AusVarmint

G"Day All
Shot yesterday at the local range and after shooting some groups with rimfire I decided to have acrack at BR30 and see if I could get the silver I have been chasing for 12 months.
It was a bit breezy with the odd gust of light wind, I had just purchased a secondhand Anschutz 54 model and was expecting to do well,My arse nearly caved in when the target came back from the scorer 5 points short of a silver medal(1800 for silver), Only one other bloke at the club has ever shot one, this is an outdoor range and shot from concrete bench, of the 30 targets on the card I managed 12 direct hits worth 100pts each but was beat by the wind.
Ammo was SK standard.
I tried another round and only managed 1660 so I called it a day.!!
Maybe next time I may see that silver.
Regards
Damien Webb.(PS this rimfire shooting is frustrating.!!)

Bloody good shooting outdoors I reckon, I snagged a bronze about two months ago in the same type of weather, I was very surprised, frustrating alright.

Damien, i can recall back in the mid 90's when BR 50 was an international shoot and there was a couple of hundred shooters in Aus that shot week in, week out to get to the top of the points list for both here in Aus and in the US.
For the first couple of years most of us were trying to get to 3000 points, then 3500 and so on to the point where it was a matter of time before some-one would get the all elusive 4000 to get the BR 4000 Club baseball cap given to you by the international convener Larry Brown in the US. The only shooters i know that got the cap that i can recall, for rimfire that is, are Darius Kryvenik of Canberra who was the first to do so, Tom Hodgson of Innisfail, Gavin Daneen of Brisbane, Annie Elliot of Canberra, Gary Venables of Cairns and myself Tony Zubalj of Townsville.

In the last year of BR50 i was the first and only person in Aus to aggregate over 4000 points for a 4 card match with a single high card score of 4250 points from a possible 5000 points. If we go back in history a bit, when BR50 came out there was a handicap system that was set at 0% at 12 pounds of rifle weight and then plus or minus 1% for every pound of rifle weight under or over that 12 pounds. So in effect there were quite a few shooters that by 1998 should have got their cap, but missed out because in 1996 Larry Brown had scrapped the handicap system and allowed absolute open slather to rifles and rests etc. The individual card scores never really went up that much in the last couple of years, but the 4 and 5 card match aggs did. I used a 7.5 lb gun that would have given me a 4.5 % start at the beginning of the match, but with the handicap system gone i was at a great disadvantage to some of the 14 and 15 lb guns that were now appearing at most matches.

I had just finished building a big gun in the late part of 1998 when we got news from the US that Rimfire BR50 had been scrapped and only centerfire and air rifle was to remain. In a couple of years it had all died, and not long after, one of the great gentlemen of BR in Larry Brown had passed away and with him so did one of the few disciplines that could have seen Olympic inclusion as the Europeans had taken to it and Eley made special batches of ammo (Eley BR50) and Anshutz had produced the 2007 and 2013 rifles specifically for it. In the US there was a whole breed of gear and gunsmiths and actions and barrels and stocks and Ritchie rests and on and on that were there just because of BR50. What a shame that the air gunners and rimfire shooters couldn't get on in the US.

Anyway the point of all this rambling is that the one common thing that is among the shooters that got or nearly got their little caps, is that there is a belief that a rimfire is only capable of a finite accuracy level for a 25 or 50 shot group. The thing that seperates the 90% of guns that are capable of winning at any given match, and those 10% of shooters that can win that match, is the wind flag. With rimfires especially, i doubt you will build me a better gun, build you can build me a better wind flag.

When BR50 died, BR30 tried to fill a void, but from what i know very few if any that shot BR50 carried over as the scoring system was more generous and the international involvment was lost which was the main appeal for most that shot it here. My rifle that never saw a full year of competition was sold and the trusty hunterclass rifle that had given me all the success went on to claim the national hunterclass grand agg record in 1998 and was then sold in 1999 to a guy that never shoots it. But i still own all the windflags.

With the current breed of flags that are now available from Stuart Elliot and Barry Edgely complete with their sail tails, which the yanks have taken too recently, i am sure that if BR50 was to start up again tomorrow, 4500+ points would be achievable.

Tony Z.

ps. I forgot to mention that BR50 worldwide was an outdoor shoot only. Indoor ranges were not eligable for inclusion to Series matches, State or National Championships.

G'day All
Its a bit of a shame the BR50 went by the way side, I suppose Iwill never know how competitive it was as It was before my time.
The +/- bonus system for BR30 is a bit unfair, my gun weighs 10lb 2oz and I get face value for score, It is a standard factory gun, but someone can build a custom gun well under that weight that can be a real shooter and they will accumulate a hefty percentage up to 8 percent..
As you say tony Z,rimfire is largely wind affected and being able to read flags and wind is a real eyeopener when you see how far a projectile can drift in the breeze.
I am only new to the world of benchrest rimfire shooting but It has bitten me bad.
Regards
Damien Webb.

Damo,

That is good shootin'

I haven't managed to bust the 1600 yet

Sounds like the Annie/SK combo is working real well.
Yep I agree it is frustrating, and thats part of the attraction I think, I get a buzz outta watchin those little pills get blown onto the target after holding off a couple of targets away ......am I sick

KY

G"Day All
Kenny(yeah your sick), your not the only one that is amazed by the amount of hold off that is needed at times, sometimes I amaze myself by thinking this will totally miss but it falls in the centre(spose too).
Regards
Damien Webb.

BR30 is top stuff. A few years ago I was lucky to shoot bronze and silver, tried for gold a few times then gave up. My 1958 Mod 4 Bruno shots the 200m Fly now.
Try some of the Lapua ammo. Midas or the match ammo should do the trick in your Anshultz.
Malcolm