New to BR

D

Dirty Harry

Guest
I am attempting to get into benchrest shooting but have a couple of questions before I order a custom rifle.

1. What is the usual distance fired for competition?
2. What is the best caliber to use for competition shooting?
3. Has anyone heard of Bruno's in Phoenix, AZ? I am considering having him build my rifle.

These are just a few to start with. Thanks

Harry
 
That’s good to hear… a new BR shooter! Welcome and good luck!

The range is most often 100 and 200 yards, with 300 yds shot some. There are 600 yd and 1000 yd shoots but they are most often referred to as long range BR.

Assuming you are shooting 100-200-300 yds, the best caliber to start with is the 6ppc. It is the easiest for a beginner to deal with, and be competitive with.

Bruno will make you a fine rifle. He has made many.

Rick Graham
 
Is there is a range or ranges in reasonable driving distance that holds BR matches? This is the first thing you must find out. If there is then go to one of their matches and introduce yourself. Most likely they will not be holding anymore matches until next spring, if so contact the club manager and have him put you in contact with some of the BR shooters.

Do they have score matches or group matches or both ? This will determine your new rifle's caliber and weight.
 
Harry,
As a new shooter ,Welcome.................But before you buy your gun
ask around, if you want to shoot group a 6mm would be best, but if you want to shoot Score you might consider a 30 BR. Most folks that start with a 6mm or 6ppc wish that they had bought a 30 cal after they go to there first match. Good Luck...
 
No matter what gun you decide on Lester Bruno is a great choice as the gunsmith. He built mine and does all my barrels for it. Great folks to deal with, and hope some day to make it to Arizona and pay them a visit!!!!!
 
Thanks for the tips gents. It does look as though I will be going with the 6mm PPC. I will be shooting mostly groups with the BR guys out at Ben Avery here in Phoenix. Indeed Lester Bruno is top of the line and he has a great store. Real friendly family run place. He helped me out allot with what I needed and will have my rifle ready in a week or so. He has several to build ahead of me.

Those 6mm PPC are really cute little buggers eh?

Thanks again
Harry
 
Dirty Harry said:
Those 6mm PPC are really cute little buggers eh?

Harry
Click to expand...


And to make it even MORE cute, if you're into varminting, it'll run rings around a 22-250 with light bullets! It'll do anything that the 22-250 will do with 55gr varmint bullets, BETTER! It's small, it's cute, but it's a real hotrod. Never forget that it'll push a 55gr Nosler Ballistic Tip 100fps FASTER than the 22-250 and with much greater accuracy. And only uses 2/3 the powder.

al
 
Starting in benchrest

Some 15 years ago when I was building my first benchrest rifle Lester Bruno took his time giving me advice ower the phone (I live in Iceland ). His advice was building a LV rifle in 6PPC. It is always possible to go from there by having a switch barrel and weight system to make it HV and now one can have another .30 cal BR or PPC barrel for score shooting. I followed his advice and whenever I didnt quite agree with him it turned out he was right and I was wrong. I think this advice is still valid. Since then I have bought tens of thousands dollars worth of barrels bullets scopes etc. and never had any problems dealing with him or his daughter Amy. If you have a LV 6PPC you can compeat in all classes with it and as Lester said " if you can shoot a LV rifle you can also shoot with a HV rifle if you choose later to built one."
So my advice is to just follow his advice.

BA
 
6 br

I wouldn't count out the 6 MM BR Remington/Norma. It will shoot right there with the 6PPC or better, with out forming cases. It's being used successfully out to 1,000 yards. Mine shoots in the low 2's (that's tenths, not inches) at 200 yards.

http://www.6mmbr.com/6mmbr.html#6BRVarmint
 
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Harry,
I have some advice for you. Buy preprepped brass from Lester. Turning necks is a pitn. Buying preprepped brass makes loading for the PPC practically the same as loading for a factory cartridge.
 
Twud,
With all due respect, the 6BR is an excellent round that is well proven in 600 and 1000 yd. competition, but for 1-200 yd, there is only one caliber to start with, the 6 PPC. As to fire forming, since most shooters load at matches, 20 cases will last a new shooter quite a while. Fire forming that many at a time is really no big deal. As you know, this is a very technical sport. If fire forming a few cases poses much of a problem, I wonder if a shooter is ready to make the step.

Dirty Harry,
The best advice that I can give, given that you already have located one of the several available good gunsmiths for our sport, is to try to find a mentor to help you learn the basics of Benchrest, also there are some books worth reading. To get you started with your study program, here is a link to a rather comprehensive article that the Swedish Benchrest Association has available on their web site. The author is a well known American shooter, and Benchrest Hall of Fame member. His advice is some of the best in print.
http://www.benchrest.se/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=51&Itemid=69

BTW I believe that Lester Bruno has the second highest number of HOF points, which should tell you something of the quality of his advice.
 
Thanks again gents. I will of course be reloading the 6mPPC ammo but am having difficulty finding bullets. Do the bullets have to be designated as 6mmPPC or will any
6mm bullet work?

