Galloway 1000yard BenchRest shoot – 18th September 2016

mole-e30 · September 25, 2016

Galloway Small Arms Club

Gelston 1000yard BenchRest shoot – 18^th September 2016

It had to happen it was only a matter of time – “Kids Rule OK” – read on!!

Bit misty on the A75 at Shawhead, what will Gelston be like? Well it was clear, no mist, probably due to the freshening wind. Very similar to previous occasions right to left straight across the line of fire, but will it be steady?

Only 13 today again just the local gang, no visitors from too far afield. So it looks like 1 Heavy Gun, 4 Factory Sporters and 8 Light Guns.

Thanks to Geoff and his assistants for replacing the backboard centres

Relay one – 3 Light Guns, nothing startling although all shooters record their best groups in the 4^th detail. As said last month the wind needs close scrutiny and we need to get the shots off as fast as possible to avoid the lulls, getting caught with a wind shift/lull is painful. Stuart Lumb takes the early lead with an agg. of 11.3” and yours truly has the smallest group at 7.3” – but will we keep our positions? Ross Mclean is a bit up and down, taking one penalty in detail one but that said its still only 14”, pity about the missed shot or it would have been a cracking start.

Relay two – 1 Heavy gun and 2 Light Guns. Steven Lumb has a mixed bunch taking 3 penalties in the first detail then hitting a 4.8” group in the second – bloody wind! Emily keeps a steady hand through her first 3 details around the 9” but unfortunately gets badly caught by the wind in detail 4. However she’s got the smallest agg. so far and with only one Heavy Gun she’s going to win! Darrell keeps it around the 11-12” except for being badly bitten by the wind on detail 3 at 24”.

Lunch time and a new butts crew, the butts crew notice immediately that the wind is easing – no I haven’t forgotten to remove last month’s comment, the wind is easing again for the afternoon shooters. Butt’s chauffer this month is Stuart Lumb and I must commend his stylish approach.

Relay 3 – Full house this relay 1 Light Gun and 3 Factory Sporters. Lewis McIlreavy clearly picks the right wind conditions for his first group - a very creditable 4.3”, but can he hold his nerve? Lewis keeps it together, except for 18” in detail 3, but it is enough for him to agg around the 10.5” putting him in the lead and with the smallest group. So at this point the Kids are one and two, Lewis wupping the old man and Emily showing Grandpa how to do it. It had to happen one day! The 3 Factory Sporters, incidentally all .308’s, have mixed results Geoff McCluskey having the best results and agg’ing just under 16”.

Relay 4 – 2 Light Guns and 1 Factory Sporter. All still to play for, both Bruce Lenton and David Leslie have the proven capability to deliver small groups and upset the apple card – but will they? Bruce Lenton starts around the 12” and gets progressively better, but in the end he’s not caught Emily. David has done better but does enough to take the Factory Sporter lead AND small group (even with his worn out barrel!!!), relegating Emily to third, ignoring class. James keeps it relatively steady with no small groups and no disasters.

Thanks to the butts crews, efficient as ever, and to the spotters, no Glyn today, but Steven and Stuart stepped up to the mark and helped us all get on the paper.

Final results:

Factory Sporter:

1^st David Leslie – 10.679”

2^nd Geoff McCluskey – 15.886”

3^rd David Sharp – 18.790”

Small Group – David Leslie – 7.874”

Heavy Gun:

1^st Emily Lenton – 11.151”

Small Group – Emily Lenton – 8.897”

Light Gun:

1^st Lewis McIlreavy – 10.501”

2^nd Stuart Lumb – 11.220”

3^rd Bruce Lenton – 11.279”

Small Group – Lewis McIlreavy – 4.29”

Nearest the Bull

Darrell McIlreavy – 1.181“

2016 League Update (after 7 shoots) - top three no discards!

Light Gun

Bruce Lenton 55pts, Darrell McIlreavy 54pts, Tony Lenton 49pts

Heavy Gun

Emily Lenton 49pts, Tom Thomson, Steven Lumb and Stuart Lumb all 10pts

Factory Sporter

David Leslie 70pts, Geoff McCluskey 58pts, Peter Cousar 27pts

Next Shoots:

Peter Jackson’s – 25^th September

Gelston – 16^th October

Safe shooting

Tony Lenton

Full Results

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ccyycaxcerxly49/Gelston%201000yds%2018th%20September%202016.pdf?dl=0

onslow52 · September 25, 2016

Twas a grand day Tony. Lewis still has the smile on face regardless of his agg, was extactic to pick up a small group patch. If he doesnt gloat too much this week i may let him out of the cupboard under the stairs. Thanks for the write up.

ATB

Darrell

Panda · September 25, 2016

The trick was to up the load to offset the worn out barrel. Seemed to work and I only lost a couple of cases.....only joking folks. It was a known load which gave better accuracy but a stiff bolt lift in hot conditions. Thought I'd give it a go as the league is tied up for factory sporter.

There's even more trickery prepared for next months shoot .

Thanks for the write up Tony.