I started shooting competitively in 1975 with an air rifle and went on to represent GBR throughout the 80s with air and .22 rifles in the ISSF events. Occasionally, this involved successes; I even stood on a podium above the great Malcolm Cooper in the Air Rifle event in the 1982 Commonwealth Games! After a long, injury-induced break from shooting, I came back to shoot .22 prone “for fun”; it took fewer than 10 shots for my competitive nature to take over. In the hunt for some regular ISSF shooting and a coach, I restarted 300m, coached by the much-missed Ian Shirra-Gibb. I have been enjoying it ever since and managed to take the British Championship for the last 2 years.

An injury 3 years ago meant I needed to reduce the recoil from my 6XC, and so I had a custom .223 built to handle 80gr Sierras. It uses a Borden Rimrock action, Krieger Barrel, Bix n Andy trigger and a Grunig stock. The load was worked up by the gunsmith, and I was pleasantly surprised to see it was with RS50, which I’ve found very consistent and easy to source. It uses Federal primers and Lapua cases, too. The load works – my first proper shoot with the rifle was a 598 on Century range, and I’m now trying to find those last 2 points before I get too old to shoot that well. Wish me luck, please!

Matt Guille