Write up and results by Paul Salmon from Dartmoor, Nigel Palmer from West Devon and Martin Hubbard from Purbeck.
Full regional results to follow.
Dartmoor Marksmen. 22/4/23
Thirteen competitors turned out for Round 3 of Dartmoor’s BR league, and after drawing names out of the hat to determine the three man squads (no ladies were present today) we started shooting just before 9.00. The wind conditions were deceptively moderate this time, the propellers on the wind flags were rarely turning at all – but the tail ribbons were changing direction constantly, so, as usual, the crosshair of the scope needed to be placed anywhere other than the centre of the diagram for almost every shot.
There was some pretty fancy new gear in evidence today, Neil Jenkin had brought a very smart Feinwerkbau 700, and Mike Foster’s long awaited Thomas was having it’s competition baptism. Mark Whiteway has just bought a very nice TM1000, but sensibly decided to use his familiar HFT500 for today’s match. Vern has purchased Mike Foster’s SEB mini and matching rear bag, Mike having ordered a new Lenzi rest and rear bag to replace them.
Benchrest is an extremely demanding discipline, the 10 ring being a mere 2mm in diameter, so even a very slight improvement gained by changing an item of equipment is worth having. Although it is my firm belief that sourcing some compatible pellets will invariably give by far greatest practical benefit. But since so much of successful target shooting is down to pure psychology, it is extremely important to have absolute confidence in your chosen equipment – and If changing a rifle or scope can inspire trust, then why not.
The overall standard of our shooting is gradually improving, the gap between the various scores seems to be narrowing with every round. Mike Smith is stubbornly holding on to the top spot, but he really does ‘go the extra mile’ – weighing, sizing, and sorting his carefully selected pellets before each match. I’m still not entirely convinced that it’s worth all the bother, but I have to admit – it does seem to be paying off.
Paul Salmon.
West Devon 23/4/23
Great turn out at this morning’s BR comp.Top score and best card goes to Paul Reed, I pushed him all the way and finished just one point behind Mr Colin (Yeo) wasn’t far behind in third place. Well done Sue and Steve both I think produced personal best cards .
A couple of good scores first time out from youngsters Will and Ethan.
Thanks again to everyone who turned up and helped to make the comp run smoothly.
See a few of you at Duchy next Sunday.
Nigel Palmer
Purbeck FTC Swefta Benchrest
At Purbeck we shoot our competitions differently to both Dartmoor and Devon. We have a choice in when we shoot our benchrest cards, but typically we shoot them on a Tuesday or a Sunday. Personally I shoot my cards with my HFT500 every Tuesday come rain or shine, which could be either the Swefta cards or the clubs 12x mag, Springer or Open class cards. We also have shooters entered into the Benchrest UK postal competition. So not as lax as it first may sound, and having to shoot whatever the weather is doing has helped us considerably in mastering the wind.
Our round 2 of the Swefta benchrest league has produced a top place for Phil Chick, one of our new shooters. Phil either shoots an HFT500 at only 12mag or his new FX Crown and has already shown great ability. He is now hooked and looking to see what he has to do to improve even further. We try to help and encourage all of our new shooters to take part in the benchrest competitions especially with the wealth of knowledge the club has.
A few of our shooters are now starting to try shooting with homemade wind flags, and as other clubs have found out, not as easy as it first may appear.
Martin Hubbard
Purbeck FTC April 23 Benchrest competition
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