Building a benchrest rifle

[Lee Martin]

Match #169
Orrington & Damariscotta, Maine
The Maine Firecracker - IBS VFS 100/200/300 Yards
_____________________________________________________

For the third year in a row, I accompanied Wayne France to the Maine Firecracker. This is a 3-day event held at Orrington and Damariscotta, Maine. It has quickly become my favorite event of the season. And this year it was the “story of the last target”.

We started at 100 yards in Orrington on Saturday. The conditions were perfect. Not a cloud in the sky and mild wind. I shot well and chased Randy Jarvis all afternoon. Randy is one of the top shooters in the Score game. I felt pretty good about my performance. On the last target I held accordingly for the flags but missed 2 X’s by a hair. That seemed to be a common problem as other competitors cited the same. I finished with a 250-22X. Randy did too but had me on the tie-breaker. No problem. I was quite pleased with 2nd place.

Sunday was 200 yards and the temperature and winds picked up. Wind was blowing 10 – 20 mph at times. After 4 targets, only one shooter was clean. On target #5, he dropped two points. That opened the door for a few of us. When it came my turn to shoot, the wind really died down. I ran the frame fast. The first 3 pulls took out the X. The 4th almost got the dot, missing it by a few hundredths of an inch. I calmly loaded the gun and saw the flag tails go limp. There was almost no wind. It was the best condition I had seen all day. I held center, the gun recoiled perfectly, and I watched the hole drop out the bottom of the 10-ring into the 9. I turned and saw Wayne looking through the spotting scope. He shrugged, giving me a look like “what the hell?”. Something caught the bullet which wasn’t showing on the flags. Had I just hit that 10, I would’ve won the 200 yard leg and the 100/200 agg. Instead, I finished 4th at 200. Randy Jarvis took the win for the second day in a row.

View of the Orrington 100-yard line:







Inside the Orrington clubhouse:



After the 200-yard segment, we packed-up, drove 90 minutes south, and set flags Sunday evening in Damariscotta. Damariscotta is known for being the toughest range on the circuit. Being close to the Atlantic Ocean, the wind is vicious and swirls wildly. Monday’s 300-yard match lived up to expectations. Bullets were being bent every which direction. Somehow, I managed to only drop one point for each of the first four papers. Being down four points sounds bad, but at Damariscotta, you may be sitting pretty. Going into the last target, I was in 3rd or 4th place as I recall. Wayne shot first relay and when he came off the line, he said, “Be patient. The wind is getting intense”. Boy he wasn’t lying. By the time the target crew returned, the wind went from hard to almost unshootable. If I had to guess it was 30 mph plus in multiple directions across the 300 yard span. The range officer announced, “Commence Fire” and very few shots were taken. Everyone waited 3 to 4 minutes for it to die down. Unfortunately, it went the other way. It got worse. With time ticking down, I fired sighters and watched the bullets stray six to eight inches. Even holding on the far right of the bull (ie, in the red), they were still printing in the 7-ring. That’s roughly 9 inches of push. To get close to the 10-ring on the right side of the target, I would've had to have held off the frame itself on right-to-left. I got murdered on that target and dropped to 10th at 300. Others were dealt a similar fate. Greg Palman said it best – “Relays 2 and 3 for target #5 were flummoxed!” Randy once again took the yardage win and the overall Grand Agg. Poor shooting on my last targets and all, I had a wonderful time.







View from behind my gun at 300-yards:



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Match #170
Black Creek Gun Club, Mechanicsville, VA
IBS 100/100 Yards Agg VFS
_________________________________________________________

Every year, I schedule two 100/100 yard agg matches at Black Creek. The first is in June, the second is Labor Day weekend. This year, we had a wonderful turnout for the first agg event. Twenty-four competitors in all, with Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina represented. The weather certainly didn’t hurt. Temps were in the low 80’s with sunny skies.

Match #1 went to Dan Clark who had a perfect score going into target #5. He had hit 20 out of 20 X’s, but lost two at the end. His 250-23X however was enough for the win. I finished 4th with a 250-20X score. We then rotated eight benches, reset flags, and went straight into Match #2. My gun, which showed real promise in Match #1, responded. I found two conditions I liked and secured the win with a 250-22X. The wind swirled throughout and caught a lot of competitors off guard. If you waited it out however, shootable conditions could be had. My combined score was also enough to give me the Grand Agg victory. Wayne France was 2nd and Chris Allen was 3rd overall. Folks seemed to have a great time.





