After the giant SHOT Show extravaganza in Las Vegas each year, Great Britain hosts its own firearms trade show. This is a much smaller affair of course, but the British Shooting Show (aka BRITSHOT) still draws many thousands of shooting and hunting enthusiasts. This year our friend Vince Bottomley visited the trade show and reported for Target Shooter Magazine. CLICK HERE for full report.
Vince noted that big names in the shooting industry had products on display. Leading vendors included: Blaser, Browning, GMK, Ruag, Vortex, Schmidt & Bender, Zeiss, and Swarovski.
Among the new optics at BRITSHOT, Vince was quite impressed with Vortex’s new “Golden Eagle” 15-60x52mm competition scope (as we were when we saw this new optic in Vegas last month).
“Vortex had their new F Class 15-60 scope on display. This was one of the products I’d come to see and I wasn’t disappointed…. The turrets look and feel great – big and very positive. The reticle is a nice, simple, fine crosshair. Drastically undercutting Nightforce, Leupold, and March equivalents, this could be a very popular F-Class scope. Target Shooter hopes to have one for testing very soon so keep checking our Facebook page.”
The British Shooting Show also featured an airgun range. We feel these kind of indoor ranges provide a great opportunity to increase interest in recreational shooting. Vince agrees: “The excellent airgun ranges, where anyone can have a go at reactive targets [is] a great way for kids to shoot their first gun… this is a valuable part of the SHOW.”
Today’s the final day of the Berger Southwest Nationals, with individual Sling, F-TR, and F-Open matches on tap. The competition remains tight, with many shooters within striking distance for podium positions. Predictions are for light and variable winds for the day. We’re sad to see the fun come to a close. This is a special event, drawing top shooters from around the nation. As James Crofts told is: “It’s always great to see good friends and fellow shooters from far and near….”
One shot left… will that last bullet end up in the X-ring? We hope so…
If you’ve never shot this match, you should. You’ll squad alongside the nation’s best long-range shooters, and you’ll enjoy a superb facility. The desert range at Ben Avery is something special — check out a “birds-eye view” with our latest video from the match. This video also includes an interview with Derek Rodgers, the only man who who has earned both F-Open AND F-TR National titles. We strongly recommend you watch this video.
“Must-Watch” SWN Video has aerial view of Ben Avery plus highlights from Saturday
Yesterday, Saturday, marked the conclusion of the Team events. In the F-TR division, Michigan extended its lead to win Gold while the U.S. Rifle Team (USRT) held on for silver for the overall team title. Notably, ten of the twelve shooters making up the top three squads are members of the USRT, as are the top two coaches. Congrats to all.
Phil Kelley reports that Saturday’s F-TR team match went down to the wire: “It was a fun 1000-yard team day at SW Nationals. Good to use a teammate’s backup gun to finally be competitive at something. Congrats to Team Michigan for the big win, both for the day and overall. There was great competition today with Michigan winning by 1 point (and some Xs) over X-men and X-men getting Team Virginia/USA by 1 point and some Xs. Great shooting by all.”
Phil added that: “Dan Lentz continues to perform well with another great day and maintains the overall lead going into the final day. Derek Rodgers, Bryan Litz, and Jim Crofts are on his heels but Dan looks confident.” Tomorrow, here on the Daily Bulletin, we will provide final individual results from the match, along with all the final team results.
Snapshots from the Berger Southwest Nationals
Here’s one of the new Borden wide-body actions in a Shurley Brothers stock. The timing on this action is insanely good, making it very smoooooth to operate.
This Scottish shooter showed some style on the range, with his traditional Scottish tweed cap. That’s classy. No floppy boonie hat for this dapper lad.
Take a look at the very useful information card. Note that it shows mirage patterns and provides suggested windage and elevation corrections for all yardages.
Check out the handsome, 3D-effect Stars and Stripes finish applied to this F-TR Rifle. Note that the right-handed shooter is running a Left-Bolt, Left Port action, with a SEB Joy-Pod up front.
Here’s the brand-new F-Class front rest from Competition Machine. This 38-lb beast features a belt-drive elevation adjustment, joy-stick windage, and rotary pivoting head to align with your target.
Rewards for Berger SWN Participants
The Berger SW Nationals has one of the richest prize tables in the shooting sports. This Saturday night, nearly 400 participants received a variety of participation prizes and raffle awards. In addition, winners were announced for some of the events which concluded earlier in the week. Gunsmith John Pierce came up a big winner with a kiss from his lady and a Team Trophy for the Michigan F-TR Squad.
