20 inch creedmoor for f class?0

[Berger.Fan222]

I'm a big fan of shooting what you have, and also putting together rifles with an array of disciplines in mind that one may shoot over the life of a rifle. I've seen many shooters come up the learning curve and learn a lot with rifle barrels in the 20-22" range that see other use in precision rifle events, hunting, and other target sports.

But once you estimate that F-Class will likely be more than 50% of the usage of a rifle over its lifetime, I start recommending 26-30" barrels, especially if a good part of the F-Class work will be at 1000 yards. (Matters much less at 600 yards). My observation is that shooters have a hard time resisting temptation to make their loads hot chasing the higher accuracy nodes and shooting heavier bullets faster. That shortens barrel life, brass life, and (potentially) shooter life. Better to get the speed with a longer barrel.

But if you have solid reasons for a 20" barrel, are confident you can resist temptations to hotter loads, and plan on doing most of your F-Class work at 600 yards and in, then you can have many fun and productive years of shooting with the rifle you outlined in the OP.

 

[TAJ45]

Im putting together my first f class gun and cant wait! I dont have endless money so I have to do a budget build, I mainly just want the experience and have some fun. Certainly not looking to break any records. Anyhow, Im a big fan of short heavy barrels and Id like a 8 twist 6.5 creedmoor 20" long. The bullets I have are 130 bergers, 123 lapuas, and 123 amaxs. Heres what Im putting together:

Savage 12 lrp action
X caliber 6.5cm 20" 8 twist
Choate tactical ( Most comfortable with these)
20 moa base
Leupold vx3i 8.5-25 ( already have)

Do you guys think this will be good enough to get out there and have some fun? Everything else I have is either varmint rifles or big stuff with too much recoil. Im so excited to do this! Ive always watched or been too nervous to try it.

You speak of recoil - so consider adding bbl length and going with the 6XC. It will serve you well on every front.

 

[dcali]

Lapua recently announced they'll be producing 6.5 creed brass with small primers. That ought to provide a solid reason to use a Creedmoor. (I just bought a 6.5 Lapua myself, so it really doesn't matter - these cartridges are basically the same thing now that the Lapua brass is a reality.)

As an open class competitor, you'll be seriously outgunned by the top competitors, especially at long range. But it doesn't sound like that matters to you much, so get what you want. A mid-sized 6.5 shooting 120 or heavier bullet out of an appropriate twist will allow you to compete in a way that's not pointless. There is a point at which I say "don't bother, you're just wasting ammo" (a factory .223 with light bullets, for example). The rifle you want isn't in that category, even if it's not ideal. Go for it and have fun.

Just one warning. The rifle I chose to "just shoot f class when I had the chance" with morphed into a dedicated F TR rig over a year or so. It happens. It was going to be a sling rifle, and I still haven't shot a sling match with it - I tried F class and I got hooked. (That 6.5 I mentioned above will be my new sling rifle...) If you think that might happen to you, save yourself some bucks and build an F class rifle from the start. You don't have to spend a ton of money contrary to popular wisdom.

 

[dcali]

Does anyone remember this article? http://precisionrifleblog.com/2013/...-warehouse-lessons-in-extreme-rifle-accuracy/
Just thought I would give a proper citation.

I think that length has more to do with benchrest rules than it does to any sort of magic properties. It happens to be an optimally good length for 6PPC rifles that meet benchrest class weight limits, is configured in a way that benchrest rifles are, and shot off a heavy rest *at short range*. I wouldn't take it as anything more than that.

 

[6MMsteve]

Im putting together my first f class gun and cant wait! I dont have endless money so I have to do a budget build, I mainly just want the experience and have some fun. Certainly not looking to break any records. Anyhow, Im a big fan of short heavy barrels and Id like a 8 twist 6.5 creedmoor 20" long. The bullets I have are 130 bergers, 123 lapuas, and 123 amaxs. Heres what Im putting together:

Savage 12 lrp action
X caliber 6.5cm 20" 8 twist
Choate tactical ( Most comfortable with these)
20 moa base
Leupold vx3i 8.5-25 ( already have)

Do you guys think this will be good enough to get out there and have some fun? Everything else I have is either varmint rifles or big stuff with too much recoil. Im so excited to do this! Ive always watched or been too nervous to try it.

Have fun you will beat some guys with $10.000 rigs

 

[rap36case]

I have a CZ550 re-barreled in 6.5 Creedmoor with 1to8 twist Krieger at 24". I found a node at 37.5 grains of Varget with muzzle velocity of 2766, SD 7fps for Berger 130grain hybrid. This calculates to 1424fps at 1000 yards using Berger's calculator. Further, an article I found states the drop in velocity is about 40fps going from 24" to 22", so there should be little effect. This helps my plan to shorten for balance, stability and threaded for suppressor.
http://rifleshooter.com/2016/02/6-5...el-length-on-velocity-cutting-up-a-creedmoor/

 

[HTSmith]

Not sure I'd like to shoot next to someone with a 20 inch barrel. Bet it would have some blast.

 

[rap36case]

Not sure I'd like to shoot next to someone with a 20 inch barrel. Bet it would have some blast.

I hear you. I am hoping the bill passes and suppressors become as common at bipods. That should take care of the noise caused by short barrels, muzzle brakes, magnums etc. I know a few range masters that would like to require a suppressor.

 

[rap36case]

I think that length has more to do with benchrest rules than it does to any sort of magic properties. It happens to be an optimally good length for 6PPC rifles that meet benchrest class weight limits, is configured in a way that benchrest rifles are, and shot off a heavy rest *at short range*. I wouldn't take it as anything more than that.

Since this "magic length" is not cited much, I tend to agree with you. However, they obtained less than 0.1" groups with 308, 6mm, 22 bench guns using 21.75" barrel length. Not many can cite group size when comparing barrel length.

 

[Rogmay]

Also if you really want a Creedmoor, I built one for my son that shoots f-open, and if you have the time and reload and have the dies, I made 200 rounds of 308 Lupua brass into 6.5 creedmoor! A little process but worth it. if needed there's a guy on long range hunter that will make it for you, call sign clownbuster, he made my first 100! I also started off with a Shilen select match 28" prefit for in a savage target action, put the build together relitivly inexpensive!

 

[6MMsteve]

Take what you got and shoot find out what's going on then retool, if you like competition. I shot my 1st match at Penn 1000yd didn't even get on paper, then come back and took hardware home it was a nice ride back to Ky.