Personal record at break barrel air rifle match

With 341 / 400 and a 11th place (out of 24 competitors) I just broke my personal record (it was 334) on 10 meter break barrel air rifle shooting on this (very cold - only 6 Celsius!) morning official match at Clube do Arneiro, Cascais, Portugal - December 4th, 2010.

My confidence with my rifle (HW 35 4,5mm with custom Ginb stock) and my shooting stance and attitude builds strongly - and yes, Rui Vilhena's recommendation, upon watching me at the Nationals, to lower the adjustable recoil pad so that my face stance on the stock would be more comfortable and natural worked like a charm! The regularity of the 10 impact series makes me proud - 83, 86, 86 and... 86 !

5th CDA Match - Scores, 4th December 2010

My shooting gear at line # 7
- note the lowered position on the recoil pad

1959 - Secrets of Bench Rest Shooting - How Accurate Can You Get

"Secrets of Bench Rest Shooting - How Accurate Can You Get" by Gil Paust
in GunSport Magazine, July 1959, Vol. 2 Num. 2
Reproduced for scientific and historic research porposes only.
No commercial use or intent should apply. All original copyright applies.

A great three course meal

December 1st, a Portuguese public holiday, and a great morning spent at the shooting range at Serra da Carregueira, Belas, Sintra. Took a "three course meal" for the field:

•  my J. G. Anschutz (JGA)1400 .22 LR rifle;
•  my STI Target Master 9x19mm pistol ;
•  and, last but not least, my custom Air Arms TX-200 MK-III 4,5mm air rifle.

I started at 50 meters, with the "large" precision ISSF target, with the austrian made JGA 1400 - checking sights and fixing the left drift I got back from the last match. All solved, and several nice groups of 8-9-10s (with consistent and minimal horizontal and vertical drift) came out easly. Still some magazine feed issues here and there - but it's vintage material (and already got a factory new magazine to use for matches and keeping the original one for collectable value integrity).

I then proceeded to a mini training session with the STI Target Master 9x19mm for checking sights alignment (finally solved the leftish issues from the end of summer Nationals at OTA) and grip stance, spending approx. 50 units of Winchester 115 grains FMJ ammo. My "final series" scores where 47 / 50  on the "25 meter speed target" and 48 / 50 on the "25 meter precision target". Very happy with the result and very confident on sights and pistol.

Last not but not least... I took care of zero-in' my good "old" trusty 4,5 air rifle Air Arms (AA) TX-200 MK III (bought from Manchester Air Guns back in late 1998), customized with a J. Maccari "kit", over a laminated wood thumbhole stock, scoped with a Busnell 24x over Sportmatch UK single piece mounts and shooting AA Field pellets. Three years have passed since I used it, and this was a new scope and mounts set... amazing that in only 5 impacts at 25 meters I got it zero-ed and got to the "one hole" series in a breeze - having fun using the 9 mm holes from the STI Target Master previous training as challenges (all went trough).

I spent about 4 hours at the range and came home with a warm cosy feeling of mission accomplished on this three course "meal". Shooting is great - and all the "bolts and nuts" around it are challenging, fun and overall rewarind to work with.

Back on track

... last Sunday, November 28th... the Nationals for 10 meter break barrel air rifle were held at Jamor, Oeiras, Portugal, and, despite a modest personal performance ( 324 / 400 ), and finishing at a low position ( 36th out of 43 ) I was far better then on the Regionals ( where I scored a mere 311 ) and I feel more confident with my technique and gear on this discipline where my personal record is only 10 points higher then this score.

... a close up on me and my "Ginb" custom stocked HW 35 4,5mm during the match

I went to the match with a personal goal of exceeding the 320 points mark (corresponding to the mark of 80 points average per each 10 impact series) and the 324 where "just on the mark" - I feel back on track on this shooting discipline.

A detailed photo gallery of the Nationals can be found at: http://www.cptpp.com/gallery/index-20101128-ccart-cn-jamor.html

2010 CCART Nationals Standings

Details on my 324 / 400 score - just one series bellow the >80s mark

... my shooting gear at line # 30 on the Nationals
for break barrel air rifle 10 meter shooting

5 consecutive impacts scoring 47 / 50 on one of my sight-in targets

Shooter and equipment - glitches at 50 meter rifle tournament

November 13th, 2010, Jamor, Oeiras, Portugal - the third match within the "Standard Rifle" tournament of the Portuguese Shooting Federation for .22 LR 50 meter rifle (60 shots, standing position)... my performance was a total fail  - I reached a mediocre 471 / 600 score when on the previous match I reached 512 / 600. This is was 41 points drop. What a wash-down.

First of all I was on the aftershocks of work related stress from the week before - my concentration was deeply affected. Second... around the 15th "sight in" shot... my loved vintage Austrian made J. G. ANSCHÜTZ (JGA) 1400 rifle's magazine started to jam feed all my rounds (a up stepper angle was forcing the round too high from the chamber) - I had to skip to a manual one-by-one load (more paraffin on my fingers from the bullet coating, more stress). Third... sights (and/or my handling) were giving me a lot of leftish shots, and I was unwilling / unsure about messing with them. Fourth... nevermind, it was all down hill.

... placed 31st out of 41
with a mediocre 471 / 600 score

I competed at line #29, match started at 12h00. A total of 41 shooters competed on this 3rd and last match of the tournament - the final score of the tournament was made using the 2 best out of the 3 match scores.

... detail on the top barrel / chamber section
of my loved vintage JGA 1400 .22LR rifle.
On the left - "Waffen-Heim Filderstadt"
- the original 1970s German shop brand engraving