In this issue: Re: Opinions on Walther rifles Re: Opinions on Walther rifles Re: Opinions on Walther rifles 200M UNDERGROUND ranges? Re: Opinions on Walther rifles Re: Simulator technology ******************************************************************** I had the occasion to try and witness excellent shooting with the Walther Space Gun. I liked it since it first came out. However a word off caution. There is a small bushing for the front lug screw that if not sitted correctly will cause a ring to form around the bushing resulting in irratic shots and a varying torque. As I remember the Walther has three torque screws. The bushing I refer to is set in the action and is the one at the muzzle end of the receiver. It is only about a .25 in length and can be pulled out with a plier or might even have a loose fit. It should always be set striaght and place carefully in the stock.It's a simple matter of paying attention to details and fitting the action to the stock carefully. I would love to own this rifle it shot one hole groups consistantly at 50 meters. It simply feels good and performs well. Hope this helps. ****************************************************************** I know Wayne Sorenson quite well, since we are National team mates. His gun has shot some very good scores, but he has had problems getting the thing to shoot consistent. He does like it for the standing and kneeling portions of his 3-P matches (lock time). The stock also needed some work to get it to fit like his Anschutz. But for the most part it is still a work in progress. Henry Gerow 1995, 1997 Canadian Prone Champion Shooting for GOLD in Winnipeg, Pan-Am. '99 and Sydney 2000! HTTP://www.escape.ca/~sniper [Editor - See Wayne's personal comments 3 articles below.] ****************************************************************** FWIW Some years back when I was the sole importer of JGA Target Rifles to Australia when I was on a visit to the Anschutz factory I noticed a large pallet of finished small bore rifle barrels on the loading dock, the main difference from my point of view was that they where profiled to suit the then current GX 1 Walther free rifle and had the Walther brand on them. My host at the time advised me that they made the barrels for Walther under contract at the time, whether this is still the case I don't know but they were certainly marked Walther. Graeme Forbes Melbourne Australia ****************************************************************** Our club has the only remaining 200m range in Auckland, and we may soon be forced out by the residential development going on around us. It will be very hard to find another block of land so close to Auckland. We may consider going underground but would need heavy financial support for such a venture. Do you know of any underground ranges catering for 200m events? We'd need plans and reference sites. ****************************************************************** Your bulletin was forwarded to me by Sandra Honour as I shoot the Walther 200KK, and I'd like to give my comments on the gun for those who may be considering purchasing one. One of the best things about it is the weight of the barrel - it is 2.5 inches shorter than a full Anschutz barrel , and quite a lot thinner, making it very light. I've seen a few top World shooters shoot it this way (Kadjebikov, Farnik) and shoot good scores. However, I think it would take ultra good vision, light conditions, barrel and ammo to shoot it well this way. The light barrel in itself is a tremendous advantage because it gives OPTIONS to the shooter. For instance , a smaller shooter or lighter shooter (like me - I'm 6'1" and 150 lbs) can start with the barrel itself and add weight either with concentric barrel weights or with the tube until a comfortable balance is found. I chopped the tube in half and find that it works out to being about 1.5 inches longer than a full Anschutz so I get adequate sight radius, but the rifle is a hell of alot lighter, thus less strain on my back in standing and my left hand in prone and kneeling. I am able to hold the rifle in Standing exactly like my Air rifle, which is a logical thing to strive for (almost the same hold quality as well) and have gone from very occasionally shooting in the high 370's with the Anschutz to averaging 380+ with the Walther, and I've shot alot of 195's as well. In fact, I shot two 50's in a row that were one-hole prone groups - my first 100 standing! The other thing about the rifle that helps in standing is the extremely fast lock time - they are not kidding in the brochure - it is ultraquick! To exploit this I use Federal A (1140 fps) Match ammo to get the bullet out of the barrel faster (only in Standing, mind you). There are many shots where the barrel is moving away from the ten when I pull the trigger, and I call the shot a nine, but it's still caught the ten-ring because it was gone so fast. I just laugh to myself and thank technology!!! also, the trigger must be the best quality in the industry - I've been shooting a Kenyon for 5 years and thought it was great (consistent, light, fast, etc). Now when I shoot that gun I wonder how the hell I shot the scores I did. It would be fine for prone, but too slow in position. The Walther trigger is extremely reliable even at light weight ( I use about 1.5 ounces) and easily adjustable for weight and sear. I don't like the shallow fore-end. One should buy the fore-end