Washington's Birthday Rifle Match -- coming up!

Washington's Birthday rifle match-- always one of the best matches ever!  It's the "The longest running annual rifle match in the country ("SINCE 1893)!  and the largest High Power Rifle Match in Arizona. Over 200 rifle Competitors" --Bill Poole.-- 
 This is a Service Rifle match that you want to make it to some time in your shooting career.  It's a tradition that brings people from all over, to shoot on a team in the "Washington's B-day Match". Like Poole says -- usually over 50 teams of 4 shooters each, compete for the first place team Plaque and individual awards. 'Top Police, Top military, High Senior, High Women, and High Junior, etc' are all awarded Plaques and other brass badged ammo boxes. 
   The B-day match is run like a CMP match. It's 3 sighters and 50 shots for record, all at 200 yds, and using reduced targets for the 300 rapid, and prone slow fire phases. Two shooters on each team shoot through in the morning, flip flopping on the line through the 4 positions.  During the lunch break, the Az Juniors grill burgers and dogs for everyone's lunch, unless your team is tailgateing with its own grill.  In the Afternoon, the coaches bring their #3 and #4 shooters to the line and they shoot through till the end of the match. Each coach has to make the decision to either bring his 2 best shooters to the line in windy morning or the usually calm afternoon. Which strategy would gain the team the most points?   

Top three 2007 -Tyler Riko, Tom A., Jim E.

  After the match, and while the 200 team and individual scores are reconciled, the Match Director, Bill Poole brings all shooters to the line who have shot an individual Master score for the "Shoot Off". Usually about 20 master score shooters are quickly squaded at the center of the line, and take up the 'Standing Position",  They will all fire one shot at a time, Offhand, while the target is exposed for 60 seconds, then withdrawn.  All targets are then scored and kept in the pits till Poole calls for "Disk all 5s". If no targets come up with a 5, he calls for disking any 6s,.  If any targets come up out of the pits with a 6 spotted and scored on it, Poole will announce -- "Targets number 52, and 84 Thank you for your participation.  Please remove your equipment from the Firing Line", and just that quick those folks are back into the crowd, awaiting the next shot, cheering on the survivors,  and seeing who will shoot and 7 or 8 and be banished from the line.   Eventually, it works down to two or three shooters, and they may battle two or three more shots, all scoring 9s and 10s at the same time.  Every 'Shoot Off" of the 10,  I've been in goes at least 11 shots before someone is the last man standing. Last year I went out on the 4th shot, but I've made the top three twice and won the thing in 2006, after going 3 equal shots with multiple winner Jess Anatoli. It was one of those 'good shooting' days that I put a the top of my list.
  Last year the Tucson Rifle Club's Master Blasters, put an end to the decade long reign of Derrick Martin's, Accuracy Speaks team by shooting good solid scores on a day where I shot offhand in the rain, blowing water out of the peep sight on every shot, and gusty storm winds plagued most every relay.  That Club will be tough to beat again this year, and I know that one of the Junior teams has some hot shooters, such as newly  Distinguished Rifleman, Tarvis Burian, and other young shooters who are also ready to take that "Top Team" award. 

Just in -- Results for 2012 B-day match:   Click Here

  Traveling shooters take note:   This is one of those "bucket list" rifle matches.  This years entry form -- Click Here  
Washington's Birthday match 2012 web site:  http://washingtonsbirthdayriflematch.org/

Winter shooting Mecca - - Phoenix, AZ

  Trigger finger itching?  Got the Winter Shooting Withdrawal Syndrome (WSWS)?

This year, once again, Phoenix AZ becomes the winter shooting Mecca for shooting sports. If you are a Highpower shooter or a Sm Bore shooter, this year's lineup of championship matches offers top notch competition throughout 6 weeks and 19 days of clinics, individual, and team shooting.  What better way is there to spend that winter vacation than enjoying the warm weather of the Southwest, and shooting lots of matches.
  Note: the temp in Phoenix will be about 70 deg today !

