Prone in the Wilderness

Bedding my Anschutz 1913

2011-11-18T23:15:00.001-06:00

I'm a bit of a sentimentalist when it comes to my rifle. While I can certainly appreciate the skill and creativity needed to design and produce modern aluminum stocks, to my mind they lack a certain . . . soul.

Don't get me wrong -- the season I used an Anschutz 2213 stock I really enjoyed it, even if I found it a little heavy with a center of gravity a little more forward than I was used to.

What I really liked was the adjustability of the cheek piece. I could never bring myself to reshape the cheek piece on my old free rifle stock anyway, but I found the squared-off cheek piece on the aluminum stock comfy and great for maintaining a consistent head position.

Earlier this year I swapped stocks with another shooter. He wanted my older free rifle stock because he felt his newer stock was too adjustable. I was only too happy to trade -- his stock had the cheek piece I liked and the wood a nice grain and colour.

It was the best of both worlds and proved it this summer at the only match I shot, the first day of the Metric 3200 in Minneapolis. Satisfied that it was a keeper, I decided that it was time to send the rifle off to be pillar bedded.

Pillar bedding improves a rifle in two important ways: the epoxy bedding isolates the action from any warping of the stock caused by moisture and the action screw pillars ensure that the action screw torque settings remain consistent.

I asked around and heard that a part-time gunsmith in Calgary, Henry Rempel, had lots of experience building long-range F-Class rifles, so I sent him an email. He agreed to pillar bed my rifle so I packaged it up and handed it over to Canada Post for the 1700 km trip west.

The unbedded stock looking forward…

… and looking to the rear.

Henry confirmed the safe arrival of my rifle but I got busy at work and before I knew it, another email arrived from him telling me that he'd mailed it on the weekend and that I should watch for it. Nice!

It arrived four days later and I unwrapped it eagerly. Everything looked good so I popped the action and took a closer look:

Top down view of the bedding

Henry even bedded the underside of the rear action screw -- that never occurred to me

Being as it's fall and I live in NW Ontario, getting out to the range before the snow arrived was a concern, and work wasn't making it easy. I finally snuck out after the Remembrance Day parade, and after a few fouling shots fired some sighting groups.

The wind was gusty so I had to wait a bit, but I finally fired this group at 20 yards:

4 shots -- works for me

I didn't bother going out to 50 yards because it's the winter indoor season and these matches are shot at 20 yards and I wanted to get them more-or-less in the middle.

My first real chance to shoot in a match isn't until early January, which gives me lots of time to spend on the CURT simulator. And now that I know my rifle I sighted in it won't bug me, either.

Photos and recap of Canada's rifle shooters at the Pan-Am Games

2011-10-28T10:10:00.000-05:00

Well, let's be honest -- it wasn't a great Pan-Am Games for Canada's shooters. The Pan-Ams have been both our last and best chance to earn a quota spot for the Olympic Games for many years. In the end, we came away with one quota spot in Women's Air Pistol thanks to Dorothy Ludwig's gold medal -- nice job!

But for whatever reason, none of our rifle shooters found their way to the podium. Here's a recap of our results, along with the best photos I could find from the Tiro Jalisco Facebook page.

Men's Air Rifle
The air rifle/pistol hall looks quite nice, if a little echo-y.

1. Matt Rawlings, USA     595 + 101.7 = 696.7
5. Cory Neifer, CAN       588 + 100.3 = 688.3
16. Greg Sych, CAN    579

Cory Neifer - Air Rifle

Greg Sych - Air Rifle

Here's Cory (fourth from left) in the Men's Air Rifle finals

Women's Air Rifle
1. Emily Caruso, USA           396 + 101.8 = 497.8
13. Monica Fyfe, CAN          388
25. Cynthia Hamulas, CAN    381

Monica Fyfe - Air Rifle

I couldn't find a clear photo of Cynthia, sorry.

Men's Prone Rifle

It was a windy day for Men's Prone and the scores reflect the conditions.

1. Michael McPhail, USA       591 + 101.2 = 693.2
10. Michel Dion, CAN           582
11. Johannes Sauer, CAN        581

Michel Dion - Prone practice

Johannes Sauer - Prone practice

Men's 3-Position Rifle
Check out the fog at the start! It apparently hovered during sighting and then dropped as shooters were moving to score.

1. Jason Parker, USA 1155 + 94.1 = 1249.1
7. Greg Sych, CAN 1143 + 97.2 = 1240.2

Foggy start to 3-Position

Greg Sych - 3-Position, Kneeling practice

Greg shooting kneeling in competition

Greg shooting standing in competition

Women's 3-Position Rifle
The women had a nice day for their event.

1. Diane Perez, CUB          576 + 95.6 = 671.6
13. Sharon Bowes, CAN      562
17. Monica Fyfe, CAN        560

Sharon Bowes - Shooting the prone component of Women's 3-Position

Here's a familiar picture -- Sharon still shooting prone while everyone else has moved on to standing ;)

Monica Fyfe shooting standing

Sharon finishing standing while Monica (left) takes a break

If I find time on the weekend I'll try and pull up match scores over the last year or so for our rifle athletes to give some perspective on their performances, particularly as they compare to the cut scores for the national team.

If you're on Facebook, check out all the photo albums on the Tiro Jalisco page.

Pan-Am Games shooting schedule

2011-10-16T16:45:00.000-05:00

And we're off! The shooting events begin today at the Pan-Am Games in Guadalajara. With a bunch of Olympic quota sports up for grabs, the action should be intense.

Here's the schedule:

October 16 - Men's and Women's Air Pistol
October 17 - Men's and Women's Air Rifle
October 18 - Men's Free Pistol, Women's Trap
October 19 - Women's Sport Pistol, Men's Prone Rifle, Men's Trap
October 20 - Men's Double Trap
October 21 - Men's 3-Position Rifle, Women's Skeet
October 22 - Men's Rapid Fire Pistol, Women's 3-Position Rifle, Men's Skeet

You can watch the non-shotgun events live at SUIS-Ascor Shooting Results.

Go Canada!

Canada's Pan-Am Games rifle medalists

2011-10-13T14:28:00.000-05:00

Shooting has been part of the Pan-Am Games since the first one in Buenos Aires in 1951. It's also been an important event for shooters for many years -- especially now that they're the last chance for Canadian shooters to earn a quota sport for the Olympics.

Canada has never really been a dominant player in international shooting. While we've had a number of stand-out shooting athletes we're never really appeared consistently on podiums over the years.

That said, we've won a respectable number of rifle shooting medals at the Pan-Ams over the years. Go Canada!

Current events
The five rifle shooting competitions included in the present-day games are the Olympic events. I've included Wikipedia links for a description of each event.

Men's 50 metre Rifle, Prone
2007 - Gale Stewart, Bronze
1999 - Wayne Sorensen, Silver; Henry Gerow, Bronze
1995 - Michel Dion, Bronze
1987 - Patrick Vamplew, Gold; Jean-François Sénécal, Silver
1971 - Gil Boa, Silver; Alfons Mayer, Bronze
1967 - Alfons Mayer, Gold
1959 - Arthur Cook, Gold

Men's 50 metre Rifle, 3-Position
1991 - Mart Klepp, Bronze
1987 - Mart Klepp, Silver
1979 - Guy Lorion, Bronze
1967 - Gerry Ouellette, Silver
1959 - Gerry Ouellette, Silver

Men's 10 metre Air Rifle
1999 - Wayne Sorenson, Bronze
1995 - Jean-François Sénécal, Silver
1991 - Guy Lorion, Bronze
1987 - Guy Lorion, Gold
1983 - Guy Lorion, Bronze
1979 - Guy Lorion, Gold; Michell Kurt, Bronze

Women's 50 metre Rifle, 3-Position
1999 - Christina Ashcroft, Bronze
1995 - Sharon Bowes, Silver
1991 - Christina Ashcroft, Bronze
1983 - Christina Schulze, Bronze

Women's 10 metre Air Rifle
1999 - Sharon Bowes, Silver
1991 - Sharon Bowes, Bronze
1987 - Sharon Bowes, Gold

Discontinued events
A number of events have been discontinued over the years. Mostly team events, there were also 300 metre and high-power (long range) events in various games.

Men's 50 metre Rifle, 3-Position - Team
1987 - Canada, Silver
1983 - Canada, Bronze
1979 - Canada, Silver
1975 - Canada, Bronze
1967 - Canada, Silver
1963 - Canada, Silver
1959 - Canada, Bronze

Men's 50 metre Rifle, Prone - Team
1987 - Canada, Gold
1983 - Canada, Silver
1971 - Canada, Bronze
1967 - Canada, Silver
1959 - Canada, Bronze

Men's 10 metre Air Rifle - Team
1995 - Canada, Silver
1991 - Canada, Gold
1987 - Canada, Gold
1983 - Canada, Silver

Men's 50 metre Rifle, Kneeling
1991 - Mart Klepp, Silver
1959 - Gerry Ouellette, Bronze

Men's 50 metre Rifle, Standing
1959 - Gerry Ouellette, Bronze

Men's 50 metre Rifle, Kneeling - Team
1959 - Canada, Bronze

Men's 50 metre Rifle, Standing - Team
1959 - Canada, Bronze

Men's Free Rifle, 3-Position
1959 - Gerry Ouellette, Gold; Clark White, Bronze

Men's Free Rifle, 3-Position - Team
1959 - Canada, Gold

Men's 50 metre Running Target
1987 - Mark Badlington, Bronze

Men's 50 metre High Power Rifle, 3-Position
1963 - Clint Dahlstrom, Bronze

Men's 50 metre High Power Rifle, 3-Position - Team
1983 - Canada, Silver

Men's 50 metre High Power Rifle, Prone
1983 - Pat Vamplew, Bronze
1959 - Clark White, Bronze

Men's 50 metre High Power Rifle, Prone - Team
1983 - Canada, Silver

Women's 50 metre Rifle, Prone
1991 - Christina Ashcroft, Silver
1987 - Joeller Fefer, Bronze

Women's 50 metre Rifle, Prone - Team
1983 - Canada, Bronze

Women's 10 metre Air Rifle - Team
1991 - Canada, Silver
1983 - Canada, Silver

For a complete breakdown of Pan-Am Games shooting medals, check out HickokSports.com.

