AusVarmint

Hi guys,

I'm getting right into 50m rimfire benchrest (at the Sutherland Prize Meet (my first ever rifle contest), I won the C Grade 50m BR, and also outshot the B Graders too...), and am also now considering 50m Rimfire target rifle sports too.

Some questions for you:

* Are there any (Aussie) web forums catering for rimfire target rifle sports?
* Apart from UsedGuns and LGS webstores, are there any decent places I can review to see some of the more specialist rimfire rifles appear for sale?
* For starters, I'd like to get a good rimfire benchrest rifle (I'm not sure at this stage whether my Sako is suited for BR, it's a metallic silhouette rifle stock), one that I'll enjoy shooting, is accurate, and will last many years. I'm of the opinion that I should get something decent _now_, rather than something cheap and "will do ok", and I find I'm being held back by it. What should I get, and who should I make enquiries to?
* I look on Potter Firearms, and Acme Firearms, and see all these delectable, and very yummy, Anschutz/FeinwerkModelbau/Lother-Walther rimfire target rifles, and wonder whether I should, or whether I shouldn't... They're not cheap by any stretch, but I'd be prepared to acquire one, if advice from those in the know say go get X. One of the guys at Sutherland has an Anschutz Alu stock, which he can put a BR forepiece onto - if I acquired something similar, I'd have a rifle for both disciplines.
* Does anyone have one to sell?

(oh no, this researching/buying of rifles caper is more addictive than .... than .... shopping!)

Thoughts?

- bec

Not rimfire Snipe,

That being said we have some of the best known BR shooters here in the country (and the world) on the forum so if you ask a few questions in our shooting sports forum, I reckon you will get a few hints from some of these people to set you on your way.

SnipeWench,

Good work on winning the C grade wont be long and you will be winning A grade.
Your enthusiam is a pleasure to see and I will make a few suggestions for you as will others I am sure. My poor old rimfire is an Anschutz 54 in a Speedy Bench rest stock and it manages ragged holes at 100 metres .. I will have to do some rimfire BR at a more serious level one day .... when I get time

Now I happen to know a pretty decent gunsmith named Clancy who was telling me he might get some Hall rimfire actions in from the USA http://hallmfg.com/comparison.html This link will show you what they look like and also includes access to an assessment of rimfire actions by Bill Calfee (look him up) he is possibly the foremost rimfire rifle builder of the age so his opinion counts. A rifle built on any of the actions listed would be good and Shane clancy will do a good job of it.

As for finding quality guns for sale .. its luck as much as anything

If however you dont like to wait (most women dont, then again men dont either) I may know of a custom built rifle which has performed at the highest level which will be on the market real soon (like next week or so) this gun will win at national level so the Sutherland A graders may be in trouble sooner rather than later, the rifle would need a good home and a caring owner .. pm me to find out more.

wow! how long have you been in the game for???

i have this feeling i'll be asking you for advice on shooting soon.

great work on your win

Hey Bec have a look in the classifieds on the site,Ron has a very good base right there and you can shoot custom class,traditional class in both BR group and hunter.
Bec a rifle built to meet the 7lb 12oz class can be used in custom class as well..................................
.............................all the while I am breaking the kids piggy banks to raise the funds to make an offer




Regards Chris.

Hi Bec, Welcome to the painful world of Rimfire BR.

Outside a little bush shooting rimfire BR is my main form of shooting.
I have owned Anshultz, Fienwikbower, and Walter prone rifles that I have converted into Bench rest rifles and competed to National level and am hoping for internatioonal level soon.

My first piece of advice would be to not try and buy 1 rifle to do Prone/Position shooting and BR, the set ups are just too different to do either job well.

To get a decient BR rifle, there are 4 options,
option 1, buy a second hand one ready to go, rare and why is it for sale?
option 2, buy a good known action in a prone rifle, Anshultz, Fienwikbower, or Walter to name a couple and get a gunsmith like Clancy or John Cooke who specilizes in 22s to build you a rifle. But be prepared to wait.
Option 3, is to get a full custom rifle built on a custom action. I am doing that at the moment, I have a Hall action about to leave customs and I do all my own gunsmithing work. To give you an idea the action cost $1200, trigger $400, Barrel $450, Stock $350 (Finished by me), Scope rings $70, scope $700, totaling $3170 plus my time to gunsmith it. Be prepared to wait even longer.
Option 4, buy a brand new Anshultz or FWB bench rest ready gun. 3 FWB bench rest factory rifles are currently in the top 20 rifles/shooters in Australia at the moment, and a fwb holds the reange record at the Eley ammo test range. Eect to pay up of $3500 without scope and rings. I can point you in the correct direction for an importer of FWB rifles.