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That’s right, today is February 14th — Valentine’s Day. While testing a rifle at the range last season, Forum member Ron B. (aka Snakepit) managed a 3-shot group that would definitely make Mr. Cupid proud. Yep, Ron shot a lovely cluster that formed a sweet little heart in the splatter-type target.
That’s nice enough, mind you — but it gets even better. Ron’s heart-shaped, three-shot group was shot at SIX HUNDRED yards, making this a Valentine’s Day Masterpiece of precision shooting (and, we have to say it, quite a little bit of luck). Good Shootin’ Snakepit!
600-Yard Heart Shot with a Savage and Factory Ammo!
In our Shooter’s Forum, Ron explained that this group was actually shot with factory ammo… from a Savage no less:
“This will be one that may be hard to believe for some but it is my Savage 12 FTR .308 and I was shooting 168gr Federal Gold Medal Match. The stock has been modified for benchrest shooting with a 3″-wide shoe on the forward stock. I do not shoot this rifle very often as most of my time is spent with my 30″ Brux barreled 6BR working up loads and shooting. That day I had put the scope back on it and was sighting it in at 600 yards and those were my last three shots after my last scope correction and then I was out of ammo. This rifle has always been very accurate. The weather was good, no wind or mirage.”
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The Individual Palma Match kicked off Friday at the Berger Southwest Nationals. While still mostly calm, conditions were more variable and tricky. James Crofts told us that you had to watch both the mirage AND the flags, because sometimes a change appeared on the flags before you could see anything in the mirage. The top shooters were scanning the range constantly for any velocity or angle change. If you don’t pay attention to the flags, James said, “you’ll be out in the nine ring”.
Watch Video with Highlights from Day 3 of Berger SWN, including James Crofts Interview:
Our good friend John Whidden, a past National Long-Range Champion, brought his “A Game” Friday, topping the Sling Division with 449-33X. Competition was fierce with five sling shooters finishing with the same 449 points, separated only by X-Count: Whidden (33X), Oliver Milanovic (31X), Rick Hunt (25X), Michael Barlow (25X), and Steven Powell (22X).
John Whidden file photo from 2015
In F-Open, the top three shooters for the day were: Ken Padilla (448-25X), John Myers (447-32X), and Kenny Adams (447-24X). In F-TR Dan Lentz topped the Field with 447-24X, followed by Derek Rodgers and Justin Bertino (both at 445-23X). Ryan Pierce noted that Dan Lentz’s performance for the day beat all but three of the F-Open shooters: “Extremely impressive is Dan Lentz 447-24X F-TR score [which] tied Kenny Adams’s third-place F-Open Aggregate. Shooting .308 Win off a bipod and keeping up with the 7mms and 30 Cal magnums is outstanding. Good shooting Dan.”
Interesting Hardware
New Speedy F-Open Stock (Jeff Reed, owner)
F-Open competitor Jeff Reed has a new F-Open rig with the brand new Speedy Gonzales laminated stock. Jeff says he loves the stock, saying it “tracks like a dream”. Jeff also likes the recoil-reduction system fitted at the rear of the stock. This really makes a difference for the big calibers says Jeff. If you’re curious, that’s an IOR Valdada 12-52x56mm scope with a 40mm main tube on top of Jeff’s rifle. It features 25 MOA of elevation in one rotation of the turret.
Spotting Scope Mounted to Front Rest
Gunsmith Richard King of Texas has mounted his spotting scope directly to his Farley front rest. Very clever. This puts the spotter eyepiece just a few inches from his riflescope eyepiece so he can move easily from one optic to the other. This set-up also reduces the amount of gear Richard carries to the line. No separate spotting scope base, stand or horizontal mounting arm is required. This is a simple, elegant solution. We bet, with a little tinkering and design work, a similar system could be mounted to a SEB or Bald Eagle front rest. Note, it may appear that the lens is obscured by the front clamp, but that’s just the camera angle. We looked through the spotting scope and everything is clear.
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Here’s good news for suppressor owners in the Great Lakes state. The Michigan legislature has approved the use of suppressors for hunting. On February 11th, Michigan became the 38th state to allow for the use of firearm suppressors while hunting when the Natural Resources Commission (NRC) voted 4 – 1 to approve an amended version of Wildlife Conservation Order Amendment No. 1 of 2016. The measure became effective immediately.
The American Suppressor Association led a coalition working to legalize suppressor hunting in Michigan. Other organizations involved were the National Rifle Association (NRA), the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF), Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC), and Safari Club International (SCI).