Highpower
     For the Highpower shooter, this championship series starts on:
Feb 7 thru Feb 12th, with the Berger Bullets Long Range Nationals  -- match program Click Here.  March 21 thru Mar 25 is the Berger Bullets OTC Nationals. 
    Both matches held at Ben Avery range.

Small Bore -- "March Madness" starts again!
    Do you like to shoot Sm Bore? Do you need to practice your prone shooting (doesn't every one)? SB March Madness offers you the chance to shoot 14 prone Championship matches, and 2100 shots for record in 5 weeks!
   February 24-27th  --  Tarantula 4800 metric prone -- Program: click here
   March  3-4th         --  Road Runner 3200 prone   --    Program: click here
   March  10-11th     --  Diamond Back 3200 Prone  --
   March  14-18th     -- Western Wildcat Matches  6400 Prone -- Program  Click Here
   March  24-25th     --  AZ Sb State Prone Champ  3200 Prone -- Program: Click here

Where else can you ever find that much competition in one month?  You can't. Don't miss this chance to shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. There are plenty of hotels, motels, and Park Models in the RV parks to rent, so load up or buy a ton of ammo and Fly, Drive or Hike to Phoenix -- your prone skills will skyrocket.

Note: All Match programs for these Championship weekends will be posted ASAP on this Blog.

Out of Town Match-- AZ Service Rifle St.Champ.

 This weekend was the AZ Service Rifle State Championship.  I thought it was time to dig out my trusty AR Service Rifle and have some fun. I hadn't shot a leg match in a long while, and since those usually great matches, I decided to make that my Sunday match choice.  I probably should have shot the Sat. 80 shot champ match as the scores in the Master class where I am classified not really high and I would have had a good chance for a class win.  However I wanted to shoot a smallbore 1600 on Sat so that didn't work out.  I did have a good (for me) score in the SB match (1584-85x) so I was happy about that.  Note: on the first target (50 yd) Nancy Tompkins shot a 200-20x so I knew that the pressure was off for the day.

   The Sunday Leg match started out a little cold in the morning, but by the start the temp was a balmy 65 Deg, and the wind was a light breeze and worth nothing on the sights.  Not having practiced with the Service Rifle for a half a year showed up right away in the Standing match where I was a little wobbly and only scored a 92 and was very happy with that.  Sitting Rapid was also weak and I dropped 4 out low right.  Then we went back to the 300 and the wheels fell off. The targets came up, and I dropped into position as best I could and racked the charging handle to load the first rd, and found it would not move. I pulled and pulled and it was stuck forward --- jambed tight.  Nothing would get that bolt back, so I was put on the aliby relay while a NG armorer was cking it out.  Someone handed me a gun and I shot with that.  That gun must have had 200 yd zeros on in so my ragged group ended up in the 8 ring and I lost 21 pts.  Oh, well, I just came for fun anyways.   Off to the 600 with my "repaired" rifle,  I would shoot for personal satisfaction.  I called the first shot a high 10, but the target stayed down for at least a minute, then came up a miss on target at 12:00.  What is that?  I know it was a good shot, so I pondered and then dropped 5 clicks to fire again.  I didn't want another miss out the top.  Of course you know what happened  -- it was a 7 at 6:00.  I came back up to what I started with and drilled an X followed by the best string of fire I ever shot with the service rifle at 600, finishing with a 183-6x including the miss and that 7 on the first two shots.

AZ Service scores

  Daniel Rodrigues won with a 484, while 2 legs were given out with scores of 474, and 468.
  I figure I lost about 23 pts due to rifle problems and add that to my 450 final score, I thought I had shot pretty good, but scored poorly.  Oh, well. As Steve Merritt said later -- "The Service Rifle giveth and the Service Rifle taketh away".
  All in all it was a good day.  I didn't win, but I had fun and that's what counts.
Thanks to Mid Thompkins for running a great match.

