No luck involved

I wouldn't say I'm a lucky person generally; I believe one makes his or her own luck typically, although there are exceptions and certainly luck plays a part in life to some degree.

I wrote a post a few days ago about a shooting event I have been invited to compete in and about my concerns. Due to the nature of the event, the equipment I had may not be suitable for me to have a good chance at placing well in the overall standings. You can read it here. Whilst It's more about fun for me I'm not the sort of guy to compete without giving one hundred percent effort and playing to lose isn't really an ethos that works well. So I do the opposite...I play to win, and have fun doing it.

Anyway, the word got out that I was shooting in this event and within only a few hours I had a phone call from someone who felt I would be an appropriate person to sponsor in the event which was a nice phone call to receive considering my long range rifles are not appropriate for the run and gun style of shooting this event requires.

Today this rifle arrived complete with a full compliment of 10, 20 and 30 round magazines (Magpul P-mags) and accessories including tactical sling, lightweight shooting rests, field cleaning kit, storage bag and the red dot scope...All sighted in at 100m and ready to load and fire. I gotta put a grin in here now...😬

This is a Warwick WFA1 designed and manufactured in Australia. It is a straight-pull spring assisted bolt action rifle designed for sporting shooting. This one is in the .223 calibre (civilian version of the 5.56 NATO round). The rifle does not come as you see it from the factory though. This one has been heavily modified to perform much better than a factory system would with the trigger system, adjustable stock and scope being the major areas of modification.

Whilst this rifle looks a little different to a standard rifle it is actually not different at all when the basic functions are considered. It is a bolt action rifle so needs to be racked manually in between shots. It is not semi-automatic. It is a standard bolt-action rifle with the only real difference being that the bolt action is straight-pull rather than the lift up-pull back-push forward-push-down action of a typical bolt action. This one fires then the operator simply pulls the racking lever back and lets go and the rifle is ready to fire again. The spring-assisted part is the fact that the bolt doesn't need to be pushed forward manually as the spring does that. It's allows for very fast shooting.

Below images show the after-market trigger which has been added and set to a lighter pressure than the factory one. This is done to improve accuracy as the more pressure required in the trigger-pull the more chance operator-input will affect the shot. Having said that with this style of shooting the target range is quite close and speed is more important that precision...Accuracy is always important though. (Precision and accuracy are two different things.)

The right image [below] shows the picture through the scope. You can see the red dot in the middle. This battery-powered dot is placed on the target and that's where the bullet goes. This rifle is zeroed at 100 meters which means on a target at 100 meters I would aim the red dot directly at where I wanted the projectile to hit. At 200 meters I would aim high and at closer range I would aim very slightly low. I don't want to get into ballistics in this post though so I'll leave it at that as ballistics can become quite complicated. I have edited a little red dot on that image to make it easier to see in the photo as it didn't come out too well in my photograph. It is pretty bright in real life though, and has adjustable intensity so if shooting inside, in twilight or darkness it doesn't become too bright on the eye.

I'm very lucky pleased to have the opportunity to use this rifle system at the upcoming event and feel privileged to be entrusted with $6,000 worth of equipment. I don't think for a moment that luck has played any part in me having the opportunity to utilise this rifle...The opportunity came through hard work and effort and through being dependable. Dependable is a word I sometimes use to describe myself if asked and I enjoy being that way.

I mentioned above and in the last post about why my long gun is not [really] suitable for this event and have included the image below to help demonstrate why.

The top rifle is the WAF1 and the bottom one is my long range rifle, a Ruger in 6.5mm creedmoor. It's a great gun and is accurate to a mile (1600 meters) but it's a lot longer, so less manoeuvrable, than the WFA1. This would slow me down and in the bush/scrub/forest setting this event is run in it wouldn't work very well. The magnification of the scope (which currently sits on top of my culling rifle pictured in the middle of shot) also won't allow for close range shooting as it only goes down to 6x magnification. (The red dot on the WFA1 is 2x magnification.) With the Kahles 624i scope I'd not be able to locate the closer targets at all.

The WFA1 is only 84cm long (33 inches) and weighs 6kg (13lbs) where the Ruger weighs 7.5kg (16.5lbs) and is 116cm long (45.5 inches). It might not seem might a lot of weight but running around all day and shooting it would get tiring and affect performance.

Below you can see a comparison of the three different rounds each of the three rifles shoot.

The WFA1 shoots .223 on the left, the Tikka CTR pictured above in the middle, is a .243 (6mm) which you can see in the middle below and the 6.5mm creedmoor is the round to the right which is for the rifle above at the bottom of shot. You can see the difference in case size (the brass gold-coloured part) and the projectile which is the bronze thing on the end that heads down range to meet the target. The larger case-size means more gunpowder can be added and the projectile-weight gives the round different characteristics, range and energy when it strikes the target.

All of these rounds are more than capable of killing. The smallest, the .223 round or the 5.56 NATO round, are what's used in the AR15 depending on how the rifle is chambered as an example. It's a round designed to severely injure and kill, and that's the smallest you see here. Each calibre has different purposes and characteristics which is why often a shooter will have different types of guns. Hunting sambar deer for instance requires a minimum 30 cal round here, so none of these shown in this image would be legal. Again, ballistics is a topic for another day though, so I'll leave it there.

I have had a reasonable amount of trigger time behind the WFA1 in the past however not enough to say I operate it expertly. I can shoot it accurately of course, load it, make it safe, trouble-shoot it if it jams and generally operate it effectively however in the event I will be under the clock and when the clock starts things can and often do go awry.

Scores are based on a hit factor which takes the points (hits minus misses) and divides it by the elapsed time to generate a hit factor which becomes the score for that stage. That's why accuracy and speed is so critical. Being really accurate but slow as fuck or lightning fast but with poor accuracy won't place a shooter very well against the competition.

I'll probably shoot this WFA1 2 to 3 times before the event, some 200-400 rounds I guess, which should see me operating it with a great deal of comfort and familiarity.

As a sporting shooter and as a person who shoots (culls) feral pests on a cattle farm I need to show a great deal of care towards safety, complying with the law and responsible shooting. I'm a responsible, law-abiding, licensed firearms owner and simply do not tolerate the unsafe or irresponsible use of firearms hence my need to become unconsciously competent in the use of this rifle.

So, there you have it...My June-event competition rifle which I will shoot alongside my 9mm semi-automatic handgun and double barrel shotgun in this three-gun event which looks like it's going to be a blast! See what I did there? Guns...Blast? 😎

I think I'm going to be reluctant to hand this rifle back after the event however I will...At some point. Maybe. Nah, I will give it back along with my gratitude for the sponsorship and trust that was placed in me with the offer of it in the first place. To be honest I want to buy one, but also to be honest (with myself) it's not a rifle I would shoot regularly enough to warrant the $6,000 spend...Although if I could convince Faith, my long-suffering, patient, understanding, why-the-hell-does-she-put-up-with-me wife I'd have one in a shot! 😂 See what I did there? Guns...Shot? Literary genius!

Thanks for reading all the way...If you did and thanks for skimming if that's what you did.

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Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default
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