Team Canada at the World Long Range Championships

2011-10-08T23:20:00.002-05:00

While I've never competed beyond 100 yards, the guys and girls shooting at the World Long Range Championships in Brisbane, Australia, don't even roll out of bed until the targets are at least 300 yards out -- and they go all the way to 1000 yards. Yikes!

A large contingent of Canadian shooters are now in Oz and proudly flying the Maple Leaf. Here's a link to their team blog:

canadianrifletourtobrisbane.blogspot.com

This should be fun! You can also check out the daily recap of scores on the National Rifle Association of Australia's website here:

www.2011.nraa.com.au/results

Go Canada!

30th Canadian Airgun Grand Prix

2011-10-06T20:44:00.002-05:00

What are you doing the weekend of February 24-26?

Warming up for the Pan-Am Games

2011-10-01T19:13:00.001-05:00

A number of Canada's rifle shooters heading to the Pan-Am Games in Mexico in a couple of weeks fine-tuned their form at the 2011 Champions of Champions match hosted by the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit in Fort Benning, Georgia, last week.

Our main prone shooters shot in the low 590s. Olympian Johan Sauer's 1184 was enough for eighth place while Michel Dion was just behind with an 1183.

This was right around their performance at the nationals in August. Johan qualified for the finals, where he shot an excellent 103.7 -- one of three to tie on that score in the final. Eric Uptagrafft won the match with a sterling 11197 + 102.0.

The other team shooter at Fort Benning was Greg Sych. Greg has focused more on 3-P than prone over the last few seasons and his 1173 wasn't nearly as consistent as Johan or Michel's scores.

In 3-P, Greg shot a solid 2297, although he was a long way back of the match winner, USAMU shooter Joe Hein and his 2343 + 100.3. Hein clawed back to win the match in the final round by 0.1 points over Mike McPhail.

Four non-Pan Am team members made the trip to Georgia as well. Olympian Pat Vamplew finished with a 1183, while Glynn Loftin posted an 1169, Asmir Arifovic an 1161 and Michael Wong-Shui an 1155.

Pat, Glynn and Michael are members of the National Development Team so maybe they're staying current in case they're picked as alternates.

Here's a link to the complete results on the USA Shooting website.

It's interesting that no one fired a National Team-level score at the match, despite the conditions and quality of the range.

Four members of the Pan-Am team didn't attend: Sharon Bowes, Monica Fyfe, Cindy Hamulas and Cory Neifer. I know they're all training hard!

Testing my Weihrauch HW30S air rifle

2011-09-14T09:59:00.001-05:00

I bought my HW30s a little over two years ago just as I was getting back into shooting. I'd always wanted a nice, German-made air rifle and the HW30s fit my budget at the time -- and since it was less than 500 fps I could avoid the whole long gun registry schmozzle, too.

Now that my smallbore shooting season is over, I decided to scope the HW30s and see what kind of groups I could get it to shoot. I am not a scope shooter, and I've spent even less time shooting off a support of any kind.

A while back I purchased a low-end Hawke Sport HD 3-9x40 for my Anschutz 190 sporter rifle so I could take my son to the range. Now that it's bear season and I'm avoiding the range, I decided to move the scope to the HW30s and see how it worked.

On Sunday morning I set up a target in my driveway, put down my old shooting mat, set up the pedestal rest and rear bag and shot a series of targets at 30 and 50 feet. I used JSB Match Diabolo .177 pellets and pleasantly surprised myself.

My range set up -- the backer board is a piece of styrofoam home insulation

Shooting position

It took me 15 shots to get zeroed in -- and used to the set up -- shooting five-shot groups and adjusting after each group. My best target measured 0.353" centre-to-centre, which I know isn't great, but at least they were all touching.

I decided it was time to stretch things out a bit so I moved back to 50 feet. I know target air rifles are optimized for the Olympic range of 10 metres (or 33 feet), but I wanted to see what my break-barrel could do.

I was surprised because the groups were more or less centred. There's a lot of vertical but I suspect that's due more to my crappy technique than inconsistent velocity -- but you never know.

Getting a little bored with supported shooting, I decided to up the ante and try off-hand. First up was my bread and butter: prone. I normally shoot with a sling and an exceptionally light trigger, and the Hw30s stock isn't designed for prone, so it was a bit of a reach for my finger.

Prone at 50 feet

I switched to sitting for the next target, although I didn't cross my legs and braced my elbows on the outside of my knees. I don't shoot this way very often and I don't do field target, so I know there's lots of room for improvement here.

Sitting at 50 feet

I wrapped the session my giving standing a go. I did my best to get into a proper, international-style standing position, but I've never been trained for standing and I was all over the place, even when I dialled the scope back to 4X.

Standing at 50 feet

I find it interesting that my zero hardly moved from 30 to 50 feet as I thought the pellet would drop more quickly at the longer distance. I was also surprised at how much the centre of my groups climbed in sitting and then again in standing, as opposed to prone. I'm not sure if eye relief with scopes changes point of impact as much as it does with iron sights, but I guess it's a possibility.

I also bought a new air rifle for my son and tested it the same day, but that's another report.

Canada's Pan-Am Games shooting atheletes chosen

2011-09-04T19:18:00.001-05:00

I missed this last week, but the Shooting Federation of Canada announced the members of Canada's Pan-Am Games shooting team on September 2.

Here's who made the cut:

Pistol Team
Metodi Igorov
Dorothy Ludwig
Sylvain Ouellette
Violetta Szyszkowski
Lea Wachowich

Rifle Team
Sharon Bowes
Michel Dion
Monica Fyfe
Cindy Hamulas
Cory Niefer
Johan Sauer
Greg Sych

Skeet Team
Jason Caswell
Richard McBride

Trap Team
Lindsay Boddez
Susan Nattrass
Drew Shaw
Paul Shaw

I was fortunate to be able to train alongside both Sharon Bowes and Greg Sych when I lived in southern Ontario and they're both top notch. I know Monica from shooting in Winnipeg, although now she's living the high life down south on the Jacksonville State University Rifle Team.

The XVI Pan-American Games are scheduled for October 14-30 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Canada has a pretty good track record in shooting at the Pan-Am Games over the years. It's also our last chance to earn quota spots for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Go Canada go!

Walther photo album

2011-08-17T11:56:00.004-05:00

I stumbled across an interesting link on the Walther website this morning that features pictures taken of top international shooters using Walther equipment:

Bilder, Berichte und Infos

It translates as "Images, reports and information" which seems like a pretty basic translation, but my German was never much good so who knows?

Anyway, the pictures are great for getting a sense of the amazing variety between shooters of the basic positions. Some shooters are hunched over the sights, others seem to be cradling their rifle and others seem to have necks like giraffes.

It's always cool to see what other shooters are using for equipment, too.

I know that if I was in the market for a new rifle -- and I'm not, BTW -- a Walther would be right up there with any other choice.

Shooting in Minnesota -- finally!

2011-08-07T21:55:00.003-05:00

On Friday we packed up and headed south to Minneapolis for the 3200 Metric Prone match being held at the Minneapolis Rifle Club located just north of Elk River.

I was a little worried about going through U.S. Customs with my rifle, but they were so surprised to see an official ATF form that a four of them came out to see what I was bringing across. It took all five minutes to check the serial number, talk to them about the match, and get my official stamp -- and that was that. Almost too easy, but I wasn't complaining.

I found the range without getting lost Saturday morning -- woohoo! -- and was the third shooter to arrive. This meant I had the pick of spots and chose position eight as the flags seemed best placed for me there. It was misty, hot and humid when we started at 0900 sharp with no wind to speak off.

Misty and hot -- it hit 86 F on Saturday before humidity

I was a little worried about shooting NRA rules as I usually take 24-26 minutes for a relay when shooting ISSF targets, but the NRA only gives you 20 minutes for sighters and 20 record shots. It turns out I didn't need to worry as my slowest relay all day was 18 minutes.

Since this was a metric prone event, we shot the ISSF targets at 50 metres and the ISSF 300 metre reduced target at 100 yards. There was a lot of grumbling about the 50 metre targets as they're substantially more challenging than the NRA conventional 50 yard prone targets (ISSF 9-ring = NRA conventional 10-ring).

Looking downrange on my position

I haven't trained since the last years' nationals in July. I've dryfired a bit and worked some on the CURT simulator over the winter, but nothing serious. So I wasn't too sure how I'd fare, especially since I was using my new wooden free rifle stock for the first time.

As with the relay time, I didn't need to worry. The first match of the day was 40 shots at 50 metres, and I scored a 192-6x + 189-2x = 381-8x. Next up was the Dewar match, another 20 shots at 50 metres plus 20 shots at 100 yards. I've never shot at 100 yards before so I didn't really know what to expect, but with almost no wind everything went well and my Nesom flipover front sight worked great: 187-3x + 189-6x = 376-9x.

