P
pbike
Guest
I talked to Gene Beggs this morning. I felt I needed to call him. When tuners came to the scene for center fire, Dad and I sat back and let a few people tinker with them and try the waters. It was a few years before the rules were in place in order to be able to use them in Competition, and yet be able to adjust them when needed.
Last year at the local matches we pretty much had our hats handed to us by Larry Feusse and Matt Guthrie, both using the Beggs tuner. The rules were now in place to be able to safely adjust them while at the line, and the trials and errors phase was to the point that we knew the Beggs tuner worked and worked well.
This past winter we had Larry Feusse install the Beggs tuners on our VFS rifles. Through the spring and into the summer we have been competing with the tuners. Larry is still beating us, but the Gap has been narrowed, he is not beating our rifles tune, he is beating our wind reading skills or lack of. It is obvious that the tuners have helped our VFS guns. They are cut rifled barrels, and they are threaded 1" back from the muzzle at .875 x 28 TPI.
I have set up a small shop at my house and am at the point now that I can cut, crown, and chamber my own barrels, and other odd jobs. Knowing that the tuner works, and that it is legal in IBS hunter/varmint hunter class, I had to find out the best way to fit a tuner to our hunter taper barrels. The muzzle end on our Hunter barrels measure near .800 Diameter, too small for the Beggs threads. I called Gene to see if he made a tuner with a smaller inside diameter to fit hunter tapered barrels. The demand is not there yet for him to produce that size. However he explained that I could turn my barrel at the muzzle for about an inch, and then make a sleeve to have a nice fit over the turned portion and glue it on with 271 locktite. Once glued I could I could turn the sleeve down to .875 od and thread at 28 TPI. Ok now we had a plan. It worked just as Gene said it would. When aligning the barrel in the spider to make the cut, I fitted it with a .2996 pilot on a Pacific Range rod. The .2998 pilot was too tight, and the .2994 pilot was too loose. After setting it up and making the cut, still the .2996 was the pilot that fit best. I don’t know if Bill Calfee would agree with turning the cut rifled barrel like we did, but the barrels dimension there did not change any amount that would change my set up. The fit, the finish, the function... It all worked.
I don't know if the Varmint Hunter class IBS Score nationals have ever been won before with a rifle fitted with a tuner, but this year, the same gun with a Beggs tuner won the VH 100, VH 200 and the VH Grand. I believe that is a first.
Larry Feusse was only at the Nationals for the VFS phase, I noticed he too was using the Beggs tuner, and he too did very well.
Thanks go out to Gene
Paul
Last year at the local matches we pretty much had our hats handed to us by Larry Feusse and Matt Guthrie, both using the Beggs tuner. The rules were now in place to be able to safely adjust them while at the line, and the trials and errors phase was to the point that we knew the Beggs tuner worked and worked well.
This past winter we had Larry Feusse install the Beggs tuners on our VFS rifles. Through the spring and into the summer we have been competing with the tuners. Larry is still beating us, but the Gap has been narrowed, he is not beating our rifles tune, he is beating our wind reading skills or lack of. It is obvious that the tuners have helped our VFS guns. They are cut rifled barrels, and they are threaded 1" back from the muzzle at .875 x 28 TPI.
I have set up a small shop at my house and am at the point now that I can cut, crown, and chamber my own barrels, and other odd jobs. Knowing that the tuner works, and that it is legal in IBS hunter/varmint hunter class, I had to find out the best way to fit a tuner to our hunter taper barrels. The muzzle end on our Hunter barrels measure near .800 Diameter, too small for the Beggs threads. I called Gene to see if he made a tuner with a smaller inside diameter to fit hunter tapered barrels. The demand is not there yet for him to produce that size. However he explained that I could turn my barrel at the muzzle for about an inch, and then make a sleeve to have a nice fit over the turned portion and glue it on with 271 locktite. Once glued I could I could turn the sleeve down to .875 od and thread at 28 TPI. Ok now we had a plan. It worked just as Gene said it would. When aligning the barrel in the spider to make the cut, I fitted it with a .2996 pilot on a Pacific Range rod. The .2998 pilot was too tight, and the .2994 pilot was too loose. After setting it up and making the cut, still the .2996 was the pilot that fit best. I don’t know if Bill Calfee would agree with turning the cut rifled barrel like we did, but the barrels dimension there did not change any amount that would change my set up. The fit, the finish, the function... It all worked.
I don't know if the Varmint Hunter class IBS Score nationals have ever been won before with a rifle fitted with a tuner, but this year, the same gun with a Beggs tuner won the VH 100, VH 200 and the VH Grand. I believe that is a first.
Larry Feusse was only at the Nationals for the VFS phase, I noticed he too was using the Beggs tuner, and he too did very well.
Thanks go out to Gene
Paul
