G’day to all you Fly Shooters. By now it’s likely we are all starting to emerge from our Covid-induced cocoons. With some luck and good management, we might even get a shoot in sometime soon!

 It’s been a good while now since an individual shooter has been profiled in this section of our website and I’m thinking it’s well and truly about time we featured another.

The reason for this delay certainly hasn’t been because of a lack of prospective stories, there are, after all, many, great things happening in our Fly Shooting world. It’s simply that I’m inherently lazy, lacking in motivation, and I needed a shot in the arm to get me thinking.

Our National Championships held recently at the Majura Range in Canberra did indeed provide that motivation.

We saw some remarkable shooting by many competitors over three days of intensive competition. The spotlight shone brightly on many individuals with high-scoring targets and small groups being consistently shot up and down the firing line over the full three days.

It’s true there were many impressive individual efforts but that spotlight surely shone brightest on one individual and he was of course the gentleman who shot the highest score on both day 1 in the heavy rifle category and then backed it up on day 2 by cleaning up in the light rifle category as well.

Anthony Bending, whom most of us know as “Jacko” or if you’re close personally maybe “Wacko Jacko” and in years gone past “young Sid”, was the man of the moment.

To compete in our national championships against the best shooters in the country and be victorious in any category is an enormous achievement. Competing and winning in two categories is massive. For Jacko, it was surely a dream come true and I think it’s fair to say he was the envy of every shooter at the match.

Who then is “Jacko”? What is his history and what makes him tick?

Me as an amateur writer, I can say that getting into the mind of a complex character like “Jacko” was a very interesting task indeed. It’s a pretty scary place to visit (Jacko’s mind) but I will also say if you read this article and keep your own mind open you will most likely understand a lot more about what it takes to shoot competitively, regardless of how much you knew or thought you knew!!

So here we go.

He’s been a familiar face around the various shooting circles for a long time now, probably 23-24 years. You know the bloke, dark hair, sharp features with a lean physique, walking with a spring in his step and pretty much always in the possession of a big “heavy” gun of some description. Jacko has been at many Fly matches over the years but has shot successfully at all the long-range events on offer in Australia. He loves the 1000-yard Benchrest and F-Class as well as the Fly!

Jacko’s beginnings in shooting probably mirror most of us. As a very young boy, in his hometown of Beaufort Vic, his father would take him rabbit hunting. By age 12 he would regularly go out on his own with his trusty .22.

At 15 years of age he decided to “power up” when he purchased a .220 swift from the local policeman. This was funded, mostly, by selling the shot rabbits in the local pubs. It didn’t take long for the barrel to expire so he had a gunsmith, Bill Hambly-Clarke, who Jacko had read about, re-barrel it in Ackley Swift. Hambly-Clark had a big reputation and was regarded by his peers as one of the finest custom rifle makers Australia had produced.

At this point, it needs to be said that Jacko lived and breathed shooting and fishing. Despite his youth, he had an inquiring mind and was an avid reader and accumulator of information enabling him to confidently approach “experts” in the field and to speak their language.

He clearly remembers the new barrel arriving in the post and the excitement that came with it!

This was the beginning of a lifelong quest for long-range accuracy.

Predictably for a .220 Swift Ackley this new barrel became old quite quickly so in 1997 he met up with David Kerr a gunsmith from Bundoora in Melbourne hoping to obtain another barrel.

Kerr was referred by Hambly-Clark as Clark had moved to Broken Hill and was unavailable. On the wall of David’s workshop was a Fly target he had shot with a 6mm x .284. Jacko remembers being in awe of this. He even remembers the score of 52.01, so that’s what he had Kerr chamber his new barrel in, a 6mm x .284 on his Ruger varmint rifle.

Not long after, he shot his 1^st match, a club shoot at Little River and he was hooked. Kerr allowed Jacko to squeeze of a few rounds from his 7mm Rem Magnum “heavy” gun and this was the catalyst for a long-standing love-hate (mainly love) relationship with “heavy” rifles.

Two weeks later he met David at a shot show in Melbourne where he selected a case , an 8x68s and a bullet, the 162 7mm hornady and requested David to build a rifle to his specifications. Kerr queried his choice but agreed to the build.

For Jacko, this was the beginning of a “wonderful” relationship with Kerr a man who holds degrees in astrology, chemical engineering, aerodynamics and others. Jacko describes him as a super intelligent and gentle bloke and a very dear friend.

The rifle was a concept gun. A sleeved steel Remington action, a Maddco 1-10 twist 1.5” diameter 30 “ barrel, a Jewell trigger, a 12-42 night force scope chambered in the 7mm “Jacko” (7mm x 68s) with David’s laminated stock weighing in at 58lbs in total.

Since that rifle Jacko has owned and shot rifles chambered in 6 BR, 6 BRDX, 6mm BRA (short lived), 6mm x 284, 6.5 x 284, 284 Ackley, 7mm Saum, 7mm Saum Ackley, 7mm x 300 WSM Ackley, 7mm Jacko, 7mm x 68s Ackley, 7mm Jade, 7mm x 375 Ultramag Ackley, 300WSM, 338 Jacko, 338 x 375 Ultamag Ackley to name a few!

The amount of accumulated experience with all these calibers is enormous.

When asked, ‘Do you think of yourself as an experimenter’? He says, ‘Yeah, I suppose so Belly, really, I just can’t help myself’.

When asked, ‘Do you think of yourself as a heavy gun specialist’? He says, ‘Not a specialist, I’ve just done a lot of experimenting and burned out more barrels than I care to admit, so yeah, I reckon I now know what works and I’ve got a pretty good idea why!’

