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December 7th, 2008
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.
CLICK HERE for Speedy’s full article with more tips and advice.
December 4th, 2008
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’.)
Large Photos: NZ Mist | Aerial | Morning Light | Taking Off
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:
© copyright 2007 Michael Falconer, All Rights Reserved.
December 2nd, 2008
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.
November 30th, 2008
In Wimborne, Dorset, England, a 400-year-old holiday tradition has been banned by anti-gun “do-gooders” who claim loud noises will frighten children. For the past four centuries, at Christmastime, volunteers of the “Wimborne Militia” have donned 17th-century uniforms (floppy hats and red coats) and fired off a black powder volley (without bullets) to celebrate the lighting of the town Christmas tree. The musket ceremony was originally performed to “scare off evil spirits” according to Town Crier and militia volunteer Chris Brown. In modern times, Chris explained, “It adds a bit of pomp. Most people enjoy it.”
According to the Dorset Daily Echo newspaper, “Members of the town’s Militia, which re-enacts traditions dating back to the 17th century, have been told by the town council not to carry out the custom of ‘scouring’ the tree at a ceremony to switch on the lights.”
Local politicians, lead by Deputy Mayor John Burden, have banned the black powder ceremony, telling the Wimborne Militia to leave their muskets and floppy hats at home. The ban was enforced ostensibly to “protect the children”. Dep. Mayor Burden and other gun foes say that the musket fire “scares the children… last year there were kids who were very upset and crying.”
Many Wimborne residents are dismayed by the gun ban, saying that a cherished tradition has been lost, and that Wimborne officials are “mollycoddling the kiddies” for no good reason.
It remains to be seen whether Wimborne’s city fathers will proceed to ban the popping of balloons or the honking of car horns — noises which, presumably, could be equally traumatizing to England’s sensitive youngsters.
Story Link: BBC Report (with Video) | Dorset Daily Echo Report
Photo Capture from BBC Video
November 29th, 2008
 Increasing the numbers of women involved in the shooting sports is vital. We need more women shooters to grow our gun clubs’ membership rolls and expand the consumer base for firearms products. From a political standpoint, getting women involved in shooting strengthens the gun rights movement, and helps counter efforts to close gun ranges and shooting facilities. And remember, women are important decision-makers at the family level. Wives often decide if there will be a gun in the house and if children in the family are allowed to participate in shooting sports.
The NRA’s Women On Target program has been very successful at getting the ladies involved in shooting sports. The Women On Target program offers new lady shooters the chance to receive handgun, rifle, and shotgun instruction by other women, in a low-stress situation. Program Coordinator Beth Hellman reports: “We have had a record-breaking number of Women On Target® Instructional Shooting Clinics so far this year — 239 — and a record-breaking number of participants — more than 7,000!”
CLICK HERE To learn more about Women On Target® Instructional Shooting Clinics for your club or organization, or call (800) 861-1166 for more information.
Women On Target Hunting Program
The popular Women-Only Hunt Program allows women to enjoy the outdoors with experienced outfitters guiding all female clients. A wide variety of hunts are offered in the second half of 2008 including duck/goose hunts, pheasant hunts, turkey hunts, whitetail deer hunts, and even a Rocky Mountain Elk hunt. This program has been operating successfully since 1999.
CLICK HERE for Hunt Dates and Outfitter List
Photos courtesy National Rifle Assn., All Rights Reserved.
November 28th, 2008
Folks email us regularly saying: “Hey, there was an interesting item in the Daily Bulletin, but I can’t find it now.” Take heart. Every Bulletin story is saved in our archive. You can always navigate to all previous posts using the “Older Posts” link at the bottom of this page.
The fastest and easiest method to find older posts is simply to search by keyword, or click one of the topic headings. If you want to see a video, for example, just click on “Videos”. If you’re looking for all stories about scopes, click “Optics”. To find a particular item, such as the story on Barnard actions, just type “Barnard” in the search field and click “Search”. Our search works very fast! Try it, you’ll like it.
