ilz SMALLBORE PRONE

RIFLE SHOOTING
VOLUME II
NRA
NATIONAL
CHAM PIONSH IPS
TRAINING
-
CLINICS
MANUAL SERIES

AN EDUCATION & IRAINING PUBLICATION OF THE

NATONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATON
Smallbore Rifle Shooting, Volume II
First Edition
(c) 1985 The National Rifle Association
Second Printing - 1995

All rights reserved. Printed in the United America. This manual may not be
States of
reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. For
information, address the Competitive Shooting Division, National Rifle Association,l1250
Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, Virginia 22030.

Edited by: Ellen Ross, Member NRA Smallbore Committee

Cliniclnstructors: David'Weaver
Bob Mitchell
Neal Johnson
Presley Kendall

Recommendations for equipment or

other items made in this publication are
the recommendations of the presentor/author
and are not recommendations by the NRA.
The NRA ordinarily does not recommend the
use of specific products.

CAUTION: All technical data in this publication; especially for handloading, reflect the limited
experience of individuals using specific tools, products, equipment and components under
specific conditions and circumstances not necessarily reported in the article, and over which the
National Rifle Association of America (NRA), has no control. The data have not otherwise been
tested or certified by the NRA. The NRA, its agents, officers, and employees accept no
responsibiiity for the results obtained by persons using such data and disclaim all liability for any
consequential injuries or damages.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1983 NRA National ChampionshiPs

Smallbore Rifle Clinic

Dr. Robert G. Smith, Introduction

Biographies of Clinic Instruetors

David Weaver
Fundamentals in Shooting. -...page 1

Bob Mitchell
Techniques for Scope Shooting. . "..page 8

Neal Johnson
The Competition Rifle ...Page t4

Presley IY" Kendall

Equipment and Shooting Techniques
for Smallbore Prone 'Page 24

Panel Di-scussion: 'Page 33

Ernie VandeZande
David lYeaver
Neal Johnson
NATIONTAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
THE AMERICAN RIFTEMAN
AND

"lillitt' THE AMERICAN HUNTER

1600 Rhode tsland Avenue, N.W. . Washingron, D.C.2OO36 . (202l, 828-6000

INTRODUCTTON

by
Dr. Robert G. Smith, chairman
NR Smallbore Rifle Committee

s Chairman of the NR Sma]-]-bore Rifle Committee, and

on behalf of the National Rifle Association, I am pleased
to introduce this printed record of the NR Smallbore
Prone nifte Clinic that l'as conducted in {,uJy- 198-,3'. at t}re
National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio
The Clinj-c was offered to shooters who participated
in the Smallbore Rifle National Championships as a means
of making the most up-to-date information on smallbore
prone shooting available to them. In order that this
important information could be avaiLable to as many
shooters as possibler the clinic was tape recorded,
transcribed and edited to become this pubJ-ication.
The clinic and this publication represent part of an
NRA effort to increase the popularity of smallbore rifte
prone shooting. Having access to good information about
the equipment and techniques of a sport help to increase
its appeal and enhance the success and enjoltment that
comes from it.
The 1983 ctinic offered presentations on several
phases of prone shooting including techniques,
rifle-smithinq scope shoot,ing and r+ind doping. We are
confdent your shooting too witt benefit by having this
important information avaiJ.able.
This clinic and publication are al-so part of an NR
program to conduct clinics and produce publications on al.l
of our different competitive shooting evens. If you vant
more information on this prograrn or have suggestions for
topics you rould liXe to see covered pJ.ease rrite to the
NR Marksmanship Training Department, 1600 Rhode IsLand
Avenue NW, Washingtonr D.C. 20036.
 BIOGRAPHIES OF CLINIC INSTRUCTORS

V AVID IYEAVER, OiI City, Pennsylvania. David lYeaver

was Nati.onal Smallbore Champion in L976 and 1979.
His list of prone shooti.ng accomplishments also
include several Civilian National titles and selection
to the Dewar and Pershing Teams.
li BOB MITCHELL, Aurora, Colorado. Bob Mtchell was
National Prone Any Sight Champion in 1-973, a member
of gold and silver team winner at the t973 CAT, member
of the L974 U.S. CISlvf leam.

NEAL JOHNSON, Hampton, Virginia. Neal Johnson o\A'ns

and operates Gunsmithing, Inc. He has been a pro-
fessional gunsmith for over 20 years, speeializing in
smallbore competition rifles for the last ten. Over
1O0 national records have been set with his rifles.

PRESLEY W. KENDALL, Carlisle, Kentucky. Pres Kendall's

success in shootiug spans a quarter century having won
the National Smallbore Prone Championship four times,
in 1962, L972, L974 and 1982. Pres was also the Nat-
lonal 3-Positj.on Cbanpi.on in L964 and has been a member
of numerous U.S. international shooting teams.
 FUND.I'ENTLS
by
David Weaver
frm probably not going to
tell you anything you havenrt
already heard. I vould tiXe to try
to convince you that some of the
information you have received is
good and that the fundamentaLs are
more important ti.an you may think,
First of a1lr there is one
word that I use to describe my
shooting philosophy, and ttrat's
the ord si4ple. I think you
have to E very careful about
trying out nel ideas. Some things
may be too complicated for you at
your particular leve1 of shooting.
Someone may give you a tip that
you donrt quite understand, but
you may try to follor it anyway
and end up getting in trouble
during a match. That's not a good
idea. I don't think anyone should
do anything in a match that they
donrt understand perfectly.
There are three basic things
that every good shooter must have,
and every one knovs r+hat they are.
The firstr and probably most
mportant, is the qun. ft-has to
be accurate. How accurate? I td
say somevhere under an inch. Mile
it doesn't have to be half inch, I
donrt think it voutd be good to
have it be rnore than an inch. A
good gun has a stock that fits
you properly. The cheekpiece and
fore-end stop have to be properly
fitted so that your position is
the same every time you lay dor+n.
Secondly, you need good
ammuntion. You can't use
somethng thatrs going to group
four feet at a 100 yards. To shoot
all X's, you have to have
ammunition that matches your gun.
f you're luckyr 1rou can go to a
supplier and get tro or three lots
of ammunition to test so you can
find the one that shoots best in
IN SHOOTTNG
your gun. The, third thing is the
tough one. You need the abilitY to
shoot. You have to be able to hold
the gun and shoot on the right
condition"
That leads me to the
fundamentals. It may not be
original, but I would like to call
them the do's and donrts of
shooting. One thing you should
alvays remember is that th.e don'ts
are as important as the do's.
To begin vith, try to get
enough rest the night before a
match. If you're out until 3:30
and cravl to the line' you are
probably not going to see very
rel1.
Get to the line early enouqh
so that you can set up vithout
having to hurry. I personally feel-
that I should have an hour to get
ready. This gives me time to
set up my gear, mark mY targets
and observe the conditions so that
I can get a feel for the
predominant condition. It's not
necessary to study the conditions;
but as you are setting up and
talking to others around Yo, make
a mental note about lshat's goj-ng
on. Perhaps the most important
reason for being there early is
out of respect for the shooter
next to you. Nothing is more
distracting to a shooter, vho is
trying to make the best use of his
preparation periodr than to have
his neighbor run up to the liner
throi his mat dovn, and madlY trY
to get everything together.
Since you have had plenty of
time to identify,. the, pgedgminant
conditionr" you nov want to get
sighted in for it. If the vind has
been bloving for the last half
 hour to the three o'c1ock side,
fou will want to get sighted in
for the three o'clock condition.
You don't need to be exaet at this
point, you just need. basic side t
side information. Wl-en you go for
record, the onJ-y condition you
r+ant to shoot in s the condition
you are sighted in for. ff you are
sighted in for a slight. rin and a
litt1e bit of mirage to the right,
and the condition- changes to the
leftr ri.d you shoot anyway and get
a 1O--that's luck. That's not god
shooting. you should never shoot
for record unless you have
verified that the conition is
correct. Since lre have unlimited
sightersr 1rou. should judge and
evaluate on the sighter before you
guess down be1ov"
You have to hold center for
-every single shot, and. you have to
,t. have a good squeeze nd a qood
X follow through. ft's lery
important to wit until the guil
cmes back down after the
explosion, and you see the bu11
through your front sight. you
don't lant to be jumping of f your
cheekpiece as soon as you 1et the
shot off because pretty soon you
r+it1 be 1eaving the rreexpice
before the bullet is out of the
barrel.
One of the most important
things that you should ao is to
check the condition before you
look at the shot through lfre
telescope. By the time you locate
the shot and then check the
condition, the condition may have
changed r rrd you have Lost
valuable piece of information. youa
vant to get as much information as
possible about vhat the condition
$as like at the time you shot. So,
first find out vhat lhe condition
you shot in r+as, then check to see
vhere the shot r+ent.
Now, lrd
like to talk about
some of the don'ts. The most
i nxav!
4((yvt f
--r
Lq, think, is
u,
never
2
suess. ff you are holding dead
center, and you are shooting dead
center, and the conditions are /'
just r.hat you sighted in for, and
something changes; don't try to
hold over just a Iittle. you are
guessingr od I don't recom:nend
that. Clicking !ithout going to X'
the sighter is the same as
shading. You estimate how far the
shot is going to go -,vithout the
information that a shot on t]-e
sighterwould give you. I never
recomnend guessing in the first 15
minutes. When the cost of ammo
rent up, f suggested to my father
that I could cut expenses by using
fever sighters. He reminded me
that we spend $200 to $300 a
weekend to go to a match, and the
few cents that I might save in
anmo could cost me a 9 that r+ould
rnean losing the aggrregate for the
weekend.
Never try to convince
yourself that a changing condition
is good. It may be an
insignificant change, but it,s a
change, and you're not sure of it.
You may try to te1l yourself that
you can hold center and that it
r+itt stil1 go in to the 1O-ring.
Never talk yourself into shooting
a shot that you are not sure of
unless you are into the last 5
minutes and have a number of shots
to go.
1ways be ronest rith
yourself in every aspect of your
shooting. Did you push the shot
out? If you did, for what reason?
Don't push a shot out and then
blame it on the condition. If you
mal<e the condition the scapegoat,
it wilt only confuse your and you
vitt J.ose shots later on. If you I t,
have a fuzzy sight picture, don't )
-L.
shoot it.
I donrt know many people who
can 'shoot a 9 for record and then
hve the 'intestinal fortitude to
shoot the very next shot for
record. People who do that vilt
 often print one in Lhe same holei
or if they hold of f theY ril1
print one waY out the other side.
When you lose a I shot for any
rsorrr thether it s conditions r with it or handre it a littIe
meclranical error t ot because You
pushed it outr Your Pulse rate
goes p. You feel badlY because
you sht a 9. So, if You laY there
and try to shoot another shot
consecutively, your hold isnrt
going to be nearlY as good as it
should be. Go to the sight'er and
relax witt a s}.ot or tlo.
Nov that I rave covered some
of the fundamentalsr I would ]-ike
Lo go on and address some other
areas that I feel are imPortant.
Match Pressure Everyone
i+orries about match pressure. Some
shooters say, 'rI r 1I never be a
good shooter because I canrt
handle the pressure. I' When You
have a 4OO going, the last five or
six shots may be so hard th'at You
can hardly stand it. You maY be so
excj-ted the morning before a match
that you canrt do anYthing very
veII. You ma) not be able to staY
out of t}.e bathroom. Pressure
affects everybody in everY single
way possibJ-er rtd it affects me
In hj-s prone shooting, David leaver stresses adherence
to the fundamentals and smplicity in shooting techniques.
severely. you never outgrorr it.
Pressure bothers me as much today
as it ever did. Now from
experience, I crrr perhaps, deal
better because I can anticiPate
vhat is going to come, and I know
vhat may work for me.
The main aY to helP control
match pressure is to vin. Your
first winr in my estimaLion, is
luck. The first time that I won at
Camp Perry t T lost a shot on mY
last bu1J- at 1O0 Yards because of
pressure. My heart was Pounding so
badly that I thought. it vas
running down through a field
trying to hit the X-ring. I could
hardly see, but I let the shot go
an)rwayr nd it was a 9. I thought
I had lost, but Wigger had lost a
shot on his last bull too. I ras
lucky. But shooting is not al-l
Iuck. If I had not been able to
hold center and shoot on the
correct conditions enough times' I
louldn't have been in the position
'where that little shred of luck
r+ould have helPed lr o If You
follov the fundamentals, You are
going to be in a Position r'here
you vitt have some luck vhen You
need it"
 Procedure and Routine
rlso feel that you should have a
certain procedure or routine tlrat
you follov from the time you get
to the range until the time you go
home. !h._qre- are only f our things
that iou hav t o 'btween
matches. You have to set your
c-Iock, load. your block, clean your
gun, and mark your targets. s
soon as you get those tLrings done,
you can go away and do whatever
you vant. I,'hen you set up your
gearr fou folIov a procedure.
Everything should be done
systematicallyr so that if
something is out of order, out of
placer }ou know something is
wrong. You don r t have to rait
until you are on the line to find
out.
ft is also important to have
a procedure when you shoot for
record. What is the procedure you
use to fire the shot once you are
.;ighted in on the predominant
condition? you must begin to
develop a conscous procedure in
your own mind untit you get so
good at it that you donrt have to
think about it. you put the front
sight right in the miate of your
fid of vision, you put the burl
right in the middle of the
aperturet you squeeze the shot
off; you ,have a good fol1or
throughi you check the condition
and then you see vhere the shot
went. That is the most basic and
simple procedure to fo1low. Once
you have your procedure set up,
and it has become second. nature to
Your you want to be able to go
through that procedure as fast s
you can without ever getting in a
hurry. ff you start getting 9's,
then you are in too much of a
hurry. You want to do everything
as correctly as you can, as
quickly as you can, but don't take
-hortcuts.
Conditio+F. The name of the
game is conditions. There are only
three things that I vorry about.:
the wind, the miraqe r frd the
fight. There are no other
conditions that come into play
t'}-at I lrorry about other than
those three.
Wind is probabj-y the most
confusing. It comes at you from in
frontr from behindr from the left,
from the right, and sometimes it
stops. The main ay that you
determine the direction and
velocity of the r.ind is rith your
vind doper. It's the most
important thing that you can look
at. Even if you have mirage and a
lot of wind at the target, the
most important place is at the
line vhere the barrel of your gun
is. If you have a ten-foot patch
of wind blowing at tr,enty m..h.
at the 1ine, and the rest of the
f ield is calm, the amorrnt that
your shot witt drift from the
center of the target is going to
be considerably greater than it
would be if the vhole range v'ere
cal.m except for the ten feet in
front of the target. f donrt knor
that knoving the exct speed of
the lind is very i-mportant. you
want to relate lhaL happened on
your last shot. If the wind is no.w
blowing harder than it ras on the
last shotr Dd you just hung that
one onr you will probabl-y get a 9
on the next shot. I feel that it
is best to hoLd dead center on
every shot and not t,ry to click or
shade and guess the wind. That
only confuses you. The less
confused you are the more your
scores litt improve.
Mirage is misrrnderstood. It s
not something to be afraid of.
Once you learn how to use mirage,
it is a very accurate wind dopr.
{11 you want to know about rnirage
is rhether it is going tef ,
right, or straight .rp. ir it i.
going riqhL, how thick is it? Hov
fast is it going? Itrs just
cinnlrr
u4rlyJ -.i^^
qs !^
Lv ^.:J^
I\g --r
d.IILl
velocities.