My gun on the line:







Bill Frisch setting up for Match #2:



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[squawberryman]

The dryer sheet thing still kills me. Great job.

[squigz]

Jun 9, 2023 17:39:38 GMT -5 squawberryman said:

The dryer sheet thing still kills me. Great job.

Is if there a specific scent that is better than another? I heard lavender is soothing and calming, might need to look into that as being too performance enhancing... 

Kidding aside - I tried this with my rifles off the bench (just regular hunting ones) and it was interesting to see just how well it allowed everything to "float". I personally didn't see a difference on target (I ain't no Lee Martin), but I felt it with the guns reaction. 

Great shooting and writing as usual, Lee!

[Lee Martin]

Match #171
Fairfax Rod & Gun Club, Manassas, VA
IBS 100 Yards VFS

We shot this one under very mild wind. And when it’s near dead-calm, Fairfax can be problematic. I said before the match started that I wish the wind would pick up a little. My gun shot exceedingly tight on the sighters, but every target I seemed to miss an X by the smallest amount. Cyril St. Martin and Ed Niazi didn’t seem to have that problem. Both tore through their targets with relative ease. My 250-20X was good enough for 3rd place however:



______________________________________________________________

Match #172
Black Creek Gun Club, Mechanicsville, VA
IBS 100 Yards VFS

The day started off right with my warm-up target. I fouled the barrel with 4 shots, then went to the main sighter bull. Over mild wind, I stuck 3 in the same hole right on the dot. When the gun shows it wants to shoot, trust the gun. I waited for mild left-to-right or right-to-left and held on the dot (by mild, I’m talking the tails were between 5:00 and 7:00 and the propellers were barely moving). It worked enough to take 22 X’s and the win. The three X’s I missed were really close.





-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Match #173
Fairfax Rod & Gun Club, Manassas, VA
IBS 200 Yards VFS

We had a beautiful, albeit hot day for our July 200 yard match. The wind was moderate and blew predominately left-to-right. I found a nice 10:00 hold on the 10-ring edge that landed shots inside the bull...that is until it didn’t work. Oddly, I’d try sighters and dinged the X with that hold. I’d go up top, get an X occasionally and just miss others by a smidge. Then I’d make the same hold under identical flags and see the bullet print right on my POA (ie, 10:00 on the edge of the 10). Wayne France fought the same gremlin. Perhaps there was a cross-breeze in between flags. Neither of us got a lot of X’s, but we were able to stay clean with all 10’s. Wayne won it, I took 2nd, and Chris Allen was 3rd. There was something there we weren’t seeing. For as mild as it was, only 3 of us were “clean” out of 19 competitors.



_______________________________________________________________

Match #174
Leetown Gun Club, Leetown, WV
UBR 200/100 Yards VFS

Like the previous week at Fairfax, the wind was manageable, but the temperature was scorching. As I recall, it hovered around 92 degrees. This was only the second time I’ve shot my LV 6mm PPC in a match. Expectations weren’t high. I told Wayne France on the ride over that I intended to be very aggressive with my barrel tuner if the gun didn’t shoot tight. Targets 1 & 2 were a struggle. I made four or five adjustments and couldn’t find a tune I liked. With ten minutes to shoot a frame, I couldn’t tinker indefinitely. I cleanly nailed 10’s on the first two papers, but only took one X. My misses weren’t by much however. After cleaning the gun before target 3, which I do after every target with the PPC, I bumped the tuner again. The first shot was a fouler, center hold. It went a half ring high as expected. The second half of the 200 yard span showed more movement than the first. A right-to-left came in, so I tested it. Center hold again, the bullet printed left. Then the flags beyond 100 yards went left-to-right. I held center and the bullet printed right. Immediately following that shot, the flags went limp. I fired twice quickly and they went into the same hole wiping out the dot. Wasting no time, I ran the target and took 5 out of 6 X’s. My 67 gr bullet and the Krieger barrel were happy. So was I. Target 4 played out the same with me taking 5 of the 6 X’s. That was enough to get the win at 200 yards.

We reset flags and shot 100 yards to finish the match. The gun continued to perform, enough so that I was able to win the Grand Aggregate. Jim McGregor also finished with a 508, but my win at 200 yards gave me the tie-breaker.



Target #3 at 200 yards. The right side nicked the X at the same spot. If overlaid, those three shots would be slightly bigger than the diameter of the bullet.



My 6mm PPC on the bench.







Looking back at the benches from 200 yards.



