Bret Heidkamp

Hire the attorney. Immediately. Then go to the range and relax.

Son of a B****. I just see this thread, check the auction site, NO BIDS, and it was at 9AM this morning. Crap! I would have bid on that in a heartbeat.

Since you're from Montana, you'll appreciate this. I drove from here in the Bozone to Billings for a club match, got all signed in, went to put on my belt...no belt, no holster, nothing. Just then Big Jo pulls in next to my rig. He's got an extra setup I can use, which is great. Only problem is you can wrap around me twice with one of Big Jo's belts. It was an interesting day trying to keep that gear on, the only thing holding it to me was the inner belt!

That's what I get for not really reading this topic since about a month ago. Oops.

Anybody know what the match hotel is?

Thanks! There was one SKS mentioned, she doesn't really know what is there as she isn't a shooter. So those must be sold out of state from what I understand ? That is really terrible.

Thank you both for the prompt replies. Navigating the Kali waters sure takes some knowledge!

Hey everyone, I need to ask a favor, here is the situation: I have an old friend living in California who suddenly just became a widow about 30 days ago. Her husband had firearms, registered to him. Is there anyone here living near Oakland, CA that has an FFL that can do the transfer paperwork to her at reasonable cost? She was quoted $75 per firearm, and there are over 20. This is just too much money for her. Please PM me if you can help on this. Second, what is the law when your significant other becomes deceased? Do you have to do the normal sale paperwork with the BATF? Is the law in CA different? Thank you all in advance for your help on this. Bret

Got my slot for Open. With the exception of a cold weather steel match a month ago, I have not shot any rounds since last year's Open Nats. I hate our long winter - if I didn't ski I darn sure would not live here.

I am SO going to do that. Hah !! The conservative skeet shooting crew will freak. We do shoot "reverse doubles" a bit - all stations in reverse doubles shooting order, gives you some long second shots.

One word: Airsoft!

I figured these were shot on the standard fields, I'd like to know what they are as I get bored easily. Google didn't help in finding any info on these - but they're popular enough to be put on the Alliant website in a powder description! Go figure.

On the Alliant website, it lists ProReach powder for being great for shotgun games: "Ideal for games such as Back Porch, Annie Oakley, Protection and Buddy" I've heard of Annie Oakley before, can't remember what the rules are, but what are the others? Can anyone just post a description of how these all are played? Thanks!

I still use his mag wells on my STI's. Modified more than a bit, but those mag wells were awesome. If you find him, please PM me if he still has any mag wells. Just in case, anyone know of a mag well made by anyone else to the old "black hole" dimensions? I think Saul Kirsch is putting them out, but they are $$$ due to our currently terrible foreign exchange rate.

This past December, our power went out three nights in a row, when it was -20 below. The first night it was out for about 6 hours, the house got COLD fast.

The fast way, rather than filing, is to drill it in the frame. Works great! Use a solid pin, 1/16" welding rod cut to fit. And use the EGW part # that Matt gave you in his post.

My 2 cents: Don't let the meat heads run you off. You're in the right, stand your ground. That range NEEDS people like you to attend their matches. Also sounds like their SC needs to attend a few of their matches.

Those cracks will keep running if left alone. You can probably get another 5K - 10K out of it before it bends enough to touch the bullets. It's not going to have chunks fly off. But, it will eventually need to be replaced. Welding it sometimes works as Jody stated - you need a good welder. I'd just change it. Make absolutely sure you radius the edges of the comp ports on your new one. All of them. If you don't, any comp will crack in no time. If you do, they last considerably longer and usually wear out rather than crack.

Thanks Hooks - that is a great link. Note the angle is being preserved when drilling for the elevation screw - the slide is angled in the vise to match. That is what I was thinking needed to be done.

Thanks! I printed that off, I'm curious how the dimensions line up with the hole spotting that Bomar instructed. (BTW, this is an actual fo-real Bomar site I'm installing)

Ken, just curious but what makes a "real" match? Or are you after shooting setup ideas, or ? Totally depends on what you like - the Rifles Only courses sound like fun although totally different that what I run here in Montana. FYI, our match stuff is hiking the course (2 to 5 miles) with 65 rounds on 100% reactive steel targets STARTING at about 500 yards on out to 1200 yards via about 10 shooting positions along the way. Actually I lied. I think there is one target at 200 yards, but it's 3" around and 45 degrees down. Plenty of people miss that. Squads of 6, and positions are uphill, downhill, uncomfortable and cross canyon with tricky winds and lighting. Even a darkened cave shot, the steel target was in the dark, you are in the bright light, which was really cool! Plus KYL on diminishing steel plates at 650 yards. This was inspired by the ITRC match but without the running since we wanted a wider audience. We've done a KYL paper stage and a CCBS steel stage to start things off and that's been well received. There is a 1000 yd KD range going in but not sure if it will be done this summer. It's just a different game. I don't like shooting close range bolt rifle very much, personally. That's what I have an AR for. No slam on the Rifles Only matches intended, I just like hiking with my gear and shooting UKD steel. I personally think the shooting challenge begins at around 600 yards, depending on target size. Anything less than that is actually boring. Sorry! Come shoot with us, you'll love it.

