My big question concerns the rules, and sanctioning bodies. For example, if you shoot point-blank centerfire (group), NBRSA is the dominant sanctioning body. If point-blank (score), it would be IBS. And IBS for long-range as well. This may change over time, but I think it true for right now.
So, question one, if you live in North Carolina as I do, which group is most active? Nationally, there seems to be IR50-50, ARA, RBA, USBR, and of course, NBRSA and IBS.
Second is the rules. For example, I started shooting Benchrest as a short-range group shooter. There are a lot of rules -- stock taper, stock width, barrel dimensions, etc. etc. Next, I was one of the early 1,000 yard benchrest shooters. For Light Gun, there were a couple of rules about the rifle: It has to be 40 caliber or under, and it had to weigh 17 pounds or under. That's it for rifle rules.
How is it in rimfire? If you skip the sporter class for a moment, it seems the only other class in ARA is "unlimited." But IR50-50 and RBA have 10.5 and 13.5 classes. Seems a maximum of a 3-inch forearm. No "guiding rails" (as often found on 1K guns). Butt should be flat, or rounded. The words "designed to be shoulder fired" appear, whatever the hell that's suppose to mean.
So, in keeping with the 10.5 and 13.5 guns, shooting under the sanctioning body that's most common in my area, I can use a skeleton butt, right? In short, if it can be fired from the shoulder, it is legal -- (I'll discount things like John Basilone's picking up a water-cooled .30 BMG & firing it offhand. That's too far afield & "Not Legal.")
I can use a barrel block, with the "forearm" attached to the block, right? Or a tensioning tube on the barrel, the block clamped to the tube, and the "forearm" attached to the block, OK? Or even forearm and butt, like the high-power tube guns. Just so long as it makes weight and isn't over 3" wide.
(I'm talking about what's "legal," not what's been found to be "best.")
Front and rear rests should probably be separate & not conjoined. Probably should be sandbags; at least one of the sanctioning bodies is quite insistent on that. Or is that a sanctioning body that's not too common?
Geez, not to complain too much, but the long-range benchrest guys have worked quite hard over the years to insure that what's a legal rifle under one sanctioning body is legal with the others. And to cut down the number of rules, not increase them. I believe that in doing so, we've helped made strides toward discovering what makes rifles shoot better. The opposite of the short-range guys "shoot unlimited if you want to experiment" attitude. You can't always scale a system down and make weight; sometimes other innovations are required.
OK, my only grumble. I'd really like help in not wasting time and money by building a rifle that doesn't meet the rules common in the Southeastern U.S.
Thanks in advance,
Charles
So, question one, if you live in North Carolina as I do, which group is most active? Nationally, there seems to be IR50-50, ARA, RBA, USBR, and of course, NBRSA and IBS.
Second is the rules. For example, I started shooting Benchrest as a short-range group shooter. There are a lot of rules -- stock taper, stock width, barrel dimensions, etc. etc. Next, I was one of the early 1,000 yard benchrest shooters. For Light Gun, there were a couple of rules about the rifle: It has to be 40 caliber or under, and it had to weigh 17 pounds or under. That's it for rifle rules.
How is it in rimfire? If you skip the sporter class for a moment, it seems the only other class in ARA is "unlimited." But IR50-50 and RBA have 10.5 and 13.5 classes. Seems a maximum of a 3-inch forearm. No "guiding rails" (as often found on 1K guns). Butt should be flat, or rounded. The words "designed to be shoulder fired" appear, whatever the hell that's suppose to mean.
So, in keeping with the 10.5 and 13.5 guns, shooting under the sanctioning body that's most common in my area, I can use a skeleton butt, right? In short, if it can be fired from the shoulder, it is legal -- (I'll discount things like John Basilone's picking up a water-cooled .30 BMG & firing it offhand. That's too far afield & "Not Legal.")
I can use a barrel block, with the "forearm" attached to the block, right? Or a tensioning tube on the barrel, the block clamped to the tube, and the "forearm" attached to the block, OK? Or even forearm and butt, like the high-power tube guns. Just so long as it makes weight and isn't over 3" wide.
(I'm talking about what's "legal," not what's been found to be "best.")
Front and rear rests should probably be separate & not conjoined. Probably should be sandbags; at least one of the sanctioning bodies is quite insistent on that. Or is that a sanctioning body that's not too common?
Geez, not to complain too much, but the long-range benchrest guys have worked quite hard over the years to insure that what's a legal rifle under one sanctioning body is legal with the others. And to cut down the number of rules, not increase them. I believe that in doing so, we've helped made strides toward discovering what makes rifles shoot better. The opposite of the short-range guys "shoot unlimited if you want to experiment" attitude. You can't always scale a system down and make weight; sometimes other innovations are required.
OK, my only grumble. I'd really like help in not wasting time and money by building a rifle that doesn't meet the rules common in the Southeastern U.S.
Thanks in advance,
Charles