Building a benchrest rifle

[Lee Martin]

.30 Stingray Loading Block

My good friend Chris Allen recently got his FFL and went into the precision rifle building business (RVA Precision Rifles). He does custom benchrest stocks, barrel chambering, custom bullet making, wing flags, and accessories using a 3-D printer. His website will be up soon, but if you’re interested in a custom rifle and are in the Mid-Atlantic region, PM me. I can give you his contact information. His work is first rate (as evidenced by all the benchrest victories his guns have obtained).

Chris was kind enough to make me a loading block for my .30 Stingray (it also works with 6 PPC). I sent him a JPEG of my .30 Stingray logo, and he printed it on both ends. The neat thing about the logo is it contains no ink or paint. He glued different colors of plastic together and cut through them to create the contrasts (varying cutting depth of course). And for good measure, he added a digital timer, so I always know where I am on match time limits.







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

[Lee Martin]

Match #203
Black Creek Gun Club, Mechanicsville, VA
IBS VFS 100 Yards

We had another nice turnout for what could only be described as perfect weather. Light wind and temperatures in the 80’s. Twenty-four competitors took a stab at Black Creek and the win went to Tori Allen. She’s the daughter of fellow competitor and good friend Chris Allen. Tori shot with us a few years back and won a lot of matches. She’s 18 now and hasn’t lost a step. This was her farewell match before heading off to college and she went out with another victory. My gun was on, but not enough to catch her. I finished in 2nd place and was glad to see her get the win.



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Match #204
Fairfax Rod & Gun Club, Manassas, VA
IBS VFS 200 Yards

If I haven’t mentioned it before, 200 yards is my favorite distance. While I have more victories at 100, I feel I learn more about holding off at 200. More flags to watch, more time for the wind to bend bullets, etc. Like Black Creek, we had a good turnout for a very humid, but manageable day on the wind front. It would pick up occasionally, but gave lot of repeatable windows to shoot in. I used three holds throughout after zeroing my scope on warm up. Mild, twitching of the flag tails was a center hold. Mild right-to-left was 4:00 on the ten-ring. Mild left-to-right was 10:00 on the ten-ring. I used orange (ie, right wind) the most but got green to work too. I never touched the trigger on anything hard except to test sighters. The strategy worked as I was able to win the match with a 250-13X.





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

[jwp475]

CONGRATULATIONS!👍

[Lee Martin]

Match #205
Black Creek Gun Club, Mechanicsville, VA
IBS VFS 100/100 Yards Agg Match

This was the second and last 100/100 Yard agg match for 2024 at Black Creek. I began holding these twice a year starting in 2021 and they’ve drawn well. This time around, 23 competitors came for what could’ve been a wet day. The forecast called for steady rain and gusting winds by noon. Fortunately, this never materialized. We had a few sprinkles at 1:00 and the winds increased mid-day, but that’s it.

My gun was on….and I mean really-on. I took every X from the warm-up through target #4. Would the elusive 25X finally come my way? I went into the last frame and no one said a word about shooting a perfect 250-25X (something that has only been done a few dozen times since 1970). Prior to this match, I had shot 24 X’s, 9 times (called a "Screamer"). But there was never much pressure on any of those. For 8 of them I dropped the X on the first target. The 9th I dropped it on the second paper. All that said, I didn’t feel much anxiety. Just trust the gun. I fired three shots into the sighter to start and they went in one hold on the X. I came up and wiped out the X’s on the first two bulls. The flags looked like they were staying put, so I went to bull #3. A few seconds after I broke the trigger, I heard John Whorley, who was watching through his spotting scope, say – “Uhhhh……man”. And I knew why he did. As the gun recoiled, I peeked at the field with my right eye and saw the flag at 75 yards blowing hard red. In fact, the propeller was spinning fast enough, I worried I had shot a 9. Peering through the scope, I saw the bullet printed at 10:00 just off the dot. It didn’t miss by much, but it was just enough. Had I pulled the trigger a couple of seconds sooner, I likely would’ve got the X. Timing can be everything. I finished by nailing the last two X’s, for a Screamer 250-24X score. That was enough for the win. That’s ten times now coming within one shot of 25 X’s. Hopefully, one of these days it’ll happen.

We rotated eight benches and went into the second match. With trickier wind at hand, my gun stayed course. I finished with a 250-22X, which again secured the win. Combined, I had a Grand Agg victory with a 500-46X. Chris Allen took 2nd and Scott Decker was third.



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

[jwp475]

Excellent shooting!

[Lee Martin]

Match #206
Fairfax Rod & Gun Club, Manassas, VA
IBS Nationals 100/200 Yards
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For the second time in 4 years, the IBS held their 100/200 Yard Nationals at Fairfax Rod & Gun Club. This is my home range, so I hoped to place well. In 2021, I took 3rd overall in the Aggregate but had no yardage wins. That would change in 2024.

We had a strong turnout, with competitors coming from Maine, North & South Carolinas, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Connecticut to name a few. The weekend was dry, not too hot, and ‘active’ on the wind front. Mostly left-to-right blow, which is the hardest to work with at Fairfax. We began with 100 yards on Saturday. My gun went right back to doing what it did at Black Creek the week prior. On record targets 1 thru 4 I hit every X. For the second straight week, I went into the last target with a chance to shoot a perfect 25X. Three sighters on the test box stuck the X every time. I moved to the record bulls, nailed the first two, came over to the third, eyed the flags, liked what I saw, pulled the trigger, and....to my dismay, the shot went off the X at 10:00 by a few hundredths. It was a mirror image of bull #3 on target 5 from the prior week. When I got home, I overlaid the targets and they were nearly identical. I hit the last two X’s with ease and earned another screamer (24X’s). That makes 11 screamers, or put another way, 11 times failing to get the elusive perfect 25X. It was enough for the win however, which meant a lot. Sure, I would’ve loved to get that 250-25X at my home range AND at the Nationals. But the win did give me my first Hall of Fame point. Only 9 more to go .

