UKBRA 1000 Yards - 18th June 2017

[mole-e30]

1000 yard Benchrest Competition Sunday 18^th June 2017

On arrival at Diggle I said to young Emily “Emily today is a special day”, her response “Why is that Grandpa, does it mean I get to beat you again, like yesterday?”, “no Emily it does not and I thought we’d agreed not to mention you beating me”, “well why is it special then Grandpa?” – “Because there is hardly a ripple on lake Diggle AND the sun is shining!!!”

 

So after a bit of hopefully careful thought by a few we’ve change things around a bit in the hope that today will run a little faster than the last two shoots when we finished after 5pm and some didn’t get home on Sunday, it was after midnight when they got in. Main changes were to provide anyman targets and a spotter to help folks to get “on the paper” whilst the proceeding relay is shooting their groups. We will then restrict sighting-in to 6 minutes. Will it work, a bit like will the sunshine will it last – read on.

 

Today we have 35 shooters with rifles, bolts, ammo and shorts and sun tan cream. We have 15 Light Guns, 15 Heavy Guns and 5 Sporters. Good to see some of our resent “converts” back, but as you might expect the holiday season is starting to bite and there are a few regulars missing. So we have 5 full relays for the morning and 4 for the afternoon.

 

Ready to go and first shots are down the range by 10:15, Heavy Guns first. So here we go with all the grizzly details.

 

Detail One: 4 Heavy Guns, sighting-in takes a few minutes, but they were “specially selected” as they said they’d be straight on the paper! First honours to Jochen Schulz at 9”, Ronny McGowan and Jim Marsden at 12” but young Emily is out at 24” but this is her first time this year after illness and a new “unchartered” barrel to boot. Relay 2 Jim takes the honours this time with just under 9”, Jochen and Ronnie a tad bigger but Emily another 24”, but her salvation is it a very decent group of 4 and one hanging out.

 

Detail Two: 4 Heavy Guns, the new sighting-in seems to have work, folks used the anyman targets and are all straight onto the paper – great. Relay 1, Dan Valmont and Laurie Holland are mid 6”, great groups guys, “newbie” David Raybould at 9” and Anonymous (as they say in the newspapers names and address supplied) at 18”. Relay 2, Laurie keeps it reasonably steady at 9”, Dan doubles his group at 13” Anonymous makes a reasonable improvement to 13” and David has as mishap to 16”

 

Back to Detail One for their third and final relays. Relay 3, new folks are trying, Emily digs deep and manages a very very respectable 5.8”, smallest groups so far will she hold onto it? Jim and Jochen post improvements at 6” and 8” respectively but Ronny loses his touch and post 21” with one penalty, his shot starting around the bull and just climbing up and up and up. Final chance now folks, Jochen concentrates and makes a 7” for a very respectable Agg. of 9” and an early lead, Jim drifts to 20” (what happened Jim?) Emily at 12” and Ronny does it again up up and up to 26” and a penalty – wonder if the warm weather is affecting his load?

 

So Jochen and Emil are the ones to beat for Agg. and Small group.

 

Detail Two again. Relay 3, tidy groups here, David makes it 6”, Dan 7” (he’s avoiding sighters as the 338’s barrel is “ready to fry eggs”), Laurie at 9” and Anonymous at 12” – don’t know who you are but like David for Newbies you are not doing too bad at all – well done guys. Final groups, relay 4, honours to Anonymous (has a certain ring to it doesn’t it) at just under 8”, Laurie very consistent another 9”, David at 13” and Dan stretches out to 14”.

 

So after two details Laurie takes the Agg. lead, but Emily still has the small group.

 

Detail Three, again all Heavy Guns again. Relay 1, Bruce Lenton takes the early honours with just over 7” and a score of 25 and 4X’s (more comments in a minute) Les Prior’s shiney thing is OK, but might need a polish at 11”, Mary Marsden at 13” and Sheila McGown at 16”. Score – as most now know we’re running two competitions in - one primarily shooting for group size but also recording the group’s position – the score. With the light winds it is not surprising that the scores are quite high with group centred around the bull and scores into the twenty’s – remember the max score is 25 and 5X’s – all shots in the V-Bull, this would mean a groups size of about 5” max. Relay 2, honours to Mary this time at a tad over 6”, Les not too far behind in the high 6”, Bruce at 10” and Sheila stretches it to 21”.