Looking down the line -- there were 13 shooters in total

After our second break of the morning, we stayed long for the third match, 40 shots at 100 yards. By this time the wind was starting to pick up beyond the 50 metre line, switching back and forth lazily with no real pattern. I got caught chasing myself the first target (the green filter didn't help, either) but I settled down the second and focused a little better: 181-1x + 187-3x = 368-4x.

We closed the day with the fourth match and some passing rain showers -- another 40 shots at 50 metres. My first target I set up too wide and fought to keep from falling off to the right but I was too stubborn to break position and rebuild it, especially with only 20 minutes on the relay. The second 20 felt better position wise, but the last 10 shots were really painful -- my left hand had had enough and no matter how I focused it really hurt so I shot between throbs and finished quickly: 187-4x + 188-3x = 375-7x.

Shooters checking their scores

So my aggregate score for my first ever 1600 match was a 1500-28x. It wasn't spectacular, but I wasn't the last shooter in my category either, and I don't think I embarrassed myself either. I did mention several times for anyone listening that I hadn't shot since last summer, so hopefully no one thought I was sandbagging it! And just as we finished the clouds opened up and it absolutely poured for about 15 minutes -- a good time to quit!

I was looking forward to returning on Sunday for another 1600, shooting irons while the others used their scopes, but my son developed a fever overnight and we decided to head home early instead. All in all, it was a great experience and the crew at the MRC are super friendly and very easy to get along with.

Saturday's results

I'd like to thank George Minerich, president of the Minnesota Rifle and Revolver Association for helping me with my ATF paperwork, Bruce Blahut for running the match, and the pleasure of shooting next to blogger Jim Evenson of Minnesota Rifle Shooting. Thanks, guys -- I'll be back next summer, if not sooner!

Addendum: It looks like Emily Quiner put on a clinic on Sunday to win the match! See Jim's complete report on the Minnesota Rifle Shooting blog plus a nice picture of me, too!

A rifle fit for my son

2011-07-31T22:01:00.000-05:00

Like most dads who own guns, I really like taking my son shooting. We both have a good time, no one argues and we come home happy.

But finding a rifle that fits a smallish boy can be challenging, especially on a limited budget. Last month when we were back east visiting my family, my dad pulled out a box and asked me if I still wanted my old air rifle. I opened it up and sure enough, it was my old Baikal IJ-38 .177 air rifle.

Baikal IJ-38 .177 cal. Air Rifle

I bought this air rifle in 1990 to replace a cheap Chinese air rifle that my grandfather had purchased for me -- much to the annoyance of my mother -- two years earlier, and which I had shot to the point of failure. I think I paid $95 for the Baikal, and it was a great air rifle. The stock fit perfect, the trigger was smooth and it was accurate.

The first thing I thought was that if I could cut the stock back it would make a great air rifle for my son. The next day my dad and I took the rifle out to his shop and cut about 2" of the butt. My son put it to his shoulder and the fit was perfect -- we were set!

Shortened buttplate -- I think the wood is birch

Getting it home was another issue, but I convinced my mother to package it up and mail it off and it arrived on Friday. I put a couple of pellets through it back east, just to see if it still held air, and everything seemed fine. But I know it needs some TLC before I hand it over to my son.

Minor rust spots on trigger assembly

Just in case you wondered where they made Baikals

Basic but functional sights -- these killed a lot of soup cans in their day

Nothing fancy to see here

Close up of trigger unit -- so basic but so smooth

Getting the rifle apart for maintenance is going to be uncharted ground for me, but my son's promised to help so it'll be fun to tear it apart with him.

It's look a little dry here

Once the rifle is all cleaned and lubed it should be great. The receiver dovetail is 11 mm, so my existing scope base from my HW30 slides right on.

I'll post more pictures once we start tearing it down.

"Boo-boo" at the range

2011-07-24T17:19:00.001-05:00

I had high hopes for a productive range session today: it was sunny but not too warm and the wind was manageable. I set up my target and the wind flags and began shooting off the bench, just to get the rifle sighted in.

I had just finished sighting in at 50 metres when I looked off to my left and found a yearling black bear cub staring back at me from about 15 feet. Crap!

We had met on the way back to the range: I honked and he scampered off into the woods. I warned some folks picking wild raspberries on the pistol range that a bear cub was in their area and they started making noise and didn't seem too concerned.

Knowing the bear was in the general vicinity, I set up and began shooting but kept my ear plugs out so I could listen. The cub must've circled around them -- they were making noise, after all -- and decided to come check me out to see if I had any snacks.

I hollered at him and squirted water from my bottle but he wouldn't move, so I put a couple of shots into the ground between his feet and he didn't move. I yelled some more and jumped up and down and he jogged across the range into the bush:

He still wouldn't go so I put a few more shots into the trees just over his head but he wouldn't move. I realized at this point that I had to leave, as I was getting worried about Yogi -- or likely, mum -- showing up.

The berry pickers had come over by this point and were making noise, too, so I was able to grab my gear and throw it into the truck -- but not before he stuck his head in my range bag. I had to knock over a metal shelving unit to scare him away at that point.

So not the kind of range session I wanted to have two weeks out from a match. I'm just glad that I hadn't got into position yet -- he could've wandered right up and nibbled on my foot before I knew what was happening!

I really need to test my flipover front sight, so I'll bring my wife as a spotter the next time I go up. And maybe bring an air horn and some bear spray, too. . . .

Sad news

2011-07-16T13:38:00.005-05:00

I was saddened to receive an email the other day saying that Rudy Schulze passed away recently.

Rudy was a leading figure in smallbore rifle shooting in Canada after WW2. One of the founding members of the Ontario Smallbore Federation (now merged into the CSSA), he was one of the first persons to import Anschutz rifles, European shooting equipment and target grade ammunition in Canada through his business, International Imports.

He was also a fine shot. As a member of the Canadian National Rifle Shooting team, he competed at the World Championships in 1966, was a medalist in the 1967 Pan-Am Games and a competitor in the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. His favourite 1413 rifle hung on the wall of his shop until the day he closed it down.

Like most gentlemen of earlier generations, Rudy was a fine storyteller with an excellent memory. I first met him in person in 1998 when I started shooting smallbore seriously. I lived in Kitchener just a few minutes from his shop and spent many wonderful hours talking to Rudy and looking through his scrapbooks. I hope his daughter, Christina -- herself a former national rifle team member -- looks after them.

Rudy was a big proponent of equipment testing, and owned what I believe was the first private shooting tunnel in Canada. At just over 50 metres in length and equipped with several electronic target hangers/receivers, it was a great place to test ammunition or go when you wanted some advice on your position. Losing that facility when he sold his business was a big loss to the shooting community in this country.

I asked Rudy one day why he had decided to immigrate to Canada from his native Germany. With a twinkle in his eye he said that he'd been lucky to be deployed to NW Europe in 1944 and that the Canadians that he'd "encountered" had been very nice to him. Rudy would've been 16 at that time so I'll let you fill in the blanks. With its large ethnic German population, Kitchener -- known as Berlin until 1916 -- was a logical place for him to end up.

I didn't know him as well as many others did, but he made an impression. Deep tens, Rudy, and thanks for the memories.

Carbon Fibre Bling

2011-03-31T13:26:00.004-05:00

I was feeling kind of bummed out last October so I decided to buy some bling for my rifle – a carbon fibre bloop tube. I’ve been using a 10” aluminum bloop tube from Champion’s Choice for a couple of years now and it’s been great. It comes on and off with no hassles and there’s almost no wander in the zero.

But the problem is that it’s not quite long enough. My eyes are really bad and I can’t see anything down range when I look outside my shooting lens. This includes the wind flags, which I always try to position between my rear and front sights. This way I can keep an eye on them without lifting my head.

With my 27” barrel plus 10” tube and my 22 mm front tunnel, I don’t have a lot of white space to track flags, especially if they’re not already in the right place. And since I wanted to start using my Nesom flipover front sight this year, I knew I’d need a longer tube to keep the same amount of white space.

So when I saw Brian Johnson’s ad on targettalk.org for custom carbon fibre tubes, I jumped on it and ordered a 14” tube with a 2” dovetail up front. I figured this would give me some wiggle room if I didn’t like the Nesom sight or wanted to experiment with my regular front tunnel.

The attraction of carbon fibre is its low weight and strength. I’ve ridden a carbon fibre / steel road bicycle for years and it’s amazing. But I didn’t want a heavy tube hanging off the front of my rifle and carbon fibre seemed like a great solution.

I was pretty excited to open the tube when it arrived from Brian in a large, foam-lined box. The tube is pretty typical carbon fibre with a nice weave that glows in the sunlight – very cool! The tube is glued in place using industrial adhesive and looks just as straight as my old tube.

The aluminum dovetail on the end is finished nicely and the dovetail itself isn’t too wide – both of my Gehmann front tunnels, all of my riser blocks and the Nesom front sight slid on easily.

The slick part – for me, anyway – is the mounting block set-up. Brian’s used a pin on a locating collar to ensure that the tube mates consistently every time it’s installed on the barrel. And if you’re shooting scope, you can flip the tube over and the pin nests inside a groove in the underside clamp. This will ensure consistent weight and balance when shooting any sight matches.

Installing the tube was a piece of cake. Brian takes your muzzle OD and adds 0.002” for a snug – but not too tight – fit. Levelling the tube was easy: I just mounted a front tunnel with bubble level and very carefully rotated the tube until everything was centred (my rifle was mounted on its bipod on my kitchen table).

