M99 Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 Knackered! What a long 8 days! but hell, what an experience. Firstly, I would like to thank those that helped make this trip the success it was, The Shooting Shed, Scot Country International, Extreme Performance, Sniper one and the FCSA(UK) Three of us set of for New Mexico on the 1st July (The 4th team member left the week before to add in a family holiday in the US at the same time) Arriving at Heathrow with the .50s was a slightly nerving experience, especially when BA decided that they knew nothing about the fact we were travelling with firearms! (Despite the fact we had phoned, checked, re-checked and confirmed that they knew prior to us leaving!) - the problem was heightened by the fact that they deemed the .50s as weapons of war and not sporting rifles - now this next bit may come as a shock to almost everyone here, but if it was NOT for G4S things would have been a lot worse, their supervisor (A young lad of Gurkha upbringing (his dad is a serving British Army NCO), he went above and beyond and dealt with BA on our behalf in a very professional manner and had the problem resolved in no time - thanks to his determination and by skipping out all the "middle men" and going direct to the head of BA security at Heathrow. Rifles finally checked in, after being x-rayed and inspected by customs and it was time to chill before the 9hr 50min flight to Denver. No issues at Denver at all, very pleasant US customs officer was more interested in the size of the chamber and thickness of the barrel than anything else! We were made to feel very welcome and whisked through both border control and customs very quickly. We had set aside an extra day to get acclimatised, zero the rifles and stuff some ammo, this was made all the more easy by the amazing generosity of the stalwarts of the FCSA (US) who had brought with them a whole host of reloading gear for our use, presses appeared from everywhere, quickly fixed to tables and tow bars of trucks! - auto powder dispensers were pouring powder, whilst bullets were being seated with some incredible seating dies - made by one of the FCSA members - turns out almost all of them used dies made by Martin Listt!! The 1000yd range was being re-done whilst we were there and just over half of the 100 firing points had already been redone - very nice setup indeed. So rifle zero's checked and adjusted (needed 1.5MOA off our UK zero's) it was time for a BBQ and beer - again spoilt rotten by our hosts. First day of competition saw us at the briefing for 6am! (yes 6am!) rifles weighed in and matches entered, 2 of us were shooting in all classes and 2 only in 2 of the classes, plus all of us were shooting in the Practical class (Yes PR with a 50!) The PR took place at the 600yd point and consisted of 5 sighters (un marked) and then 15 rounds to score. The 15 rounds having to be shot in 10mins. Top honours went to the Barret team, who incidentally supplied all the ammo for the practical match!! Friday saw the start of the match "proper" and it was again a 6am briefing for a 7am start, early starts were essential as by early afternoon the temperature was pushing well in to the 100s!! The team shot well on the morning of the first day with Stuart shooting very consistently, along with myself - I was please to have shot 2 "greens" on the first morning (This is where the round goes through the previous spotting disc (1.5" circle disc) and our scores reflected on this. The wind was a total nightmare! - as those (Tim) who have shot at Raton will testify too, the wind flags all had a mind of their own! - flags to your right maybe showing a full value wind left to right, whilst the next flag would be blowing directly at you - no 2 flags ever blew in the same direction, with gusts in excess of 50mph being common through out the 2 days. The afternoon of the first day saw Chris and Malcom swap roles (as they were only shooting 2 classes each they shot alternately, one shooting one pulling the targets!) - Stu and I had the luxury of having "paid" target pullers for our targets. That afternoon Stu continued to shoot well, but my rounds started going astray and I could not figure out why - there was no pattern to it! One would go left and then one go right!! (elevation remained constant) - this knocked me back in the standings quite a lot. Saturday morning after scrubbing my rifle until it shone, put my first relay all in the bull, Stu continued to shoot well and push hard. I stayed with him all morning and shot my smallest group of the match just before lunch an 11.2" group, the smallest of the British team and a very respectable group. After lunch things started to go astray for me again!! - I just could not figure it out and was starting to get frustrated, when after taking a shot I noticed the windage drum on my scope was doing its own thing!! - I left the point mid relay - eventually found my toolkit in the car and managed to solve the issue, allowing me to finish that relay with 3 more bulls and drag my scores back up!! - turns out the high temperature was causing the screw on the drum to come loose and let it rotate under the intense recoil of the .50s! - big relief it was not down to my shooting :55: The team did well though, finishing strong - we took 3rd (Stuart Gilbert), 4th(Me!!) and 5th(Malcolm Hurst) place in the international event, along with 5th(Stuart) and 6th(Me) in the Ironman competition (that is for those who shot in all 4 matches!) A very long hard weeks shooting - I shot just over 300rounds of 50bmg in 3 days of competition. L-R Chris Buckley, Mike Roberts, Malcolm Hurst and Stuart Gilbert Me in the 4th Relay Day 2 Stu and Chris zeroing on the spare day! My group on target 74 and Stu's on 72 How the yanks do it! - more akin to Bench rest - we shot off the floor with bipods! H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannywayoflife Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 Wow awesome write up mate!!! Wish I could afford a 50! