Throughout all my life a large and increasing number of red blooded Americans have been striving to make us a "Nation of Riflemen." We have succeeded. May we ever remain thus, for the privilege to bear, and the ability to use weapons is the greatest guarantee of Liberty.-Townsend Whelen
The Whelen challenge , as near as I can find.
6 hits in 10 seconds on a 200 yard silhouette with an open sighted 1903 Springfield.
It was said the He could do this on command.
The only bolty I have is 5.56 not 30-06 and wears a scope or peep sights , and this still sounds tough.
I will give it a go next time I am at the range, who else wants to try? post your results here.
Great that you brought this up Cable___Guy, something I want to try this season also. I need to get back into running a bolt before I do.
Here's a link from a former AS instructor on the Whelen challenge: http://artoftherifle.com/the-townsend-whelen-challenge
Not impossible or improbable, just some dedicated practice to attain it.
I like to start my IMC instruction with his quote, "only accurate rifles are interesting." :snipersmi
His book "Suggestions to a Military Rifleman". Is a must read for bolt gunners and those wishing to know where a lot of what we teach came from. He is a truely great man.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Suggestions_to_Military_Riflemen.html?id=TphJAAAAIAAJ
And check out that chicken wing on the cover.
Chuck
Attached is the PDF of this book.
So then, for appleseed standardization can we shoot the 200 yard reduced silhouettes at 25 yards?
And guys, I'm going to go to it with a .35 Whelen since I don't have a Springfield. The 4+1 ammo capacity in my 700 Remington will make it special.
MD, I don't see why not. I wouldn't try to use a heavy bullet/load combo, a std deer load would be practical for the purpose. Same goes for the reduced target.
Col. Whelen's book, the Hunting Rifle is a good one to check out also. A lot of what Col. Cooper wrote about was taken from this volume, regarding bolt and lever action rifle practice.
Have no fear Tom, My Whelen launches a cheap 215 grain cast bullet at 1900 FPS, and expensive 225 grain spitzer boatails at 2500 to about the same point of aim within 75 yards.
It's a safe bet I will be shooting the cheap, mild recoiling load.
Bambi doesn't seem to go any farther, and has considerably less blood shot meat when tagged with the mild cast bullet load.
I took the challenge today, four times and came up short every time.
These targets were fired at 25 yards standing. A friend looking at his wristwatch said the fastest was 18 seconds, the slowest 23 seconds.
Townie is the man!
Congratulations for starting this, I need to get my stuff in gear and see what an old guy can do.
Do you think it any different to try it in sitting or prone, as far as timing or anything else ? Just curious.
My first shot was incredibly slow, or so it seemed.
Having a solid position, and the bolt closed on starting are two places I want to focus on.
Sitting might be good.
Quote from: Mark Davis on April 25, 2018, 07:32:46 AM
So then, for appleseed standardization can we shoot the 200 yard reduced silhouettes at 25 yards?
And guys, I'm going to go to it with a .35 Whelen since I don't have a Springfield. The 4+1 ammo capacity in my 700 Remington will make it special.
Oh how I have missed seeing you shoot that rifle and hear it speak.