HAVE YOU HEARD the rumor that I set a taking pictures world file? It began final 12 months and the rumor—unbelievable because it should appear—is true. In March 2012, I did certainly break a earlier file that had stood for practically 20 years. The file I set is in benchrest competitors, and the bench-rest recreation, as Outside Life readers know, is the search for the final word in rifle accuracy. The Holy Grail of Benchrest, as you’ll think about, is to shoot each bullet by means of the very same gap, however the closest anybody has come was again in 1973, when a single five-shot group fired at 100 yards measured an astonishing .009 inches. (That quantities to in regards to the thickness of 5 pages of an Outside Life journal.) Nobody since has even come near that file, however hundreds of riflemen preserve attempting, regardless that it’s as unlikely as working a one-minute mile or skipping up Everest in ballet slippers. It in all probability ain’t gonna occur, however it’s within the genetic make-up of hardcore bench shooters to chase not possible goals.

The Shamrock Shoot

A event is held at Twin Oaks vary close to the city of Dublin, Georgia, on the weekend following St. Patrick’s Day, so what else may it have been named however the Shamrock? Sponsored by the Center Georgia Gun House owners Affiliation, it’s one of many extra well-liked occasions on the Benchrest calendar as a result of it’s unfailingly properly run.

Although I’d all the time had enjoyable on the Shamrock, it had by no means been a profitable event for me as a result of issues all the time had a manner of going flawed. On one journey, my RV broke down en route. One other time a pair of recent rifles developed extraction issues. The identical dangerous luck appeared in retailer for this journey as properly, when the fridge in my spanking-new RV went out, turning a four-day provide of frozen meals to mush.

Constructing My Ammo

By attending to Twin Oaks Vary a few days earlier than the primary occasion, I figured I had loads of time to take a look at my taking pictures battery of two Gentle Varmint rifles plus a pair of Heavy Varmints to see which combos of hundreds and bullets labored finest. (These are two of the a number of lessons of benchrest rifles.) Every of the rifles was chambered for the 6mm PPC cartridge. Although ready-to-load PPC instances are actually out there, I nonetheless desire to make my instances the best way the cartridge builders did. This can be a moderately sophisticated course of that includes rebuilding an in any other case obscure cartridge referred to as the .220 Russian. The neck diameter is enlarged from .22 to 6mm (.243 caliber), after which the wall of the neck is turned right down to a uniform thickness. After additional refinements, similar to making flash-hole diameters uniform, the case is loaded and fired in a PPC rifle. This step, referred to as fire-forming, expands the case to its last dimension.

I already had instances prepped and fire-formed for every of the rifles and anticipated a moderately leisurely couple of days tweaking my hundreds, however by the top of the primary follow day, such shiny hopes dimmed. Irrespective of how I tinkered with the propellants and cost weights, bullet seating depth, and even the neck pressure of my instances, nothing clicked. One among my Gentle rifles, a cute however capricious factor that I’ve since named Trixie, stubbornly refused to cooperate, whereas my fallback Gentle rifle, a gorgeous however moderately aged girl that had served faithfully in years previous, exhibited indicators that she was previous her prime. Clearly, the one strategy to give her new life would imply becoming a brand new barrel. Fortunately, I’d had the foresight to carry contemporary barrels and the instruments to do a barrel swap, however you possibly can’t merely screw in a brand new barrel and decide up the place you left off. Contemporary brass instances have to be prepped and fire-formed to suit the brand new barrel’s chamber, after which begins the mysterious and time-consuming technique of discovering which combos of bullets and powder will yield the most effective accuracy. So by the point the second follow day got here to an finish, I’d barely managed to prep and fire-form a dozen new instances. A single take a look at run with VV 133 powder and Hottenstein 68-grain bullets seemed promising, however I’d be taking pictures an basically untried rifle. That’s no strategy to start a significant event.

Dangerous Bench

Clearly my normal Shamrock dangerous luck was holding, and to make issues extra ominous, the bench I drew was one in every of worst on the vary, because it was topic to continuously altering and viciously unreadable currents of swirling air. (Shooters have been recognized to go residence after drawing a bum bench as a result of a hellhole place could make profitable nearly not possible.) Mixed with the uncertainty of the brand new barrel, it appeared the fates have been allied towards me that March morning. The one shiny spot in my in any other case dismal prospects was that I’d be sharing the bench with Harley Baker and Jeff Stover. Harley and Jeff are savvy shooters who’ve made a science of positioning wind flags in order that they supply important details about the continuously altering path and energy of air currents. Their neatly set flags and spinning windmills gave me a glimmer of hope.

Robust Begin

As I began taking pictures, nobody was paying the least consideration to my progress as a result of my first teams, whereas good, hadn’t been all that spectacular. The primary one, actually, measured .115 inch, which was sufficiently small to place me in second place however was under no circumstances a harbinger of higher issues to return. My second group got here in at .139 inch–once more, fairly good, however nothing to get enthusiastic about, regardless that the scoreboard now moved me into first. It was the best rating I’d ever earned on the Shamrock, and I used to be feeling fairly assured, although sure that the rating can be momentary, as they have a tendency to shift round so much in the course of the early phases of a bench event.

