The Phoenix F Class

[Ovenpaa]

Today was Bisley F class, I shot the 4/5/600 and 8/9/1000 which were my first proper F Class competitions, interestingly fellow competitors hailed from countries including Holland and Germany and some seriously exotic equipment was being fielded.

I ended up squadded with DM plus one other, shooting F Class is hard work as you need to shoot, score your self, watch the wind decide what to do next and score someone else as well calls for a fair amount of concentration and I managed to shoot out of sequence once plus fail to mark my own score plus the person next to me once

I discovered that my chamber needs cleaning at about the 35th shot, failing to do this means the bolt gets progressively harder to close, a quick scrub resolves the problem, I knew it was tight and today confirmed it.

We met up with Artiglio, Sim G, Dromia and his lovely wife plus others whose names I forget because I am tired plus DM of course and generally had a great time and I can thoroughly recommend the Phoenix to anyone who has not shot it, downside was driving home I suddenly remembered I was supposed to meet up with Heather during the day

Pictures and range report to follow in the morning.

[dodgyrog]

Sorry, I only saw Karen Heather Sim and Mr and Mrs Dromia.
Would you believe it, I sold out in three hours!!! 20k boolits - there's a message there, not just make more, that cast boolits are growing in popularity and are generally overpriced.
I've got help now to produce more and I've got lots of names and addresses so I will do 'better' next time.
I would have loved to have met more of you.
PS my prices have had to go up as lead has risen in price by 40% this week!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:
See you at the Imperial if not before.
ATB from me and good shooting.

[20series]

Well done Ovenpaa, it sounds like a great day out (if a little hectic). It's amazing how cream crackered you are after a days competetive shooting, with all the concentrating involved.



Alan

[spud]

Well Done Dave glad your competeing in F Class at last.

[Ovenpaa]

A bit more...

Firstly shooting F Class at the Phoenix is as cheap a days shooting as you will ever get at Bisley, you can shoot at 6 distances with a marker for 35 quid, an absolute bargain.

For those shooting the Phoenix F for the first time it can be a bit odd, I really expected a sign saying 'David you shoot F Class here ---->' No such luck, but I did spot a few cars at the 600 mark on Century so I parked up with them and soon discovered I was mingling with black powder shooter, long distance pistol shooters and service rifle types, yup they lump you all together the only difference is the size of target.

Off to the 400y point to start I discovered my newly built range trolley has the mind of a shopping trolley so I need to think that out a bit more. I soon discovered a few minor flaws in my system, the rear bag Christel and I share moved all over the place and I found myself having to adjust it every couple of shots, luckily I had one on order from Brian Fox that we picked up after the comps.

With three to the point you shoot then score the person after you and I soon managed to shoot out of turn, luckily we managed to get things back into sequence, I was not the only one to do that as well. Those F Class targets look very small when you peer at them for the first time... Score was 72.07 ex 75. The good news was I could also accurately work my drops out for the next 5 details based on my first shoot (Remember I had not managed to chrono on the Wednesday)

The wind was getting up as we moved to 500 and the target looked very small this time, no wonder it was small, I had zoomed out to confirm the target number and left it zoomed out, a quick twist and I could see things again but it had cost me a 4 and a 3. Next shot was a 5 and I was happy but struggled with the wind and dropped into the 2 ring for shot 7, which caught the others out as well, I ended with a rather bleak 66.04

600 mentally was a good place to be, the car was right behind us so it meant no more dragging a range trolley around, I managed a 70.02 after yet again being caught out with shot 7 which saw me drop out of the 5 ring for the first time at that distance.

So I ended the morning with 208.13 ex 225. Not exactly setting the world alight but with a lot of lessons learned.

After a quick gossip, a sausage roll and cup of tea it was off to Stickledown 800y point where it was decidedly blowy. I shoot with the rifle butt just gently against my shoulder, on this occasion I had kept a very bulky waterproof jacket on and failed to get behind the rifle properly, crack the sight smacked into me, that is a first for me and it did smart for a bit. The only thing I had to stem the bleeding was the oily cloth I use to wipe my bolt down, that stung a bit but the bleeding stopped quite quickly. Actually I was surprised to see a few shooters with a variety of cuts over the eyes and nose so I am not unique in what I did, having said that we are supposed to be experienced shooters....

Something was starting to go wrong, my bolt was getting heavier to close which was a worry, nothing serious but something was changing, I put it down to the chamber getting dirty and carried on to shoot a 67.02

900y saw me drop into the 3 and 2 rings after dialling the scope the wrong way. Twice!. My Nightforce turret rotates in the opposite way to my S&B and I just went the wrong way, I need to concentrate on not making this mistake again. I think it was on 900 that we suddenly spotted a small heard of maybe 7/8 Reds strolling across the range in single file, they were good looking beasts and it was as safe a place as any I guess. 64.04 scored and the bolt was getting tighter slowly but surely, despite the score this was my worst distance mentally and I was cursing myself walking up the hill.