Here’s how it looks all put together. I’ve mounted my Nesom front sight on a 14 mm Gehmann front riser block to give me the height I need.

The only downside, of course, is that it makes the rifle really long. I’ve really got to be careful moving around in position so I don’t smack the muzzle on the floor.

But I don’t feel the muzzle is being drawn down, either, so I’d say the light weight of the carbon fibre works just the way I hoped it would.

The only concern I have is possible warpage from the muzzle blast. Carbon fibre is tough but it is just fancy plastic, after all. Brian says he’s put thousands of rounds through his tubes and hasn’t noticed any warping, and he says that it’s okay to clean it with a regular 12 gauge shotgun brush.

I was hoping to make it to the March match in Winnipeg and provide an after action review of the tube but it didn’t happen. With April around the corner though, I should be able to make it outdoors for some testing in a couple of weeks and will post a follow-up once I’ve put some rounds through it.

If you want to add some bling to your rifle, send Brian an email at carbonfiberblooptube at gmail.com.

Yet another learning experience

2011-02-28T21:58:00.001-06:00

I blogged this time last year about the stress and worry I experienced when I took my air cadet squadron’s marksmanship team to our zone match. It was both an exhilarating and exhausting match but the cadets shot much better than they did the year before and so were very happy with their performance.

The run-up to this year’s match was no less stressful, mainly because we couldn’t practice. Our squadron only has one certified RSO and he’s been away on work since October. The CO of the local sea cadet corps chipped in to run our squadron marksmanship day in late January and we squeezed in two other firing practices in February and that was it.

It was also really disappointing, as I’d convinced the squadron to buy shooting jackets and gloves so the team would stand a better chance of advancing to the regional match in Winnipeg in April. But the cadets only got to try them on and have two practices before this year’s match.

The rules for unit teams are clear: you can have five shooters, two of whom must be juniors who won’t turn 15 before May 15 of the calendar year. If you don’t have two juniors a unit can pick three individuals to compete for the composite team at the regional match. This was all spelled out and I’d read all the orders, but when we arrived at the match it was quickly pointed out to me that we only had one junior.

Oops. I wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

But I didn't, and then I had to choose the three cadets that I thought could qualify for the regional match – before anyone had started shooting. So I made my choice, explained to the cadets how I had screwed up and then held my breath to see how they did – and it all worked out in the end.

Our top cadet finished fifth overall with a 346/400, a 27 point improvement over his 2010 performance – he was a happy camper and stands an excellent chance of advancing to the regional match. The other two cadets also shot well: one fired a 339/400 and finished ninth, a 32-point improvement over 2010; the other fired a 338/400 for tenth place, a whopping 46-point improvement over 2010!

In the end, our unofficial team score of 1340 (top four of five, including the top junior, count for the team overall) would’ve earned us third place. We were 12 points out of second and just 32 points behind first place – a 112-point improvement over last year and a 338-point jump since I started coaching the team. Nice!

The team + me

So needless to say, I’m pretty proud of them. I should be in uniform and have my RSO certification by next November, so our only obstacle to winning next year should be funding to rent time to train. Every time we shoot we do so much better that it just propels the cadets along, which is great to see. Look out 2012!

Back on the CURT train

2011-02-19T15:23:00.000-06:00

I’ve been borrowing a CURT shooting simulator for almost two years now, and it’s definitely made a big difference in the quality and consistency of my performance – so long as I actually use it. I do dryfire when I want to be social, but man it’s boring.

Last year I struggled with CURT because I tried to run it through my Windows XP laptop by using a serial-to-USB adapter. Sometimes it worked, but most times it didn’t. I guess the old software just didn’t like the new tech.

So after Christmas I fired up my old steam-driven Windows 95 laptop and wouldn’t you know it? All of sudden CURT worked again. The only downside is that I can’t replay shots on the old laptop, so I’m stuck using it as scoring simulator.

My first session on date was the first time I’d used it since switching back to my wood free rifle stock. I had been tinkering with my position for a while (raising the cheek piece and adding riser blocks) so it was the first test:

January 30 CURT Session

I wasn’t crazy about my head position: when I closed my eyes the front sight would drift off to the left, so I offset the riser blocks, raised the cheek piece a smidge and everything settled into place nicely. I tested the changes in a couple dryfire sessions and it seemed solid.

So I kissed my wife and disappeared into the basement today and hooked up the CURT. My first 10 shots were lost when CURT crashed, but I captured the next 40. By and large I’m okay with the results, although I had a few flyers that got away from me due to poor focus.

February 19 CURT Session

My natural point of alignment still wants to wander off to the right, however, which is a little vexing, especially because I’m not sure what’s causing it. My right elbow is likely the main culprit and I might set up the video camera to watch myself shoot and see how much it moves from shot to shot.

Surprise winners in individual air rifle match

2011-02-17T13:09:00.000-06:00

Wow! Did I ever pick 'em wrong for the individual air rifle matches at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax -- good thing I'm not a betting man.

In the men's air rifle, Mack Kohl of Saskatchewan soared over Chris Baldwin of Ontario to take the gold medal. Mack posted a 581 in the elimination round and a solid 99.5 in the final for a 680.5 total. Why was this a surprise? Because he only fired a 558 in the team event on Monday -- that's a jump of 23 points! Chris fought him all the way, though, posting an excellent 102.0 in the final for a total of 679.0. And not to be forgotten, Ben Taylor of Newfoundland & Labrador grabbed bronze with a 672.1.

See the complete results of the individual male air rifle match here

The women's match was even more of a nailbiter. Connor Deneka of Manitoba fired a 385 to sit in first place after the elimination round, with Ashley Knockwood of New Brunswick one point back in second place and Saskatchewan girls Cassandra Wilson-Anderson and Aerial Arthur tied for third at 383. In the final, Aerial fired an excellent 103.7 to claim gold with a 486.7 total score, just 0.7 points ahead of Connor and her 101.0 final. Cassandra kept up the pressure throughout, leaving Ashley behind and claiming bronze with a 484.1.

See the complete results of the individual female air rifle match here

So, all in all, it was an exciting day of shooting at the games -- I'm glad I wasn't a parent sitting in the stands and trying not to squirm! Make sure you check out the Flickr photostream for pics from the events and congrats to all shooters!

Team air rifle results from 2011 Canada Winter Games

2011-02-15T15:10:00.001-06:00

The 2011 Canada Winter Games are currently underway in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the results are in from the male and female team air rifle event.

The girls from Saskatchewan, Cassandra Wilson-Anderson and Aerial Arthur, absolutely dominated the female team match, winning by 29 points and crushing the previous games record by 34 points. As a matter of fact, the top three teams all beat the previous match record. Nice job, girls!

See the Female Team Air Rifle results here

On the other side of the gender barrier, it took a countback to decide the winner of the male team match with Team Ontario (Chris Baldwin and Kyle Jackson) squeezing by Team Saskatchewan (Mack Kohl and Clayton Schlosser) for the gold. No records were broken in this match, although both teams did tie the existing record set in 2007.

See the Male Team Air Rifle results here

The Canada Winter Games team has set up a Flickr photostream and there's already a ton of pics there to look through.

The individual air rifle events are tomorrow (Wednesday) and they should be exciting. Wilson-Anderson and Baldwin are safe bets for gold in their respective events but don't hold your breath -- anything can happen in shooting!

Congrats to all medallists!

Back from the nationals

2010-07-22T23:20:00.002-05:00

It's been a little over a week now since I got home from the smallbore nationals in Beachburg. It was hot and muggy and damp but the winds were fair and the light okay and some good scores were shot. The torrential rains that delayed 3-P for almost six hours on Friday left the range soggy and steamy for the prone competition.

My goal going into the competition was to come home with a 570 average over the three matches, or a 1710 aggregate. Last year, with a LOT more practice -- but not necessarily training -- I finished with a 1725. So I figured a 1710 was a suitable stretch, especially as I knew I tended to shoot better at more important matches.

My position from the left taken during practice on Friday afternoon

I was on position 12 for the first match Saturday morning. Winds were light out of the northwest but the sun was playing peek-a-boo with the fluff clouds so you had to pick your light conditions carefully. I struggled with staying in position for more than 20 shots and had to break three times, but I finished in 70 minutes with a 568-13x. Not great, but a good start.

And from behind -- not my best angle

Saturday afternoon saw me moved one whole slot to the left in position 11. In talking with the other shooters I learned why my shots fired with no wind were floating high -- mirage from the sandy soil. So I made sure not to fire when the wind died and those nasty floaters went away. I came off the line with 10 minutes to spare and earned a 577-18x -- much better.

This is my position aligned downrange

I had a decent sleep before trudging out to the range for our 9 a.m. start on Sunday, but I struggled for nearly 40 shots (including sighters) before getting comfy. My left hand was really sore from Saturday and my shoulders tense, too. When I finally found my rhythm the shots were good, but there were a lot of 9.9s and 9.8s and I closed with a 569 (I don't know the X count as i had to leave before I could see the targets).

This captures my mat set up -- my jacket looks loose but is actually a little tight

In the end I finished 6th in expert class and 20th overall. My 1714 aggregate was four points above my goal and I managed to beat Don, taking back a small measure of pride from the drubbing he gave me at the Manitoba provincials. But I wasn't the high Manitoban -- that honour went to Kevin (a junior no less), who topped me by one point.

