New shooter looking for guidance with equipment

Z

Zavco

Guest
I apologize in advance if I have posted this in the wrong section. I am looking at starting to shoot benchrest in light varmint. For the past year I have been putting together stuff to start shooting competitively. I purchased a used early rr Farley originally built by Bob Brackney from a shop on the east coast. I was told it was a good gun that should be competitive. It came with 2 Kreiger barrels, one with a low round count (less than 200) and the second around 800. My assumption was that Mr Brackney is a well respected gunsmith, this would be a reasonable starter rifle. I took the gun to my local smith that has built many precision rifles. He used to be a benchrest shooter but stopped shooting competitively about 10 years ago. Well my smith just gave me some not great news and this is were I need the advice. The low round barrel was scoped and the muzzle would need to be recrowned, the chamber is reasonable. One removed from the action the threading was discovered to be seriously problematic. His assessment was that this barrel has no hope of good accuracy even correcting the muzzle issue. The high round count barrel is threaded properly, muzzle in good shape but the chamber is showing issues. The stock is a glue in and screw in design. The action was slightly loose in the stock and he recommended that we remove the action and rebed / reglue. The stock also has been worked from original. The aluminum pillars were cut off and kind off filled in with bedding material. He has serious concerns about the stock. The action looks pretty good.
My concerns are as follows. From my perspective it looks like I bought just an action and a Jewell trigger (for far too much money). I anticipated replacing the barrel but the stock was a total shock. I bought this gun as a learning gun and I have learned a lot already without even firing a shot, all of it not so great. Is it worth restocking and rebarreling? Part of me says this is ridiculous and I should just forget the whole thing, turn it into a varmit gun and forget this benchrest idea. To shoot benchrest how much more money will I have to put into this rifle to make it shoot well? I did find a used Kelby club stock. Is this a good stock?
Just for the record I am not blaming this on the original smith. I am sure it was a great rifle once but has been altered many times by someone with less skill. My attempted entry into the benchrest game has been rough and I havnt even fired a shot! The other question I have is with regard to clambering. My smith has 6 ppc reamers with 262 neck but wonders if benchrest clambering has changed in the last few years? I am considering a new Kreiger barrel but what twist rate shoul I get? I am looking at shooting Berger column with lt32 powder.
 
What I can

For sure give as solid info is that there are Matches held in Billings.

Most of the guys from Billings or who shoot there are not big travellers. I know Justin Young, Paul Holland from a few that travel the Big Fork area, and Rodney Brown from Sheridan Wyoming are a few that travel and shoot a fair bit. You will not go wrong there.

What I would be/may be skeptical about is that the barrels you have were ever done by Bob. From what I know he is well respected in Arizona and area. What you say about the stock outside of a loose glue in I could not see that as well.

The initial rifle in whatever configuration it was in the day may have originated from him but after that who knows. There are good guys that know what the game requires and then there are hacks.

JMO. Sometimes pictures also assist with explaining.

Calvin
 
Bob Brackney

Bob is one of the top benchrest gunsmiths in the country. Nothing leaves his shop that is less than perfect. I know Bob personally and he would never do a barrel that was loose on the action. As for your RR Farley, I had a used one many years ago that shot as well as any rifle that I ever had. I did have to send it back and have the firing pin hole bushed - that was when Jim Farley was doing all the work. Before I had the bushing done, the ignition was sporadic and about 1 out of a dozen shots would be "flyers" (shots way out of the group) . I suspect that was the reason that the gun was sold. I used up several barrels on that gun. Any used bench gun that you buy probably has at least twice the rounds on it than what the seller says. with any used gun you can assume that the barrel is shot out. Good luck on your benchrest adventure.
 
One of the big selling points for me was the original work by Bob Brackney. I have been lurking around the benchrest sites for years and even though I have never met Bob, I respect his work. I would like to be crystal clear, I am positive that Bob Brackney hasn't seen this rifle for years. Others people have worked on this rifle and they have a different skill set than Mr. Brackney! It looks like I have learned an expensive lesson. The question I have is, is it even salvageable? My sense is that my attempted foray into benchrest has been a bust. It is of course my own fault.
Thanks,
Rick
 
Farley RR

give me the serial number of your action. I will see Bob tomorrow and give it to him. I am sure he has the sn of every gun he has worked on. I will see him again next Thursday. We shoot every Thursday at Ben Avery. The Cactus Classic match is this weekend. I am not shooting but will be out there later today and tomorrow.