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Match #175
Black Creek Gun Club, Mechanicsville, VA
IBS 100 Yards VFS

We had a wonderful turnout for the August match; 25 guns in all. When I took over running Black Creek in 2019, I hoped to grow attendance. No doubt we’re headed in the right direction. The match itself went well. Two relays were held and the second consumed most of the benches. Wind was mild and the temps were high. Wayne Wadlington had a nice lead going into the final frame. Mirage got the best of him however and I was able to nab five X’s. That was good enough for the win. My final score was 250-23X.





Relay 2 on the line:



Jason Owens waiting for the right condition:



My gun on the bags:



Joey Whittington’s new rig. Beautifully done with a Roy Hunter stock:



After the match:



________________________________________________________________

Match #176
Fairfax Rod & Gun Club, Manassas, VA
IBS 100 Yards VFS

We had a light turnout for Fairfax’s 100-yard event. Match Director, Wayne France, was traveling. We also missed a few other regulars. But those that attended had a great time. The wind was extremely tame. That can cause problems at Fairfax as I’ve noted before. However, last Saturday the bullets went where they were supposed to. I took the first 15 X’s and thought, “maybe today will be my 25X match”. It wasn’t to be, however. On frame #4, I shot dead center on the X and right before I broke the sear, the third flag picked up hard green. The hole printed a few hundredths off the X. As fate would have it, the exact (and I do mean exact) thing happened on target #5. Both needed reticled; they were that close. Neither made. Like the previous week though, my 250-23X was enough for the win.







-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[bradshaw]

Lee can start on a quilt with his podium patches. Great shooting.

For those who think top bench rest shooting is a gimmie, I reckon a bench can be arranged for them to prove it. Sharpshooting is an adaptive process: despite applying the COORDINATIONS in a repetitive manner (rhythm), conditions control the cadence.
David Bradshaw

[Lee Martin]

Match #177
Pine Tree Rifle Club, Johnstown, NY
IBS New York State Championships 100/200 Yards VFS
_______________________________________________________

Pine Tree Rifle Club is where organized benchrest started in the 1940’s. From those early matches came the NBRSA; for many, myself included, it’s hallowed ground. I hoped to shoot the NY State Championship there last year, but a schedule change tanked that. This year, I made the trip with good friend Wayne France. The weather was perfect with temps in the 70’s and mild-to-moderate wind. 27 guns showed up.

We shot 100 yards Saturday, and my gun did well. I could get into specifics but won’t. I’d rather talk about what Wayne France was able to accomplish. In the warm-up, he drilled all five X’s. That trend continued all the way to the end of the match. But it didn’t happen without a hiccup. On the last frame, he stuck a bullet in the rifling and dumped powder (with no shots on record). He scrambled to clear the action as the clock ticked down. I offered to let him finish with my gun, however he passed. Finally with just over 3 mins to go, he got the bolt to cycle. From there he took out all the dots. This is the 3rd time he’s shot a 250-25X; the last was back in 2009. My dream is to someday do the same. I finished the 100-yard leg with a 250-19X, which was good for 7th place.

200 yards was on Sunday. Though the wind was quite shootable, I struggled to find solid POA’s. On target #1, I got caught on a green pick-up and leaked a shot into the 9 ring. It took a reticle to confirm, but it was a 9. A few thousandths of an inch was the difference. I shrugged it off and stayed clean on targets #2 through #4. The final frame was frustrating. I fired a bunch of sighters yet couldn’t repeat on the records. On the last bull, I had a shot land at 4:00 outside the 10-ring. It pretty much mirrored the 9 I shot on frame #1. I finished in 10th place at 200. Not bad I guess for a range I had never competed at. I’d be lying though if I said I hadn’t hoped to do better. Wayne’s performance was strong at 200 and he took the Grand Agg.



A view of the range, set-up for 100 yards:



My gun on the bags:







The club house, which was constructed in the mid-50’s.



Wayne being awarded the Grand Agg plaque by Match Director Ken Benton:



Like every road trip we take, Wayne and I downed more than a few beers.



Some historical photos of Pine Tree. The first two are from 1948, when they expanded to 10 benches. They now have 40.







-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[squawberryman]

Lee what was the dominant caliber in 1948?

[junebug]

Lee
As I understand it in benchrest you draw for table position and rotate during the matches. Is there a table position you really like, and one you really hate, such as against the berm. Or do you just look at each as another problem to figure out. I have talked to a lot of muzzleloading bench shooters and they tend to camp out in one place for the week. Have you ever been to Friendship Indiana for the spring or fall muzzleloading shoots? Its well worth the trip.

