IR 50/50 Sporters

[tim]

Tony,

Here’s a final bit of Sporter trivia you may be unaware of.
You may or may not have ever heard of Tony Larson,from the midwest, he made wonderful carbon/redwood BR stocks, but did you know he also made some rather innovative sporters. He used single shot actions to avoid having that big hole underneath with less bedding area as well, and he milled the loading port to accept a vertical magazine that could feed from the top......pretty slick.

[Pete Wass]

Tony,

Here’s a final bit of Sporter trivia you may be unaware of.
You may or may not have ever heard of Tony Larson,from the midwest, he made wonderful carbon/redwood BR stocks, but did you know he also made some rather innovative sporters. He used single shot actions to avoid having that big hole underneath with less bedding area as well, and he milled the loading port to accept a vertical magazine that could feed from the top......pretty slick.

It's kind of a shame there hasn't been more of it. I guess that's the real reason PS magazine ultimately failed; lack of innovation to report on.Like, how many combinations of PPC's can there be and still be interesting?

Pete

[tonykharper]

Tony,

HereÂ’s a final bit of Sporter trivia you may be unaware of.
You may or may not have ever heard of Tony Larson,from the midwest, he made wonderful carbon/redwood BR stocks, but did you know he also made some rather innovative sporters. He used single shot actions to avoid having that big hole underneath with less bedding area as well, and he milled the loading port to accept a vertical magazine that could feed from the top......pretty slick.

Yes, I am aware of Tony Larson stocks. I owned one for a time. I was not aware Tony made sporter mods. That said, I may have seen one he made. The one I saw was pretty slick, and it did permit for a solid bottom action.

But to be perfectly honest it was not a very elegant solution. It changed the lines and the handling of the rifle. Handling on the bench is one thing, but in the woods would be another. Kinda, took the sporting rifle out of what was suppose to be a sporter. If you get what I mean?

The sporter Calfee built for DJ Hepler was an elegant solution and it kept completely to the sporter lines. It would work equally well in the woods as on the bench. Of course I'm just old fashioned, to wit: I still think sporter should have safeties.

If they can't be used as sporting rifles then we need to change the name to "Ultra Lite Customs".

I do miss the constant innovations we saw years ago. It was a real treat to go to the ARA Nationals and walk down the line and see 5 or 6 new ideas, one off actions, stocks, and barrel devices not to mention the different style rests. Now it seems cookie cutter guns and rest have taken over.

The latest new ideas I've seen are from Ivan Wells. His innovations have been very successful although they aren't talked about much.

TKH

[linekin]

I along with others were remiss in not mentioning the gunsmith who built the rifle that won this years Sporter Indoor Nationals. Jeremiah Mohr built Jasons rifle, along with others, & all preformed extremely well.
He also builds some of the most elegant stocks on a sporter I'd ever seen. I wish I'd taken pictures of Jason's & his rifles. Hopefully someone can post a picture of Jason's or his guns.
I'm pretty partial to Pippen stocked Eck sporters, as are many. But there's a new Sheriff in town if someone's looking for a winning sporter!

Keith
edit: I found a picture Jason had sent a while back but I'm not sure if this was the same rifle he won with. Maybe he'll chime in.

[Pete Wass]

looks a lot like the front of another lads there was so much hate and discontent over a couple of years ago. a shame to drive folks out of the sport on stupid stuff like this.

Pete

[MaxxPower]

looks a lot like the front of another lads there was so much hate and discontent over a couple of years ago. a shame to drive folks out of the sport on stupid stuff like this.

Pete

The bumpers on that stock are clearly convex as required by IR5050 rules. I've seen it and admired Jeremiah's work as well.

Convex bumper rules are not "stupid". They are part of what makes a sporter a sporter.

I imagine in your mind sporter scope power rules should be something like "not so big".

[tonykharper]

I along with others were remiss in not mentioning the gunsmith who built the rifle that won this years Sporter Indoor Nationals. Jeremiah Mohr built Jasons rifle, along with others, & all preformed extremely well.
He also builds some of the most elegant stocks on a sporter I'd ever seen. I wish I'd taken pictures of Jason's & his rifles. Hopefully someone can post a picture of Jason's or his guns.
I'm pretty partial to Pippen stocked Eck sporters, as are many. But there's a new Sheriff in town if someone's looking for a winning sporter!

Keith
edit: I found a picture Jason had sent a while back but I'm not sure if this was the same rifle he won with. Maybe he'll chime in.

Keith,

You bring up an interesting point. Sporter development pretty much came to a stop many years ago when Gordon Eck set the world on fire with his

Turbo action, Pippin stocks, and Broughton barreled sporters.

They won everything and became the standard. With few exceptions nothing else could compete against these rifles.

The only other major player was Calfee, and he made very few sporters. The most notable was one he built for DJ. Although DJ never shot it much.

Then there was TD Junior, and another he built for Tim Miller. I'm sure he built others but not many.

Can't leave out Bruce Hornstein's sporter, he has won everything with it.

My point is time has moved on, and all the smiths that built these rifles have got tired, lazy and quit!!! (yes, that is a challenge, get off your butt and build something!)

Enter new players like Jeremiah Mohr. Thank goodness we have people like him coming on to the scene.

Will he move the bar forward? I think so. Maybe it is time to build some new, state of the art, sporters.

