I guess I'll start the chat off....

I received the 10X X3L that I bought from the classifieds a couple weeks ago. I did a FTF transaction with our member riflecat and all went well. Nice guy etc.

I was finally able to get to the range late Sunday afternoon to shoot the rifle and I think it's going to be a shooter. I need to dial in the tuner some and I'm hopeful once I do the flippers I was getting will go away

That area of our range is actually considered a pistol bay. The tails were laying in the pic but it picked up as I was shooting. Sometimes the wind was coming from behind and sometimes it was in front lol. It was what I'd call breezy (vs windy) and sometimes it would die for a few seconds and sometimes it was stronger. It seems like it would be a good place to shoot but bullets don't seem to respond like they would on other ranges

I'm heading out to shoot a factory class match this weekend at Angelina Rifle and Pistol Club. Then we're going down to Boerne near San Antonio the following weekend. I'm looking forward to meeting some new people and experiencing some different ranges

Stay tuned for more on this one...

 

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What storage case is that on the right? I have been looking for something like that. Thank you in advance.

 

Looks like you're going pro PW. I like the feet pads for the Holeshot.

 

Pro is a bit of stretch but it's a start

 

Is this your first trip to Boerne? Will you be shooting ABRA ?

 

Yes, I've been wanting to get down there to shoot a match since last year.

I saw that they're shooting ABRA and I would shoot those matches if I lived closer. I'm not up on all the ABRA classes but I think I have a few rifles that would be good candidates for those matches. That reminds me I need to see if I can get the scoring ring dimensions for the ABRA targets. I'd like to make some practice targets just to see how I do

Anyway, I'm signed up to shoot their club tournament in May. Since I haven't been to San Antonio since I moved to TX I thought I'd also shoot their match on 4/2. I'll drive down a day early and knock around SA. Then shoot the match on Sunday afternoon and drive back home after

 

Friday was going to shoot Chiefs but now there is heavy rain for the 2 hour drive through Cincinnati rush hour, unload, load up, drive home back through Cincinnati, not worth it. Saturday at Hilltop is postponed a week, winds to 60mph and have to park in the woods kinda dangerous. Sunday at Adams in Toledo is still doable will see about that.

 

The VA indoor unlimited tournament is this Saturday at Kettlefoot if you want to drive further but shoot out of the weather.

 

Rough measurements = Center dot "10" ring .125
9 ring .450
8 ring .890

I haven't been to Boerne either but have met and shot with several from there.
Like at all the ABRA venues, these are some good people. You'll have a blast.
Joe and Lisa are top notch. They are some of the best, most fun friends around.

 

Since I’ll be rained out of work tomorrow I might go to Chief’s. I’ll have to take the interstate route if it’s flooding. I don’t know if I’ll shoot my first UL match or Factory with my 452. I think it’ll be a good setup, at least if the 452 likes the new Greenlaw rest as much as my other sporters seem to.I have a new scope for it that I bought in the classifieds here. Maybe if I get there early they’ll let me sight it in. I guess I could shoot my Bergara too. Not quite ready for UL yet. We’ll see.

 

I'd love to shoot a match or two at Big Chief's but the 14 hour + drive kinda puts that one on the back burner for me. It would be much more do-able from where I used to live in IL but then I wouldn't enjoy the matches closer to home that I do now. I guess we take the bad with the good

 

@gaboy thanks for the dimensions. I found a post from Landy over on RA that was also helpful. For me the idea is to shoot some of my other rifles that I wouldn't use for ARA. So I'll have to look at the classes and see where they fit in.

 

I only very vaguely remember that thread but I'm thinking Joe may have changed the dimensions slightly before he started ABRA? So I'm wondering if whatever you looked at was before or after the official start of ABRA?
Landy

 

Don’t know what you personally would call a “ flipper” but IMHO , typically, those are not tune….ammo issue and/or ignition issue, unless of course what many call a “ flipper” is about 95% of the time “ you missed a condition”.

P.S. those plastic super feet are not doing you any good, especially with a light front rest.

 

Don’t know what you personally would call a “ flipper” but IMHO , typically, those are not tune….ammo issue and/or ignition issue, unless of course what many call a “ flipper” is about 95% of the time “ you missed a condition”.

P.S. those plastic super feet are not doing you any good.