The light can also be
pr:zzling. If you have a fuzzy
sight picture on a cJ-oudy day and
then the sl:.n comes out, and your
pj-cture is clearr chances are that
you are not going to hit where you
r,ant to and vice versa, That I s
about the only problem Lhat lrou
iill krave.
What is
Triqger Control
squeez j-ng? How do you jerk a
shot? Your trigger finger is
probably the scapegoat of many
9's. f. personalty don't think that
your trigger finger can cause you
to' get a 9 al-l by itself.
shooter has a pressure point where
the butt of the gun goes against
the shoulder. For r since I
shoot a lor.er type position, it
lays beneath the colJ-ar bone. If
you put your arm out and tense it
upr you will feel a rather large
muscle that the butt of your gun
lays against. Unless you are
relaxed, that muscle is going to
tense up. Trrhen you tense upr it
affects your forearm, and You
blame it on your finger. Depending
on where tl-e butt of your rifle
rests in that rnuscle, tension liJ-l
cause it to go up or down and
affect the shot.
The keY to a
FoJ-lov Through
good @ is relaxation.
P.emember, the r,ord simPle is mY
main theme behind shooting. KeeP
every facet of every bt of
information as simple as You can
so that you can understand it and
use it effect.ively when You are
under match pressure. The other
main thing t'o remember is
relaxation. There are onlY two
muscles in your body that should
be tensed at aII when You are
shooting and those are the tlo
behind your neclc. These are the
muscles that ho.1d Your read uP
'when it's on the cheekpiece.
Cheek Pressure nother
misunffi in shooting is
cheek pressure. When You are in
position and have your butt Plate
in the proper place in your
shoulderr )ou should be ab].e o
put your head dorn on ttre
cheekpiece so that most of the
weight of your head is resting
there and be able to look through
the center of your rear aperture.
You liJ.l alvays have to hoJ.d Your
kread up some rith those muscles,
but you lant to use Your muscLes
as tittte as possible. If Your
cheekpiece j-s too lovr you vi1l
have to ho]-d ]our head uP r.rith no
supportr rrd it r'ill shake around.
If it is too high, you will have
to push your read down too hard to
see through th.e sight. You are
A looking for something in the
midd]-e.
Shadinq I think that it is
a good idea for people to know how
to shade. f also believe that it
is a very poor idea to shade in
the f irst f if teen mi-nutes of a
match. Whenever I have to ctick
for a condition, I go baclc uP to
the sighter and shoot a minimum o'
three shots. Clicking lit}.ouu
going back to the sighter and
shading are very much the same.
They both constitute a guess. It
is possible to convince Yoursel f
that you )<nor everything that is
going on between You and the
target even when You don't.
Shading is something that You
should practice. If You run out of
timer you should do anYthing that
you can to get the shots off. t'
tfris point a I , or even an B, s
better than eating a round. Work
hard for the first fifteen
minutes, and only shade if You are
in real trouble wittr eight or nine
shots to go and onlY five minutes-
Scope Shootinq Wtren I
referred to holding center, I vas
talking about iron sights. I r'ould
liXe to take a fel minutes to ta].k
about the bobble that You get r+ith
the scope r and r'hat You can do tt
improve your scope scores. If You
aren't able to hold on a bulleL
hole at 100 Yards, You ProbablY
find it incrediblY difficult to