When asked, ‘Do you prefer Heavies’?  He says ‘Yeah I do, most definitely, they’re temperamental bloody things so they certainly challenge you a lot which is a big part of the whole thing, if it was easy it would be boring wouldn’t it’? ‘Plus, I hate recoil and I love big cases so the weight of these heavy rifles helps to absorb that recoil’.

Over the years we’ve all seen Jacko turn up to the range with some weird and wonderful bits of kit.

He will often manufacture his own “heavy” stocks and rests. Why? Because he’s on a budget, but mainly because he can control the tolerances. He learnt a little about tooling at tech school when he was younger but has taught himself, over the years, more than school did.

He has a mate who will do his lathe work to his designs (for his rests) and he has his own mill with which he can make his own stocks.

Stock design is extremely important to Jacko. He believes that “most” commercial stocks suffer, to some degree, from tracking problems. Rifle “imbalance” will exaggerate poor tracking. He believes the optimum balance point on most rifles will be about 2.5” in front of the action. By designing and building your stock to match the barreled action rather than the other way around, this balance point can be controlled very accurately.

Jacko reckons a quality stock really needs to be straight and true in every way, ‘and many just aren’t’! ‘You’ll sometimes find the action inletting isn’t exactly square to the stock lines which leaves you with a barrel line crossing the stock line,..so..no good for accuracy’. Jacko believes many stocks are either too stiff or not stiff enough in relation to front and rear bag packing. He reckons this is an area where all shooters can easily have a play and it’s one of the MOST important aspects of accurate shooting. ‘If your bags are packed too hard the rifle could bounce, too soft and it will move around’. ‘Bags and stock need to work in harmony’. ‘Using a bag filler that settles easily but doesn’t set like concrete is the go’. ‘I use 40 grit Garnet (this is a heavy sand used when sand blasting)’. ‘On my heavy rifles I aim to get at least 8 shots down without any rest adjustment in 1000 yard benchrest and all 5 down in the same way with the light rifle!’

Jacko’s home made front rest is a curious looking unit. He has found that most (joy stick) front rests are flawed when “heavy” rifles are put in place. ‘Most rests just can’t handle the weight of a 60lb rifle’ he says. ‘That’s why I built my scissor lift arrangement’. ‘This was an idea put up by fellow Melbourne Benchrest Club member Pete Van Meurs some years ago’. ‘I can put my heaviest rifle straight on it, push it down, back and forth etc and it won’t move!’

So it’s clear that Jacko places great importance on rifle “set up”, but what else is important in achieving tack driving accuracy? He replies, ‘Well Belly, everything is important, there’s no one secret thing’. ‘It’s a whole lot of little things combined that’s key’.

Ok…so what does that mean, I ask? He says, ‘I think there are a lot of basic problem areas that many shooters don’t attend to’. ‘All to often I notice scopes that aren’t mounted properly’. ‘I’ve seen shooters run out of windage in one direction because the scope wasn’t in line!’ ‘ Some scopes don’t hold perfect zero and the shooter thinks he has an issue with load!’ ‘Triggers half falling off mid match etc etc, it doesn’t hurt to put a spanner over all the nuts and bolts to make sure everything is tight!’ ‘Of course you have to have a great barrel’. Jacko acknowledges this subject requires some experience meaning you have to have had a good barrel to understand when you have a crook one! ‘Fortunately most custom barrels are ok but you’ll never get a crook one to shoot!’ is Jacko’s claim. ‘Also, having a great barrel and action is one thing but if it’s not gun smithed properly it most likely won’t shoot’!

He continues, ‘Then, the thing we like to talk about the most, ammo’. ‘These days your ammo needs to be perfect, absolutely perfect’. ‘The competition in all disciplines is getting so tight that one or two poor shots can see you tumble down the leader board’. ‘It’s bloody hard enough to get the thing landing in the centre with great ammo but it’s almost impossible with poor ammo’!

Righto then, can you give us all some insight into your loading methods I ask? ‘Well, I like to do it all, or just about all”. He replies. ‘If you do the lot and it still goes wrong it’s going to be a lot easier to track down the problem because you’ll know what’s NOT the problem’!

Jacko starts by weighing his brass. ‘I’m looking for the “black sheep” he says, the piece that is a LOT different to the others’. ‘If I find one that’s way out of whack I’ll ditch it’. Jacko insists you have to have good brass for consistency. ‘I’m weighing brass for consistent brass expansion and retraction, not capacity’. ‘In match shooting each piece of brass must behave the same as it’s brother so it makes sense that each piece must be as identical to each other as you can make it’. ‘I’ll turn the necks, not so much for concentricity but to control VARIANCES in neck tension’. ‘Consistent neck tension from round to round is very important’. ‘Thinner necks and choosing the correct bush for your die will help with this’. ‘I’ll choose a bush on the larger side’. ‘Obviously the bullet needs to be held in place but generally speaking less neck tension equals less VARIANCE in neck tension’. ‘When turning necks I’m also trying to get the right amount of clearance within the neck area of the barrel chamber’. ‘With the larger calibers I’m looking to get 4 thou of clearance between loaded round neck diameter and chamber’. ‘With the smaller 6’s this can be a lot less, say 2 thou’. ‘So, there’s a bit to get right with all of this which means you better have an open line of communication with your gunsmith’!!

Jacko will then inspect the flash holes and uniform the primer pockets, trim all cases to the same length, then anneal. Consistency across the batch of brass is the aim for Jacko.

He pays particular attention to how he sizes his fired brass. He will full length body and neck resize every firing and he will concentrate on sizing the brass “just off’ the chamber shoulder by as little as one thou. He’s looking for no bolt drop pressure at all, or if there is any it needs to be the tiniest amount, almost imperceptible! Do this he says and you’ll get ‘much better extraction round after round and most likely better accuracy’. Jacko believes many shooters don’t pay enough attention to sizing their brass. They often either oversize the case which means you’re fire forming each shot or undersize which can create pressure issues and extraction problems.

