Please e-mail address changes, unsubscribe requests, or submissions to me. In this issue: New ISSF rule? Re: CMP FWB P-70 Re: Bloop tube effectiveness FS: Walther GSP Machine rest Canting / Weihrauch HW660 Re: Smallbore Ranges in Houston? FS: Anschutz 1912 Re: Bloop tube effectiveness ******************************************************************** Mike: Heard some interesting news at the Judges Course that I just completed in Atlanta. There is serious talk in the ISSF of eliminating the shooting pants from rifle shooters. Nothing has been passed as yet, but it is being talked about with vigor. Thought you might want to pass the word on to your readers in case anyone wants to lobby the ISSF one way or another. Personally, I would hate to think that the money I spent on pants this year is going to be worthless in another few years. Thanks, Don Williams, Oregon [Editor - I haven't heard a thing. Would make it more challenging and cheaper to get into the sport, but does suck for those who recently shelled out big money for pants.] ******************************************************************** RE: CMP FWB P-70 Air Rifles Our club received 2 of the CMP FWB P-70 rifles, loaned from the Kansas State Rifle Association. To add weight and extend the sight radius to the maximum allowable (850 MM), we fabricated some steel bloop tubes. The forward portion was made from some .750 dia. tubing with a dovetail machined in it for the front sight. The rear was made from a 4" long piece of 1.250 dia. steel. The rear part was offset (eccentric) bored .125 so that the clamp hangs down in a pot bellied configuration. This leaves .125 of the clamp material showing above the barrel and .375 below. It may be necessary to cut a relief at the bottom rear of the clamp to allow the air cylinder to be removed. Two metric set screws hold the bloop tube on the rifles barrel. Ralph Goodwin ******************************************************************** > The story I heard about Lones Wigger is he was having much trouble seeing > clearly through iron sights with his older eyes. Because his past success > without a bloop tube before he was resistant to using one. In 1997 he set a > new national record at Camp Perry for Prone (6399/6400). The reason for his > improvement, among other things, was improved vision through the use of a > sight extension tube. This story was hearsay, so if you question it just > ask him and you will know. > Lones Wigger uses a Time Precision Bloop Tube/Tuner. He used the same gun he won this years Camp Perry prone match with the BT/T at the ARA Nationals Labor Day. Besides the sight extention given by this tube, it also allows tuning the barrel harmonics to your ammo. Since he used it at the ARA Nationals with a scope, I assumed he used it for the tuning function. Tuners have been used in benchrest rimfire since about 1994/95. But the barrels on those guns have been slimmer than barrels found in position guns due to weight restrictions. I assume that heavier barrels would be less sensitive to the moving weight of a tuner. Recently I bought a Time BT/T for my BSA Martini. It is a long heavy barrel with now a ten inch extension. I bought it primarily for the sight extension, but plan to test its tuning capabilites as soon as my two cases of Lapua arrive. As far as shortening the barrel and then using a tube to maintain the sight radius, benchresters avoid the short barrels as its felt a short barrel gun does not handles the wind as well. I don't know that any testing has ever been done. I can only think that a longer barrel will have slower velocity which will handle wind better. But how much? But with position guns there are other factors to consider other than wind deflection. Rich ******************************************************************** Dear Michael: Great job with the list. I really look forward to it. One of my former Collegiates has developed persistent cataracts and is having to quit the shooting game. He is selling his Walther GSP .22 with factory grips and tools for $950. cshort@nfe.com ******************************************************************** Hi Michael, Like others in our sport, I was also looking to have a machine rest to test ammunition. After looking into the available options, I decided to build my own machine rest. It is based on a similar principle to the Russian rest, with some improvements. The machine rest has 2 recoil bars, connected to the rifle's accessory rail. I used teflon for the recoil bars' bearing (instead of brass), to allow for smoother recoil and to avoid scratching of the recoil bars. The back recoil bar has a pin that serves two purposes: First, it keeps the canting constant. Second, it keeps the distance from the machine rest base constant. In tests I've conducted, the machine rest performed very well. I got groups (10 shots) as small as of .365" (~9.3mm) outside edge diameter at 50m outdoors. I was able to identify ammunition that shoots well in my rifles. The difference between match ammunition (groups of about 7/16" with nice round groups) and practice ammunition (groups of about 1/2"-5/8" with some flyers) was very clear. Pictures of the machine rest will be available in the near future. The machine rest is available for $250 + S/H. Please add the information above to your mailing list. Best Regards, Eitan Barazani eitan@ytd.com (562) 430-6678 ******************************************************************** I don't know if you've seen the latest issue of Shooting Sports USA, but there is a great article in there by G. David Tubb (you know, the multiple US National Champion in highpower rifle) regarding shooting the standing position. In his article, he listes several main points that one must adhere to for a successful position. One of his main points is (you