To weigh or rim gage ammo, chapter two, Calfee

K

Kathy

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My friends:

Man...............................

I started a thread by the same name as this one...............

When I get some time, I want to finish what I started about the performance of Selby Wright, at the 1992 BR-50 Nationals where he covered the field by over 1,000 points.......never in the history of Rimfire Benchrest has anyone so dominated a Nationals....

Never again will anyone dominate a National Championship match like Selby did...

The story of how he did it is amazing........

I would love to tell it without this thread running into the thousands and thousands of "views", like all of my threads seem to do.....for some reason...

Man.................

Your friend, Bill Calfee
 
I knew and shot with Selby.....I knew and shot with Travis.........They where both friends and I miss them both.......But Bill........may I ask WTF does this have to do with "views"?
 
I would also like to add what Selby once told me........I could never figure out why...but he told me in person at a match that he NEVER shoot with a 36x scope..........he preferred a 24x max......
 
My friends

My friends:

Have a gentleman coming over today.....we're starting a new rifle.....the part of Rimfire Benchrest that is the most exciting for me is to start a new rifle, get everything together, evaluate the barrel blank, do all the machining, all action work, develop my ignition, etc........then that first trip to the range......man I love it...

I've got a minute.....Friend Ernie: You hit upon part of Selby's success with the 24X scope comment........I was going to comment on Selby's shooting at the end of the story, but I'll do it now because of your fine observation..

Selby told me one time; Bill, if the mirage is running one way and the wind the other, shoot the mirage.......Selby taught me how to read mirage, even on cloudy days.....and the 24 power scope allows one to do this better than the higher power models.....that's why Selby used them....and me too, course I ain't much of a shooter so it really wouldn't matter in my case..

I watched Selby shoot at the 92 Nationals......

Last target, picture this; Selby is on either bench 19 or 20....the dreaded side of the Bluegrass range.....

Selby smoked cigarettes back then.....

BR-50 targets had 50 bulls, instead of the 25 for ARA and only 30 minutes to shoot them in........ARA gives 20 minutes for 25 bulls.....I tell you this so as to understand the pressure Selby was under....

Selby had about 5 minutes to go on his last card.....when he stopped shooting.....bad conditions that day......Selby lost his condition......

Then he did something I've seen him do several times.....he lit up a cigarette, took a puff or two, then flipped the cigarette out in front of the bench....

He watched the mirage at the target, through his scope, then the smoke from his cigarette for about a minute......

As soon as he understood the condition, he finished his card.....he punched the lights out.....

If you look at the results of the 92 Nationals and leave Selby out, it was a pretty darn competitive match....

But when one guy covers the field by over 1,000 points, you've seen something very special......

I got to get ready for my customer....more later..

Your friend, Bill Calfee
 
Kathy said:
I would love to tell it without this thread running into the thousands and thousands of "views", like all of my threads seem to do.....for some reason...
Click to expand...
Views just means that some one read it, you do not have to sort through views. It's replies that end up making a thread so long, and those are the posts you have to sort through to get the good info from.
You could have 20,000 views to a single post with no replies - and it would still be just a single post.
 
Selby's rifle

Selby's rifle:

The 92' BR-50 Nationals had 61 shooters.......

One day Selby contacted me, wanting me to evaluate a rifle barrel for him.
The barrel on his 52 C Winchester had laid down......he had found a like new 37 Remington barrel.....

Anyway, I asked why someone wanted to sell a like new 37 Remington barrel and he said cause it didn't shoot......my next question was; what makes you think it would make you a great barrel?.....He said he thought there was something wrong with the chamber......so I had him come to the shop.

Selby was correct, the bore was mint, slugged awesome, was extremely round in the grooves and pretty straight......but the chamber was mis-aligned, bad......

Selby told me he wanted to try to attend the up-coming BR-50 Nationals that year, 92'......he said it would probably never be closer to his home, 100 miles, and it might be the last big Nationals he would ever get to attend...

