Grunig & Elmiger RACER World Champion Small Bore Rifles are coming to the U.S.

[Albert's]

Grunig & Elmiger Racer’s ARA Match

Saturday, July 2nd, a 5 target ARA Club Match was held at Wilderness Road Shooting & Conservation Club. The Unlimited Class started at 10:30am with 8 contestants.

It was a clear day with only a few clouds in the sky. The temperature was in the mid 70s and the ground was still wet with the morning dew when Target 1 began. By the end of the 5th target, 2 ½ hrs later, the temperature had risen to the low 90s. The humidity was over 80% and the barometric pressure was steady. The wind was very light and switching. The top wind speed during the match was 4 mph. Most of the time, there wasn’t enough wind to move the wind flags. So it was very difficult to get a read on the condition. To make it even more difficult, as the sun got brighter the dew evaporated off the ground. The mirage was brutal.

The Racer competed in the same configuration as received from the factory with the exception of the addition of a M. Werks scope rail, Leupold MK4 rings, and a March 5-32x52 scope set on 32 power. I used the Fulghum One Piece Rest with an old style Fulghum top with an Edgewood Hunt 2 ¼” bag filled with heavy sand. The Racer tracked perfectly in the rest. The ammunition was Eley Black Box 1049fps.

The Racer won 1st place on 2 of the 5 targets and won the match with a 575 point lead over the 2nd place competitor. So far, the Racer appears to be a contender in Rimfire Benchrest shooting. I will post more information as future matches and more testing is completed.

 

[Fred J]

Who was the operator?

 

[Albert's]

Marc Nachman

 

[Albert's]

A 5 target ARA Club match was held on July 8 at the Gold City Rifle Range in Dahlonega, GA. I decided to shoot the Grunig & Elmiger Racer head to head with my custom Bill Calfee rifle, Trebuchet. It was an evening shoot with a very light left to right wind. In fact, the wind was so light most of the time the tails on the flags barely moved making it difficult to judge the condition. After the sun went down, it was almost like shooting indoors. Doug and David Kenimer have made Gold City a fantastic place to shoot.

Trebuchet has a Turbo action, Baity 6 o’clock firing pin conversion, Bill Pippin benchrest stock and bedding, Jewell trigger, Shilen Octagon barrel, Hoehn tuner, and was built and tuned by Bill Calfee. , Since receiving Trebuchet in April 2011, Trebuchet has won first place in the Tennessee State ARA Championship, third place in the Georgia and Virginia State ARA Championships, seventh place at the PSL Lapua Brawl, and first place in numerous local club matches shooting Eley Black Box 6 machine ammunition. As reported earlier, so far the Racer has competed in and won one local club match.

To some degree it was not a fair contest since the rifles were not designed for the same purpose but Trebuchet is a fantastic benchmark to test rifles and ammunition against. I decided to shoot the Racer in 2 of the matches and Trebuchet in 3 of the matches. The first and second target I used my backup 3 machine Eley Black Box ammunition and the third, fourth, and fifth target for each gun I used my best number one 6 machine Eley Black Box ammunition.

The results are as follows.

Target Rifle Ammunition Score
1 Racer Eley Black Box 3220 1875
2 Trebuchet Eley Black Box 3220 1950
3 Racer Eley Black Box 6034 2075
4 Trebuchet Eley Black Box 6034 2400
5 Trebuchet Eley Black Box 6034 2100

The Racer performed well against Trebuchet. Similar scores were shot by both rifles on target one & two and on target 3 & 5. Target 4 was one of those rare times when the condition, ammo, and rifle all come together to shoot a great score and Trebuchet rose to the occasion.

More matches and further tests will occur over the next few weeks. Jeff from M. Werks is making a 3” benchrest fore stock plate that should automatically align parallel to the barrel in the accessory rail. This should increase the stability while not affecting the tracing in the rest. I will also take the Racer out of the RSIII stock and put it in a McMillan Edge 2013 fiberglass benchrest stock and an Anschutz 2013 walnut benchrest stock to evaluate the Racer’s performance in a factory and custom benchrest stock.

