Went to my 3rd match today back at the same venue as my 1st one. We had some light spitting rain though it wasn't much of a bother, windy again but not as extreme as the last time. Seems to always be windy around here lately. I leaped up the ladder and took 4th place with a score of 410. I made it out to my range's practice night earlier in the week and was feeling good going into the match. My squad started off on the two 100y stages and I blew it, 50 points each. Talk about being deflated right off the bat. I had a number of shots I know I broke clean but missed nonetheless. This venue doesn't put out a 100y zero board at the start so at this point I'm questioning my scope settings wondering if I'm way off because I zeroed in windy conditions at practice that don't align with the conditions of today. I did good on the 75y stage then cleaned the 25y KYL stage and also cleaned the 50/75y multi-yard stage to finish. That was satisfying. OK, so I was good out to 75y but something is going wrong past that.
I went to my range after the match to see what's going on. I started on the bottom left bull, a little low and right but not bad, shouldn't have caused me too much grief. I shot more groups and this tells the story. From a solid bench rest, SK HV is giving me around 2" groups on average. With 1.5" targets to shoot at the match, this will cause misses through no fault of my own. Now add the wobble from shooting off a barricade, it's making sense. The vertical aligns with expected MV variation for this grade of ammo so the rifle likes it well enough but with the random dispersion and odd fliers, the more I shoot this ammo the more I realize it's not a very good lot at all. I guess I got to the point that I've outgrown the SK HV faster than I expected. Practice ammo. I've got enough Lapua Long Range to last me a few more matches but I can't get that lot anymore. I'll need to figure out another ammo to use, whether I order some more LR and hope for the best or test out the RWS I have, I've got some time to get that sorted.
I want to give a thanks to Eugene for a few tips he gave me, that's helped me along. Now that I'm getting more comfortable with the sport and familiar with my rifle and how it handles, I'm thinking about what would be the best setup for me with it. A bipod seems like a good addition, there are a number of stages where it would smooth out setup transitions. Bags are workable, given that's what I used and cleaned the stage, but a bipod is attached and moves with the rifle, one less thing to think about and possibly mess up. My temporary weight has the rifle balance "workable", but I need to get it just right. That's my current project and now is a good time to segue into some machining adventures
Machining is one of those things where one finds themselves often making something to make something that's needed to make the original project. It's an Inception-like rabbit hole, lol.
I've got most of the work done on my external weight set, I just need to make an internal grooving cutter to make a quick detach swivel stud hole and then do the surface finishing work so that the weights look good too. To make the special tool, I'm now building an upgraded tool rest for my bench grinder. I need to slot the platen for a mitre gauge, good luck finding a T-slot cutter of the required dimensions. So, I made one! Drill bits and taps tend to break over the course of one's machining career, but rather than throw them out, the savvy machinist saves them. They're good tool steel, after all. They can be recycled into specialty cutters for one-off jobs where a purchase is either not possible or financially practical. With a carbide end-mill I machined the cutter to the required dimensions.
Did a quick test in a piece of scrap, the cutter cuts well.
The slots cut are perfect for the mitre gauge, success!
I've already made several of the brackets for the grinder rest, now I've got the T-slot cutter needed for the platen so I can go ahead and machine up the platen next. Then I'll be done milling work for awhile and I've got a backlog of lathe work to do. I have 3 in-process projects that need both mill and lathe work, I just wasn't going to bounce back and forth between the setups. All mill work done first, then lathe work. I should have my weights done before the next match if all goes well.