Brass done, it’s now time to load. He says, ‘I’ll weigh my charges using an A & D electronic scale getting single kernel accuracy and I’ll sort my bullets, not by weight and definitely not by base to ogive but by bearing surface’. ‘I’ll use 2 ogive gauges back to back, one on the nose and the other on the base and keep the tolerance to 1thou’.

Jacko is a big believer in the importance of projectile seating depth. He’s noticed over the years that it can be difficult to get “absolute” accuracy with this distance when seating bullets. In his opinion there are a number of reasons for this. One is the inability of our gauges to measure precisely. Another, and in his opinion the major cause of this inconsistency is the slight variances in the shape of the bullet ogive, which is where these measurements are taken from. Jacko’s solution is to seat each projectile a little long, say 5 thou on average; This means that some might actually be 6 thou or some might be 3 thou to long. He will then perform a secondary seating while adjusting the die so that each projectiles ogive is precisely positioned relative to the barrel lands. Usually he will engage the projectile with the barrel lands by 10 thou. ‘I’ve never had much luck “jumping” bullets’! says Jacko.

Upon reading this I can imagine there might be some who are thinking this is a very labour intensive method of seating bullets. It’s a bit hard to argue otherwise but it sure is a good way of ensuring your seating depth is accurate and consistent!

At this point, as the writer of the article I can tell you I’m feeling a little out of my depth! I’ve emailed, texted and phone called Jacko quite a few times and the volume of usable information isn’t reducing, it’s increasing!

I’m really hoping to put this info into a sequence that will make sense to the reader. To Jacko everything’s important and clearly he considers the subject of accurate shooting to the limits of his ability and his abilities are considerable; more considerable than my ability to articulate it with the written word, but I’ll push on and with some luck it will end up ok.

Understanding that he gives a lot of thought to just about everything I wondered about and then asked his thoughts about what makes certain calibers appear to be more accurate than others.

The direct question was ‘Are some calibers more “inherently” accurate then others and does case design play a part in this?’  I was alluding to the now common view that the shorter, fatter designed cases such as the PPC, BR Norma, WSM, RSAUM and others have some advantage over the longer skinnier cases of old. The answer was a conversation that could easily have lasted for hours and hours.

Jacko’s answers are, believe it or not, somewhat condensed into the following.

‘Well yes Belly there’s a lot of reasons why people might believe this but really there’s a hell of a lot to think about here’. ‘For example, Just about every short range match is won with a PPC but everyone shoots with a PPC so obviously a PPC will win.’ ‘Inherent accuracy and match accuracy are different things’. ‘A 308 has extraordinary inherent accuracy at 100 yards with certain bullets but it won’t compete in a short range match with a PPC under normal conditions because the PPC is much easier to manage’. ‘Imagine trying to rattle down 5 shots in 10 seconds with an 11.5 lb .308, you’d end up on the floor!’ ‘Consider also the evolution of custom components like bullets, powders etc that have been fashioned specifically for the PPC’. ‘There’s an entire industry that’s been built in developing those wonderful 6mm pills alone’. ‘The .308 hasn’t had anything like the development of the PPC with regards to short range shooting and nor will it ever because the match rules favour smaller, light recoiling rounds but I really believe that with equivalent development it could match the PPC for raw accuracy (but not match accuracy)’.

‘Case design is important but I will make a distinction between case “design” and case “shape”. When people speak of case design they are most likely thinking about it’s shape’. Those shorter fatter cases like the WSM, SAUM, all the BR Norma variants all have a similar appearance and so I understand why people might think it’s this “shape” that matters most but these cases have a lot more going on with them, design wise, than just the shape’. ‘There’s a lot of research and development gone into getting very consistent dimensions and into beefing up shoulders and back ends in reputable brands of brass so that these cases will handle the demands that target shooters put on them’. ‘Ask yourself why do all PPC shooters use Lapua brass rather than other brands’?? ‘The answer is because it’s better; it delivers better accuracy over the course of a match’! ‘Consider my earlier comments about each piece of brass needing to behave in the same way as it’s brother, this, I think, is more important than just the shape of the case!’

‘In 1000 yard benchrest there are a lot of rifles that shoot incredibly accurately that aren’t built on the “short fat” design’. ‘The owners of these rifles have chosen the right powder, bullet, barrel, action, stock, rest, gunsmith etc etc’. ‘They have selected a quality brand of brass and prepped them properly and then they’ve practiced their craft and shot well’. ‘It’s a bit of a time and place thing also’. Modern powders, cases and bullets are turning older calibres into tack drivers, the old 30-06 is being reborn in some target circles because of the evolution of some of these wonderful slow-burning powders, that are now available’. ‘The 30-06 certainly isn’t a “short fat” shape but with the right combination of bullet, powder etc, etc it can shoot very well indeed’.

‘Think about the record for the smallest group ever shot at 100 yards’. ‘This was held for decades, not by a PPC but by a .222 rem which also doesn’t have a “short fat” shape’. ‘When the time came for the record to finally be beaten it wasn’t a 6 PPC that did the job it was a 30 cal built on a 6.5 grendel, granted, the grendel case is almost a PPC but my point is that I really think accuracy is more about the curious combination of all the elements combined into a recipe that makes the rifle sing rather than just the shape of the case’!

“Phew”….. ‘Righto’. ‘What about your load development, can you give us a snapshot of your methods?’

‘To cut to the chase I believe you could get anything to shoot with extreme accuracy, but you have to have the quality components available.

