The prestigious GAP Grind tactical match runs this weekend, 16-18 October, at the K&M Shooting Complex in Finger, Tennessee. The 2014 GAP Grind drew a huge turn-out, and this year’s Grind promises to top that — with more competitors and even tougher challenges. Held in association with the Precision Rifle Series (PRS), this year’s Grind features a Pro/Am format with professional and amateur competitors aiming for individual and team honors.
Lots of Action, with 20+ Stages
The GAP Grind is a notoriously challenging, “high tempo” match with minimal down time between stages. Over the course of 20+ stages, competitors will fire 200+ shots at a variety of steel, paper, moving, and reactive targets out to 1,200 yards. Target vary in size/difficulty based on the shooter’s position, distance, and time allotted. Most stages include “stressors” — i.e. time limits or required movement(s).
2014 GAP Grind Highlights Video:
Want to see what a “GAP Grind Experience” is all about? Then watch this video from the 2014 Grind. You’ll see a lot of movement through a wide variety of shooting positions. This ain’t no benchrest match, that’s for sure…
GAP Grind Guns by Giddings
Shelley Giddings, a skilled shooter of both firearms and cameras, attended the 2014 GAP Grind last week. While there, Shelley snapped some cool images of state-of-the-art tactical rifles. Here is a Giddings Gallery of Grind Guns. You can find more GAP Grind pix on Shelly’s Facebook Page.
Click any photo below to see a full-screen version.
Nightforce Optics has just launched a new monthly newsletter. This free, subscription-based digital publication will offer information on optics, target shooting, hunting, and other topics of interest. The debut October issue, released this week, features match reports, tactical shooting hold-over advice, plus a TECH TIP explaining Parallax.
PARALLAX – What is it and Why is it important?
What is Parallax?
Parallax is the apparent movement of the scope’s reticle (cross-hairs) in relation to the target as the shooter moves his eye across the exit pupil of the riflescope. This is caused by the target and the reticle being located in different focal planes.
Why is it Important?
The greater the distance to the target and magnification of the optic, the greater the parallax error becomes. Especially at longer distances, significant sighting error can result if parallax is not removed.
How to Remove Parallax
This Nightforce Tech Tip video quickly shows how to remove parallax on your riflescope.
While keeping the rifle still and looking through the riflescope, a slight nod of the head up and down will quickly determine if parallax is present. To remove parallax, start with the adjustment mechanism on infinity and rotate until the reticle remains stationary in relation to the target regardless of head movement. If parallax has been eliminated, the reticle will remain stationary in relation to the target regardless of eye placement behind the optic.
If you want to subscribe to the Nightforce Newsletter, CLICK HERE to open the Newsletter then click the green “Join Email List” button at the top of the page.
Gun guys are always shipping stuff around the country — whether it’s a barrel to be chambered, or a scope that needs to go back for warranty repair. Or maybe you’ve sold some bullets or reloading dies you no longer need. To ensure your precious packages get to their destination in one piece, it’s important to take precautions when boxing up your items. And by all means insure packages for full value — even if your packaging is perfect, there is always the possibility that your shipment might be lost altogether. Sadly, that can happen, no matter which carrier you choose: Fedex, UPS, or the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Here are some tips for shipping gun stuff — we explain how to pack items properly and how to minimize the risk of loss.
Tips for Shippers
Dennis Haffner from McGowen Precision Barrels offers some advice on how to avoid damage when shipping gun parts or other valuable or heavy items. Dennis explains:
“First, I started double-packing the contents and in many cases double-boxing. I spend a fortune on heavy-reinforced shipping tape. If the contents are loosely packed, the package is going to get crushed. On real important items or delicate items, wrap the content in plastic and spray the inside void areas with non-expanding foam. They make shipping foam just for this. This method really works. Since I started paying more attention to packaging, I have just about wiped out my issues with all three companies (Fedex, UPS, USPS). Yes, I hate doing it, but in the long run for us, it’s cheaper.