Close up showing my head position and grip with the new riser blocks

I learned (again) to trust myself and to let go of conditions outside of my control, like the wind. So long as the flag was pointing the same direction as the previous shot I fired -- and I didn't when the flag was still. It was as hot in Beachburg as it was cold in Calgary, so instead of extra layers I drank more water. And my wonky eyes like grey and light green polarizers in spotty light as well as the polarizer.

2010 Canadian National Smallbore Rifle Championship results

Next year's nationals are rumoured to be heading west again to Calgary and the Steve Johnson range, but I don't know that I'll be able to go, having been in school for eight months draining the family coffers.

Maybe I'll be able to convince my wife to go on some weekend trips south into Minnesota for shopping and some NRA matches....

Manitoba provincials report

2010-06-27T22:21:00.000-05:00

Just back from a muggy weekend in Winnipeg for this year's provincials. I haven't had time to take pictures of my targets and add them to my diary entries but I will get them up ASAP.

The view downrange -- pretty typical

On the performance front, it was a mixed bag. I didn't get a chance to live fire my position with the riser blocks and really struggled my first two targets with the position. I decided to shorten my length of pull (LOP) before the third target and presto, another 10 points.

Looking east down the line

So my first 60 on Saturday ended up as a 561-16x, which is definitely not great but showed promise on the third target once my LOP was adjusted and my cheek position more consistent.

Looking west down the line

After a short break for BBQ, we started the second 60 and my targets were much nicer. Most shots were touching, although not as much across the 10 ring as I would've liked. All the same, I finished the second match with a more respectable 575-15x.

My firing point before the first relay -- that's a borrowed shooting mat and I paid for my forgetfullness with a very sore left elbow

I finished second on the day with a 1136 to Don's more consistent 1148. That's the second year in a row he's beaten me to win the provincials, although I did thump him soundly last year at the nationals, so I guess all's fair in the end.

Me in position before the first relay

I came back this morning for some training in my new position. It was muggy but not as bad as yesterday. I warmed up with a 10-shot group that was alternating dry and live firing, then fired another 10-shot group that was one dry and two live. I finished with a final 10-shot group fired after taking up the first stage, closing my eyes and counting 1-2.

Ready to go!

The position feels stable, although I definitely need more time in it before it becomes "normal." If the weather holds -- and the range has been mowed -- I'm planning to get out at least one evening and the morning of July 1 before we leave for the nationals on the weekend.

More to come. . . .

Tinker time

2010-06-03T21:43:00.008-05:00

After my last match in mid-May, I had the good fortune to spend a few minutes with Bruce, an excellent fullbore and smallbore prone shooter and coach.

I don't want to whine, but it's hard training on your own. So after tweaking the fit of my buttplate – it apparently looked like I was firing a .223 instead of a .22 LR – I asked Bruce about my head position.

He didn't think it looked bad, although it was a little low and I did tend to look out the top of my eye instead of more in the center. I didn't have a set of riser blocks but he suggested I get some and see how it felt.

So I did.

I didn't think to take a before picture, but here's how my head position looks with my new Gehmann adjustable risers set at 17 mm:

It seems like the cheekpiece is up an awful long way but it feels pretty good. I'll leave it like this for the next little while and see how sore it makes my neck. I had the risers set at 15 mm before but it seemed like I was still looking through my eyebrow so I moved them up another couple of notches.

I do need to raise my lens a bit to center it with the rear aperture. This picture shows a little better that it's still too low:

I realized after I'd packed up for the night that the nosepiece on my glasses adjusts height like a screw – I was trying to push it up and down. Duh. So I lengthened it by three turns and everything looks good now. With my horrible eyes looking through the focal center of the lens is critical for a clean sight picture.

Here's another shot of my position, this time from the business end:

I've recently swapped out my Anschutz 7020/20 rearsight for my Walther Match rearsight. I suspect the 7020 needs to be cleaned and checked for backlash as it wasn't responding the way I expected it to during the last match.

And while the Walther adjustable for cant like the 7020, it's shorter base gives me more flexibility as I make position adjustments. I also added a blue ring to the rear aperture as my eyes seem to flutter less with the blue outline.

Here's one more from the two o'clock position:

This position feels good, especially with my new shooting mat. My jacket is maybe a little too loose, but with the top three buttons down up it doesn't move on me.

Now I just need to get cracking on my shot routine before the Manitoba provincials at the end of this month!

In the great outdoors again

2010-05-18T23:36:00.001-05:00

This past weekend I found myself back in Winnipeg for the first 50 metre match of the season. And what a start it was -- sunny, clear skies, light winds and temperatures pushing 30 C! Very un-Winnipeg like weather for May.

The weekend started off well for me, posting a 573 on Saturday morning to claim bragging rights. I opened with an excellent 196 but slipped to a 190 on the second relay and staggered to a 186 the third time around. It was a weird match with my brain constantly wandering off during the second and third targets. If the wind had been more Prairie-like I would've been slaughtered, but my 196 won me the day.

20100515 50m Outdoor Match

I started the match on Sunday morning in high spirits after my unexpected win the day before. It was unexpected because I hadn't shot outdoors since the nationals, so I expected to be pretty rusty. Reality sank in quickly on Sunday, however, as almost nothing seemed to go right from the start.

The big problem was ammo -- I didn't bring enough. I just grabbed two boxes (100 rounds), likely because the last time we only shot one match. Whoops. So I got 100 rounds of Lapua Master off Monica and used it on Sunday. Indoors this likely wouldn't have been a big deal, but in the wind at 50 metres it played on my mind. Was that 8 really my fault or the ammo?

My first target was a 186 -- ugh. The second relay resulted in a 190 -- not great but a little more bearable. The wheels came off on relay #3, despite doing what I thought was everything right. My position was good and stable, the light was fine, winds steady and my eyes strong -- but it felt like I was shooting buckshot and ended with a 183.

20100516 50m Outdoor Match

We finished early so I used my remaining 30 rounds of RWS Rifle Match (my usual training ammo) to shoot another target during the first standing relay. More wild shots and another 183. But again, everything seemed to feel good -- position, sight picture and release but I wasn't getting the desired result.

20100516 50m Outdoor Practice

I think now that I was simply trying too hard to make everything perfect instead of just letting it happen. I had been listening to Troy Bassham on my MP3 player on the drive to Winnipeg and I'm pretty sure that my conscious mind was totally in control, drowning out my sub-conscious and totally ignoring my self image.

Sunday was redeemed by some simple advice from Bruce, the MPRA rifle coach, who advised me that I seemed to have excessive recoil and might want to adjust my buttplate. A few tweaks and 15 shots later and presto! my recoil had settled down into a lovely circle that saw the target jump just halfway inside my front aperture -- as opposed to the see-saw that it was before.

So now I have some guidance on what to work on before the next match, tentatively scheduled for June 5. It's time to fire up the mosquito repellant and get outdoors and put some lead down range.

April sun brings May showers?

2010-05-02T11:36:00.001-05:00

I guess that's the price we pay for one of the warmest and sunniest April's on record -- it's been raining for the past two days and will likely rain most of this week, too.

So my plans to get outside today disappeared with the sun and I trudged downstairs to see if I could get my CURT simulator to work. No dice.

Well, not entirely. I managed to get 10 shots recorded -- against at least 70 fired. I wanted to complete this prone session recommended by the Kuortane training centre in Finland:

Goal: Relaxed and stable position

Dry firing 10 minutes
Sighters
4 x 10 shots, getting up every 10 shots
10 dry shots eyes closed
20 live shots eyes closed
30-40 normal shots

This is a lot of shooting in one session for me, although likely pretty typical (or even lower) for more committed shooters. But in the end, this is all I managed:

20100502 Indoor CURT Session

Next weekend I'm camping with the air cadets (and it will probably rain all weekend as it always does when I'm camping) so I'm not sure if I'm going to find time for a 50 metre session before the matches in Winnipeg on May 15-16.

On the plus side, my position is feeling stable and comfortable with the new stock and my confidence is much higher than it was this time last year, so I'm not worrying too much.

50 + 100 = Lots of fun!

2010-04-28T22:37:00.000-05:00

We don't tend to shoot too many 100 yard smallbore matches here in the Great White North and I'm not sure why. It tends to be 20 yards indoors and 50 metres outdoors right across the country.

In Canada the only match that I know of that's shot at 100 yards is the Dewar match shot at the nationals. The Dewar is a long-running international postal competition between the U.S., Britain, Canada and (I think) Australia and New Zealand.

The Dewar is special because it has two stages: 20 shots at 50 yards (not metres) and 20 shots at 100 yards, for a total score out of 400. The trick is moving quickly from 50 to 100 yards because you don't get extra time in between.

The secret to success is a flip-over front sight, like this one below made by Barry Nesom in Yorkshire:

This one is for a 22 mm front iris as I prefer them over 18s. It's nicely machined and finished, comes with a handy spirit level and doesn't weigh too much more than my regular Gehmann front tunnel.

What makes this front sight so clever is that it's eccentric:

The inner tube is thicker at the bottom

This is the sight in its 50 yard setting. To increase the elevation for 100 yards, you simply unscrew the rear locking collar, push the tube forward, rotate it 180 degrees and lock it back in place.

When it says 100 you're ready to go!

This is so great because now I won't have to worry about cranking my rear sights up 75 or 80 clicks or having to reset my cheekpiece or even buttplate height. All I need to do is reach forward and "flip over" the sight.

Some American shooters use two-step front sight bases but this is far more elegant and doesn't mess up my sight radius. It also doesn't need a riser block in the rear, either.

