Indians For Guns

Friends,

Due to a discussion that went slightly OT on one of our threads, and due to the enthusiasm of one of our popular members, Pran, I am posting this to see if there is any interest in a Postal Air Rifle Match.

Basically a Postal Match is like this: Members using an air rifle in any safe place that they normally shoot in, shoot a total of ten rounds from their air rifle towards a target at 10 metres and then send them by post to a particular address. The targets are compared and then the one with the smallest 10 shot group is declared the winner. I shall suggest some rules here which are, of course, welcome to amendment after receiving suggestions from interested members:

1. There would be two categories, one for Indian made air riflews and another for imported ones

2. Between these categories there would be two further divisions - .177 and .22 in Indian air rifles and Match and Sporting air rifles in the imported air rifle category

3. The use of a scope would entail a penalty of 0.50 cm in the final group size for imported sporting air rifles

4. Shooting will be off hand, no shooting off a rest. The Match Air Rifles could be used with a sling. Other air rifles will be without slings

5. Members can choose to participate in either one contest alone or in all of the categories, it is their choice

6. Now comes a controversial bit - do we have a separate prize for women shooters or do we take the "a shooter is a shooter" approach here?

7. Once we have a good number of members who are interested, we shall work on an address and give members who are interested 30 days to shoot their best group and send it in by the deadline

8. Best groups will be photographed and posted on the forums and the picture of the champion would be posted alongside. Sorry, but unless we get sponsorships we shall not be able to give any prizes

9. Now comes the difficult bit. We shall need volunteers to collect the targets and check the group sizes. Volunteers may not participate in the matches thogh they are welcome to send in a group on a non competitive basis

10. Please, all interested members, post your name, location and what category you would be interested in participating in so that we know that we have a minimum number of members and could conduct the match. I think that with a minimum of 30 participants we could go ahead though, of course, we could have as many as would like to participate. Please also let your friends who may own airguns but who may not be members and would like to participate to register here and do so. All suggestions are welcome. The responses received here would determine whether we go ahead with the plan or not

Well here goes:

Name: Mehul Kamdar
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Categories I shall be participating: Foreign make sporting air rifle, not sure .177 or .22 as I shall be borrowing one from a friend

Bring the posts on!

Cheers!

I am in.

Name: Danish Ahmad
Location: Allahabad,U.P., INDIA
Categories I shall be participating: Foreign make sporting air rifle of .22 cal.

Danish

I am also in.

Name: Denzil Matthew
Location: Jhansi,U.P., INDIA
Categories I shall be participating: Foreign make sporting air rifle of .22 cal.

denzil

I'm in.

Name:Praveen.S

Location:Bangalore,India

Categories I shall be participating:Indian make air rifle .22 cal


Pran

PS:Great initiative Mehul..

I'd be happy to volunteer and help out with the measuring/ checking work...

BTW - I may have an informal "range" (for airguns only) available sometime next month... if anyone wants to join me for Sunday morning practice and save on range fees... Nothing fancy, just going to set up a few pellet traps - no automation for now...

Cheers!
Abhijeet

Danish/Denzil/Pran,

Thank you very much for registering promptly!

Abhijeet,

Thanks for volunteering but if we find someone else ready to volunteer, then I do think that you should participate as well. Please think about it.

So we have four participants who are ready. 26 more to go for reaching the minimum number to make this interesting and I hope we shall have the numbers soon.

Thanks, gentlemen, and Cheers!

PS I have posted on one Orkut group but if you are members of any groups there or anywhere else, please spread the word around. This is a friendly match and we should try and expand our circle of shooting friends as much as possible.

Mehul,

Great idea.Good luck with it.I have no airgun/s so can only cheer on other members.

penpusher

penpusher,

I don't have an air rifle myself. Please try to borrow one if you know someone who could spare one for a few shots. By borrowing one, you would let one more person know about the contest and we may have one more participant joining in.

As you know, we want this to be a fun event and not one that is overregulated like formal ISSF competition. It would be nice if as many as possible participate.

Thanks, my friend, and do try your best.

Cheers!

Name: Vikram
Location: Coventry,UK
Category: Foreign make,Springer, .22,scope on.
Can post my group to Grumpy to measure and certify,if that is alright.

Best-
Vikram

I will cheer you guyz unless my local range has airgunners

Let the games begin if they havent already

Best of luck

Hi Mehul,

Glad you took the initiative.

I will do the target checking for India (assuming overseas members would prefer to have someone else verify their groups) as I have a vernier and have done this before. I will also take the pics of each target and post them on the relevant thread and keep a written record as well.

Participants should put their name, rifle type (imported or Indian, match or sporting, open sights or scope), rifle calibre and date on the target.

I will sponsor the first prize - a shotgun shell holder that slips over the butt-stock from Cabelas.

One thing I would insist on is that the participants use targets from their local range or use thickish cardpaper, instead of ordinary paper.

Mack The Knife

Here's an example of what a typical IFG Postal Competition target would look like.





Mack The Knife

P.S.: This should give you an idea of scale. Keep that aiming mark small and adjust your sights so that you do not shoot out the centre of the aiming mark.

Mehul,

We may need a seperate category for non-recoiling (not necessary just PCP's) air-rifles as well.

A lot of 'postal' comps I shot in were done on a honour system where the shooter sent in his own score via e-mail. Perhaps you would like to consider this because those who want to cheat will do so anyway by shooting at point blank or reduced ranges.

Mack The Knife

Mehul,

I have taken the liberty to amend the proposed rules for both air-rifles and air-pistols.

10 shot group at 10 metres (not yards!) in the unsupported standing position.

One match per month. You can shoot as many cards as you like and can submit the best group by the end of the first week of every month.

No monthly prizes. Prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions to be awarded at the end of 12 matches. Probably certificates as well if we can get them printed.

1) Air-Rifle / Air-Pistol in 0.177" or 0.22" calibre.

2) Recoiling or Non-Recoiling. 5 mm penalty for non-recoiling class.

3) Sighting mechanism: Open sight / Diopter Sight / Scope.
5 mm penalty for using a diopter or scope sight.

4) Indian or Imported: 5 mm penalty if using an imported air-rifle or air-pistol.

Let me know what you think about this.

Thanks.

Mack The Knife

P.S.: Perhaps we should have a trial shoot to see whether the penalty points need to be increased or decreased.