November 27th, 2008
J.G. ANSCHÜTZ GmbH & Co. KG, maker of premium air rifles and small-bore match rifles has announced a recall of roughly 1,400 compressed air cylinders (holding tanks) on its rifles. The aluminum air cylinders involved in the recall are:
• Air cylinder, silver, length 430 mm: from 012947 to 016843 item No. 711.3415
• Air cylinder, red, length 430 mm: from 002444 to 002527 item No. 711.3414
• Air cylinder, black, length 430 mm: from 000006 to 000053 item No. 711.3413
• Air cylinder, Junior, length 290 mm: from 001632 to 002225 item No. 711.3412
If you have an Anschütz air rifle, check the sidewall of the air cylinder. Look for the number at the right of the top line (marked in blue in the photo above). If the number matches the serial numbers on the recall list above you should immediately empty your air cylinder (and do not refill it). Please return the empty air cylinder to J. G. ANSCHÜTZ GmbH & Co. KG, department “air cylinder check”, Daimlerstr. 12, 89079 Ulm / Germany, or send it to any authorized ANSCHÜTZ sales partner as listed on Anschuetz-sport.com.
CLICK HERE to download Air Cylinder Recall Information Sheet (.pdf file).
November 25th, 2008
 Maybe, like fine wine, good shooters get better with age. This weekend, at the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center, 80-year-old Ken Schroeder shot a brilliant 50 (4X) at 600 yards. Pending approval, this will be a new, NBRSA 600-yard, single-target Light Gun score record. The group was a very small 1.680″, well-centered.
Ken was shooting the standard (unimproved) 6mmbr cartridge, with Lapua brass, Hodgdon Varget powder and Sierra 107gr MatchKing bullets. Ken’s tack-driving rifle was built by California smith Stu Harvey. The gun features a BAT action, Bartlein cut-rifled barrel, and a McMillan stock.
Forum member Ron Tilley was also competing in Sacramento on 11/23/2008 when Ken shot the pending record. Ron reports: “Ken is the kindest gentleman you will meet AND one of the toughest competitors. He is 80 years young and still kickin butt! Ken is always at the top when the dust clears and he can be hard to catch. All of us at Sac Valley are honored to shoot with Ken and support his accomplishments. I personally hope to be able to do what he does at his age.” For the match, Ken earned many honors. The record group was also Light Gun single target small group for the day. Ken won the two-gun, 6-target score Agg. with a 420 (10X), and Ken placed second in Heavy Gun score Agg. with a 282 (5X).
Congrats to Ken! He proves that we better watch out for those sharp-shootin’ octogenarians!
November 25th, 2008
Midway USA has the Tipton 12-piece multi-caliber Jag Kit on sale again. Now through Nov. 30th, you can purchase the Kit, item 582621, for $12.99, marked down from $16.99. The set includes 17, 22, 243/6mm, 25, 270/7mm, 30/32, 8mm/338, 35/9mm, 375, 40/416, 44, and 45 Caliber Jags, in a sturdy box with fitted holes for each jag. This editor owns two Tipton jag kits, one for the range kit and one for the loading room. The set works for everything from my 17 Mach2 up to my 45/70. I use the jags for both rifle and pistol calibers. I like the fact that you can easily switch from a bigger jag to the next smaller size to adjust patch fit as the job requires.
Midway also markets a 12-piece Jag Set with nickel-plated jags. This is a smart innovation that has been well-received by shooters. The nickel jags aren’t affected by solvents so they don’t give “false positives” when you’re cleaning copper fouling from your barrels. The Nickel Jag Kit, item 812503, is now on sale for just $17.99, marked down from $22.99. This sale price on the Nickel-Plated Jag Kit is good through Dec. 31, 2008.
November 25th, 2008
 We know many readers will be traveling to different states over the holidays. If you are carrying firearms for hunting, target shooting, or self-defense, you want to make sure you comply with all state and local laws during your journey. You could consult a team of lawyers, spend hours researching statutes on the internet, or you could simply get a copy of the Traveler’s Guide to Firearm Laws of the 50 States.
Available from the NRA Store website, the Traveler’s Guide includes key statutes for all 50 states plus contact information for state regulatory agencies and a section outlining interstate reciprocity.
Priced at $12.95, the Traveler’s Guide is a “must-have” for shooting enthusiasts and hunters who regularly travel across state lines to attend matches or visit new hunting grounds.
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