It comes apart in just four pieces

This is going to be great at this year's nationals as I qualified to shoot the Dewar based on my top-20 finish at last year's competition. It's also my first time shooting the Dewar so I'm pretty excited.

And since I can see Minnesota out my front window, it will also help when I eventually make it south to shoot in some of the NRA matches they run down there every year.

New toys are fun. :)

The range is live – commence firing!

2010-04-11T22:56:00.000-05:00

It's been eight months since I heard that command and was on the line myself, and I was actually looking forward to seeing just how rusty I'd gotten since the nationals last August.

But with a 10 as my first shot on score, I quickly settled down and got on with the job at hand – shooting as many 10s as I could!

In Canada, we shoot smallbore indoors in the winter, which for most of us runs from October to April – laying prone in the snow when it's -20 C is NOT a lot of fun! I know some ranges in the UK and in the southern U.S. can shoots outdoors all year-round, but not up.

The vast majority of indoor ranges in Canada are 20 yards. But since I live in the middle of nowhere – prone in the wilderness, after all – the nearest indoor range used by other target shooters is a 4.5 hour drive west.

The Winnipeg Revolver and Pistol Club's facilities on Miller Road north of the city are pretty nice. The indoor range is a little crowded, but it's fairly clean and everyone's friendly so what's not to like?

That's my position in the foreground.

Since everyone was ready we started early. It took me awhile to get sighted in, but once I started going it felt like I'd never been away. I maintained my shot rhythm and didn't let anything get away from me, especially once I got my cheek piece figured out.

My first target was a 186, which I felt pretty good about, even with the three 8s. I realized partway through my second target (a 193) why I was popping shots high and once I stopped messing around with head position everything else settled down, too. My third target felt like solid, even if my eyes were giving me fits halfway through. I began taking more eye breaks and letting my position tell me when I was ready and finished the match strong with a 198.

The view downrange – pretty typical.

In the end, I finished second on the day, 10 points behind Ian and his 587. I even managed to beat Don, Ian's dad, by 5 five points. I shot horribly the two times I fired indoors last winter as I was just starting up again, so it was nice to redeem myself this time around.

I hadn't really set firm goals for myself for the day as I didn't really know what to expect. I wanted to shoot consistently, get in and stay in my rhythm and just get used to the aluminum stock. My new shooting mat was awesome, and I really liked the way the new stock recoiled and spoke to me.

Shooting Diary Entry

And before I sat down to write my journal entry tonight, I made sure to scrub the muzzle to keep the powder residue from eating into the crown. Using a tube means some extra cleaning steps, although I'm a "seasoning" kind of shooter and I only use a bore brush every 500 rounds or so.

So all in all, it was a good day of shooting. Next up is the May 50 metre match in Winnipeg on May 15-16. The weather's better so I can start practicing outdoors – I just have to watch out for hungry bears (honest) – and I need to decide if I'm going to shoot both days. . . .

The hotel we stay at is clean and cheap but it's a "No tell motel" – and by this sign out front I'd say it lives up to its billing!

Holding your breath sometimes works

2010-04-09T11:58:00.006-05:00

I bought a nice Weihrauch HW 30 S .177 air rifle last spring so I could plink in our backyard and put about a tin of pellets through it.

I decided to spice things up this spring and bought a Hawke Airmax 2-7x scope for it, and I've been using it now for a couple of weeks.

Sighting the scope in was very simple. I started at 10 metres and kept turning the elevation until I was hitting the smallest hanging plate -- there's no windage know.

I didn't actually test it on paper until yesterday, when I fired this prone group at 10 metres:

Being a "sling shooter" I was pretty stoked to keep all five shots in one hole. The rifle has a two-stage "Rekord" trigger that apparently has a great rep in the airgun world. I thought it was heavy and kind of creepy, but I guess when you're used to an Anschutz trigger everything else is pretty crummy.

The success of the evening came when my son tried shooting at a target for the first time. He's only nine and kind of small for his size, so I sat down and laid the rifle crosswise on my legs for him.

He laid down behind it, found the target and I told him to "put the crosshairs in the smallest circle" and away he went -- while I held my breath. Here's what happened:

His first shot was the low five but all the others were in the black. Needless to say, I was one proud papa!

I have another Hawke scope coming in the mail now for my Anschutz 190 .22 LR sporting rifle that I'm going to set up for my son so he can come to the range with me.

I didn't go with a nice Bushnell/Nikon/Tasco/Leupold scope because I wasn't looking for an investment and the Hawke will do just fine (if the Airmax is anything to go on).

In the meantime I'm off to my first match since the nationals last summer. It's an indoor, 20 yd, 60-shot prone match. It'll be an interesting test of the 1913 in the aluminum stock -- not to mention the nut behind the trigger!

April showers = indoor training

2010-04-04T09:23:00.004-05:00

Happy Easter! This time last year there was still a foot of snow on the front lawn, but it's been gone now for almost a month. While this means I'll be able to get outside to shoot -- maybe even tomorrow -- it also means the bears will be around sooner and the fire season earlier and nastier.

It was also a year ago that I started training for the Canadian nationals. A good friend loaned me his steam-driven CURT shooting simulator and it worked great. I haven't used it since last summer, though, and now I'm having a hard time getting it to register shots. I need to try it with some brass, but for that I need to actually fire some live shots. If that doesn't work I'll see if the local electronics shop can re-wire the connections and try again.

In the meantime, I've been dryfiring in the basement. I have a mirror set at an angle off to the right so I watch my head and right hand to make sure everything is consistent. I've also been working on my triggering by closing my eyes and dryfiring and aiming at the wall instead of a target.

I've read lots about how not using an aiming mark as a reference heightens your awareness on the other mechanical aspects of firing center shots, but I don't know if I'm doing enough of it to make a difference. Al the same, my position feels stable and my hold nicely steady.

I also scaled down a 20 yd. target and practice moving across the scoring diagrams just as if I was shooting. I usually go around it twice with sighters (roughly 30 shots) to simulate a normal indoor relay and it's taking me about 25 minutes, which is spot-on with my normal indoor relay times.

I've been thinking hard about getting a 24x riflescope for training as well. I have several friends who train with scopes on a regular basis and they all claim the benefits are both enormous and immediate. Being able to see the size of your hold and where the shot goes as you pull the trigger helps show you what you're not doing as well as you could. The downside, of course, is that a decent Leupold scope and rings will set you back north of $700, and I need a new spotting scope first.

Speaking of which, I've had my eye on the new Leupold 80 mm Kenai HD spotting scope (see above) for the last month or so. It would work well for both smallbore and fullbore and since it's a Leupold you know the optics will be great. It also comes with two eyepieces: a 20-60x variable and a 30x wide-angle -- nice. Leupold's excellent quality and lifetime guaranty also make it an attractive option.

In the meantime, I'm stuck with my crappy old 50 mm Bushnell 15-45x spotting scope. I'll have the cash saved for a new spotting scope by the end of the month, though, so I won't have to suffer through dark, cloudy optics too much longer.

Reboot

2010-03-25T22:19:00.002-05:00

Wow. It's been a hectic few months. Between work, family, cadets and everything else in life, I've been unable to make any time for my own shooting. Yes, I said "unable to make" -- still a lame excuse, but it is valid.

So it was extra nice to sneak away for an hour this evening to dryfire all by myself. Since setting up the Anschutz aluminum stock I haven't been able to tweak my position at all. So I decided that for tonight I would focus on making sure everything fitted and that my position was stable.

The first step was adjusting the cheek piece height, made much easier by the handy-dandy thumb wheel.Adjusting the cheek piece on my wood stock was such a pain in the ass it's no wonder so many shooters have made the switch. I moved the cheekpiece down a few millimetres.

Next up was the grip. Despite being a size large I could reach the trigger, but it seemed tilted to the left and was only a finger's width from my left sleeve. So a couple of taps on it and it felt much better -- it's canted (but not excessively) and now feels more natural in my hand.

I'd like to try a medium-sized grip for comparison's sake because the large is too big when I use my Sauer shooting hand glove when it's chilly outside. New medium grips are really expensive, though, so I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for a used one.

Checking the position and angle of my shooting glasses lens was next. To do this I got into position and placed my wife's make up mirror right next to my temple. Given the change in head position I needed to increase the angle of the lens. Height-wise the lens was square with the rear iris so this was an easy adjustment.

My rearsight was now too far away. I like to keep about a finger's width between my shooting lens and the rear iris. Why? For one thing I don't want to smack my lens against the metal iris and scratch it, and I know that as my neck relaxes during a match it tends to slide forward. I do stretch before shooting, but as I relax in position my head tends to creep forward ever so slightly. I moved the rearsight back two notches.

By now the rifle was feeling good. Unlike with the wood stock, I don't need to cant, and so far my hold was rock solid vertical. The only thing off was the level on my front sight. After several minutes of fiddling with the locking ring I finally got it square with the front tunnel and back onto the bloop tube it went.

By this point my son was itching for me to come and play with his Lego bricks, so I dryfired another 10 shots and packed it in. As I was resting and letting the rifle settle, it seemed to want to tilt ever so slightly to the left (confirmed by the level), so next session I'll move the bottom of the buttplate a hair to the outside and see if that corrects the issue.

Throughout the session I didn't notice any appreciable pulse from the new sling. Mind you I didn't expect too, as pulse was never a problem with my old sling and I haven't changed it's position on my upper arm. I also didn't find the forestock any less comfortable than my old wood stock, which was reassuring as I know a lot of shooters aren't crazy about the sharp angles up front.