If you have a spare hour or two this weekend, come out to the Sydney shooting centre at Cecil Park, the RBA nationals are on and some of the very best BR rimfire will be in attendance and I can show you the many options available to you. you will leaarn more in 1/2 an hour than you can learn at any club shoot or Fourm. We shoot from 9 till about 3 I think, both days.

I am shooter number 110, I think and will be working the computer for scoring so I should be easy to find.

SnipeWench,

1 other thing ....

Shooting rimfire BR is fun .. if you want to save some money ...

Buy a comfy chair and a housebrick. Everyday you know a match is on sit in the comfy chair.
About every 30 mins smack yourself in the head with the brick, its a very similar experience to rimfire BR.

i'd prefer to be out of that arm chair. practical shooting is more my speed.

Rinso wrote:Buy a comfy chair and a housebrick. Everyday you know a match is on sit in the comfy chair.
About every 30 mins smack yourself in the head with the brick, its a very similar experience to rimfire BR.

I'm assuming the brick is for the "oh, the pain, the pain of dropping a shot!", or the "doh! Why did I shoot that wind for!" moments? As for the comfy chair, is this for the rest break between details, or for during the actual shooting? Coz I can tell ya, I was sitting on a stool, my front leg was dead, and my ass was asleep!

Oh, the pain! The pain! (and I scored 198 that detail too!)

I made the comment on Saturday after our first detail (of three), that it all felt like an high school exam! I really did get flashbacks to my schooldays, doing the HSC, pent up anxiety, a quiet time, half an hour of load,aim,shoot,unload,wait for wind,load,aim,shoot etc... followed by quietly stepping off the firing line, and speaking in soft voices, being disappointed at the result, or ecstatic (especially my last detail, wherein I scored 199.15).

Still, awesome fun though!

- bec

andrewk wrote:wow! how long have you been in the game for???

I've had my licence now for about 4 weeks I've been going to various places most nights of the week (St Marys Indoor and Cecil Park), Malabar for F-class on Saturdays, and Sutherland Smallbore on Sundays. Lots of shooting practice.

i have this feeling i'll be asking you for advice on shooting soon.

At the moment I'm doing ok at pulling the trigger, but when it comes to the technical aspects, I'm still a noob! I'm still trying to get my head around which way to turn the scope knobs!

So you'll be safe for a while yet!

great work on your win

Thanks! It's always great to have a good start, and a good experience, when taking up a new hobby/sport!

Cheers,
- bec

what is the maximum score you can get for that. any pics of your targets?

andrewk wrote:what is the maximum score you can get for that. any pics of your targets?

We shoot for score against 20 targets, 1 shot per target, and an unlimited number of sighters, within a 30 minute window.

200.20 is the max score in a detail. 200 = 20 x 10 points (inside or touching the 10 ring, which is 1cm @ 50m). The .20 is 20 shots completely inside the 10 ring, touching or inside the X ring (about 5mm diameter).

If the scores are tied, the tie gets resolved by the number of shots in the X ring.

and you scored a 199.15! are there more girls like you and were are they around adelaide???

Hi SnipeWench , here are some sites that may be handy
Benchrest Central USA
Rimfire Central USA
The Benchrest Directory UK
NZ rimfire.com NZ
Smallbore Rifle TargetShooting talk NZ
Benchrest Bulletin OZ

I hope these help. Cheers Ron

If you are looking for a ISSF forum (Olympic matches) target talk is a US forum that has a dedicated rifle section. Haven't had a good look at the rifle section but the majority of people in the pistol and general sections seem to know there stuff. A number of international competitors post in the pistol section as well as some of the European firearms manufacturers so I would guess it would be similar rifle section. These guys should be able to answer any questions regarding equipment for rifle ISSF events and anything else you would like to ask about.