FCSA shoot at Warcop Charlie High Sat 22nd May

[l4oth]

Think the above says it all.

[sean c]

Yep i'll be there, Last time i was up there was Feb i think.

[Ronin]

Will be there too, anyone else?

[gazzar15]

I am 90% sure of getting there . I haven't been there for a few months

Gary

[Ratwhiskers]

lf the Icelandic smog lifts and the Dickheads at manchester leave us alone Z'ee and l will be out of the country for 10 days, so you lads play nice now

 

We'll see you all in June.

 

Ratty.

....

[devilishdave]

Wht memberships do you need to shoot on that range on that day?

 

Dave

[Ronin]

Dave

 

it isnt listed as a "guest" day, but in general, people turn up at shoots and "have a go", so I see no reason why a FAC holder could not turn up, speak to the RCO and shoot with the club, (providing you pay your share of the range fee - usually a tenner)

 

 

Looks like there will be a few of us there, you will be made welcome if you come along,

 

 

Directions (from NE), get onto A65, follow towards Penrith / Brough.

 

When you pass the turning for Brough, your 3 miles out, continue on A65 through Warcop village and various entrances to camp.

 

The road then starts to rise on a LH and RH sweeping bend, on RH bend is a turing (RHS) for C range, take this, follow track 300 mtrs, through security barrier, begin to climb hill on LH bend and C Range ison right - marked by High Tower.

 

We usually shoot off the car park edge in elevated position, you can go out to 3000 yards if you want.

 

 

 

I plan to be there about 10am

 

 

Bring your FAC, if you come.

[Ronin]

Well a good day indeed'

 

 

25 degree heat, sunny, clear skies and almost, almost, still air (5mph wind)

 

 

Started to be a good day and remained so.

 

We were set to shoot off CH range but were moved at last minute to a C low, which means you cannot see the targetry in the foreground (sub 500 mtrs), not such an issue for most of us.

 

 

Gary, Sean C and a few others arrived with a whole host of other FCSA UK members from across the country.

 

There were plenty of Steyr, Nemasis and a plethora of RPA 50 cals, but most interesting to me was a BOYS 50 cal that had a 7.62 barrel conversion.

 

The owner had only the 7.62 barrel with him but it was extremely interesting to see a rare piece of history in the flesh.

 

 

 

Nemasis is action at 3000 yards

 

 

RPA .50

 

 

Sean C and I paired up and spent a few hours plinking at various targetry with 338 LM and 308 Win.

 

Most notable was a sheep scrape at 1400 mtrs (1531 yds) with our 338's, the scrape was about 3 foot in diameter, hits showing as puffs of dust.

 

It took us a couple of rounds to "get on" to the scrape but it was interesting that Seans TRG and my Surgeon were within a half MOA of each others come ups to get on target in the conditions.

 

We were both using the Knights Ballistic Programme for I phone and I also had Brown Dogs card set too, which were within .5 MOA at this distance, which for a paper non electronic system is fantastic (IMHO)

 

 

We attempted to get our 308's on to this target, unsuccessfully, running out of elevation on the scopes, and utilising the base of the mil dot stack of each scope (NSX and PM11) both of us were close but no actual strikes..1500 yards is a tall order for a 308 I think as we required 68 MOA elevation (drop of 1103 inches) at that range.....

 

 

Despite the failings, (if I can use this term) of the 308's the 338's had no problems staying on target at this distance, showing just how good this cartridge is, we both had regular strikes on the scrape which (if my maths is right) presented a target just over 2MOA diameter - when you think about all that is happening to the bullet over its 2.5 second TOF, I was more than happy with the rifles performance - Sean had a grin of his face too.

 

The heat had a negative effect in that once warm the barrels stayed warm (er hot)

 

So we fluctuated bettween 308, 338 and Seans lovely Cactus Arms .223 (nice and easy to use, very accurate)

 

The 308's were used primarily at 900 mtrs on football sized rocks, both Seans TRG and my Blazer performing well with almost boring sub MOA accuracy. Nice to see nothing lost out in the accuracy stakes by getting the Blazer running with a "warm" load..

 

 

All in a great morning, good company, some nice shooting and pretty rifles..what more can a chap want

 

 

 

Not sure if anyone else from the site made it (besides those mentioned), if you did, apologies I missed you, hope your day was as enjoyable.

[Laurie]

Andy,

 

that does sound fun! A bit expensive for a poor man like me though (.308W apart)! Great pics too! Really glad you posted a report.

 

It jiggled a few memory cells over a couple of items. First, the mention of the BOYS rifle. Many (15? 20?) years ago, John Smith the proprietor of York Guns brought a scoped Boys that he had taken into stock as a part exchange along to the 300yd range at Pickering. It had been rebarrelled (or maybe just set back and rechambered) to .50 Spotting and the ammo used 750gn tracer bulets pulled from .50BMG rounds and loaded down to whatever was the old standard max ME for MoD ranges - very slow, you could watch John fire it and look up and still see the bullet en route to the target. We somehow 'forgot' to warn the guy marking the target and these great balls of fire arriving in the butts scared the s**t out to him! The rile was sold on and I don't know what happened to it, but I wonder if it's still around somewhere on the FCSA UK circuit?

