Build your perfect SR Score rifle

A

Al Nyhus

"It'll never work!"
If you could build your perfect SR Score rifle for registered tournaments, what would it be and why? Whether it's one you currently have and would duplicate or your dream build, lets hear about it.

Forget the budget..let's have some fun with this. Looking forward to your replies.

Good shootin' :) -Al
 
I'm not sure I'd change a thing from what I have. A couple of Borden Rimrocks in the Borden/Adamowitz(sp) style stocks(still my favorite), a very good old Jewell trigger and a GREAT barrel. Call me happy with that. As for cartridge, I believe a 30BR and 30 Major are a coin toss and there are other obscure wildcats that are probably just as suitable.. Of course, 13.5lbs 30 cal for IBS/NBRSA. Oh, almost forgot the scope. Hard to beat a NF 15-55 but there are certainly other great options, especially in a 13.5lb build.
Then there's UBR score shooting too! Biggest difference is caliber neutral and right now, the 22's are looking like the way to go. The 30s, 6s and now the 22s have all had their days in that game. Seems to come down to great bullets and bbls. Go figure! The more things change, the more they stay the same.
 
I would just take my HV rifle from last season, a BAT B in a TMBR stock, and put a 24" HV 30BR barrel on it with a tuner and shoot both score and group club matches with it. Being able to preload and shoot any local match are big plusses.
 
How about a Mack Bros action in a Meredith Stock, Shilen trigger. The March 40-60 scope with the smallest dot I can get. Since I like RRR's this would do me. :)

What I do have is a 13.5 lb Rimrock M RLR in a Meredith stock, 15-55 Night force, 30 BR. This is my second Rimrock M RLR. The other was in a beautiful Robertson r/w stock, One of two of the many BR rifles I have owned that I regret selling.
 
Al Nyhus said:
If you could build your perfect SR Score rifle for registered tournaments, what would it be and why? Whether it's one you currently have and would duplicate or your dream build, lets hear about it.

Forget the budget..let's have some fun with this. Looking forward to your replies.

Good shootin' :) -Al
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Al -

Howdy !

I enjoy wildcatting and experimenting. I think a really accurate .358"calibre rifle could be a lot of fun !

I've got a custom 22" SS .358" cal 5-groove that made for me by Red Scherer of North Manchester, IN back in 1977. I had SSK Industries chamber the barrel in my ".358AutoMag " wildcat. They simply used their .357AutoMag reamer along with a pilot bushing for the 358" cal barrel.
The wildcat was simple to form, as it is only a .001" increase in bullet diam. The stock Hornady .357AutoMag die set simply needed a switch to use of a .358"'cal seater stem, and Hornady also sent me a custom small base .308 die; just in case I would need it.

J.D. Jones threaded the barrel to fit my Wichita WBR1375 ( S/N 15 ), and range work was performed with the barrelled action bedded in a -70's Bishop walnut/walnut laminate stock. I used a Rem 700 trigger converted to 2oz by Ken Burns. I think at the time, I had a 32X B & L on the gun.

Things were looking quite promising, right up to the point where my original bag of 500 Remingtom
.358"cal 150 PSPs ran out. Those bullets are plated, and obturate to fill the bore really, really well.
I supplanted with Cutting Edge .358"cal turned brass 150gr Extended Rang " Raptor " bullets.
Other wildcat projects for my use in shooting groundhog and for use in 100,300,500yd groundhog and egg shoots have temporarily idled my .358" cal accuracy work.

I also have a Marlin M-336XLR .35Remington that has a 24" SS barrel w/ 12-groove " Ballard " rifling that is just stupid accurate. It came from within the last 2yr of production @ the CT factory. Would love to hit an egg @ 500 with it, one day. It'd be fun to take to a score shoot, fer sher ! I can imagine the reaction seeing the XLR would ellicit from the pro's !

I'll try to send some pics....
With regards,
.357Mag
 

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Al Nyhus said:
If you could build your perfect SR Score rifle for registered tournaments, what would it be and why? Whether it's one you currently have and would duplicate or your dream build, lets hear about it.

Forget the budget..let's have some fun with this. Looking forward to your replies.

Good shootin' :) -Al
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Al -

Here's a pic showing my " .358AutoMag " wildcat, with an example Cutting Edge .358" cal turned-brass 150gr Extended Range " Raptor " bullet along side. Lapua brass shown, but I also formed cases on Norma 7BR basic.

With regards,
357Mag
 

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.357Mag said:
Al -

Here's a pic showing my " .358AutoMag " wildcat, with an example Cutting Edge .358" cal turned-brass 150gr Extended Range " Raptor " bullet along side. Lapua brass shown, but I also formed cases on Norma 7BR basic.