'shoot
good groups. You are looking
t the center of a one-inch
circle. Your cross hairs can move
three-quarters of that ring
vithout your getting concerned.
It 's n the middJ-e, so what t s the
difference? The difference is
larger groups than you want to be
shooting. I find it best to use
the X-ring for reference and hold
just inside the X-ring. You sight
in f or that spot then lrhen you
hold therer four bullets will
print in the center. Thatrs not
shading. You wil1 see the cross
hai-rs and have less area for them
to bobble around in.
Qoals It is necessary to
have -rs in your shooiing.
Everyone r+ants to win something or
do something. The important thing
is to have readity attainabl
goals so that you can progress. If
you set your goals too highr you
can become apprehensive about even
+rying. The most important person
' ) beat out there on the 1ine,
i+heher in practice or a match, is
you. You srow how you are
performing; you l<nov it you missed
the conditj-on; you knov if you
jerked the shoti you knor. if you
are happy about your score or not.
You mus go out every single time
you shoot and try to do better. ff
you vatch rhat you are doing r 1lo
learn something every time you
shoot. Every time you practice,
you put some more information away
in your subconscious that may b
helpful later on. It would be
unrealistic for me to say that f
r+ant to come out here next year
and slroot. a 3200 iron sights to
ma]<e the Roberts Team. f don't
knor+ what the conditions ri1l be
like. It is realistic for me to
set a goal to shoot the best I
possibly can in the given
conditions.
unexpraine shots what can
5J wrong and cause you to shoot a
9 vhen everything seems to be
perfect? You have a good gun,
good ammor cllter hold a clean
squeezer dnd good follor throughr
you shot on the right condition'
and yet you sti1l got a 9. There
are onJ-y three thngs that could
have gone wrong. You might rave
had a bad round of anmo. You might
have gotten caught in a condition
betleen the time You left Your
spotting scope and tl.e time You
shot the shot. If that haPPens,
j_Ut take it and go 9n to the next
shot. Itrs also possible that Your
grn has let p. This haPPens
rarely, but it can hapPen. You maY
have a good tight grouP and then
all of a sudden four or five shots
wonrt group. If you shoot a shot
and canrt blame it on anythingr
you should at least go back to the
sighter and check it out"
Sometimes your rifle needs to be
cleaned. Often there is no rhyme
or reason for tl.isi and if someone
figures it outr Please let me
know.
Defensive Shoo-fgg Some
conditions requir'= you to shoot
defensively. Many thingsr from a
good gun to lining-up center and
holding 90 into getting a 10.
There are very few things that
cause you to get a 9.
Occasionally rhen cond j-tions are
so tricky that you can't figure
out hol to get X's, you have to
concenLrate on not getting 9ts.
People don't ask yorlr "Hov many
did you get?" They ask, "Hot' many
did you drop?" You don't count
hol many points you gotr /ou count
hov many you dropped. When you
get into a pressure situation with
tricky conditions, you should l.ook
at the condition nd 'make sure
that itrs not going to give you a
9 , and gro for it.
Once again, I would life to
point out that the first fifteen
minutes are very important. If
you lose a 9 in the first fifteen
minutes for record, what reason do
you have? Hor can you te1l
yourself that you were riqht in
shading, clickingr or guessing l-n
the first five to ten minutes vhen
you have all the time in the world
to finish your target? If You get
into the l-ast f ive minutes and
have a lot of shots left, thatrs
when you do Your shading,
clicking, and guessing. ManY
beginning shooters witt shoot two
or three 9's and then start
blasting the rest down range.
These shooters have to learn the
most important principle in
shooting NEVER GTVE UP ON thAt
record shot.
0. Would you exPlain whY You
hol-d near the line vhen You are
shooting with a scope?
By holding near a liner /olt
give yourself a point of reference
instead of allorring Your cross
hairs to ftoat around the entire
X-ring. You can also divj-de the
X-ring into guadrants and Pick the
guadrant that you vant to aim at
instead of the whole area. That
lray you ritt be a J-ot closer to
rhat you want to aim at than You
vould be just using the middte of
the X. If you are holding just
inside the X-ring at 12 o'clockr
you vould move your sight down tvo
clicks so that the shots would
print in the middle.
Several Years after I first O. Hor,r long does it take You
started shooting scope' I learned to execute the s}.ot?
another irnportant lesson. I found
that at the short range I would A. Your stock should be
shoot tvo or three god X's and designed to a11ow You to Put Your
then a wide 9. Tfhat f v'as doing head on the cheekPiece and
vas looking at the Xts and letting immediately see through the center
my cross hairs drift off to one of the rear aPerture. Get the
side. You rave to concentrate on bull in the middle of that
those cross hairs. aperture and shoot the shot' The
mximum time from the time Yqu
a. What do.,1ou ,focus on rhen leave your scope untr o" sfoot
you s9t i.rn sigtrts: the shot should be ten seconds'
The ideal lould be between four
A. The front sight aPerture, and six seconds- The longer You
ti.e bul1r'''lid' ,'.t.h.e,-i-ar sght all waitr' th more chance You have fo:
go together. All three have to be conditions to ctrange. Do it as
tear or at least as clear as You quicklY as You can vithout ever
are normally used to seeing them" rushing.
 TECHNIQUES FOR SCOPE SHOOTING
by
Bob Mitchell
I would like to begin mY talk darkened environment vitfr a black
by discussing the selection and dot or cross hair on a black
proper mounting of a telescope and target . scope that does not pic<
then address a fel technj.ques that up an adequate amount of Iight
can be used r+hen you are actually vi1l provide a very poor sight
firing that may be advantageous. picture. Even though you are
shootng vith a telescope, it may
When you select a telescope be difficult to discern the cross
for prone shootingr 1rou can hairs or dot on the target. It is
purchase either a barrel mounted advantageous to have a telescope
or a receiver mounted telescope. rith good quality lenses that l-et
The barrel , mounted scope is the in as much lig'ht as possible thus
longer variety that attaches providing a brighter sight
directly onto the barrel. The picture.
receiver mounted scope has been
adopted from the benchrest game It is desirable that the
and is a shorter, Iighter scope adjustments in your telescope be
with internal adjustments. You as accurate as possible. Ho'wever,
witt see good shooters using both this is not absolutely essential
varieties. I don't have a strong since you can go to the sighter as
preference, although f'm using a often as you vant. With the good
receiver
't's mounted scope because quality telescopes on the market
lighter; therefore, the today r /or-l can buy a reliabJ-y
alance of my rifle is not chanqed accurate telescope that when moved
dramatically. iVith the longer, two I/4 minute clicks, the strike
heavier scope, the rifle becomes of the bullet does in fact move
very barrel hearry. If you have a I/2 inch at 100 yards.
good telescope, the internal
adjustments should be more The location or positioning
consistently accurate. The of the reticle in the telescope is
d j-sadvantage of the receiver a characteristic that I look for
mounted scope is that eye relief when buying a telescope. he
is much more critical. ftrs more reticle can be located either
difficult to mount the tetescope behind or in front of the
securely to the receiver and still magnification lens. ff the reticLe
maintain adequate eye relief. The is in front of the magnification
longer scopes are much less lens r nd you want a 1,/4 minute
critical vhen it comes to eye dot in a 2O-pover scoper that dot
retief. must be magnified 20 times. A L/4
minute dot is very, very tiny
The optics of the telescope' anylayr corsquently the telescope
no matter vhich type you choose, people really have difficulty
are important. Most all working with a precise dot
competition scopes that are selection in a reticle that is in
commercially available t,oday have front of the magnification. A I/4
adequate optics. Optics are minute reticte positioned rearward
particularly important on an of the magnification can be 20
overcast or poorly lit morning times larger, thus easier to work
en your target is not exposed to with. When I purchase a telescope,
ci-e sunlight. When shooting in a I want the dot to be 3/B of a
minute not .30 or .45. 't^lhen you
have a dot reticle in the rearvard
portion of the telescope a good
teclnician can meet your desj-res
very precisely.
Shooters frequentlY ask,
'What pol.er scope should I use? "
I recommend anything from 16 Power
to 25 po\,rer. I personallY f eel
that 16 power is a little v'eak and
that you are not really seeing
optimally. On the othrer hand, many
people vill not be able to Lrold a
25-power scope because the 25
power magnifies the hold and
enlarges the area of wobble. That
leaves us ideally vith something
right around 20 power as the most
popular scope for prone shooting.
Certainly this selection should be
tempered with personal preference.
If you can hold a 25 Lo 30 Power
scope and break the shot
consistently on the bullet hoJ.e or
on your selected area of impact,
you can use the higher Pol,er
telescope. The higher po!er does
allow you to see better; and if
you are abJ.e to pick up mirage and
see the conditions better, that
certainly is an advantage. But if
you canrt hold the scope
adequately, that advantage is
easily overridden by firing
several bad shots.
Ttrere are many types of
reticles avai1able. However, for
competitive prone shooting, most
people use either the cross hair
or the round dot type reticle. The
cross rair should be either medium
or fine since anything much larger
covers up too much area on the
point of impact. Many people make
the mistake using a dot that is
much too tittte. Some shooters use
scopes with dots as smal-l as l/8
minute. I think this is
impractical because it's very
difficult to maintain focus and
concentration on a small black dot
on a black target. When the light
is not bright, it is very easy to
lose track of that dot
momentarily. With a J-ittJ-e larger
dot or heavier cross hair, you are
less likely to lose the reticler
and you can more easily
concentrate on the buJ-lseye and
keep the dot in obvious vj-ev
during the shooting sequence.
It is relatively simple to
correctly mor:nt your telescope,
but do check to be sure that it is
adequately secured, There are a
few procedures that I foIlow rhen
mor.rnting the Redfield 3200 lhich
is a barrel mounted scope with
internal ad justments. It j-s
relatively long and clamps
securely to the barrel. Sinee it
is is not free floating in the
mount, ruhen the scope is clamped
firmly to the barrel, it can L'ind
thus changing the vibrations in
the barrel which can affect rifle
accuracy. Therefore t T. like to
mount that part.j-cular scope bY
loosely placing the scope and
mounts on the scope blocks. 1
tighten the mounts to the
telescope bases and then I begin
to tighten the mount screws
alternately so that the scope viJ-t
find its own place on the mountsr
and there wiJ.l be less opportunitY
for the teleseope to bind in the
mounts and adverseJ-Y af f ect the
vibrations of your barrel.
fter securing either type of
scope to the rifle, like to
adjust the cheekpiece so that I
can see comfortably through the
center of the telescope. Thre next
step is to adjust the eye relief
so that a futl field of vier is
obtained. Then adjust the paralJ-ax
which includes insuring good focus
on the reticle so that a good
crispr clear cross hair or dot is
obtained. You can do this bY
looking through the scope at the
sky or a vhite pieee of PaPer such
as a target. Then adjust the front
paral-Iax to f ocus on the target.
This is critical because if it's
not adjusted properlyr ahY change
-n head position can move your
shot groups. I like to do all of
this lhile laying the rifJ.e across
the bench, kneeling ro1lr or some
other stationary object. I sight
through the telescope and focus it
using the front focus tube to
obtain the clearest possible sight
picture for the distance that I am
going to be shooting. I make sure
that I note that locaton so that
I can quickly adjust from short
range to long range and get the
precise adjustment every time.
Next, f sight through the
scope at varying angles by moving
my head on the chee<piece without
vibrating or disturbing the rirte
to see if that dot moves across
the target. If the parallax isn't
exactly correct, vhen I move my
head position, the dot will
actually appear to move slightly
on the target.
I like to adjust the height
' ewaluate vhether the area of
of my iron sights to be
commensurate with the height of mY
telescope. Many peoPle set their
riftes up vith iron sights and
tkren ad just accordinglY f or
telescope. Since the sight blocks
The Prone Positj-on used by three-time National
Smal-l-bore Rifle Prone Champion Lones Wigger.
10
or bases for telescopes are made
in a timited number of heightsr I
prefer first to adjust. my
cheekpiece to the telescope and
then adjust my front iron sight
base to the proper height by using
shims and a selection of bases. Be
sure the same cheek pressure is
used for both iron sights and
teJ-escope.
We have talked about
selecting and mounting the scope.
Next, I would like to talk about
some of the techniques used in
telescope shooting. When shooting
with a telescoper you can evaluate
your hol-d more easily. f t is
imperative that you keep your area
of r.obb1e to a minimum and have a
smooth crisp 1et off. These two
ingredients are absolutely
essential lhether you are shooting
r+ith iron sights or telescope.
With the telescope, horeverr 1rou
can make adjustments to the sling
or your position and guickly
r+obble is reduced.
 The telescope also enables us
to observe mirage while firing.
I.Ihen shooting vith iron sights,
you have the disadvantage of
having to return to the spotting
scope to evaluate the shot and
mirage. When you leave the
spotting scope, there are eight to
ten seconds vhile you are sighting
that you are nlnerable to wind
changes. with the telescope, you
can actually monitor the mirage
across the target. face. If the
mirage begins to swj-tch, you can
frequently catch the change. Being
able .to evaluate the mirage
closelyr permits more confident
shooting. It's easier to quickly
line up the sights and evaluate
the mirage through the scope.
Since you can shoot a little bit
fasterr 1lou get a better rhythm
and esLablish a cadence that
enabl-es you to perf orm more
smoothly.
with a telescope, you can
make optimum use of your sighting
shots. While you can shoot as many
sighters as you want vith iron
sights, it becomes increasingly
difficult to find the shots in the
sighting bull. When the sighter
gets shoL pr it's easy to "shoot
and hope" which is a bad practice.
When I shoot my fouling shots with
a scope, I prefer not to shoot at
the center of the bull. Rather, I
vill fire shots in the B-ring at
12 orclock 3 o'clockr d 6
orclock. ?hen I go bac]< and sight
j-n on one bullet hole. Shooting at
a bullet hole offers several
advantages: You don't shoot up
the center of the sighterr you are
breaking your shot on a smaller
point of aim and since there is
usually some light coming through
the back of the target, the bullet
hole appears rhite making it
easier to fire the the shot with
he b]-ac]< dot or cross hairs on
the contrasting point of aim. If
you have not shot up the center of
11
the sighter and the rind shifts,
you can return to the sighter and
quickty determine ror. far the shot
r.ill be blovn off course and hold
accordj-ngly. You can see exactlY
r+rere it is print'ing on the
sighter target before going on to
a record bul1.
With a telescoPe, You
certainly have the advantag'e of
being able to hold off and shade
with precision. When hoJ-ding off
with iron sightsr You are
t'guestimating" somewhat. With a
tlescope, it is possible to ho]-d
on one side of the X-ring or the
other and be verY Precise in Your
shading Leclueique. This is very
advantageous since it hetPs You to
skroot more quiekJ-Y. If You do
experience just a 1itt1e bit of
pick-upr rather than going back to
the sighter you can hedge it by
holding off slightly and continuc
firing since it's just a mino.,
adjustment.
I do not like to talk about
ttdon I tS,t.
I would rather
concentrate on the dors, but I
feel that there is one rrdonrtil \re
should discuss. You shoutd always
avoid chasing shots vhich is veiy
easy to begin doing vhen you are
shooting with the scope. ft's easy
to establish a cadence and be
zipping along shooting vetl and
become infatuated vith the shot
group. You put five shots in the
center of the X-ringr then the
sixth goes in, the seventhr rld
suddenly you begin admiring the
center of the X-ring and stop
i+atching the conditions.
Frequently the next shot goes out
due to n undetected wind change.
So, do not chase shotsi dope everv
shot. Evaluate the wind; evaluate
the mirage; evaluate every single
shot that you fire. Donrt get
caught up in firing one shot after
another without monitoring
conditions.
 I prefer never to hold still be in the 1O-ring. We have
utside the 10-ring rhen shooting allr at one time or antherr 1et
with a telescope. Certainlyr I'11 our oHTt aiming point ,ander out
shade around the X-ring; but into the 9-rin and enjoyed
unless conditions are really .watching each shot fly int ifre
crazy, T lould prefer not to hoJ.d X-ring until suddenly the original
outside the X-ring. By holding condition returns nd the next
into the 9-ring, you do not have a slrot hits exactly r+here lre were
good point of reference. You are holding. That's the reason that I
shooting a black dot at a black never like to hold outside the
target face and tLrat really is not 1 0-ring.
a precise enoug'h aiming point. I
rea1J-y prefer to hold on the X a. What purpose does your
line rather than at the Very spotting scope serve during the
center of the X-ring. Again, I'm match?
shooti-ng a black dot or cross hair
at a contrasting vhit.e line. Itrs My spotting scopes serves as
a better reference point. It's a a blinder - to block out vision in
more precise and obvious aiming rly non-shooting eye. A1so, f focus
point. By holding out of the my spotting scope back a little
1O-ringr 1lou. lose that advantage. bit from the target to all-or me
ff you hold between the X and 10 better reading of the mirage. aI
liner 1rou can use those lines as like to use a, 3O-power spoiting
reference points. If you hold on scope because it a11or,s me to see
the X line and the rind condition !h: mirage a bit more accurately.
picks and you find your Before I put my head on the stock
'equired aiming point walking away to fire the round t T check the
rom the center of the target and mirage through my spotting scope.
suddenly the original condition
returns, the shot witt print
beneath the cross hairs and will

yl
j,i:;:;'j:j:"-:,;ti1J..".'-:r,.'r:.r'1.:,.:;;i-ir"-;":1;.,
-'. ;,.J;;"-*;:,-:-*,**l** .-r:, .j_i] ..;',*

Shown here are a receiver mounted telescope (top, M6400

Redfield) and a barrel mounted telescope with external
adjustments (bottom, Lyman Super Targetspot).