‘Yep, no worries’ replies Jacko. ‘It starts between the ears with a lot of thought’. ‘I also collaborate lots with a few like-minded mates’. ‘Dave Kerr, myself and my great mate Dave Goodridge used to talk heaps about all manner of things’. ‘We’d come up with all sorts of weirdo ideas and then go out a ‘give em a go’. ‘Not everything worked of course but that’s part of it, eliminate the rubbish! Father time has unfortunately caught up with Dave Kerr but I still enjoy a good chat about ideas with anyone really’.

‘I like playing with powders trying to find a different recipe other than the go to one you might find on an Accurate Shooter forum’. ‘I also believe a lot of shooters, probably 80%, run their rifles too hot’. ‘I will never, ever tune to velocity, always tune to the group as paper don’t lie’. ‘At the nationals I had my 7 Saum running the 180 vld’s at under 2800 fps, maybe 100-150 fps slower than the conventional charge’. ‘In the light rifle I had my 6 Brdx running the 105 vld’s around the 2880 fps mark which is probably 100 fps slower than most “improved” 6 Br’s’. ‘I was also using slow-burning powders in both categories which is not really standard practice’.

“When testing, I do it all at 200 meters’. ‘I understand what the 200 meter results mean at the longer distances so I keep the target a bit closer than some’. ‘It’s a lot easier at 200’. ‘Wind, mirage etc are negated and I always use flags, always’. ‘Bloody pointless not using flags, just have a look at how much the flags move even on a still day and you’ll realise it’s impossible to see wind changes just by looking at a tree branch or the long grass’!

‘I’m not looking for some tiny group that can’t be repeated, I’m looking for consistent repeatability’. ‘Once I’ve found a potentially great recipe I’ll shoot a 20 round group to confirm the load’. ‘If I can get a .5 moa 20 shot group that will carry to the longer distances I’m very happy’. ‘Some people will say .5 moa isn’t good enough but with a 20 shot group the vast majority of them will be well under .5 moa’!

‘I don’t muck around with dodgy barrels either’. ‘I’m lucky enough to have been doing this for long enough to know if a poor barrel is the problem’. ‘Generally most custom barrels are ok but I managed to get 2 ordinary ones in a row with my Brdx; I chucked ‘em both before they got to 100 rounds’. ‘My new one is a cracker’!

‘One more thing, I was once asked if primers really do make a difference’. ‘The answer is “bloody oath they do”. I don’t weigh them though because what is it you’re weighing?’ ‘I’ve read that when you weigh primers it’s assumed that the heavier ones will have more charge and visa versa but the primer is made up of 3 parts, so what part is lighter or heavier, there’s no practical way to know’. ‘I do play with brands and models though and I’m sure you can improve your results by swapping primers’.

I ask, ‘You’ve shot a lot of calibers Jacko!, do you have a favourite?’

‘Ummm’ says Jacko. ‘The current 6 Brdx and 7 Saums are great and suit me’. ‘The 7 Jacko was accurate but bloody hell, it was hard work and it loved barrels, loved to chew ‘em up with about 550 rounds max including break in and load development’. ‘I really loved developing my .284 Ackley’. ‘I’ve got a big soft spot for this rifle, I won a queens against Wsm’s and Saum’s with this one’. ‘It’s easy to shoot with mild recoil, it’s very accurate with a variety of combinations and it puts a big smile on my face’.

I now ask,’Is there any thing else you can tell us that you think is important’?

‘Well Belly’, he replies, ‘you’ve just got to get out there and shoot, trigger time is important!’ ‘Watch the flags and believe in them, learn what they are trying to tell you’. ‘A beautifully tuned rifle won’t get it done on it’s own, especially if it’s a choppy day’!

Great advice I reckon.

So, I think we’ve probably covered enough ground with this interview. There was a lot said that I haven’t written about. As I stated earlier, inside Jacko’s head is a scary place. His mind always active, always thinking, darting back and forth and from side to side. Condensing over 20 years of intense experimentation into a few pages was the challenge but hopefully it makes some sense and more importantly is of some help to those who might read this.

Perhaps a quote to finish!

“It doesn’t matter how great you get your gun to shoot It won’t matter a shit if the organic thing holding it doesn’t do the job”!

Anthony Bending, May 2020.

Additionally, I would like to add a personal note….. Many of us are aware that Jacko is currently facing the biggest challenge of his life with some very serious health issues. I’m very, very happy to report there has been some incredibly good news recently delivered. Jacko has been receiving some high end experimental treatment for his conditions and the results have been very positive…..great news indeed!

All the best,

Belly

Canberra Celebrates 30 years of Fly shooting

In 1990, 40 competitors ventured to Canberra to take part in the Inaugural Federal Cup 500m fly shoot. It was only fitting that the 2020 Fly Nationals be held at the SSAA Majura range in our National Capital. 97 competitors, from as far afield as Perth, McKay and Melbourne, ventured to Canberra to compete over the 3 days of the Canberra long weekend for the BRT Federal Cup, Stuart Elliot Cup and Jim McKinley cup.

Our naming rights sponsors for the BRT Federal cup, Annie and Stuart Elliot of ‘BRT Shooter Supply’ put on a magnificent table with every shooter leaving with a prize. The 1st lucky draw being a beautifully engraved March 8-80×56 rife scope.

On day 1, 83 shooters line up to contest Heavy Gun (HG). Anthony “Jacko” Bending would take 1^st and the Federal cup for HG posting an incredible score of 266.4 (.4 being 4 hits on the fly), Greg “Chappo” Chapman would take 2^nd (262.4) ahead of Mark Lacey for 3^rd (251.5). William Bailey took out juniors over 15 and Young Beau Locke under 15.

Chappo also shot the highest scoring target with a 59.3 and Matty Riches shot a 1.07” to take the smallest group.