With regards,
357Mag
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Hi, Could you shoot that for 5 matches, 5 targets on each match, with 1 shoot in each 10 ring? That's 25 shoots for record. Plus sighters. 200y the 10 ring is about 1". Hunter class target red.
 
zippy06 said:
Hi, Could you shoot that for 5 matches, 5 targets on each match, with 1 shoot in each 10 ring? That's 25 shoots for record. Plus sighters. 200y the 10 ring is about 1". Hunter class target red.
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Yeah, recoil and quality custom bullets are the two biggest reasons we don't see more people playing with things like that or maybe a 338BR, or similar. A standard 30BR is somewhere very near max practical recoil in a gun built for true accuracy, and that's only with premium bullets that are up to the task.
 
zippy06 said:
Hi, Could you shoot that for 5 matches, 5 targets on each match, with 1 shoot in each 10 ring? That's 25 shoots for record. Plus sighters. 200y the 10 ring is about 1". Hunter class target red.
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Zippy -

Howdy !

Yeh...I could shoot it. Now...how well might I do ?!

As I mentioned in my initial post, I like to wildcat and experiment. Shooting example scores like you describe, would be a dream fer sher. I'd show up, and try to do my best, regardless.

The .358" cal brass bullet shown weighs 150gr, and not 180 or 200gr; and that helps limit recoil forces. If you plot popular " benchrest " bullets weights per calibre, as the calibes increase in diameter; the bullet weights go up too. The 150gr wt in .358" cal plots out pretty well when extrapolating from a 65gr 6mm bullet through 115gr .308" on out to 150gr .358" cal. In bullet weights available for use in .358" cal, 150gr is pretty close to ideal for 100 -300gr target work ( IMHO ).

In my .358AutoMag wildcat ( in my gun ), a charge of 24.0 gr WW296 shot really well. I'm not very recoil tolerant myself, but will say that I did not find the wildcat's recoil objectionable.
Not for the everyone, no doubt.

Al said.... " lets have some fun ! "

With regards,
357Mag
 
All -

Went back and re-read the previous responses, and note that I did not read Zippy's comments carefully enough ( i.e. can't watch " Yellowstone " and respond to posts at the same time ! )

No... I could ( myself ) not accomplish the exacting level of performance or accuracy that Zippy
described. Probably not with any gun. I could " shoot it " and provide some level of accuracy, but
I do not intend to claim or otherwise intimate I could " run with the big dogs ", and that includes if I were shooting the .358" cal wildcat I described. Shooting in a competition has helped me try my best, and offers an opportunity for me to grow in knowledge; including things like wildcat load refinement.

You highly knowledgeable and skilled shooters( winners ) have my respect and admiration, for your many times stellar accomplishments ! My participation at a shoot would present no unusual challenges to you guys.


Best of luck in your endeavors !


With regards,
357Mag
 
I already have the best benchrest rifle in America (probably the world)! It was built by a gentleman named Jim Borden and consists of a BAT Model S action with BAT rings, Jewel trigger, Kreiger 17tw barrel, all riding in a gorgeous Robertson BRX stock. The fact that it was built by Jim with a BAT action is story in itself, for another day, and a tribute to what a gentleman he is.

Having reached that twilight zone referred to as octogenarian, it wouldn't bother me a bit to put a 6PPC barrel on it and get rid of a bunch of recoil. The last couple years I have gone to full "free recoil" and when I'm paying attention it has improved my scores. But it smacks the shoulder pretty well and, quite frankly, is not as much fun to shoot.

I have two 6PPC guns already. One is a beauty built by Jim Borden with one of his fine Rimrock actions in an LV configuration with a BRX stock. It will shoot the bejezus out of a score target if I get the right load on the right day and read the flags right and don't touch anything ... but I'm too old and clumsy for most of that ritual. The 6PPC is the most enjoyable cartridge I've ever reloaded and now that I'm getting some loads worked out using IMR8208 and LT-32 I might actually take a serious look at it this season. The other gun is an HV on a BAT S action, Jewell trigger, BAT rings, and Krieger barrel that I got piecemeal off the internet and Bruce LaChappelle put into a Richard Franklin BR2000 stock I had. I have won a couple of egg shoots with it and believe that it would be a score winner if I followed the same regimen as for the Rimrock.

We are so fortunate today to have the availability of actions, accessories, stocks, bullets and barrels that there are hundreds if not thousands of great rifles out there. I tell my friends who don't understand why I'm not world champion with all these rifles I have that anyone with a few bucks can go buy a Dale Earnhardt race car, but that doesn't mean they can drive it. Next year will be 25 years and I'm still studying on the driving part.
 
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