How can I see my Sight Picture better ?

  "Old Eyes and Iron Sights" -- part 5
   Today was a good day. Yes, it was my birthday, but that's not why. It was a good day because I could see the target (dropped 5 in a 40 shot team match at 500 yds). I was using the AR match rifle, and I could see a good black dot to aim at, and the the front sight aperture was black and pretty sharp. That was exactly the opposite of Thursday, when Bill and I went to Ben Avery to shoot in the 1000 yard practice match, where I was shooting a 6BR.  We zeroed at 600yds but I could hardly see the Bullseye at all.  I could adjust my shooting glasses to get the front sight sharp, but no mater how I moved the lens in and out there was just a light shadow of about 1/2 the bullseye, and I ended up using a "frame" hold to some success (9s and 10s).

     I have been alternately shooting my .223 AR match rifle, or my 6BR Anchutz match rifle in mid-range matches. I know that the 6BR is a tack driver because I get high X counts when using a scope in "any" sight matches, but I always get a higher score, and hold elevation better with the AR space gun if both are shot with Iron sights.                               

     So, why is this? The 6BR has a fully adjustable Anchutz 2213 alum stock. The AR space gun is less adjustable with a fixed height cheek rest. Both have good sights -- Phoenix rear, and 30mm Right Sight front on the 6br, PNW rear with a std. 22mm on the Space gun. Both have .3 and .5 diopters available.

Two things that always seem different from one to the other.
     1. I always get a comfortable position with the Space gun. It fits me perfect. No adjustable cheek piece - so what! I get on the gun and My eye is always lined up with the iris, no matter how high I have the sight set.
With the Anchutz 6BR, I seem to be always adjusting the cheek piece, hand stop, and sling. When I get it adjusted just right, I find that the measurements are way different than with the AR--Huh? When I shoot the Anchutz stock with either the .22, the 6BR or the .308 barrels, the measurements are pretty much the same....But not the same as the AR.
     2. I always see the front sight, and target better with the AR. I always struggle with my vision while shooting the 6BR.

So where does all this lead to ---

Thoughts on front sight optics,   shooting glasses, and  stock settings,.

Front Sight Optics:
    I use a .3 diopter in the front sight for Mid Range and a .5 diopter for long range.  I purchased these diopters from the usual sources.  I 'assumed' that they were quality lenses. However, it's certainly possible that the diopters I use are not good quality lenses, and that is the reason why I see the target well with one gun and not with the other.  Each gun has it's own dedicated front sight and diopter. 
   These diopters are simple concave/convex lenses---i.e. both sides are curved towards the front.   They could be plano/convex with the back side flat and only the front side curved and that would work fine also. These lens are not hard or complicated to grind.  They should  be accurate, and precise if  coming from any reputable lens shop.   However, I suspect that many of them are mass produced and coupled with most being plastic lenses, they may or may not be the quality that shooters really need to see the target properly.  Its also possible that these lenses are cut from larger pre-ground lens blanks, and therefore the optical center may not be in the center of  each lens we get.  Grinding one 3" lens and then cutting out a doz smaller 22mm lenses from that blank would be more profitable for the mfg. but only one of the doz would maybe have been cut from the from the optical center of the parent lens.  
      Solution ?
     1.  I intend to take all my diopters to an 'friendly" optical shop, and have them looked at.  The optician can easily measure the grind with a lens diopter guage and tell me if they really were ground to the proper focal length.
  Remember:  from Bill Luth
 "focal Length = 1/diopter . The lenses that we call 0.3 and 0.5 are really 1.3 and 1.5 diopter with corresponding focal lengths of 30" and 26" (about), so you are correct that the focal length and sight radius are directly related. Now should we think about the image formed at  the rear sight or at the front surface of the eyeball?  
 1/1.3 =.7692m .7629 X 39.36 in/m = 30.03 in focal length
 1/1.5 =.6667m .6667 X 39.36 in/m = 26.24 in.
 The diopter values refer to the reciprocal of the focal length in meters