[Lee Martin]

Sept 8, 2023 7:56:28 GMT -5 squawberryman said:

Lee what was the dominant caliber in 1948?

Greg - back then, most folks were shooting wildcats. The .219 Donaldson Wasp was probably the most dominant. Other wildcats included the .22 Varminter (later commercialized as the .22-250) and the .22 Marciante Blue Streak. When the .222 Remington was released in the early 1950's, a lot of guys switched to that.

About 30 years ago, my dad built a period correct BR rig on an accurized Mauser '98 (which a lot of guys shot in the 40's and 50's). It's chambered in .219 Donaldson Wasp and fit with a Hart barrel and Unertl scope.



It won't hang with modern benchrest rifles, but shoots surprisingly small.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Sept 8, 2023 11:18:03 GMT -5 junebug said:

Lee
As I understand it in benchrest you draw for table position and rotate during the matches. Is there a table position you really like, and one you really hate, such as against the berm. Or do you just look at each as another problem to figure out. I have talked to a lot of muzzleloading bench shooters and they tend to camp out in one place for the week. Have you ever been to Friendship Indiana for the spring or fall muzzleloading shoots? Its well worth the trip.

For standard matches, we rotate benches in between yardages. At the National events, we rotate after every target. Each range is different, so there's no set preferred location. Usually at the ends when they're lined with trees helps. But that doesn't always hold. Some ranges have valleys between the bench and target, and those can present problems. Air hitting berms can also be trouble. So basically, each range is unique.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[junebug]

Thanks for the answer Lee. That's kind of what I though but never hurts to ask people who actually do benchrest. With the blackpowder they shoot, have to carry the gun back to the loading area, clean , reload, carry it back to the bench, re-establish position, prime and shoot, for every shot. You get quite a workout with a 40-45# gun. A friend and his wife, he's gone now [who were both national champions ] said he shot 150 grs of powder per shot in his 45# 54 caliber bench gun. He also said they were very wind sensitive. Friendship also has some, very challenging winds.

[Lee Martin]

Match #178
Black Creek Gun Club, Mechanicsville, VA
IBS 100/100 Yard Agg VFS

This was the second 100/100 yard agg match I held at Black Creek in 2023. Each year, the first is in June, the second is on Labor Day weekend. We had 17 competitors show for what turned out to be a very nice day. Temps were in the 70s and the wind was very light. The same cannot be said for the mirage we experienced. It was brutal at times. At full shiver, the reticles bounced just over a ring. Normally what I do is wait for the wind to pick up and blow the mirage out. Then I find my POA, wait for the condition I want, and shoot. However, the wind was so light it rarely cut the mirage. Staying on the 10-ring wasn’t hard, but hitting X’s was. I missed a bunch by the smallest amount. Michael Poole found his way through it though and won the agg. Bill Frisch got me on the tie-breaker for 3rd.

On a sad note, Kay C. Young, the gentleman who built and owned Black Creek, passed away the following day at age 88. He was an accomplished shooter, gunsmith, and all-around great person. He’ll be missed. I’ve decided to make next year’s June 100/100 yard event the “Kay C. Young Memorial” match.



____________________________________________________________________________

Match #179
Fairfax Rod & Gun Club, Manassas, VA
IBS 200 Yard VFS

At New York, I really struggled at 200 yards. I typically shoot my back-up .30 Stingray for longer distances because it wears a 50X scope. My action has a 40X. I also noticed the rounds were a little tight chambering up there. When I got home, I bore-scoped the barrel and found what I expected. There was a significant carbon ring right at the top of the neck. It was wide and glazed. The lead and rifling were void of carbon, so my cleaning regiment worked there. This is the first time I’ve encountered this. Not sure why it just appeared, but it hurt accuracy. Now there are a few ways to remove such rings. A lot of guys use abrasive paste like JB or Iosso. And while they work great, I prefer not going the abrasive route. Instead, I did the following:

1) Wet a couple of patches with Kroil penetrating oil and soak the neck area. I let that sit for 2 hours
2) Then I take a used .41-caliber bronze brush soaked in Kroil and short stroke the neck about 25 times.
3) Clean the gun with Kroil followed by ProShot 4.0

Upon re-inspection with my borescope, the carbon was completely gone.

I took the gun to the 200 yard Fairfax match and it went right back to shooting tight. My 250-10X was a solid score and good enough for 3rd place. Rick Hudak and Ed Niazi were on a line. It was hard to catch-up to the scores there were posting.



My gun on the bags:





View of the field behind another competitor’s rifle:



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"