Day 2, would see the Light Gun competition get underway with 71 competitors. Once again it was Jacko leading the competition scoring 253.5, 2nd was Nick Argon (242.2) and Chappo 3rd (241.3). William once again took out the juniors over 15. Young Callum Grove took 1st in the under-15 and in doing so beat his Dad. (Don’t worry Dave I know too well how that feels).

Dave Zucconi, shot a 59.1 for the highest target and Anthony hall took out the smallest group with 1.643”.

After two highly competitive days, Jacko walked away victorious with the Jim McKinley cup for overall winner of the Centrefire Fly Nationals.

Once again the “Big guns” were retired and the rimfires were removed from their cases in preparation of the 200yd fly shoot. On day 3, 71 individuals shot it out for the Stuart Elliot Cup.

Fred Blacker shot a new National record for smallest group (0.827”) that helped him secure 1^st place with 266.6 and walk away with the cup and a $300 dollar cash prize from Kathy Dundas of ‘No Fuss Homeloans’. Michael “Belly” Bell took 2^nd (263.4) and 3rd Matty Riches (261.5). Young Callum took 1^st for the junior.

Annie Elliot shot an incredible 60.4 for a new National record for highest score. That’s almost as perfect as you will ever see.

At the end of an extremely competitive weekend it was Chappo taking 1^st (746.14) in the 3 gun, Belly 2^nd (729.12) and Mark Lacey 3^rd (720.08).

As we all know events like this don’t just happen. A big thanks must go to Dave Groves and all the Canberra team who put on such a fantastic event that I’m sure everyone will remember for some time. I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t mention the wonderful sponsors, Russel Le Maitre of ‘Group Solutions Gunsmithing’, Kathy Dundas of ‘No Fuss Homeloans’, Ken Malgard of ‘Copperhead Projectiles’, ‘ADI Sporting Powders’ and did I mention Stuart and Annie Elliot from BRT Shooter Supplies and that beautiful March scope.

Thanks to All.

Thanks to Belly for the photos.

It seems like a good while ago I read a post on our 500 meter Fly Shooter website about a bloke, Mike Cockcroft from Texas USA who contacted Les Fraser (forum administrator) making suggestions about running 500 meter Fly Shoot matches at his range near Huntsville Texas.

Mike had noticed our style of shooting from the website and thought it would be a good idea to run postal matches against each other “just for fun”.

“What do you think?” asked Les on the forum.

I didn’t hear a single negative comment. In fact, most people got downright excited about it. An international flavour to our homegrown shooting discipline could only be fantastic. I think a lot of us went into auto mode & began daydreaming about a US holiday and shooting the “Fly” on the way through Texas! Eating deep-fried everything with about a hundred beers then earning a Texan Fly patch from Pine Valley range the next day! What could be better?

Mike had work to do & clearly got “stuck right in”. Dave Groves, Anthony Hall, Les Fraser & other Aussies helped our new mate from Texas as much as they could, but it was Mr Cockcroft who was on the ground & some 14000 kilometers (8700 miles) away doing all the heavy lifting.

I suppose Mike could have adopted a watered-down version of Fly Shooting, a version that was more convenient for him to establish but he is clearly an ambitious man and to his credit he decided to be true to the Fly Shooter brand and initiate these upcoming matches “to the letter”.

He had many issues to overcome and I think it’s about now I should provide a basic overview of what Fly Shooting is all about. (Australian readers please be patient as it’s likely there are overseas shooting enthusiasts reading this who know little or nothing about the “Fly”).

Fly Shooting is a benchrest discipline shot over 500 meters (550 yards). Similar in kind to 100-200 yard benchrest and 600-1000 yard benchrest matches but with a variety of different rules specific to Fly Shooting.

Fly Shooting is a ‘shoot for score’ event.

The target has scoring rings from 1 to 10.

The 10-ring measures 46.7 millimetres (1.84 inches). 

The total scoring area is about 220 millimetres (8.7 inches approx.)

Within the 10-ring is a silhouette of an Australian March fly (these mongrels can take your leg off if given half a chance).

An additional .01 of a point is awarded if you can shoot a “Fly”, thus the name “Fly Shooting”!

Also, a specially embroidered “Fly Patch” is awarded to any shooter who hits a “Fly” in recognition of this achievement.

Additionally, bonus points are awarded for group size with 10 points given for a group of 1 inch or under, 9 points for a group of 2 inches, 8 points for a 3 inch group and so on.

A target consists of 5 scoring shots with 3 sighting shots allowed during the course of fire. These sighting shots are onto a blank painted steel plate that sits below the target.

A match consists of 5 targets.

A maximum single target score is 5 tens (50 points) with an under 1 inch group (10 points) and 5 fly touches (.5 points) ie 60.05 or 60 points with 5 (fly’s.). This has never been achieved in our over 20 year history!

No real need to go into all the rules but suffice to say there are 2 categories, light rifle and heavy rifle.

In order for Mr Cockcroft to run his Fly matches “to the letter” he needed to survey his range to 500 meters, have the targets printed to exacting specifications, have the Fly Patches made, construct the metal sighting plates & then build target frames that could handle both targets & metal sighting plates!

No small ask but Mike is obviously a committed bloke and all was done “quick smart & in a hurry”.

Mike & David Groves (Australia) corresponded & spoke regularly via phone & it was decided the first (trial) match was to be in September 2017 with the possibility of 4 matches to follow in 2018.

By way of explanation, Fly Shooting in Australia conducts “registered” matches at 6 different ranges. Those being Little River near Melbourne Victoria, Wagga Wagga in southern NSW, Canberra our national capital, Batemans Bay on the south coast of NSW, Brisbane in Queensland & Perth in Western Australia.

Unofficial Fly matches are also held at many other clubs around the country.

We have a genuine circuit of ten matches per year divided between these 6 ranges.