Sunday dealt even tougher wind for 200 yards. So tricky in fact, only 3 shooters were able to stay clean. I dropped a point on a shot I wish I could have back. The clock was ticking down and I forced one when I probably didn’t need to. I was holding off on green, but didn’t shade enough. It went out the right side of the 10-ring by a bit. The wind died down immediately after I forced it. Had I only waited a few more seconds. Then again, the wind could’ve started howling even more. There’s an element of guesswork in shot timing. I was able to take 4th place in the Grand Agg however. I was pleased.

The highlight for many of us was watching Kevin Roark win the 200-yard match and Grand Agg. Kevin is a Virginia shooter who started with us at Black Creek in 2023. He’s come on strong in benchrest and is an all-around fine person.

My take for the weekend. A first-place plaque and patch for the 100-yard win, five match pins, a Top 5 agg award, a Top 20 agg patch, and another screamer sticker:



Top 20 Grand Agg VFS:



Wayne and I setting up the backing board lines Friday morning at 100 yards:



Mike Morgan waiting for the call of “Commence Fire”:





The wailing wall:



Wayne France and Jim Cline handing out awards late Sunday afternoon:



And then it was all over. Match Director Wayne France put on a great show as usual. As he and I left the range, I snapped a scenic photo of the pond at Fairfax Rod & Gun Club.



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

[Lee Martin]

Match #207
Lincoln County Gun Club, Damariscotta, ME
IBS Nationals 200/300 Yards

This year’s IBS 200/300 yard Nationals were held at what I consider the toughest range on the circuit – Lincoln County Gun Club in Damariscotta, Maine. Located under 2 miles from the Atlantic ocean, the wind there is fierce, unpredictable, and constantly changing directions. While I’ve shot OK here in my previous four trips, I’ve never left feeling great about my performance. This year was no exception.

We started with 200 yards on Saturday and in typical fashion the wind was all over the place. I hung in decent enough. There were a couple of holds that held up throughout the day, but I was caught twice. I finished in 10th place with a 248-5X score. Gary Slawik took the yardage with a stout 249-10X.

I've talked before about 300 yards being a weakness of mine. I don’t get to shoot the distance much and the places I do compete at 300 are downright difficult. Once again, I took my lumps. I'd find things that worked on the sighter that didn’t stay put on records. The wind flipped that fast. I placed 26th position with a 244-3X. Mike Dunn, a fellow shooter from Virginia who rode up with Wayne France and I, won 300 with a stellar 250-7X. It was only the 17th time since 1994 someone stayed clean at 300 at Damariscotta.

Overall, it was a good year for Virginia and the VFS Nationals. Of the 6 VFS awards granted, 4 winners came out of Virginia.

Flag setting Friday afternoon:









Saturday night they cooked lobsters and clams:



Wayne and never travel for benchrest without the “Jar” (taken Saturday night after the match):



Mike Dunn with his 300-yard awards:



The closing ceremony:





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Match #208
Fairfax Rod & Gun Club, Manassas, VA
IBS 200 Yards VFS

Somedays things just click, and this was one of them. We had mild conditions but only 9 shooters in attendance. I knew on the warm-up target my gun was working. It took four X’s with the same hold. The fifth shot didn’t miss by much. This continued on the first two record targets with back-to-back 50-4X’s. That’s solid for 200 yards. The wind picked up more as the day went on and my X counts dropped, but not enough to knock me out of 1st. For the second month in a row at Fairfax, I won 200 yard matches with a 250-13X.





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

[Lee Martin]

Match #209
Black Creek Gun Club, Mechanicsville, VA
IBS 100 Yards VFS

November kicked off our 2024 Black Creek Winter League. The series runs through March and your best 4 out of 5 scores are counted towards the championship. I’ve taken the award four straight years and five out of the last six. I always want to get off to a good start. Having your first match be the throw away puts pressure on the other four. We had 19 shooters on a crisp day with switchy wind. But the air wasn’t egregious. You just had to be patient and pick your windows. My gun proved capable of shooting through a host of mild conditions. As long as I stayed away from sustained push, I could hold on the dot and get X’s. I missed only 3 and my 250-22X was good enough for the win.





I earlier mentioned that 4 of the 6 IBS Score VFS Nationals winners came out of Black Creek. Mike Dunn suggested we take a photo of the three winners.

Left-to-Right – me (100 yards), Kevin Roark (200 yards & 100/200 agg), and Mike Dunn (300 yards):



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Match #210
Fairfax Rod & Gun Club, Manassas, VA
UBR 100/200 Yards VFS

Wayne France decided that his UBR Winter League would be 100/200 yard aggregate events. Which appealed to me. More yardages, more chances to win. Eighteen shooters attended for a cold and windy day at Fairfax. We shot 200 yards first, and I struggled. The gun was working, but my POAs weren’t; at least not consistently. I’d nail 10’s or X’s, then get caught on wind shifts and blow a 9. I finished in 11th place at 200 and was pissed. Wayne Shaw, using a .22 PPC, cleaned house and won the yardage.

Shrugging off my lackluster performance at 200, I focused more at 100 and got off to a fast start. That continued throughout and I won the leg with a 3 point gap over 2nd place. That was good enough to get me 3rd place in the agg. All the more reason to never give up when things aren’t working. Wayne Shaw won the aggregate and Dick Powers took 2nd. This gave me my 55th win since entering benchrest in 2016. My top goal has always been to shoot a 250-25X at 100 yards. My secondary goal is to someday get 100 wins.

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