So we went to the range on Saturday to practice for the .22 Trainer's.

I decided to change ammunition for my .22 1918 SMLE, because I had two misfires with the Hornady in the previous round. So now I am using SK match.

Here's a photo after 5 practice rounds (marked) and the 10 prone rounds. It's an improvement over the previous ammunition, 96/100 for the 10 shots for score. But I know I pulled the first shot, which I assume is the 8. 

My wife was shooting a No8, she improved on her qualifying score, but slightly to the right of centre.

Hopefully we can improve next weekend!

Best of luck at the Regional Finals next weekend Shaun! Looking forward to the match report!

10 rounds prone and 10 rounds standing.

It's the standing score that makes the difference, and we haven't practiced enough the last couple of years. 

We have a two and a half hour drive Saturday morning, and start shooting at 9.30, with the.303's first. 

Zed, I have a superbly accurate No. 2 that indoors from a bench shoots miniscule groups.   Offhand might  give a completely different result I'm afraid but at least I'll know it's me and not the rifle!

I've only been competing in Service Rifle matches for 10 years now, but I can tell you that these matches are won and lost based on the standing stage scores.  That is because it's the aggregate score that counts, not each individual stage.  Even the 50 round four stage matches (standing, sitting rapid, prone rapid and prone slow) are often decided by the standing stage alone, although less so than the 3 stage 30 round vintage Service Rifle type matches which are almost always decided by how well you score in the standing stage.  

It is extremely rare to shoot a clean score (100 ex 100) in standing slow fire, even on the large 3.5 MOA 10 ring targets used for this stage in US Service Rifle matches.  I've still not done it, ever.  And a scope does not really help much here, any magnification over about 4x is detrimental, nothing like watching the scope cross hairs zip across the width of the 8 ring in less than half a second.  

Anyone who tells you they can shoot MOA standing is, well, exaggerating at the least.  I'd estimate that holding a ten shot group within the 3.5 MOA 10 ring is at best a one in a hundred probability for serious competitors.  Yes, sometimes we get lucky too...

The competitors who shoot the MAS45 for example, have a 5 round magazine. So not so much interruption of position.

My best ever standing score was 91 in a competition, but that was 5 or 6 year's ago. Have not had the practice required these last few years, but we shoot for the pleasure of participation, and hope to get a good result.

It's always a fun day out!

Shooting a clean score of 100 in your rim fire service rifle match would be about the same difficulty level as our service rifle matches, even harder if you are not allowed to use a shooting coat.  Have you ever seen anyone shoot a score of 100 in the standing position in this match?

I'll post the results for our weekend,