The only thing I did to his fine, very straight C Model was to put the action on a pressed mandrel and grind the action face to kinda clean it up......Selby had already re-drilled the trigger pivot pin location and had a pretty nice Micro Motion trigger.......

I cut about 3 inches off the breech end of the Remington barrel, re-threaded it, chambered and crowned it and cast a lap and did my post chamber lap. I used my old 1 degree and 45 minute, straight-sided chamber...

Selby had done the bedding....oh, Selby didn't have a lot of use for fiberglass...his stock was wood.....exactly what method he used to bed it I'm not sure......probably pillar.....?

When I got my work done I called Selby...we met at the range and set up then he did the shooting......man, after 4 or 5 groups, Selby got a big grin on his face, I was watching him shoot through a spotting scope.....

My friends, Selby took the rifle home......a few days later he pulled in my driveway, got out and got a target out and carried it to the shop to show me.......he was excited.....he told me right then that he was going to win the up-coming BR-50 Nationals..........he didn't say this in a cocky way......he just knew what he had, and, he also knew he knew how to use it.......

All this took place two or three months, I believe, before the Nationals in September......from that day, till he left for the Nationals, he spent evaluating his Fiocchi ammo.......

I'll finish when I get some more time...

Your friend, Bill Calfee
 
Bill asked me to post this on this thread.

BR-50Nationals1992.jpg
 
Name Change

I next time I enter a match, I think I'll start putting down Jamison 52/Shilen in the Action column. Seems that the Winchester name means nothing any more. If Calfee touches it, and it changes name, so can I. NOT, I think I'll still be proud of my WINCHESTER 52D and state such.
 
Looks like he "Covered the field" by 341 points - not 1000. Still nothing to sneeze at, but truth and accuracy in reporting and all that, ya know.
 
Total or aggregate? If we're talking total points, it's over 1,000 (three targets).
 
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Check History

There were several that covered the field in past years. I only shot with Selby one time, and it was a pleasure to talk with him. Even caught him looking over my 52D at one of the Nationals.
 
Fred,

I think that Calfee 52/37 or Targetech 52 was a Larry Brown institution. See if this is clear enough to see.

Cnv0014-1.jpg
 
Bill asked me to post this. He said he didn't intend for this thread to be about the 92' BR-50 Nationals, it was to be about culling flyers from ammo, could it be done? But, he said a whole bunch of profound information is coming to light about the equipment used at those 92" Nationals and how it has come full circle today. He said he will get back and explain as soon as he gets some time.

Cnv0014a-1.jpg
 
Lynn,

Bill is a right handed shooter. I never paid any attention to which finger he uses for the trigger.

In BR-50 in those days a lot of shooters used 24X scopes. I remember when some, such as Travis Ruhlow, switched to 36X and determined it offered no advantage and maybe a disadvantage and switched back to the 24X. Basically, the 24X and 36X had a pretty much equal monetary value at that time. Since then, we have increased the magnification until 36X is probably the norm and higher magnification seems desirable to the point that the 24X is now substantially of lower value than the 36X. I think if you look at the 2008 ARA nationals equipment list, some of the top shooters were using 45X and even higher. Maybe there is an advantage to 24X or maybe there is an advantage to higher power. I don't know, but I like at least a 36X and I have a 45X that I'm beginning to like a lot.
 
My friends

My friends:

Big match this week-end...RBA Indoor Unlimited.......man, I wish I could be there....a bunch of very talented folks are going to make absolutely sure a "CALFEE" shooter don't win...again.........Man!

And the next PSL, man, those talented shooters, "non Calfee" are going to make absolutely certain, that a "Calfee" shooter don't win "another" PSL match.....

My friends, ain't Rimfire Benchrest Awesome! Man !

Man, I love it...I mean, I love it..

Your fiend, Bill Calfee
 
Wally,
I say again who bit?.......Some call me catfish and the largemouth bit.

Carp
 
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