Rimfire Silhouette Match

The club's first silhouette match at the new range occurred this Sunday. I was disappointed that only six showed up, but I notice that new events tend to attract only a few shooter at first, with more becoming interested as word spreads. There was a considerable spread in rifles, with bolts, semis and even a lever action:

This was the first time I've shot one of these, and it was much more challenging than I expected. I wasn't aware that it's all standing unsupported, with no jackets, gloves, slings, etc. Very dependent on the shooter's fitness and the quality of the rifle's trigger. I was shooting my '30s era Winchester 52B with the scope set to 10x for most of the match. It's damn hard to steady a rifle intended for prone (lots of weight) in the unsupported standing. I won the match, with the incredibly impressive score of 11 out of 40. Out of six competitors. Yes, I'm impressed too.

Given the number of shots where the trigger broke as I was sweeping through the target so that the shot was nowhere near the target, I'm seriously in need of standing practice before the winter four-position season. Then again, a shooting jacket and glove make a world of difference. Anyway, I'm hoping the guys running the match continue doing these. It's difficult, but enjoyable and casual.

Following the match, I got a little recreational time in. First, twenty rounds of Romanian 7.9 x 57mm through a '20s vintage Brno Gewehr 1898. Basically, fun to shoot, but don't expect too much for accuracy. Some Turk went to town on the muzzle with a cleaning rod after the Czechs sold them off. Still, it's always a good time playing with a vintage rifle.

Following that, a Spanish M43 in 7.9 x 57mm. This one was shooting groups of about eight inches at a hundred yards. Yes, not great, but three factors to consider: I was shooting prone unsupported (no sling, rest, etc.), the top of the front sight (if you know Mausers, you know how wonderful that front sight is at it's even at it's best) was a nice, bright silver, as the bluing had worn off. And I didn't bring my sharpie to darken it up, so it pretty much disappeared on the target; and I got a little flinch after a pierced primer on round three dispersed a lot of smoke and gas into my glasses. I'll be doing a little file work on this one later this week.

Now, a little elbow grease to get all the nice thirty year old mercuric salts out of the barrels. The joys of surplus ammo.