There would be postal matches versus the Pine Valley club at Canberra, Little River, Batemans Bay & Wagga. The Wagga match was later transferred back to Canberra for that club’s second match of the year.

There was an authentic air of excitement and anticipation as the first match approached.

It’s fair to say that most Aussies probably don’t know a hell of a lot about Texas. I guess most things have been learned from the tele!

I was aware that poor old Davey Crocket met his maker at the Alamo which is in Texas.

I knew the world’s biggest A-hole (JR) and the world’s most beautiful woman (Pamela) lived on Southfork in Texas (a small clue to my age) and that Astronauts keep getting into trouble and calling Houston with their problems.

I know that everything is bigger and better, it’s hot & they like spicy food, especially Nachos!!

Most importantly, I knew they love to shoot!! I think we all knew that one.

What we didn’t know, but most certainly do now, is that Texans (just like Aussies) LOVE to take the piss!

As the match got closer the banter increased.

There was lots of  Y’alling and We’alling.

Ass’s were going to be whipped and Step Children everywhere were to be beaten like…..well…… Step Children (Texan humor).

Tongue in cheek finger poking at it’s best. It was great!

Cases were sized, powder was weighed & seating depths carefully checked.

Motels were booked, caravans were hitched & swags packed. For many, a long drive commenced.

Arriving at the range on the Friday the tedious job of putting out wind flags was completed and then off to the pub for a few beers and a meal.

As always, the conversation was amicable. Obviously, the common theme was about the Texans & the postal match.

I guess most Aussies were fully aware that the shooting sports, generally, are a lot bigger in the US than in Australia.

We also understand that many of the high-level components used to build the very accurate rifles required to be competitive come from the US and so it was assumed their rifles would be very accurate indeed.

What we had in our favour was experience.

Every shooting discipline requires strategy and we’ve been shooting the Fly for a few years so we guessed we might have an edge with this.

We could, with a beer in our hands, speculate until the cows came home but we all knew the biggest factor affecting the result was going to be the weather.

What was going to happen in Canberra & what was going to happen in Huntsville Texas was anybody’s guess.

So……What happened? 

Well, we copped some serious crap from the weather but we battled hard & ended up with reasonable results for the conditions.

Greg Chapman from the Wagga club won the day for the Aussies with a credible 238 with 4 Fly’s.

We wondered how the Texans would fare in their very first Fly match. Anthony Hall reckoned, because of the conditions we had just experienced, that they would give us that “Ass” whipping spoken about pre match. Dave Groves, for the same reasons, thought we might get beaten like a “step child” which was also mentioned pre match.

Both gentlemen were 100 percent correct. The Texans blew us out of the water & not just by a little bit.

Of the top 15 places only 5 were Australians. They belted us in every measurable way with higher scoring targets, smaller groups & more Fly hits.

From the Texans perspective it was an extraordinary success & they were entitled to feel very proud of themselves. Hell, WE were proud of them!

Anyway, Mike Cockcroft had a toe in the water with Fly Shooting & he wished to pursue the game with a season of 4 matches in 2018 complete with shooter of the year presentations at it’s conclusion.

We, in Australia would swallow our pride & conduct the 4 postal matches complete in the knowledge that if the weather conditions were comparable the matches would certainly be competitive!

March 2018 saw the first “official” postal match & the Aussies were back at our National Capital of Canberra.

Australia certainly picked up their game this time with 13 of the top 15 scores being Aussies.

Barry Tucker top scored with 251 with 6 Fly’s. However, Denny Henderson from Texas was probably “man of the match” as he not only placed 2^nd outright with a wonderful 245.03 but cleaned his Texan shooting mates by over 20 points.

Relative to the other scores I reckon Denny was the stand out.

The next postal was held in May 2018.

The Aussies travelled to Little River, a small town not far to the west of Melbourne. Many of us were right to be concerned about this one because Little River, beautiful but brutal, is notorious for it’s heavy weather conditions with bragging rights often allocated to the LOWEST winning score.

I recall a light rifle category being won with the grand total of 70 or so points!

High winds, heavy rain, brilliant sunshine with thick mirage, all in one day is often the case.

Fortunately for the Aussie shooters the weather Gods smiled upon us. The heavy weather did not really come enabling us to put down some relatively good scores for this range.

Tyson Trotter on his home track bagged a rare double winning both categories in so doing claiming 1^st & 2^nd places outright.

From the Texan’s side, that man Denny Henderson did it again with a 239.02, good enough to place him 4^th outright & winning the Texan’s leg by a comfortable 12 points.

This was a reversal of the very 1^st trial match with 10 of the top 15 place getters being Aussies.

Despite this, the Texans took out the coveted “highest scoring single target” award with Donnel Gaines scoring a remarkable 59.04.

It should be said that 59.04 was the record highest target scored in Australia until just last year when Grant Groves scored a 60.0, (unluckily missing 3 Fly’s by the smallest of margins).

The Texan’s also grabbed the small group awards in both categories with a group of 1.118 inches in heavy gun & (I think) Donnel Gaines great 59.04 measuring 1.192 inches in the light rifle category.

Had these shooters been in Australia they would have qualified for our rare “screamer patch” awarded to any competitor shooting a group of 1.25 inch or under. This is a recent innovation in Australia and very few “screamer’s” have been awarded!

(Actually, non have been awarded as we haven’t settled on the design of the patch just yet but a few shooters have qualified).

The next postal was to be in June & for the Aussies this meant travelling to the beautiful NSW coastal town of Batemans Bay.

The Deep Creek shooting complex at the “Bay” is well protected from the coastal breezes & as such high scores are often possible. Les Fraser once steered his 300 WSM to a massive 283.06 at the “Bay”.

There can be plenty of mirage in the warmer months but June is in the middle of winter so expectations were high.