Bullet shipments are the worst — a shipment of 500+ bullets can destroy a cardboard box. I have ordered bullets from individuals who put them in baggies and filled the remainder of the box with foam peanuts. That is not going to work. Any piece of metal, including a die, will puncture a cardboard box, or destroy a padded envelope. Just look at the tracking information and imagine your package bouncing around in the back of the shipping truck, probably under many other packages. My advice is to NEVER use padded envelopes. Barrel nuts or recoil lugs will most likely never make it.
ORM-D items are required to be shipped in heavily-reinforced, double-walled containers. The packages still get a little damage, but the contents usually survive.
How do shipments get damaged? Consider this — one of the shipping companies this year flipped (overturned) one of our new CNC machines (which rendered it useless). Maybe your small packages were in the same delivery truck as my CNC machine. I wonder how many little boxes were crushed underneath it.
As for USPS flat rate boxes — you would not believe what people try to stuff in these boxes. USPS finally put a weight limit on the boxes — they had to. I sometimes take my delicate items packed in an envelope or small box. I spray foam in a larger flat rate box and insert the smaller package, then fill the remainder of the void with foam. It works, and part usually arrives undamaged.”
Shipping Rifle Barrels (PVC Tube and Tennis Ball Method)
A new match-grade barrel can cost $350 or more, and it might take six months (or more) to replace it, given the current wait time with top barrel-makers. So, you don’t want your nice new tube to get damaged in transit. Forum Member Chuck L. (aka “M-61″) offers these tips for shipping rifle barrels:
“Packing a barrel can be a problem. Here’s a shipping method that won’t stop lost shipments but so far has stopped damage. Get a PVC pipe (of size appropriate to your barrel) with fitted caps for each end. Attach a cap to one end. Tape the barrel threads and tape over the muzzle. Then drop one standard tennis ball into the pipe. Place barrel in pipe. Next add whatever peanuts or foam you can jam in to support the barrel on the sides. Then place a second tennis ball into the opposite end of the PVC pipe. (So now you have a tennis ball on either end of your barrel.) With everything secure inside, attach the upper cap and tape it down securely. With this packing procedure, when the carrier launches the pipe like a javelin, at least the barrel will not come through like a spear and be gone. Label the pipe with very large address labels so no one suspects it’s just garbage laying around. This procedure may seem ridiculous but it has worked for me. Oh and definitely get insurance. If your item is insured, the shippers will look harder to find it.”
Editor’s Note: Fedex also makes a triangular-profile cardboard shipping box. This 38″ x 6″ x 6″ x 6″ Fedex Tube (designed for blueprints and posters) is free for the asking. For most barrels, there should be enough clearance to hold your PVC tube (with barrel packed inside tube). However, don’t ship the barrel inside the cardboard box by itself. Cap and pad the ends and bubble wrap it heavily, or better yet, use the PVC tube method described above, with the PVC tube inside the box.
Dave Diana is a clever fellow. He not only fabricated his own wireless Target Cam system, but he invented a mount that places the receiver/monitor unit conveniently next to his bench rifle. The hooded view-screen actually mounts to his SEB front Rest via a bracket. The monitor unit includes wireless receiver and a short directional antenna (see below):
Dave says his new CCTV monitor bracket on the SEB NEO rest is “working as planned”. However, after taking these photos, Dave did make a modification. Dave explained: “I found moving the monitor over to the left-hand side was more shooter-friendly. I can stay in a natural shooting position, look at the screen, see my windflags and shoot with little movement. The next task is to add a coffee cup holder somewhere to house my group tightener double expresso!”
Target Cam Monitor Has Built-In Receiver
Dave built a very nice system. He tells us: “The security camera is a 27x power zoom camera housed in a weather proof case that also houses the wireless transmitter. The monitor has a built-in receiver, and I am running spiral polarized antennas on both ends. The system will run all day long on the waterproof-cased, game-camera batteries.”
Here are the internals of the wireless camera system. Note the antenna at right.
Here is the entire system, with monitor/receiver placed conventionally on a tripod. Batteries are housed in waterproof plastic cases.
