Like the title says I had quite the experience at the 2013 F/tr Individual World championships. This was an event I was truly unqualified to shoot and way out of my league; however, it was an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life. I met not only some great shooters but would class individuals from around the world.
I had some problems at the event that need addressing but due to my inexperience I am not sure how to proceed. Day one practice on Friday was uneventful; I picked up my credentials at the check in table and shot about 25 rounds at each distance of 800,900 and 1000 yards. I was extremely pleased with my ammo, rifle and my ability to shoot in light Raton wind.
Day two, first day of event shooting was a different story all together. As I was laying on my belly after my 3 minute prep period the announcer stated one minute burn off will commence when the target appears, I flipped open my ammo box and what I saw sent shock waves of horror though my heart. The white paper towels I used to keep my ammo from shifting during transport were dark blue; I removed the paper towels to find all my projectiles soaked and sporting blue droplets of liquid. I knew I could not chamber these with liquid on them, so in a frantic I started wiping rounds with my tee shirt; I had to get rounds down range because my rifle needed fouling! I managed to wipe the liquid off the 22 rounds I needed for this first string and get the rifle fouled. I dropped plenty of points the first round and was dumbfounded. As I pulled my equipment off the line my buddy wiped down the rest of the 55 plus rounds that I required for the rest of the day. After securing my equipment, my buddy said I needed to look at the rounds because there were a lot that were pitted! It was at that point I knew what happened. In a huge plastic box I packed my ammo and my cleaning supplies, the heat and altitude must have caused the copper cleaner to pressurize and leak, the paper towels absorbed the copper cleaner and caused the problem.
So do I need to worry about the brass that was soaked in the copper clearner? Should I just clean it and reuse it? The copper cleaner dissolved a lot of the cooper jacket on the projectiles; the cooper that was left was extremely soft because I removed tons of if from the rifling after the string of firing.
Secondly, on my last string of the first day, I was again lying on my belly getting ready to shoot the last of the pitted ammo, I had to use it because I only brought a sufficient amount of ammo to shoot the event. I now realize I should have brought many extra rounds to an event such as this. Anyhow as I was getting ready to shoot when the Gods of New Mexico opened up the skies of Raton, and for 13 minutes of my 17 minute string I was soaked with nickel sized drops of rain. Between the 20 degree temperature drops, the fact that I could not see out of my scope and not to mention the bad ammo, I had 6 misses in a row, I mean the entre target! I finally managed to get on paper and salvage the last nine shots, barely! So again all of my equipment was soaked with rain. I wiped off the outside of the rifle as well as I could. Do I need to do anything to the trigger group or bolt to prevent corrosion?
Just for info, the last day of shooting went pretty normal considering the high winds of Raton. I learned a bunch on this trip that will benefit me the rest of my shooting days.
Thx
Diego
I had some problems at the event that need addressing but due to my inexperience I am not sure how to proceed. Day one practice on Friday was uneventful; I picked up my credentials at the check in table and shot about 25 rounds at each distance of 800,900 and 1000 yards. I was extremely pleased with my ammo, rifle and my ability to shoot in light Raton wind.
Day two, first day of event shooting was a different story all together. As I was laying on my belly after my 3 minute prep period the announcer stated one minute burn off will commence when the target appears, I flipped open my ammo box and what I saw sent shock waves of horror though my heart. The white paper towels I used to keep my ammo from shifting during transport were dark blue; I removed the paper towels to find all my projectiles soaked and sporting blue droplets of liquid. I knew I could not chamber these with liquid on them, so in a frantic I started wiping rounds with my tee shirt; I had to get rounds down range because my rifle needed fouling! I managed to wipe the liquid off the 22 rounds I needed for this first string and get the rifle fouled. I dropped plenty of points the first round and was dumbfounded. As I pulled my equipment off the line my buddy wiped down the rest of the 55 plus rounds that I required for the rest of the day. After securing my equipment, my buddy said I needed to look at the rounds because there were a lot that were pitted! It was at that point I knew what happened. In a huge plastic box I packed my ammo and my cleaning supplies, the heat and altitude must have caused the copper cleaner to pressurize and leak, the paper towels absorbed the copper cleaner and caused the problem.
So do I need to worry about the brass that was soaked in the copper clearner? Should I just clean it and reuse it? The copper cleaner dissolved a lot of the cooper jacket on the projectiles; the cooper that was left was extremely soft because I removed tons of if from the rifling after the string of firing.
Secondly, on my last string of the first day, I was again lying on my belly getting ready to shoot the last of the pitted ammo, I had to use it because I only brought a sufficient amount of ammo to shoot the event. I now realize I should have brought many extra rounds to an event such as this. Anyhow as I was getting ready to shoot when the Gods of New Mexico opened up the skies of Raton, and for 13 minutes of my 17 minute string I was soaked with nickel sized drops of rain. Between the 20 degree temperature drops, the fact that I could not see out of my scope and not to mention the bad ammo, I had 6 misses in a row, I mean the entre target! I finally managed to get on paper and salvage the last nine shots, barely! So again all of my equipment was soaked with rain. I wiped off the outside of the rifle as well as I could. Do I need to do anything to the trigger group or bolt to prevent corrosion?
Just for info, the last day of shooting went pretty normal considering the high winds of Raton. I learned a bunch on this trip that will benefit me the rest of my shooting days.
Thx
Diego
