The Sportsman Channel (TSC) announced a distribution agreement with DIRECTV that will make the network available to DIRECTV customers by the end of January 2009. TSC will be available in the CHOICE XTRA™ package. The Sportsman Channel, 100% dedicated to hunting, shooting and fishing, is owned and operated by InterMedia Outdoors, Inc. (IMO). Through the Sportsman Channel, IMO offers 25 popular television productions. In addition to the Sportsman Channel, InterMedia Outdoors operate a network of websites dedicated to hunting, shooting and fishing, plus a portfolio of 17 outdoor magazines including Guns & Ammo, Petersen’s Hunting, and Fly Fisherman.
The DIRECTV news comes on the heels of several business deals by InterMedia, including the acquisition of Barrett Productions. IMO now has the largest library and largest current show output of any production company in the outdoor category. Additionally, IMO has shifted all of its programming resources to The Sportsman Channel, including its most popular branded shows like Fly Fishing the World, In-Fisherman TV, and Guns & Ammo. IMO is also developing new programming, including the recently launched Tactical Impact TV show.
DIRECTV, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTV), the nation’s leading satellite television service provider, provides television programming to more than 17.3 million customers in the United States. DIRECTV subscribers have access to over 265 channels of 100% digital picture and sound, with more than 130 HD channels, plus advanced DVR services. As noted, DIRECTV subscribers will be able to order The Sportsman Channel next year via the CHOICE XTRA™ package.
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The NRA has set the dates and locations of the 2009 National Championships for many of its popular disciplines. Events have been set for both rifle and pistol categories, along with air gun, smallbore, and centerfire disciplines. Here are the major upcoming events in 2009:
• National Collegiate Pistol Championship – March 16-20 at Fort Benning, GA
• National Junior Air Gun Championship and Training Summit – July 1-3 at Camp Perry, Ohio
• National Action Pistol Championship (Bianchi Cup) May 20-23 at Columbia, MO
• National Muzzle Loading Championship – Week of June 15 – 21 at Friendship, IN
• National Black Powder Target Rifle Championship/Creedmoor – August 10-11 at Raton, NM
• National Black Powder Target Rifle Championship/Mid-Range – August 13-16 at Raton, NM
• National Outdoor Pistol Championship – July 16-18 at Camp Perry, OH
• National Smallbore 3-P Championship – July 23-25 at Camp Perry, OH
• National Smallbore Prone Championship – July 26-30 at Camp Perry, OH
• National High Power Rifle Championship – Aug. 11-14 at Camp Perry, OH
• National High Power Long Range Championship – Aug. 15-19 at Camp Perry, OH
– Palma Team Match (New) August 15
– NRA Palma Individual Match August 16
• National Silhouette Championships, June 29 – August 2 at Raton, NM
– Cowboy Lever Action – June 29 – July 2 at Raton, NM
– Black Powder Cartridge Rifle – July 13-16 at Raton, NM
– Black Powder Cartridge Rifle/Scope – July 17-18 at Raton, NM
– Smallbore Rifle – August 2-4 at Raton, NM
– High Power Rifle – August 6-8 at Raton, NM
In addition, here are some major non-NRA-affiliated events scheduled in 2009:
• Super Shoot Benchrest Match – May 15-23 at Kelbly’s Range, North Lawrence, OH
• World F-Class Championships, July 27-30 at Bisley, England (UK)
• Varmint Hunter Jamboree, July 27-31 at Pierre, SD
• Tri-Gun Challenge DPMS/Brownells, Aug. 21-23, at Saint Cloud, MN
• IBS 1000-Yard Benchrest Nationals, Sept. 5-7, at Pella, Iowa
• NBRSA Benchrest 100/200 Group Nationals, Sept. 20-26, at Saint Louis, Missouri
• IBS Benchrest Nationals, Aug. 10-14 at Weikert, PA
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Hall of Fame benchrest Shooter Speedy Gonzalez has written a helpful article that explains how to eliminate mechanical and gun-handling problems that cause vertical spread in your groups. Speedy’s article addresses both the human and the hardware factors that cause vertical. CLICK HERE to read article. Here are a few of Speedy’s tips:
• Front Bag Tension — Vertical can happen if the front sand bag grips the fore-arm too tightly. If…the fore-arm feels like it is stuck in the bag, then the front bag’s grip is too tight. Your rifle should move in evenly and smoothly in the sand bags, not jerk or chatter when you pull the gun back by hand.
