308 bench gun

[TonyR]

The Berger 185LRBT is an excellent bullet for F-T/R to 1000 yards from 28+ inch barrels. Varget or H4895 among others will keep you supersonic at 1000. 1:12 twist is enough for these bullets. I also shoot long cartridges through single shot short actions but I wonder if fresh cartridges could be fed faster through a long single shot action?? Doesn't matter for F-Class but BR shooters seem to like to complete their strings quickly.

Careful talking about a long action for the .308. Some folks around here might feel the need to coach you up.

But then again, they may just be reacting to my pow post count and feel the need to coach me up! :

There are plenty of people here ready to coach me up on any number of subjects, but I was actually looking for some informed opinion on that particular question about the long versus short action. For F-Class, I would never opt for the long action due to stiffness issues but with a bench gun, the use of a barrel block can make the stiffness of the action a non-issue, so then the possible value of slightly faster reloading cycles is at least worth consideration. I don't shoot much BR so I really have no direct experience but I do know some outstanding BR shooters who do pay a lot of attention to how fast they can complete a string.

 

[GermanS1]

Tony, for what it's worth, I prefer the long action and my Palma rifles have long actions. With a solid bottom (and especially with the tubeguns that are glued in) the stiffness concerns fall lower on the scale because they are plenty stiff. What rises in importance for me is the long, heavy firing pin - I want that. I'm a firm believer in the importance of a very solid hit to the primer.

In prone or F-Class, I don't see lock time as any sort of a concern with modern actions; in fact, I beleive it's easy to go too far in that direction and end up with an inadequate firing pin hit. The first symptoms are excessive vertical at 1000 and people wrap themselves in knots trying to find the answer. Others experience misfires and are quick to blame the primer.

Hit the primer hard and SD will improve - and that's super critical for a .308 at 1000, which after all, is the subject of this thread.

 

[TonyR]

Thanks for that, German. I guess I was thinking more in terms of a Rem 700 LA with a big magazine cutout in the bottom of the receiver. My new F-Class gun is built on a BAT M 1.53 inch round which does have a long port but the receiver is so massive compared to my Remington SA, the concern about stiffness just doesn't seem relevent. I may be getting the best of both worlds with the M because, so far, the results with the new gun have been excellent. We'll see how it shoots at Phoenix, but that long firing pin may be a positive factor I hadn't recognized.

 

[ava123]

well,well: another guy like me, so I just started with a 308, rem action, 30 inch barrel. shooting Berger 175 with varget and it will surprise you. look in the 3-08 blogs on this site, you will go crazy because it is so easy to shoot this gun well.