 

Detail Four, the last 3 Heavy Guns and a Sporter (got to keep the relays full). Relay 1, what can we say its the guy form Hexham again, Alan Maughan steals Emily’s small group with an opening bid of 5.4”, Dale Almond a creditable 8” followed by Darrell Evans at 14” (but history tells us his gun does shoot well when in the right hands) and then Paul Pendleton at 22”, but remembers Pauls a Sporter. Relay 2, bitty bigger for Alan but still in the 5’s, Dale again in the 8’s Darrell is now trying at 9.5” and Paul also posts an improvement at 19”.

 

Back to Detail Three. Relay 3, Mary Marsden, well what can we say other than bloody well done – 4.4” now Mr Maughan has lost his small group, Les and Bruce in the 9’s and Sheila unfortunately following Ronny’s example and makes it 28”. Final group for these shooter, not quite a 4 again but a low 5” for Mary Les Prior has polished his act and makes it a high 5’s Bruce back in the 7’s again and Sheila still in the 20’s, but better than groups 3.

 

So Mary currently has the Heavy Gun small group and the Agg. – 7.3” to beat, Les Prior has edged into second place and Bruce at third – not a bad relay this last one!

 

Detail Four, Relay 3, what has Mr. Maughan got up his sleeve – we’ll see? Darrel continues his improvement with a high 5, Dale at 6” and Alan languished at third with 9”, Paul continues his improvement with a 16” group. OK guys all to play for now – concentrate – fourth and final group. Alan makes it 7” but will it be good enough, Dale has his biggest group but still in the 9’s, Darrell slips back with 12” and Paul slips as well back to 19”.

 

So has Alan done enough? Yes just enough, Mary Marsden keep her HG small group but Alan YET AGAIN has the HG Agg. – this guy can shoot! Dale just misses third place by 17 thou.

 

Detail Five, all 4 are Sporters. Relay 1, as might be expected Alan Seagrave takes the honours with a respectable 11” opening group, Toni Young not far behind at 13” Graham Watts with 17” and Paul Parkinson at 20”. Relay 2, Alan is now trying, 7”, great shooting, and fellow shooters all improve too, Toni to 10”, Graham to 14” and Paul to 19”.

 

No 6^th detail we’ll just let their barrels cool a few minutes, its hot here today and the barrels are a lot hotter than normal, genuine cooking potential.

 

Off we go again, Detail Five, relay 3, Alan still takes the honours but a bit of a slip here, in fact I suspect a wind change as all groups extended significantly, Alan 15”, Toni 15” Graham 18” and Paul 29”. Relay 4, Alan back to normal with 7”, Graham at 8”, Paul at 20” and oops Toni 21” (can’t print what target operator Adrian Evans said - it might cause a divorce or Adrian physical harm) – only joking Toni.

 

So as far as the Sporters are concerned Alan Seagrave romps home with an Agg. of 10”, which might just put a few light guns to shame.

 

Lunch – reduced to 30mins so as well as your sarni’s you need indigestion tablets, but the 30 mins is a bonus as some suggest scrapping lunch all together!

 

Afternoon fun - Detail One: 4 Light Guns, again specially selected for their ability to hit the paper straight away – will they? Relay 1, all very capable competitors who’s going to open up the lead, Mal Roberts at 7”, followed by Chris Maunder 8”, Dave Jackson 13” then Sean Broxham at 14” – how come Sean? Relay 2, pressure is on now, honours just to Chris 7.1”, Dave 7.3” Sean 8” and Mal 9”.