So far so good. My training schedule says I'm supposed to go cycling tomorrow instead of dryfiring, but Mother Nature might put the boots to that plan.

Coaching is stressful!

2010-03-07T08:59:00.003-06:00

Back in December I blogged about a weekend coaching course I attended as part of my work with a local air cadet squadron.

Cadet shooting teams consist of five cadets, one of whom must be a junior (under 15). During a competition, the top four scores – including at least one junior – count toward the overall team score. Cadets fire four targets so the team score is out of 1600.

January was pretty hectic and I wasn't able to confirm a team and organize training sessions until February, which meant we would only have three practices before our only match of the year – which was held yesterday.

Rocky time
In the first session I focused on making sure their positions were more or less "by the book" so I could coach consistently. I adjusted length of pull on the Daisy 853C rifles, set up their slings and sling keeper positions and moved the sights for proper eye relief. As I did this for each cadet, the others fired grouping targets.

For the second session, we worked on moving sights – and more importantly, when to move the sights -- and adjusting natural point of aim when moving between scoring diagrams. After confirming their positions again and setting up their firing points, they fired two shots, and then one shot, on the regulation scoring targets. Without jackets they were all exhausted by the end of the night.

The third time out we focused on working with cadet coaches. Once the relay is on the line, adult coaches can't have any contact with either shooters or cadet coaches. The cadet coaches sit behind the shooter with a whiteboard and spotting scope and coach them through the relay, telling them when to move their sights and what scoring diagram is next.

Big show time
The match location was 150 km away and in an earlier time zone, so we were on the road by 8 a.m. The roads were clear and we all piled into a minivan (three adults + five cadets) for the trip.

When we got there everything was set up, so our team claimed one of the classrooms in the host squadron's HQ and camped out. After the usual coaches briefing the relay assignments were picked and away we went.

The 10 metre air rifle range

Each relay was 30 minutes in length, so with three teams of five shooters and six positions available that mean five relays. The challenge for me was that with two shooters and coaches on the line at all times, there was very little chance to provide advice in between relays.

Because my cadets had so little practice and didn't have shooting jackets like the other teams, I told the coaches to leave the sights alone and only change them when they saw a pattern. It was a lot for them to take in, particularly as most of them have only been to one or two matches.

The range in action

And the winner is . . .
Not us! But then we never entertained any realistic thoughts of winning. Our goal was to improve on the previous year's performance and shoot for pride. And they came through! The team scored a 1228 total, which is 226 points over their 2009 performance! This earned us third place (of three teams).

So needless to say I'm very proud of them. They had a lot to absorb in a very short time and despite numerous "issues" while on the line they came through and did themselves proud. They've also set themselves up well for next year, by which time I hope we'll have shooting jackets and gloves for them and be able to start practicing in October.

What did I think?
I sat or paced behind the line all morning, biting my tongue and trying to think up useful advice when someone was free. I was so nervous! Probably more nervous than I was at the nationals trying to shoot a qualifying score to make the national team.

I could see them doing – or not doing – things that I knew if I corrected would result in more consistent shooting and better scores. But all I could do was watch, and wait, and hope they got lucky more often than not.

The next step for me is to get my air rifle RSO certification so I can practices by myself. The military is big on their own training and I need it before I can run a range unsupervised. The new NCCP rifle coaching courses are also rolling out later this year and I'll take that when it's offered in Manitoba.

That's me on the far left

Way to go 908 squadron!

He's alive!

2010-03-01T23:15:00.001-06:00

As a friend reminded me this morning: "It's like you dropped off the face of the earth!"

Well, not quite. Due to pressing family healthcare issues and lots and lots of work, shooting and blogging have been mostly deep-sixed since Christmas. Hopefully that's going to become a dull memory over the next few weeks.

One of the reasons is that I finally got around to switching my action over to the borrowed Anschutz 2313 stock that arrived back in the fall.

When I installed the action on the weekend I discovered that the tang overlapped at the back of the inletting and wouldn't sit flush (remember, this stock is for the square, 2000-series Match 54 action).

Ten minutes with my handy Dremel tool resolved that issue, however, and now everything fits great (and doesn't look too half-assed, either).

One issue that I can't fix is the buttplate carrier -- the stock was dropped at some point and it's bent to the point that I can't use the lower mounting slot. This means my Gemini buttplate is secured at the top with two bolts, rather than top and bottom. There's a tiny bit of flex but it's not going to move or affect my position so I can live with it.

I won't be able to put live rounds downrange for at least a month, so I'll have a bit of time to get used to it. I love the pistol grip already. I thought it would be too big but no, it fills my hand just right. Mind you, if I wanted to wear my Sauer glove I'd need a medium grip, but it'll be fine for now.

The other great feature is that I don't need to cant the rifle, which always concerned me with my wood stock. If I have time tomorrow I'll adjust my foresight cant bubble to vertical and add some foam to the cheekpiece to keep it from getting slick when I sweat -- that drives me nuts.

Dryfiring to distraction

2010-01-04T23:03:00.000-06:00

I've never enjoyed dryfiring. I know this is a negative opinion of an activity that's nothing but good for me -- it won Lanny Bassham a world championship -- but I find it so boring I almost never do it.

But with my CURT trainer on the fritz, I decided to suck it up and lay down on the carpet in front of the TV. Why? I figured the distraction of the TV would work to counter the boredom and shooting at a blank piece of paper.

And it worked! The hour went by quickly and I was able to focus clearly and consistently on the exercises. Here's my diary entry:

20100104 Indoor Dryfiring Session

Despite my son running around with his new Nerf dart blaster and the kittens chasing each other across my back, I noticed an improvement in the consistency of my right elbow placement.

I might even give dryfiring another chance tomorrow night. . . .

Assume the position

2009-12-20T19:46:00.000-06:00

No worries -- no rubber gloves to be found in this posting.

I asked my son to take some pictures of my prone position just so I'd know how it looked, especially after last weekend's coaching clinic.

Here I am from behind. . .

At the clinic the fullbore shooters stressed keeping the right leg high, but as a smallbore shooter I prefer to keep it a little lower down. It still keeps my chest high enough for smooth breathing but provides good stability and makes it easy to shift my NPA.

. . . and the view from the front

I seem to have a fairly standard position. I don't wear shooting pants or boots, preferring loose fitting cotton-nylon guiding pants and sneakers -- to each his own.

I'm hoping to get some one-on-one coaching time in the new year, so this might change a touch. But for now it feels "right" for my body type.

Am I an old dog?

2009-12-19T18:44:00.000-06:00

Good Lord, I hope not! Because last weekend I attended a marksmanship coaching course in Winnipeg organized by the Regional Cadet Support Unit for cadet officers from Alberta to NW Ontario.

Taught by John C. and Bruce M. (and assisted by Murray and Daryl) from the Manitoba Provincial Rifle Association (MPRA), it was a “Prone 101” weekend for RSOs who wanted to be better coaches.

Bruce (right) working with two of the officers on their basic prone setup

I knew going into the weekend that I wouldn’t learn a lot, but since I’m new to cadets in this area I figured it would be a better networking opportunity. In the end I was only partially right on both accounts.

I did learn a fair bit, though it was more in the line of “the little things” that we all tend to take for granted after doing a sport for a longish time. Stuff like getting into position step-by-step and doing it consistently.

Here I am working on my position

Of course I have “my way” of getting into position, but it’s nowhere near as detailed as what was taught on the course. So I sat down this afternoon and wrote out the steps on a 3x5 card so I could learn it better.

It’s been a long time since I spent time around “new” shooters. They were very grateful for the chance to learn from such experienced shooters, and I enjoyed poking fun of their fullbore technique.

Putting it all together with jackets, gloves and slings

In the end it was a good weekend. Training on my own gets boring so it was nice to mix and mingle. I met lots of great people that I’ll run into at matches in the coming year, and it’ll be good to see a familiar face at a match when I’m the only one not in uniform.

But for now it’s back to my corner of the basement behind the furnace. Last time I practiced -- which was several weeks ago, I’m afraid -- I developed a wicked pulse in my left forearm that I need to get rid of.

Shooting diaries

2009-12-06T23:05:00.002-06:00

Keeping a shooting diary is important. So important it took me nearly 20 years to figure this out.

But now I'm on the diary bandwagon, and have been keeping a diary since I started training again last May. It wasn't much to look at in the beginning -- just some notes scribbled on a printout from my CURT session:

20090805 10-shot Series A

Like my shooting, it improved with practice. By the time July arrived I was regularly shooting full sessions on the CURT (good thing with the nationals coming up fast) and incorporating the session results into more useful entries;

20090709 Indoor CURT Match

Being a techy kind of guy, I decided to take pictures of my outdoor targets and insert them into each diary entry. This is a lot of work, but I found it helpful to be able to actually see what was happening, especially in comparison to the "ideal" targets shot on CURT:

20090803 50m Outdoor Training Match

When I got home from the nationals I realized that I needed to step up my diary entries. As part of my research into training plans, the value of useful (but not too busy) diary entries really sank in. Here's my diary entry from the first relay of the Nationals using my new format:

20090815 50m Natls Relay #1

What's missing, unfortunately, is the lack of target pictures. Why? Because someone snagged the targets to patch and re-shoot on their own Gehmann box. Yup, no electronic targets for us Canucks -- we don't have the money to run our nationals on electronics. Oh well, maybe next year. But considering we only fired two shots on each diagram, even I didn't want to combine 30 images into one picture.

