Can anyone who competes in IR5050 sporter class, provide the length of the sporter profile barrel on their rifle from crown to the receiver? Gordon Eck has a reputation for building excellent sporters, so the barrel length of one of his sporters would be a good rule of thumb to work with. Thanks, ... John
IR5050 Sporter barrel length
- Thread starter center22
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Received my Shilen Ratchet R3 sporter profile barrel from KSS, a short time ago. For those that might be interested ... the blank is 25 1/8" in length and weighs 3 pounds 9.2 ounces. The chamber end is 1.072" diameter for about 2 1/2", then tapers down quickly to .700" for approx. 9 1/2", tapers up to .780" for around 9 inches, then taper up again to 1.160" for a total of 2 1/2" to the muzzle. The muzzle end will be counter-bored during the finishing process and the chamber end will require a minimum of 1 inch removed before any fitting, threading and chamber work can be performed. My thinking is the finished barrel should be around 3 lbs 2 oz. or less.
Adding a few photo's of what the Shilen Ratchet blank looks like when you receive it. John
Adding a few photo's of what the Shilen Ratchet blank looks like when you receive it. John
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Well, for those who might be interested; I spent a good part of the last day and half in my workshop and finished up the sporter barreled action. Quite a bit more lathe time than building a conventional RFBR rifle. Counter or back boring the dog nut at the muzzle is tedious and time consuming, but the finished work looks great for novice machinist. The only machine work I did not perform is milling the extractor slots ... want to wait until after I test firing the rifle before proceeding with that task. I think I'm OK with the weight. With the finished barrel, receiver, bolt, magazine, trigger w/safety and the scope and rings attached, I come up with a total weight of 5 pounds 15 ounces. Hopefully, within a few days after I receive my stock from Don, I'll have the sporter at the range for a trial run. Two fine gentlemen in our sport, who I will not name here, provided advice with emails and a phone conversation. To both of them, I say thank you. John Austen
Pete Wass
Well-known member
Pete, thanks for the congrats and more importantly your help. A pleasure meeting you in person at Manatee. John
Dennis, no I do not have a plan for tuning after finding a good lot of ammo it likes. Sure would appreciate any insight as to how to tune one of these sporters. The dog knot is back bored 1.900" deep and is .700" diameter. John
I am uploading a few photo's of my machined sporter barrel. It weighs 2 pounds 15.6 ounces. John
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IR5050 Sporter complete
For those who may be interested:
I completed the build of my IR5050 Sporter over three months ago, but have only shot it occasionally since it doesn't qualify as a factory sporter in our club matches. The action is a XIII sporter, has a five shot magazine and the barrel is a Calfee sporter contour Shilen Rachet. It has a Jewel trigger with a safety mechanism, and the scope I normally have mounted on it is a Leupold 6X. In order to meet the 7 1/2 pound weight limit, Don Stith worked closely with me on the sporter stock, which was only 18 ounces. When the postal service employee handed me the carton, I thought it was empty. LOL ... thanks Don!
I had not tested many ammo brands or lot #'s in the Sporter during previous range time. Since I was mostly concerned about finding accurate ammo for the rifle, I mounted a spare 36X Leupold, for test purposes only. Yesterday, I took the XIII sporter to the club and zeroed in the 36X scope with some Lapua Center X and some rounds of Midas +. I do not have any IR5050 targets available at this time, so I decided to shoot a couple of USBR targets for practice. The first target with Lapua Midas + scored a 240 5X, which I thought was very good. However, on my second target the Sporter started drilling 10's and X's with only two 9's for a score of 248 5X ... using Center X lot # 28547 56093 ... whooda thunk!
Going to try to upload photo of rifle and target. John
For those who may be interested:
I completed the build of my IR5050 Sporter over three months ago, but have only shot it occasionally since it doesn't qualify as a factory sporter in our club matches. The action is a XIII sporter, has a five shot magazine and the barrel is a Calfee sporter contour Shilen Rachet. It has a Jewel trigger with a safety mechanism, and the scope I normally have mounted on it is a Leupold 6X. In order to meet the 7 1/2 pound weight limit, Don Stith worked closely with me on the sporter stock, which was only 18 ounces. When the postal service employee handed me the carton, I thought it was empty. LOL ... thanks Don!