 

Detail Two: 4 Light Guns again. Most having made use of the Anyman targets most of us are on the paper quickly, Jack Gibb leaving it to the last minute, but he’s there so off we go. Relay 1, first honours to yours truly at 9.4”, Willy Dixon with his new barrel at 12”, then Jack at 14” and Vince Bottomley also at 14”. Relay 2, Willy makes a marked improvement at 8”, Vince does too at 11”, Jack and I slip back with 18 and 14” respectfully – I blame the wind or the mirage!!!

 

Back to Detail One: Relay 3, now this is interesting, Sean’s grows a little to 9”, Chris and Dave have big increases to 18” and 20” but Mal pulls a 5” group out the bag- nice group! All concentrate hard for the fourth group (or the wind eases?) this time its Sean in the high 5’s Mal and Dave mid and high 9’s and Chris 11” –will it be enough for Mal. Easy, Mal posts and early lead of 1.5” over Sean.

 

Detail Two again. Relay 3 – Willy blows it to 13” (blame the new barrel) I’m back in the 9’s, Jack in the high 8’s but Vince has it by a long way with 4.7” – well done. Relay 4, Can any of us catch Mal? Simple answer no, but we try, Jack in the high 5’s (popular this high fives) Willy, Vince and I in the 10’s. But it’s Vince that takes the best of our detail to end up third behind Mal and Sean, but as they say “it’s not over until the fat lady sings”.

 

Detail Three: 4 Light Guns again. Relay 1 At first glance it looks like Alex Carson has it with and 11” but unfortunately its plus 1P, Simon Mearns is the early leader at 13” followed by Adrian Evans at 16” and then Mike Perdaux at just under 20”. However Alex’s salvation is he’s currently nearest the bull at 0.431”. Relay 2, Mixed bag again, but Simon makes a significant improvement to 9”, Alex and Mike in the 14’s and Adrian out to just under 19”.

Detail Four: no not 4 but the remaining 3 Light Guns. Problem here for Colin Schroeder, not the day for a hot load, unfortunately Colin has to retire during the sighting-in as his load is too hot and it’s jamming the case back into the bolt and getting stuck in the ejector, tough luck Colin. Relay 1, now “just the two of us”, Luke Wadsworth kicks of nicely with 9” and Jeanette Whitney has 13”. Relay 2, another 9” for Luke and 10” for Jeanette.

 

Detail Three - Relay 3, better groups this time, Simon leads again with around about 7.5”, 8” from Adrian, 9” from Mike and Alex at 10”, significant improvements from relay 2. Their final relay, probably only Simon can do any “damage”, well he certainly tries hard with a 5.2” group, Alex is at 12”, Mike at just under 15” but Adrian drops to 20”. So Simon’s last two groups have brought him right into contention, overtaking Sean into second spot and pushing Vince out of the top three.

 

Detail Four again – Relay 3 an upheaval here is possible let’s see. Luke again in the 9’s Jeanette 12”. Relay 4, if Luke can hit the 7’s or 8’s he’ll be in contention for the top 3, 10” from Luke and another 12” from Jeanette, so has Luke done enough, not quite Sean keeps his third place just 150thou ahead of Luke.

 

All done now yippee!

 

So to answer a few questions:

 

Did the sunshine last …. Yes wall to wall all day!

 

Did the wind stay calm…. Yes, a little twitchy as group sizes have shown but a significant improvement on the last time.

 

Did we run any faster….. Yes, finished by 16:00 about 1.5 hours earlier than last time but admittedly one less relay so about a good hour better.

 

How was the new sighting –in… seemed to work well, a couple left it until the sixth minute to get there but all made it in the allotted time.

 

So votes of thanks, to all who helped today - RO’s Vince and Jim, Butts officers Willy and Bruce, “

“super spotters” Jeanette and Mary, gate patrol Jack and Sheila/Ronny and finally for entering the scores Toni and Emily. Whatever we did it sure went well - thanks a great team effort.