12
 i' .. 't

,,,

,*,--,::::
--:-i+6;t

Some prone positions used by

leading j-nternational shooters.
Top left: Ed Etzel, USA, 1984
Olympic Gold Medal winner in
English Match. Top and bottom
right: Gennadi Lustchikov of
the USSR. Bottom left: Toni
Mue11er, Switzerland. Lustchikov
and Mueller are two of the most
consistently excellent English
Match shooters in the wor1d.

13
 THE COMPETTTION RFLE
by
Neal Johnson
Tonight I woul-d like to talk
about hor+ v'e build rif Ies. I^Ihat do
le do to rfles to get to the
point werre at with them.
First of all r you rave to
st.art vith something of quality.
You can take a $150 Mossberg and
put $1500 into it in my shopr nd
vhen you get all doner 1rou have a
$150 Mossberg. There is no way in
the world you can change that. So
you have to start lith something
good.
The ction Right no'w
probably the best choice you can
rnake is an nschuLz. The nschutz
is the most available and the
'righest quatity. They also have
:he most available parts and
service. You have to loo]< long and
hard to f ind anything bet,ter.
Although te vork mostly rith the
Anschutz, it's not the only
possibility.
Wal-ther still makes a good
rifler but they've gotten teir
prices up to where theyrre very
hard for most people to afford.
Therefore, there arenrt as many
around as there used to be. As far
as know, the quality hasn't
changed much at al.l. They are good
rifles. They can be sht the way
they come r oF they can be r.orked
over.
Winchester used to make some
very fine competition rifles, but
they no longer want any part of
the marlcsmanship game r so we
ar*r I t, getting any more
Winchesters. There are a lot of
ld ones around that can still be
*orked orrr and they make very good
riflesr particularly for prone.
The,,,.. ,S.hottr.,,. qmpact action helps
L4
you5, position and. makes loading
gasier. They'have a reaonbr!
f?gt lock time a1so. When you ca
find a' Winchester that the
coLlectors havenIt put away, it
will ma]<e a good base for a rLfle.
The Remington 40-X requires a
little more rork. f donrt work on
very many of them so f canrt
speak lith very much authority.
Its hard to make them balane
well so I'm not a real fan of the
Remington. you can make triggers
to work on them, so they can be
used.
There I s a ner kid on the
block, the Feinlerkbau. They have.
had a standard rifle for years and
now have a free rifle vhich is
kind of exotic in appearance.
Apparently they need sme vor]<
rhen they come ou of the box. The
ones Irve seen have not been
bedded lre1l. f I ve worked on one,
and once ve got it bedded, ii
looked like it really wanted to
work well. gain yo have a niee
short action and very fast lock
time.
The key to an
accurate is the barrel.
Inlhere do we get a barrel? What
kind do e ue? Unfortunately,
there isn,t a ihole r+orld of
choice out there.
There are a great many goo<i
nschutz barrels. Some of thm-are
as good as a barrel can ever be
vith the ammo ve have no.wadays.
nschutz makes their barrels out
of carbon steel. They have a
somlhat 'ltnited life cmpared
rht I 'ttrink ' stainless 3tf tois
c.qnable or;..bu lhen they re "ew,
they do shoot very re11. So your
first possibility is the barrel
that comes vith the gun,
particularly if you are buying an
Anschutz " I doubt if I rou1d ever
recommend that anybody buy an
Anschutz barrel to replace an
Anschutz barrel. I don,t think
that vould be cost ef f ective. T^fhen
you wear out that first barrelr tr
go to something eIse.
That something e1se, in my
opinion right now, is the Hart.
Ttrat I s rhat I'm using exclusively
at the moment. Up until a f er+
months gor I considered the Hart
and McMillan equal. ff
McMillan vere stil1 making
barrels, T rouldntt change that
opinion a bit, but hers retired
and sold his business. So far,
werve had no experience vith the
new barrels to tel1 you about.
They may be better than anything
we have ever had, and then agaj_n,
they may not. We just have no
idea. At the moment, I'm using
Hart barrelsr and that's al-l I,m
.using for replacement.
Speaking about replacement,
as f ar as I knov, ttrere I s no
source for buying a new action.
There is no manufacturer vho will
sel1 a target quality rimfire .Zz
action for you to build a custom
rifte on. Companies just don't
se11 that part of their gun.
ssemblins the Rifle Lets
start to put this gun together.
I'd like to start from the front
end of it and r.ork back going
through the steps that I use to
build the rifle. This is not
necessarily the order that I do
things in, but it's probably the
easiest way to explain it.
The Crown I use an 11
degreffi- on the muzzle. crovn
is a very, very key word when you
are" tlkng about accurate rifles.
Th clrn has to be as precise as
anything that's ever done in
machine rork. It has to be dead
square to the bore" Ttre crovrn is
the juncture of the muzzle and the
bore. There's a point measured ir
thousandths of an inch where those
tr.o come together. That is the
cror.Jrti it's not the +hole end of
the barrel. That point must be as
precise as it can be, and it must
be as dead square to the bore as
it can possibty be.
pat
Johnson is shown teaching a class
on the care and cleaning of rifles
at an NRA Junior Olympic shooting
cal4p.
The technique 'that I use to
get to that point is to use the
four-jav chuck, the manual chuck,
on my lathe. I set it up vith a
dial indicator instead of chucking
it up in a three-jaw chuck. The
three-jar+ chuck vill appear to run
true; but in most cases, it
doesn't. f also have a device
buitt on the back end of the
headstock of my lathe so that I
can adjust the running of that end
of the barrel as well so that it
does not whip while it's running
inside the headstock. I get the
vhole barrel taying there in the
headstock and running true fron.
end to end. Then I can turn a true
crowTl.
15
 The crowrt has everything to
do with accuracy on any rifte. lf
'you r,ant target accuracy out of
any rif le r rrot just smallbore,
that cro\,. better be right. thgre
+F,.., . +o- . vey. to get target accuracy
',-ith a slpy cror.rn. It just can't
be done.
From that point of that
juncture of that perfect crownr rl
have to do something to protect
it, and itts alvays a recess of
some sort. Anschutz uses a sguared
off recessi sporter rifles use a
round one. You will see all kinds
of things. George Stidworthy did a
lot of experimenting. George is a
man that I respect considerably, a
great technician in this sport,
and he determined that an 11
degree angle cut from the crorvn
out to the edge of the barrel
gives the best results, and f find
t].at it r+orks.
Letrs move
>ack on the barrel. The barrels
are profiled to your choice of
weight depending on what you vant
to hold out theie. There are tr"o
general veights that r+e r+ork vith.
One is what most people think of
a the Anschutz 1413 profile; it's
about 'I5/76th of - an inch in
diamter and 27 L/4 inches long.
The ther is'the Anschuz standaid
rifle profite rhich s 1/gtn of an
inch in diameter and 26 inches
1ong.
GeneralJ_y your barrel lilI
be near one of those t!o as far as
weight goes. They all are
s.traj,ght. I havenrt seen a tapered
barrel on a target rifle in quite
a rhile. They are usually turned
to near the final dimension by the
barrel maker and then lapped to be
sure that there !ere no stresses
set up during the machining
operations. As the installer, w
'io the f inal machining, and le
.oD,rt do enough turning on them to
set up any stresses. Occasionally
16
when you have to turn a barrel
down for one reason or another,
you have to do it very slowly and
5""p it very cool to gt away r,ith
.:!
IL
-barrelttachinq the Barrel This
must be fastened to the
actj-on. There are two ways of
doing it that work pretty weJ-l.
AlJ- the European makers
machine the barrel shank straight
so that it fits the action very
tightly and then pin it in place. -.,
They get excellent results with
this methrod.
The merican manufacturers
thread the action so that the
barrel screlrs into place. We can
put that barrel in a tittle
tighter if 'we put threads on t.
Our benchrest shooters have proven
to my satisfaction that threading
.is the lray to go. That's vhat I
recommend now although f have guns
out there shooting equally vel1
either way. It's very difficult to
tell the difference. Theory says,
I'Letrs thread them. ,' so that's
what I recommend. It might just
give us a little bit of an eage.
ihe Chamber You must have 'cana
good ErIe good chamber
only be cut lith a good chambering
reamer. own one, and I r 11
protect that thing with my life
because it. vorks so vell. The
company that ground it for me
isn't in business anymore so I
canrt even get it replaced. It
witt cut thusands of limrire .Zz
chambers. You don't wear a reamer *
out very rapidly cutting rimfire
.22 chambers. If your gunsmith has
a good reamer, he can cut a good
chamber lhich lil1 help you to
deveJ-op an accurate rifle.
Headsace Part of the
fitting of the barrel is setting
the headspace. The SAMI (Society
of Arms and Ammunition
 Manufacturers Institute) says that
headspace for .22 rimfires is .O43
to .O47 of an inch. I consider
.O43 of an inch a maximum for a
target rifler and at that pointr f
rill ad just because I l-i.ke . them to
be ,041 of an inh. f you go down
a'" r as .039 of an inch, you run
into trouble the other way. You
donrt have nearly the room to play
r+ith that you do in a sporting
rifle.
Let me back up a little bit.
