Memorial Day Postal Shoot

Monday - May 27, 2013 Memorial Day and what a better way to spend it, then by participating in a Postal Bench Rest Shoot.  Shawn Henn a local shooter headed up the event.  Precision Airguns provided the range. And a good time was had by all!

Our team name is the Postal Warriors.  

For those not familar with Postal Bench Rest, here is a brief summary: 

Benchrest International Postal Matches (BIPM).

The BIPM is not an organisation or federation, nor is it aligned with any shooting  body. It is run by shooters, for shooters who are interested in the sport of air and rimfire benchrest.

They arrange several international postal matches over the course of a year, these are either 25yd/m or 50yd/m for both air rifle and rimfire. The matches ultimately leading to an overall ranking table.

The rules are kept to a minimum and all that wish to compete, showing honesty & integrity,  may do so. Entrance to the competitions are free and medals will be provided for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in both air and rimfire (medal sponsors are the UKBR22 and BRItalia)

For more information onf Postal Bench Rest - Here is the link to the postal site.  http://www.benchpostal.com/index.html

 Of the 33 shooters that participated around the world here is how our shooters ranked:

Shooter	Ranking	Rifle	Caliber	Joules	Score	X's
Jim Stanis	8th	TM1000	0.177	16	734	22
Jim Hutchinson	11th	Air Arms MPR	0.177	16	730	16
Adam Denz	16th	Marauder	0.177	16	720	14
Mark Mahar	24th	Steyr LG-110	0.177	16	713	16
Rick Broughton	25th	Steyr LG-110	0.20	16	711	8
Shawn Henn	27th	TM1000	0.177	16	707	17

I shot the high score of the group, so lucky me, I get to proudly displace the High Shooter's Special Award!  Sadly, this helmet will get passed on to the high shooter of the next event.  Kind of like the Stanley Cup, only it's not made of brass with a wood base and quality finish, but it does have some plastic bone and a little fuzzy ring on one of the antlers.  Pretty Cool - So there ya go!

via email Shawn states:

Congrats again to Jim for being the first to wear the Postal Warrior helmet!!! Much like Ralphie’s dad said about the Leg Lamp “It’s indescribably beautiful”  

Lots of information is also posted on Benchrest Central http://benchrest.com/forumdisplay.php?19-Airgun-Benchrest this is how Shawn originally found out about these matches.

Jim

Shoot Safe, Shoot for Fun, Shoot an Airgun

The Perfect Saturday - Airguns All Day

What a Great Saturday!  I did something I rarely get the chance to do, play with airguns all day.  From a Bench Rest Event at WWCCA, Saturday morning, to an afternoon on the range with various airguns.

WWCCA hosted their third airgun bench rest competition   Finally temperatures in the 70* as opposed to the 30*'s we encountered in the last two events.  Winds were still fairly strong and irratic, but that did not stop Dave Goldstein (Grumpy) from shooting a 740 7X, and winning the event.  Great Shooting David!  David was shooting a Steyr AZ Tuned Hunter in .22cal .  Jim Hunchison came in second place with a 739 - 8X another fantastic score as he was shooting in light varmint class with a 12fpe Air Arms MPR.  Yours truly came in third with a 738 - 12X shooting a .22cal RAW BM500.

Mark Maher - local avid airgunner and friend joined me on the outdoor range back at Precision Airguns.  I asked Mark if he had some time to help me to complete some basic research and testing on some of the newer airgun models I've not had time to check out.  I started with a .30cal FX Boss.  The solid reputation of the FX Boss has been well established and the quick sales have not allowed me to set up a demo gun to have here in the shop.  

FX Boss

Mark Marher's groups
.375 center to center

Hoping to power through the afternoon winds, we starting shooting with the .30cal FX Boss. Using the 46 grain JSB pellets, the rifle gets 30 - 40 shots, is fairly quiet and extremely accurate.  The obtainable accuracy is even more amazing when you consider this rifle is putting out 870fps (feet per second) or  77fpe (foot pounds of energy). 

After mounting a Niko Stirling 10-50x60  scope with BKL mounts and zeroing in the gun @ 50 yards, my second group of 5 shots could be covered with a dime. This test was done resting on a single center sand bag.  Handing the gun off to Mark, with a sophisticated rest system, he shot a couple of great groups.  The best with a single ragged hole and the fifth just to the left. Measures .375  Awesome!

Jim's first group on right
second group on left with the Boss

Jim's first group on right
second group on left with the Boss

Slapping 1" spinner @ 50 yards
was no challenge for the Boss

Steyr Magazine included with Rifle

Time to bring out the Seyr Hunting 5 in .177cal.

Steyr Hunting 5 - .177cal

  Excellent air rifles, excellent build quality and one of the fastest firing repeaters on the market today.  Steyr Rifles now feature a factory quick fill option that retains the use of the factory air gauge.  Retro fits kits for existing Steyr air tubes will be available soon.  The rifle weights 7lbs 3oz and measures 40".  Includes two - five shot stick magazines. I mounted a Leapers Accushot SCP3-UG832AOIEW IE Mil Dot Reticle 8-32x56 Scope.  This is Leapers newest version of the 8-32x56, features glass etched reticle and excellent quality glass.  At a price of $329.97, this is a great value for the money.  The scope also proved to be accurate to range find with.  It locked in sharply on focus right on the 50 yard mark.  Firing three shots with JSB 10.3's over the Chrony: 888, 890, 888.  Puts this Steyr at exactly   18fpe, which is the factory specified setting for this caliber.  As suspected the wind had a greater effect on  the .177 caliber groups, trying to power through did not work.     With the  three different wind flags, usually going in four different directions, mostly left to right was the issue, it became a waiting game.  But patience paid off  and the third group, I was able to place five shots in a .350 center to center.  Very Nice.  

KalibrGun Cricket was the next rifle on the range.  This  skeleton style stock is light weight at 6lbs 1oz and is 27” long.  The bull dog version stock typically weighs approximately one pound more.   Rifle includes two fourteen shot magazines.  This model in .22cal was shooting 18G JSB’s @ 898fps.  Putting the FPE at 32.5  Mark shot a five shot .470 @ 50yards.  My best was a .380 center to center.  It is worth noting that this rifle has a fairly quiet shot cycle. 

Kalibr Cricket

Last but not least the Brocock Specialist Bull Barrel Carbine Rifle.  

Brocock Specialist

Brocock Specialist Magazine Included

We found this to be a handy, fun to shoot little carbine. 

 With a Leupold 3-9 scope and rings mounted the rifle weighs 5lbs 14oz.  Measuring 34” in length.  It has a synthetic stock with adjustable butt plate. Shooting JSB 13.4's @ 795fps/18.8fpe. 

Most of our shooting was aimed at 30 yards, however one group was shot at 50 yards using JSB 14.3's, five under a dime with one  pellet out.  

Mark Marher

What a great time to be an airgunner.  With the long summer days which usually bring nice calm evenings coming, I look forward to much more precision paper punching.

Special Thanks to Mark Maher for providing the pictures.  Without his contributions this Post would not have been possible.