 

[Albert's]

Bad news. The Racer barreled action will not fit in my Anschutz 2013 factory benchrest stock. The screw footprint and everything else is the same but the rear of the Racer action is different than the 2013 action. If the Anschutz factory 2013 benchrest stock was routed it would fit but I don't want to wreck a new Anschutz factory 2013 benchrest stock. Anyone have a suggestion that doesn't require building a custom stock or routing my factory benchrest stock?

Thanks,
Marc

 

[Fred J]

A new stock is in order. Don't screw up the 2013 stock, as it will cost you more to replace it when you want to put your 2013 action back in it.

 

[Lowey]

Albert's
Bad news. The Racer barreled action will not fit in my Anschutz 2013 factory benchrest stock. The screw footprint and everything else is the same but the rear of the Racer action is different than the 2013 action. If the Anschutz factory 2013 benchrest stock was routed it would fit but I don't want to wreck a new Anschutz factory 2013 benchrest stock. Anyone have a suggestion that doesn't require building a custom stock or routing my factory benchrest stock?

Thanks,
Marc

Hi Marc, same as my 2013 prone stock. it takes a little more than just routing out the rear of the stock, the racer is wider at the base than the 2013 and the trigger sits further back and lower than the 2013, the racer trigger blade also sits to the side and needs to be centred to work in the 2013 wood stock

before cutting out the rear

after cutting out the rear, note a bit also needs to be cleared to fit the bolt safety just infront of the handle, the top of the trigger guard also needs to be removed

the trigger blade hanger I made

Hope these help if you decide to go ahead with fitting into the 2013 stock ? The 2013 can still be used in this stock

Cheers
Lowey

 

[Albert's]

Thanks for your help, Lowey. Great looking stock work and the pictures really help. I hope to purchase a used Anscuhtz 2013 Benchrest stock and have the same work done soon. Thanks again. Marc

 

[Albert's]

Racer Competes in First Rimfire Benchrest Match and WINS!!!

The Racer has not seen much action lately because I could not get to track properly in the Fulghum one piece rest and I have been trying to find a suitable custom benchrest stock.

The MWerks fore plate I was using has two lugs that fit into the accessory rail. With two lugs and a little wiggle room, I was not able to align the plate parallel with the barrel. So when the Racer was moved in the rest the point of aim changed in the cross hairs.

I contacted Jeff at MWerks and discussed the problem. Jeff suggested making a full length single lug fitted tightly in the accessory rail. I received the single lug rail and mounted it on the Racer. This eliminated the wiggle room and the alignment problems. Now the point of aim in the cross hairs remains rock steady. To date no other changes have been made to the Racer except the addition of the fore plate and a scope. It is still as received from the factory.

I zeroed the March 5 – 32x52 scope and headed to Kettlefoot Rod & Gun Club to give the Racer a try in the ARA Unlimited 3 target match on Saturday, September 10. This is the first complete match the Racer has competed in since the testing began.

It was foggy and in the upper 50s at the range with very light variable left to right winds. The humidity was over 80%. The first match of the morning, at 10am, was an ARA Sporter 3 target match. About noon the Racer and the other ARA Unlimited guns were brought to the line. By then the fog had burned off, the temperature was in the middle 70s, and the humidity had fallen to below 60%. The wind had picked up to 2 – 10 mph with an average around 4 mph and had become very switchy predominantly right to left winds.

During the match, 30% of the shots were taken with a point of aim between the dot and the 50 ring, 60% of the shots were taken between the 50 and the 25 ring, and 10% of the shots were taken outside the 10 ring in the white area of the target.

I had chosen an exceptional lot of Eley Team ammunition to shoot because it has performed well in Trebuchet, a RB/LP Turbo with a Shilen Octagon Barrel, Jewell Trigger, Pippin Stock, Baity 6 o'clock conversion, smithed by Bill Calfee. The Eley Team did well in Racer too.

There were 10 great competitors for the match. The Racer won the match and also won 2 of the 3 targets with scores of 2025, 2035, and 2175. The agg was 2078.33. This was a great first match with strong competitors in difficult conditions.

