TargetTalk

No its Mediumbore!!
Not sure if this will be of interest to any, or the right place to post, but here goes. I have shot just as much prone fullbore as smallbore. I would have to say that fullbore was my favorite until we lost our fullbore range approx. 10 yrs ago. Then i turned to smallbore, while enjoying this quite a lot, i did miss my beloved hobby of reloading. So i have come up with "mediumbore". My idea is to shoot my Omark .308 using a cast bullet at subsonic velocity, 50m range, ISSF target, prone position. I think this will be great fun! I can shoot my favorite match while enjoying a great hobby too! Not to mention the cost savings of reloads compared to match .22LR ammo these days! I can reload my .308 for less than half the price of Eley match! There would also be an advantage of the bigger projectile dia. when it comes to inward gauging!! Lol!
Just my way of combining hobby and sport, if anyone else is silly enough to shoot it alongside me!
Any ideas/thoughts????
ADDS033

A friend of mine switched to 1000 yard bench rest competition because of physical factors, however, when we were talking recently, shooting costs were cheaper than smallbore. As long as you enjoy it, shoot whatever you want. I think shooting a .45 pistol with reloads is cheaper than match .22 also.
Ben

It's the price of match .22 lr that is crazy! I really can not understand such increase.
Considering the price of my feinwerkbau, accessories and ammo it is clear why I keep them in a lock, they are a capital!

.22 ammo isn't that expensive. Eley Match is £6/box around here, which works out at 12p a round. Factory 7.62mm (that's worth buying) is north of 40p/round (although you can obviously reduce this by handloading).

The "problem" in this respect is the courses of fire.
In the UK at least, NRA fullbore courses of fire are 2+ 7/10/15.
ISSF courses start at 60 shots before you count sighters!

Whether smallbore or fullbore is cheaper depends on where you shoot. At Bisley you're paying £50/day for a target and £50/day for a marker (unless you're a big enough group to self-mark, in which case you'll get less shooting done).

Lots of smallbore shooters shoot a couple of times a week in the evenings, and can fire more rounds in an evening than most fullbore shooters do in a whole day of shooting. The nature of fullbore means it's (largely) restricted to daytime (which for working Joes means weekends).

End result is that you do less of it, and fire fewer shots when you are doing it, so it works out cheaper (depending on range hire), but in terms of your per-shot cost, it's probably going to be quite comparable, if not more expensive than smallbore.
Much of it hangs on the associated range costs though.

About my cheapest rifle shooting sport, in terms of money, not time involved, is Schuetzen. These use non-bolt action single shot rifles. The rifles I shoot include 8.16x46 Aydt, a Ruger #3 in .32-40, and a Rem. RB in .45-70. These rifles are shot offhand at 200yds. They use breech seated home cast bullets, the bullet is seated in the bore, and the charged cartridge case is inserted after. One cartridge case is used. In other words, the same cartridge case is deprimed and reloaded for each shot, at the bench. Some, charge the cases at home, carrying them in a loading block, but most do this at the bench, allowing for fine tuning the load based upon weather conditions. The bullet lube, being very important with regards to accuracy, is usually a secret home recipe, The cost per round is the primer, and a small charge of fast burning powder, such as 2400 or Unique, and scrap lead and tin. About he same as target .45acp's. The time involved, is extensive.. Casting the bullets, from single cavity base pour molds, which are machined from a bore casting to match the rifle, and are tapered so that the forward portion rides the lands, and the rear the bore. These are cast from carefully smelted Lead-Tin alloys, and individualy weighed, and seperated into groups varying by a grain or two. Needless to say, being tapered, they aren't sized, and are either pan lubed, or use a special Pope-style hand lubricator with a die machined to fit the taper of the bullet. Carefully loaded, the accuracy of these rifle-cartridge combinations can rival the best of modern rifles(Bench rest rail guns excluded).

I also shoot .22 schuetzen, OH at 100yds. using a BSA Mod. 12/15 Martini, probably an old Aussie or British school club match rifle, but then we're back to the cost of ammo. I only mention this if somebody would like to try the sport without laying out a lot of money for CF equipt.
I've been keeping to Federal match ammo, using 711's for practice, and 900's and 1000's for matches. I bought a case of each a while back, and prices being what they now are, don't even want to think about having to restock!
Paul

Eley Tenex .22 (red) is a bit more expensive here in the US, a box of 50 is $18 or 36 cents a round. Quantity pricing is slightly lower.

and the least expensive, not factoring the costs of equipment, is PCP air rifles. Match pellets run at most $13 or so for 500...

and the least expensive, not factoring the costs of equipment, is PCP air rifles. Match pellets run at most $13 or so for 500...

The cost of Eley Match is Aus is equivalent to 13 British Pounds !!
Mediumbore could be a good option

Its not so much the ammo cost that bothers me, its just a way of enjoying a hobby and competition/sport at the same time. My nearest fullbore ranges are 100 plus kms from where i live, my local smallbore and pistol club is about 30 kms. Just a bit more convenient thats all. I do think "Mediumbore" could be a good thing tho!! Subsonic fullbore at smallbor ranges sounds like fun to me. It could give some of those Anschutz rigs a run for their money on the target! I really enjoy casting bullets and reloading to get the best from my rifles and pistols.

Barney wrote:The cost of Eley Match is Aus is equivalent to 13 British Pounds !!
Mediumbore could be a good option

Yep!
my wallet flinches when I test Eley on the ballistic range - i'm glad my 25m pistols give better groups with cheaper ammo.