Looking for an affordable “Truck Gun”, or a light-weight, “carry-around” varmint rifle? Consider the Howa Mini Action series. With receiver (and bolt) that are nearly an inch shorter than regular short actions, these Mini Action rigs weigh just 5.7 pounds without optics. This makes for a nice, compact (and very shootable) varmint package.
The Howa Mini Action rifles come with 10-rd detachable box magazines and an adjustable HACT 2-stage trigger. Synthetic stocks are offered in black, OD green, and Kryptek Highlander camo colors. You can buy a complete Mini Action rifle package, including 3-9x40mm Nikko scope, for under $590.00.
Barreled Actions Available from Howa
If you are looking to build your own project rifle, you can purchase Howa Mini Barreled Actions separately. When fitted with a #1 contour lightweight barrel, the Mini Barreled action weighs just 3.77 pounds. Barreled actions are currently offered in .223 Rem and .204 Ruger chamberings. Lightweight and heavy barrels measure 20 inches, while standard barrels are 22 inches long.
Ask 10 shooters about barrel cleaning and you’ll get 10 different opinions. This reflects that fact that different fouling problems demand different solutions. For example, solvents that work well for copper may not be the best for hard carbon (and vice-versa). To come up with the right solution, first you must understand the nature of the fouling in your barrel.
The debate about the proper care of a match barrel is a hot one, spiked with folklore and old wives’ tales, Lohman said. He and his staff set out to set the record straight: “We tried to interject some science into the discussion of cleaning a match barrel,” he explained. In his article, Lohman writes:
Why worry about a little barrel fouling when the throat is subjected to a brutal 5,600° F volcano at 55,000 PSI? To investigate these and other questions about taking care of a match barrel, we spoke with a dozen experts and share their knowledge in this first of a series of articles.
After listening to folks who shoot, build barrels or manufacture cleaning solvents for a living, we concluded that even the experts each have their own unique recommendations on how to care for a match barrel. But they all agree on one thing — the gun will tell you what it likes best. Because the life expectancy of a match barrel is about 1,500 to 2,500 rounds, the objectives of cleaning one should include: preserve accuracy, slow the erosion, and remove fouling — all without damaging the gun. This article doesn’t claim that one cleaning method is better than the next. Rather, we set out to interject a little science into the discussion and to share some lessons learned from experts in the field.
For more Shooting Sports USA articles, visit www.ssusa.org.
John Krieger Interview with AccurateShooter at SHOT Show:
Jay Christopherson (aka “JayChris”), Accurateshooter’s IT guru, is a heck of a good shooter as well as a computer wizard. Jay recently won the F-TR division of the NW Long Range Regional held at the always-challenging Rattlesnake Shooting Range. To top the F-TR field, Jay had to battle extreme wind conditions that required double-digit windage corrections (and a hold-off) just to get on paper. Jay said: “The wind was 25 to 35 mph, switching between half and full value. I had 18.5 minutes on. Some of the sling shooters were [running] 24-36 minutes.”
MUST WATCH Video! Wicked, INSANE 25-35 mph winds at Rattlesnake:
Jay reports: “The typical Rattlesnake range caveats apply with regards to scores. This was a Long Range Regional, here in Washington State. This was also the first time I’ve ever had to put on double digit windage on at a match. Yesterday at 1000 yards, I had to put on 15 minutes AND hold another 3.5 to the edge of the target board to get on paper. I probably owe a great deal of thanks to Monte Milanuk for convincing me that (after my third sighter off the target board) dialing in that much wind was, in fact, NOT insane.
Because I didn’t come to the match armed with enough ammo and I couldn’t afford to be shooting more sighters… it was a close thing as it was. Even some of the well-known wind ninjas shooting sling were having some difficulty with the conditions.
Jay was modest about his win: ‘I did a poor job of shooting at 800 yards on both days, in fairly decent conditions, but made up for it at 1000 on both days. I happened to dope the wind on the last relay better than the guy leading me.
Really, the wind is the story — on the last relay of that first day (shown in the video), the storm rolled in, along with a wildfire that started up on one of the hills behind us. We were all watching that pretty closely, but they contained it pretty quickly.”
