I'd like to wish those of you out there who celebrate it a very Merry Christmas. I hope all your PCs still work in a couple weeks so you can get the list! Please e-mail address changes, unsubscribe requests, or submissions to me. In this issue: Re: Need simple rifles for junior camp Re: Rifle cases Re: Rifle cases Re: Rifle cases Re: FWB 601 / Spotting scopes / simple rifles for juniors Machine rest home page Re: SCATT / Failure of Gehmann irises Re: Bloop tube effectiveness Article relating to the "mind's eye" ******************************************************************** For an inexpensive . 22 target rifle the H&R M12C from the CMP is hard to beat - for $200.00 plus shipping. Relatively heavy (12 lb.), includes scope blocks and target sight bases, accessory rail, sling swivels and an excellent trigger. Mine arrived in new condition in a sealed foil wrap. Disadvantage- no sights included in price and no adjustments to stock. Kurt Ingham ******************************************************************** I use the two gun SKB. It is heavy and does not fit in a car well because of length. I have helped someone with the four gun. Way too big and heavy. The wheels worked well. Although the wheels don't get used much at the range, they sure pay off when having to walk long distance at the airport. Because the wheels are light and built in they are not in the way or noticible. The major advantage of the SKB is it seals well. I keep a pound of desicant in it and it keeps for about 3-6 months. I can put a damp rifle in the case and not have any rust later. Nick Priddy ******************************************************************** There is a gentlemen in Oregon who sells 2 gun alum. gun cases. The case has wheels bulit in and comes with a handle. I was told ALWAYS to tape the latches and lock as there was less chance the airlines break them. I used for it my .22 rifle and air rifle when I shot with USAR Int. Rifle team, we flew 5-7 times a year. The airlines were abusive but the rifles were untouched. I can look the telephone # if you'd like. I enjoy your newsletter, keep up the good work! Ruth E.Scott ******************************************************************** I had my case built by a guy in Oregon. Mike Jackobson (sic?) is his name. He built it to my specifications for less than any of the standard cases. My case is 54" long, 18 inches high, and 6 inches deep. It is longer to accommodate a rifle with a 30 inch barrel. It will also take my 22 with butt hook attached. There are two welded on flanges for padlocks. Last year I saw it get bumped off the luggage cart, before they loaded onto the plane, no damage to the case or rifles, a drop of about 3 feet. I pack one or two rifles, my scope, and stand into the case. I wouldn' t recommend a 4 gun case though. My guess is that a quality 4 gun case loaded with 4 match rifles would approach 75 -90 lbs. Wheels or not that is heavy. The locks keep "honest" people honest only. If they are set on taking the rifle, they will take the case also. But if they can't see what is inside, and it weighs 50 lbs. they are probably not going to risk being caught with something that large. I have a friend who couldn't shoot the first day because his rifles didn't make it. When he got his rifles the case had been destroyed. I don't remember the brand, but the case end was crimped on. Anyway the case was dropped and the rifles knocked the end off. We suspect that who ever dropped it put it back on the airplane so he wouldn't get in trouble. Chuck ******************************************************************** > set, I found the results were totally inconsistent: one 5-shot group > looked exellent and the next one (with pellets from the very same > tin) looked horrible. Sounds to me like a dirty barrel, possibly just one spot anywhere in the middle or at either end. Lead is scraped off the pellet and builds up on top of previous dirt, then every so many shots breaks off and changes things. I don't know if they make bore scopes small enough for .177, but a close inspection would be a good starting place if possible. > I'm thinking of replacing my spotting scope next year. Current favourite is > the Kowa TS-611, but I've seen an even lighter model, the TS-501 I am happy with my purple TS-501 scope, although I use it mostly on the lowest power setting for 10-meter .177 and 25-yd .22 shooting. I am sure it is good for 50-yd center fire pistol, though I doubt I could see 300-yd rifle holes unless maybe really bright light. > I'm looking for an inexpensive, single-shot .22 rifle to use at 4-H > camps. Although too small for 14-year-olds, there are two really small rifles that I know of. "Chipmunk" and sorry I forgot the other's name but similar. These do not have forestock mounting rail or lots of adjustments, but are excellent for young beginners. The one I saw had a peep rear sight, which was adjustable by loosening a screw, moving to sight to desired place on a scale, then tightening the screw, i.e. there was no click adjustment. (4-H beginners