Precision Rimfire — Czech Republic Style
AccurateShooter.com has many readers outside of North America. One of those is Robert Chlapek, a precision rimfire shooter from the Czech Republic. Robert shoots a variety of smallbore disciplines, including many ‘Czech Specialities’ with innovative and challenging targets.
The “Best Rifle” for just $250.00
Robert uses an amazingly accurate old Suhl 150 for many events. With his Suhl, Robert has harvested many trophies and awards (see photo at left). Robert obtained the rifle for a song — just $250.00 in US dollars. Robert explains how he acquired this wonderful rifle: “For my disciplines, I needed a very accurate rifle, without too many modifications. And because of my financial situation, I needed a cheap one. One day I met with Mr. Zdenek Jerabek (father of Tomas Jerabek, Czech sport shooting and Olympic representative) and he offered to sell me his old Haenel Suhl 150. He asked about $250 (it was not very good price, because in that time, normal price of Suhl 150 here in Czech Republic was about $100-150). And the rifle stock and finish were in very bad condition. But he said to me, ‘Robert, this is maybe the best Suhl in Czech Republic’ and he shows me the amazing history of top scores by this rifle, so I made a decision and bought it. I put a new stock and new finish on it, bought a Weaver 4-16×42 V16 scope — ideal optics for my disciplines, and started to compete with this wonderful rifle. I have best results with RWS R50 ammunition, perhaps the best for this East German rifle.”
Czech Rimfire Disciplines — Beyond the Ordinary Bullseye Game
In addition to regular bullseye matches, Robert shoots a couple disciplines that are popular in his country. Robert explains: “In Czech Republic, we have national discipline (organized by Czech shooting federation) named ‘Disappearing targets to 50 meters’. This is a 22LR rimfire discipline with two categories. First is with scoped rifle, the second with iron sights. This old discipline has three stages:
1) Shooting 20 rounds at classic round targets at 50 meters.
2) Shooting at disappearing targets from 17 meters to 50 meters.
3) Shooting at disappearing targets at 33 meters and after that, shooting five (5) running targets at 50 meters.
For the ‘Disappearing Targets’ event, maximum score is 460 points. All targets are shot from the prone position. With iron sights, you can use only your rifle sling. In scoped rifle class, you can use a front rest, but the scope magnification is limited to 4X power.”
Smallbore Sniper Matches
Robert’s second discipline is “Smallbore Sniper”. Chlapek told us “This is a new discipline we organized with some friends three years ago and it is now very popular for smallbore shooters in Czech Republic. We have no restrictions on the rifle used. Our stages are very interesting, but a little difficult I think. This discipline is much better than benchrest in my opinion, but we don’t have comparable benchrest tradition as in the USA.” To learn more about Smallbore Sniper discipline, CLICK THIS LINK for match results, photos, and much more.
Shown below are some other interesting targets shot in Czech Club competitions. We love the match-stick targets … now, that’s challenging!