Our friend Dennis Santiago was doing pits duty during the Small Arms Firing School (SAFS) phase of the CMP Western Games. Here are some views from the pits at the Ben Avery Range in Phoenix, Arizona. Dennis also took a video from the pits during live fire. Listen to rounds zip over-head and impact into the berm beyond the targets, in the video below.
Watch Video with rounds flying over the pit zone:
Dennis reports: “Here’s a slice of life at the receiving end of live fire. This is a rapid fire stage as seen from the target pits at the 2015 CMP Western Games. The targets are placed up in the air. The bullets go through them over the heads of competitors protected behind an earth berm. The bullets land in a designated impact area (berm) beyond the target frames.”
At the CMP Western Games, participants shoot, score and do pit service. The pit workers are positioned on a catwalk behind a concrete wall. There is a thick, earth-works berm on the other side.
Verizon announced last week that Verizon FiOS will no longer carry the Outdoor Channel and Sportsman Channel. These channels offer Shooting USA, NRA All Access, NRA Gun Gurus, and American Rifleman programming, plus many hunting TV shows. If you’re a subscriber to Verizon FiOS, you’ll be losing access to the most popular shooting and hunting TV shows.
“Our partners, advocates and viewers of outdoor lifestyle programming are very disappointed with Verizon’s actions,” said Jim Liberatore, CEO and President of Outdoor Sportsman Group Networks. “It should concern all Americans that one company can silence the only relevant voice of an entire industry with the flip of a switch.”
Verizon claimed that the move was a response to rising content costs. Verizon suggested that FiOS customers view other cable channels (such as Discovery or History) to find “similar content”. That’s not really a solution in our view. Other “mainstream” cable channels do not provide the same kind of content for hunters, sport shooters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts. On mainstream channels there is nothing like Shooting USA, which covers major shooting matches and SHOT Show.
If you are concerned about loss of the Outdoor Channel and Sportsman Channel, you can call Verizon FiOS at (800) 837-4966, or email Verizon FiOS. Ask Verizon to restore the Outdoor and Sportsman Channels to the FiOS TV programming mix. You can also switch television content providers. Time-Warner, Direct TV, and Dish Network still offer the Outdoor Channel. CLICK HERE for more info on switching to a new television provider.
At the request of our readers, we have launched a new “Deals of the Week” feature. If this proves popular, we’ll try to run this every Monday. Here are some of the best deals on hardware, reloading components, and shooting accessories. Be aware that sale prices are subject to change, and once clearance inventory is sold, it’s gone for good. You snooze you lose.
1. McGowen Barrels — Halloween Deal 20% Off Barrels
As a “Spooky Savings” promotion for AccurateShooter.com readers, McGowen Barrels is offering 20% off Custom and Pre-fit barrels (not valid on other products/services). This discount is good through October 31, 2015. To save 20% visit McGowenBarrel.com and use CODE “OCTOBER” at check-out.
2. Bullets.com – Bald Eagle Rest with Windage Top
Bullets.com is offering aluminum-base front rests, with flex-shaft remote windage adjustment, for just $165.00! These front rests originally retailed for over $400.00 (with windage drive). But Bullets.com is having an “overstock” sale so you can get blow-out pricing on these rests.
3. Grafs.com – Hornady Lock-N-Load Classic KIT
On sale this week at Grafs.com, this Hornady Reloading Kit comes with everything you need to turn out accurate handloads: Lock-N-Load single stage press, L-N-L Powder Measure, Digital Scale, Rotary Powder Measure, Powder Trickler, 7th Ed. Reloading Handbook, three (3) L-N-L die bushings, Hand Priming Tool, Reloading Block, chamfer/deburring Tool, Primer Flip plate, and One Shot Case Lube.
4. Mr. Gun Dealer — Savage A17 Rifle (17 HMR)
Savage’s new A17, chambered for the 17 HMR cartridge, is accurate and tons of fun. The model we tested was 100% reliable and ran like a sewing machine. Some of the early production models need a little attention to the trigger (and some fluff ‘n buff) — but nothing major. We think this is the most significant semi-auto rimfire of the decade. And now you can snag one for under $365.00!