If it was my gun, I would take it out and shoot it. You never know until you try it! Lester Bruno set a world record many years ago with a barrel that moved almost a half inch at the muzzle until the very last thread. He didn't think it would shoot at all.
 
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I think somebody already asked this question but I'll ask again. How does the rifle shoot right now?

Yes, it would be good if it were perfect but perfect doesn't mean it would shoot competitively. Tighten up the action screws and shoot a few groups. You make the determination if it's safe to shoot.

Your choice of powder and bullets may work well but it's not always that a competitor can choose such. Let the rifle tell you what it likes to shoot rather than you trying to tell it what to shoot. Don't do as I did....just sayin'.

What I'm trying to say here is that you should believe in your rifle until it proves otherwise. At that point, you have some rather expensive choices to make.
 
I'm with Francis, most any stock can be fixed to be serviceable. If you do your own work, it won't cost much. The important thing for a newbie is to just go out and shoot and start learning. All the experts had their first time also, so just go do it.

Welcome, and best of luck,
Keith
 
I'll add my part with those who are saying go shoot it before you do anything else. I don't anything about your local smith. He might be the greatest or again, he might be looking for work. That sounds like a lot of problems to me. Go shoot it first.

Rick
 
Order Tony Boyer's book on benchrest. While you are waiting for it, make you some wind flags, at least 3, preferable 5. Put the newest barrel back on, then use Tonys "matrix" method to develop a load. Start with good benchrest bullets and good brass.

Put the action back in the stock and torque the screws to about 50-75 inch/pounds. Even without regluing, it should shoot 3 shot groups in the mid-upper twos most times.. If it looks promising. you can reglue it yourself if you want it glued. An action, while gluing eliminates some potentials, if it has been glued before, it is bedded.

As to the recrown?? Is that the new barrel? The threads, how do they look compared to the older barrel?

Post your gluing, crowning, etc questions on the gunsmith forum below.

Can you post some photos of the crown and threads?

Some funny stuff here, IMO!!


.
 
Unless the stock is broke, what would keep you from just re-gluing it? Heck, Years ago I took a Lee Six Stock that was originally made for a Panda and glued a Farley into it, and it worked great. Your gunsmith should be able to do something with what you have.

As for the barrel, if there is something wrong with the thread, just chop it off and treat the barrel like a new, but shorter, blank. The barrel on my LV is on it's third set back, where I did chop the entire thread off and just re-did the whole thing. It's down to 19 3/4 inches, but It shoots great.

As for the reamer, I consider the .262 neck old tech. Many of us have been using a .269, even a .270 neck for years. The Lapua 220 Russian case has plenty of stock. The only reason to use a .262 when just starting out is if you like making a lot of brass shavings.
 
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I've seen this before someone sells a used rifle saying so and so did the work. What that means is that it may have had something done to it in his shop. It doesn't necessarily mean that he built the rifle. Someone bought a rifle that I was supposed to have built. I looked up the invoice on the rifle and what I had done was open up the chamber on a 6 BR Remington with a reamer made for Lapua brass. Very minimal work and hardly building the rifle. A little bit after the fact but when someone says the rifle was built by someone, in this case Bob, call him before you buy it and find out exactly what he did. Like a lot of the others mention, I consider a used barrel as probably needing to be replaced. If it has life left in it, great. Shoot the rest of it out learning. I know some people can tell you to the round how many rounds a barrel has down it. I've tried keeping up with that on a few benchrest barrels, but it's not in my nature to keep up with it. It takes fastidious record keeping to keep track of exact round count on a barrel. I can't even keep up with how many matches a barrel has on it. As long as the barrel shoots and does well I keep on shooting it. When it's giving way more groups in the two's than in the ones, I put a new barrel on it.
 
You should send it to bob himself. No matter whats been butchered on it in the past i assure you he can fix it like it should be. Nothing can be wrong with the stock bad enough it cant be fixed. Worst case youll pay for a real brackney chamber job and a real br quality bed job with the latest reamers. Nothing wrong with the 262nk and the style from 10yrs ago still apply we just use thicker necks now for the most part. At least if you send it to bob youll know its done right this time and youll know he actually did it- its a mental thing.
 