Results for Light Gun:

 

1^st Mal Roberts – 7.915”

2^nd Simon Mearns – 8.864”

3^rd Sean Broxham – 9.526”

 

Small Group – Vince Bottomley – 4.703”

 

Results for Factory Sporter:

 

1^st Alan Seagrave – 10.126”

2^nd Graham Watts – 14.622”

3^rd Toni Young – 15.182”

 

Small Group – Alan Seagrave – 7.031”

 

Results for Heavy Gun:

 

1^st Alan Maughan – 6.872”

2^nd Mary Marsden – 7.330”

3^rd Les Prior – 8.341”

 

Small Group – Mary Marsden – 4.411”

 

Nearest The BULL

 

Alex Carson – 0.431”

 

2017 League Update - top three – Group

 

Light Gun

 

Sean Broxham 22pts, Chris Maunder 18pts, Vince Bottomley & Tony Lenton 16pts

 

Heavy Gun

 

Alan Maughan 30pts, Les Prior 17pts, Mark Ellis & Laurie Holland 15pts

 

Factory Sporter

Alan Seagrave 30pts, Graham Watts 25pts, Toni Young 19pts

 

Shooting for Score:

 

Light Gun:

 

1^st Tony Lenton - 81 pts and 3 X’s

2^nd Ian Dixon – 80pts and 2 X’s

3^rd Luke Wadsworth – 79pts and 3 X’s

 

Results for Factory Sporter:

 

1^st Alan Seagrave – 80pts and 3 X’s

2^nd Graham Watts – 63pts and 1 X’s

3^rd Paul Pendleton – 60pts and 1 X’s

 

Results for Heavy Gun:

 

1^st Bruce Lenton – 95pts and 5 X’s

2^nd Jochen Schulz – 90pts and 3 X’s

3^rd Les Prior – 86pts and 3 X’s

 

2017 League Update - top three – Score

 

Light Gun

 

Jeanette Whitney 18pts, Sean Broxham & Dave Jackson 17pts,

 

Heavy Gun

 

Darrell Evans 19pts, Dan Valmont & Steve Roberts 17pts

 

Sporter

 

Graham Watts 27pts, Alan Seagrave 25pts, Paul Pendleton 24pts

 

Job Advert!

Before I sign off, the UKBRA is trying to recruit 2 “Competition Reporters”, so if you are interested in helping write the reports for either the 100 or 1000yard events you are cordially invited to “apply”. Requirements are simple, Computer, Sense of Humour (even if warped a little), about 4 spare hours and access to UK V. Contact Bruce or Tony Lenton.

 

Next shoot is Sunday 16^th July

 

So until the next time - Safe shooting

 

Tony Lenton

 

Full results table – click on the link

 

Group Shooting Results

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uscvkrm7gfhyuk5/UKBRA%201000BR%2018th%20June%202017%20-%20Group.pdf?dl=0

 

Score Shooting Results

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m184ao1qb1d4u21/UKBRA%201000BR%2018th%20June%202017%20-%20Score.pdf?dl=0

 

 

[That bald headed Geordie]

Hi Tony, thanks for the usual fun write up and I promise that I will polish up my rifle and act as soon as possible!

See you at Gelston maybe?

[Big Al]

Thanks for the write up Tony.

 

Its interesting to read how the light gun shooters are battling it out while we are in the butts just wishing they would hurry up about it!

 

Alan Maughan from Wylam, not to be confused with the Maughan's of Hexhamshire

[Morse]

Great write up. It was a cracking day out and great conditions for the AM serials!

[Laurie]

Hi Tony, thanks for the usual fun write up and I promise that I will polish up my rifle and act as soon as possible!

 

 

Don't do that - another sunny day at Diggle (two in a year?) will see the rest of us blinded in the reflection. Get it Cerakoated in some sort of tactical matte camo' instead!

 

Yes, great write-up Tony, and the new arrangements worked well.

[That bald headed Geordie]

 

 

Don't do that - another sunny day at Diggle (two in a year?) will see the rest of us blinded in the reflection. Get it Cerakoated in some sort of tactical matte camo' instead!

 

Yes, great write-up Tony, and the new arrangements worked well.

People are usually blinded by my baldy head glinting in the morning sun at Diggle. But if I do get my big shiny thing polished up then watch out and bring your sunglasses and factor 15 Laurie. You have been warned.