• Sandbag Fill — A front sandbag that is too hard can induce vertical. Personally, I’ve have never had a rifle that will shoot consistently with a rock-hard front sandbag. It always causes vertical or other unexplained shots. Free Recoil–Free recoil shooters should be sure their rifle hits their shoulder squarely on recoil, not on the edge of their shoulder or the side of their arm.
• Front Rest Wobble — You will get vertical if the top section of the front rest is loose. Unfortunately, a lot of rests have movement even when you tighten them as much as you can. This can cause unexplained shots.
• Stock Flex — Some stocks are very flexible. This can cause vertical. There are ways to stiffen stocks, but sometimes replacement is the best answer.
• Rifle Angle — If the gun is not level, but rather angles down at muzzle end, the rifle will recoil up at butt-end, causing vertical. You may need to try different rear bags to get the set-up right.
• Last Shot Laziness — If the 5th shot is a regular problem, you may be guilty of what I call “wishing the last shot in”. This is a very common mistake. We just aim, pull the trigger, and do not worry about the wind flags. Note that in the photo below, the 5th shot was the highest in the group–probably because of fatigue or lack of concentration.
Need a custom full-length sizing die? Want something very special that will be gentle on your brass, reduce sizing effort, not rust, and never wear out? Tool-maker CH Tool & Die, CH4D.com, offers custom sizing dies, with optional Titanitum Nitride (TiN) coatings inside and out. Internal die dimensions can be set from fired brass you supply, a chamber cast, or specifications you provide (which could be based on a reamer print, with the dimensions tightened up slightly). Cost for a custom sizer die is $80-$130, depending on chambering (common calibers cost less). TiN coating adds to the price. Add $36.50 for the TiN die body, $10.80 for TiN expander ball.
CH4D custom FL dies are conventional full-length sizers without bushings. If you need to vary the neck tension, have the die spec’d for “normal” tension and then use a separate bushing neck-sizer when you need more tension. Normal turn-around time for a CH4D custom die is 10-12 weeks; TiN coating can add 2-3 weeks to that.
CH4D’s Dave Davison explains: “Titanium Nitride coatings have been used in industry for many years, primarily to extend the life of carbide tools. It has not been useful in reloading until recent advances in technology permitted TiN coating a die without softening the steel of the die itself. A TiN coated sizer in 308 Win showed no measurable wear after sizing 50,000 rounds. Although Titanium Nitride is harder than carbide and has a lower coefficient of friction it does not eliminate the need for lubricant when full-length sizing cases. It does reduce sizing effort considerably and minimizes the lubricant required. TiN-coated dies will live longer and require less force to operate than any die available. If you ever manage to wear out your TiN coated die, we will replace it at no charge. All we ask is that you tell us how many rounds you’ve loaded with it.”
CH4D can coat other manufacturers’ dies with Titanium Nitride. However, CH4D cautions: “TiN coating other manufacturers’ dies can be done, and is usually successful. However we have no control over the material or heat treatment of these dies and cannot guarantee the results.”
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MidwayUSA is running some good bargains this month. For starters, MidwayUSA has announced a huge sale on Leupold VX-III scopes. (Midsouth Shooters Supply and Grafs.com are also offering specials on Leupolds currently.) Check MidwayUSA product listings for discounts up to $140.00. Here are sale prices on some popular models:
Leupold VX-III EFR Target Scope Adj. Obj. 6.5-20x40mm
Fine Duplex Matte, Product 468522, $529.99 marked down from $669.99.
Leupold VX-III Rifle Scope 4.5-14x40mm
Duplex Reticle Matte, Product 588146, $429.99 marked down from $529.99.
Leupold VX-III Rifle Scope 3.5-10x40mm
Duplex Reticle Matte, Product 385745, $399.99 marked down from $479.99.
Lapua Brass and Budget Items Discounted Also
You’ll find particularly good prices right now on nearly the whole line-up of Lapua brass. 6mmBR brass is $69.99 (discounted from $77.99) while and .308 Win brass is just $60.99/100, marked down from $67.99. There are some cheaper sources for Lapua brass, such as Bruno Shooters Supply, but this is a good deal for MidwayUSA.