But if you're looking for a different entry template for your diary, try this version for a bit:

Diary Entry Page Dec09

Just make sure you save the file to your hard drive.

Good luck!

Training Plans

2009-12-04T14:53:00.002-06:00

Developing a training plan is hard work. But everything I've read -- and everything I've asked more successful shooters -- indicates that creating and following a formal training plan will improve your performance.

But it's a lot of work, especially when you don't have an actual coach to help you out.

That said, I figured I wasn't a total dummy, so I thought I could hammer out something. If we were all East Bloc robots it might be easier, but alas, we're all different. What works for one shooter likely doesn't apply on the same weighting basis to another.

Did I mention how hard this is?

My first step was to identify competition dates and then break up the season into four phases:

Preparation - December to March
Early Competition - March to May
Competition June and July
Recovery - August

Next up was goal setting, but beyond qualifying for the national development team I still need to work on my SMART goals. Next I reviewed my shooting diary entries from the 2009 season and I noticed three key issues:

Inconsistent cheek placement
Inconsistent placement of my right elbow after loading
Inconsistent hand placement and trigger.

So I threw all this together and developed a series of four-week training plans designed to address the issues identified above. I also included physical training elements of mental training, too, although to be honest I'm still figuring out my approach to mental training.

Preparation Phase Training Week Plan

I also set performance goals for my indoor matches over the winter to assess progress (or lack thereof) and then mapped everything out in monthly calendars that I keep in the front of my shooting diary (a 1" binder). As I complete my daily activities I indicate results and I included sections for notes, key learnings and just some stats on activities in general.

Training Plans:

In early March I'll re-evaluate my short-term goals and decide where I need to focus more so I can continue to improve.

What have I learned so far? I need to get off my ass and start training sooner for the 2011 season -- I haven't really done a thing (for various reasons) since mid-August. Ouch.

Oops, I did it again

2009-12-01T21:33:00.002-06:00

With all due apologies to Britney Spears, I succumbed to the siren call of new-to-me equipment this week. Yesterday the postman knocked on my door with a package from a good friend: a slightly used Anschutz 2313 aluminum stock.

Mind you, it wasn't a complete surprise. I had actually ordered an adapter block in anticipation of getting the stock over a month ago. I needed the adapter because the 2313 stock is designed for the square 2000-series Match 54 and I have a round 1900-series Match 54 action.

But before I could install my barreled action in the new stock I needed some "pockets" drilled so the action bolts (the two threaded bits seen below) would have some place to sit so the adapter could sit flat and square.

I had a gunsmith in Minnesota drill out the pockets. It was funny watching him work because he'd never seen a stock like this before and normally just works on hunting rifles and shotguns. Two hours and $68.16 later I was in business.

So now I have to figure out how to transfer over my setup from the wooden stock on my 1913 to this aluminum stock. I'll probably start by setting length of pull, handstop position, cheekpiece height and leaving my buttplate as is . . . but that's another blog entry.

I also need to talk about my training plan, diary entry templates and the supporting literature -- stay tuned!

Back in the saddle

2009-11-19T21:49:00.001-06:00

I tend to procrastinate for no other reason than because I can. Or maybe "procrastination" is a less offensive way to say "lack of discipline"?

I've been trying to get downstairs and train all month. A nasty and lingering head cold knocked me flat for the first two weeks and poorly timed conference calls seemed to be derailing me this week, too.

But I said enough was enough and made it downstairs this afternoon. I locked the door so the kittens wouldn't crawl all over me and set about zeroing the CURT unit so I could shoot some groups.

Here I am all set and ready to train -- notice the laptop positioned like an electronic target screen

Going from dryfiring to the CURT last spring was incredible. The instant feedback was a huge gain and definitely helped my confidence. But the ancient system is a royal pain in the ass to set up.

It's super sensitive to any position changes. Once you sight it in and move to score, any significant shift in position will throw off the shot fall. For example, if you decide that you're rolling over too far on your left elbow and readjust, your next shot could be rings away from your last shot.

And forget about breaking position and rebuilding between shots -- while you might think you're smoking them every time, the CURT report will make you think you were firing a shotgun. So it has it's limitations. But it's better than dryfiring against a blank target.

One change that worked well was my new Anschutz sling. I may move the sling strap farther to the outside of my arm, though, as it seems to be pulling a little more from the inside than I'd like it to.

Not as sexy as some slings, but it should work just fine for me

I was able to set it up quickly and it feels good. Was it worth the extra money as an upgrade over my old synthetic sling? I dunno, but I feel more confident using it already than my old one. That might be cheap assurance but I can live with it.

So how did I shoot? It took me so long to get the CURT dialed in that I only had time for 10 shots before my next conference call and I scored a 99 with six center 10s for a "real" 96. Not great, but then I haven't touched my rifle in three months, so it's a start.

Exiled to the basement

2009-11-13T22:12:00.004-06:00

I don't have an indoor range less than two hours' drive from my house. As a matter of fact, the nearest indoor range with other target shooters is a five hour drive west or south. So when it's cold, snowy and/or rainy, I end up in the basement, behind the furnace.

It's a squeeze but it works for me -- the CURT target is on the wall and I run the unit on an old Pentium 120 laptop

I borrowed an old CURT unit from a good friend last spring when I started training again and it was awesome. I know the going wisdom is to use simulators as training tools to refine "good habits" but I used it to simulate matches -- I figured building a base first would serve me better than mucking around with final holds and whatnot.

Diary entry from a CURT match simulation

The problem with CURT -- other than age -- is that it can be super temperamental. I spent a lot of time trying to calibrate the sensor before almost every training session, despite leaving everything set up and ready to go. And then it would crash right in the middle of a session and I'd lose all the data. Grrrrrr.

So I'm planning on upgrading to a SCATT before the end of the year. Why? Mostly so I can share my training sessions with other shooters -- or coaches, perish the thought -- with more experience than me. And yes, since I don't have easy access to an indoor range, to shoot some e-matches, too.

The perils of new toys

2009-11-09T15:34:00.009-06:00

I'm not one of those shooters who constantly shows up with new shiny bits hanging off his (or her ) rifle. Don't get me wrong -- new toys can be useful -- but too much time spent tinkering will distract you from the whole point of training . . . shooting 10.9s.

Earlier this year I splurged and bought a beautiful Gehmann 568 rear iris. This monster unit does everything -- adjustable iris, 2 x 6 colour filters and two polarizers (one for the target and the other for the overall sight picture). Lots to play with.

Too much for me, actually. I only used a couple of the filters and one of the polarizers. Knowing my tendency to fiddle with things (aka procrastination) I exchanged it for a more simple Gehman 563 rear iris.

This model is much simpler with just six colours and one polarizer. And it's also shorter, which should give me a better sight picture as I can move the rear sight back three notches or so.

A new shooting mat and sling also arrived today. I've been using a roll-up mat for ten years or so and it was both thin and slippery. The only plus to it was that it fit nicely into my shooting bag. Now I have a very nice Monard "Super" mat with regulation padding and a no-slip "Top Grip" rubber elbow pad -- very nice.

The sling is a bit of a gamble for me. I've been using a basic Anschutz synthetic sling but have never been super crazy about it. I can't adjust the bicep loop and the notches are quite a ways apart, but I've learned to live with it and shoot some decent scores.

But since I'm getting more serious I decided to upgrade to an ahg "Swing" sling (above). Still made by Anschutz, it features an adjustable bicep loop, a micro adjuster to tweak the length when in position and finer notches for overall length.

The sling feels good and includes a shoulder strap to hold it in place. I'm looking forward to getting it set up and training to see what it can do.

Trigger happy

2009-11-07T23:24:00.003-06:00

When I bought the 1913 back in the winter it was set up with a super light single-stage trigger. My previous rifle had a nice two-stage trigger so the new trigger gave me some grief in a couple of matches until I decided to add some weight.

I shot it as a single-stage all season long at various pull weights, and while I got used to it I never really liked it -- I missed my two-stage. I did try to convert it a couple of times but never managed to make it work, despite following the instructions (honest).

Until tonight, that is.

I guess I just needed to focus more and work backwards, but I now have a nice two-stage trigger with a suitably long first stage and a nice crisp second stage. I'll need to tweak the travel and weight some more, but my two-stage is back. Yeah, baby, yeah!

Getting started

2009-11-05T21:26:00.009-06:00

I've been target shooter now for over 20 years, but had drifted away from the sport since the birth of my son in 2000. Watching the 2008 Beijing Olympics made me realize how much I missed shooting and after saving some money and buying a new rifle I started training again earlier this year.

My new rifle -- a slightly used Anschutz 1913 Super Match in .22 LR

After just a couple of months of dedicated practice, we packed the family into our Subaru and headed west to the National Smallbore Rifle Championships in Calgary. I shot well in the cold and windy conditions and managed a 1725/1800, good for 3rd in the Expert Prone category and 14th overall.

My rifle with some upgrades as fired at the nationals

But it wasn't all that I'd wanted it to be. I was hoping to squeak onto the national development team and had two chances to shoot one round of 584, but the closest I got was a 579. Oh well, better that than a 583 -- that would've really sucked.

So now I'm starting my training for the 2010 match season with the goal of qualifying for the 2011 development team. The cut score will probably be 586 or so, which also happens to be my personal best. I'm a little behind due to work commitments so I need to get cracking.

I'll update the blog regularly so you can see how I'm doing, and feel free to leave a comment if you have any suggestions -- I'd appreciate it!