A big weekend was in store for the Aussies with the 500 meter center fire match on Saturday and the recently introduced 200 yard rimfire Fly match on Sunday. A huge field with over 70 entries meant 5 details & a long day.

The competition was fierce with 16 Aussies scoring 240 or more points. Grant Groves won the match outright scoring 256 .04 with his heavy gun just beating Brian Wray by a single Fly hit.

This was always going to be a big ask for the Texans who would be shooting in the heat with the accompanying mirage.

That fact didn’t seem to worry Larry Klutts though as he got the better of Denny Henderson by 13 points with a fantastic 252.02.

One more match to go and for the Aussies that meant back to Canberra.

September could be hot, cold or both. Anything’s possible in springtime Canberra.

I guess it’s fair to say the Aussies were feeling confidant with regard to the “for fun” postals. The last three matches had gone our way but we were well aware there were some pretty good performances coming from the Texans.

The competition in Australia has become very tight over the last few years. It’s common for the top 10 places to be separated by a handful of points and matches have been won & lost by Fly hits. It’s the level of consistency more than anything that has favored the Aussies throughout this informal series.

The conditions in Canberra ended up being (for me) very difficult.

When posting the match results in our Flyshooter forum Dave Groves suggested that conditions were “light but tricky” presenting a challenge to all.

Well…..Dave had a relatively good day so “light but tricky” might have been what he saw but what I saw was 5 MOA of wind switch from left to right in the time it took me to load another round.

My heavy gun effort was embarrassing but I wasn’t the only one to get completely lost on a day that was pretty rugged.

No excuses though, it was what it was!

My bench partner, Kenny Perrin, took out the day with a 237.05 by making the most of the conditions when they presented & not fumbling around in the dark like me.

It was exhibition shooting & he thoroughly deserved to take the points.

What about the Texans? How did they go?

Mike Cockcroft posted on the Accurate Shooter forum that they had encountered the worst conditions they had seen on the range!

They too had “tricky” wind conditions with soup-like mirage for most of the day. I’m sure I also read they had encountered thunderstorms as well.

When the shooting stopped & the points were tallied, a first-time Fly Shooter in West Young had scored a remarkable 258.05.

Additionally, a seasoned shooter but new to the Fly in Joe Duke was right on West’s tail with a very impressive 256.04. It’s no surprise these two shooters placed 1^st & 2^nd in the combined scores.

In fact seven of the top dozen scores were Texans.

Joe Duke shot the smallest group with a 1.125 and also shot the light gun high score of 235.01.

In every way & in difficult conditions the Texans, in the last postal of the year, were superior!

Of course any direct comparison in these “for fun” postal matches is futile.

What happens on different ranges 14000 kilometres apart on different days in different seasons & in different weather conditions is impossible to reconcile!

It is possible though, to consider the Texans form & compare it, generally to OUR progress with this game.

I was shooting in Canberra only a hand full of years or so ago when Pete Van Meurs blasted an Australian match record in the light rifle category.

We were shooting in variable conditions & often through heavy mirage. I was in contention when on our D target I quickly rattled down my 5 shots not seeing any of them land through the mirage. I was told by another competitor that it was tight group which got me excited. Unfortunately that group was well outside the scoring rings, game over! (Does this sound familiar Texan’s?) That’s Fly Shooting!

Pete Van went on to set that record with a score of 254 with a few fly’s.

It was a great score on the day, no doubt about it but it has been surpassed many times over the last 5-6 years.

In Texas, West Young surpassed that score in his FIRST match, Joe Duke surpassed it also after only a few attempts. (yeah, yeah, they used heavy rifles but that doesn’t matter that much, not really).

The Texans also know how to shoot small groups with 3 shooters going under the 1.25 inch mark. As previously mentioned this feat qualifies Aussie shooters for a “screamer” patch recognizing this achievement.

22 Texan entries topped the 220 point mark in these matches with 6 of them scoring 239 or more & 3 of them scoring over 250.

Now, 250 is a bit of a benchmark. If you can score 250 in ANY conditions you’re doing OK, so in my humble opinion the Texan’s, with a bit more game time are going to be very very serious competitors.

Consider also, the Texan’s are a relatively small group at this time while the Aussies come from all over our country to compete. So, weight of numbers matters!

It’s not my job to tell the Texan’s how to suck eggs but when they get a handle on how to manage the mirage & shoot blind off the “splash plate” & learn how to efficiently manage the allowed 3 sighting shots, we as Aussies will probably get “beaten like a stepchild” every time we go out.

Regards to our new Texan mates, and congratulations to Denny Henderson for winning the Shooter of the Year.

Belly.

An Exercise in Frustration aka How NOT to Point Bullets.

It’s very likely most of us will be able to recall our best scores with regard to our ‘Fly” shooting.

I wouldn’t be so sure that most would be able to recall our WORST scores. Sometimes, for the sake of maintaining a positive attitude, it’s just better to forget about the horrible stuff & get on with improving that overall score.

Not too long ago, while shooting a match at the Wagga range, I found myself in a situation that I simply could not ignore.

Having competed in the registered 500metre event on Saturday, we reassembled to compete in the 300 metre Sunday match.

For me 300 meter shooting is fantastic. It’s an opportunity to experiment with custom rifles or a chance to pull out the trusty fox rifle & have a blast.

Generally, it’s light-hearted but most still like to have a go and post a good score. Competition is always stiff & the scores at the top of the leaderboard are usually only separated by a few points.

On this day I settled down over my Donkey ( 30 BRX ) & readied myself for the smack in the shoulder that this little cartridge delivers. Having loaded the 118 grain flat bases in front of an absolute case full (37+ grns) of fast burning 2207 meant free recoil was out of the question.

“Commence fire” was the command for the warmer target.

I let one off & was immediately impressed by the belting I had just received.

