In this issue:
Re: Walther importer
Re: IZHMASH rifles
Re: Ammo testing results / Training dilemma
Re: Marksman House info
Re: Marksman House info
Re: buying new rifle
Re: Ammo testing results
Re: Training dilemma
Help identify 1930s Olympic rifle
Re: Sport rifle palm rest
Quiet Zone timing
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Walther GSP- Champions Choice IS the importer for Walther target guns now [in the USA].
Earl's Repair in Tewksbury, MA also imports Walther target guns.
Richard Ashmore
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Re: IZHMASH rifles
I have shot Izh guns since the early sixties when I encountered them as a
postgraduate at Moscow State University. In those days I shot a lot of
pistol and rifle and made the Moscow University prone and pistol teams. When
I left the Soviet Union I brought with me a TOZ-35 free pistol (made in
Tula) and an Izh-3 free pistol. I had also ordered a Strela -3 small bore
rifle.
These guns were superbly functional but hardly works of art. The rifle's
finish was a long way from that of the Anschuetz but it shot just as well.
Bear in mind that Soviet guns were not expected to fit every Tom, Dick and
Harry and they were the property of the club, not an individual, even though
a gun was allocated to a shooter for his/her exclusive use. So, if something
did not fit, the club gunsmith would take his tools to the gun and cut and
hack until it fitted beautifully. Can you imagine doing this to an
Anschuetz?
The big problem with Soviet guns was the availability of spare parts
although some guns came with a spare parts kit and an excellent cleaning and
maintenance kit. My Strela broke down after about twelve years intensive
shooting. The situation today should be much improved.
I should add that Soviet target guns were quite common here in the UK all
through the sixties and seventies but fell out of sight for a variety of
reasons, largely independent of their ability to perform.
Since the seventies, I have acquired a Typhoon small bore rifle which is a
development of the Strela-3. This is superb but will hardly suit everyone as
Russian/Soviet free rifles tend to be near the weight limit. The CM-2
standard rifle was, for a time, visible on the firing line here in England
but shooters are like sheep, they want to shoot what the top shooters shoot
so everyone went over to Anschuetz.
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Ammo testing: I thought the results of Jason's testing was interesting.
He is finding out what most of us know after years of trial and error. I
have had some CCI Blue Label ammo that was every bit as good as any
match ammo that I have ever used. I also have great results with Eley
Practice 100 and Club, and have had terrible results with Tenex. I have
had T-22 that was just great, and some that was just awful giving me 9's
on the A-17 target at 50-feet in prone!!. So, the best thing to do is to
test your rifle with as many brands and LOTS of ammo as you can get
ahold of and then try to get the same ammo to use in matches, etc.
Training: Time off from competing and training usually means that you
come back with a higher score. This is mainly because you have forgotten
the bad habits that you have gotten into, without realizing it, and have
fallen back onto the basics that you should be working from most of the
time anyway. This happens to most everyone when they take some time off
from training.
Hope this helps someone. Don Williams in Oregon.
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Mark Ackrill from Trinidad West Indies asked for the address
to Korean Marksmen House outfit.
Korea Marksmen House Outfit can be bought at
http://shooters-shop.com
Best Regards
Magnus Salomonsson
Shooters-Shop / Monard Shooting
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A couple of the Australian shooters are using the gear and it is
good for the price. Comes from Pakistan.
Other info re the Korean Marksman House stuff is available if you
contact the Australian agent, Morrie Muehlberg at [email protected]
Hope this helps
Tricia Van Nus
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In regards to Adam Brzycki on your shooting list. I would like to say
that there is no REAL way to find out how good a gun really is without a
fellow shooters opinion. I will admit that my second gun (a Weihrauch HW660)
was purchased from the Internet but I had known someone that had one. I will
admit that I am a little bias when it comes to Standard rifles but I have
never had any problems with my Weihrauch and have proven that it is every bit
as good as any Anschutz (but half the price). I wish you the best of luck in
finding a gun.
Good Luck
Ross Miller
PS. the Weihrauch HW660 can be found at Euro American Arms
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To: Mr. Jason Jarvis
Your letter to the editor left a lot of questions in my mind. Can you
give me a little more insight?
Question: At what distance were the rifles tested at? How were the
rested? What size were the groups? What method did you use to measure
the size of the groups? Were all the rifles equipped with barrels of
the same rate of twist? Were any of the rifles bedded? And finally, were
the rifles bedding screws manipulated in any way?
David Lee
San Francisco
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Response to JLC:
I have also observed the same phenomena over the years, both as a shooter
(smallbore, service rifle, and pistol shooter) and as a coach. I concur
with the editor but cannot overlook a couple of other possibilities. One
is something that behaviorists (train of thought in cognitive psychology)
call extinction. Whereby a behavior is lost due to decay over time.
Simply put, you forgot whatever it is you were used to doing. When a
learned behavior has been ingrained a bad habit can sometimes be
eliminated simply by not practicing it. In a conversation with Lanny
Bassham I would often hear the converse. He would tell you that when
you're doing good, do it a lot. This is also a tenet of behaviorists who
believe in reinforcing the correct behaviors. The absense may be just
what the shooter needs to eliminate a particular bad habit.
Another hypothesis is that concentration degrades over long periods of
time. And like our editor has suggested, a lack of concentration may be
the leading cause of this particular problem. In motor learning, and peak
performance type classes, you will often find the yerkes-dodson law of
performance. This is the familiar inverted "U" that demonstrates
performance can degrade at too low or too high a level of arousal. Being
psyched up too high can be as detrimental to performance as not being
pumped up enough. Did I just make this a little too much?
Glad theres someone out there seeing the same things though.