I had not tested many ammo brands or lot #'s in the Sporter during previous range time. Since I was mostly concerned about finding accurate ammo for the rifle, I mounted a spare 36X Leupold, for test purposes only. Yesterday, I took the XIII sporter to the club and zeroed in the 36X scope with some Lapua Center X and some rounds of Midas +. I do not have any IR5050 targets available at this time, so I decided to shoot a couple of USBR targets for practice. The first target with Lapua Midas + scored a 240 5X, which I thought was very good. However, on my second target the Sporter started drilling 10's and X's with only two 9's for a score of 248 5X ... using Center X lot # 28547 56093 ... whooda thunk!
Going to try to upload photo of rifle and target. John
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Thanks Tim.
They have IR50 matches at Manatee Gun Club, near Sarasota, FL which is about 225 miles from my home in Miami. However, I'll have to wait for the snowbirds to head back down this winter. We have a USBR practice match this coming Wednesday, I plan to shoot the Sporter in the Unlimited class. John
I know, the little sporter rifle has a different feel to it. I must have gotten the back boring dimensions in the dog knot right, either by accident or pure luck, because it is shooting much better than I ever expected it too.
I was using a Farley Coaxial II front rest with 2 1/4" leather bag, and a large Edgewood rear bag. Mostly free recoil, with just a slight touch of shoulder pressure. I am aware that if one does not have a quality Sporter in 3 gun, you begin behind the 8 ball.
Great job John! A great looking rifle & looks like it will certainly compete! I need to keep the snowbirds up here a little longer as I need all the help I can get!
I will be looking into another barrel at the end of the season & have noticed you've started another project. Keep us posted!
Keith
I will be looking into another barrel at the end of the season & have noticed you've started another project. Keep us posted!
Keith
Keith, thanks for the kind words.
No rush to see the snow fall again this winter on the news. I want the guys to enjoy the long rimfire shooting season and the nice weather up north.
Next project for me, is to build another 10 1/2 pound rifle, to replace my Suhl 150-1/Shilen Ratchet combo. Waiting on a new XIII action, and a Rock Creek/Muller MI barrel I have on order. Hoping to have this project completed soon after I received the two major components.
Appears KSS has only two Shilen Ratchet Calfee sporter contour barrels left in stock, if anyone is looking in that direction. My Rock Creek / Muller MI sporter contour barrel is still sitting untouched in the shipping carton, and may get lonely, if the Shilen Ratchet continues to perform well on the Sporter. Both companies produce great rimfire barrels. John
Update on the IR 50 Sporter
Yesterday, we had a USBR practice match at the club and I used the IR/50 Sporter in the Unlimited class, since it does not qualify as a factory rifle as required under USBR rules. Well to put it frankly, I experience a reality check shooting Center X ammo under match conditions!
First off, I drew a bench number in the middle of the range and I was no longer in the "honey hole" where I shot the 248 5X, during my earlier practice session. Shooting a 3 card aggregate, my scores were: 239 5x / 239 7X / 235 5X = 713 17X. This put me in 3rd place with six shooters in unlimited class. The only bright spot, I had the highest X count in the match, which was won with a score of 729 15X. USBR Sporter class was won with a score of 672 5X, with four shooters.
Nothing wrong with my IR 50 Sporter's accuracy, but I will have to test better quality ammo in it, before shooting it in a sanctioned match.
Can anyone provide info on where I can purchase USRA IR 50/50 targets for practice sessions? Not easy to find. Thanks, ... John
Yesterday, we had a USBR practice match at the club and I used the IR/50 Sporter in the Unlimited class, since it does not qualify as a factory rifle as required under USBR rules. Well to put it frankly, I experience a reality check shooting Center X ammo under match conditions!
First off, I drew a bench number in the middle of the range and I was no longer in the "honey hole" where I shot the 248 5X, during my earlier practice session. Shooting a 3 card aggregate, my scores were: 239 5x / 239 7X / 235 5X = 713 17X. This put me in 3rd place with six shooters in unlimited class. The only bright spot, I had the highest X count in the match, which was won with a score of 729 15X. USBR Sporter class was won with a score of 672 5X, with four shooters.
Nothing wrong with my IR 50 Sporter's accuracy, but I will have to test better quality ammo in it, before shooting it in a sanctioned match.
Can anyone provide info on where I can purchase USRA IR 50/50 targets for practice sessions? Not easy to find. Thanks, ... John
M
mistermike
Guest
Give Bill Hinegardner a call at 540-476-1070 to order targets. I think the smallest batch is has is 250.
Best,
Michael
Best,
Michael