BISLEY 2009

En Route:

Left Darwin 23^rd with customs and paperwork quite smooth. MoD and Restricted Goods Permit paperwork all done within 15 minutes. Customs escorted me and my rifles to check in and after checking in escorted to oversize baggage. The customs office watched the case go down the chute to confirm that the rifle had physically departed.

On arrival Singapore I went to the transit counter as I was transiting from Jetstar to Qantas. The transit went smoothly and baggage was checked through onto the next flight. Upon hearing that there was a firearm in my baggage, I had to pay a fee to have an armed policeman stand airside next to my baggage until it could be on loaded onto the next aircraft in some three hours time. Cost for this was SD$181 (approx AUD$170). A nice little surprise.

Arrival into Heathrow (now the 24^th) went quite smoothly, my baggage had “deliver to baggage services only” tape on it. Thus I waited at baggage services and my bags were brought out by security. Security had to escort me through the red channel (goods to declare) and it was a simple matter of showing the UK customs chap the visitors permit and him cross checking the serial number before being allowed into the country.

Bisley:

Drove down to Bisley on the morning of the 24^th. The weather was grey, gloomy, 15°C and heavy rain at times. Been here before and know about English summers but didn’t think it would be this bad! Arrived at Bisley and was impressed by the size of the place. In concept it is best described as a little like Belmont but on a grander scale. It has a short range of up to 600 yards and separate long range which starts at 800 yards and goes out to 1200 yards. Along with those two ranges there are many smaller ranges dedicated to pistol, shotgun and zeroing etc. If your rifle produces more than 4500J of muzzle energy there is a special zeroing procedure to ensure that you stay within the template of the range. There are also many “lodges” (clubhouses) about, many over 100 years old. They all require full membership to get entry into their exclusive “clubs”. The day I arrived, Bisley had a very “proper” and “British” feel about it. The “Imperial” match was on and there were hangers-on swanning about in their country club best. That said, the NRA staff, the other competitors and local gunsmithing establishments were extremely friendly and helpful. If you needed to use an Allen key, they took you out the back and you could use theirs etc. It was quite refreshing. As the shoot got underway some of the lodges opened their doors to the visitors for lunch etc. and it turned out to be a nice atmosphere. Also during the “Imperial” there’s plenty of boozing and “socializing” at certain lodges.

The rifle had to be stored in the armory in the NRA offices and thus I went to check it in. Again no big deal, just a serial number check and in it went. Also went to pick up primers and some Hodgdon 4350 (which ADI stated is the same powder as AR2209-guess we shall see…). There were many trade tents up and I had pre-ordered the powder from one of them. After that a quick look around and headed off to my hotel about 7kms away in Camberley. Jet lag was catching up and I was knackered.

Practice day:

The 26^th was practice day. Was still not sleeping right, worn out at about 4pm and wide awake in bed at 3am… As expected I’ll probably be weary throughout. The practice day was interesting. It didn’t rain but overcast and gloomy, temps around 17°C. The wind was a very blustery left to right and I learned quite a few things. Firstly, LOCAL KNOWLEDGE IS KING. The regular shooters of Bisley have a big advantage over visitors given that there are so many local idiosyncrasies of the range. They can tell you exactly what flags to watch, they know that the mounds on the right will have a greater wind effect than the ones on the left and the list goes on… In fact, I was told that no one has ever won a Queens from any of the mounds to the far right. The whole feel of not shooting under blue skies with plenty of mirage is unusual. Grey skies and grey light gives a different feel. Minimal mirage (at least on practice day) and blustery, changeable winds…

Many of the English are shooting 7mm (WSM?) at high velocity (3000fps) or 30 cal Boo Boo’s with heavy projectiles and it became apparent very quickly why… At 1000 yards at some stages with my .284 (175gn SMK 2850fps) I had around 7 minutes on. That is something you don’t often see in the north of Australia. Big 2-3 minute drop offs due to both speed and direction i.e. nothing was constant. Winding for windage is a must, holding off any more that a minute either way is disaster. I was speaking to one of the guys on the English team, Jim McAlister. He spends a great deal of time testing and shooting on the Bisley range (has a house on the range at the end of the 1200 yard mound) who has a 7mm (WSM??), going flat out, points up his bullets, etc and he was averaging around 4.5 minutes of windage at the same time! Range time and development is no object. Went to clean my rifle and the wind blew the bottles of Hoppes etc clean off the bench.

