraved. Pellets used where my all time favourites - the German H&N Finale Match 4,5mm .

My "kit" on the match table - rifle is a 4,5mm HW 35
with a custom made tropical wood Ginb stock

" Pedro Mateus | Hand Crafted by Ginb "
The silver plaque on the stock side

Fellow shooters during the 1 hour, 40 shoot match - targets at 10 meters

"Sleepy race" to 503 points

Just arrived from the SREF ("Sociedade Recreativa Estrelas do Feijó") 40th Anniversary ISSF 10 meter air pistol (60 shoot) tournament. After a "troubled" night with less then 2 hours sleep I managed to pass the mythical "minimum" barrier score of 500 points - reaching 503 / 600 points. The effect of lack of sleep on the brain sometimes help precision shooting competitors on a "perverted" way - making you less permeable to anxiety due to what I like to call "rational numbness". My overall result on today's match as "not that bad" - although  it was far from my personal record (525 points) and bellow my last 3 years average score (514 points) . Nevertheless, with my 2 other fellow CPTPP shooters (M. Miranda and F. Lopes Neto), we manage to get 2nd place by teams on this official match for the Portuguese Shooting Federation ranking.

My setup on line # 5 ready for the match
to begin at 8h30 AM, Sep. 25th 2010

I competed with my Swiss-Italian Morini CM 162 EI using German H&N Finale Match pellets, and after a troublesome (and tottaly embarrasing!) 2 point hit on the 2nd series (perfectly aligned on the vertical axis, but on the very top - a miss trigger "hit", mea culpa), I "raced" my best up until the last series - where I standed with a high pressure challenge: the sum of the the 5 previous series was 414, and the top best series was 85 (the 1st and the 5th) - thereby the only chance to reach the mytical barrier of 500 points was that the last series would be better then any of the previous others, a minimum of 86 points would be required. I gained that nice edge of pressure, made my best to keep focused... and exceeded the goal with a 89 points series. It was like a race inside a sleepy mind - but I succeeded!

Score details - overall of 503 / 600

... I competed on Line #5, at the center

National medalist J. Marracho shooting on Line #4
with his red cylinder Morini 

Premiere on 9mm Pistol Nationals

Today, Sep.18th, 2010, approx. 50 Kms north of Lisbon, at the shooting range complex of the Portuguese Air Force Centre for Military and Technical Training (CFMTFA, ex-Air Force Base N. 2), Ota, Alenquer, it took place the 9mm "Sport Pistol"  Nationals (60 shoots, 25 meters / 27 yards using ISSF precision and velocity targets - 30 each).

Photo by R. Vilhena

Photo by R. Vilhena

It was my absolute "première" at a competition with a 9mm Pistol and with a previous experience of less then 700 shoots (comprehending initial setup and subsequent training). My goals for this "première"were: a "mediocre" minimum at 350 points, a "normal" at 400 points and a "great" at 420 points. As expected I end up with a better score on the "speed" series (5 shoots in max. 20 seconds) then on the "precision" series (5 shoots in max. 5 minutes) - an average of >10 points more (per each 50 points series). With my STI Target Master with Winchester 115 grains FMJ 9x19mm I scored a overall 399 out of 600 points, and finished 12th among the 16 shooters on my class (HS2). Official scores for all competitors can de be found here >> .

Personal draft notes on score - 399 / 600

The sights were, specially on the precision series, leading to many right-sided shoots (scores of 5s and 6s) but I decided, as a best practise rule, not to mess with sight adjustment during a match. It will be my next trainning assignment - to check and re-check them. Also it was the first time dealing with other shooters on the side without a sound breaking barrier between us - instead of the brick and cement barriers I'm used to have during training sessions at the Carregueira shooting range, here there was a simple mesh. The sound waves were very disturbing on the first series.

My shooting setup on the 2010 9mm Nationals support bench

My setup details: ISSF glasses (adjustable iris, front and side L/R blinds) by Miroslav Varga (CZ), ammo carry and sorting case by Smart Reloader (Italy), notebook by Moleskine, cotton towel, ear protection by Peltor (Optime III), non slip cloth and STI factory standard carry case.

A 50+ photo gallery of the Nationals can be reached at >> CPTPP Website and a approx. 3 min video report can be reached at >> Youtube Video Report .