Other “stocking-stuffer” reloading accessories are on sale. Frankford Arsenal Digital Calipers are marked down to $19.99. That’s a great deal on very functional calipers… not the best mind you, but perfectly acceptable as a back-up set. These are currently out of stock, but MidwayUSA expects more inventory 12/15 and the $19.99 price is good through the end of the year. Also through Dec. 31st, 22-caliber BoreSnakes are marked down from $14.99 to $12.99. While we much prefer (and recommend) cleaning with a one-piece rod and good bore guide, the BoreSnake is a useful “field expedient” cleaning device. It is particularly useful for AR15s and for rifles with enclosed receivers which cannot use a breech-entry cleaning rod.
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!
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If you want to see Olympic-class shooters in action, head to Colorado this weekend. Approximately 220 rifle and pistol airgun shooters from across the United States as well as Canada, France, Great Britain, South Africa and Sweden will gather at the U.S. Olympic Shooting Center in Colorado Springs, CO, December 5-7 to compete at the 2008 USA Shooting 3 X Air Match. This three-day event serves as a qualifier for the Bavarian Airgun Match to be held in Munich, Germany in January 2009.
Among the athletes competing will be two-time Olympian Jason Turner, the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in Men’s Air Pistol. Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center Resident Athletes and 2008 Olympians Jamie Beyerle and Emily Caruso will compete in the Women’s Air Rifle event. Vying for titles in pistol will be 2008 Olympians Brian Beaman and Brenda Shinn.
NRA President John Sigler has established a committee to consider NRA sanctioning of Multi-Gun (3-Gun) competitions. The new Special Committee on Multi-Gun Competition met initially on October 25, 2008 at NRA Headquarters. Task Force members include: NRA Pres. John Sigler, Chairman, Bill Allen, Vice Chairman, Gregory Coker, Andrew Horner, Denise Johnson, John Gangl, David Power, Steve Sutherland, Mr. Randy Luth, and Aaron Hampton, SFC. Committee members were chosen from Multi-Gun match organizers and firearms manufacturers with specific products for multi-gun competition.
Multi-Gun competition is a fast-moving action shooting sport employing rifle, pistol and shotgun or any combination of these firearms. Multi-Gun matches feature scripted “stages” in which competitors move from target to target with loaded firearms, engaging both paper and reactive targets. Multi-Gun matches sanctioned by the NRA would be a major change from the traditional bull’s-eye precision competition normally associated with the NRA. There are a number of large Multi-Gun tournaments bidding for NRA sanctioning. With these tournaments as a base, the NRA could introduce this exciting tactical competition to local affiliated clubs across the USA.
Multi-Gun matches feature “fast and furious” action. In the video below, Chris Tilley competes at the 2007 USPSA Multi-Gun Nationals.
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Tired of shoveling snow, or scraping ice off the windshield of your car? Well in the “bottom half” of the world it’s summer time. Grab a seat on a 747 and in 12-14 hours you could be enjoying the summer sun in Australia or New Zealand.
Here’s a story of a New Zealand adventure that should whet your appetite for a down-under diversion. Forum member Mike in NZ reports on his “Aerial Safari”, a trip to hunt NZ’s “red hind” deer:
“Under the shadow of the Matemateaonga Range in the central North Island of New Zealand there is a magical piece of land. Initially broken in out of native bush in the early 1900s, it was left to revert during the 1930s before being partially developed again during the late 1940s. Now it is run as a hunting block catering for local and overseas hunters.
“Aotearoa”, meaning “long, white cloud”, is the native Maori word for New Zealand.
The country is a rolling contour, and is a mixture of rough pasture, scrubby gullies and native bush. It bounds onto the Wanganui Forest Park, which is thousands of acres of dense bush. The only access is by jet boat up the Whanganui river, or by air. (There’s a flattish piece of land on the property that is quaintly referred to as an ‘airstrip’.)
The area is a hunting paradise containing good numbers of free range red deer, fallow deer, wild pigs and goats. It is run as a privately-owned hunting block. I have been fortunate enough to be able to hunt there over the past six years, and have just come back from a typical meat-hunting trip.
There were six of us (Mike, Mike, Chris, Al, Colin and Jeff), and the idea was to take a couple of meat animals each. Transport was by air (Cessna 206). This is a six-seater (including the pilot), so we elected to do two trips. The first trip caried five of us plus the pilot and a bit of gear. For the second trip the back four seats are removed allowing plenty of room to take lots of gear in, and (more importantly) plenty of room to (hopefully) take meat out at the end of the trip. Beats walking….
