F-Class National Championships in Raton

[DHuffman]

My Lilja barrel seems to be agreeing with .001 - .0015, I've been accomplishing it with a 21st Century expander mandrel.

[rardoin]

One of my team mates for the Long Range Team Championship, Tim Vaught, finished day one in the mid range (600yd) championship at the top of the board with 600-45X.  He is on fire for sure.  I can't wait to get up there.

[jvw2008]

Wow! That's good shooting for sure. We are looking forward to hearing about your experiences down there. Travel safe today and keep us in the loop!?

[rardoin]

Thanks Jerry.  I'll be finishing up clinic in a couple of hours then heading Northwest.

[rardoin]

Back in town and time for a match report....  Nothing to see here, move along...

Well, The Whittington Center lived up to its reputation for sure.  Some hellacious winds to contend with by the second and third matches of the day.  To quote Shiraz Balolia (owner of Grizzly Industrial) who shot next to me on day 2.... " I dropped 14 points and people were telling me great shooting". 

I started the week of shooting a 600yd team match on Wednesday with a couple of guys from F-class guys Texas and a benchrester from St.Louis (Jeff Conover).  I was the designated wind coach and was able to get pretty fair wind calls; Jeff called when I was shooting.  Jeff cleaned both matches and I dropped 3 points to vertical (the gun's fault not Jeff's for sure)  We finished near the back of the pack but had a lot of fun.  It was great coaching Jeff who had great technique and a VERY flat shooting 6 BRA.  My gun had a bit of vertical but most shooters were complaining of such...I figured it was the wind and the terrain.  The next morning for the first 1000yd match I dropped three in very light conditions I expected to shoot clean...and a low X count of 8.  Again, great wind calls but points lost high and low to vertical...grrr.  This only got worse throughout the next two days/6 matches.   To start the second match I was down behind the gun/spotting scope waiting for the call to fire at the end of the 3 minute prep.  I thought I heard gunfire, saw the condition I wanted to send a sighter in and let a shot go.....and then heard my adjacents shooters shout WHOA!  Rhut-rho...that fire was on an adjacent range.  OOPS...my first shot counted as a miss and I lost all sighters for that match.
 The second shot...in effect a sighter...was a 6.  I ended up with a 168 which actually was better than a lot of shooters as the wind was gusting to 35+ at times (see Shiraz's comment)  The blowing dust started to make my Bix'n Andy trigger malfunction midway through the second match on day two and I had to cycle the bolt several times for most shots to get the firing pin to cock...double grrrr.  Blowing brake cleaner through it before the third match did not solve anything.  That evening I put in my backup trigger (Flavio Fare') and it was functioning fine.  I was also getting stiff bolt lifts on several rounds during match 1 of the LR events which seemed to only get worse by match 6.  Concerned that I was getting some carbon/copper buildup I cleaned the dog snot out of the barrel the night before the LR team match.  My vertical, by the 6th match, was over a '10 ring' (which is guaranteed to put you in the back of the field) so I seriously considered finding an alternate for the LR team match as the team had potential to have a decent showing.  I did not feel my gun was shooting up the the level of the other team members and would pull targets so we could have more eyes on the wind at the firing line; one of my teammates, Tim Vaught, won the 600yd championship earlier in the week .  My team mates would not hear of it and said not to worry.  After a discussion with an accomplished shooter from Indiana, Jeff Traylor, we both noticed the vertical on our rifles seemed worse in the cold mornings.  I decided to move my tuner out a tad for the next morning to compensate for colder temps....couldn't get much worse I figured.  Good new is that the tuner change and the bare metal cleaning of the bore worked well....no heavy bolt lifts until later in the second match and the vertical was x-ring high at 1000yds...hooray!  We ended up 5th on the day and only 4 points out of third.  Considering that we beat several long standing teams with world champions on them we were quite pleased and tickled.  I figured that my gun was a new beast and the last two matches on Sunday would go much better.  I did a very light cleaning of my gun that night figuring a 44 shot team event did not do much to the bore.  WRONG... by my 6th sighter shot I was getting heavy bolt lift which got progressively worse.  Darn it!.  my scores reflected the poor shooting of the gun doubled by my poor wind calls and I hemorrhaged points instead of stopping the bleeding .  Thank God it shot well in the team event at least because I was offered a permanent position. 

So, lessons learned:

Make sure you have a well developed gun/load before dragging you arse out to an event as bit as this.

If you see more experienced shooters covering their rifles in bright sunshine...it is not for rain but for another good reason (dust).

Clean the bore well EVERY night if you are shooting 80+ rounds for most days.

Don't take yourself too serious.

BTW...I have figured out that 0.003" neck clearance is not enough on a .284 with the 184gr Bergers so I started turning my brass last night....  The low neck clearance, I suspect, is the root of my problem.

Robin

[jvw2008]

"BTW...I have figured out that 0.003" neck clearance is not enough on a .284 with the 184gr Bergers so I started turning my brass last night....  The low neck clearance, I suspect, is the root of my problem."

