Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,864
- 6,442
Dusted the cobwebs off my Palma rifle today - it's been a while since we spent any quality time together.
What's a Palma rifle? It's built for playing the Palma game of course! Palma matches are held between the English speaking countries of the world, and have been since sometime in the 19th century. The course of fire is 15 shots at 800, 900 and 1000 yards for a total of 45 shots.
Rifles are limited to .308's, with sights, not scopes. Ammo must have a 155 grain bullet or lighter. The shooter may only support the rifle with a sling. No rests, no bipods. Yes, "perfect" scores have been shot, and are worthy of great respect.
Today I cheated a little (a lot) and shot at a 100 yard range, with a 12x scope on the rifle. It was the first time out with it in a while and I wanted to get familiar with it again. Besides - I still shoot better with a scope.
Load: 155 gr NOSLER competition bullet, 46.5 gr Varget, Fed 210m primers and Winchester cases. Velocity averaged 2986 fps with a SD figure of... 4. Yes, four. I tend to load very carefully for this rifle. :grin:
Accuracy? Beats me. I don't really know how to measure one hole, not much bigger than a .30 cal bullet. Tight. Yes, very tight.
This year I'm free to shoot a number of 600 yard matches, but may not be able to shoot an actual "Palma" match. I needed to get going with the rifle. What is it? Just a basic push-feed Win 70, with a "tight bore" 30" Krieger in the Palma taper, with a 1:13 twist. The whole thing sits in a Dunlap pattern prone stock, carved out and pillar bedded by Jim Cloward, U.S. Palma team armorer. It's also got a really neat two-stage Medesha trigger.
When I miss the 10-ring with this thing - it's obvioiusly my fault! :grin:
Dang, it felt good to get behind this rifle again today. Regards, Guy
What's a Palma rifle? It's built for playing the Palma game of course! Palma matches are held between the English speaking countries of the world, and have been since sometime in the 19th century. The course of fire is 15 shots at 800, 900 and 1000 yards for a total of 45 shots.
Rifles are limited to .308's, with sights, not scopes. Ammo must have a 155 grain bullet or lighter. The shooter may only support the rifle with a sling. No rests, no bipods. Yes, "perfect" scores have been shot, and are worthy of great respect.
Today I cheated a little (a lot) and shot at a 100 yard range, with a 12x scope on the rifle. It was the first time out with it in a while and I wanted to get familiar with it again. Besides - I still shoot better with a scope.
Load: 155 gr NOSLER competition bullet, 46.5 gr Varget, Fed 210m primers and Winchester cases. Velocity averaged 2986 fps with a SD figure of... 4. Yes, four. I tend to load very carefully for this rifle. :grin:
Accuracy? Beats me. I don't really know how to measure one hole, not much bigger than a .30 cal bullet. Tight. Yes, very tight.
This year I'm free to shoot a number of 600 yard matches, but may not be able to shoot an actual "Palma" match. I needed to get going with the rifle. What is it? Just a basic push-feed Win 70, with a "tight bore" 30" Krieger in the Palma taper, with a 1:13 twist. The whole thing sits in a Dunlap pattern prone stock, carved out and pillar bedded by Jim Cloward, U.S. Palma team armorer. It's also got a really neat two-stage Medesha trigger.
When I miss the 10-ring with this thing - it's obvioiusly my fault! :grin:
Dang, it felt good to get behind this rifle again today. Regards, Guy
