Round 3 Swefta

Despite a poor forecast the weather was relatively OK damp and drizzly with a breeze that came and went catching a few out..

HFT 1st and I was shooting well until I started shooting the targets out of sync not once but twice and threw me off so had to settle for 69

Oliver done very respectably with 59 again taking some cracking long shots.
His gun was fubar after/during the last comp so was loaned another rifle which we only managed to set up yesterday (zero and aim points) so I'm rather proud of his performance given an un familiar set up

FT for the pm session.. 32 was what most of the A graders got and I was no different missing some stupid gimmies at 26 and 38 yds

Oliver seemed to be struggling with many of the closer shots but finished with a flourish taking 9 out of the last 10 all bar 1 were 40 to 55yds with an audience in tow.

He finished with 19 but that last flourish made up for all his misses. TBF it's a big ask doing 2 40 shot courses at his age/size..

He's looking forward to getting his gun back, hopefully in time for the next shoot

 

I had a disastrous HFT shoot and it's good job I didn't go round with you and Ollie - no kid should have to hear language like that
Actually it was all under my breath and all things considered I was very well behaved!

I had had a good shoot at Dartmoor and had not touched the rifle since but I checked on the Ashcombe zero range on arrival and it was not longer zeroed - way out in fact. I corrected that but I was chasing the zero all round the course so something's not right with the rig. Came away with my worst ever score (46) having missed most of the easier shots and got two doughnuts - I think that means I only dropped 8 targets. Oh the shame of it....
What I did knock down was more luck than anything else. At the end of the shoot I went back to the zeroing range and found the pellet impact point was very inconsistent and unpredictable in all axis. Getting home the I found the HW99 springer it's usual 5fps spread consistent shooting self and everything feeling solid - barrel lock up, action in stock and scope. There was a tiny bit of cant on the scope that I had not noticed - I doubt enough to make all the difference. At the moment the jury is out but I'll clean the barrel and give it a go in the garden. I suspect the scope (Optisan Mamba) is fubar - I got it second-hand and have used it for several years on a variety of springers. I have another Mamba so may have to take that off the s400 and start a major scope shuffle with my rifles....

West Devon is next and I need to sort things out before then!

 

It's a real shame about the rifle mate.. was it a 400 that you were using? Many have commented that this is the hardest HFT course in SWEFTA so don't beat yourself up too much.. as for the language, Oliver has heard a few words that he has not yet learned at school so he says but what happens up the club stays at the club .

I hope you manage to sort your rid out for the next 1.. I've not shot West Devon but understand the HFT course is fab.. if you are deffo going perhaps we could shoot together then?

 

Thanks Wilco.
I shoot springers mate - HW99. Ashcombe's not a very springer friendly course - lot of slightly awkward positions resulting in inconsistent holds which springers will punish but definitely a rig issue - I missed some of the easiest on the course. Basically I was using a shotgun but only only one projectile! I've shot at Ashcombe a few times before and with a springer I think my lowest score previously was 56...

Gone over the rifle today and not found any issue but have swapped mounts and optically centered the scope so will start from scratch and see how it goes. I did note when optically centering the scope the two images you see using the 'mirror method' were not quite parallel - what that tells me I'm not sure! But I know a man who will know what that means...

Be good to shoot together but I will have to confirm nearer the time.