284Shooter

I have a NXS 3.5x15x50 w/Mildot. It's a good scope, but if you plan on competing at 1000 yards, 15x is a limiting factor. It is nice to be able to dial back to 3.5x, but even dialed back to 3.5 the field of view and ability to aquire targets is limited. Nice scope, but these have gotten very expensive.

I can't seem to find a way to get the scores posted, so here is the write up. Shooters, Warren County Rifle Club, in partnership with The Blue and The Gray, held concurrent TN/AL State F Class Championships this weekend, September 5/6, 2009. We had a combined total of 32 shooter day one and 31 shooters day 2. In that group were three junior shooters, one of which was new to long range highpower shooting and another broke a standing record. I will cover the Tennessee side of things, and touch on a couple highlights from Alabama as well. Weather both days was great, with the exception of a 20 minute rain delay before we could finish match one. The remainder of the weekend saw fair skies with light and variable wind and plenty of mirage. We used a four relay rotation and flipped the shooting order day two so everyone had an opportunity to shoot early and late day matches. Day one saw four national records fall. Frank Beckmann, of TN, broke the previous Grand Senior F-Open record of 197-7x with a 197-11x. Emil Kovan, of AL, broke the F-Open Service record of 196-7x with his “best of match†200-7x. Emil was the 2008 TN State Champion but has moved to AL as he’s now stationed at Ft. Benning and could bear to live in Georgia! Laura Perry, of AL, broke the Woman F TR record of 189 with a 193-6x. Laura shot four matches this weekend that were 190+ scores. Alabama’s own Mason Parker broke the Junior F TR record of 184-3x with his 191-6x. Day two conditions were not so favorable. Conditions appeared to be the same but quickly shifting winds and let-offs kept the remaining records safe. In the end, Jeff Traylor was the match winner this weekend with a total aggregate of 980-39x. I believe this is the third time Jeff has won this match. The 2009 TN F Class Champion is Frank Beckmann, who ended the weekend with a 972-24x. I think this is Frank’s second time as State Champion. Emil Kovan was the Alabama state champion with a 974-21x. Matt Owen of AR was high Open shooter with a 968-35x. High F TR was Dale Carpenter, who posted a 929-8x. On the Alabama side, Laura Perry’s aggregate was an amazing 940-19x! Howard Pitts is the high TN resident F TR shooter with a 903-6x. Charlie Crawley was TN’s high junior shooter with an 877-10x. Tim “Grumpy†Kreier won the NRA prone match with his iron sighted 6.5x284. I’d like to thank all the competitors who came out and made this another successful match. I’d also like to thank Steve Parker of B&G for co-sponsoring the match and helping out with the line and statistical duties. I’d like to thank Matt Kubic for running a tight pit this weekend, as well as doing the road guard set-up, setting up the range flags and pits, and supervising range clean-up afterwards! Thank you to Tracy and Halie Pitts for pulling road guard duty both days, and to Howard Pitts for talking them into it. Last, but not least, thanks to the Tennessee National Guard for having the range in great shape and manning the range this holiday weekend so we could shoot. I am not aware of any more long range dates for 2009, but that’s not to say we won’t get another club match in before the year is over. Keep an eye on your email and the shooting forums, as I’ll let everyone know if we get a date. Also, don’t forget ORSA is hosting the State Long Range Championship next weekend in Oak Ridge, TN. MSSA is also hosting the TN Mid-Range Championship Nov 7/8th in Memphis. If you need contact info/programs for either of these matches please email me and I’ll put you in touch with the match director. Until the next time I see you on the firing line, All X’s and 10’s, Chris Hayes

I think Froggy is so dedicated, he doesn't consider the rest of the target board for score!! Me, I'll take a 10 anyday The target is 6'x6', with six rings that start as X and go to 7. The entire board outside the 7 ring is worth 6 points. If I'm not mistaken, the aiming black is a 42" circle. Like Froggy said, the X ring is 10", the 10 ring is 20" and so on. For F class, the target scoring rings are half that size. A very challanging target. Your Garand should make it supersonic with Match Grade ammo above 175gr. The lighter stuff will go subsonic and tumble around 850 yards.

Yup, 9, brain fart. I haven't had it out of the safe in about 6 years.

I'm bias, but I think the matches at AEDC are pretty well run. As to the only place, no Memphis has a 600y range and Chattanooga has a 500y range that host matches with F class. Chris

If anyone is interested in the match results and a quick rundown to the weekend, I'd be happy to post them.

For anyone even remotely interested in long range target shooting, I can't recomment Oak Ridge enough. Larry and the crew put on a great match and the range is beautiful. I wish I could get out of work this weekend. This is going to be the second year in a row I have to miss the Championship match......

Yup, but that's common to all the silver soldered Remingtons. I have seen three of them peal off of 700's at the range in the last few years. Some shooters are having the bolt handle tapped and screw inserts are installed to keep the handle in place. I don't know that this would work on the 788. Chris

They are reletively rare compared to the M700's ansd sportman actions. The 788's have six rear locking lugs and are magazine fed. As I recall the triggers are also not adjustable. I believe the first year they came out they had a longer barrel. Subsiquent years had more of a carbine length barrel. I have an older, long barrel, in .243 that is very accurate. It has avery good trigger pull as well. With handloaded 90gr Nosler BT's and Varget I can easily keep five shots under .5" at 100y. Even with barrel heat. It shoots around MOA at 100y with the winchester soft point in (I think) 107gr. Make sure it comes with a good magazine. Beyond they, they are decent rifles. Oh, and you may need to reseal the stock. Mine likes to "fog" under the finish when I carry it in humid or wet conditions. Chris