THe Imperial Historic - 12 and 13 July: a report

[belgmart]

This is becoming a yearly pilgrimage to Bisley - for quite a few years, I have been shooting the Imperial historic arms shoot, a yearly event at Bisley, UK.

My friend/Gunsmith and I left early friday morning, and after an uneventful channel crossing, we arrived in Bisley at 15:00. After putting up our luggage at the SLRC, we 1st got our papers,arranged our squadding, and then went for a walk, taking in that special Bisley atmosphere.

Of course, some of the usual suspects were there, like TJ - friend and archrival (he shoots extremely well), and Richard and his #!%* trapdoor, even though he also has a Martini.

This shoot is a yearly event, and even though essentially short range (max is 200yds), it is a very good shoot due to both the friendly atmosphere and the number of matches organized - much than can be shot in the complete weekend!

I had brought along 4 rifles this year, to shoot in 8 matches:

Gallery rifle:

50yds Historic sporting rifle - Weber & Ruesch Martini 38-40

50yds Classic rook and rabbit rifle - BSA 310 Cadet

25yds Historic sporting rifle - Weber & Ruesch Martini 38-40

Vintage and Classic rifle (200yds)

Miniature Service rifle - BSA 310 Cadet

Classic (pre-1919, nitro allowed) any rifle - Match martini #2 Musket

Vintage (BP only) any rifle - Match martini #2 Musket

Vintage Service rifle prone - Westley Richards ZAR 577-450

Vintage Service rifle standing - Westley Richards ZAR 577-450

We started out saturday morning with classic and vintage any rifle at Century, with a gentle to moderate breeze from the left blowing, which also had a bit of a headwind component. It was gusting a bit, just enough to have to keep track of the wind when shooting.

In Bisley tradition, all matches are shot with 3 shooters/target, each shooting in turn and keeping score for the shooter next to him.

I was on a detail with my Friend and TJ, who was shooting Vintage service rifle with his '88 Mauser - and quite well too!

Each match at 200 consisted of 2 sighters and 10 shots for score.

We started out with the Classic any rifle, but shooting our smokepoles (yes, you are allowed to shoot in a higher class with BP rifles). My initial sight settings proved to be sound, so I was pretty much centered up after the sighter, and went on to end with a 48/50.

Next came the Vintage any rifle, and with the practice I already had, I managed to better my score to 49 (pesky 4...), which made me quite happy.

Saturday afternoon was for gallery rifle, which was 'not so hot', except for a decent 132/140 for the classic Rook and Rabbit rifle (again, TJ bettered my score, like each previous year!).

Sunday morning was reserved for the military rifles, especially vintage breechloader, where I shot my Westley Richards ZAR Martini both prone and standing.

I had taken the risk of taking along loads with the new .469 bullet, still relatively untested, but all came together and I finished up prone with a pretty good 44/50 - which definitely proves that the new bullet of my own design is a success, all 530+ grains of it!

Standing was harder as it was quite some time ago that I shot the rifle offhand, but in all I was pleased with my score of 33.

On the other hand, I never could 'get into' my cadet, so my score was pretty mediocre for the miniature service rifle - I kept struggling to find a good hold.

In all, it was a very nice weekend, which confirmed me 2 things:

- The #2 Musket match rifle is really performing now, and hopefully ready for the next long range match beginning of August.

- The ZAR shoots really well - but most important, the bullet designed performs also extremely well, holding up at longer ranges. Which goes to prove that 577-450 can be competitive accuracy-wise with the right load combination - and a .469 bullet configured to fit the throat of these military rifles

No pics unfortunately - I was too busy shooting and dragging my gear from 1 range to another....

[24626151]

I wonder how you will cope next year with the new competency rules introduced by the range Nazis in the NRA?

[belgmart]

Easy - I'll just show them my Belgian sports shooters license, which is the Belgian equivalent. Foreign shooters don't have to pass the tests if they can supply proof of their own country.

[24626151]

Thats nice to know, club membership and or an fac used to suffice here but now we have to pay for the privelige of the club sec to sign us off again!

UKNRA anagram for a money making machine!