riser block Walther sells, or else the rifle points too low and you end up straining unnaturally to get it on the target. Weight distribution is uncanny - a wooden-stocked rifle feels heavy at the barrel, and heavy at the butt, but not much in the middle (kind of like a teeter-totter). The robogun (Walther) feels uniformly weighty from front to back, thus better balanced without the perception of great lumps of weight hanging out from each end. The moveable pistol grip is another excellent feature that makes this rifle a no-brainer to buy. I set it differently for all three positions to get ideal trigger-finger position. Believe me, it makes a difference!! The other shooters watch me with envy during the change-over time as I MOVE MY PISTOL-GRIP!!! They are stuck with one position! I'm lucky my dad has a machine-shop, because with his help, I've been able to tweak the rifle to the point where i am happy with it and can turn my attention to my technique. I found there were a few restrictions on adjustments that were holding me back from getting a comfortable position. But that is another excellent advantage to this rifle; being made of high-grade aluminum, if it doesn't fit, you can work on it!!! its malleable, shall we say. My butt-plate pivots higher for prone,the cheekpiece has more range of movement laterally, and a few other customizations. As I mentioned, I have shot way better standing with it, and at our Nationals I shot a 394 kneeling. So I know it shoots. What is weird is that I cannot get the rifle to shoot all that well in prone. It's really frustrating sometimes - I have shot a beautiful 50 (like today - all shots inside the 10-ring) and then on the next bull I drop 2 or 3 points. I have a feeling that the rifle is very finicky in it's natural point of aim - if you are not perfectly aiming at the bull, it tends to take off away from the bull at the slightest lapse. This is obviously something I have to work on. Or, it could be a product of shooting it with a fairly light barrel. Anyway, I shot 393, 382, 394=1169 at our Nationals and that is the best score by a mile I have ever shot. I could never have done that with my wooden 1413 with a Schnieder barrel, Kenyon trigger, matched R50 ammo, etc. which I have shot many 398's and one 400 prone in World Cup competition. so I am convinced it's a better gun. Wayne Sorensen sorenw1@investorsgroup.com PS I Shoot the LGM -2 Air rifle as well. PPS for anyone in Canada who wants to order a Walther rifle, please contact me. ****************************************************************** Dear Mr Michael Ray, I have just read the article on Simulator technology and I must admit that what Ross Mason wrote about is almost correct. Each of the IR receivers in the Optical Sensor that is mounted on the barrel of a firearm actually detect two of the signals sent out from the transmitters on the electronic target. His explanation as to how this works was not entirely wrong, he was correct as to how the transmitters on the electronic target work but as for the Optical Sensor he was a little wrong. The transmitters do send out a signal at 12, 3, 6, 9, but the Optical Sensor works on an "X" axis receiving two signals at the same time, so instead of only 4 points of reference there are in fact 8 points of reference, this allows for far greater accuracy of the co-ordinates for which Scatt are second to none. As to Mr Martin Sinclair's piece I was a little dismayed. Of all the systems he wrote about only the Noptel System and the Scatt Systems are of any comparable quality when it comes to accuracy and analysis of a shooters performance, all the rest still have a little way to go yet. Noptel is mainly an optical electronics company and most of its hardware was designed for military use. Scatt is a company owned by Sports Shooters and the systems developed by Scatt were developed by shooters for shooters. As to the 50 meter target that Noptel Produce, at Scatt we developed and sold a 50 meter target to those who wanted it. We actually found that those people who bought the 50 meter target ended up not using it, as the results from the 10 meter target were exactly the same when it was programmed for 50 meter simulation. How can this be possible people ask, with the Scatt systems, users have always been able to simulate bullet dispersion on live or dry firing. After tests using a data base of over 40, 000 shots it was discovered that the results of the shooting sessions, using a simulated bullet dispersion and actual live firing, could only be improved upon. This is to say that the results attained using a Scatt system can not be lower than those attained on actual live firing. But at the same time we still have to follow the market and what the public wants the public gets As to his pun about sending things to Finland for repair being easier than sending things to Russia for repair, I agree he is right, absolutely, 1000%... That is, if you have to send things for repair !!! Just be careful who you let use your simulator. Sincerely yours, Kevin Sangster Director Overseas Sales & Marketing ZAO Scatt Kevin@scatt.dol.ru Tel/Fax 007 095 530 0667 ****************************************************************** End of UIT Mailing List #35 Michael Ray - Systems Engineer Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech. Rifle Coach UIT Shooting Page - http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/1190/index.htm