It looks like the addition of the MWerks single lug fore plate has helped the Racer become a serious rimfire benchrest competitor right out of the box.

 

[Albert's]

New Furniture for the Racer

The Racer is just back from Master Class Stocks with a custom made full on benchrest stock. Thanks Alex, for an outstanding job.

Testing begins tomorrow. I can't wait.

 

[Joe Friedrich]

Beautiful looking rifle, like the rest also.

Good luck with the testing.

 

[Albert's]

I will also be comparing the racer tuner with a Hoehn tuner. Lynwood Harrell made one for me last month. The muzzle of the Racer is stepped down to 20mm and a stock Hoehn would have been too large. I hope to have done a comparison of the stocks and tuners by the PSL.

 

[Albert's]

Hoehn Tuner

Racer in Master Class benchrest stock with a Hoehn tuner. Test targets were shot at 50 feet to facilitate adjusting the tuner. The target in the picture is the final tuning test target. Five (5) shots at 50'. Today we go to 50 yards.

 

[Albert's]

The Benchrest Racer's First Outting

The weather cooperated this week and I got an opportunity to test the Benchrest Racer outdoor.

Tuesday the wind speeds ranging from 4 to 14 mph and rapid switches. It was really too windy to conduct a meaningful test but it was great fun all the same.

Wednesday was deceptively better with very calm conditions. In fact it was so calm toward the end of the day that only very slight movement in the tails of the wind flags could be detected. To compound the situation, the temperature dropped to as the sun went behind the mountain. The temperature was 53 degrees, the humidity was 75%, and the barometric pressure was steady at 29.95. The air seemed thick and the bullet movement was greater than the tails of the wind flags indicated. Once all the playing around with ammo, rests, etc. was over and before it got dark, I settled down to see what the Benchrest Racer could do.

The ARA Scoring Program confirmed that the target score was a 2250. I am looking forward to some warm indoor shooting over the next few weeks.

 

[HuskerP7M8]

Marc,

It was a little difficult to work with a low resolution image to plot the shots on your target, but I must have come pretty close because my calculated score matched the ARA Scoring Program’s score of 2250.
The screenshot below of Jeff Block’s TDS software’s “Composite Group Display” shows how I plotted the shots and also figured the group’s offset from the center of the bull.
If you’ve also calculated the group offset, can you tell me how close I am to the ARA’s Scoring Program’s offset?
Because of the image I used, I’m sure I won’t be able to match the numbers exactly but I’m curious about how close I am.

If, and it’s a big if, I am close….then by moving the mathematical center of your group right 0.020” and up 0.018” results in an ARA score of 2350.
The screenshot from my spreadsheet below shows the adjusted POI and how it would be scored a 2350.
What I’m trying to point out is that it becomes a very tricky proposition to quantify the accuracy of a rifle by using the scores it produces on any of the BR targets in popular use.
Dan Killough occasionally sends me the actual point data from the PSL and ARA National Indoor Championships and most shooters would be shocked at how difficult it is to match POA/POI and how much the scores can change with only a few thou of movement of the group.

Landy

BTW, Jeffrey Madison and I had a chance to fondle the G & E at Camp Perry this year and it’s an amazing piece of workmanship. We couldn’t talk the Rep into letting me take it home for testing though. LOL

 

[Albert's]

Plot

Hi Landy,

Sorry for the low resolution on the target files. Here is the actual plot from Jeff's TDS program. I hope this is helpful.

Thanks,
Marc

 

[HuskerP7M8]

Thanks Marc and there’s no need to be sorry about the target because I might be the only person on the face of the planet who would wish for a higher resolution.

It appears the Racer may be competitive and you’ve went to one Hell of a lot of work to make it so. I’m looking forward to seeing how the two of you do indoors.

Thanks again,
Landy

 

[pfiori]

Marc,

I would like to know how the composite groups that the rifle is producing now compare to the one that was shot at the factory?

Thanks,
Pete

 

[Albert's]

Pete, Here is the factory test target that came with the rifle. Marc

 

[Az_Speed]

Any more testing done with this rifle?