there is a difference,
incidentally, betv'een sporting and
target chambers. If you rr:n into a
gunsmith that r+ants to chamber a
rifte for your nd he doesn't know
the difference, you are in the
wrong p1ace. The chambers are
designed differently. When you
-_3 shove that bullet into that
chamber, it doesn't go quite al-l
the way. It will" stop
approximately -e-.,e]^s--h {.31- in"h f asten
,h-o-5.! . of going home. You put that
last bit in with your bo1t. Thatfs
where your buIIet has engaged tl.e
lands. A sporting chamberwon't do
thatr it vi11 go all the r+ay in.
That is one reason that a sporting
rifle won't shoot like a target
rirle.
Beddinq When you have the
barrel fitted securely to the
actionr d the headspace is
right, whatrs next? You have to
fqsten the barrelled action to the
s-tock. That's called bedding.
It can be done a couple
different ways. AIl of the
manufacturers that f knor of bed
their rifte directJ-y to the wood
w'th one degree of accuracy or
another. Most of the European
manufacturers test their rifles in
a machine rest i+ithout the stock.
Most of those barrelled actlons
shoot very well untit ve put that
barrelled action in a piece of
r+ood called a stockr and then they
L7
don tI shoot as r,ell. That'
because the bedding isntt quite
right. You coul-d scrape on a piece
of wood for a long time and
probably get the bedding just
right. A lot of the o1d masters
could do that. It takes a lot of
time. You can set a rifle up in my
shop in Virginia to shoot just
beautifutly' and then get on a
plane to Phoenix, and rithin 24
rours that piece of wood has
gotten so dry that the bedding
doesn't even resemble lhat it was
when you started out.
Our ans'h7er to that problem is
what we call glass bedding. Nov
glass bedding rarely uses glass
anymore. The proper term r.ould be
plastic bedding or epoxy beddinq. {
What that is essentialty doing is
putting in a layer of plastic
material that can conform
perfectly to the metal and then
itself to the roo.q
perfectly so that you have
perfect meeting of vood and meta1.
The benchresters go as far as
actually gtuing them in. TheY use
ttre epoxy to glue Lhe action to
the r+ood. I don't believe in that.
I don't think it's necessarYr and
it makes it very difficutt to lork
on that gun. If le ever get anY
ammo that shoots better than what
we have now' perhaps ve can get
into some techniques in that area
that may prove beneficial Iater
on.
My theories of bedding are to
get that barrelled action laYing
in the r+ood or other material,
rhich I ' 11 get into in a minute,
as nearly dead as Possible. I r+ant
it to lay there r+ithout any
tension whatsoever. I want the
stock bolts to that bqrrell,ed
PuIl
action directly down withqut the
slighte-gt degree of tvisti-ng.
 To do that ' T- do several
ings. If you are familiar vith
ur1 nel Anschutz rifles, Tou know
that they atl have a series of
sprng washers r:nder the heads of
t.he bolts and betveen them and
r.qhatever they have in there for a
bedding bushing. I take those
iashers out and discard them. Then
I make a steel bushing to use in
their place. I then take tl.e stock
and place it on my milling machine
and cut a,{ay a fair amount of vood
belol{ the action ( about I/4 inch
on most rirtes ) . f bed from the
bolt root forward lo 2 inches in
front of the front barrel bolt on
a standard rifle profile barrel
and 2 I/2 inches in front of the
f ront barrel bolt on a hearry
barrel . That area is r.ril led out ;
the wood is cut away and replaced
with the bedding rnaterial.
The riraterial I use is
,_fr,c-5ag1as GeI. I used Acraglas vhen
i" vas the primary bedding
rmpound and was made with glass.
we got good results with it, but
it got very hard and is not the
easiest material to use. I've also
used a compound called Acc-u-bed
: *^9'fl
.a,.. .i
Gunsmith NeaI Johnson insists that "a barrel that shoots well when
it's not clean (is) going to shoot better cIean." He advocates
cleaning smallbores thoroughly every 100 to 150 rounds.
1B
vhich gives pretty decent results
but is not as easy for the
gunsmith to use. If it's not easy
for the gunsmith to use, it's not
as easy for him to get quality
results.
What I have settled on is
Acraglas Gel which f load pretty
heavily vith aluminum por,rder
called atomized aluninum. f t's a
nylon derivative epoxy rhich
retains a bit of flexibility when
it's finished. f'we never had an
Acraglas bedding job wear out.
Sometimes 'ire have to rebed f or
other reasons but never because of
tLre bedding material. That stuff ,
as far as I'm concerned, is as
ideal as ve have in the state of
the art at the nonent.
Testinq the Beddinq hhat do
lre do nol^ that it's bedded? You
can. take the rifte out to the
range and shoot it to see hors.vell
it shoots. If it shoots all right,
fine, but if it doesn't, vhat do
you do?
 I don't do that. I put a dial
indicator between the barrel and
the stock at the fore-endr nd I
prop the r.role mechanism up in a
vj-ee and then alternately loosen
And tighte the stock bolts. ff I
can deflect the needLe on that
indicator as much as .OO2 of an
inch on either bolt when the other
bolt is tight, then I reject that
bedding job and do it over. In
other words, I have to have less
than .O02 of an nch of flex.
Normally, werre getting less than
.0075 of an inch on one bolt and
zero on the other one. Which means
that that action is laying there
dead in the stock. ftrs not
flexing at alL, and Lhat's t}.e
goa1. No flex in the action. If
you have any flex in the action
because your bedding is not
perfect, it puts tension on the
action that keeps you from getting
good groups.
It's al.so important to check
to be sure that nothing is
touching that shouldn't be
touching. For instance, there is a
1itt1e shank that hangs down from
the ejector on an Anschutz that
has a little spring clip that
holds it in place. ff one corner
of ttrat spring clip touches 'the
bedding, it witt kick a ftyer
every third or fourth shot. You
can also get a flyer if the tang
is touching on one side. you ca
bed an entire action and get away
rith it, but it has to be perfecl
for the entire length. f don't bed
past the bolt root because there
is no benefit to it, and it's just
more area to create problems.
You can also get flyers
)cicked off of the recoil lug. ff
the recoil lug doesn't fit that
action abso1utely perfectlyr and
very fev things in this world are
absolutely perfectr 1lou can get a
f1yer. every once in a while. My
solution is to remove the recoil
lug altogether" It doesnrt serve
19
any purpose and is not required i
a smalJ.bore rifler so f donrt us-
it. I don't think Irve left a
recoil lug in a smallbore rifte in
three yearsr and the rifles are
shooting al.l right.
Findinq Your Torque Once
your rifte is bedded and checked,
and before you torry about testing
ammor 1lou need to t,une it. We put
them into a machine restr although
you can do it with sandbags or
with a good scoper nd shoot
5-shot groups at 50 meters. you
have to use one 1ot of ammuniti_on,
and it has to be decent
ammunition, but it doesn't have to
be great.
First, shoot a fouling group.
Set a guarter inch drive torque
r+rench at 2O-inch pounds and
torque your stock bolts to 20-inch
pounds. Shoot a group and then
torQue them to 25-inch pounds and
shoot a group. Continue working i
up in 5 pound increments until you
get to SO-inch pounds. you i+ilt
see a very marked change when you
hit your torque. Most of the
rif les r,ith our glassed stocks
shoot the best' at around'35-inch
pounds. If you have the time and
the patiencer |ou can refine that
down to whatever your torgue
vrench can read.
Nor+ you have your bedding
right. What you have done is taken
out the last Iittle variation that
that dial indicator showed. ff you
had a .001 of an inch flex in the
actionr 1lou have taken care of
t.hat by tuning it with the torque
vrench. You now have the best
possible mating of your barrel to
your stock. That also alJ.ows the
stock to change with weather. you
tune it back up each time you
shoot once you know your torgue
setting.
 . Siqhts we have the rifle Stocks To date, most stocks
.3t up and now have to develop have been made out of lrood. A good
some means to use it. This means rood stock is a thing of beauty, I
is calleC sights. we have had a think. ALl t}.e grrns that f keep or
J-ot of coverage on scopes, and use are made vith r+ood stocks.
since my area of expertise is in However, I am not an active
international, I vitt tatk about competitive shooter. If I vere, I
iron sights. (Ed. Note: Mr. would not use a sood stock. f
Johnson makes a mount for use on think that we are getting better
the receiver for the recei-ver results r+ith f iberglass stoc<s
mounted telescope. ) because they solve all tkre
problems that we have had vith
Today, Lf you want to buy a wood.
good sightr I vould recommend the
Anschutz International sight. Itts trIood is a natural material,
the onJ-y one that I know of that and therefore, naturally rrnstable.
you can adjust. A fiberglass stockr propgrly
bui1t, is naturally stable. It
You can check sights very will do the same thing day after
!iti a dal indicator.
careriit 'heck' day rhatever the temperatr
You'' "can- the mvmnt in climater or humidity. At the
relation to the knobs. In other moment, I think some of the best
rsords, do you get a click vhen you shooting riftes in the country are
in fiberglass stocks. If You ask
\