1000y, I was just glad to be back near the car again, the bloody trolley had a mind of it's own, the wind was gusting all over the place and reading the flags was a nightmare, the shooter next to me missed the target a couple of times, no idea how he could go from a 5 to a miss and I could see it was bugging him and rightly so, my shots were starting to open up badly as well, surely I could not be doing that badly on the wind. Bolt close was hard now so I stopped and grabbed a chamber brush from the car, gave the chamber and bore a frantic scrub out and normality was resumed so..... I need to clean this chamber after no more that 25 shots, it is a tight neck and as the carbon builds up it plays havoc with the close, a simple remedy and a valuable lesson learned so I was back on track, and then it rained. Arghhh so we finished the detail in gusty rainy conditions, DM told me he thought it was worse than the Europeans last year in that respect. 62.0 scored and a final score of 193.06 ex 225 Best I don’t give up my day job quite yet :lol:

So lessons learned, clean the chamber between details (And check the shoulder bump today) Pay more attention in future and shoot more at Stickeldown to learn the wind, this was only my third time on the range and I had not shot in conditions like this before so it was a real eye opener. No doubt the Viking will have some pictures of the say somewhere

[Ovenpaa]

Some poor pictures from an boing...

No wonder I could not see anything... and yes I know my bag was in the next firing point but it was empty at the time, check out the range trolley, I could happily have shot it by the end of the day, it works nicely on tarmac but get it on the bumpy terrain of Bisley and arghhhhh!

Praying to the wind gods... I took to writing my start elevation and wind for the next distance on my plot sheet, one thing less to remember at the point.

Rain at 1000 yards, it got darker and windier then the rain started, I was secretly glad it was nearly over at this point. I had a sweat shirt under my hoodie and it was around now I started to really notice the cold breeze across my back.

[Dangermouse]

What else is there to say? Did Ovenpaa mention the wind or wind or even the wind? Always blowing left to right and measured between 05mph - 15mph.

The new F Class targets were quite a shock on the short range and will really make a difference to scoring where they are used. Thankfully my new Sightron 8-32 with MOA reticle came into it's own and at no time was I left wanting from the scope.
I particularly enjoyed the dot reticle which I was able to place, where I wanted it, in the V Bull at all distances.
At 400 yards I had a real blond moment, don't know if it was just the wind up my tail or the fact that I have had very few shots over the winter period, but for the first 4 shots I was turning the wind-age the wrong direction.
To Ovenpaas' disgust he called it correct and I started hitting the 5's and V's, I would like to say that he came to regret that later in the day, but the truth was that a F/TR was never going to compete against open class in those conditions, certainly not with this nut behind the butt.

500 yards was particularly perplexing, I was consistently getting them in the 9 o'clock area of the 4's and 3's but as soon as I put 1 click to the right, they were printing in the 3 o'clock 3's and 4's. I did this 3 times with the same result each time. It had me questioning the quarter MOA clicks but I guess it was just the wind.

And so on till the we finally finished at a surprisingly late time of around 1800. We had a quick shower but it was nothing too bad considering what we were all expecting. I think the F Class competition has been ran over all 3 days, if so the weather has been consistent and I don't think that anyone got a better session than anyone else, so it will be interesting to see how we have all done.

We were lucky to be joined on the point by another relatively new shooter who was relatively stress free, which helps the mood on the point, I am sure any on lookers would have thought the 3 of us had been shooting together for years.
Unfortunately for him his load was a little light for the longer ranges which was giving him unpredictable results on the target. He was shooting a Savage F TR rifle so hopefully he will develop a faster load and we will see him again.

As far as my own loads were concerned I was really happy that they were all hitting horizontal to the bull, just not in it an awfull lot!
Not sure if I might go another .1 grain or if I will take another look at the 175's for windy days. I have a few dozen left and it would do no harm to load them up and see how they compare in the wind.

It has already been recognised by the NSC that many F TR shooters staid away as there was no class for them, hopefully they will run a separate devision at the next comp.

I also entered the target shotgun but that will be the subject of another post - My shotgun is bust in the most fun way!

DM

[Mike357]

Top report Gents. If it wasn't difficult it wouldn't be fun would it?

[Ovenpaa]

At 400 yards I had a real blond moment, don't know if it was just the wind up my tail or the fact that I have had very few shots over the winter period, but for the first 4 shots I was turning the wind-age the wrong direction.
To Ovenpaas' disgust he called it correct and I started hitting the 5's and V's, I would like to say that he came to regret that later in the day, but the truth was that a F/TR was never going to compete against open class in those conditions, certainly not with this nut behind the butt.

I remember suggesting three MOA right and watching you sink either a 5 or V next shot. I went on to lend the third shooter a rear squeeze bag and watched him sink a V next shot as well :lol:

We were lucky to be joined on the point by another relatively new shooter who was relatively stress free, which helps the mood on the point, I am sure any on lookers would have thought the 3 of us had been shooting together for years.

Even though DM and I have only shot side by side once before and then only for a couple of hours in pouring rain and we had never met the other shooter before we all seemed quite relaxed about everything and having such shooters by my side made my life easier, Christel did comment that we were quite slow in comparison to some of the other squads, maybe we were just enjoying ourselves.

Top report Gents. If it wasn't difficult it wouldn't be fun would it?

So true.

[Dave 101]

Glad you guys had a good day all in all , a steep learning curve by the sounds of it .
I bumped into bnz and bobbob , I spotted the hoddies and went over and intoduced myself to them .
I was shooting smallbore the 25m precision and the Granet both standing unsupported , never shot either before in a comp I managed a 235 x 300 on the precision , and what a num skull I forgot to put my score card in for the Granet . I put it in the range bag and forgot it on the way out . it was three series of 10 rounds with 3 second exposures and 7 seconds away time , most shooters were using semi autos I used my CZ bolt action , did well though with a 93 , 94 and a 99 .
Last time I was at the Phoenix was 6 years ago , I was surprised how few peole were there around the trade show , I did go home with my wallet intact .


Dave