What i learned in 2011 at 1 K

[a.JR]

Hi All , Just going over the 2011 competition season in reflection.. Laid out the 18 targets i have shot in comps this year and put this against the maintenance that i did and it shows clearly that it is not tight enough .. Long story short is the barrel needs to be re-crowned at half it.s present schedule of 500 rounds , i have been crowning at 500 for some years now but will change that to 250 cartridges for 2012 .. The data shows the drop off in performance at 300 cartridges in the grouping .. I know some are going to say that the conditions are more of the problem but i don't agree as i believe there is a way to shoot good even on the bad days, the figures are straight higher in the vertical dispersion as the shots stack on.. This is of coarse a lot easier to determine by having all of your targets that you can lay out on the floor at home , being able to see the pattern of how the shots landed on each target coupled with the date and the records of what sort of day was on offer , this bit to me is invaluable .. Figures are group average of

For 6 targets (10shot H/G) ,actual group agg of 5.706ins
Vertical dispersion of 5.150ins

For 10 targets actual group agg of 6.579ins
Vertical dispersion of 5.39ins

For total 18 targets in 2011, actual group average of 8.589ins
Vertical dispersion of 6.760ins

Firstly this means if i knew what i was doing with the wind read it has the potential of a 10 match of 5.3inchs but more importantly where the drop offs occur coincide with the wear at the crown..
I also learned after talking to Matt Kline in the US many times this year that i'm not trying hard enough in development , He ran 3 complete guns all year he set the world record in 2010 , one that he could trust and one for development testing to see if he could find improvements and one in a different caliber which was a failure .. I was accused some time ago on this site of trying to hard in 1000yd benchrest when in fact i believe i don't give it a real hot go at all .. Gloves are off for 2012 as i am going to try real hard to get the groups and scores that have alluded me for all these years ..2012 goals are 6match 5.20ins and score 98 average and i hope that the other 6 heavy guns in Townsville are going to push me there..
JR.. Jeff Rogers

[macca]

Mate I think you did pretty good. So if halving the crowning improves then that sub 4" group might just happen. Good luck to all the blokes shooting up there it is good to see a group competing but working to help others improve at the same time.I have a lot of testing to do over summer to sort my rifles out and find a decent batch of projectiles.
Roll on 2012.
cheers,
Macca
PS I learnt I didn't put in enough work in 2011.

[justjeff]

Jeff,

It's fair to say that a few of us intend to keep you honest. Jack, Tony, Bob and I will all be chasing you real hard, and trying real hard too. I hope to have a choice of 4 projectiles to put through the new barrel, as well as a reworked top plate on the gun and with mods to the front and rear rests, there will be plenty to learn and test. Hopefully with some improvements to come from all this.

Jeff

[a.JR]

Hi macca and Jeff, 2012 will bring some changes over what we all learned this year at our range .. Rest design is one and of coarse projectiles .. I have secured some innovations in bullet design from a manufacturer of unequaled ability's ,all of which my buddy's Charles & Joel in the US have said hold a bunch of promise , must be alright if they are going to commit a barrel and a whole year to.. I am not going to change from the 187 BIBs and there are two others up here that are changing over to these as well.. We have always worked together to get better ,i need these guys to get real good at what they do so i can retain the interest and commitment required to keep going .. I shot an Aus record in my 1st year of 1000yd (2001) with your old 7mm Black Pig rifle at 11.22ins for 6 match, it now stands at 5.70ins ,there's no going back ,only forward .. Macca your welcome to a week of my time on our 1K range to get yours sorted anytime , i'm retired..JR..Jeff Rogers

[Tony Z]

Well i can better that. In 10 years of 1K i have come to the conclusion that i still suck at wind reading. In another 10 years i will still suck at wind reading.

[justjeff]

Wind Reading? Whats that? Trying to figure out who farted? I thought the flags were there for feng shue or such.

Jeff

[macca]

.. Macca your welcome to a week of my time on our 1K range to get yours sorted anytime , i'm retired..JR..Jeff Rogers

Thanks jeff.One day i may just take you up on that offer.Only two kids left at school now.
Wind reading,hmmm.On a still day i have that one figured out.
cheers

[RDavies]

How about the throat, do you cut the threads off and rechamber each season, or leave it? What other changes are you going to make this year? Are you going to try new calibers or slower twist rates? How often can you do load developement at 1K?

[a.JR]

Hi Rod , Stopped re-chambering some years ago because you have to redevelop a load at distance and usually takes me about 150 cartridges to get it right , at $2.70 a shot ,thats 400 bucks i can put into a new one .. Not worth it , Dave Tooley gave me good advice some years back *shoot 450, recrown shoot 450 ,recrown and during the next 450 if it looks like one bullet went against the grain then it's time for a new one .. Like he said at approx 1000down you can always sell it to someone who is willing to shorten it and re-shoot ,but take it the next step yourself and nobody will want to own it , at least this way you get a small amount as a grub stake for the new barrel .. That said after talking to Jeff Green with his new IBS records and Matt Kline they are spot crowning every 200 cartrigdes .. Both using 61.5gn 2209 loads 30inch barrels which i thought would not be a big wear rate , so i am being conservative at a 250 round maintenance schedule .. I just purchased $500 dollars worth of crowning tools from the US so i can spot crown at 250 and then remove the barrel for a 5to 6mm chop every 500 .. Beauty of this is i can crown at the range and positively check to see improvements depending on the number of cartridges .. If you saw the throat in my Bartlien in the bore scope you would reckon it's toast ,but it shot a 6.0ins 10 shotter in the match just gone after a recrown in some of the worst conditions i have ever shot in.. New bullets are 210 mini Boatails , they will run in 11,11.5 and 12 twists.. One thing is evident is we don't start the year with enough barrels .. I will get 2 running at the same time a 13in Maddco and a 13.5 also , choose the best for the months that hold the best conditions .. I need to have 3 to 4inch groups to achieve my goals because a 98 score average is way tough if the gun won't group anyhow.. Range is not as easy to get to test at 1K anymore , so not very often but i have been shooting the same gun/bullet /twist / gunpowder for 9 years now and there are indicators i use in development during the year ..Main other changes are concerning how i address the gun at the bench , position is imperative to get the job done smooth ,head up ,straight back is the goal this year..JR..Jeff Rogers

How about the throat, do you cut the threads off and rechamber each season, or leave it? What other changes are you going to make this year? Are you going to try new calibers or slower twist rates? How often can you do load developement at 1K?