Brook Bank Shooting Ground 29/10/22
Brook Bank was the venue of choice for today, primarily so that I could obtain some Fiocchi Superblacks and see what happened when I fed them to the Krieghoff. The Invictus really likes them, so the expectations were quite high!
Another reason for taking the K80 was to test the brand and new Hi-Viz Custom sight that I bought from the Krieghoff factory, and fitted last night. It’s one that High-Viz make specifically for Krieghoff, and you can get two sorts. One is for Krieghoffs made after 2014, but not the Parcours. The other is for the Parcours and guns made before 2014.
The difference? The post 2014 version has one fixing hole, and the other version has two, one at each end. With the two-hole version, Hi-Viz state in the instructions that for the second hole, you need to drill into the rib (what??) and use Loctite to hold the screw in.
Well I have no idea when my K80 was made, so I did what seemed to be the sensible thing and ordered the post 2014 one. The provided screw went in perfectly fine and snug, and the sight lines up nice and straight on the rib. It hasn’t even moved one iota during the day, so either I guessed right, or you don’t need to take a drill to your barrels!
The post 2014 Hi-Viz sight installed.
Why do I need it? My brain expects to see a red bead on the end of the gun because I’ve shot with one on there for so long, and if I use a white one, sometimes it feels like I lose track of where the gun is. The High-Viz sight comes with 8 inserts giving you the choice of green (4 sizes), red (3 sizes), and a standard size white one. Naturally, the largest red one ended up on the gun, and I have to say that there’s no losing track of it now!
Plenty of choice!
Just as well, because although there were only 8 shooters on the entry list today, I had Opposition.
3 of them were former England shooters with a vast amount of experience between them (Malcolm Brown, Pete Bugler, and Geoff Eltham), and shooting with them was Jerry Ayshford who is no stranger to hammering out a high score.
And shooting peg 1 on my squad was Bob Clarke, a man who, earlier this year, seemed incapable of shooting anything less than a 295 wherever he went.
Just before we started though, I found out that he had had to return the stock that he was using during his high scoring spree to its owner. His own stock was now on the gun, and it’s slightly different. By the sounds of it, this was the first serious outing with it in some time, and could be very interesting!
But that made absolutely no difference to me and what I was there for.
The weather conditions were pretty good. There was some wind, but it wasn’t really causing problems unless you decided to track the targets out and shoot them late. More of an issue was the light conditions which went from OK, to great, to more like “it’s there somewhere – ah, there it is!” by the end of the day.
My first few targets out were shot with a little trepidation. The first cracked in half, and I think I took the top corner off the next one, but very soon I had my first dust ball – the Superblacks didn’t disappoint! It carried on like that for the rest of the round, some kills excellent and others less so, but the main thing was that at the end of it, the scorecard said 25/75.
As expected, I had a fight on my hands. Malcolm matched me with a 25/75 of his own, and Jerry and Mike Evlambiou (who was really struggling with his Kreighoff and Ergosign setup earlier this year until I had a look at it at Fauxdegla) were snapping right at my heels with 25/74 each.
By the end of my second round I was really starting to dial in with the gun, and I knew the new bead was working as intended because on the hard right target from peg 5 that I second barrelled, it told me that I shot at it with the first shot, not in front of it. That was all I needed to know – the second shot pulverised it, and the rest of them disappeared in very similar fashion. At the halfway point I was on 50/149, and starting to really enjoy how effortless the K80 was handling.
I’d need all of that too, as Malcolm’s first half was just that tiny bit better, a full house of 50/150, and I knew that he was quite capable of carrying that right on and making things interesting.
The others hadn’t fared so well. Bob’s first two rounds were disappointing for him. A brace of 24s left him 6 points behind which is a sizable gap, but the conditions were far from perfect, and he could yet make up some ground. Pete and Geoff struggled a bit in the light conditions and though they both hit 25s in round 2, too much damage had been done early on. Jerry also lost a target and a few second barrels in his second round, and Mike had two whole ones escape from him together with a couple of barrels.
On to round 3 then, and I had to keep the standard high. Another 25/75 did the job nicely, and I was fully expecting Malcolm to match it. Amazingly, he informed me afterwards that he lost his concentration and couldn’t get it back. I’ve been there before and know how frustrating that is, and what can happen. It cost him at least 2 whole targets and catapulted me into a 7 point lead. That’s quite a margin, but it can disappear very quickly if things go wrong!
I was glad to see that Bob was finding his groove again, and a 25/73 did wonders to bolster his scorecard. Jerry also found a 25/73, and the battle for 2nd place was looking pretty tight. Malcolm was on 73/217, and now Bob (73/216) and Jerry (74/216) were right behind him.
The last round beckoned, and by now I was thoroughly enjoying turning targets inside out. But I also knew that I had to keep doing things properly. Any small slip could quickly spoil what was, up to now, a masterful performance.
And it nearly happened. A misfire early on meant I had to take the target again, and a bit too much tension in the left arm caused me to jump it. The second shot was true though, and I finished the round without further issues. Final result, 100/298, and a very happy Rob.
I kept my 7 point margin. Bob finally found a 25/75 and finished on 98/291. Jerry finished one point behind him on 99/290. Malcolm’s difficulties continued, and he slipped a little further back to finish on 97/288. He won A Class though by virtue of being the only one in it!
That was also the case for Geoff, his 96/285 being the only score in B Class. Although he was able to claim bragging rights over Pete (who’s in AA) by beating him by 1 point!
Andrew King was the only entry in C Class, and has only recently come back to shooting DTL after a 17-year break. He shot a 65/191 with a gun that is pretty new to him, which isn’t bad after that long away!
Another 100 in the bag, and my first since July.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed today with some great company, and thanks to Wesley and Alison for putting on the shoot.
Wesley actually made a very compelling argument for pursuing the England team next year, and if I keep shooting at this standard for the next few months, I’ll definitely be putting my scores in for selection.
The opportunity to go and shoot in Ireland for the Home International, British Open, and the European Championships on the same weekend is really too good to miss, especially as it might be at Esker, a ground I’ve heard great things about and want to experience for myself.
We really do not know the state that DTL will be in over the next few years, and if the Covid lockdowns have taught us anything, it’s to grasp opportunities when they come along if we can.
So I suppose I’d better start that savings pot now...