Leica Experience

Pheasant Feeder

Well-Known Member
I Managed to make it to the Leica Experience at Diggle Rifle Range yesterday.

The weather wasn't brilliant due to low cloud and fog, forcing the itinery to be adaptated accordingly so as to maximise the oppertunity to shoot.

We started off firing the .416 Rigby at a static Buffalo target.
The rifle was a thing of beauty fitted with a Leica Magnus 1-6.3 x 24 scope.
Its probably the only time I'm likely to shoot such a rifle but although it has a massive recoil this is more of a shove than a violent kick, probably absorbed by the weight of the rifle but even though it was a heavy rifle it was well balanced so not a struggle to shoot from a standing position.

As the weather allowed we moved onto the running boar range which was a first for me!
Ive always shot moving targets with a shotgun but by keeping the scope on 1 x and keeping both eyes open it was relatively easy to transfer shotgun principles to the running boar. Here we had the choice of shooting either Sauer 404 or the Blaser R8 Professional both in .308 fitted with the Leica Magnus 1-6.3 x 24 scope. They even had left handed rifles available. I've fired a Blaser before and liked it, the straight pull for driven would be a great advantage for a second shot.
The Sauer 404 is very similar to my 202 but I must admit I prefer the safety on the 202.

Lunch in the form of a Hog roast was provided along with soft drinks and tea and coffee, which given the miserable weather was much welcomed.

Finally the cloud lifted sufficiently to allow us to use the 600yds range and everybody got the chance to shoot out to 600 which was a first for me. But with the right kit even a mediocre shot like me can put rounds on target both with the .308 and the .338 Lapua.

The day was organised and run by Simon and Selena Barr with support from Chris at Swillington Shooting Supplies, Hornady ammunition, Spartan Engineering - jeez them javelin bipods are light, John from Blaser, Can am quad bikes and rangers (used to give you a lift if needed), Rigby and Swazi.
Simon and the range officers did an excellent job of keeping things going inspite of the weather.

There was no hard sell by anyone just a short explanation on how the Leica Geovids work with the rangefinding and ballistics computer, with good anecdotal experience shared, on how they come into their own when shooting chamois and ibex etc. Swillington had some good deals on the Leica and swazi gear but no pressure to buy on the day.

I believe they're planning on running more of these days in the future and I will definitley try to get to the next one.
 
Like the sound of that! Hope there's a Scottish day planned sometime, preferably North East Scotland...
 
PF gives an excellent account of the day's delights.

I had the great good fortune to be there yesterday. We had perfect weather and it was a fantastic event. It was clearly a huge investment in making the best kind of contact between those who promote and sell and those who buy. According it the organisers, it -and the event in May that preceded it- came about as a way of keeping in touch with customers after the CLA said it wouldn't run a game fair this year. I think everyone felt it was a really successful initiative and it would be great to see it done again, but I imagine the organisers will want to catch their breath and assess it's impact before announcing anything for 2017!
 
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Looking at one for my drilling. Put the deposit down almost a year ago and shipping seems be to delayed monthly.
 
If the day (Thursday) had only produced the sucsessful oportunity at having the Geovids lens covers problem sorted, (in the coming months), for the newly designed ones, it would have been worth it, ... but a good day all the same.
 
Hi i attended Friday brilliant day and no hard sell just got a feel for all the rifles and optics.
Would recommend to all.
Martin
 
I was there Thursday and despite the 4.5 hour drive and the weather we had a great day.
As others have said no hard sell just a great opportunity to try there products.
even got the chance to shoot a 338 lapua mag which has been on my bucket list to do.

A big thanks to the organisers Simon and Selena Barr for a awesome day.
And all the support from Chris at Swillingtons, Blaser, Spartan Engineering , Hornady, Rigby, and Can Am for saving us some shoe leather running us around very impressive ranger buggy.
 
Hi.
i was there too and I thought it was an extremely well organised day. We can do nothing about the weather but Simon and Selena made the best of a challenging situation.
As one of only 3 ladies there on the day I was keen to shoot the distance targets but it was not meant to be.
Like you I too look forward to the next opportunity.

Lynn
 
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