Skill degredation over time

[Trent]

Results with new eyeglasses; iron sights w/ sling (SCAR17S again); Win =winchester white box; Hornady = hornady superperformance

For the heck of it I shot one string at 300 with my old glasses for comparison. The group with new glasses had all in the black. The old glasses I was getting quite a few 5's & 6's....

89-2x Win 200 yard rapid fire sitting
94-2x Win 200 yard rapid fire sitting
92-1x Hornady 200 yard rapid fire sitting
93-1x Hornady 200 yard rapid fire sitting
75-1x Win 300 yard rapid fire prone (old glasses)
88-3x Win 300 yard rapid fire prone (new glasses)
166-1x Win 300 yard slow fire prone

Got a ways to go yet - but now that the eyes are fixed up, time to hit the bench and work up some test loads and find out what the SCAR likes to eat.

 

[MrBorland]

Nice.

Yep, you need to see what you need to see. I recently got a set of prescription shooting glasses, and it helps a lot. I never needed glasses, but my ability to see up close has been getting worse & worse to the point I had to do something about it.

Interesting your average scores with WWB were nearly as good as with the Hornady match ammo.

 

[Trent]

MrBorland;

If I'd eaten lunch before I ran off to the range, those scores would probably have been higher. Was pretty shaky yesterday. Before I started on the High Power strings I played a little at 50 yards. Well, played a lot.

Got this new Archangel stock for my 10/22:



For this adjustable length of pull:



Now me, and the kids can both use the dang thing.

I had a Turner sling in the basement which went on the QD mount points, got it adjusted up before I left. (Still used the Harris bipod for sighting in - had to move the scope forward once I got to the range).



Did 150 rounds on that thing from noon to about 3 PM. Did 30 from the bench to get the scope moved, leveled, parallax set, and dialed in. Took awhile because the rifle either does not like the new stock or does not like the Federal ammo I was feeding it. (Leaning more towards ammo, since 1 of 10 shots would veer off 6" while the rest grouped about 1".)

Anyway after getting 'zeroed' as best I could, I did another 20 shots standing, 50 shots sitting, and 50 shots prone, before moving on to the SCAR on the longer side of the range.

So I was a bit tired and hungry to start on the high power strings. Which led to being downright grumpy towards the end at about 5:30 PM.

But back to the winchester ammo; yes it was grouping just as good;

First two groups of Winchester white box visible here (one set pasted, one set not) (10 shots each 200 yards sitting rapid fire)



First group of Hornady (10 shots 200 yards sitting rapid fire)



Second group of hornady (10 shots 200 yards sitting rapid fire)



OLD glasses: Winchester white box at 300 yards rapid fire prone



(Was all over the damn place)

NEW glasses: Winchester white box 300 yards rapid fire prone



No uncalled fliers - All hits were in the black except one which hit the line above and between 5 & 6 on the left side. I remember taking that shot, had a sudden muscle spasm and went "yea that went left, damnit".

The one thing I noticed about the new glasses; when I focus on the front sight, I can still make out a hazy black circle. Which is good. However, the prescription is so strong to correct my distance vision, that I get eye strain if I focus on that front sight long, and I can't maintain focus on it for very long. Anything < 1 foot from my face is *impossible* to focus on, and anything < 4' with these glasses on gives me varying degrees of strain to focus on.

So to compensate I close my eyes for a second between shots.

 

[Trent]

So ... I shot a perfect DEWAR in smallbore with that 10/22. (Yes, I was shooting optics). Also scored perfects on prone and sitting in 3pos, standing.. we just won't talk about standing.

My high power scores on the last shoot sucked, but mainly because I pulled a "duh" and didn't turn my rear sight knob on the 300 yard stage.... great group, but in the wrong damn spot. My score on sitting rapid fire was 180/200 (pair of 90's). But I dropped 83 frigging points on slowfire prone - 117/200 - we have no pits, and the mirage was so severe I couldn't see any holes @ 300 through my spotting scope. So didn't know where I was hitting until it was all said and done... sigh. I shot 168/200 on slowfire standing. First time I ever scored higher on standing than prone... grr.

F-class I put down a 196/200 and 195/200 on two strings. I'm still clearly better with a bipod and Nightforce in front of my face than I am with irons..

Glasses helped but I was also out of shape on some things. Still am, but I'm practicing each weekend that I have available. Working on ladder testing ammo in that SCAR this weekend. Going to see if I can find a sweet spot and get those groups a bit tighter. It's now an NRA legal match rifle with the brake removed. Kicks like a mule, though. Always a trade-off...

 

[Trent]

Also worth noting;

ON that 10/22, the archangel stock has a "barrel tensioner" insert.

Freefloated it shot like crap.

Stick the tensioner in the 3rd spot, worked with it, and it shrunk groups down to below 0.5". I can't believe it, but a 1/4 turn on that tensioner either way has a shocking effect on group size! Even though that 10/22 has a hammer forged bull barrel, it still has some odd harmonic characteristics. It really does want to be bedded "on the firm side."

Compared to the stock-stock, I'm getting WAY better accuracy out of that archangel. I bought it to solve "Dad & Kid shooting" length of pull issues. I didn't expect it to make the dang 10/22 a somewhat serious contender against the Anshutz smallbore rifles I am playing against. Tried 4 types of Eley ammo and three of the 4 types I shot, shoot ragged single holes at 50 yards. Trying RWS ammo next. Pricey, but man, I need to see what this rifle is truly capable of now that I can muck around with the barrel harmonics some.