David Lee
San Francisco
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I've looked all over, and figured to give the experts a crack at
this... One of the guys where I work has an ancient rifle (well, not
all that ancient) and he cannot figure out what it is, or what it was
used for. The rifle is marked:
HAENEL ORIGINAL AWDT WUHLIGHALLEA/S
The rifle is a centerfire, close to 8mm (?). On the stock is a plaque
with the Olympic rings and the year 1934. Barrel is octagonal and
heavy.
Somebody wanna brave it and try to identify this? As you can tell, I
have not personally seen the rifle; this is all of the info that has
been reported to me.
Thanks in advance!
---
Jeffrey L. Bromberger
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I have used both a "slab" and the adjustable free rifle palm rests, and at the
risk of starting another war between the "physical" and "mental" shooters will
offer these observations.
If at all possible, use a single hand position. That is, if your daughter
shoots both air rifle and smallbore, and is shooting off her fist or fingers
with the air gun, then use that same hand position with the .22. Don't grab the
palm rest and hold the rifle on the heal of the hand. Remove the grip from the
palm rest and just use the shelf. You will have the height and cant adjustments
available without introducing a variable into the position with different
methods of holding the weapons.
It is fairly easy to make a custom-fit slab rest using basic woodworking
equipment. Almost any scrap of hardwood will do, and a toilet mounting bolt can
be filed or ground to fit in an Anschutz rail. Non-slip rubber attaches with
contact cement. Just make the wood the proper depth and saw or plane any degree
of cant you desire. Much cheaper than a state-of-the-art adjustable palm rest.
(This is what I use, even though I have an adjustable rest.)
Finally, on many ranges the target height is not adjustable and considerably
different from the range where one trains. In these situations the shooter must
either adjust the rest (if it is adjustable), mount a different slab (they are
small and cheap enough to have several), and/or adjust the position SLIGHTLY. I
have found that if the rifle cannot be perfectly adjusted and it is necessary to
adjust the position, it is better to set the palm rest so the rifle settles
slightly below the target and the shooter's weight shifts to the rear foot and
not the front. The emphasis here is on SLIGHTLY and ONLY IF NECESSARY. This
works for me, and I find it to be a very useful rule of thumb. Your results may
vary . . . .
Tom
[Editor - The commercial rest Tom is referring to is the one that comes with the XX13 rifles. The XX12 rifles have one that isn't adjustable, which is one reason I don't care for it. As Tom suggests, you could simply make several versions of a "slab". If you do have the unfortunate situation of shooting on a range at closer ranges that don't allow target height adjustments, I sure hope you have one you can adjust. I'll re-emphasize what Tom was saying - altering your position is the LAST thing you should try.]
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Subject: Re: QZ~ time variance..
Chet ,
The information on the QZ~ arrival between heartbeats was very helpful, as
it formulated explicitly something that I have been experiencing without
actually knowing/understanding what happened. The QZ period between
heartbeats has been obvious in the kneeling position, as there is a tendency
that pulse beats are transmitted to the rifle. But I have been able to time
the full QZ arrival and non-dominant trigger pull between pulse beats to the
PBE. Sometimes though, the bullet has not cleared the barrel as the pulse
beat at which the QZ ends arrives, and there is a solid nine on the target.
Although pulse beat is transmitted to the rifle, it should be possible to
fire during the full QZ~ between the two pulse beats to the PBE, each time.
Agree?
Rshooter...
From: "Chet Skinner"
Correct,
My doctor has advised me that my heart beat or pulse is around 45 to 48
during the active shooting athlete mode, which translates to 1.25 seconds of
QZ~ availability time. A pulse of 45 translates to 1.33 seconds of
available QZ~ time. So the slower your pulse the longer QZ~ time
availability you have for the QZ~ time. The 3/4 of a second is an average
time and is still valid in technique as you said the bullet must be out of
the barrel before the QZ~ ends and the heart beat occurs. For those who
experience a heartbeat before the bullet has left the barrel are not
starting the QZ~ at lung balance time. They deserve the 8's and 9's
received. So you have the dwell time from last heart beat to the next and
its length is dependent upon your pulse at the time of shooting technique.
How does this relate to my shooting technique...? My heartbeats at 48 gives
me 1.25 seconds of QZ~ time. The heartbeat is just before the lung balance
time and is within the .25 of the time lapse. The remaining 1.0 seconds is
used for the 3/4 time (0.75) of the QZ~ leaving another .25 for the +-
variance to next heartbeat.
How does this sound to you...? I take my shot during QZ~ and it is not hard
to see why I was able to fire the perfect competition...~! in every
position...This also advises you that the heart beat is a prime element
during your use of the QZ~ or not... At a pulse rate of 77 the time is 0.78
and that implies that QZ~ is possible but without any reserves or variance
allowed. With .75 for QZ~ time the buffer variance time is only .03 of a
second. The result will be a heartbeat before the bullet leaves the barrel
with a less than perfect bull eye. So quit being a physical shooter and
mentally slow the heartbeat down during the firing cycle.
The QZ~ is in effect a part of the autonomic system and therefore uses the
timing used by the heart and the rest of the autonomic systems for running
your body and mind. For this reason the non-dominant mental entity can and
does integrate the QZ~, heart, and other automatic functions into the
autonomic timing system. For this reason the QZ~ will always occur in the
dwell time of the heartbeats. This is in compliance with the mandate that
the QZ~ is the quite zone and therewith accomplishes total systems set/fix
of muscles and other functional elements. Because the QZ~ occurs within the
heart beat dwell period, the time limit for the QZ~ is 3/4 of a second long.
Chet Skinner, Coach
[email protected]
http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/dome/4512/index.html
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End of UIT Mailing List #20