Silver and Gold on BR50 2010 Nationals

Shooter: P. Mateus. Photo by L. Agria

... just finished a one day "marathon" at the Benchrest 50 (BR50) .22 LR Nationals (Jamor, Oeiras, Portugal, Sep. 11th 2010) where I got the "Silver" as 2nd place overall on the "Heavy Varmint" class and "Gold" as 1st place by teams on the same class. The "kit" used was a "custom" Anschütz 1903 single shot .22 LR rifle, with a Leupold 45x45 Competition scope over Sportmatch UK mounts using Lapua Center-X 40 grains ammo. The kit was used on top of a Varide Cicognani Adjustable Rest (Model 3). More details  and photos on this kit, nicknamed "Viriato", available here.

On the morning match, with a nice soft shadow-ish light and no wind, I scored 245 / 250 with 14 / 25 X (broke my personal match record - and with a score that granted me the honorific official title of "Master Shooter"  - in Portuguese: "Mestre Atirador" - by the Portuguese Shooting Federation). On the afternoon match, with some mild heat mirage (31 Celsius) and occasional medium strengh cross wind,  I scored 239 / 250 with 7 / 25 X.

BR50 Heavy Varmint Class , .22 LR
Morning match target - Score of 245 / 250 with 14 / 25 X
Jamor, Portugal, 11 Sep 2010, circa 10h30

BR50 Heavy Varmint Class , .22 LR
Afternoon match target - Score of 239 / 250 with 7 / 25 X
Jamor, Portugal, 11 Sep 2010, circa 16h00

The CPTPP team, "Heavy Varmint" class, composed by P. Mateus (2nd place overall), A. Ramos (1st place overall) and P. André (3rd place overall) took the 3 podium positions and won the 1st place on the 2010 Nationals - taking the "Gold" home.

CPTPP Team, left to right: P. Mateus, A. Ramos and P. André.

Photo by F. Neto

BR50 - Heavy Varmint, 2010 Nationals - Overall Scores

An extended +150 photo gallery can be found here and a 4 min HD video can be found here.

A 70 years old Luger P-08 doing 50 / 50

... late morning August 28th 2010 a fellow shooter from my club, CPTPP, came in to the shooting range for his practice session with a Luger P-08 9x19mm. He was kind enough not only to allow me to test it shooting a 5 ammunitions clip, but also to allow me to take some photos and, furthermore, to share with me all the pistol history.

"BYF-41" Mauser manuf. Luger P-08 in 9x19mm

This particular pistol was manufactured by Mauser and marked with the code "BYF-41" - that identifies this pistol with origin on Mauser's factory at Obendorf in the year of 1941. That was the penultimate year of production for this pistol before it became replaced by the Walther P-38. This P-08 was later on captured by the Soviet Army and only on the 1990s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was introduced on the commercial circuit that allowed it to be bought and used again - with top notch scores.

The original metal engraved stamps from Germany

Close up on the jointed arm action

Close up on the barrel

With approximately 70 years of age, this particular Luger P-08 is still (very!) capable to reach high match scores - such as 50 / 50 on national sport 9mm pistol match (where it competes with a all range of top notch modern pistols).

25 meter (27,3 yards) target with a "perfect" score of 50/50
Portuguese National Championship - Sport Pistol 9mm
Shooter M. Cruz, 27th September 2008

All photos (c) P. Mateus 2010.

One defective Winchester 9mm ammo

I just found one seriously defective 9x19mm ammunition on a 100 round pack by Winchester (9mm Luger "Target / Range", 115 Grains Full Metal Jacket, ref. USA9MMVP, Carton No. CT510D E125654, Bar Code 2089221297, Made In USA).

The defective ammunition appears to be within a regular case, fitted with a standard primer but with a defective bullet (on both shape - showing a semi-flat top instead of the standard ogival - and weight). As the photos detail, this defective ammunition weights only 80,9 grains (when just the bullet should weight 115 grains !) - compared to the 182,3 grains of a regular ammo from the same box. Due to this severe "weight loss" I'm due to assume that this might be the case of a "jacket only" bullet - only the light external cooper jacket is present and not the heavy lead inside (and that could also explain the deformed top - due to the assembling pressure on a light component).

A standard 9x19mm ammuniton, weighted 182,3 grains

The defective 9x19mm ammuniton weighted only 80,9 grains (!)

On the right the defective ammunition (semi-flat nosed)

On the left the standard ammunition(ogival nosed)

On top the defective ammunition (semi-flat nosed)

On the bottom the standard ammunition (ogival nosed)

Coincidently enough there were 101 units (counting with the defective one) on the card box. The defective one was easily spotted while transferring the ammunition, one by one, hand sorted, to a plastic carry case with individual dividers (with this particular ammunition weighting approx. half of what it was supposed it would be hard to miss).

Winchester 100 x 9mm Luger, 115 grains, FMJ, card box, Made in USA

All photos (c) P. Mateus, 2010