“We are incredibly excited that hunters in the great state of Michigan can now use suppressors to help protect their hearing while they’re in the field,” said Knox Williams, President of the American Suppressor Association. “It was a pleasure working to educate the NRC Commissioners and members of the DNR on the realities of suppressor use. We applaud their decision to remove the prohibition on suppressor hunting without the two restrictive provisions. In doing so, they have done their part to ensure that the next generation of hunters does not have to sacrifice their hearing.”
Our friend Paul Phillips (above), is pleased with this change: “With this new Law that passed in Michigan Today, I will be hunting with my GEMTECH arrow silencer. I can’t wait for Spring to start Shooting ELR.”
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Here are some of the fine rifles Mike Bryant has smithed. You’ll find dozens more on BryantCustom.com.
Texas-based gunsmith Mike Bryant has decided to start taking work again. It seems that retired life was just a bit too sedate for Mike. This is great news for fans of precision rifles. Mike is an superb smith who has produced many match-winning competition rigs along with fine hunting and varmint rifles.
The services Mike can provide are listed on his “re-activated” website at BryantCustom.com. Mike will still continue to specialize in Rem Action-based and Custom Action-based rifles with customer-supplied parts. He explains his decision to return to the business he does so well: “Retirement was short with what the economy has done in the oil and gas business. I am back at least part time. I am Looking forward to serving my customer’s needs as I have done in the past.”
Welcome back Mike — we wish you success in your “return to the fold”. As before Mike will offer complete custom rifles as well as a full range of gunsmithing services including chambering, barrel-fitting, stocking, and action truing.
Thursday was a Team Competition day at the Berger Southwest Nationals. Conditions were surprisingly calm for most of the day, with flags hanging straight down through most of the morning. But there were still some “ghost winds” that might affect one flag (and cause some unexplained). Mirage was also tricky for some shooters as the day wore on.
Watch Day 2 Match Highlights including Interview With Team Michigan’s Bill Litz and Bryan Litz
Team Michigan won the F-TR competition, followed by The U.S. F-TR Team in second, and Team X-Men in third. Based on the interim results posted, the Sling Division was one by the UK/Scottish Ethnic Fringe Team led by Captain Angus McLeod. It appears that the top F-Open Squad was Team Berger — those senior guys still know their stuff.
USRT Gold Medal Sponsors Kelly McMillan of McMillan Group International and Sean Murphy of Nightforce Optics came out to observe and shoot with the U.S. Rifle Team. Here’s Kelly with his bionic arm.
It was hot, dry, and sunny in Phoenix. You needed lots of water and plenty of sunscreen…
There was plenty of good food on hand for the competitors…
Here’s an interesting rig that combines a spotting scope (on left) with 15×56 binoculars (on right) This allowed the spotter to watch targets as well as mirage elsewhere on the range. Smart…
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We met with our friend Erik Cortina at the Berger Southwest Nationals this week. Erik (shown above), had a beautiful new F-Open rifle to show us. This features a new, large-diameter Borden action and a Shurley Brothers fancy maple stock. Erik loves great hardware — whether it comes to actions, stocks, or reloading equipment. One of Erik’s favorite reloading tools is his Forster Co-Ax press.
Cortina has produced a series of YouTube videos about reloading hardware and precision hand-loading. Here is Erik’s video review of the Forster Co-Ax® reloading press. The Co-Ax is unique in both design and operation. It features dual guide rods and a central handle. You don’t screw in dies — you slide the die lock ring into a slot. This allows dies to float during operation.
Erik does a good job of demonstrating the Co-Ax’s unique features. At 1:00 he shows how to slide the dies into the press. It’s slick and easy. At the two-minute mark, Erik shows how sliding jaws clasp the case rim (rather than a conventional shell-holder). The jaws close as the ram is raised, then open as it is lowered. This makes it easy to place and remove your cases.
At the 5:20 mark, Erik shows how spent primers run straight down into a capture cup. This smart system helps keep your press and bench area clean of primer debris and residues.
While many Co-Ax users prime their cases by hand, the Co-Ax can prime cases very reliably. The priming station is on top of the press. Erik demonstrates the priming operation starting at 4:20.
Smart Accessories for the Co-Ax from Inline Fabrications
Lapua’s Kevin Thomas also owns a Co-Ax press, which he has hot-rodded with accessories from Inline Fabrications. Kevin tells us: “Check out the add-ons available from Inline Fabrications for the Co-Ax. I recently picked up a riser mount and a set of linkages for mine and love the results. The linkages are curved. When you replace the original straight links with these, the work area opens up substantially and the the press becomes much easier to feed.” CLICK HERE for Co-Ax Accessories.
