Vintage Shoot Report

[Ganderite]

Weather was excellent at Winona. Not hot, light breezes.

All manner of guns were on the line, from SKS and Lee Enfield #5 to FClass.

Some observations:

We put a playing card in the center of the Deliberate fire target. It gave a better aiming mark and (for some) was a nice souvenir for bragging rights.

Here is a 300 yard M14 group:

And this is a FClass group at 200 yards:

The fellow beside me had one of those Marstar Chinese Army SKS rifles. He had not yet fired it, so we we skeptical about performance. The 100 yard zero was about right and he was on the target at 200 and 300. Here is his 300 meter group (iron sights):

We are fortunate to be invited to use such a fine shooting facility.

 

[plinker 777]

Thanks for the day Ganderite, it was a lot of fun with some great guys, who could all out shoot me.

 

[smellie]

Looks like you guys had a lot of fun!

Some nice shooting there and I notice some classy Modern Plastic Rifles.

But why the picture of the old guy with that obsolete .303? Thing like that could not possibly keep up; it isn't even plastic!

**************************************

A little more seriously now, any more pics of what looks to have been a fine day?

Scores?

We need more events in which the true Classics (rifles AND shooters) turn out..... and they need better publicity.

What better place to start than right here?

 

[Ganderite]

Scores?

We keep score and award prizes after the shoot. A bottle of wine. But, the rule is that a shooter only gets one bottle. Other wise the F Class guy would go home with the case. The guy in second or third gets the bottle if the winner already got one.

Scores are important because if I am using an SKS I want to see how I compare to others with similar rifles, etc.

This shoot is not intended as a competition. The ORA schedules lots of those. It is intended as an opportunity to bring out some rifle you want to shoot and have fun with it. This is the only venue where I have shot my Garand, for example. On this shoot I shot the #4 308 Carbine I built for my son, because I wanted to see how it would do. Conclusion: Quite accurate but magazine does not feed. Looks like it needs some lip tweaking. One shooter brought out his #5, his AIA 308 pseudo #4 (which shot very well) and a 858. All got shot.

It is interesting to see that a Lee Enfield topped with a Weaver 3X scope (backed by a good shot) would consistently beat all but the FClass rifle and the AR15.

The M14s were a pair of non-tuned Norcs. One was a shorty with irons and the other a full size with a scope. Both grouped very well. On this target (300 yds) the first 5 shots were a tight group just above the bull. I called back on the radio and advised him to aim a bit lower. The next 5 was a tight group under the bull. This box-stock Norc shoots very well.

More pictures:

 

[Klunk]

Missed it this year-at a car show with about 20 military vehicles on display

Hope to see more pics, though!!

Did you run butt crews this year?

 

[Ganderite]

Butt crews:

4 Gun Nutz per target. Two in the butts and two took turns shooting. Then we switched around. Second crew marked the second half of 100 yards and the first half of 200, then another switch around. etc.

When shooting, the first guy fired all three stages (Deliberate, Snap and Mover) and then the second guy did the same thing. This worked well.

For scoring, the butt officer gave each set of markers a score card with places to record the scores of two shooters. The markers had to know who was shooting on their target, and who was shooting first. If in doubt, the butt officer radio back for clarification. After each shoot,. the target was put up with red spotters in the bullet holes. That is all the shooter would see/know. The butt crew would record the score on the score card, which stayed in the butts until the end of the match.

Score card looks like this:

As a shooter, the actual score is not so much the issue, but "Where did I hit?" We started each distance with 5 minutes of unlimited sights, so each shooter could get dialed in. The the Deliberate match was 10 shots in 10 minutes. The target stayed up the entire time. No marking of individual shots. This speeds things up. Most relays finished well before the 10 minutes.

This is my 200 yard group. #4 carbine in 308.

The match has evolved over the years. It was originally a real competition involving vintage rifles. But it became evident that there were guys who wanted to shoot but did not feel competitive and did not enjoy the prospect of getting their ass whipped.

This meant bringing the rifle that was the most accurate (say, your #4 with target sights) vs bringing the rifle you really wanted to play with (say, your old Ross or new SKS).

To enhance the fun, we have maximized shooting opportunities and minimized time wasted in administration. little time is wasted in score keeping, for example. the butt crews write down the scores during the time the targets are being displayed with the spotting disks. Even patching does not eat up shooting time. The butt crew has a 4 foot target in the frame for the Deliberate shot and a pair of hand helds for the Snap and Mover. The 4 foot gets patched while one of the two markers is running the Snap target. Then the Snap target gets marked while the Mover is being shot. The shooters do not have to wait for targets to get patched. More shooting and more fun per hour.

 

[plinker 777]

Looks like you guys had a lot of fun!

Some nice shooting there and I notice some classy Modern Plastic Rifles.

But why the picture of the old guy with that obsolete .303? Thing like that could not possibly keep up; it isn't even plastic!

**************************************

A little more seriously now, any more pics of what looks to have been a fine day?

Scores?

We need more events in which the true Classics (rifles AND shooters) turn out..... and they need better publicity.

What better place to start than right here?