TKH

[tim]

looks a lot like the front of another lads there was so much hate and discontent over a couple of years ago. a shame to drive folks out of the sport on stupid stuff like this.

Pete

It would be helpful, friend Wass, if you actually dealt in facts.....for once.
What does " looks like" mean ? Hate? Discontent ? How about rules and the folks that adhere to them ?

[Pete Wass]

The bumpers on that stock are clearly convex as required by IR5050 rules. I've seen it and admired Jeremiah's work as well.

Convex bumper rules are not "stupid". They are part of what makes a sporter a sporter.

I imagine in your mind sporter scope power rules should be something like "not so big".

you know the rifle and stock I was referring to. I don't think the Sporter stock rule is stupid, by any means but the situation ai was referring to was stupid, in my opinion. and thats all the facts I need to have an opinion.

Pete

[Kent Owens]

I haven't kept up with what the actual sporter rules are any more. I recall they did away with safeties, not sure if it has to be a working repeater any longer or not. I do know, I dearly loved the sporters and shooting them as well. A challenge for sure. Beautiful stock on the rifle in the pic.

[tonykharper]

I haven't kept up with what the actual sporter rules are any more. I recall they did away with safeties, not sure if it has to be a working repeater any longer or not. I do know, I dearly loved the sporters and shooting them as well. A challenge for sure. Beautiful stock on the rifle in the pic.

Kent,

They did do away with the safety requirement and reworded the "working repeater paragraph" saying sporters had to have a clip holding at least two rounds.

This watered down the original idea of being an actual sporter (sporting) rifle. This was an attempt at getting more people to build and shoot sporters.

I don't think it has worked. Watering down rules rarely does.

Purist accept the challenge and choose to participate because of the challenge not because of the lack of one.

The good news is many of the sporters winning today were built to meet the original rules.

Many of the Eck sporters are still shooting as good as ever.

Bruce is still winning with the Falcon sporter you built.

TD Junior still meets the original requirements as it did 9 years ago when Bill Calfee built it.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, and I think you will agree. Sporters, winning sporters, are the most highly developed rifles we compete with today.

If you want the most difficult, but rewarding, challenge in RFBR shoot a sporter.

TKH

[Kent Owens]

Tony, I definitley agree about the dificultly, and wee bit of guessing involved, and reward of shooting a sporter well. Lots of folks never liked sporters because they never shot one that was hitting on all cylinders, ie. a good one. LOL I no longer compete, but still have some good sporters. Last one I built for myself, shot one match and won with a 250 first time out, hasn't been fired since. I just love rimfires. LOL

[SteveP92]

I have been bitten by the sporter bug! In June I bought a sporter from a friend at Kettlefoot and a Burris 6X scope from a forum classifieds section. I had read about the sporters and was very happy to finally own one. It is probably the most rewarding gun I have shot. Testing ammo and getting a proper zero was challenging. Everything about it was a learning experience. I have been shooting unlimited for 2 years, so the 2 piece rest with sandbag front and rear added to the learning curve. I had planned to shoot a couple of sporter matches during the summer but surgery on my arm prevented me from shooting the matches.

The first match I ever shot with my sporter was the National Yards and Meters at Kettlefoot. Then the next day I shot the 3 Gun Nationals. Those 2 days shooting the sporter was fun. Ever time that I hit a 10 or X was very rewarding. I learned a lot shooting that weekend and met some very nice competitors. I am looking forward to the next time I can shoot a sporter match till then I will have fun practicing and ammo testing. Thank you to everyone for your advice and friendship at the matches that weekend.

If someone is looking for a challenge and the most rewarding rifle class to shoot they need to try the Sporter.

See you at the range.
Steve Pennington


I

[tim]

I have been bitten by the sporter bug! In June I bought a sporter from a friend at Kettlefoot and a Burris 6X scope from a forum classifieds section. I had read about the sporters and was very happy to finally own one. It is probably the most rewarding gun I have shot. Testing ammo and getting a proper zero was challenging. Everything about it was a learning experience. I have been shooting unlimited for 2 years, so the 2 piece rest with sandbag front and rear added to the learning curve. I had planned to shoot a couple of sporter matches during the summer but surgery on my arm prevented me from shooting the matches.

The first match I ever shot with my sporter was the National Yards and Meters at Kettlefoot. Then the next day I shot the 3 Gun Nationals. Those 2 days shooting the sporter was fun. Ever time that I hit a 10 or X was very rewarding. I learned a lot shooting that weekend and met some very nice competitors. I am looking forward to the next time I can shoot a sporter match till then I will have fun practicing and ammo testing. Thank you to everyone for your advice and friendship at the matches that weekend.

If someone is looking for a challenge and the most rewarding rifle class to shoot they need to try the Sporter.

See you at the range.
Steve Pennington


I

We need more guys like you.
Absolutely the most fun/challenging RFBR shooting possible. Spread the word.

[tonykharper]

We need more guys like you.
Absolutely the most fun/challenging RFBR shooting possible. Spread the word.

Steve,

I would like to echo what Tim said. We need more like you.

I remember you from the Nats. Somehow I left before getting to talk to you.

You shot really well, and I realize you are a force to be reckoned with.

I look forward to seeing you on the firing line.

TKH