The passion for shooting, especially with rifled rifles, has expanded exponentially in recent decades and, bureaucracy permitting, there are many private facilities that offer shooters a way to practice their passion. Perhaps we have to limit ourselves to the canonical distance of 100 meters, but already in this way there are many satisfactions, allowing us to verify the complex of factors in the field: equipment intended as weapons, optics and attachments, cartridges and finally, personal skills. In our areas it is often the areas at the foot of the mountains that provide the right territory with the appropriate shelters given by the orography as a function of side wings and backstops. The arrangement of the targets usually also takes into account the shooting of a handgun and therefore the 10/20/25 meters are the first sight for those who enjoy themselves with the various types of pistols or revolvers; then it is the 50 and 100 meters that give vent to those who try their hand at .22 LR carbines, spending negligible amounts on ammunition and always fun, demanding and performing even at the greatest distance, that usually used with rifled rifles with fired cartridges without forgetting how this base is the norm for muzzle-loading long guns.
Val Chiusella is one of the many that dot the Canavese area, a few tens of kilometers from Turin, and Vidracco is a small town perched on the first crags of an area where rocks and vegetation alternate in a pleasant way. A congregation of friends gave birth to the association again in the 90s, structuring the system on the basis of about fifty members currently managed by Mr. Ezio who ensures the smooth functioning of the whole structure.
From the main road, a short detour, again with an asphalt surface, leads to the car park where you can park your car and conveniently unload the equipment. The Secretariat and other meeting rooms form the reception complex to then pass directly to the shooting lines: the very intimate valley is surrounded by verdant broad-leaved woods where tranquility is total. Practice shooting stalls for shooting standing up or from support by setting up the tripod with the long one for target control. In addition to the outdoor lines, other indoor lines are available, obviously the most popular during the winter season. Alongside and suitably separated is also the area for practical shooting.
The visit was specifically planned to test a Chapuis express rifle in 8×57 JRS , but our friend Claudio, who made it available to us, wanted to delight us with two other examples of this splendid category of rifles: two other express rifles produced by those superb British manufacturers in the very early 900s thus appeared from the cases. Thus, a .450 Nitro from the Scottish Alexander Henry and a .500/3" from the English Cogswell & Harrison took to the field, or rather the shooting ranges. Both feature the Henry Jones-designed lock, also known as the English T-lock, and external hammers: the Henry's locks feature the plate-and-spring system, while the English one uses the plate-and-spring system. To be precise, the former favors the robustness of the stock in the grip, the latter the integrity of the action and a smoother cocking of the locks. Both, however, have proven to be completely reliable over the years.
In our humble opinion, the Edinburgh manufacturer's class is hard to match, and the overall result is truly sublime. Likewise, the cartridge, with its elongated, slightly tapered shape and a rather long lead bullet that sits deep in the case, has that old-fashioned charm that evokes the sights and hunts of a vanished Africa. Eley continues to supply original loads called nitro for black , where the original black powder propellant is replaced with the perfect amount of a modern compound nitro powder designed to maintain the pressure within the levels of an original load. We prepare to fire, and rotating the lower handle, raising the breech of the barrels, opens the mind to dreams, as does admiring the rifling and then the two baseplates with the caliber markings protruding from their chambers. Cocking the hammers is another tactile and auditory delight: the crisp, clean click is certainly not a secondary aspect of the magnificent sensations peculiar to these express rifles. Now it's time to raise the rifle, fully engaging our muscles: together, we sharpen our sights, aiming the rear sight and front sight at the target set at 25 meters, paying close attention to the trigger. And one! A moment's pause, just a moment to simulate a realistic shot, and there's the second. The distance between the two holes reassures us: the Henry has done its job, and we're satisfied with our contribution. One consideration: the older primers probably lead to a longer interval between percussion and discharge than we're used to.
Now let's move on to Cogswell & Harrison where the cartridges with half-inch bullets and three-inch cases make a good impression, creating an expected recoil which, although not equal to that of today's full loads, will certainly be well above the .450 just tried. Here too efforts are made to raise the rifle, keeping it as far as possible in the line of sight with the rear sight and front sight aiming at the orange round of the target: here too the shots are excellent and the shot is timely fired. With the standing posture, the recoil imparts a certain torsion to the torso reflected in the spine: in short, even with the charge softened, the .500/3" is still a vigorous caliber with which all the dangerous wild animals of Africa and the India. The double shot is even tighter than that obtained with the Henry and the pleasure is remarkable: it goes without saying that shooting with these pieces of gunmaking history grants wide-ranging satisfactions surrounded by thoughts from which it will then be difficult to break away.
We thank our friend Claudio who put everything at our disposal and the kind Mr. Ezio to whom we owe the availability of the Vidracco shooting range, a facility where technique and Nature allow us to practice the art of shooting in complete serenity.
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