Having not shot this rifle for a few months my first thought was…”shit.. I know it comes back at me but I don’t remember it being this sharp!”.

Perhaps the volume of beer consumed the night before in the clubhouse had left me a little delicate and so there was nothing to do but encourage myself to “man up” & get on with it.

I managed to find the centre a couple of times but was struggling with wide shots in every direction. I had a good look at the conditions, which weren’t fantastic & assumed that the very low BC of the musket balls I was shooting was the cause of the wide shots.

1^st detail went something like this..10, 10, I’m thinking “ok” not bad so far….4 @ 10 o’clock..”shit”….6 @ 3 0clock…”Whaaat”…7 @ 6 oclock….”bloodyhell..that’s embarrassing!”

All details thereafter told a similar tale of woe.

In addition to the shots landing all over the score card I was having sticky bolt issues….not on the lift after firing but on the close when feeding!!

The conditions, although not great were reasonably predictable as indicated by the winning score which I think was 291, In fact the top 3 all scored 290.

The most I could manage was a miserable 250 with a few flies & this with a rifle & load recipe that has scored 290+ on a few other occasions.

Something was amiss & at this stage, I had no real idea what.

While shooting, lots of things were going through the old head but my ability to process was about as accurate as the shots I was making.

The rifle was bucking like a frisky pony & I was getting a little head stamping on the base of the cases.

I first thought I might have overloaded.

I quickly realized this was not possible as I literally could not put anymore 2207 powder in this case & had used this load many times before with good results.

Did I use the wrong powder?

No…the only powder faster than 2207 that I have is 2205 & I ran into max pressure while testing that at about 32 grains, a lot less than I used this time, so,…not that. “Buggered if I know, I’ll have to have a good think & look when I get home”.

The next day I allocated myself a couple of hours to sort the issue. I thought I would start at the beginning & work through each step methodically….how hard could it be?

Like all of us I have a system when reloading. Get out the old cases, give the necks a clean with steel wool. Chamber one in the rifle with firing pin removed & check for chamber tightness. Size case & recheck for chamber tightness. I’m looking for a very easy bolt close on the sized case. I did all this with a single case & all was well…sizing the cases incorrectly was not the issue.

What else? Logic tells me it won’t have anything to do with powder or primer so I missed this step & went straight to projectile seating.

When considering this step I realized I had done a few little things differently.

I had increased the squeeze on the projectile by using a smaller neck bush in my die. Could this be the issue? Typically I’ll seat the projectiles well into the lands…maybe the bolt closure issue was because I had seated them too long & the extra neck tension was not allowing the projectile to be pushed back into the case when chambering? Seemed like a long shot to me but I went through the process anyway.

Seat a bullet, measure it in the usual way, refer to my loading notes & observe that the seating depth was exactly as I wanted…ummm,…chamber the round & close the bolt. Perfect,…no resistance at all. “What the!!”

I repeated this process with 3 more cases & everything was fine.

I must have sat there looking at the blank wall for 15 minutes or more just going over everything in my mind.

What had I done differently???

Well…I pointed the bullets but I have nearly always done that…………. Hang on a minute!!……ahhh!!…… Bell, you are an imbecile, give yourself an uppercut & make it a good one!……. I pointed these twice!!

In an experimental effort to get a sharper point I had used two inserts. The normal one for this type of bullet & then another insert for vld type projectiles.

I grabbed my pointing die & repeated the process on a projectile, seated this projectile in a sized case and chambered the round.

Well I’ll be….. I had difficulty closing the bolt!

 I extracted the case & measured the neck diameter which was .3330. Holy smoke! My barrel chamber neck diameter is only .333, no wonder I had issues closing the bolt & no wonder the rifle was belting me up, the pressure must have been enormous!

How did this happen?.. well… here’s the guts of it.

The bullets were flat base (not boat tailed).

When pointing, the projectile sits on a flat button where the case holder would normally be in the press.

By cycling the press the projectile is inserted into the die & by pressing the projectile into the insert within the die, the point is made.

Some pressure is required to achieve this which in turn, (as it turns out),can put enough downward pressure on the bottom of the projectile to flatten & expand the pressure ring at the base of the projectile.

These are 30 cal projectiles which measure .308 at the shank & .3085 at the pressure ring. Some of my pointed projectiles were measuring .312 at the pressure ring & when seated were expanding the case neck to a number larger than the neck diameter within the barrel chamber…a recipe for disaster which really could have been catastrophic for me…..I’m thinking I’m both stupid & lucky at the same time….

Better give myself another uppercut!!

Thinking back, I can remember another day some years ago when I had similar issues both with the Donkey & a PPC I prepared for my stepson to shoot. We drove home that afternoon scratching our heads & wondering why those bullets went so wide. At the time I was prepared to accept I had simply buggered up the loading process, but now I’m thinking I may have over pointed some of these projectiles… I’m a slow learner that’s for sure!!

I suppose I should answer the obvious questions which would be…Why are you pointing flat base short-range bullets in the first place? & will you do it again?

Well….it was a 300 meter match which is still a good distance & the short fat 30 cals have very little BC built into them so I was trying to give myself a little advantage.

Yes, I will point them again but will be sure to do it only once & be careful not to overdo it.

I have tested this since & I can improve the meplat a little by pointing but I am also measuring the pressure ring of the projectile to ensure it hasn’t expanded.

Truth is I can’t really say with any certainty that pointing these bullets actually does improve my chances but I probably will continue with it anyway.

The thing about the Donkey (30 BRX) is that it is an extremely accurate calibre shooting bullets with very low BCs which makes it a real challenge to stay with other extremely accurate rifles (Dashers etc) shooting much higher BC bullets, especially when the breeze gets up a little!

All the Very Best

Belly.