Deja Vu

Zavco said:
I apologize in advance if I have posted this in the wrong section. I am looking at starting to shoot benchrest in light varmint. For the past year I have been putting together stuff to start shooting competitively. I purchased a used early rr Farley originally built by Bob Brackney from a shop on the east coast. I was told it was a good gun that should be competitive. It came with 2 Kreiger barrels, one with a low round count (less than 200) and the second around 800. My assumption was that Mr Brackney is a well respected gunsmith, this would be a reasonable starter rifle. I took the gun to my local smith that has built many precision rifles. He used to be a benchrest shooter but stopped shooting competitively about 10 years ago. Well my smith just gave me some not great news and this is were I need the advice. The low round barrel was scoped and the muzzle would need to be recrowned, the chamber is reasonable. One removed from the action the threading was discovered to be seriously problematic. His assessment was that this barrel has no hope of good accuracy even correcting the muzzle issue. The high round count barrel is threaded properly, muzzle in good shape but the chamber is showing issues. The stock is a glue in and screw in design. The action was slightly loose in the stock and he recommended that we remove the action and rebed / reglue. The stock also has been worked from original. The aluminum pillars were cut off and kind off filled in with bedding material. He has serious concerns about the stock. The action looks pretty good.
My concerns are as follows. From my perspective it looks like I bought just an action and a Jewell trigger (for far too much money). I anticipated replacing the barrel but the stock was a total shock. I bought this gun as a learning gun and I have learned a lot already without even firing a shot, all of it not so great. Is it worth restocking and rebarreling? Part of me says this is ridiculous and I should just forget the whole thing, turn it into a varmit gun and forget this benchrest idea. To shoot benchrest how much more money will I have to put into this rifle to make it shoot well? I did find a used Kelby club stock. Is this a good stock?
Just for the record I am not blaming this on the original smith. I am sure it was a great rifle once but has been altered many times by someone with less skill. My attempted entry into the benchrest game has been rough and I havnt even fired a shot! The other question I have is with regard to clambering. My smith has 6 ppc reamers with 262 neck but wonders if benchrest clambering has changed in the last few years? I am considering a new Kreiger barrel but what twist rate shoul I get? I am looking at shooting Berger column with lt32 powder.
Click to expand...



A used Benchrest Rifle with issues. My first Benchrest Rifle was a 30 "Fat Albert". It was a learning experience to get past that first purchase,with the help of some trusted mentors, (Stewart's Advice). The silver lining in your case is, its happening at the beginning of a life long addiction, that's sure to come. I've had issues with a brand new Rifle as well as used Rifles. The good news is,anything can be fixed or replaced. Try to get to a Benchrest match in the upcoming future. You will get a renewed interest in the sport and tons of valuable ideas.


Glenn
 
RR Farley

I spoke with Bob about 2 hours ago at the Cactus match. He will look up the sn you gave me. I will see him again on thursday and let you know what he did to that gun.
 
First of all, thank you to all who have replied. At least I don't feel like I am on a desert island! I have a used Leupold 36 power scope being delivered later this week. I will mount it and shoot both barrels to see what I have. If I can get it to shoot less tha .250 I will use it to start to learn to read the wind.
This brings me to my next questions. Recommendations for wind flags, vendor and amount required? How about a gunsmith who specializes in benchrest. My preference would be Mr. Brackney if I can afford it. I will need a proper barrel sooner than later.
I would also like to try to rebed and reglue the stock. What compounds should I use? Marine Tex and J b weld come to mind? Recommendations?

Once again, thank you to you all.

Rick,
 
Rick,

I've just sent you a PM with my contact info. Give me a call. We actually have a pretty active group of new shooters coming up in the Billings area. I already work of several of them and would be happy to help you get through this issue, and help you get a good start in Benchrest.

Rod Brown
 
RR farley

I spoke with Bob about an hour ago. He went thru all his records and said that the Farley with the serial number you provided, has never been in his shop!
If it were me, I would contact the seller and discuss it with him. Using the name of a very well respected gunsmith to sell a gun "below that gunsmiths standards" is ethically and morally wrong.
 
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