    2 .Since the diopters have a "focal length"  I will do more experimenting on moving my front sight in and out to test the sharpness of the image formed fore and aft of the exact focal plane.  Moving the front sight farther out will, also change the size of the image  our eye examines. Our eyes have a daylight adapted Pupil opening of about 5mm and if the Focal plane is too far out, the image size will be too large for best viewing.
    3.  If there seems to be any problem with the quality of the diopters I have, I will have the optical shop grind me lenses from good optical glass, and make sure that the optical center is in the center of the lens. I may experiment with diopters other than the standard .3 and .5.  Small lenses like this are not expensive, so having "good" ones is not a luxury. This would be the easiest with the 30mm  lens as it uses no lens holder to fit into Stallings Right sight I use on the 6BR. The 22mm have their own lens holder and I'm not sure how easy it will be to change out the lens.

Shooting Glasses
Once we get past 40 years old, our eyes start to slowly fail.  Most of us compensate for this by getting special shooting glasses to help us see better. I use Knobloch shooting glasses and could not compete in matches without them--period!  These specific glasses allow me to slide the lens left and right, raise and lower it, and twist it to a position perpendicular  and directly in line with the axis of my sights, even though my head (on the gun) is not pointing straight toward the target.  These glasses also allow me to move the nose piece in and out to position the lens the proper distance from the eyeball --- This is very important!  The lens must be the same distance from your eye as your regular glasses or the focal length of the lens will not focus the image at the back of your eyeball.   I see many shooters who have their shooting glasses lens way out from the normal position of about 3/4 inch from the eye. No wonder they can't see the target or the front sight!  These (knobloch) shooting glasses also allow the lens to "tilt" in and out a bit, so I can tilt it in a bit to bring the bullseye into focus or tilt it out a bit to bring the front sight into better focus.  That's right-- I can focus these glasses from the front sight to the bull, and find what looks the best on any particular day.    Think about that advantage!  With my bad eyes (7.50 sph. prescription) I need all the help I can get. If you cant see, you can't hit the middle.

Stock Settings  
  My Stock Measurements (when feels good)
                                                        AR-15 match,              Anchutz 6BR
Pull (from trigger)   =                        13.25"                        12.0"   (shorter)
Butt to Hand stop  =                          24.0"                          22.2"   (shorter)
Butt to Rear Iris  =                             11.0                           10.6"    (shorter)
Rear iris behind Trigger  =                 2.6"                            1.6"    (shorter)
Sight axis above Trigger  =                5.2"                            4.5"    (shorter)
Sight Radius(Iris to iris  =                 34.7"                          31.0"    (shorter)
Sling at                                           #3 hole                      #6 hole   (longer)

   It's obvious that I shoot a lower and more stretched out  position when I shoot the AR space gun even though I end up with the sling 3 holes tighter.  This, I cannot understand.  Why would a comfortable position with these two rifles have such different stock settings?  I can only think of one reason -- I can't move the Rear Sight as far back on the Anchutz 6BR as I can on the AR.  I think that therefore I shoot that gun hunched up, and straining a little to reach the short rear sight eye relief  that suits me best. 
    Solution:    Since the AR feels best when shooting, I will now (again) set the Anchutz stock to all the settings I use on the AR, and start over from there. I have a 3/4 in. iris extention for the rear sight to get that back a little farther.
     However, somehow, I just know that when I get done adjusting it for comfortability , those measurements will end up right where they are now.  It's a mystery!

Old Eyes and Iron sights -- Part 1  (First thoughts)    Click Here
                                               Part 2  (Iron sight optics)    Click Here
                                               Part 3  (Techniques to see better)    Click Here
                                               Part 4  (Too much light from spotting scope)    Click Here
Hawkeye