What The Heck Is An Egg Shoot?
An Egg Shoot? That is the question I get when I advertise over the net that I'm running my annual "Egg Shoot". My friends and I like to shoot highly accurate rifles and handguns. A few years ago we were thinking about targets we could use at 200, 300, and 500 yds that would show impact and didn't have to be cleaned up after the shooting was done. We hit upon eggs! (No pun intended).
Four or Five times a year at a rifle range in
Here's how it works. We set up 5 Grade A large eggs at various distances based on the sights being used. Scoped pistols, rimfires and Sporting Rifles are shot at 100 yds. Scoped Benchrest and Varmint rifles are used at 200 and 300 yds. All shooting is done off of benches. Any rests are allowed. Some folks use Benchrest tripods, others use Harris Bipods, and still others use Bull Bags. Whatever suits your fancy is allowed. Rail guns would shoot in their own class. But so far no one has brought a rail gun to the event.
Any caliber is allowed. Any power scope is allowed in the various 200 and 300 yard classes. A maximum of 9X is allowed at the 100 yard line. If your pistol or rifle has a more powerful scope, you can turn it down to 9X and shoot in that competition. But be careful, we check :-)
There are a bunch of classes to shoot in.
In 200 and 300 yards, there are two classes. Aftermarket barreled rifles “CUSTOM” and factory barreled rifles “FACTORY”. Both can have muzzle brakes. Any power scope. Any caliber up to 50 BMG.
Anything goes in the CUSTOM class. This is the class that the action really heats up! This is where the BR boys bring out their toys and sometimes get womped by a rebarreled Mauser 98 in a wood stock! Any barrel, any stock, any trigger, any rest, anything that is safe is allowed to shoot in this class.
FACTORY class is just that. A rifle with a factory installed barrel. The barrel must have factory markings. Any scope power, any caliber. Triggers and stocks CAN be replaced with aftermarket items. The factory barrel can be rechambered. But the factory markings on the barrel must be available to view.
We are basically shooting Barrels against Barrels in these competitions.(new rule, 2007) Any rifle with a listed, current, retail price of $995.00 or more, shoots in the Custom Class. This includes Remington 40X, Coopers, Sakos, Etc. If we have enough of these rifles in the future, we will designate an entire class for them.
PISTOLS all shoot together at the 100 yd line. Both factory and aftermarket barrels shoot together in this class. But if you feel up to it, you can shoot a pistol against the rifles in the 200 and 300 yard class. All barrel rules apply at 200 and 300 yard events even with a pistol. At 100 yards you can not use over 9X scope power.
The 100yd SPORTING class is a Hoot! Any rifle with a working magazine (no single shots unless it is a break open action) and no more than 9X on the scope (if you have a higher power scope you must set it at 9X). This is an event to get folks started in Egg Shooting. Lots of fun. Any old hunting rifle will be competitive.
RIMFIRES are shot at 100 yards, The 17HMR calibers are having a ball in this class. Scope must be set at 9X or less. This is a great event for the kids, but lots of adults shoot it also, and they are sometimes woomped by a 10 year old!
The round of fire is very simple. You shoot in three relays. You get 5 minutes to get to the bench and set up. Then we allow 5 minutes for sighters on the first relay. Three minutes on the other two relays. A cease fire is called and the folks get ready to scramble eggs. At this time you can only have ten loaded cartridges on your bench. At the commence fire signal you get 10 minutes to shoot ten rounds. The shooter that hits the most eggs with the least rounds wins. Therefore five out of five is perfect. And a 15 for 15 is a perfect score for the three relays. During the course of fire you may take a sighter shot (a sighter target is available at each "egg" station) but these sighter shots count towards your 10 shot limit.
Any ties are broken by a "sudden death" shoot out. Each shooter in the sudden death shoot-off fires on a series of eggs in turn until someone misses. If there is no clear winner after one round of eggs, we substitute ShotShell cases and then 45ACP cases until someone wins.
Your gun should be sighted in before the event. If you do not have a 200 or 300 yard range available, sight in at 100 yds and fine tune your sights during the 5 minute sight in period. Arrangements can be made to shoot at the range on the day before the shoot if you like.