want a click? lfhen you reverse ',/

direction, does it. actually for my opinionr You are qoing to

reverse? Can you move your Lrear about f iberglass -
oerture around lithout the knobs?
,oLrwould be surprised at hor Care and Cleaninq If You
inaccurate many sights are. I am a owrr @ocx, You take
fan of the Anschutz sight because some "4O9" and clean it. That's
it's available, reasonably priced, the only care. it i+ill ever
and adjustable. Most of the new require.
sights will probably shoot for a
shrt time and then need Hot do You care for a barrel?
d'justment. You can take ttrem If a barrel is going to shoot
rt, get rid of a fev extraneous vel1, you better tave it clean. If
bi.rs here and tLrere, read just a barrel shoots all right vhen
thm properlyr nd then they witt it's not clean, it's going to
last for years (although you shoot better clean. Thatrs not to
shoId continue to check them say that the first shot out of a
aut ,once a year). barrel is going to be Your best
shot. You have to shoot foulersr
I recommend cleaning your but you do rave to keeP Your
sight with a synthetic solvent barrel clean.
lubricant product and air. If you
dontt have an air compressor at Cleaning the barrel once
homer 1ror can go to a gas station every lOO to 150 rounds is
and use their air to blow your probably often enough, but You- do
sights out. Don't get into your rant a serious cleaning of that
sights r+ith any sort of tooLs. barrel. You are going to hear
JUSt use a good sol-vent and air to people safr "Don't brush a
take care of any sight cleaning barrel". There is no w1'r as a
.rat you have to do - human being, tLrat You can take a

20
brass or bronze brush on the end
of a good cleaning rod and put
near the pressure in that barrel
that every shot does. Therefore,
please use a brush. Brush your
barrel and get it clean.
First of a1l r start rith a
cleaning rod guide. It is an
essential piece of equipment. ft
gets the cleaning rod going into
the barrel square or straight
array. We have taLked about using a
very fine chambering reamer to get
a very fine chamber in therer so
letrs protect that chamber. The
cleaning rod guide will also keep
any debris out of your action and
trigger "
f tike to recommend t}.at you
start vith a ret patch and soak
the inside of that barrel. Your
coice of sol-vent is probably not
important. Take your brush and
scrub that barrel- If you shove
that brush through, take it oft
the end of the rod and bring the
rod back, put the brush back on
ti.e rod and shove it through
again, you wil-1 get a 1ot of brush
Iife. If you run it through and
pul1 it back through, you rtt
probably do a little better
cleaning job, but you wonrt get as
much brush 1ife. Please don't
reverse the brush in the barrel.
that could possibly damage your
barrel. Pustr it through, then out,
then back through. IIhen you have
brushed it a fer+r more times than
is really necessary, put through
another wet patch or two and then
several dry patches until you get
a clean patch out. If your patch
shors any gray smoke on it, that
smo]<e means that there is still
lead in your barrel. Your bar'rel
is not clean"
I had a rifle come in the
shop just before I came up here.
The shooter has had a terrible
time in tl-e last fev months. He
d j-dn' t
f orget hov to shoot; his
rifle forgot how to shoot. It
2t
didn I t group any longier, and he
brought it in to have it rebedded.
When I checked it rith the
indicator, he had as good a
bedding job as ever. So f put the
bore-scope in the barrel and took
a lookr rd you could barely see
the rifling. This barrel is an
nschutz barreL, just over a year
o1d, lith probably arourd B, 000
rounds through it. He thought he
was rigorousJ-y cleaning that
barrel, but he was not srubbingi
that barrel clan. lfren he gets i
cleanr f bet it lrill shoot as good
as ever. ff you keep them cl-eanr
they vitt shoot for you"
Cleaninq Your Triqqer
Cleaning yoUf trigger is similar
to cleaning your sigs': You can
spray it lith a synthetc lube'and
cleaner combination ahd then blol
it out with an air rose. That's
all you have to do with a trigger.
You don't have to get in there
with any other instrument. They dc
have to be cleaned and lubd from
time to time. If you don't, they
rill stop vorking.
Thatrs basically what we do
to make a rifle that shoots. To
build custom rif les r r use the
best barrels we can get our hands
on. We build the best and put them
together the best vay tre know.
There is no secret or magic to any
of thatr and lrm not the only one
vho can do it. If any of you
should ever lant to talk about
this, give me a call on the phone"
I r11 tell you anything that you
need to knov that I can help you
vith rhen it comes to your
hardware.
a. How do you bed in the area
of the stock screrv?
A. When f bedr I bed through {
to the stock screw. f bore it out
and just drop a column of bedding
right down there when I'm bedding
the rest of t.