I mentioned to Grant a few nights ago that 284s just don't play nice without a 4+ neck clearance. I don't know why. I am REALLY surprised the BixN Andy had problems with the dust. Could it have been the carbon? Did the Jewels have any problem with the dust or did anyone else's B N A have cocking problems?

Robin considering the conditions, mechanical challenges, and level of competition I would say you did amazingly well buddy. Good idea for a competitor to not "take himself to seriously ". In your case, your competitors take you very seriously. Congratulations on the permanent team member invite. That is a real feather in your cap.

We all live a little vicariously thru our friends experiences. I really appreciate you taking the time to give us a rundown.

[DHuffman]

So, lessons learned:

Make sure you have a well developed gun/load before dragging you arse out to an event as bit as this.

       LOL, This reminds me of my 3rd match ever, the 2018 IBS 1000 yard Nationals. I may have been in over my head.

Clean the bore well EVERY night if you are shooting 80+ rounds for most days.

       I agree and do this religiously.

Don't take yourself too serious.

       Maybe the best advice in this thread!

Robin

The scores seldom reflect the effort and if winning were easy everybody would be doing it. Jerry and I were talking about luck the other day and we both agreed luck is something that MAY come your way AFTER you've put in the work to put yourself in the position to receive it.

I personally don't believe there is any luck to be had in these competitions. You did well Robin!

[gman47564]

congradulations robin... you did well in my book... my question is do you feel the vv powder was causing your fouling and bolt lift problems... I know before you said you thought it burned cleaner than re23....

[rardoin]

The Bix trigger was caused by a tremendous amount of blowing sand and fine dust all week.  I had pulled it apart about one month prior and varsol'ed the components/reassembled it.  It was fine until the real sandstorm day .  I also did not put a dust cover on it...stupid mistake not to be repeated.  The VV powder is very clean burning but all will produce some carbon.  I think the pressure was due to the typical fine carbon buildup in the neck coupled with a very marginal neck clearance.  Funny you mentioned the 0.004" minimum clearance Jerry as during a conversation with a LR benchrester shooting the match he said nearly the same thing.  Several other shooters also had trigger issues due to the blowing dust and sand.  Thanks for the encouraging words guys as my ego could use them .  I'll have a better prepared gun...and brain...for the next big meet at the Berger Nationals in Phoenix this winter.

[jvw2008]

Shoots Dots on AS told me that little pearl about 5 years ago when I was starting to develop the Shehane build. I knew I was going to turn my necks back then so I went with a standard diameter throat but had him extend it to 0.235".  He had not chambered a Shehane before and the extended throat was a hard sell - but it works. ?

[rardoin]

Ben (ShootsDots) is a great guy and a very knowledgeable resource .  He shot in Houston before moving out to retirement central....Phoenix .  Several people told me they though I needed more clearance but my good fortune with the rifle early on jaded my thinking.  Good call on the .235" freebore...it allows long seating to keep just about any bullet's major diameter ahead of any donut that forms.  I chose .225" and I just clear that area with a 184gr Berger in a new barrel; another 0.010" would have been perfect.  I'm going to run a new charge test with the turned necks on Friday and hope to get it up to form for our 600yd state championship the weekend after.  My father wants me to pull out the 6.5 x55 BJAI.  He may be on to something.

[boltman13]

Robin, I'm sorry I was unable to meet you at Raton.  We probably saw each other but never talked.  That second day conditions were about the worst I had ever seen.  I was on relay 2 and escaped the worst and fired a 190 first string, which was not bad for me.  Then my squad mate and I were in the pits when someone let go during prep.  Sorry to hear it was you.  When we came out it was really nasty and I fired a 182.  I decided to try firing fast and chase the spotter for the last match and never caught it with a 172.  That wrecked any chance I had of moving up in the standings of Sharpshooters and up to Expert.  I did OK on Sunday but not good enough and finished a distant 3rd SS.  I didn't have any trigger, rifle or load issues so I have no excuse except my lack of talent and conditions.  The 140 gr Burger Hybrids probably suffered more on Friday but we all felt pain.  It looks like I am too far down the wait list for the BSWN's this year so I plan to shoot Nationals at Ben Avery next Oct.  I hop to meet you sometime still.

[rardoin]

Man....you are cruel.... Those scabs finally fell off and the scars were beginning to fade.  Now I'm hemorrhaging again.  Sheesh!

    

Yea....I was 'that guy' on the second day of LR.  Kevin led the way on the first day and broke the ice.  My National was a disaster as the gun was on a fine edge with the tune and the nut behind the trigger was abysmal.  The bright point was that my shooting buddy from just down the road, Jade Delcambre, won the F-TR LR Championship.  I did get some advice from Norm Harrold at our State Championship a couple of weeks after Nats ("go up on the neck tension") and the gun is really great right now...."so I've got that going for me...which is good" (...said Bill Murray) .  If you are going to the Berger SWN's in February perhaps we can meet up.

Robin

[boltman13]

Robin, sorry to open old wounds.  I'm glad your rifle is doing better.  I am waiting to hear where I am on the wait list for the BSWN's but am not optimistic.  If I am way down I won't be going just for the Mid Range.
Jeff