BTW, I am having trouble navigating this site. Keep getting that "cannot display webpage" message when attempting to post or just browse the site. Anybody else having this experience?

Harry
 
You can get everything you need from Bruno's. Bullets, powder, primers, preprepped brass, seater die, loading tools, etc. Make it easy on yourself.
 
Hello,
Welcome to Benchrest and Benchrest Central. Wilbur runs a outstanding site here.

Go to this site's home page and on the left, click on bullets and there are several custom bullet makers and suppliers listed. Do not start with production/factory type bullets.

There are many different types of bullets you can try and they fall into a couple of catagories.

1. Flat base - in either single Ogive (same taper from start to tip), Double radius (double ogive, another words, usually starts out around a 7 and then goes steeper to something like a 11 Ogive). Also, these come with different shank diameters, usually anywhere from a .243 to a .2439 (this will make a difference in your turned brass overall diameter)

2. Boat Tails - These also come in the same type of configurations as above. (ie: differnet Ogive's and shank diameters)

I've shot them all and the selection and quality of bullets that are available is outstanding. I would initially recommend staying with a single Ogive ( a 7, 8, or 9 Ogive) These seem a little easier to tune but some say move around in the wind a little more. Boattails have become very popular the last few years.

I would hate to tell you to buy from someone in particular and the reason why is I have about 10 different types of bullets at home and all seem to shoot better than I can. I would pick one Boattail and one Faltbase as some barrels will seem to prefer one over the other.

PM me if you want, and I'll send you my phone number and you can call and I'll go over some details about the different bullets that are out there and the setup.

Hovis
 
crb said:
You can get everything you need from Bruno's. Bullets, powder, primers, preprepped brass, seater die, loading tools, etc. Make it easy on yourself.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have dropped a nice chunk of change at Lester's place. I bought a bullet called "The Wedge" from him and will be starting with those. However, I just wanted to know if the PPC designation is a specific requirement for the 6mmPPC cartridge or will any 6mm bullet work?

Thanks
Harry
 
HovisKM said:
Hello,
PM me if you want, and I'll send you my phone number and you can call and I'll go over some details about the different bullets that are out there and the setup.

Hovis
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will do just that should it become necessary. I still have a week to go before I get the rifle and I need that before I can start any serious reloading in order to measure for seating depth/OAL.

Thanks
Harry
 
Dirty Harry said:
I just wanted to know if the PPC designation is a specific requirement for the 6mmPPC cartridge or will any 6mm bullet work?

Thanks
Harry
Click to expand...

For a 6PPC the bullet is a 6mm.
PPC is the chamber dimension spec.
 
Bullets

Any 6mm bullet will fit in any 6mm bore. However, depending on the twist of your rifle heavy bullets may not shoot well in your twist. I shoot 75 grain bullets in a 1/12 twist. 105 grain bullets would not shoot well at all. Heavier and longer bullets require a faster twist to stabilize them.
The closer to the ideal twist for any bullet will only improve accuracy. Only problem here is that you need to pick a bullet before the barrel is rifled.
As I recall you wanted to punch paper at long range, you'll want to use a heavier bullet, short range a lighter bullet. You can always get a second barrel made for the gun. You can always push a light bullet with a faster twist as long as you dont go over board. Check out www.burgerbullets.com.
They list the ideal twist for every weight bullet they sell.
My 1/12 twist is a tweener. I can shoot 85 grain hunting bullets or 68 grain target pills.
If you bought Bart's Wedge bullets they are probably 68's and would shoot best in a 1/14.
 
Twud said:
Any 6mm bullet will fit in any 6mm bore. However, depending on the twist of your rifle heavy bullets may not shoot well in your twist. I shoot 75 grain bullets in a 1/12 twist. 105 grain bullets would not shoot well at all. Heavier and longer bullets require a faster twist to stabilize them.
The closer to the ideal twist for any bullet will only improve accuracy. Only problem here is that you need to pick a bullet before the barrel is rifled.
As I recall you wanted to punch paper at long range, you'll want to use a heavier bullet, short range a lighter bullet. You can always get a second barrel made for the gun. You can always push a light bullet with a faster twist as long as you dont go over board. Check out www.burgerbullets.com.
They list the ideal twist for every weight bullet they sell.
My 1/12 twist is a tweener. I can shoot 85 grain hunting bullets or 68 grain target pills.
If you bought Bart's Wedge bullets they are probably 68's and would shoot best in a 1/14.
Click to expand...

That would be www.bergerbullets.com

:)


al
 
6mm bullets

Bruno will no doubt buld your rifle with 1:13 or 1:14 twist barrel. Any bullet in the 60gr -70 gr range will work for you. I agree with previous post that any custom bullet will work for you but for a start I would just buy a few hundred 68 gr flat base bullets from Bruno load it with 28 gr of Kemira N-133 and go from there. 28 gr of that powder will give you about 3300 fps from a 24 inch long barrel without excessive pressure.
 
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