should not be adjusting the sights anyway.) If possible, compare features of both before you buy (especially the sights), else either one would probably be acceptable. They are inexpensive, way under $200. ******************************************************************** Hello, As I promised, please find a link to my web page describing my new Machine Rest. http://machinerest.hypermart.net/ If you have any questions please contact me at (562) 430-667 or on the net: eitan@ytd.com Thanks, Eitan Barazani [Editor - I just bought one of these from Eitan and will report on my experiences with it once I get a suitable stand in a few weeks. It appears to be well made and was the cheapest of the 3 knockoffs of the "simple Russian rest" that was discussed in the last couple issues.] ******************************************************************** We use one of the early versions of SCATT and the team and I really like it. As a coach it helps me notice things I can not observe with the naked eye. I should say it works fine for .22, but we have had some difficulty with some of the air rifles. It seems the plastic or polymer sleeve on some of the rifles act as enough of a cushion to prevent SCATT from detecting the shot. We have not come up with a solution for this yet, but we have not really tried that hard. Secondly, I have recently had two failures of the Gehmann #565 rear sight iris with the colored filters and polarized filters. First, one of my better shooters who can easily shoot perfect, or near perfect scores on the A/36 targets, started to notice his scores dropping. He and I blamed it on a really rough semester of classes and assumed the scores would go the other way after exams. Well, that did not happen, the scores continued to drop and we started to see if we could find the problem. After checking many many things, both physical and mental, we started to focus in on the rear sight. Specifically the rear iris. We tried the new rear iris with filters in place, with no filter in place, polarized, not polarized, and could still not get better than about an eight ring hold. Keep in mind I would rate this shooter as having at least a 10 ring hold, if not closer to a center hold. On SCATT the computer showed the shooter to have an awesome hold, but the hold seemed to be at unpredictable locations on the bull. I replaced the adjustable iris with the old fixed iris, and the hold snapped right back to the center of the SCATT screen and stayed there. As for scores, he fired a 88-1 with the Gehmann iris, and a 100-8 with the fixed iris. Needless to say the Gehmann iris which had just been purchased this summer at Perry, was returned and the replacement seems to be working fine. Then one of my other shooters started to complain about low scores and thought maybe the Gehmann iris she purchased at the same time could be the culprit. Seriously doubting we could have two new irises fail I reluctantly started checking the second iris. The results were the same and the replacement is working fine. Is anyone else having similar problems with adjustable irises? Could it be something we are doing or is it just one of those unexplainable things? Feedback would be appreciated. Newt Engle Rifle Coach The University of Akron, Ohio mengle@uakron.edu ******************************************************************** Hi. I am very interested to hear more from Morton if he was able to get a repeat performance. I had the same mental 'reaction' he mentions when I shot the first PBEs very much his. Only problem is that after that they did not happen as frequently as I had wanted. Perhaps the result of trying to hard. In any case it would be a good chance for all of us who shoot Chet's book to find out if these reactions are isolated experiences or happen to all of us. And what happens in the next sessions. Could you ask him to send us his findings of subsequent series? Thanks. Regards Usman sadiqahu@cyber.net.pk ******************************************************************** If you want to see how the mind looks at the bull for translation to the Perfect Bulls Eye, see Scientific American for the month of December 1999, page 114 upper right will show you a half pictorial representation of the object being looked at by the physical eye. What you will see is the pictorial representation of the object as seen by the physical eye and projected upon the visual cortex. In our terms the PBE if you will..... The article has holes in it but it will confirm what I have been telling all of you for the last couple of years. At present I am in communication with the writer and giving him some idea of how to go around the problem of separating the mind from the brain. Will be back with you later. Chet Skinner, Coach cskinner@dol.net ******************************************************************** End of UIT Mailing List #9 Michael Ray - Systems Engineer Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech. Rifle Coach UIT Shooting Page - http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/1190/index.htm