guessed it) "Cant The Rifle." He states in this section that it is more important to keep one's head vertical than to keep the rifle vertical and that he uses a cant of 10 degrees. He also states that any deviation of sights and the resulting point of impact is negligible. Here's a many times champion rifle shooter and he openly advocates canting the rifle. What a concept! By the way, thanks for the advice regarding replacing and protecting the firing pin on my Weihrauch HW660. I was able to perform the job myself using a little gunsmithing ( the one from EEA was bent slightly and pretty rough. I straightened it very carefully in a vise and polished it thoroughly using a Dremel tool and jewelers rouge. It seems to work fine and the OAL of the pin seems to be OK. I took your advice and switch out or rotate the empty .22 casings after about five dry firings. A friend of mine who is a college shooter broke the pin on his Weihrauch not long after my problem. It seems that he'd been doing a lot of dry firing with his too, but with no empty casing. He has since ordered and received a new pin and had to the same fitting and polishing as I. I advised him to use and switch empty casings to help protect the pin. Thanks, Larry Richardson ******************************************************************** here's a range that is close to Houston. Wayne >The range is: > >Clear Creek Gun Range >Fm 1266 Rd, League City, TX 77573 >(281) 337-1722 ******************************************************************** Michael Ray Please place this in your next issue. We are up grading to a new Anschutz. Thanks Jommy Holder Anschutz 1912, right handed, with sights, adjustable aperture front & rear, 1year old. excellent condition. J Holder 409-753-3972 Texas central zone. ******************************************************************** Subject: Bloop tube...(tube extender). Date: Friday, November 12, 1999 4:50 PM TO BLOOP OR NOT TO BLOOP...?. In the last UIT List #4-6 the subject of sight extender tube (bloop tube) was addressed. It is true in the physical domain that the tube extension appears to assist the physical eye during the act of focusing upon the bull with greater clarity. This does not eliminate or modify the eye's inability to focus on any object at a distance beyond the 18 to 28 inches from the physical eye. However, during precision mental sighting the sighting of a rifle or pistol is upon the center of mass as this is the object of the mental sighting procedure and not dependent upon the clarity on the peripheral of the bull. The mind does not really care or require circumference clarity to sight the rifle during the shooting sequences. This means the bloop tube is only needed by those who accomplish their shooting and sighting sequences under physical shooting rules. Those shooting athletes using the mental approach to precision competitive shooting use the center of mass as is dictated by the mind in the sighting technique. Therefore, for those who see the bull in its fuzzy state is observing the confirmation that the mind uses the center of mass during the accomplishment of the sighting procedure. Only a physical shooting athlete requires circumference clarity of definition or clarity and sharpness of demarcation of the bull's outlines and limits. This physical requirement tires or stresses the physical eye quickly as it is beyond the physical ability of the natural physical eye, it can never accomplish with precision the repetitive sequences required by any shooting athlete in competition. The physical shooter also must contend with the varying light and weather changes which also produces varying perception of demarcation of the bull's outlines and physical limits. The use of the center of mass does not tire or stress the physical eye and allows the shooting athlete to continue beyond the abilities of the physical shooter. The mental precision sighting technique works in the following manner. The dominant mental entity which controls the senses notes the bull through snapshots of the bull down range in relation to the physical eye, front and rear sights. The snapshots detect the center of mass relationships of the three key elements and once the snapshot is made the information is transmitted to the non-dominant mental entity for analysis with and comparison against the data held in memory. Any deviation of the sensed information with that held in memory will cause adjustment instructions to be issued to the neuromuscular system for the necessary muscle adjustments to bring the rifle or pistol into line with the black blob down range. All original and adjusted movements will be detected by the neuromuscular system and transmitted through kinesthetic feedback system to the non-dominant mental entity for more analysis and necessary corrections if required or not. It is this ongoing analysis by the mental entity at a hypothesized rate of 50 thousand analysis attempts a second and feedback which accomplishes the precision mental sighting procedure. This is assuming full automatic mental operation with no spontaneous data injections of disrupting data flow and analysis functions such as match pressure items of data. The mental sighting technique does not require circumference clarity or definition or clarity and sharpness of demarcation of the bull, front and rear sights. Only requirements of the eye be in perfect alignment with the rear sight. Chet Skinner, Coach cskinner@dol.net http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/dome/4512/index.html ******************************************************************** End of UIT Mailing List #7 Michael Ray - Systems Engineer Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech. Rifle Coach UIT Shooting Page - http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/1190/index.htm