[Springer]

I thought this might be of interest to some of you guys who are following my shooting exploits. This slideshow details the three weeks of work that went into building my first benchrest heavy gun. Im currently leading the UK Benchrest Association Heavy Gun Championship after winning all of the first three rounds, the best four scores from the six rounds count toward the overall champion.

Birth of the Big Dog - YouTube

 

[mc andy]

I'm suitably impressed!

Some amount of workmanship and skill to achieve such a (i think) pretty looking peice of kit.

I'm sure you'll get some strange looks from the purists mind?

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Guest]

Come on Alan now. That's no rifle is it? It's just a modern day Mons Meg!!

 

[MCXFisher]

Great slide show, many thanks for putting it together. It's great to see the build step by step.

Now, about that recoil system you asked me to borrow off one of 3rd RHA's AS90 guns down at Harlow Hill.........

 

[Springer]

I'm suitably impressed!

Some amount of workmanship and skill to achieve such a (i think) pretty looking peice of kit.

I'm sure you'll get some strange looks from the purists mind?

Thanks for sharing.

I guess in this case form follows function Andy, I tried to at least make it look a little like a conventional rifle where some almost bolt their actions to an H girder and call it a rifle.

Being a heavy gun its very much about the weight and the stability it brings at 46lb its certainly no stalking rifle, not does it have the elegant lines and looks of one.

Generally this area of the sport doesn't have many purists - purists finish last

 

[Springer]

Come on Alan now. That's no rifle is it? It's just a modern day Mons Meg!!

Nah, its still a rifle Simon and believe it or not it isn't a case of point it and shoot little groups. I gave a friend a try recently and he was still shooting groups twice as big as mine.

Obviously its geared up for stability and size but it doesn't have any wheels yet...

 

[MCXFisher]

but it doesn't have any wheels yet...

How about tracks?

 

[Springer]

How about tracks?

Tracks not allowed Michael, there must be sand between the gun and the rest but its kept to a minimum so as to get the best possible stability with just a little amount of cushioning - recoil is little over an inch of travel due to its weight versus the size of the charge so very pleasant to shoot.

The rifle is shot free recoil so Im not touching it at all and it comes to its own stop before being returned to battery for the next shot. Its the consistent return to the same position that allows me to get 5 shots away in around 15 seconds.

You can't pick your shots at 1000yds, you have to look for what you consider a stable wind then send all five shots away as fast as possible in the hope they ae all affected the same by whatever wind is there in that moment, part of the skill is trying to judge that consistent wind situation as you only have a 5 minute window in which to shoot. I can keep vertical dispersion to within a couple of inches with diligent reloading and an extreme spread in velocity of around 6fps, its the wind that then determines exactly how big the groups end up.

Heavy Gun Recoil - YouTube

 

[Guest]

I'm not into big rifles really but compared to yours what kind of weapon would the Canadian Sniper who shot a shot an ISIS militant 2 miles away in Iraq last month have used.?? Must have been some beast.

 

[Springer]

I'm not into big rifles really but compared to yours what kind of weapon would the Canadian Sniper who shot a shot an ISIS militant 2 miles away in Iraq last month have used.?? Must have been some beast.

The Canadian snipers rifle will not come close to the accuracy of mine, it is a factory production rifle shooting factory produced ammo which is rough as the proverbial badgers.

Shots like that are ridiculously over-sensationalised and are nothing more than flukes, if you sit all day flinging lead at a few guys two miles away maybe one day if your very lucky you will hit one of them, this happens from time to time and it gets reported as an amazing feat of skill and marksmanship. Those who know about accurate shooting know it for what it is, a lucky shot.

At 1000yds Im shooting at a 3" bullseye and putting 5 shots into a 2.7" group, an army sniper is shooting at an 18" wide torso and usually doesn't hit it every time. Its not even up for debate, some of the top US competition target shooters have ended up training army snipers yet the general public sees what they films portray army snipers as rather than the reality.

There has been quite some debate about the rangefinder the Canadian sniper was using its how rarely it would range to 2 and a bit miles with any consistency, if he can't even range it then how can he calculate the trajectory of his bullet with any certainty, simple answer is he can't so he punts then away and his spotter keeps telling him "up a bit", "left a bit" then Bingo, just like the Golden Shot but with no Bob Monkhouse

 

[Guest]

There has been quite some debate about the rangefinder the Canadian sniper was using its how rarely it would range to 2 and a bit miles with any consistency, if he can't even range it then how can he calculate the trajectory of his bullet with any certainty, simple answer is he can't so he punts then away and his spotter keeps telling him "up a bit", "left a bit" then Bingo, just like the Golden Shot but with no Bob Monkhouse

And while all these punt shots are whizzing by the ISIS militant he's just sat there eating his lamb balti and naan bread thinking what the hell is that whistling noise!!

 

[Tyke]

Well of course at that range the bullet would have lost most of its' velocity & would have been sub sonic for some time - so no whip crack sound of a supersonic bullet & if the target individual is laying down fire at the time then he may be completely unaware of the missed shots.

If not & he was aware, but decided to show how hard he was by ignoring them, then his demise is just down to natural selection as he should have taken cover; Darwinian theory suggests that some genes shouldn't be passed on for the good of the species......

Regards, Tyke.