Shooting Bisley style i.e. 2 or more to a target is also new and can be distracting. Having to plot your own shots and keep a track of what is going on in your own world whilst scoring for the other fellow can really break your rhythm. Add in some rain (all the locals have weatherproof clipboard covers) and it makes focusing on your shooting difficult. Again, the hometown advantage helps enormously on this given they’ve seen/done it all before this way and in all weather.

Was going to go to the meet and greet at 7.30pm this evening but was worn out again by about 5pm, so after some reloading decided to stay in and get some sleep. Woke again at 3am (1pm Australian EST) so the time zone change has still got a grip.

27^th is day one of the competition. Forecast is for grey skies and rain. See how we go, should be interesting. A lot of distracting nuances to come to grips with, but it’s all good experience. I guess the poms say the same when they come to Oz and boil with sweat under the sun looking at full blown mirage through a scope. Obviously horses for courses and what you’re used to.

Day one of the Competition:

The day started as advertised, grey skies and drizzle. Without wet weather gear and equipment for keeping your plotting sheets and score cards dry you would’ve been in all sorts of trouble. Dry as a bone came in very handy.

800 yards: The targets are all ½ MOA V-bull and 1 MOA 5 ring which corresponds to the Australian F Class size targets for the 10 and 9 ring. All matches are 15 shot matches with 2 sighters. The last 1000yard match on the last day is a 20 shot match.

At 800 there was constant drizzle. There was 2¾ to 3 minutes of changeable wind on. I ended up with a 73.7 which under the circumstances I was quite pleased with. Chatting to some members of the US team I found out there was one who shot a 75.15 and one who shot a 75.12 amongst others. It’s hardly surprising given that after further chatting to one team member I was advised of the following:

· The US sent a 20 member team

· From that total 8 members would be selected for the teams comp at the end depending on performances through the meet

· 4 wind coaches were sent

· There were 3 compulsory team shoots held prior to traveling to the UK. If you couldn’t commit (wherever in the US they were to be held) you were off the team

· Most if not all members on the team had 2-3 practice sessions each week in the build up to the World Champs (I guess no one works??)

· Most have had deep backgrounds in 1000 yard benchrest

· All rifles were 6.5 x 284. To begin with, each competitor started with 5 barrels (Kriegers). Then of those, the best two were selected and were brought to the World Champs. They would not be used in competition after 600 rounds had been shot through them as they weren’t interested in taking any chances.

· Berger loaded all the ammo for each team member and to their individual specifications (i.e. tuned to the rifle)

· All ammo and equipment was shipped to the UK in a shipping container in advance by Berger for the team.

In terms of sponsorship, assistance and complete freedom to train, to say that the rest of us aren’t in the same boat is an understatement. I don’t think we’re even on the same ocean! I guess given the size of the US market, the sponsorship dollars are all there…

That said, to a man, all the members of the US team are all very friendly and humble and very nice to chat to.

900 yards: Still grey but no rain at this range. Shot a 71.5 and reasonably happy.

1000 yards: Many getting caught (and many doing OK, depending on the time you lie down). Shot a 64.4. Not really happy with it but did have some complicating circumstances…. The ammo reloaded with Hodgdon 4350 came up for the last two shots of the string. I had to start using it sooner or later and with only 88 cases and 17 shot matches, it’s going to have to come into a string somewhere, you just can’t get around it. In any case the changeover from one powder to the other resulted in the shot having perfect windage but going 1 MOA high for a 4. After the correction, the next and last shot of the string snuck out just below the 5 and also scored a 4. Thus two points were lost due to the powder change…

Whilst from here on I’ll be using the same powder (4350) that fact there was such a marked change from the original ADI powder and the Hodgdon (according to ADI, 2209 is repackaged as 4350 - must be a fair difference in lot numbers to get such a difference between the two of them then, in fact noticed a lot of dust on the cap when it was supplied to me. Most use Vitatouri here so the 4350 doesn’t really move…) doesn’t bode well, as with this much of a change I’m wondering whether the Hodgdon will still leave me on the node and thus minimize vertical…Who knows, we shall see tomorrow.

The wrap up for day one is that prior to the unavoidable powder issue I was sitting around 50^th out of 150. Following the last 1000 yards I’d be guessing closer to 75^th out of 150. Given the backing and mass of the big name teams i.e. US, UK and South Africa, and considering the issues with having to make do with different powder, I’m pretty happy at finishing the 800 and 900 yards about one third down. We shall see what the Hodgdon 4350 brings tomorrow.