The team's tour brochure. - National Rifle Association

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Comparing target sights (L toR): Anschütz, BSA, and typicalTarget Rifle; BSA &TR sights arevery similar.in any doubt, the first shot would certainly resolve it! In terms of adjusting the sights, just thinkof the sight knob as being a nut running on a fixed right hand thread, and:If the rifle goes pop, it’s the Anschütz and I wind the sight knob such that it would move inthe direction I want to move the impact;If the rifle goes boom, it must be the Musgrave so I wind the sight knob such that it wouldmove in the direction that my shots are falling.It’s a straightforward system that works for both windage and elevation.Touch wood, I’ve nevercaught myself winding the wrong way. Still, if you are concerned about confusing small-bore andTarget Rifle sights you can always play safe and use a BSA.TriggerMany shooters prefer to fit their full-bore target rifles with two stage triggers, for the simplereason that the trigger must carry a minimum of 1.5 kg. It is easier to control this relatively heavytrigger if the majority of the weight can be safely taken up during the early stages of shot release,and held on the first pull.This leaves the shooter both physically and mentally with just thesecond stage to cope with, and only the remaining weight to be squeezed-off in the final stageof shot release.Modern small-bore target rifles are also normally fitted with two stage triggers so the style oftrigger is the same, although a much lighter pull is normally used. Should you decide to use aBSA .22 rifle, as already discussed, these are fitted with a single stage trigger. However, goodsingle stage triggers are available for full-bore rifles, so this is also a viable option for those thatprefer this type.As far as the different weight of pull is concerned, it would be possible to adjust your small-boretrigger to the same 1.5 kg weight as your full-bore, for the sake of commonality. However, thiswould probably make you less competitive, and is unnecessary in my opinion. Personally, I usetwo stage triggers throughout and cope with the different pull weights. I find that the sametrigger control technique works equally well; you just have to scale it up a bit for the heavierweight of the full-bore trigger. My advice is not to get hung up over small differences; the tworifles will always be quite different, but you may be surprised at how readily you will learn tocope with this.Follow-throughSurely follow-through is one area where there should be no difference between small-bore andfull-bore target rifle shooting. It is simply the act of doing nothing – maintain position and holdthrough shot break, recoil, and a few seconds thereafter.That shouldn’t be difficult, should it? Sowhy do we still see a few Target Rifle shooters who seem to fire the shot, ground the rifle andunload in virtually a single movement? By its very nature, small-bore shooting is done in stringsand so the marksman will normally maintain the rifle in his shoulder throughout the series ofshots, which helps to promote follow-through.With a lower velocity round and consequentlylonger bore time, he must follow-through properly or pay the penalty of a larger group. I amnot trying to discourage the Target Rifle marksman from grounding the rifle between shots;when shooting in turn with two or three to a target, it is necessary to rest the supporting armwhen you can.What I am saying is that the marksman must pay attention to the follow-throughbefore doing so.Here is a simple exercise to learn from the .22 shooter: Fire the shot, and then do nothing fora count of three. Job done.Mental approachI am convinced that certain differences between the two disciplines can, if approachedconstructively, be used to complement your shooting. Be aware however, that those samedifferences can also be approached wrongly, with a distinctly negative result.Let me explain:In all shooting, it is essential to maintain concentration and the mental determination to “Makeevery shot a bull”.This sounds obvious, but we can sometimes forget how important the concept is. Because ofvery tight scoring rings, the punishing effect of wind on the .22 bullet, and the mental strain ofa long competition, the small bore competitor knows that most matches (and I’m thinking of40 shot Dewar or 60 shot English Matches for example) will be won with a less than perfectscore.There is an obvious danger here that the shooter will approach the match with the attitude thatit can be won even though some points will be dropped.This approach is obviously not a winner,although it may not be too disastrous where between 40 and 80 shot matches are the norm –there may be time to recover from the damage caused by a lapse of concentration or lazy wind