Inline Fabrications Forster Co-Ax Accessories
Forster Co-Ax Curved Side Linkage (For Better Access)
Our friend Vince Bottomley in the UK has written an excellent article for Target Shooter Magazine. Vince offers “solid-gold” advice for new F-TR and F-Open shooters. Vince reviews the cartridge options, and offers suggestions for a shooter’s first (and hopefully affordable) F-Class rifle. Vince also reviews various bipod choices for F-TR and discusses optics options (from $300 to $3000).
DEAR DADDY. We all draw positive motivation from different sources. This competitor at the Berger SW Nationals gets a lift from his child’s hand-written note: “Dear Daddy, I love you very much. I hope you win the competition. You are the best….”
The Berger SWN competition began in earnest yesterday, with hundreds of shooters taking to the line. Today, it’s more of the same, with the nation’s top F-TR, F-Open, and Sling Shooters competing at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility north of Phoenix.
Blast from the Past: As we get set up in Phoenix for the 2016 Berger Southwest Nationals, we thought we’d revisit one of our more interesting features from a few years back. At the 2010 SHOT Show, we had the unique opportunity to corner three “superstars” of High Power shooting, and solicit their wind-reading secrets. Carl Bernosky, David Tubb, and John Whidden all shared some championship-caliber wind wisdom in video interviews. If you shoot competitively, you’ll want to watch these videos. David’s video is worth watching twice because some of the key points he makes go by pretty quickly.
In the three videos below (in alphabetical order), Carl Bernosky (10-Time Nat’l High Power Champion), David Tubb (11-time Nat’l High Power Champion and 7-time Nat’l Long-Range Champion), and John Whidden (2-Time Nat’l High Power Long-Range Champion) shared some of the wind-doping strategies that have carried them to victory in the nation’s most competitive shooting matches. This is GOLD folks… no matter what your discipline — be it short-range Benchrest or Long-Range High Power — watch these videos for valuable insights that can help you shoot more accurately, and post higher scores, in all wind conditions.
We were very fortunate to have these three extraordinarily gifted champions reveal their “winning ways”. These guys REALLY know their stuff. I thought to myself: “Wow, this is how a baseball fan might feel if he could assemble Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Ted Williams in the same room, and have them each reveal their hitting secrets.” Editor’s Note: These interviews were conducted before Bernosky and Tubb won their most recent National Championships.
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Checking conditions at break of day. This week Phoenix will offer cool nights and warm days, with daytime temps in the mid- to high 80s (F).
The Berger Southwest Nationals (SWN), is the biggest, most prestigious long-range shooting match west of the Mississipi. The SW Nationals, which run February 9-14, 2016, kicked off on Tuesday the 9th with a shooting clinic at the Ben Avery 1000-yard Range. This gave competitors a chance to confirm their zeros, study the conditions at Ben Avery, and prep their “mental game” for the upcoming competition. This will be a huge event, with over 370 shooters from all over the USA and many foreign countries. The SW Nationals attracts top F-Class and Sling shooters, lured by the quality of the competition and a huge prize table. This is truly a “world-class” event.
Tuesday’s shooting clinic started with a class on Exterior Ballistics hosted by Bryan Litz. Following the ballistics class, shooters made their way to the firing line for one-on-one instruction with experienced shooters in each discipline (sling, F-TR and F-Open). During this segment of the clinic, champion shooters worked directly with novice and intermediate shooters. Bryan said: “It was great to see the ‘top guns’ sharing their knowledge.”
File photo from 2015.
Nat’l Mid-Range and Long-Range F-TR Champion Bryan Litz instructs during Tuesday’s Clinic at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility.
Eliseo Tubegun with Nightforce Competition scope. These versatile rifle chassis systems are produced by Competition Machine in Cottonwood, Arizona.
That’s right, today is February 14th — Valentine’s Day. While testing a rifle at the range last season, Forum member Ron B. (aka Snakepit) managed a 3-shot group that would definitely make Mr. Cupid proud. Yep, Ron shot a lovely cluster that formed a sweet little heart in the splatter-type target.
Texas-based gunsmith Mike Bryant has decided to start taking work again. It seems that retired life was just a bit too sedate for Mike. This is great news for fans of precision rifles. Mike is an superb smith who has produced many match-winning competition rigs along with fine hunting and varmint rifles.
The 