Trophies are awarded in each class. And great door prizes from various firearm manufacturers are given out to the participants.
Rifles is where the action is really competitive. But there has been some major upsets. Two years ago a fellow with an AR-15 with a 3-9 scope won everything!!
Rebarreled, custom varmint rifles are showing up in large quantities. But any Savage or Remington 700 with a fine tuned handload can hold it's own. Remember, factory barrels shoot against factory barrels, aftermarket barrels against aftermarket barrels. Here are some hints......
Bring two guns if you have them, or only shoot at one distance. I've seen guys really blow it messing around with those scope turrets going from 300 to 200.
Use a scope with enough magnification. But not too much. Sometimes the mirage can be brutal! This is where you will need to turn down the power. As far as power, at 200 yds a 9X is just not going to cut it. A minimum of 12X is needed and 24X is the scope power most seen at the line. The 8-32 Burris is just about perfect. The fine plex reticule is excellent. Leupolds are great but the reticule is heavy at 300 and they only have 1/4" clicks. The Burris scopes have 1/8" clicks. At 300 yds, one click on a Leupold is 3/4 of an inch. In windage that's a miss on a Grade A Large target. But the Weaver T-36 is fast becoming the scope of choice amongst the winners.
What caliber? Everything has been tried and most have been successful. A few years ago the shoot off at 200yds was between a 308 and a 221 Remington Fireball. The Fireball ended up winning! But 223, 222, 243, 220 Swift, have all won. At 300 yds things get more interesting. The heavier bullets can buck the wind a little better. The 308/6mm/243 guys do a little better at this distance. But again, a Savage in 223 won it one year. In the CUSTOM event, the 6BR is becoming the caliber of choice, with the 223 close behind. In the FACTORY class, the 223 and 204 Ruger are the most popular. I predict the 204 Ruger will fast become the cartridge to beat in FACTORY class. Stay tuned!
Bipods are faster to set up, but most guns shoot better of a rest. A good mechanical rest allows you to set elevation by raising the rest and not squeezing the rear bag. It's your call. Rear bunny ear or owl ear bags work great. One fellow had one of those new Choat sniper stocks with the adjustable wheel thingy in the butt. He did really good, but I like a conventional rear bag.
Bring your friends. It really helps for sighting in. All firearms
transported into
We will plan on shooting four or five events throughout the spring and fall. We do not shoot in July and August (Too hot!) I'll post the dates in March. I'll also post directions. If your coming from out of town (or in town for that matter) and you want to practice the day before at the range, let me know. I'll open the range for you.
The cost to shoot is $10 per range. If you shoot both 200 and 300 yds, it will cost you $20. All proceeds go to the club for range improvement.
The range is located in Southeastern Massachusetts, 30 minutes from
Remember...THIS IS A FUN SHOOT!.......No whining! I don't think if you like fine precision shooting irons you can have more fun at a shooting event. It is very relaxed, but lots of friendly competition. And the trophies aren't bad!
If you have any questions you can E-Mail me at rvb100@comcast.net or call me at home at 508.994.3644 or contact Jeff Whittaker at 508-636-4669. Hope to see you there!
Lodging and Recreation
Here are the area Hotels: (Listed from best to "not so best" :-)
- Comfort Inn..............North Dartmouth, Mass. 508-996-0800
- Hampton Inn..............Westport, Mass. 508-675-8500
- Days Inn.................New Bedford, Mass. 508-997-1231
- Dartmouth Motor Inn......North Dartmouth, Mass 508-997-0008
- Capri Motel..............North Dartmouth, Mass 508-997-7877
All of these hotels are within 10 minutes of the range. There is lots of outlet shopping in the area. The area is known for it. The New Bedford Whaling Museum and the Battleship Massachusetts Museum are 15 minutes away. Both are nationally known and excellent exhibits. Newport Rhode Island has beautiful turn of the century mansions to tour and is about a 40 minute drive. Providence is 30 minutes to the west and Boston is 1 hour north. Cape Cod is 40 minutes away. There is a day boat to Martha's Vineyard that leaves from New Bedford (next town over). Lots to do in the area and a great time of the year to be in New England.
Roy Bertalotto
Dartmouth, Massachusetts