Gary’s anecdotesreading. However, it is catastrophic inTarget Rifle where 10 to 15 round matches allow no scopeto recover from lost points.The Target Rifle shooter must make every shot count and knowsthat he must approach every shot with maximum concentration and the determination to makeit a bull.In this respect, the small bore shooter has something to learn from hisTarget Rifle counterpartin the mental approach to every shot. If theTarget Rifle shooter carries this approach into smallborecompetitions, performance can be improved.There is no doubt that successful shootersin both disciplines adopt this approach, although it is perhaps better understood inTarget Rifle.Conversely, the Target Rifle shooter is sometimes guilty of sloppy technique in the knowledgethat the relatively generous Target Rifle bull size allows some room for error; the effectivediameter of the Target Rifle bull is over 60% larger than that of the small-bore bull.This meansthat a group tight enough to score bulls on NSRA small-bore targets would score V-bulls forthe full-bore shooter.This is where the Target Rifle marksman can profit from adopting the small-bore approach,where good technique (eg position, hold, shot release, follow through, etc) is essential to highscoring.‘The Plank’It was July in the mid 1980s and the occupants of “Tyrone Corner” were somewhat scepticalwhen Gary modestly let on that he had scored a 50-25 in the Donegal (in those days insteadof V bulls you fired 5 extra tie shots if you got a 50). Sure enough, when the prize list waspublished, it was confirmed that Gary was in the tie shoot with 7 or 8 others. It seemed fateto Gary that an Irishman should win the Donegal and he set of to the trophy exhibition tocheck out how much Silvo he would need to keep the trophy in pristine condition. If youhave a chance during the meeting have a look at the Donegall – it is one of the mostimpressive trophies. [can we get photos for the brochure] The tie shoot was held on a dampevening and unfortunately Gary didn’t win and he vowed never again to tempt fate by lookingat a trophy before he’d won it !!In 1993 Gary once more caused consternation & disbelief in Tyrone Corner by claiming tohave shot a 50.10 in the Admiral Hutton (yes by then V-bulls had been introduced !). By thetime the prize list came out it transpired that it was a 2-way tie shoot and Gary spent thenext couple of days giving the trophy exhibition a wide berth !! The evening of the tie shootcame and Gary was victorious !! With victory secured Gary & friends headed for the trophyexhibition to feast his eyes on the trophy – however the first few minutes of searching didn’tuncover it. Finally it was found – it’s quite a small trophy which was irreverently described byone of the party as “two candlesticks cunningly nailed to a plank of wood”. Since then Garyhas won his share of impressive pots – but his first individual trophy at the meeting was “ThePlank” !!Tight scoring rings mean that the small-bore marksman must develop good techniqueand build a stable position.In conclusion then, I hope I have convinced you that small-bore target shooting is a brilliantway of keeping in practice through the winter months. More than that though, small-boreshooting is an excellent sport in its own right, especially as an outdoor discipline at the longerranges. I don’t expect everyone to agree with my ideas. Indeed it would be a dull world if theydid, and this article will have achieved its purpose if it just stimulates a bit of thought anddiscussion.* A copy of Tim Elliott’s paper ‘Differences between small-bore and full-bore prone Target Rifle shooting’,and otherTarget Rifle shooting notes, are available on request by contacting him on tje@easynet.co.uk.Tim’sassistance in reviewing this article is gratefully acknowledged.“The Irish Open”A quiet evening at home was disturbed by an excited phone call from Gary.“Tom,Tom, Do you want to speak to the Irish Champion ?”(I’m actually Tim, but it sounds like Tom in Gory’s accent !)“Put him on Gary, put him on !!” I replied“No its me” he said (without checking if I was sitting down first !)After the initial disbelief the story of Gary’s triumph emerged.
Page 1 and 2: HPS the Developers and Manufacturer
Page 4 and 5: Captain’s forewordThe NRA has hon
Page 6 and 7: Historyby Paul CharltonThe story of
Page 8 and 9: The JRA and GRC were always concern
Page 10: http://www.scatt.com/downloads/scat
Page 14 and 15: 5) New RPA, and RPA made Swing or M
Page 16 and 17: like they always used to feel.I spe
Page 18 and 19: Colin Brook(GM, SM, SF) (Coach)Tim
Page 20 and 21: Reg CurtisIan DavisonCharlotte Evan
Page 22 and 23: StuartYoung18 year old Stuart is cu
Page 24 and 25: Plot your way to better scoresby Da
Page 26 and 27: Her Majesty The Queen’s prize - s
Page 30 and 31: The Irish open is shot over two day
Page 32: AcknowledgementsGary Alexander and

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