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oaken Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 A proper holiday ;-) I'm green with envy. .....and very well done to the three of you :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaz6br Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 Thanks for sharing chaps Thought you might of had a few more comments of the bench rest shooters on here, probably jealous you can punch bigger holes in paper lol Gaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M99 Posted July 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 What I neglected to mention was that the smallest group of the 3 days was shot by a 17 year old chinese girl, not even 5ft tall!! ( ok, off the bench using state of the art bench rests) but she still shot a 3.76" 5 shot group with a .50bmg rifle that was heavier than her (her dad carried it for her!!) Did I mention the pistol shooting, semi and full auto? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 well done to you Mike and all the Team. Some pictures brought back vivid memories from last year. Massive commitment to shoot 50 cal. Respect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griffshrek Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 Great write up , sounds like you had a ball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brown dog Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 Massive commitment to shoot 50 cal. Respect Agree with that. Excellent work -sounds brilliant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mole-e30 Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 Well done guys, us Brits are having some good results of late. The 50BMG benchrest does look good, those heavy guns sure are fun to fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxing2night Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Good read, thanks for sharing 50 cal benchrest Hmmm Darrel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagged 77 Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Would be nice if there was a 1000 yard gallery range in the UK we could use for the .50's A good read and great write up guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotch_egg Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 That's some going 300 rounds of 50 cal. What scope were you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sako 75 .243 Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 Great write up and pictures Mike! ...my upmost respect to the three of you!!!.... Only three?...64 million live in GB... How meny .50s are in ownership here,anyone know? Glenn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M99 Posted July 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 Great write up and pictures Mike! ...my upmost respect to the three of you!!!.... Only three?...64 million live in GB... How meny .50s are in ownership here,anyone know? Glenn. Glenn, I would hazard a guess at less than 100, certainly less than a hundred actively shooting them for sporting purposes. I know of 19 or 20 who regularly attend the FCSA range days, with a few more occasional shooters. Apart from the FCSA and Red rose, I don't know of any other clubs with access to suitable ranges for 50bmg use, but if anyone does know of any more, please do share. There will be a few who have them but don't shoot them! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sako 75 .243 Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 Mike Thanks for the info! ......TO those who have them,but NOT shoot em!!....MADNESS Well done to you and the guys that do! I would love to come and watch them in action one day. Glenn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M99 Posted July 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 Glenn. You will find our range dates on www.fcsa.co.uk If you want to come along to one of the days, let me know and ill sort it out. Plenty of targets for other calibres, to keep you entertained. Cheap price for a guest days shooting at £20. (Needs to be a guest day, but we run a guest day a month!) Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sako 75 .243 Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 PM inbound.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwood Posted July 17, 2014 Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 A great write up, some more photos would be nice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M99 Posted July 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 They get a bit repetitive after a while! Just waiting on a DVD full from the US, which will have been taken by the official press photographers at the shoot........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M99 Posted July 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 Jim Phipps Vietnam Vet Some of the PR Match shooters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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