Someplace in the course of the firing of my third group of the day, I started to appreciate that there was one thing distinctive about the best way my rifle was performing. May this new barrel be what bench shooters name a “hummer,” one which delivers bullets that appear abnormally proof against crosswinds? I’d had maybe three dozen actually high quality barrels through the years, however just one that I’d name a hummer. It received me trophies and championships however lastly pale with time and put on. May this barrel be one other such treasure? One factor that appeared certain was that modifications in wind energy that ought to have been transferring my bullet’s level of impression on the goal by 1 / 4 inch or extra have been having solely half that impact, that means I may refine changes in my factors of purpose. That third group measured .164 inch, protecting me in first place however nonetheless nowhere close to an attention-getting Zero (in bench lingo, any group measurement that begins with .0 is just referred to as a Zero) that indicators a file within the making.

It was beginning to seem like a reasonably good day, however it takes 5 teams to make a profitable mixture, and virtually inevitably the fourth or fifth teams are the graveyard of goals. The fourth group measured an much more satisfying .128 inch and my high rating held, however setting a brand new file didn’t even enter my thoughts as I went to my camper to wash the rifle’s barrel and reload the fired instances. However I used to be keenly conscious that I used to be on the edge of breaking my Shamrock jinx and profitable an occasion. The wind velocity was steadily growing because the morning progressed towards noon, changing into extra erratic because it swept over the berm, inflicting the flags to flutter and level in loopy instructions. 5 extra photographs to go, and any a type of may imply catastrophe.

Speedy Fireplace

My taking pictures approach is what’s recognized within the recreation as “working,” that means I run off all 5 photographs as quick as I can load, purpose, and contact the set off. That is the rationale the BAT actions on my rifles have separate loading and ejection ports. With a block of ammo simply a few inches from the left-side loading port, I can flip a loaded spherical into the open motion, even because the fired case is ejecting from the right-side port. Usually I get off 5 photographs in about 25 seconds utilizing this system. The aim of working is to get all of your photographs heading in the right direction earlier than Mom Nature modifications her fickle thoughts about which manner she desires the wind to blow. Evidently, working is fraught with threat as a result of a sudden, unnoticed change in wind path or pressure can imply catastrophe.

After firing two fouling photographs on the sighting goal and taking a last have a look at the row of flags, I dead-centered the crosshairs on the file goal and started taking pictures. Like a poker participant attempting to exert the pressure of his will to attract a wanted card, I attempted to will that final shot into the group. It will need to have had some impact, as a result of once I ejected the fired case and seemed by means of the scope, all I noticed was one ragged little gap that later measured .115 inch.

A Document Set

I knew I’d received the match, however the thought that I’d damaged the 100-yard Gentle Varmint mixture world file, which had stood at .1500 inches since 1994, nonetheless hadn’t entered my head. That realization got here later, once I bought to the scoreboard and located a gaggle of shooters crowded round and shaking their heads in disbelief. “Hey, Carmichel,” one in every of them yelled. “You simply shot a .1322 and beat the previous file by a bunch.” May or not it’s true?

These 5 targets have been simply the primary of a string of luck, the following being that a few officers from the Nationwide Bench Relaxation Taking pictures Affiliation, Harley Baker and Wayne Campbell, have been readily available and knew the steps for guiding a pending file to certification: one being to confiscate the targets and goal backers. (The transferring backers present proof that the proper variety of photographs have been fired.) Every was witnessed and signed by the referees, then sealed to forestall tampering. My rifle additionally needed to be weighed and licensed, and it handed this hurdle with a few ounces to spare. The following step can be submission to the information committee, a course of that may take weeks because the targets are independently measured by every committee member. Once more I used to be in luck, as a result of one other NBRSA official, Gene Bukys, chairman of the committee, was additionally there as a competitor and had noticed these all-important first steps, thus nearly eliminating the potential for a problem.

And, so, to my shock, my world file turned official, and the rumors started.

Benchrest Defined

The Thought: Because the title implies, benchrest rifles are supported on a strong relaxation. The underlying principle is that by minimizing the human factor, the competitors is strictly between rifles, and probably the most correct rifles and ammunition will naturally win.

Specs: Within the Gentle Varmint class, we shoot at 100 and 200 yards over the 2 days of the match.

Scores: Scores aren’t decided by hitting a bull’s-eye, however moderately by attempting to get all of the bullets by means of a single gap. The rating is the gap between the facilities of the 2 widest photographs. The smaller the group, the higher.

Anatomy of a Successful Cartridge

The 6mm PPX, developed by Lous Palmisano and Ferris Pindell in 1975 is probably the most profitable cartridge in benchrest historical past. Right here’s the record-setting load.

Bullet: 68-grain Hottenstein
Powder: 29.5 grains of Vihtavouri 133
Brass: .220 Russian brass from Lapua, modified to 6mm PPC
Primer: Federal 205 Gold Medal primer

The Rifle

My record-­setting rifle is within the Gentle Varmint class, wherein the rifle can weigh not more than 10 ½ kilos, together with scope and mounts. This isn’t all that a lot heavier than a typical big-game looking rifle and really an excellent bit lighter than a lot of at this time’s business varmint and “tactical” rigs.

Barrel: The Kreiger stainless-steel barrel was chambered and match by accuracy guru Dwight Scott.
Scope: Leupold 45X Competitors scope
Chamber: 6mm PPC
Motion: It’s a single-shot BAT bolt-action with a right-handed bolt, left-side feed, and right-side eject.
Inventory: Made out of a reasonably piece of Western cedar, the inventory was constructed by Tennessean Terry Leonard, who is aware of the right way to work miracles with a slab of wooden. He layered the inventory with skinny sheets of woven carbon fiber. These virtually invisible layers give the inventory energy, whereas the cedar provides it lightness. The inventory on my rifle weighs a mere pound and a half.

This story, “I Lastly Shot a Good Group,” initially ran within the June/July 2013 problem of Outside Life. Learn extra OL+ tales.