Sorry to everyone for the thread drift. 22-250 is hard on the steel, as it usually zips right on through on the closer targets. We do allow 223, so I have to check but it's probably OK for the 22-250 and we'll just suck it up with any steel damage. I'm guessing it's a heavy barrel varmint rig, so it would put you in precision rifle category (vs. Hunter class) which makes you shoot the longer targets with it (1K and a wee tad further in places). It is hard to spot 22 cal hits on the long targets at times. The scope doesn't have to range but needs to have good clicks w/ target knobs. Any reticle will do, mil slashes work really well (MOA slashes if you're clicking in MOA; mils work best if you are clicking in mils (cm)). We've yet to do "sniper" challenges of mil ranging although we've discussed it. The courses and people are more about shooting vs. anything else. There is talk of a future 50bmg course at one of the ranges (Augustis). I think I do know Jake. Get in touch if you head this way - stick with June or so for good PD weather...and head over toward east of Billings. PM me if you want more detail so we don't destroy Ken's thread anymore...sorry Ken.

Modoc, Thanks! The gong at 425 is about 24". It's pretty darned big, totally hittable offhand. I've hit it with my Open blaster. If there was a white circle on it, that was done by a shooter as the gongs are usually all black. I wish that range had more distance, 425 is too short! Some of the High power guys wanted to shoot diagonally from the trap range #1 to the 425 backer, and get 600 yards but that didn't go over. I have a 1K place to shoot very near there. There is also a new UKD course being set up near Boulder, MT I heard. That will make 3 courses in MT with UKD steel matches! Not to mention prairie dogs, which are a great UKD target...

I hear ya. Sounds like one-on-one time. 7 to 800 first round hits are not tough at all, unless the conditions are Katrina, it's a perfectly reasonable distance. First round hits at 1K are more challenging, but still totally within reason on 12" plates. There are a number of basic topics that you can set out to learn without traveling to Montana. Do you have a practice range available with decent distance? Does your rifle hold at least 1/2 MOA or better out to 1K yards? Sounds like you would learn a bunch shooting with someone that knows the game already, for sure, but you already have some basics (or bad habits, I haven't seen ya shoot! ). For example, I have a friend that trained with me and the last time we were out his new rifle shot 1-1/4" at 700. When we started together he knew nothing about long range shooting whatsoever. Now he is a serious threat anytime we are both at a match! Thank goodness he doesn't like to compete. To get to this point took some work, though. New optics, new rifle, load development, and trigger time on the UKD courses. Equipment and setup is simply a large part of the game of long range rifle, I would say it is 60% or greater. To be able to hit a 700 yd. target and realize you were on the edge of the plate, move the rifle a couple inches, and have it smack the dead center of the plate is the accuracy you need to really learn, in my opinion. Anything else and you are just wasting ammo and time as your gear needs to be working 100%. I am going to bulk out the precision rifle website with more shooting tips if I can get the time and motivation. There are some on there now, but I need to add video and some narratives. See the surprisingly dead forums at precisionrifle.org. There just don't seem to be too many people that really want to learn distance shooting, such as yourself. Here's a couple tips to work on your estimating: Grab your laser RF and go for a hike. Find a distant rock, tree, whatever and guess the yardage. Range it and see if you were on. Believe it or not, this works and pretty soon you'll be damn close to the real range. It really has freaked out people that I hunt with - being able to range by dead reckoning. Now that you know the range, if you've got a good dope sheet your elevation should be pretty much done unless you need to adjust for angles. You do have dope sheets for the elevations and temps you shoot at, right? The hard part is windage but it is really the same "feel" thing. Use a Kestral until you get good at it. There are some standard indicators such as the angle of wind socks, flags, etc, but I find those are usually not available. I end up sighting over sage and scrub grass half the time, which doesn't move much. Tall grasses and mirage work for telling direction but speed is often a "feel" thing and you have to pay attention to terrain features that may be isolating your muzzle from wind. Been burned by that before! But, only pay attention to wind on the first 1/2 of the distance for now unless conditions are abnormal. Wind at the target doesn't do a damn thing to your bullet flight, but that's what most people try to read! Go figure. That's why I was saying range time is so important - there just isn't a substitute. I'll get a list up soon on what to work on for the PR site. I'm sure others will contribute some useful stuff.

If you want to travel to Montana, contact me. You can also contact Matt Burkett which would be a little closer. The big 1/2 of training boils down to range time, you really need to develop a feel for wind and mirage reading. So, while an instructor can school you on the basics and what you need to work on, realize that it's like IPSC, you simply need rounds downrange under different light and mirage conditions. I don't know if that is what you wanted to hear, but it's the truth as far as I'm concerned. Rifle is technical but very easy compared to IPSC.