 

I still have a bullet somewhere that I recovered from the backstop afterwards and the tracer pellet was so hot you can see it partially melted the rear edge of the lead core. (PS for those who know Pickering and the fire risk there, the only reason we let him shoot this device and ammo was that it had been raining solid for a week and the countryside was sodden. In normal conditions, I think it would have started a forest fire as tracer pellets were being thrown scores of feet into the air and ending up goodness knows where in the woods.)

 

The other thing was the mention of .308W at 1,500yd. By coincidence I was recently told a bit about the GB Match Rifle team tour of Australia over the last winter (their summer of course) and how people got on in a 1,500yd MR comp at the new Coonabarrabran ranges in New South Wales. Some of these guys and girls are shooting 210gn Sierra MKs at 2,750 fps MV (!!) and at that altitude (1,700 ft Asl) and I presume high temperatures by our standards, bullets were still supersonic at the targets as reported by the markers hearing the 'crack' as they arrived. Now that's an interesting and impressive development of our old favourite .308W!

 

Laurie

[sean c]

It certainly was a great day. Always a good day a Warcop and nice to see the gear on show as well especially the Boys as Andy mentioned.

 

After Andy left i got bored shooting the TRG 22, my new Spikes Tactical M4 as well as drooling over the .50 BMG's so i decided to use the last 20 rounds of .338 ammo on something far away.

 

For those that know the range it its current-ish format i found a scrape big enough at the right side of the top left hand tank in the circle of 4 which is usually on the guide for the right hand arc of fire.

 

 

The tank is in line with the muzzle and is the farthest one.

 

In the scrape there were a few good size rocks (10"-15" at a guess) i consulted the ipod and dialled in the 89.5moa needed and 4 moa wind . First shot was 8 moa high and about 2 moa right dialled down and left wind as is. Two more rounds down range to get a idea of the wind and connected on the 4th shot.

 

 

The rock is roughly 7moa down and 1 moa left of the cross hair just about visible its a lot clearer through the actual scope.

 

Out of the next 16 shots i connected 2 more times not the best hit / shot ratio but those that were there will know about the switching winds out beyond 1k.

 

Looks like we've got some new targets for next time Andy.

[varmartin]

Fantastic write up guys, and some very interesting rifles. What a place to shoot ! sounds like huge fun was had by all.

[Ronin]

Whilst the Swarowski wouldnt range beyond 1400 mtrs or so (I had to rely on reflective white blobs - sheep) to get an idea of what distance the targetry was, the tanks that Sean is on about are beyond the capability of my LRF.

 

Ive just had a look at the area on Google Earth and using the measuring tool, it give a distance of 1.7 km to this target (or where I think this target is), which using my data requires 81 MOA to get on to.

 

 

If thats the case then you have made a MILE, long shot.

 

 

Its difficult to verify the distance as the actual target isnt showing on GE, next time we need to get there early and walk out with GPS, measuring the distance.

 

The come ups are right, so I recon youve done it..!!

[shrek]

Sorry i couldnt make it down guys, everythings up int he air at the moment, got over 6000 metres of drain to lay for a big contract, first cut of silage needs buckraking on tuesday, my rifles are currently collecting dust I will hopefully make it down to the next one!!

[Ronin]

Hi Laurie

 

The Boys; I didnt ask the provenance of the rifle but the owner is making his own CNC solids for it (in 50 cal) which we had a interesting discussion over.

 

 

yes I know Pickering range well, I shoot there bi-annually at Interbranch Deer Society shoots, I cannot imagine using a 50 cal there though, especially with tracer...although if it was wet and there was no where else to shoot

 

Re the 308, there were a couple of guys there with FTR rifles load testing for the forthcoming Bisley shoots - I am told including 1100 and 1200 yard details.

 

Pretty certain one of them was using 175 SMK's, the aussies must have a fairly stiff load to get the 210's going at 2750, one or two firings and the case is scrap perhaps?

 

The next time we are at Warcop your welcome to come along if you fancy it. The club has numerous members (me included) who havent 50's, but want to stretch out a little further than one can say at Diggle.

 

A change is as good as a rest as they say and its only 40 mins from home for me as opposed to 90 to Diggle.

[Laurie]

Thanks for the Warcop invite Andy. Yes, re the fifty at Pickering - we did things 20 years ago that we wouldn't now! It was safe enough though - the woods were so wet that day you could have taken a five gallon drum of petrol and a box of matches into the trees and failed to get a fire started. The other thing I remember about the Boys rifle was that it arrived with the barrel off, so setting it up on the firing point involved scewing the barrel onto a live cartridge with John having his ear down by the reinforce listening for a 'click' as the extractor claw dropped into the cartridge groove. Then the barrel was turned in another quarter or half turn and locked, that allegedly giving correct headspace!

 

Great days back then. Before John Smith took up cycling as his main hobby, and before Hungerford / the 1988 Amendment Act, he used to bring a boot load of rifles, many of them self-loaders to Pickering each Sunday plus copious supplies of surplus milspec ammo. Anybody who fancied a plink was welcome to have a go. I still think of a great afternoon shooting up old targets placed on the backstop using a KAR98k and 7.92mm tracer, incendiary and explosive ammo from one of John's finds in the Weller & Dufty auctions. The explosive rounds made a really bright white flash clearly visible at 100yd on a bright day and left the paper completely shredded.

 

Laurie