Hardware consisted of one Tikka T3 in .223 Rem with a Leupold 3-9 variable, one Rem Model 7 in 7-08 with a similar scope, one Sako Finnbear in .270 Win with a Redfield vari, one .223 Rem Zastava with a cheapo scope, and two scoped No. 4 Enfields in .303 British.
After a 15-minute flight, we made a couple of low passes over the ‘airstrip’ to make sure that everything looked OK (well, as good as it was going to get anyway), and then touched down. There were no baggage handlers or airline hostesses to greet us, so we carried our gear up to the lodge, had a bit of lunch and got organised for an evening hunt.
I headed down to some grass and scrub river terraces that are normally pretty productive. The wind was in my favor, and I opted to drop down to the terraces through the scrub rather than take the track down as that would mean that there would be less chance of being seen from the bottom. I was doing a slow sneak around the bush edge when a red hind appeared grazing around the edge of a finger of scrub at about 100 yards. I slowly sunk down and did a quick little crawl to a handy little rise to use for a rest. As I eased the rifle up onto the rise the deer saw the movement and was instantly on alert.
I was considering a neck shot, but as the deer was on the verge of doing a runner, I played it safe and put the crosshairs straight up the front leg and a bit under half way down. Allowing for the fact that she was slightly facing towards me, I squeezed the trigger, the .223 cracked and the deer trotted about 10 yards and piled up.” Here she is, a New Zealand Red Hind:
Now through December 8, 2008 (at midnight), Cabela’s is offering a heck of a deal. Buy anything in the store totalling at least $100.00, and Cabela’s will deduct $20.00 from the final cost. Yep, that even applies to sale items and “Bargain Cave” items. Is there a catch? Yes, you can only use this offer one time (so you can’t do multiple hundred-dollar orders to get multiple $20 savings.)
To qualify for this offer, click the link below. Enter an email address. Cabela’s will send you an e-mail with your Cabela’s Buck Rebate Number and Code. Supply this code when you “check-out” with your purchase.
What to Get for $100.00?
Consider purchasing some Black Hills remanufactured .223 Rem ammo. This is the same ammunition the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit uses in 600-yard matches. Very accurate, it can produce 2″ groups at 300 meters in accurized match rifles. The Black Hills “Blue Box” ammo comes 50 rounds per box. Black Hills offers a variety of .223 Rem loads from 52 grains to 77 grains. Loaded with 69gr Sierra MatchKings, the Black Hills ammo is $39.99 per box of 50. You could purchase three (3) boxes, and your total cost (after $20.00 rebate) would be $99.97 (not including shipping).
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Leupold has announced that the VX-III Series of scopes will be discontinued. A new optics line (with enhanced features) will be introduced in 2009 and will be called the VX-3. The new features are not yet known, but in the meantime, you’ll find big discounts on current Leupold VX-III optics at major vendors.
Midsouth Shooters Supply has deeply discounted its 2008 Leupold VX-III models. VX-IIIs are now Clearance Items marked down as much as 15%. Midsouth tells us: “Our inventory is limited and will not be restocked until the the New 2009 models are out.” Below is a sample of discounted Leupold VX-III scopes at Midsouth.
The AccurateShooter.com Daily Bulletin becomes more popular all the time. On December 2, 2008, we hit an all-time high in readership: 12,005 pageviews in a single day. As you can see from the chart below, this reflects a steady, positive growth in readership. We want to say “Thanks” to our readers and encourage you to tell your friends about the Daily Bulletin and our website, AccurateShooter.com. As readership increases, so does our ability to offer up-to-date product news and match reports. We take pride is delivering new product info “hot off the press” so you can read it here first.
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• Front Bag Tension — Vertical can happen if the front sand bag grips the fore-arm too tightly. If…the fore-arm feels like it is stuck in the bag, then the front bag’s grip is too tight. Your rifle should move in evenly and smoothly in the sand bags, not jerk or chatter when you pull the gun back by hand.
Need a custom full-length sizing die? Want something very special that will be gentle on your brass, reduce sizing effort, not rust, and never wear out? Tool-maker CH Tool & Die, 
MidwayUSA is running some good bargains this month. For starters, MidwayUSA has announced a huge sale on 
Lapua Brass and Budget Items Discounted Also
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.