All shots that were out were high. Maybe flipper was the wrong term. I don't really care. John seems to think I can tune it out. I'll listen to his advice thanks

I have rubber on the bottom of each. My goal was to for the rests to not slide around. I've accomplished this. At some point I'll spend the money and buy the real ones but I have other things I need to buy first. They're also out of stock on Killought's and PQP. So for now I'll stick with what I have. Thanks for your unsolicited input

 

I met Joe & Lisa at the 2015 Triple Crown where in one of the days leading up to it we shot a ABRA match. I think it was an introductory thing to see how it would be received but it may very well have started in '15. I think Joe, Lisa, & Tony Purdy were the only one's shooting semi-autos. Tony's ejections kept wacking me for the 1st target until we put up an improvised shell deflector. lol
Keith

 

@HuskerP7M8

I've been shooting BR50, ARA UL, USBR, and IR50/50 targets on and off since the 90's. I also watch the UL scores at the matches I attend and Nationally. So I think I have fairly realistic expectations. I'll have an open mind and I'll have fun regardless of what my scores are. I'm just happy to finally have a gun to shoot in UL. I'll take it one match at a time once I start

 

Yeah, I may have just bought my first rifle that has a chance of being reasonably competitive but I've been following RFBR pretty closely since the BR50 days. I've shot BT cards for several years but only casually. So while I may not have the actual match experience as some of you more seasoned veterans I do have some clue of what's going on and the equipment that's used at the national level. So don't assume I'm a total newb. I have pretty good mind and do pretty well with design. Anything I make is thought through before I even draw it in CAD. Those feat aren't solid but they do have 3D crosshatch infilll (50%) and I'm confident they'd hold a 30# rest without issue

@TRSR8 I've been watching your posts since you joined RFC and maybe your comments would be more readily received if you worded things differently. You may have all kinds of RFBR fame and glory but nobody here knows who you are and it doesn't really matter anyway. I don't care who you are. If you're going to make rude comments then you should expect to be met with rude replies. I have a few people who have gone over and above to help me. I welcome advice but not if I'm going to be treated like I'm an idiot. In fact please don't bother. I'll figure it out on my own thanks

 

So if I read it right, you seem to conflate new and /or inexperienced with idiot, never my intention, and moving forward, now that I have had it explained you speak for everybody here, I’ll take note.

 

I think I’ll just pick up three hockey pucks for feet. Buck a piece and about the right density. I’m nobody though and maybe it will upset someone.

 

I received a text earlier suggesting the hockey puck thing. They're a little thicker and wider than I want but I'm sure they'd work great. The ones I made are a 1/2" thick and 2" in diameter. Working fine so far

 

As long as we're discussing budget 3D printed BR gear....

I didn't like how my snow skis were sliding in the rubber and they slid too well in lexan so....

There's rubber on the bottom of those too. They worked well today

 

It was a beautiful day for a match today. The folks at Angelina Rifle and Pistol Club were great. I'll be back

 

How did you do?

 

Nice looking range setup!
By August there shouldn’t be three feet of snow and four inches of ice to slide around with on the stool. This little MAS45 may just be used as my Unlimited rifle this season if it pans out at the fifty yard range. Have never had a rifle that just plain likes anything you feed it. Not bad for a bipod on these 25yard indoor test groups with Sellier &Bellot Club and CCI SV’s of random Walmart lots. Even got the trigger down to 40ozs with a spring change😎
What exactly makes this rifle shoot this well is intriguing to say the least.

 

Nice!

My brother the gunsmith sporterized a MAS years ago. I'm pretty sure he still has it

 

Will have to take some pictures and measurements of the trigger assembly and see if Dayton Traister has anything that would work. It has this far proven itself to shoot well with ammo that nothing else likes. With the shortage a nice thing to have. Whatever the French did on this one it worked and is worthy of machining a chassis for.

 

Today was my day to get a rough tune

Before I get into the tuning part. I've shot at the Bass Pro tube several times. I always thought the ventilation system was stronger than it felt. Today I set up my little bench flag. Don't be fooled by the pic. That thing was dancing around the whole time. At one point the guy I usually talk to came on duty and I got him to turn off the part of the ventilation system for the pistol range upstairs. That helped a little but the tube is tied into the system for the whole building. So the air was still moving through there pretty good. I tried to shoot a couple targets for score after tuning and I didn't do as well as I hoped

I didn't have a lot of time and I only have a few bricks of decent ammo. The Midas + I brought with me didn't do too well in my factory class guns but it seems to shoot ok in this UL gun. Anyway, this in only a rough tune to get me started

The first target is with a naked tuner (no weight etc). It was suggested to me that I start at the 175 and work up to 225 (where the previous owner had it) and see how it does. So I started at 175 and turned it 5 clicks. I shot two shots. If they were touching I shot a third. Most groups are 3 shots. And I just realized I had a brain cramp. I got to 200 and wrote down 225 and stopped testing lol. I went back to 190 and started messing around with the settings on either side. I never did go back and test 175. I guess that'll have to wait until another day

I cleaned the bore at this point and shot a score target with the 190 setting. I just aimed at the center dot of each bull and shot. Like I said, I didn't do so well. Maybe a 2100?

