Sporter Class NBRSA

Wilbur said:
CMaier seems to be confused a little so I'll comment to maybe clear some of that.

Light Varmint is 22 cal or better, 10.5lb limit
Sporter is 6mm or better, 10.5lb limit
Heavy Varmint is 22 cal or better, 13.5lb limit
Unlimited is unlimited...shoot any safely operated rifle

You could shoot a 22 cal in light, a 6mm in sporter, a heavier 22 in heavy, and an all out unlimited in the unlimited class. Conversely, the sporter rifle meets the rules for all four classes. If you had a heavy varmint rifle that shot better than your sporter you would likely shoot it in heavy varmint and perhaps unlimited...but you can't shoot it in all 4 classes.

Soooo..many folks that don't have the time or money to have more than one rifle simply work toward a good shooting sporter rifle. Actually, that's the better way to go in my opinion....except for the 10 shot unlimited class. You really need a quick shooting rail for that one....but keep in mind you can shoot a sporter class rifle nonetheless.
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Wilbur, there are no minimum caliber restrictions in any NBRSA class. The new Sporter Rule did away with that.

What changed also was there are no barrel taper rules in Sporter, nor any stock restrictions. You can pretty well do what you will as long as it passes all of the "no guiding means" regulations as it pertains to Bag Guns, and does not exceed 10.5 lbs.
 
I guess the way

I look at it is this.
Yes, you need good bbl's, good bullets, a good action-stock combo. And if it works, shoot the thing the whole way through. The biggest challenge for me is keeping the darn thing in tune for a 2 gun-three gun or whatever!!
For those of you that haven't done that, try it!! It's hard to do.

Richard
 
Shooting SR BR

I have in the past shot 3 different rifles but today most often only shoot one maybe two. The true challenge to me is shooting the grand agg’s . Shooting one Grand agg and winning is one thing but shooting 2 or 3 Grand agg’s and winning is much tougher and a lot more fun. So let’s just keep all 3 as is LV/SP/HV and enjoying shooting. Change's are Ok but don't make illegal to shoot just one gun.
P.S. if you don't want to shoot all 3 classes or guns then don't.
Chet
 
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The only place that all 4 classes makes much difference is the Nationals. Most regional matches will either be LV/HV on a weekend or UL/HV with an occasional SP/LV thrown in. I have a very good shooting HV rifle that has always been a good shooter. But, at the Nationals, when you've spent a day shooting the 10.5 pound rifle in two 100 yard classes, the only time that the HV comes out at a Nationals for the next day is when you can't get the 10.5 pound rifle to shoot well. It's foolish to switch guns when you finally have the lighter rifle tuned to your satisfaction. If you haven't got the LV shooting, then by all means switch. I had down to shoot the HV at Phoenix, but shot the LV for the 200yd HV. There was no sense changing guns. It's not the gun or the weight that makes the difference, its the competition that drives most of us. Just my 2 cents and worth about as much.
 
Interesting discussion and since we only shoot LV/HV in NZ whatever you decide to do in the US won't make any difference here.

The only country where I have shot a four gun was in Aussie, where the rules are different compared to the US.
Sp has a weight limit of 9lb, LV is the same as LV in the US, HV is also the same except there is no barrel taper rule and UL is called Experimental and they shoot rails like you do in the US.

Some have a 9lb rifle for sporter others fit a fluted barrel to their LV, all shoot a true LV for LV and most screw on a straight barrel for HV. Not many shoot a bag gun in Experimental.

One thing I found shooting a 9lb 6 PPC it certainly jumps around quite a bit more than a 10.5lb gun and it isn't easy getting a LV down to 9lbs either especially if you don't flute the barrel.

What was the intent when the rules for Sp were changed?

Another question would be if you changed Sp to something like an 8lb rifle would it attract new competitors or if it was changed to 18lb would you attract new competitors?

If it did attract new competitors would those competitors travel to a Nationals just to shoot one class?

If it didn't attract new competitors then you would probably end up with the same competitors shooting Sp as you do now but maybe a few less because of the extra cost of another rifle.

From what I understand Sp used to be 6mm or larger Why was this?

Why not change it to 6.5mm or larger or even .224 or smaller this would only require another barrel and perhaps this would bring about some experimentation.
 
Experimentation exists within the current rules. Folks simply don't do much of it because there ain't no sense in it. If you think you can build a rifle that will shoot better than what is currently winning then do it. Shoot it in the unlimited class....or shoot it as disqualified in any other class. If it's better, folks will clamor for a rule change.
 
Wilbur said:
Experimentation exists within the current rules. Folks simply don't do much of it because there ain't no sense in it. If you think you can build a rifle that will shoot better than what is currently winning then do it. Shoot it in the unlimited class....or shoot it as disqualified in any other class. If it's better, folks will clamor for a rule change.
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Then why were the rules changed?
 
The change to the sporter class was to encourage experimentation. Has it? Probably not. When our present rifles are shooting at the accuracy level they are, it's really pretty hard for someone to want to experiment. There are just a few benchrest shooters who have that inclination to experiment. Jerry Hensley, for one and he no longer shoots center fire benchrest. It's a little difficult to do much experimentation in stock design unless you have the expertise to make your own stocks. A lot expensive if you have one made. I see some interest in experimenting with Grendel brass, faster twist barrels shooting heavier bullets mainly for shooting when the wind is howling at 200 yards or maybe in the few 300 yard events. That kind of experimentation is pretty well in the range of most shooters. But, even then it can get expensive. Finish reamer, resize reamer to match the chamber, dies made to work with the chamber, new chambered barrel, new bullets plus the time it takes to get everything to work.
 
Mike Bryant said:
The change to the sporter class

That kind of experimentation is pretty well in the range of most shooters. But, even then it can get expensive. Finish reamer, resize reamer to match the chamber, dies made to work with the chamber, new chambered barrel, new bullets plus the time it takes to get everything to work.
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Part of the problem is that about 80% of us are just shooters. i.e. We have to get our builds made by someone else and wait, wait, wait. With the simple addition of a used, American, $3,000 lathe we could all be innovators.

In 2000 when Ferris Pindell was starting to loose his eyesight I bought the tooling he was using to develop "another PPC".In the deal I got 4 reamers, seating dies, sizing dies, gages, etc. he was working on. You would be amazed to see the loading and measuring tools Ferris had developed. With his help starting out, and in the next 10 years, I developed 4 cartridges, all based on 220 Russian brass. A couple of them shot really great. One, the 6-40 Dune, won 4 awards in an IBS 600 Nationals. One, the 6-40 Tyger shot a 1430 agg in an NBRSA shoot.

Ferris's main concentration was a 40 degree shoulder (to eliminate the turbulence effect, he called it). The other was a "needle" pointed bullet that lessened bullet drop by 12" at 1000 yards for the 1000 yard shooters. His 81 grain bullet in a 40 degree PPC decreased wind drift at 200 yards by an amazing amount as claimed by Don Geraci.

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so??


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For instance

a Ferris tool

3343m75.jpg
 
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