Target Shooter 1

The GSG-5 & Mini Rifle Competition
Well, here I am about to write a series of articles
about something of which I know nothing! Not the
first time I’ve been accused of that of course but
something I don’t like to make a habit of.
I love my shooting and, when we ‘lost’ pistols, I made
a vow to do as much shooting as I possibly could
and try every possible discipline – whilst I still could!
With pistols, I dabbled and plinked but never really
got around to entering a proper competition – what
a wasted opportunity. Now, I rarely take a gun out of
the cabinet unless it is to shoot in competition and I
shoot just about everything – Benchrest, F Class,
Classic Military, Black-powder, Tactical and Smallbore.
Yes, I’m lucky to live close to a magnificent fullbore
rifle range and I realise that if you are not so fortunate
then your available disciplines may be limited. Maybe
you just have access to an indoor range or a 50 yard
outdoor range which seriously limits what you can
shoot but, you can get plenty of enjoyment from your
shooting, particularly if you are prepared to get
involved.
In my editorial a couple of months ago, I bemoaned
the dozens of clubs out there that never seem to
get around to running proper competitions for their
members. One of the objects of Target Shooter is to
promote target shooting in all its forms and part of
that is to encourage clubs to put on shoots for their
members.
So, if you are a small club with limited facilities, what
sort of competitions can you run? One discipline I’ve
never tried is Mini Rifle. What is Mini Rifle?
Seemingly, it was born out of the pistol ban.
Practical-pistol shooters were one of the most
passionate prior to the ban - pushing the limits of
pistol development – until they were suddenly
deprived of their sport. The favoured tool for
By Vince Bottomley
I’m using a 4X Burris scope on the GSG-5 to
test ammunition etc
PP was the large-capacity compensated semiauto.
The sport involved real-life scenarios, large
round-counts, mag. changes, rapid fire, double taps
– how could that be replaced?
Before long, Mini Rifle was up and running, using
high-capacity semi-auto 22 rimfire rifles – often
based on the Ruger 10/22. Targets and scenarios or
‘stages’ can be very similar to the PP courses of fire
and large-capacity mags. and the like are all there.
Last month, Target Shooter contributor Tim Finley
reviewed the GSG AK47 – a 22 rimfire semiauto
AK look-alike – by shooting it in a Mini Rifle
competition. I don’t know about you but to me it
sounded like a whole lot of fun and cheap fun at that!
My local range has included some Mini Rifle shoots
for next year and a few members have visited other
ranges and taken part in Mini Rifle competition to
find out what it’s all about. We have a lot to learn
– rules, targets, course of fire and the essential
safety procedures. The idea of this series of articles
is to hopefully encourage other clubs to at least
think about shooting Mini Rifle and if you follow me
through the winter we can hopefully learn together
and you can avoid making the same mistakes as me!
The first step I have taken is to acquire a suitable
rifle. Ideally we need a rifle that is semi-auto, takes
high-capacity mags., has some sort of sighting
system and is light enough to ‘handle’ in a variety
of shooting scenarios. If you Google Mini Rifle,
you will soon get an idea of what it’s all about and
the favoured type of firearm. We are all aware of
the Ruger 10/22, which is something of a legend
on both sides of the Atlantic and there are more
16 Target Shooter