0. Is the bedding material
ry runny and hard to work wthZ
A. You can take a glob of
Acraglas Ge1 and hang it on the
side of that val1 and it !i11 stay
right there. It does not run at
dI-L.
a. Hor+ long a time do you
have to vork on the bedding before
the material hardens?
A. bout 25 minutes rrich is
plenty of time. 11 the time in
the world. It's real easy to use.
It's good stuff.
0. Hor do you bed the recoil
lug?
A.T J.et it fill up when it
beds, then I mill it avay as f rm
cleaning up the bedding.
a. How high do you J.et the
\edding
compound come up around
-re action?
. take great care to cut
the bedding down so I don't go
above the bett line of the action.
I dont vant anything pressing in
from the sides of that bedding.
The ritte sits on the bedding.
0. How large a hole do you
bore around the stock bolt?
A. The rear cannot exceed the
ridth of the trigger guard vhich
is approximately 3/4 of an inch. I
cut a rough hole, I donrt cut a
smooth ro1e.
a. What sYnthetic tubricant
do you recommend using?
. I sell a product called
'7O7 rhich may no longer be
avaiJ-able. Testing Systemsr Inc.
makes an identical product called
"TSI 300, One Step Gun Care".
:ovning also ma)<es a synthetic
ube and gurr cleaner. Read the can
and make sure it doesn't say
petroleum distillates anyr.rhere.
22
0. Don't You think You should
clean more often than every 100 to
150 shots?
A. I don't see any need for
it. Most of our good shooters are
cleaning their rifles once after a
fulI course, that's 120 shots.
0. Do you ever use .Douglas
barrels?
A. If You vant to buy a
Douglas for targetr You have to
buy the 'Douglas Premium Air t1
Gauged stainless". You end uP
spending $20-$30 more than You
vould for a Hart. I have not had
the recent experience vith Douglas
that I have had with the Hart.
0. What stYle fiberglass
stocks are available?
A. I use mY Pattern and make
the fiberglass stock. I make l-410
and 1413 stYle stocks. Thumb hole
target stocks. I have been vor<ing
on a prone mold forvelJ. over a
year nov.
O. Hos do You make a
fi-berglass stock?
. I build mY stocks the same
lay you would build a fiberglass
boat. I laY them uP vith PolYester
resin and glass. TheY are hollov,
and ve fll them vith rigid foam.
The backbone of the stock through
the bedding area is solid. We are
going to do a nel 1410 mold and
hen a new 141-3 mold done with
epo>(y.
I
I
 q-

"r:1
)1i
a; ","i>'.
r;l
' ,!t?!:i
,(::r?.
:.': '1' "".t+k,'
:r'.:

'
't,.-.
' ''ii
":,
'"'i..7::."9''

The layout shows a typical set of equipment for smallbore

rifle prone shooting. Press Kendall tells what to look
for in each of these items in his clinic presentation.

23
 EQUIPMENT AND SHOOTING TECHNIQUES
r,OR SMALLBORE PRONE
by
Presley W. Kendall
There is one point about
testing ammunitj-on that I wouLd
J.ike to bring up while the subject
is fresh in everybody's memory.
Neal mentioned that the arms
manufacturers in Europe test their
ammunition at 50 meters in a
machine rest. When you are testing
ammunition, you are looking for
the slightest error. You are
looking for the tightest groups. I
feel those differences are
emphasized more at 100 yards than
at 50 meters. If you shoot the
rifle, r,rhether it be in a machine
rest, proner or off a bench, at
100 yards you are going to see
your error more cIearly.
fn this time and day when it
so difficult to find good
mmunition, I r.ould recommend that
you buy several different Lots of
whatever brand you lrant to shoot.
Shoot it vith a telescope in as
hearry a wind as you can find at
100 yards and don't make any
correction for the lind; ].et the
vind blov that ammunition which
ever vay it r+itt. Then pick the
best two lots of that ammunition
and test those in an absolute ca]-m
at 100 yards to see which one
shoots the best. Buy that 1ot to
use in your matches. That witt
give you a decided edge over your
competition. ! believe that you
can tell a whole Iot more at 100
yaid 'tfrn at 50 meters when it
eomes to testing ammunition.
The first thing that I would
liXe to emphasize is safety. We
must all treat all firearms as if
they vere loaded. Shooting is a
-'-y safe sport vith very few
:idents, but r.r'e must always be
,ure tl-at we donrt point guns at
anybody. You should vear ear plugs
24
when you are shooting to protect
yourseJ-f from future hearing loss.
1ways check your ammo to be sure
it is clean and dirt free before
you load it. Make sure you have
the proper caliber for the gun you
are shooting.
It's important to decide what
your goals are in shootng. Are
you shooting for a business or for
a military occupaton? Do you
lant to make an Olympic teamr
World Champonship team, be a
national championr or are you
. shooting for recreation? You must
first define your goals. If you
are fortunate enough to make
international teamsr |o1l can
travel to di.fferent countries and
meet exciting people. Most people
consider shootng a form of
recreation. If you get into it too
heavily or professionalJ.y, it can
require a good deal of money and
can be very time consuming whch
can detract from your goals of
making a better living.
There are tvo types of
shooting in the lorld: the
international style ( ISU) and th.e
merican sty1e. International-
prone requires the arm supporting
the rifte to form an angle of 30
degrees, does not al1or you to
return to the sighter once you
have begun to shoot for record,
and has a time timit of an hour
and a half to shoot sixty shots.
It is a very methodical system
rhch, I believe, is rather
distracting to those vho are quick
of mind.
Most of you are familiar vth
the equipment you need to shoot,
but I thought f vould li}<e to go
through it. Firstr of courser 1lou
need a g!. fn many grade school r
high school, and even college
shooting programsr people are
shooting prone on something liice a
thin mattress. f feel that's
lrrong. You have to have as strongi
a support as you can for your
Prone Position. Your mat should be
t-he thinngst thing ihat you ''can
PoSsibly get. It should be almost
to' th leveL of the dirt or
concrete. You lant support from
the ground or concrete directJ_y to
your elbow through a thin coat and
mat. If you are shooting off a
heayy thick mat, that is almost
the same as shooting off springs.
You don't have a firm support
base.
Of courser you need a
spottinq scope. In the case of a
right handed shooterr pLace it
right off your left elLorr rrere
you can quickly get to it. I vould
recommend something betveen 15 and
45 poler variable so that when you
zero it in at 1OO yards, you can
pick up a 1ot of mirage. Mirage,
as re vitt talk about later, is
one of the key indicators of wind.
shogtinq coat can be either
the rsu@hick
merican
style coat. You need a couple qood
sweat shirts underneath to pad
your pulse beat and support your
elbows and shoulder.
Your s1ove needs to be firm
and something you are comfortable
lith
Your qlinq
needs to be made
of a maEffir that does not
stretch. ft must be constant from
d-.y to day and not stretching so
that it does not need. to be
constantly readjusted.
Your gp does several things.
It shades the light from your eyes
and keeps the wind, sandr or rain
from bloving in your face while
you are trying to aim.
25
If you ear slasses you hav,
two options. Undef t}re merican
system', you can put a lens in your
rear sight for eye correction.
Under fSU rules you must .wear a
pair of shooting glasses.
?he basic position used today
is a position---Ee you lay
somewhat close t,o directly behind
the rirte (perhaps ZO to 25
degrees behind your rifle). you
must be able to absorb the recoil
from your rifle and yet be firmly
enough in position to keep the
rirle from bouncing rhi1e you are
aiming. (The o1d NR position of
years and years ago of a 45 degiree
angle, vhere you really had no
control of the rifle, is to be
forgotten. ) This position does
put a lot of pressure on your
upper left chest and 1eft arm so
it takes a littIe bit of practice
to )ceep your arm from getting
tired vhen you are aiming..whei
you lie in positionr 1lor left 1eg
should be as directly behind the
rifle as possible with your toe
<icking in. Since your right leg
is drawn up, the pressure i take
off your chest so that your
diaphragm and lungs brethe
freely. You get lots of air as you
need it; you have control of
recoil and a smal1 r.obble.area.
Mr. Johnson just finished
fixing one of my rifles this past
linter. It had a tot of potential
but 'wasn I t shooting very re1l.
Since he fixed it, it is shooting
very, very veII. f agree with what
he says about stocks and rifles.
The future, I believe, lies vith
plastic
stocks rith aluminum
blocks inserted into the bedding
as you can now do with a r+ood
stock. This is important to
prevent warpagie.
 ?orsue your action serews
ring perhaps 20 or 30 inch
,or:nds. You vitt have to test to
find vhat is best rith your gun.
The -T-
care and ctelryLrg of your
rirre iiForGE. Be
particularly careful rhen you
carry that rifle j-n an airplane or
a car. The state of the art right
nov is one of the aluminum gun
cases. You have so much money
invested in your guns and
equipment that there is no use
throwing it aray by having them
damaged by an airline. So put your
equipment in an aluminum gun case.
You can also put your t,elescope or
spotting scope in rittr the rifle
along with a cleaning rod and
carry it around that rray. When you
do carry your rifler rrnove the
sights. A couple years ago on a
trip t,o Ireland , 1 made the
mistake of leaving the front sight
on my ritte rhj-ch ras in a plastic
crrn caser nd when I got bac< it
s broken off.
Use a cleaninq rod quide lhen
you are cleaning a rifle so you
don't damage your chamber. I use a
bore cleaner rith is no longer
available so I rve been searching
-, for another. Champion Shooter
Supply ras one vhich appears to be
i, good. You have to lceep these
barrels clean if you expect to get
any accuracy out of them. The
brands of ammunition that are
coming onto the market have
dirtier and dirtier ponder and
priming composition so cleaning
becomes more and more critical.
There are several different
types of triqqers available. We
have the tvo-stage trigger' the
set triggerr Dd the single-stage
trigger. In air ritte, the state
of the art is to use the tro-stage
trigger. Some of the younger
i -ternationa]. shooters rave
.rried this over into prone.
Iowever t T think that for prone
shoot.ing, where conditions change
quicklyr nd you have short time
26
limts, ou need something that is
decisive. AI1 of the national
champions on last year's panel
said they they use a singte-stage
tr5-gger. Most of them use Anschutz
or Le_lyon triggers.
I set my trigger at eight
ounces. Most shooters use between
two ounces and a pound. I rappen
to use eight ounces because if it
is cold or rainy I I vant to be
able to feel that trigger before I
fire itl I r+ant it to be able to
go off when I vant it to go off.
good crisp trigger that. is
consistent is critical.
Regardless of the brand of
triggerr have it set where it,s
clean, crispr and decisive. You
should shoot the shot five to
eight seconds after you aim. Don't
t.ake a long trigger ho1d. Af ter
you take half a breath, and you
start aiming your shotr you only
haver eit the most, eight seconds
before the air starts to pass from
your 1ungs, and you feel a little
bit of fatigue. O>rygen fatigue is
carried to your brain so try to
fire that shot no later than the
fifth second of aim. If you have
to hold it longer tl.an thal, stopr
breathe again, and start over.
There is a saying that I sar,
on a T-shirt at Camp Perry last
year that said, 3'age and treachery
viI1 overcome youth and skil1. "
Letrs talk about the rind because
that's where age anilTreachery
come in. Nobody in the world can
teach you about shooting in the
wind. Itrs something that you have
to learn from very bitter
experience.
Most rifles have four l-ands
and grooves rittr right hand one in
sixteen inch tvists so a .22
bullet exiting the barrel has a
tendency to go to either 5 o'clock
or 11 orclock. If you Lrave a vind
blowing on your butlet from 3
orclock, it's going to drive the
bullet torards 11 o'clock. So if
you are shooting in a heavy rind
 from 3 oclockr and the bullet is
going towards 11 orcloclc, and the
wind lets off, vhere is the bul].et
going to go? Back down to 5
orcl-ock, isn ' t it? The same thing
is true in the reverse. If you
have a 9 o'clock wind, it's going
to drive the bullet to 5 o'clock
or let off at 11 orclock. For
planning purposes, To can think
of rinds f rom 2 orclock , 7
orclock, 11 o'clock or 5 o'c1ock
as half strength winds. You can
only learn about wind by
e>erience. Camp Perry has lhat I
call a true lind while most of the
ranges that you shoot on at home
wil-1 hawe berms or banks so the
wind in deflected.
Wtrat are the lind indicators?
You have the fee]. of the wind on
your hat, your face, your feetr or
your bodyi you've got the flags
down at 600 or 1rOO0 yardsi or you
may have a vindmill to look at.
X'
Perlr.aps the best vind indicator is
mirage. If you are shooting at 100
yards, and you focus that scope at
90 yards so that your bull is just
slightly out of focus, the mirage
viII be emphasized. You watch that
miraget it never lies. It is the
one indicator t}-at never lies
because the wind te1ls the mirage
lhat to do.
There are tvo vays of
correcting f or rrind. one is by
clic)<ing your sight r.hich is fine
vhen the wind is pretty constant;
but if you get into a svitching
lind that is not constant at a1lr
then you have to gamble and that
means that you have to shade. You
might as well start practicing
that on your rang,e. I use a tight
aperture ,rrd I reconnend as tight
an aperture as your eye w1I let
Yo-u e fq a front sight. Then
start shding. Shade to 5 orclock
or 11 orcLoc)< or 10:30, but do not
shade past the buIl being tangent
vith the front sight. That means
that you are never shading outside
the lO-ring, but you are shadng
27
about a L/2 minute of angle. ff
you practiee, it's just the samr
as ta<ing two or three c.lic]<s, and
it ritt give you a decided
advantage in bucking the wind,
The liqht vari-es. In the
morning, tffiarqet is reasonabJ.y
dull and in the after[oorrr it's
quite bright rith a lot of mirage
and reat. Therefore, I recomrnend a
polarizing filter which you can
purchase in any of the stores on
eommercial row. If you witt screr
one of these single filters into
the front of your rear sight, it
vi1l give you a very clear sight
picture nj-thout the heat waves and
mirage. You can also use other
types of filters in your front
sight or colored Lenses in your
gJ-asses. They come in green , ta-! r
yeIlow, etc. It has been the
experience of many shooters that a
yelJ.ow filter, while good on a
dull overcast day r ASr
neverthelessr rr exciting color
much as red is which tends to give
you a hyper-emotional build up
from the color. If You want to use
it, it does brighten the bul1 on
an overcast day. On a bright daYr
you can use green, smoker-often or blue.
Brown is used quite in
Europe for a sun type glass.
l{hen you chooqe a I9I qig-!
the Anschutz vith six clicks to
the minute is very effective.
mericans have a phoba about not
oiling their sights. oil it once
in a lhi1e and then forget about
it. When you are aiming, don't Iet
your head hit that sight, You can
eventually damage it or get some
lose clicks in it.
Math preParation and
phvsiff coffiInq- are
portat but at he right time. I
see people out rere exercising and
running after theY finish
shooting. Thatrs a mistake becausr
thatts history. If you're training
for Camp Perry, You are through,
forget it. You should arrive at
 lamp Perry vith no physical
;ercising for at least three
days. You are going to be washed
up and drained up right here. If
you are going to do those
exercises, do them three or four
months ahead of. time, but don't
suddenly start them at Camp Perry
and think that you are going to be
CLrarles At.las. Forget it. You do
it before you get here. Here you
rest and loaf when you are not
shooting.
Physical conditioning does
not mean weight lifting. It means
A. slrimming r golf , tennis, running,
and badminton; these things
develop coordination, strength and
endurance. Those are the kind of
things that help your shooting.
Ifhat are your long range
qoals? For instance, do you want
to make the Olrmpics next year. If
you lant to win at Camp Perry next
- -arr think about it nov. Get your
- -'f]-e and ammunition tested and
ready right now. Now is the time
to pick your rifle, ammo, and
ewerything you are going to use.
Then during the inclement weather,
vhen you are not able to shoot, do
some dryfiring. If you have an
indoor rangfer shoot on it. Shoot
outdoors rhen you have the
opportr:nity. That doesn't mean
shooting five hundred rounds one
day a week, that means shooting
twenty rounds a day five days a
veek. Constant repetitive
practice. Not an alJ. out drive on
a single day. Find some local-
matches to use as preliminary
training matches. Shoot them and
f igure out what mista)<es you made.
Try to analyze your mistakesr keep
a record or diaryr and correct
them before the next event. Shoot
a fer international events teading
up to your tryouts for the
Olympj-cs.
'i-al, setWhen you go into that
all of your personal
rd f inancial problems aside.
think of nothing but vhat you came
28
there for, the event. That doesnrt
mean staying out al1 night, That
means getting a good nights sleep
and restS-ng and thinking about
your shooting
The ideal eye has ZO/15 or
2O/ZO vj-sion. Many shooters use
corrective lensesr arrd verve
talked about the type lens you can
use. Many shooters make the
mistake of covering their
non-aiming eye with a patch hich
makes tl-eir aiming eye do double
'work. That leads only to eye
fatigue. ff you are a right handed
shooterr s your left eye to look
Lhrough your spotting scope and
spot your shots. Use some sort of
blinder to cover your non-aiming
eye while you are aiming, but vhen
you are not aimingr us that eye
for normal vi-sion,
The natch pressfre you feel
going int---- rfffiTctr is much
the same as going into combat.
It's a combative exercisei you
feel fear, pressurer and
aggressi-on. It ' s learning to
control these feelings and use
them to your advantage that vtt
be to your best benefit. You are
experiencing an emotional
equilibrium imbalance. Use this to
vork for you,
Do your exercises and stop
them three days before the match.
Many people can shoot better
scores in matches than they can in
practice if they r+'i11 use their
physical endurance. Granted, after
it's over, they are physically
mentally, and emoionally drained
and lashed out. If you ask any of
the people who have !on a national
championship or Otympics to shoot
a match three days laterr you
could hardly get them to hit the
target. They are emotiorrally
drained out. Give them six weks,
and they are back up.
 &" $.i*,,
r,:*',tS.,J., ''iii

