First fullbore shoot - what to expect?

Message

#1 Post by **Kungfugerbil** » Fri May 15, 2015 9:59 pm

Bit of a thicky question here, but I'm not ashamed to look daft on the Internet...

I've been invited to go down for a visit to a fullbore range on Sunday (Pickering). The club seem to shoot TR, F class, military and muzzle loaders at 300,200 and 100m so lots of variety.

I only currently shoot smallbore, prone and lightweight rifle.

Clearly there's no point taking any of my rifles along, but shall I stick my jacket/sling/glove in the car in case I get to have a crack at TR? Or is the general consensus on a first visit you get to look but not touch...

I'll obviously be taking my own hearing protection / hat/ glasses and might as well stick my firearms ticket and insurance stuff in but am I missing anything? Some money for any ammo used might help I guess!

I'm waffling now. Looking forward to it :)

#2 Post by **Laurie** » Fri May 15, 2015 11:48 pm

Assuming you're going as a guest of a member, take your own rifle and gear to the range. Since you say it's your first fullbore range outing, I assume you're a smallbore shooter, but you can use your own .22 rifle at 100 yards. Bring a couple of suitable targets to staple up on a target frame as well as your FAC, mat and gear.

Ask for Don Garland the club secretary and introduce yourself and generally watch what happens, do a relay pulling targets in the butts to see what happens down there. Use a club rifle for 300 and/or 200 yards. It's a lovely little three lane range and has a very friendly membership. There's usually a turnout of 20 to 30 members this time of the year with six squadded onto each relay. There is no specific competition booked this Sunday, but most disciplines are now run on the basis of putting a countersigned scorecard in for TR, the club's two variants of F-Class and so on, on a number of occasions rather than designating a particular Sunday the day for a particular competition. So, whilst running the range within full safety regs, it's very informal.

Another guy to look out for is David Archer the comp secretary who is there most Sundays, a keen TR shooter who still enters the Imperial every year. You can't miss him - he brings a Landie and horsebox to the range with the radios, range gear, table used for the signing-in book and relays / range duties sheets etc.

Has whoever is facilitating your visit asked if you want to use a club fullbore rifle and club ammunition? If nobody asks, none will appear. There are one of two 7.62 TR rifles and a 223 scoped and bipoded job. Yes, you need some ammo money - it's GGG these days and reasonably priced. There is also a modest visitor's and insurance fee.

#3 Post by **Ovenpaa** » Sat May 16, 2015 9:53 am

Time in the Butts is essential as it is the place to meet and greet, make yourself known and exchange anecdotes, just keep a very careful eye on the target if you are marking and operate in a timely manner. Other than that just listen, watch and enjoy the general range experience.

#4 Post by **Kungfugerbil** » Sat May 16, 2015 10:52 am

Excellent advice both, many thanks. Thanks for the specific info Laurie,

for taking the time :)

#5 Post by **Dougan** » Sat May 16, 2015 11:09 am

It's not a 'thickie' question at all, but you should really be asking whoever is organising the shoot - When we take members who haven't got their own full-bore rifles yet we need to know if they want to shoot club guns so that we can take them, along with some club ammo.

One club I shoot with uses club mats and scopes, which are left on the firing points all day, whereas with my other club folk take their own gear...

...whatever the situation, if you're going to shoot it's worth taking your jacket (for elbow and shoulder padding), but if there's a club TR rifle available; does it have a hand-stop and sling attachment, and will it fit the one on your sling? For F/TR and Classics you'll just need your jacket and some ammo.

If I were you, I'd contact the shoot organiser asap so that you know what to expect tomorrow, and so that they know what to take for you as well.

Hope you have a great shoot

#6 Post by **hitchphil** » Sat May 16, 2015 11:23 am

........ take your 22 & shoot TR .22 to 300yds you need about 54moa from 25yds to get there :-)

#7 Post by **Kungfugerbil** » Sun May 17, 2015 7:56 pm

Dougan wrote:Hope you have a great shoot

Well, that was good fun :)

Friendly, chatty bunch of folks and just the right mix of great formal safety procedures, well run details and pi$$-taking that I like. I met some of the folks, joined up as a probationer, went through the NRA booklet and did a detail at 200yds using an old club sporter .308 that had sat in a land rover for a while. How did I do? I thought I did pretty well for the first time with a sensible calibre; 3 v-Bulls, 3 bulls and some very close shots from 15 rounds.

One learning point from the day - I struggled with the eye relief on the club scope and underestimated the juiciness of the round compared to my usual fodder so now sport a slight lump above the eye... The upside is the scope held zero after that point :)

Had an excellent day all round and can see this taking up some lovely sunny Summer Sundays...I'll pack my coat obviously, this is Yorkshire

#8 Post by **Laurie** » Sun May 17, 2015 8:36 pm

Glad you enjoyed it and are going to join. It's a really nice range and a very good club. It's not the best place to learn about wind-reading (far too sheltered in that deep valley), but once you get a rifle and your safety certification you can shoot with the club on the Mod ranges at Strensall just to the north of York at 300 / 500 / 600. Another very nice range if the weather is good, but as different from Pickering as chalk from cheese being in the flat and open Vale of York and often pretty windy.

#9 Post by **Dougan** » Sun May 17, 2015 9:24 pm

Kungfugerbil wrote:
Dougan wrote:Hope you have a great shoot
Well, that was good fun :)

Friendly, chatty bunch of folks and just the right mix of great formal safety procedures, well run details and pi$$-taking that I like. I met some of the folks, joined up as a probationer, went through the NRA booklet and did a detail at 200yds using an old club sporter .308 that had sat in a land rover for a while. How did I do? I thought I did pretty well for the first time with a sensible calibre; 3 v-Bulls, 3 bulls and some very close shots from 15 rounds.

One learning point from the day - I struggled with the eye relief on the club scope and underestimated the juiciness of the round compared to my usual fodder so now sport a slight lump above the eye... The upside is the scope held zero after that point :)

Had an excellent day all round and can see this taking up some lovely sunny Summer Sundays...I'll pack my coat obviously, this is Yorkshire

It only takes a few V-Bulls to get hooked

Glad you had a good day and got to try a couple of different rifles - Don't worry about the 'scope kiss'...I think most shooters have done that at least once

#10 Post by **ozone** » Mon May 18, 2015 1:51 am

Kungfugerbil wrote:

How did I do? I thought I did pretty well for the first time with a sensible calibre; 3 v-Bulls, 3 bulls and some very close shots from 15 rounds.

So you embarrassed yourself with only 3 V's and 3 bulls eh?

Not worth turning up for..........................

ozone

.

The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

First fullbore shoot - what to expect?

First fullbore shoot - what to expect?

Re: First fullbore shoot - what to expect?

Re: First fullbore shoot - what to expect?

Re: First fullbore shoot - what to expect?

Re: First fullbore shoot - what to expect?

Re: First fullbore shoot - what to expect?

Re: First fullbore shoot - what to expect?

Re: First fullbore shoot - what to expect?

Re: First fullbore shoot - what to expect?

Re: First fullbore shoot - what to expect?

Who is online