Short Range BR stock and big barrels?

Ackley Improved

New member
I am wanting to use a short range br stock for a 600yd/1000yd benchrest rifle.

How do these smaller stocks cope with large diameter barrels? The barrel I am considering is contoured 1.250" for 4", straight taper to 0.940" at 28".

The chambering will be 6mm Dasher, so recoil will be low.

I am leaning towards the Kelby Klub, and have Kelby add weight to the butt to balance the rifle.

So, what are peoples thoughts on using a short range BR stock with a large barrel? Any designs better suited? One thing is I do not want a stock with a knifes edge for a butt i.e real skinny.

Looking at using a BAT 3 lug also.

Any pictures showing the above type rifle would be appreciated.

Cheers
AI
 
Super Bench

AI -

Howdy !

I tried a 28" K & P .224" cal SS barrel in a .22 wildcat; conventional bedded in a Lee Six Hunter bench stock. The barrel had a Palma taper.

As it turned out, the long 28" barrel was too muzzle heavy for the bedding job ( which included bedding under the barrel shank ).
I was getting some unwanted " verticle ", all the time.

The " fix " was achieved by my switching to a barrel-clamping stock set-up.
Shooting both .224" cal and 6mm barrels, the barrel clamp and associated
aluminum rail stock proved to halt the undesreable verticle.
A barrel clamp arrangement allows one to " float " the rifle action.


My rifle ( as described ) weighs about 16.5, scoped.

A heavier taper than a Palma, would have to be shorter than 28" in a
aluminum rail-based stock design; such as mine; to make a 16lb class wt limit

An additonal consideration is over-all stock length....
Traditional bench stocks tend to be short, in comparison to other design rifle stocks; from other shooting disciplines.

My alunimum rail was obtained already pre-cut to 36".
That allowed me to put the fore-end way out there on the front end.
A more traditional benchrest-type stock is more close-coupled.

My moveable barrel clamp can be slid forward, to fine tune out any verticle
shot dispersion; should any show up. Over a 2yr period, I ended up advancing the barrel clamp 1/2" further forward; than the point at which
I had started. Once this " sweet spot " was found, veticle induced by a poorly-suppoted barrel disappeared.

Best ofluck in your endeavors.

Regards,
.357Mag
 
AI,
As pointed out already, the balance of the rifle is really important to help with vertical issues and don't overlook this.
But one other big consideration is the taper that short range stocks have to have in the butt section to meet the short range taper rules. Long range rules don't dictated the shape of the stock. The reason I bring this up is if you plan on shooting at a 600yd range that uses clay birds on a dirt bank to sight in on instead of a reciprocating target frames. If you have to see your impacts that short range taper is too much with higher power scopes. And if you can't see your own impacts on these ranges you are peeing in the wind.
The Tooley MBR stock has a slight taper on it and the Shehane style stocks don't have any taper.

I was lent a rifle at the IBS 600yd Nationals in SD 2 years ago after I had a scope failure on my own LG. The rifle I was loaned was a 6x44 using a 8.5x25 with the booster lens on the back using a std Terry Leonard stock. So the recoil was light and I had to "shoulder" the rifle under recoil to keep it from sliding back to far so that I could see the impacts. But if you shoulder it wrong 1 time.... vertical! I did it more than once. My impacts on my record targets were normally high in the 10 and 9 ring. A lot of guys attributed the rise in impacts on the record target due to the targets being located at a different range than the dirt bank. But I know it was because during the record string I would shoot free recoil and the taper allowed the rifle to drop more in the rear of the rifle. But I didn't have to spot my impacts during the record string unlike during the sight-in period.

Just something to consider so you can make your own decisions.

Steve
 
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