Good evening
A couple of years ago I attended an introduction to long range shooting day at the Batoche range. All I had was my 1942 Lee Enfield with a cheap Bushnell on it, and my first reloads. Then the year after, Kenny Proulx gave a one day course, followed by a one day of shooting. I had the same Lee Enfield, but this time with a 8-32 Vortex crossfire scope. On that day I shot my forst ever v-bull, and I was hooked.
However, shooting f-class with a Lee Enfield is not the ideal, so I got myself a modern centerfire. Like some other people, I got bills to pay, so I had limited funds. I got myself a used Savage Axis in 223. I found a varmint barrel here on the EE with a 1:7 twist, made a stock for it, got myself some 80 VLD (Thanks to Jerry Teo at Mystic Precision), and started working on finding a load. I also got myself an Mpod.
Then this year I became a member of the PQRA. First match was nice. I managed to shoot good scores, had a nice talk with other shooters, and got some tricks. Then I decided to equip myself a bit better.
Found an old child stroller (sp?) and since I'm a woodworker, I built myself this range cart. Fits in the jeep, keep my stuff dry, easy to roll around.
For the next 2 matches, I had some troubles. Mainly vertical dispersion. I filled the rear bag with sand, tried to work on my position, but nope, did not work. I questionned the scope, my reloading recipe, everything. Not fun. This got me to buy a chrony to finally find out the speed of my bullets. I went to a practice, it was a bit better, but not much. Bought myself another Hornady OAL gauge to check out the bearing wall lenght of my bullets, it helped a bit. Got myself some Lapua brass, weighted them all, made some groups of similar case, with similar bullet. Then I reloaded by relay, 18 rounds at a time (I do 1 extra per relay, just to be safe)
I also got some idea by looking at Jonathan Laitre set up. Especially what he did with the rear bag. He puts the bag directly on the ground, and he built himself a nice v-block to ride the bag. I adapted the desigh to my needs, mounted the bag on a board with 3 adjustable leg (no spike) and I installed an aluminium angle under my buttstock.
This weekend was the last match of the season. I did not beat any of my previous score, but I was very happy, my vertical dispersion problems are solved. I was finally happy to be able to concentrate on conditions.
I will be back next year, got some ideas for my new set-up (new stock, maybe new barrel)
Now, if you are a newbie shooter (and managed to read all of this), and you are unsure about shooting f-class, all I can say is : Go for it. Take what you have, find yourself a solid bipod, solid rear bag, and go the the range with your best ammo ! You will learn a lot just by looking at other shooters, all of them are more than happy to share the tricks, and no one will look down at you. If I can do it with a 300$ rifle, used varmint barrel, 250$ scope and a Lee 50th anniversary reloading kit, you can do it too.
Did I win a match this year ? Nope.
Do I have the best rifle on the line ? Nope
Do I have the best reloading equipment and technique ? Nope
Did I learn something new every time I went to the range ? Yes
Did I make some new friends there ? Yes
Did I shoot v-bull ? Yes
Will I be back next year ? Yup, and I expect to be better than this one.
Thanks to all who shared range time with me this year, I'll see you next season !
A couple of years ago I attended an introduction to long range shooting day at the Batoche range. All I had was my 1942 Lee Enfield with a cheap Bushnell on it, and my first reloads. Then the year after, Kenny Proulx gave a one day course, followed by a one day of shooting. I had the same Lee Enfield, but this time with a 8-32 Vortex crossfire scope. On that day I shot my forst ever v-bull, and I was hooked.
However, shooting f-class with a Lee Enfield is not the ideal, so I got myself a modern centerfire. Like some other people, I got bills to pay, so I had limited funds. I got myself a used Savage Axis in 223. I found a varmint barrel here on the EE with a 1:7 twist, made a stock for it, got myself some 80 VLD (Thanks to Jerry Teo at Mystic Precision), and started working on finding a load. I also got myself an Mpod.
Then this year I became a member of the PQRA. First match was nice. I managed to shoot good scores, had a nice talk with other shooters, and got some tricks. Then I decided to equip myself a bit better.
Found an old child stroller (sp?) and since I'm a woodworker, I built myself this range cart. Fits in the jeep, keep my stuff dry, easy to roll around.
For the next 2 matches, I had some troubles. Mainly vertical dispersion. I filled the rear bag with sand, tried to work on my position, but nope, did not work. I questionned the scope, my reloading recipe, everything. Not fun. This got me to buy a chrony to finally find out the speed of my bullets. I went to a practice, it was a bit better, but not much. Bought myself another Hornady OAL gauge to check out the bearing wall lenght of my bullets, it helped a bit. Got myself some Lapua brass, weighted them all, made some groups of similar case, with similar bullet. Then I reloaded by relay, 18 rounds at a time (I do 1 extra per relay, just to be safe)
I also got some idea by looking at Jonathan Laitre set up. Especially what he did with the rear bag. He puts the bag directly on the ground, and he built himself a nice v-block to ride the bag. I adapted the desigh to my needs, mounted the bag on a board with 3 adjustable leg (no spike) and I installed an aluminium angle under my buttstock.
This weekend was the last match of the season. I did not beat any of my previous score, but I was very happy, my vertical dispersion problems are solved. I was finally happy to be able to concentrate on conditions.
I will be back next year, got some ideas for my new set-up (new stock, maybe new barrel)
Now, if you are a newbie shooter (and managed to read all of this), and you are unsure about shooting f-class, all I can say is : Go for it. Take what you have, find yourself a solid bipod, solid rear bag, and go the the range with your best ammo ! You will learn a lot just by looking at other shooters, all of them are more than happy to share the tricks, and no one will look down at you. If I can do it with a 300$ rifle, used varmint barrel, 250$ scope and a Lee 50th anniversary reloading kit, you can do it too.
Did I win a match this year ? Nope.
Do I have the best rifle on the line ? Nope
Do I have the best reloading equipment and technique ? Nope
Did I learn something new every time I went to the range ? Yes
Did I make some new friends there ? Yes
Did I shoot v-bull ? Yes
Will I be back next year ? Yup, and I expect to be better than this one.
Thanks to all who shared range time with me this year, I'll see you next season !
