open class! - Lea Valley Air Gun Club

VINTAGE HFT
OPEN CLASS!
Anne Higgins joins a bunch of old twangers at Lea Valley
L
ea Valley Air Gun Club is a
thriving, multi-discipline club
in Hertford. With different
competitions held every Saturday of
the month they cover HFT, pistol HFT,
FT and ‘rested HFT’ where you can use
a rifle support.
That only covers four weeks in a
month though, so what do they do
when there’s a fifth Saturday? Easy,
Vintage Open Sights Springer HFT.
The competitions have been going
for a few years now and are growing
in support, as are the variety of
airguns being brought out, dusted off
and given a chance to bag a few tin
chickens.
Classes
There are three classes to choose
from;
‘Semi-Recoiling rifles pre-1986’ - this
covers classic 10M match rifles like
the FWB 300, Diana 75 and on this
occasion an ASI Statical.
‘Classic Rifles’ - for rifles post 1956
but pre-1986.
‘Vintage Rifles’ - for rifles pre-1956.
The competition consists of 25
targets ranging from 10 to 35 yards
and all with an unobscured 40mm
kill. This is the sort of target you’d
love to find on a standard HFT shoot,
but it doesn’t seem quite as easy
as you thought when viewed over
iron sights. There are no constraints
on how you take it, so you can go
prone, kneeling, lying or even sitting
on a bean bag. All rifles are to be
unmodified and can be any calibre.
Open sights include the standard
iron variety and dioptres. Telescopic
sights are not allowed.
Perfect Day
On a bright, warm and sunny day
conditions were perfect and there
was a good crowd assembling,
busily bonding with half stocks
and well-worn blueing. This is the
sort of shoot where you don’t need
to know anyone, just bring an old
BSA breakdown or Webley Mk.3 and
you’ll instantly make friends. The air
was filled with the glorious aroma
of linseed oil and dieseling ancient
leather piston seals. The fact that
most rifles were older than their
owners just added to the atmosphere.
Bliss!
Scoring was two points for a
knockdown, one point for a plate
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Top: The ASI Statical
and Earl Lange
Main: This is a proper
old timer - the 1924
BSA that is, not Dave
Mansfield
Bottom: No telescopic
sights are allowed, but
you can use a spotter
complete miss with a possible
maximum of 50 points.
The competition has a wonderfully
relaxed vibe to it. Alison Mansfield,
(one of the organisers), decreed
that if you knocked anything
down, whooping and hollering was
mandatory. As the competition
progressed, simply hitting the plate
quickly became enough justification
for spontaneous celebrations.
I’d dug out a first series, 1905
Lincoln Jefferies to have a try with
and Dad was using one of his beloved
Diana 27s from 1926.
Iron-ing
Iron sights are a curious beast to
master. Once you get the hang of
VINTAGE HFT
Left: A 1980 HW80
in the hands of Chris
Boulton
HW80, HW35 and a Webley Mk.3. Then
a couple of FWB 300s and the .22
lobbing ASI Statical.
Results
them they’re quite straightforward,
you just need to line up the notch
and bead at the same point both
vertically and horizontally each time,
and then suss out if you need to use
hold under, over, or both.
I’d had a quick zeroing session
in the back garden with a sheet of
card and some white stickers which
showed me I would be consistently
holding under; at eight yards I was
striking 2” high and at 30 yards
almost 3” high, so this 109-year-old
rifle looked to have a 45-yard zero!
On the plus side, this did mean I’d
always be able to see the target as I’d
be aiming underneath the kill zone.
Dad suffered from the same issue
many ‘older’ open-sighted shooters
do; which bit do you focus on,
the sights or the target? From the
constant squinting and putting on
and taking off of his glasses I could
see he was struggling, but he wasn’t
the only one.
Something that might help here
was a blob of coloured paint on the
foresight bead to help it stand out
from the target and kill zone, and
quite a few people had done just that.
There is something quite wonderful
about looking down a competition
firing line to see well-loved, springpowered under-levers and break-
“The fact that most rifles were older
than their owners just added to the
atmosphere. Bliss!”
barrels (boingers/twangers) from
yesteryear being put through their
paces, and everyone smiling. On
the peg one side of us was another
Lincoln Jefferies, and on the other
a BSA break-down and a Mercury
Challenger. Looking down the line, I
could see an early Airsporter, HW77,
The competition was fierce. In the
end, though, Mike Isaac and his
FWB 300 claimed the Semi-Recoilless
trophy with an impressive 47, just
pipping Earl Lange (ASI Statical) and
Aljosa Kononenkoxx (FWB 300).
In the Vintage, my trusty Lincoln
came through with 37 (!) to take
first, with Dave Mansfield (BSA Club
Special) second, and Alison Mansfield
(Airsporter) third.
The biggest cheer of the day,
though, went to James Free in the
Classic section. He’d never shot a
springer before, let alone open sights
and had borrowed Chris Boulton’s
trusty HW80 to come in with a
staggering 46/50. He only missed
four of the 25 targets, quite superb
shooting. Second place went to Roger
Bentley (HW77K) after a tense shootoff with John Wheeler (HW35).
So ... if the older rifles are your
thing, just remember that they
are still capable of some very good
performances and are great fun to
shoot in competition.
The next competition is on
Saturday May 31st. Come on, dig out
that old springer! ■
Left: Prof. Phil Russel
(Anne’s dad) with his
1926 Diana
Right Putting a smile
on your face is what
it’s all about
Below left:
This is shooting in
the raw; challenging,
frustrating, but above
all - fun!
Below right: Rex
Bennett with a 1979
HW35, and Alison
Mansfield behind
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