First try at Stickledown

[shugie]

Still enjoying the novelty aspect of my 'newb' status, I went to Stickledown this morning with my new (to me) Steyr.

First off was a visit to the strange world of the zero range, having paid for a target like a good chap, yesterday I shimmed the back scope mount a small amount, and this seemed to work today, as I could zero at the 1000 yd mark without running out of twiddles, although it did take a lot of clicks to get to the right place (41 MOA ish). It was quite busy, and very noisy in there, but there was another club member present who helped me understand how it all worked.

Back on Stickledown, I watched the two shooters ahead of me, one using an aperture sighted .308 seemed to be doing well, and then it was my turn to persecute target 42. We shot two to one target to try and speed things up, but I think the marker was attending to at least two targets, and marking was a bit slow. All but one of my shots landed on the target, but only three in the black, not by much. Seems that the NATO surplus ammunition I was using was not as consistent as I might have hoped, although it might have been the wind. Tried the set trigger on the Steyr but it was a bit too sensitive for my liking. The nice long stock was good, and I need to find a means of raising the cheekpiece a bit.

I will have to learn the marking system along the bottom of the target for next time, then I will know my score, but I was quite pleased to get most of my shots on the target for a first shoot at that distance, 300 yards is the longest I've tried before. Bisley seemed very busy, with lots of tents in the middle, and a vast marquee on Century. Most people on Stickledown appeared to be shooting at 900 yards. The weather was good, a little too hot when the sun shone on my back when shooting, and "lights will be wind and variable".

Conclusions for the twenty shots I managed to get time for were that
a) long distance shooting is rather more interesting than short
b) the wind makes a huge difference
c) even with a moderator and heavy barrel the Steyr has as much kick as the club Lee Envoy
d) I need a better scope than the Hawke that came on the Steyr.

Need to start saving the pennies then.

Hopefully I'll make the NRA shooting club next Saturday morning at Siberia, after another zero range visit for the .223

[Ovenpaa]

Welcome to the world of long range shooting and as you point out, long distance shooting is rather more interesting than short. For the cheek piece experiment with an old mouse mat or two cut to size and taped in place, duct tape is perfect for this but take care that it will not damage the stock finish. Christel uses a sports elbow pad slipped over to act as a comb raiser because I have not sorted it out yet..

[Christel]

First foray into the long distance shooting world. Always interesting :)

Now starts all the fine tuning of your rifle (yes it will cost ya) getting your head around the wind (utterly frustrating however a wind course normally helps no end, Bill Richards is the man) and of course the reloading part of it, how to make the perfect bullet. DM calls it "chasing the dragon"

:lol: :lol:
Good luck and hopefully you will enjoy the journey.

Btw, when you get utterly frustrated, use the forum to vent your frustration...we do :)

[TattooedGun]

Nice report!

as for the marking, check out this video, should make it all clear! :)

http://www.dudleyrifleclub.co.uk/discip ... arking.asp

[JonC]

Theres a good explanation on Reeds club site, along with the radio codes.
http://www.reedstargetshootingclub.co.u ... g-shooting

[rox]

and then it was my turn to persecute target 42.

Oddly enough I was persecuting the "life, the universe and everything" target on Saturday afternoon.

Seems that the NATO surplus ammunition I was using was not as consistent as I might have hoped

Sometimes it just doesn't have the legs, so it can start to get transonic or even subsonic before it reaches the target which can wreak havoc on your groups. In the days of competitive shooting with RG the gun plumbers would do whatever they could to squeeze a few extra fps from the round, and a long barrel was a minimum requirement. Just 100 extra yards can make a huge difference, and on Saturday when my target-share was struggling a little at 1000x and getting frustrated I suggested she went to 900x to have a break, settle her nerves and improve her confidence. When she came back I (half jokingly) said: "All-in?". "Yes", she replied - in fact 900x was quite challenging, needing at least double the wind compared to 1000x due to the shelter the 1000x targets had from the wind direction.

..

[shugie]

and then it was my turn to persecute target 42.

Oddly enough I was persecuting the "life, the universe and everything" target on Saturday afternoon.

Seems that the NATO surplus ammunition I was using was not as consistent as I might have hoped

Sometimes it just doesn't have the legs, so it can start to get transonic or even subsonic before it reaches the target which can wreak havoc on your groups. In the days of competitive shooting with RG the gun plumbers would do whatever they could to squeeze a few extra fps from the round, and a long barrel was a minimum requirement. Just 100 extra yards can make a huge difference, and on Saturday when my target-share was struggling a little at 1000x and getting frustrated I suggested she went to 900x to have a break, settle her nerves and improve her confidence. When she came back I (half jokingly) said: "All-in?". "Yes", she replied - in fact 900x was quite challenging, needing at least double the wind compared to 1000x due to the shelter the 1000x targets had from the wind direction.

..

I will get into reloading next year perhaps, another wodge of investment to accumulate. But for the moment I have 70 odd NATO to get rid off, perhaps at shorter ranges. What ammunition should I buy to improve my results?

[Ovenpaa]

HPS or the Bisley issue RWS both work well however you are always going to struggle slightly with a shorter barrel, having said that I shoot to 1000 with a 24" barrel in 7,62x51

[rox]

HPS or the Bisley issue RWS both work well

...but at a high premium compared to surplus - perhaps almost double the price. If the Fultons product is on-stream that might be slightly more cost effective - I think they were planning to retail it at 75p versus the 85-95 of other factory brands. But I wouldn't be surprised if you found that your surplus worked perfectly well to 900, in which case that's a good place to hone your long range skills.

..

[Mr_Logic]

One thing I learned early on - if you're going to shoot long range, or indeed any range for more than just the pleasure of making something go bang, you can't scrimp on ammo.

Military surplus is cheap crap, almost exclusively. Don't bother with it - yes it's cheap but if it won't hit a barn door, it achieves nothing and so you're wasting money. Money spent on decent ammo is going to teach you something, so you actually get something for your money.