op-ed

Bill Calfee

Gun Fool
op-ed


CYA friends:


I've not been a practicing RFBR schmidt in years....


I don't sell barrels, bullets, actions, stocks, scopes or any other items related to RFBR.


I derive no income from RFBR, and haven't for years.....


But.....................


I help pay for this web site.


Why do I do this?


I have only one goal left with my involvement in RFBR....


That being, to hopefully see the masses have access to this most unique RFBR gun.


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Now..............................


Since I derive no income from RFBR any longer, and since I help pay for this site, I'm in a position to op-ed about various subjects pertaining to RFBR and rimfire accuracy, without fear of losing sales or offending anyone.




Since I've been fooling with shooting the IR-50 target with a 6 power scope, my first op-ed will be about sporta shooting.


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Specifically the failure of ARA sporta shooting.


I'll finishing putting this op-ed together then post it...


Caution:


I'm going to tell it like it is.....so if you feel you might possibly be offended by my "constructive critique" of ARA sporta, please do not read my op-ed.


OK.


Your friend, Bill Calfee
 
After 30 years..............

After 30 years..............


CYA friends:


I'm a charter member of this thing called RFBR.....


I've been it it since day one, back in 1989.........as a competitor and RFBR schmidt.



I've seen it all.



But as it turns out I've not experienced it all......till a few days ago.




I've built a bunch of IR-50 sportas........


And of course I revolutionized IR-50 sporta by beating the rules that forbid "tuners" on IR-50 sportas.


I simply incorporated a muzzle device, "tuner" in the barrel profile itself, back in 1998.....


And now all IR-50 sportas have "tuners".......muzzle devices....



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An aside:


You know, the IR-50 sporta's muzzle device, "tuner", works 100% equally as well as an adjustable muzzle device, "tuner"..


Which makes a mockery of the "tuner twisting" advocates, and, the "ornament" industry....


Have any of you folks ever seen an "ornament" hanging off the muzzle of an IR-50 sporta?


Or one of those ornaments wrapped around the barrel of an IR-50 sprota?


Nor have I.......


And have any of you folks ever seen an IR-50 shooter reach up and twist the 'tuner" on his IR-50 sporta?

Nor have I.......


And it really makes a mockery out of the ridiculous "compensation theory" nonsense..



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Anyway..............


I've built a lot of IR-50 sportas over the years.....


But, I always tested them with big power scopes......cause I had to prove my work.



And I don't ever remember shooting one of my IR-50 sporta builds with a 6 power scope.



CYA friends:


A few days ago I started playing with a 6 power scope on my new MD-PAS pistol, shooting IR-50 cards....


And I'm hooked........



After all these years I've finally gotten to experience the absolute enjoyment of shooting a 6 power scope.....



Oh yes, I'm hooked......


It's nothing like I thought it would be.....after all these years.....it's a fascinating challenge...



Shortly I'll get into an op-ed about ARA sporta....a constructive critique....


What a missed opportunity......


Your friend, BC



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I'm hooked.......shooting this pistol with a 6 power scope at the IR-50 card, is the most fun I've had in years....



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I enjoy all rimfire benchrest but that dang 6x sporter is so much fun. If there was somewhere within 4/5 hours, Id go shoot it every time there was a match. I dont feel like I would be very competitive but Id still go because its so much fun. Its just fun to have to use the spotting scope to check your shot. With 6x and flags set right, their visible in scope. Cutting the target into pie with the crosshairs for holdoffs is tough.
Todd
 
Friend TE

Friend TE


Friend TE:


I still can't believe I never fooled with shooting a 6 power scope on the IR-50 target all these years......especially since I built so many sportas...


I was concerned with how accurate they were, so I tested each build with big power scopes...


But I'm simply hooked, now.


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Todd, If ARA sporter had been designed correctly, ARA sporta would be an extremely viable discipline today, and you'd have places where you could do some sporta shooting.



I mean, why alienate a whole segment of ready made guns and shooters, by adopting rules to preclude them.


ARA had the entire discipline of IR-50 sporta shooters ready to compete.....



When ARA made the very unwise decision to use any power scope, and, an 8 1/2 pound weight limit, they alienated 99% of those IR-50 sporta folks.


And those IR sporta folks were sitting there ready to go.......so why alienate them?



Friend TE, when I first read the ARA sporta rules I knew it would not be successful.....


And what a shame, because if handled correctly, ARA sporta would be extremely viable today......



Later I'll op-ed as to the way ARA should have handled sporta to have made it a huge success, instead of a side note to history.


And it would have been so simple..........


Your friend, BC



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This is fun.......and it blows my mind how well one can actually shoot with a 6 power scope...


And what fun it would be to shoot an ARA target with this.......( which ARA could have done, as I'll explain in my op-ed)



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Friend TE


Friend TE:


I still can't believe I never fooled with shooting a 6 power scope on the IR-50 target all these years......especially since I built so many sportas...


I was concerned with how accurate they were, so I tested each build with big power scopes...


But I'm simply hooked, now.


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Todd, If ARA sporter had been designed correctly, ARA sporta would be an extremely viable discipline today, and you'd have places where you could do some sporta shooting.



I mean, why alienate a whole segment of ready made guns and shooters, by adopting rules to preclude them.


ARA had the entire discipline of IR-50 sporta shooters ready to compete.....



When ARA made the very unwise decision to use any power scope, and, an 8 1/2 pound weight limit, they alienated 99% of those IR-50 sporta folks.


And those IR sporta folks were sitting there ready to go.......so why alienate them?



Friend TE, when I first read the ARA sporta rules I knew it would not be successful.....


And what a shame, because if handled correctly, ARA sporta would be extremely viable today......



Later I'll op-ed as to the way ARA should have handled sporta to have made it a huge success, instead of a side note to history.


And it would have been so simple..........


Your friend, BC



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This is fun.......and it blows my mind how well one can actually shoot with a 6 power scope...


And what fun it would be to shoot an ARA target with this.......( which ARA could have done, as I'll explain in my op-ed)



View attachment 1726


I said this exact thing to the founders years ago. I simply said shoot the same target but declare your intent before the match. It was decided against because of the huge amount of data to tabulated every week by manual entry. Now it would be possible. There would have been at least two clubs in IL, at that time, who were interested.

Thanks for reading
Jerry Halcomb
 
Friend JH

I said this exact thing to the founders years ago. I simply said shoot the same target but declare your intent before the match. It was decided against because of the huge amount of data to tabulated every week by manual entry. Now it would be possible. There would have been at least two clubs in IL, at that time, who were interested.

Thanks for reading
Jerry Halcomb


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Friend JH:



ARA only needed to do one thing, for ARA sporta to become viable.


Just one.



I'll op-ed about that single thing shortly.




Your friend, BC


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Wouldn't it be killer awesome to be able to shoot ARA with a 6 power scope!

It would have been so simple for it to happen......



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If ARA would have done one simple thing, ARA sporta would be thriving today, big time.


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I'll tell you this.......shooting the IR card with a 6 power scope has got me hooked.......even with this old K-6 Weaver.


And if the world don't end, I'll be shooting ARA with my pistol and 6 power scope, too.......oh yes.



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