Greg Morss - interview with the 2013 WHFTA World HFT Champion

Strzelectwoterenowe.pl:
First of all I would like to congratulate you becoming the 2013 WHFTA World HFT Champion and also the podium in National teams ranking!
How did you celebrate your victory?
Greg Morss:
Not much of a celebration - my partner Jane and I had a MacDonalds on the way home to Scotland! We are drinking Hoegaarden tonight!

ST:
How would you rate the preparation of the courses for the Worlds? Which course was harder in your opinion?
Greg Morss:
The 2 courses were prepared to the usual UKAHFT standard I would say. It was hard for the people setting out due to the weather before the event, and the fact that the 2 woods had never been used for HFT before. I did not think that one course was harder than the other, in my opinion they were quite similar, apart from the pegs out in the field on Bravo! Though these were initially quite scary, the wind direction was not as bad as it might have been. The unsupported shots on Bravo were certainly easier - I was amazed that so many of the Poles had missed the free-stander in the tree! To be fair I missed the free-kneeler which you pointed out, and it was the easiest shot of the event! That was due to me being careless.

ST:
Which target was the most difficult for you?
Greg Morss:
Objectively, the hardest target was no. 30 on Alpha, which was as hard as an unsupported stander is allowed to be. But after Pawel had nailed it I couldn't allow myself to go behind after one shot!
I missed the next one, peg 1 on Alpha, which fooled me due to mis-ranging. The targets in the field would have been the hardest if the wind had been at 90 degrees on Monday.

ST:
When and how did you start HFT shooting?
Greg Morss:
I've only been shooting HFT for about 18 months. Initially I bought a BSA R-10, then I got a Daystate Mk4 which I still use sometimes; then eventually a Walther Dominator with laminate stock and then an Alutec one, which I used at Kelmarsh.

ST:
What kind of scope do you use ? What are your scope settings - AO, magnification and on what distance you have zero? - If it is not the secret.
Greg Morss:
For scopes I use either a Sightron 10x42 SIII with MMD reticle, which I think is a near-perfect HFT scope, or a Nightforce NXS 2.5-10x32, which is a lot more expensive but much more rugged. The Nightforce does not have adjustable parallax so has had the lens group moved out the hard way, using heat and a lathe chuck! It is set about 23 yards and I use a 25 yard zero with mag set at 10x. If Leupold made the Mk4 with 10x instead of 8.7, then I would probably have one of those.

ST:
What is in your opinion ideal rifle and scope for HFT?

 Greg Morss:
I think the support you get from the stock on the Walther Alutec, especially the long fore-end/hamster, combined with the light weight from using the Junior alu cylinder, makes it almost ideal. The rifle is a bit sensitive to temperature shift though, you have to be careful not to take it on a cold course straight from a warm house! Like all target rifles though, they are not designed for working in the dirt, and the Daystate as a hunting rifle is better there. For scopes, if the Sightron had lockable turrets and a 32mm objective it would be near perfect, due to its mildot reticle with half-mildot marks.

 ST:
What kind of pellet do you use and how do you prepare it?
Greg Morss:
I use AA Field Diabolo 8.4gr in the Alutec as it gives me tighter groups than the JSB Exact. Strangely, in the Laminate Walther the same pellet needs more holdover, so I prefer the Exact in that rifle. I use pellets straight from the tin, unless testing over a chrono for performance. Although possibly you might lose one shot in 50 due to a very over-light or over-heavy pellet, I think there are other things that have a much bigger effect, like being steady on the shot.

ST:
Paweł, who was with youin the same group told us about your great shooting technique. Do you practise any other shooting sports? How long did you train before the World Championships? How your training looks like?
Greg Morss:
I think Pawel's technique was pretty good too! He was very consistent. I have shot a LOT of HFT in the last year, over 70 different events, some in our Scottish league and also all the UK National events and some of the English regional events. Being exposed to as many different courses and especially different targets as possible, benefits the shooter in the UK; it's all good practise. When not shooting competitions, I practice on a farm in Scotland with my own knockover targets.
This was my 2nd WHFT event, though I was still very new to the sport last year; I don't shoot any other types of gun.

ST:
How do you find the range to the target - by eye, blurring or bracketing?
Greg Morss:
Over time I have used all types of rangefinding, but I find with experience now I use estimation by eye mostly. Recently I have started to use the blur at 45 compared to 40 on the Nightforce; I never did before - this sort of thing changes as you learn more. In particular I think rangefinding by bracketing the kill zone is dangerous, as a lot of English clubs have many custom unusual targets!

ST:
What are your plans for the near future?
Greg Morss:
This year I will continue to shoot the Scottish league and the national UK events. I may try some FT shoots put on by my club Dunfermline, but using the Walther and scope as it is! If the Euro event is run again in Poland and does not clash with a major UK event I would like to try that, as your stainless steel targets look beautiful!

ST:
Did you see the Polish shooters on the course. How would you rate their level? Did anything surprise you in their shooting techniques or it is quite similar to yours (Islanders)?
Greg Morss:
I did only see Pawel shoot and he was very steady and consistent. He was obviously not nervous in the shootoff and that was greatly to his credit. As a team, Scotland were looking to beat the Polish this time around after the last three years! We very nearly did, and I think your national performance must have improved as much as ours.
If I hadn't missed that stupid easy kneeling shot, then we would have tied, and Scotland won because of my score....Next year!