Modern Highpower Competition; From Beginner to Master

xx, [2], 612, [2] pages. Oversized book, measuring 11 inches by 8-1/2 inches. Very slightly cocked. Includes dedication, Introduction, A Personal Introduction and Welcome, How to use this book, and Acknowledgments. Includes chapters For Beginners--Mostly; For Everybody--The Details; and Training for Highpower Competition. Also includes Bibliography, Appendix--Important and Useful Addresses; and Index. Popular Precision Shooting columnist Randolph Constantine (literally a retired PH.D. Rocket Scientist) spent two full years in the preparation of his major work on highpower rifle competition. It has over 600 full-size (8 1/2 x 11) pages and over 100 illustrating photos and is remarkably reader-friendly in its approach to an occasionally daunting subject. This book was written primarily for the beginning and intermediate highpower rifle shooter. With very few exceptions, all of the photographs in this book were taken by the author or his wife, Penny T. Constantine. The author was Precision Shooting magazine's senior columnist and a master class shooter. He supported NASA as a contractor at the Johnson Space Center working in support of the Space Shuttle Program. One might posit that helping achieve pinpoint accuracy in targeting the International Space Station from earth with the Shuttle-size bullet was good preparation for hitting smaller targets on earth with smaller (than the Space Shuttle) caliber projectile. High Power Rifle, also called XTC from "Across the Course",[citation needed] is a shooting sport using fullbore target rifles which is arranged in the United States by the National Rifle Association of America. The sport is divided into classes by equipment, and popular types of matches include Service Rifle (a service firearm competition), Open, Axis and Allies and metallic silhouette.[citation needed] The term High Power Rifle sometimes also includes the international shooting disciplines of Palma and F-Class by the International Confederation of Fullbore Rifle Associations (ICFRA) which are represented by the NRA in the United States. The standard course of fire for a service rifle match has four (4) individual stages that comprise an aggregate match: Stage 1: Slow fire (10 shots in 10 minutes), standing at 200 yards Stage 2: Rapid fire (10 shots in 60 seconds with reload), sitting or kneeling, at 200 yards Stage 3: Rapid fire (10 shots in 70 seconds with reload), prone, at 300 yards Stage 4: Slow fire (20 shots in 20 minutes), prone, at 600 yards Scoring combines from a total aggregate of 50 shots worth 500 points. In addition to points, "X" counts are also used to rank shooters in a match. In the center of each target (within the ten ring) is an "X" ring. If a competitor shoots within this ring they receive the ten points for shooting a ten, but also receive an additional "X" which serves as a tie breaker, if needed. For example, if one competitor ends a match with 487-14X (meaning 487 points with 14 X's) and another shooter ends with 487-20X, then the one that shot 20 X's will finish ahead of the one which only shot 14 X's. Traditional High Power Rifle shooting is most commonly done using a rifle with a military web or leather sling attached, with the shooter using a shooting mat, wearing a shooting jacket, and using a specialized glove that is worn on the support hand. The shooting is done at fixed, specific distances from the target line. Both loop slings, affixed at only the front end of the rifle stock, as well as hasty-slings, affixed at both the front and rear of the rifle stock, are also often used. Some High Power Rifle matches are shot only at 200 yards, such as sometimes seen during specific M1 Garand matches, and Axis and Allies matches, although they are still shot from various positions (standing, sitting/kneeling, prone).…