the photos on the left show the prone

position used by Presley Kendall (top
and his reloading technique (bottom
lef t ) . The photos on the right sho\p
competition ammunition manufactured
in the USSR and now regarded by many
experts as the best smallbore rimfire
ammunition.
In his presentaton, Kendall describes
the concave base which is compared to
a round of EIey Tenex in the bottorn
right photo.

29
 Don't go to a match and get
r--co an argument with the range no or
match officials this does You
good at alL l it merely rrears You
ut. Let someone else doteamr t'hat' If
you a member of a let
-yorrrare
team caPtain take care of
can't - the
Lho"" things. You change
match conditions, you must just
comply wittr them. You concentrate
on your shooting and let everyone
eJ.se worry about the problems.
0. What do you think about
eJ.ectronic triggers?
A. I've seen people in
several corntries use themr but
they mostly have been reparing
them. You certainly donrt need one
for prone. Since you are holding
so steady in proner aLl you need
is a barr a plaj-n old piece of
metal that you pul1 on to make Lhe
s}-ot go off. You donIt need
anything exotic for prone. ft
should be stabl-e and fairly wide
you can ho1d on to it,
preferably vith the pad of your
finger and not with the joint. You
don't even need it for standing
and kneeling. Not very many good
free rirle shooters are even using
them. Keep it simple. There is an
o1d parachute termr KISS. rrKeep It
Simple Stupid. rr mechanical
nschutz trigger ?. Kenyonr or a
Canjar trigger are fne. The
i<itinic triggers are f ine if
you vant to pay the price and do
the rror<, but gosh they sure are
complicated.
Q. What manufacturer do you
thinic makes the besL ammo?
. Since f happen to be the
importer for one of the brands,
Ir11 go into ammunition. Probably
the best ammrnition being used in
the rorld right nor is Russian. It
shoots at about 1100 feet a second
.- I has a concave base. However
-e stuf f is handmade at about
30
$1.0O a roundr and itts used onJ.y
by the Russian national team to
the Olympics. You must remember
that, the shooting team in Russia
is the same as the Basketball or
any other team. It s an extension
of the poJ-itical. goals of the
countryi so cost is immaterial.
Yourre not going to find that ammo
on the world market for tvo
reasons. First, they wouldn't let
it out in case it was used against
them; and secondlyr the cost is
prohibitiVe.
In the Western vorLd, there /q,e-s'
are only three or four brands on
the marlcet - today: Eley from
Englandr R-50 from Germany Lapua *'
from Finland and a couple others
The Eley factory located in
Birmingham, England is a fine
factory. Many f you are familiar
rith the environmental control
agency' OSH,. The British have a
similar agency which had some
complaints about the Eley factory.
It seems that there vas premature
ignition of some of the priming
compound rrhich caused some of the
vorkers to suffer h.and damage. The
British government made the
factory correct the problem so
Eley moved out of town to another
factory and changed their priming
composition.
If you witf smell the porrder
smoke from an Eley rornd made this
year or lastr and eompare it with
Eley manufactured three or four
years gor you wilJ. notice the
difference. I appears they they
didnrt get the machines. set up
exactJ.y the same or possibly the
powder compos j.tion s dif ferent.
British shooters as well as
everybody else are screaming that
they are having high and low
elevation shots. Several shooters
here at Perry are wondering if
their position is right because
they have had shots go out the
bottom. That wasnrt you, that vas
the ammunition"
R-50 is the same today as it
as 20 years ago. ftrs a littIe
bit rnd sensitive with an
occasional flyer.
Unfortunatelyr that's the
state of the ammunition market
today. The market is too sma1l for
the American manufacturers to get
interested in at all.
a. there seems to be an
excess of lubricant on my
ammunition and it's asymmetrical.
Should I be viping that off?
o I won my first
championship at Camp Perry using
Remington ammunition lrich had the
same problem. The Remington
representative at that time taught
me to si-mply take the round put it
on the tip of my finger and turn
it rather than wipe it orr. I just
spread it around on the case and
it worked just as rell. I would
suggest tl-at you do that t'ith
arything you shoot.
0. Hor long does a barrel
last?
" Let t s talc about barrel
life for a minute. fet years
agor the Anschutz people told me
that whiLe EJ-ey ammunition is very
good, it does cause trery- subtle
damage t,o the barrel. You don I t
notice anything for 5r000 roundsr
but the barrel becomes as heavily
frosted as your car rindshield on
a winter day. You rill then have
between 5r000 and 10r000 more
rowds of reasonably good accuracy
before your barrel starts to go.
That,rs because of the priming
composition. You won't notice that.
rith RsO or others r but they are
ngt guite as accurat,e as Eley is
either.
Q. re you amiliar vith
Fiocchi ammunition?
. Wl-en I went to ftaly in
1983, they started shooting that
stuff in my gnr rrd I refused to
]-et them shoot it. It sho about 5
inches. The Indians used to use it
in Central merica to shoot tigers
because it vas so cheap. Anschutz,
in his disgust vith other brands
of ammr:rrition, ras been vorking
rth Fiocchi to improve is
accuracy, and they have improved
it a great deal. The problqm with
it right now is t'hat it . ras a
dirty powder" When you start out
shooting, the first ten or twelve
ror:nds ritt shoot as ve]-]- as black
Eley but as you shoot morer d
the barrel becomes more fouled,
the accuracy opens up to about 2
L/2 to 3 inches at 100 yards
after about 20 or 30 ror:nds.
Q. Have you tried ttanson? '.,"
. No I havenrt tried the
Hanson. I'm getting ready to
though. Irm negoiating rith a
factory in Tairan to produce some
clreap .22 ammunition, so I am <ind
of interested i-n the Hanson. Itrs
shooting about 3 l/2 inches at 100
yards. It's right up there with
standard velocity ammunition. t
the pricer lou canrt beat it. Itf s
certainly fine for gallery and
position practice. Most jr:niors
would never know the difference.
The same thing with ccI? They
would both be satisfactoiy for
your training.
31
 PIEL DISCUSSfON
Ernie VandeZande
David Weaver
Neal Johnson
Q. What do yu do rrhen a rifle
gete soaking vet?
(Johnson) the first thing is to
dry it. If there is any rust, 9et
some pine seed oit and vipe it
off. Treat it with TSI 300 for
everyday use. If you are going to
put the rifle away for an extended
timer then use something like RfG
grease rrhich is probably the best
product on the marlcet to prevent
rugt.
Q. Can you seaL a vood stock with
something like polyurethane?
(.lohnson) as far as I'm
concerned, itrs impossibte to
perfectly seal any kind of rood.
You canrt do it. There are going
r be flass. Itrs going to gain
^roisture. Mo6t stains that are
supposed to be impervious rritt
breathei t}.e rood vitt still react
to the environment.
Q. This question is for David
Weaver. During a match do you ever
establish points of reference for
two al-ternating vind conditions,
particularly vhen it is rapidty
svitching from left to right and
back again, or do you alvays chose
one condition and rrait for that
condition?
(weaver) r t,ry to pick more than
one condition that I can hold
center on and at least get a 10.
There are certain times vhen
trees, banksr and litt1e hollovs
cause a svirl vindr and conditions
at your target face may be
entirely different than thoe at
your point. It can even switch a
ifferent lray at the 50 yard line
rd be very confusing. At times
one condition may be more apparent
than the others, and you can pick
32
that condition out and shoot in
it.
Life Pres saidr "The only ay you
can learnr' conditions is to shoot
in them. No one j-s going to be
able to sit down and te1l you how
to shoot in. conditions. You are
not going to be able to read it in
the book one day and go out and be
an expert the next. HoId that'gun
anywhere you rant ( f recommend
center) r shoot in the condition
and let the shot go vherever it
ritt r ard then try to recognze
the predominant condition. That
rf,ay you are going to get a much
better r:rderstanding of it.
Under certain circumstancesr 1rou
can pick a couple of different
types of conditions that ritt
allov you to get a 10. As long as
you can recognize the correct
condition, you ritt not have to
revert back to the sighter r'hen
the condition changes.
Q. If the wind were to suddenly
stop' and you find yourself
rraiting for f iver sixr or even
seven minutes, vould you go baclc
to your sighter and establish a
point of reference for the new
condition or wait for your
original condition to return?
(Weaver) f would not rave enough
patience to lait seven minutes
vithout fring a shot. Since f get
very excited in a match, I rould
probably only vait 30 seconds
before firing a sighter to see how
f ar out it rould 90. If the
condition looked as it it were
going to stay ' T. rou1d make a
sight adjustment and go for
record.
Q. tlTrat type of mounting
arrangement rouLd your recommend
for the short scope?
(Johnson) ffre usual problem with
the short receiver mounted scope
is that it's very difficult to get
proper eye relief. Carl Jooss
maxs a rail that sits on top of
thre action so that you can move
the scope back and forth any place
you rant while stil1 using
ordinary ri-ngs. I make a ring
set-up that will a1low you to do
much the same thing. T}.e short
scope is difficult to mount. Many
of t}.e shooters who are using the
Redfield rings and clamping device
are out of their element. The
scre'ws are backed out too far and
witt probably strip out. It's the
most popular system, but in my
opinion it's probably the vorst
one.
0. f come f rom a bac]<woods part of
the country r+ith very few shooters
in my area. Hol can I gret advanced
training?
(VandeZande) I have always been
fortunate enough to rave hiqh
quality coaching. Hor,rever, f
real-ly learned how to shoot by
folJ-oving the U. S. rmy
Marlcsmanship Unit manual. f read
it;' ' 'I 'learned 'it, I could just
about recite it verbatim. I looked
at the picturesr and f tried to
make my position look exactly tiXe
vhat I saw in the manual.
The NR runs Junior Olympic
programs for shooters between 14
and 20 at the United States
Olympic Training Center
Colorado Springs. There are also
state Junior Olympic programs
vhi-ch are listed in the RIFLEMN
rrnder "coming events " " You can
r.ri-te to the Education and
Training Division of the NRA in
Washrington, and they ritl send you
a list. There are also many local
Junior Olympic camps that are not
listed in the RIFLEM.].
Look in the RIFLEMN for matches
in your area. I^irite to the sponsor
and find out if any high qualitl
shooters are planning to come. Go
by and partieipate or vatch. t{hen
t}.e Marksmanship Unit would
compete in my area, f would shoot
in the match, but I would try to
shoot on a different relay or at a
different time so that f could
vatch them to see rhat they tere
doingr d how they were doig it.
Af tervards, I louId talk to them
and ask guestions.
(Jolurson) r am involved rith the
NRA coaching program which runs
formal schools to develop Class C
coaches. There are several hundred
of coaches aror:nd the countrY r+ho
have been through ttre sctrools. You
can ask t}.e Education and Training
Di-vision vhere the nearest
graduate of that program is.
O. My sight picture seems to be
pretty good when I start out, but
it really gets fwzzY after I have
been shooting for ten or twelve
minutes. Should I use a larger
aperture?
(Kendall)
vtrhen your sight picture
gets fltzzy after you aim f or
awhile, thatrs eye fatigue. Do you
take a long time to aim?
(shooter) rt takes me quite a
while to get my hand around on the
stock and g'et everything lined up.
in
(Kendall) ty first suggestion is
that you get a stock that fits you
better. Your comb is not fitting
you propeill. You should,,be a,b1e
to see through liour sight
instantneous1y. This l-s
paiticularJ-y important rhen the
wind is switching, and you have to
shoot fast. You need three poj-nts
of contact: your cheek bone, your
upper right jaw, and your cheek"
.)
You should get the shot off in the
tfth second. When you have a
.;hance r rst a minute and. close
your eyesr or look at a dark
surfacer rrot an excitinq color
such as red. That should etp you
out.
a. fn training. for the English
Match, hor+ long do you stay in
prone position?
(VandeZande) ff you are not
familiar with the English Match,
it's a match shot in international
competition, 60 shots prone, r+ith
iron sights r rrd an hour and
forty-five minute time limit.
I train by setting up two targets.
I shoot 40 shots on one and 20
shots on the other. I lay in
position and shoot 60 shots
straight
r+ithout breaking.
Depending on the conditions, Lhe
amount of time I take is anywhere
, 'oIT 40 minutes to 65 or 70
',rinutes. I try to build up
endurance in my left arm so that I
never have to break and ta)<e the
rif1e out of my shoulder. f do
that because you are not allowed
to go back to the sighter once you
start shooting for record as you
are in American competition. If
you take a break, and the
condition changes I80 degrees and
then picks up more speedr you
don't know if you are getting
ready to shoot a 10 or a 7. That|s
why I try to keep the rifle in my
sl-oulder and go right through.
It's a pretty interesting
challenge to build up through that
pain barrier, but T think it's
essential.
O. Presr ]ou said earlier that you
use a g4a11 ,font, aperture. What
s,ize. a 1ou use?
'Kendall) I'm using a Gehmann
-'ont aperture rhich is a 2.7 .
Q. Is that for 50 yards?
34
(Kendatl) f use the same one for
50 yards, 1O0 yards, and ISU.
a. Do you change that aperture for
different liqht conditions?
(Kendall) No, I don't. The only
time I might open it up would be
if I r,ere shooting standing in a
very heavy wind so that f could
keep as much of the bu1l in there
as possible when the gun started
blor+ing around.
O. Irrhat do you do at 100 yards to
correct for the difference in the
mirage betr.een your bulls?
(l,Ieaver ) f don' t make any change
between buJ.Is. Some people feel
that because the mirage is
thicker, even though it is moving
at the same speed, it will move
your shots. If feel that if You
move out to the 9-ring, it's
because your mirage has increased.
(Kendall) I've generally found
that if you are shooting on your
first record bull vith a rind from
3 o'clock and drop down to the
bottom, the wind wilt only be
about two-thirds as hearry on the
bottom bul1. So if you are
centered on your first record bull-
at 100 yards and drop down to the
bot.tom bu1J., there is a good
chance that you will shoot a 9 out
the right..
O. Do any of you change your
positj-on to f ind your natural
point of aim at 50 yards or 50
meters between the sighterr left
bullr or right bulL?
(Kendall) Yes.
(VandeZande) No.
(Weaver) Yes, I rave to when f
move from the sighter at 50 yards.
l.Ihen your position s tight on the
sighterr you canrt ta]<e that extra
amount of air into your 1r:ngs that
Iets you pieX the butt end of your
gun up so that, the muzzle goes
 ..4

9, **--
:*b t
t*r;

:W
.e@

-: ,*.f,*_*

The photos sbow the prone positions used by Ernest YandeZande (Top
and alister Al1an of Great Britain (middle and bottom photos).
VandeZande and Allan are the world record holders in the 50 meter
English Match prone event and are the only shooters to have fired
perfect 600rs in UIT Championships. The bottom photo shows the
reloading technique used by Al1an"

35
lown to aim at the first bul1.
vVhat I try to do is slide ahead
just a little bit, leave my elbow
in the same placer rrd just sort
of climb on top of the gun a
litt1e farther. I do the same
thing at 100 yards. Donrt ask row
I go back up to tl-e sighter. That
just seems to be easy. It's an
insignif icant thing that :you
wouldn't see if you were r+atching
someone.
a. Do you close your eyes and 1et
the barrel drop to find your
natural point of aim on the buI1?
(VandeZande) That is a good
technque for beginners. It's very
basic to start out vith. When you
asked the question about shift,ing
for the natural point of am, I
said, "no". Do f in fact make some
minor change? Yes. But to say
that f move one way or another
from my sighter to Number 1 buII,
.o Number 2 bullr rro. The change
is so minor that you would never
notice f did it. The technique you
are talking about is a very valid
technique that I stilI use for
standing and kneeling all the
time.
A. In international prone, where
do you place your sling to achieve
the 30 degree of angle to get the
least possible pulse and best
hold?
36
(VandeZande) Your sling placement
should be constant regardless of
whether you are shooting American
or International. I place the
sling as far up on my arm as f
possibly can. I donrt have a
problem with pulse being
transferred from my arm to the
gun. I knol that the sling goes up
to the mark in my coat each time.
O. Do you prefer to use a leatl.er
sling or one make from a fJ.exible
artificial material?
(VandeZande) f use the Freeland
international leather sling" It's
the maximum allowable width for
international, 1 .6 j-nches.
O. I have heard the term "ringing"
in the barrel. When f choose a
used gun, rhat significance litt
this have with regards to
accuracy?
(Johrson) rr that ring is
two-thirds of the way around 'Lhe
barrel (they start at the bottom
and vork up the side), the barrel
should be set back. ff itrs less
than thatr 1rou can probably get
some accuracy out of it. I've had
some superb results vith ringed .t ..^
barrels by setting them back one r! ' r":
shank line which is just under two
inches. They shoot very well. It
saves a good deal of money and
gets a lot of life out of the gun.
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