Smellie; I brought my No4Mk2 Faz and an sks (chicom). The 100m standing was interesting for me. I was switching between the two rifles during the drill...fun/wee bit stressful, and I only "f'd up" once (single round mag feeds with the Enfield) couldn't get the shot off at a snap target in time (opportunity lost). {what would Smellie do?} I thought to myself . After that I used chargers. Ganderite and the RO kept things rolling along very smoothly, these guys know how to run a match no "doot aboot it". I found myself at one point (200M stage) at a want for some of your flat based "home rolled" recipe, as I was shooting Winchester hunting tips . At 300m the Enfield's front blade covered about half of a figure 11 target, which astounded me. I can't imagine 800m + shots with irons.

My No1MkIII currently suffers the damned crack which I'll repair over the winter and tweek in the sighting sometime in spring...have bayo, will travel

It is now officially time for me to start reloading my own .303 and pistol cartridges.

 

[Amaziah Rimfire]

Thanks for organizing this, Jim. And for laying on the perfect weather!





See you guys at the next one.

 

[Magellann]

That looked like a fun day with some neat toys.

 

[Ganderite]

That scoped #4 shoots so well the rest of us may as well stay home. I guess it helps that the the shooter knows how to shoot, too.

Nice pictures. Bullet riddled playing cards and a bottle of wine.

Match organizers - we use wine as a prize so the shooter has something to take home and give to the lady of the house. I have a fantasy that next Saturday she will say "Isn't there a shoot you can go to today?"

 

[silverfoxdj]

Weather was excellent at Winona. Not hot, light breezes.

All manner of guns were on the line, from SKS and Lee Enfield #5 to FClass.

Some observations:

We put a playing card in the center of the Deliberate fire target. It gave a better aiming mark and (for some) was a nice souvenir for bragging rights.

Here is a 300 yard M14 group:

And this is a FClass group at 200 yards:

The fellow beside me had one of those Marstar Chinese Army SKS rifles. He had not yet fired it, so we we skeptical about performance. The 100 yard zero was about right and he was on the target at 200 and 300. Here is his 300 meter group (iron sights):

We are fortunate to be invited to use such a fine shooting facility.

The smile says it all..

 

[silverfoxdj]

That scoped #4 shoots so well the rest of us may as well stay home. I guess it helps that the the shooter knows how to shoot, too.

Nice pictures. Bullet riddled playing cards and a bottle of wine.

Match organizers - we use wine as a prize so the shooter has something to take home and give to the lady of the house. I have a fantasy that next Saturday she will say "Isn't there a shoot you can go to today?"

Now that's thinking outside of the box

 

[chalkriver]

Looks like a great event...hope to make it out next year .
Good job on organizing this event...we need more of these !!!

 

[smellie]

If we work it right, guys, and use CGN as our base point, we can have a shoot every weekend through the Summer months that just about everyone can get to.

We put on a day here in Virden (exactly halfwy between Winnipeg and Regina) on July 6. It went well, there was a fair bit of interest and the publicity on here has helped a lot. There WILL be another next Summer and we already have enough volunteers to make it a really decent shoot. This year's shoot was organised by 3 people, all with "disabilities" of one sort or another, which is why we kept it small. Next year's shoot will doubtless be bigger and also will be well-announced.

The guys in Calgary had one on the same day s ours. That's fine: it's a helluvva drive for 20 or 30 rounds on target! But there should be enough NUTZ around Calgary to make a CGN shoot with vintage rifles an annual thing.

Same thing with Edmonchuk.

Likewise Regina, Red Deer, Weyburn and so forth.

If everyone who wants to go to one would help to organise one in their own area, nobody would have to drive more than 2 hours to get to a shoot in any direction.

It CAN be done; it simply requires the will and the planning.

Guys in Winona did a GREAT job.

 

[Gilbear]

Thanks again Ganderite for this well organized event.
I was quite surprised by the $75 SKS I was shooting

I got a bit nervous at the beginning and wasted some time reloading during the 100 Yard match,
then got this sorted out after a fellow generously gave me a few clips.
That was lots of fun, I brought home a smile in my face an a bottle of wine to the wife.
some more photos:

 

[Ganderite]

"That's fine: it's a helluvva drive for 20 or 30 rounds on target! "

I don't know what the course of fire was in Calgary, but our shoot is about 100 rounds. That is enough to really wring out a rifle and test your shooting skills.

 

[chalkriver]

Ganderite I would really like to hold one of these events here in Petawawa , we have a 600 yard range here to use !
Could you send me some info on how to set up the matches ??? Unless you want to come up here and run the show (hint hint ) .

Thanks

If its easier my email address is morgan_marshall@sympatico.ca

 

[plinker 777]

Wholly sh1t! 600 yards...count me in! I can't even see that far, let alone hit anything...count me in anyhow.

Gil, thanks for the pics and it was my pleasure about the clips.

 

[silverfoxdj]

Wholly sh1t! 600 yards...count me in! I can't even see that far, let alone hit anything...count me in anyhow.

Gil, thanks for the pics and it was my pleasure about the clips.

 

[Magellann]

Wholly sh1t! 600 yards...count me in! I can't even see that far, let alone hit anything...count me in anyhow.

Gil, thanks for the pics and it was my pleasure about the clips.

I can't see that far either.