I borrowed the one piece rest from a friend and he also gave me a Noodle to try. I took the advice of my mentor (vlnbyr) and removed the weights, set my tuner to zero, installed the tube and started testing. This time I spun the tuner one complete revolution. I guess I was hoping to luck into some promising looking settings that I could further tweak. Turns out 0 was the best that I saw today. So I went back to 0 and shot again. Looked good. I started testing further but I realized I was running out of time. So I cleaned the bore and shot another target for score. Aaaannnd it was about the same as the first one haha. I did shoot a 5 shot group at one of the sighters and it might be my smallest 5 shot group ever. Between that and the 3 shot groups I shot while testing I'm pretty happy with how the 0 setting plus Noodle shot.

I enjoy shooting in that tube but I honestly don't think it's as good for testing as I thought it was. I knew there was air moving through there but I didn't realize how fast it's moving and how turbulent it is. I'll have to look for a calm day in the near future and do some more testing outside.

We're going out of town for a match this weekend. I'm going to use the tube and leave the tuner where it's set and see what happens

One thing I have to say is shooting off that one-piece rest is pretty slick. This was the first time I've shot a return to battery set up. It's fantastic!

 

It was windier than expected for the ABRA match, but was a beautiful day. I didn’t win, but I got my groove back. Focused on the flags and was more methodical. I learned a lot today. The new tails are way better than those flailing around things I had.
I also had more confidence in holding off as much as I needed to. I now know there is nothing wrong with my equipment. It’s me. I have a car that can win races if I get better at driving.

 

.....I have a car that can win races if I get better at driving.

I know the feeling!

 

Flags...Methodical...Sighters...All pretty simple really.

 

Go on ... twist the knife again.

This is a great thread, it was a good idea.

 

I shot my first UL match today. Just got in after a long drive home. I didn't win either but I did better than I thought I would considering my screw ups. It was a tricky wind today. The person who took first shot better regardless of my issues. I earned second on my own. I now have some things to work on. We'll give it a go next weekend

EDIT: I forgot to mention something really important to me...I met some more really nice people today. That alone was worth the trip to San Antonio

 

I shot UL match #2 today at Central Texas Rifle and Pistol Club near Waco, TX. I took another 2nd place and I'm ok with that. The man that won (congrats Michael) shot really well and had a 2400 on one card. I had another mental error and I vowed that wasn't going to happen again yet somehow it did. My agg was around 2255. Should've been better, could've been worse. So I'll take it. I'm learning how to drive the new gun and shooting ammo that I didn't consider to be all that good in my factory class gun. I think the gun and ammo are shooting just fine. The Unlimited targets are just less forgiving and it's harder to keep the shots from breaking the edge of that 1/2" circle. The driver just needs to focus even harder on the flags and stop taking chances. We'll get there!

Thanks to my friend @mpolk and all the nice people who shoot the match at Waco. See you next match!

EDIT: My agg was actually 2156. I did mental math in the car while driving home and should've confirmed before posting

 

The driver just needs to focus even harder on the flags and stop taking chances.

I can relate.

The last one worked ... can I get one more ... argh! Apparently not.

 

Highlights how the ARA game isn't what most shooters think it is.

 

I've always known it was tough because I've been shooting various RFBR targets for years. But when shooting informally I could pick and choose which days to shoot. I could go to the range early on the nice days to get the good conditions and I could choose to stay home when it was windy. I can't do that at a match. Well...I guess I could choose not to go at all but what fun is that? Everybody's shooting in the same conditions so I choose to shoot. Having to figure out what conditions are shootable and which aren't, where I need to hold off and by how much, when to wait for a condition to come back, when to go to a sighter, etc is part of the challenge (and fun...and sometimes frustration} of shooting a match. It's tough for sure....and very addictive