5. Amazon.com – 8x30mm Military Marine Binoculars, $239.99
Your editor has used Steiner Military Marine Binoculars on many ground squirrel and prairie dog adventures. What I really like about these Steiners is that you don’t have to fiddle around with the focus. Once you set the eyepieces correctly, everything from about 25 yards to infinity is in focus. Honest. That’s great when you’re glassing a P-Dog field all day long. The armor is also very tough. Downside? Well with 30mm objectives, the Steiners can’t possibly match the low-light performance of true high-end ($1500+) binoculars. But then the Steiners cost a mere $239.99.
6. PrecisionReloading.com – MTM Range Box
This versatile MTM Shooting Range Box is on sale for just $28.69 at PrecisionReloading.com. It sells elsewhere for $42-$50. This box has a removable top section with small compartments for jags, patches, and small parts. Snap-in cradles provide a secure support for cleaning your rifle. NOTE: The MTM Range Box on sale is RED (though the photo also shows a green box).
Gun guys are always shipping stuff around the country — whether it’s a barrel to be chambered, or a scope that needs to go back for warranty repair. Or maybe you’ve sold some bullets or reloading dies you no longer need. To ensure your precious packages get to their destination in one piece, it’s important to take precautions when boxing up your items. And by all means insure packages for full value — even if your packaging is perfect, there is always the possibility that your shipment might be lost altogether. Sadly, that can happen, no matter which carrier you choose: Fedex, UPS, or the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Here are some tips for shipping gun stuff — we explain how to pack items properly and how to minimize the risk of loss.
“First, I started double-packing the contents and in many cases double-boxing. I spend a fortune on heavy-reinforced shipping tape. If the contents are loosely packed, the package is going to get crushed. On real important items or delicate items, wrap the content in plastic and spray the inside void areas with non-expanding foam. They make shipping foam just for this. This method really works. Since I started paying more attention to packaging, I have just about wiped out my issues with all three companies (Fedex, UPS, USPS). Yes, I hate doing it, but in the long run for us, it’s cheaper.
How do shipments get damaged? Consider this — one of the shipping companies this year flipped (overturned) one of our new CNC machines (which rendered it useless). Maybe your small packages were in the same delivery truck as my CNC machine. I wonder how many little boxes were crushed underneath it.
“Packing a barrel can be a problem. Here’s a shipping method that won’t stop lost shipments but so far has stopped damage. Get a PVC pipe (of size appropriate to your barrel) with fitted caps for each end. Attach a cap to one end. Tape the barrel threads and tape over the muzzle. Then drop one standard tennis ball into the pipe. Place barrel in pipe. Next add whatever peanuts or foam you can jam in to support the barrel on the sides. Then place a second tennis ball into the opposite end of the PVC pipe. (So now you have a tennis ball on either end of your barrel.) With everything secure inside, attach the upper cap and tape it down securely. With this packing procedure, when the carrier launches the pipe like a javelin, at least the barrel will not come through like a spear and be gone. Label the pipe with very large address labels so no one suspects it’s just garbage laying around. This procedure may seem ridiculous but it has worked for me. Oh and definitely get insurance. If your item is insured, the shippers will look harder to find it.”
Jay reports: “The typical Rattlesnake range caveats apply with regards to scores. This was a Long Range Regional, here in Washington State. This was also the first time I’ve ever had to put on double digit windage on at a match. Yesterday at 1000 yards, I had to put on 15 minutes AND hold another 3.5 to the edge of the target board to get on paper. I probably owe a great deal of thanks to Monte Milanuk for convincing me that (after my third sighter off the target board) dialing in that much wind was, in fact, NOT insane.
“Our partners, advocates and viewers of outdoor lifestyle programming are very disappointed with Verizon’s actions,” said Jim Liberatore, CEO and President of Outdoor Sportsman Group Networks. “It should concern all Americans that one company can silence the only relevant voice of an entire industry with the flip of a switch.”
