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I never shoot benchrest, except in a crude form to aid load development. I also avoid shooting prone: at my age, if I lie down, I go to sleep.
I must confess that I don't realy understand these bullets that wear condoms: all my ammo is cast and most of it is in obselete calibres. With lead bullets, the starting position of the bullet relative to the rifling is key.
I do sometimes use magazines though----
Fred

That is a very nice collection Fred, I am equally impressed that you do not have a dog attempting to sit on them as would be the case in our house.

Can you post some details, is the second up in the middle Austrian?

The picture is actually out of date--I don't have an up to date one. For example, the Rolling Block on the left has been sold and replaced with a Mauser71 / 84.
Second one up in the middle is my Buechel Meister Schuetzen Rifle in 8.15 x 46R. Built in the Zell-Mehlis area of Germany. Many of the builders of actions for Schuetzen rifles built complete rifles themselves, but also sold actions to smaller gun makers. This one has the Buechel action with the usual double set triggers and a Moeller barrel. It was built up by Bruno Anschutz who was a cousin of the better known Anschutz family. To date it has won the 200yd off-hand competition at Bisley in the Historic Arms meeting once and been second twice. I also have the correct rib-mounted scope for it and have shot that in the "any sights" competition, but I am incompetant with telescopic sights and have not yet managed better than 4th place.
Fred

Breech area:

Many thanks admin for moving the thread.

Fred, are you using modern powders or black powder with these rifles and what sort of distance can you move them out to?

I have avoided TR and open sights as much as possible other than Service Rifle as I feel my eyes are not up to the job these days, plus my interest is usually anything over 600m. My passion is accurate rifles at longer distances and I must admit getting on the target at 800+ yards is certainly a good feeling with something from WWI and open sights.

Realistically I should find a target shooter and have a serious chat and then grab a Target Rifle one day whilst we are shooting at Bisley.

Never shot Target Rifle. Schuetzen rifles were (and are!) made for shooting off-hand at ranges up to 200yds. My home range is 100yds, (www.stourportonsevernpistolnrifleclub.co.uk), but I find that I can calculate the bullet drop from one to two hundred using the Lyman Cast Bullet tables and sight in for Bisley using two target centres one above the other. Aim at the lower target and hit the upper one. Use the same technique with my Mauser.
8.15 x 46R came in at the end of the black powder cartridge period and is normally loaded with smokless---IMR4227 in my case. In the world of Historical Shooting this makes it a Classic (1891 to 1918). Vintage arms such as my Mauser 71/84 must be loaded with black powder or they can only be shot in the Classic comps. If the gun was designed to be shot with black, then that is what I use.

What sort of accuracy do you expect at 100 yards? I will be quite honest and say that shooting off hand at 100 with a .303 SMLE/P14 I am very pleased to get a 5" group with iron sights and not surprised if the group is considerably worse. I need to get a lot of practice in next year as I hope to shoot one of the hunting competitions next year in Denmark.

I would say that 5 " off-hand with an SMLE is very good. With the open sights on the Mauser I have achieved this, but certainly not always! For off-hand shooting, a good set trigger alters things and makes such groups more often the norm. Using my .300 Sherwood Martini, I won the 100yd "any gallery rifle" event at the recent Trafalgar Meeting. No set trigger, but a very crisp single stage trigger---better than any military rifle. This is a 20 shot competition with no sighters shot on a standard PL8 target. The first two shots were well into the white, but the rest were in the black---I doubt that they were a 5" group though!
Also bear in mind that the weather affects off-hand shooting more than it does prone. The wind doesn't just blow the bullet around, it blows you around too---especially difficult to compensate for if it is gusting. Earlier in the day, I shot the same competition in the Rook Rifle class and my score was pathetic---mostly due to the wind which fortunately died down a bit later.
Fred

I did say I was pleased to get a 5" group. :) My results with the SMLE were very inconsistent, these days I have a P14 with a good trigger and I have just fitted a vernier rear sight so I need to get out in the new year and see how it performs.

Do you find with the older rifles some calibres are more accurate than others?

Over the years, I have reloaded and shot for a great many calibres. Given a good gun, I have never found an in-accurate calibre. BUT, there are DIFFICULT ones.
Probably the hardest calibre to reload for is the .577-45 Martini- Henry. The bore tapers and the chambers are always way oversize. Standard dies re-size to factory dimensions and are useless (and very expensive). The trick is to fire-form and then use a bullet of throat diameter with minimal neck re-sizing.
Sniders are weird. Some are very accurate with the Enfield .577 Minie bullet, some will only work with the shallow cavity version and some--including mine---shoot best with a round ball. Contrast this with the Mauser 71/84 from the same period: the case fits the chamber---the suggested .446" Lyman bullet fits the bore and good accuracy results with any reasonable charge and any type of black powder.
The best, readily available gallery rifle calibre is the .310". Ex-Australian Cadet rifles are readily available and affordable. Dies and moulds are available from firms such as Buffalo Arms in the USA. I like the .300 Sherwood, but there is only one place that makes the brass-Bertram in Australia whereas the .310 brass is easily formed from .32-20.
8.15 x 46R brass is still made in Germany, but can be formed cheaper from 30-30. And so it goes on. Obselete calibres have the advantage that the rifle can be bought when you come across it, without the need for a variation. You can then spen a month or two restoring it, if it needs it, collect the reloading gear and then put it on ticket when you are ready. If you don't want to shoot it any more, shoot off your remaining ammunition and then take it off ticket. If you like, you can then freely sell it as an antique.
Fred