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.308 F/TR barrel

seb

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Planning to build F/TR & F/O rifles very soon.
What do you guys use for the F/TR .308? Contour & weight of the barrel, twist, bullet options?

Thanks,
seb.
 
I use a heavy palma taper at 30." It is plenty heavy, but not so much that weight is a significant issue.

For bullet options, I use the 200 grain hybrid from Berger for long range and the 155.5 fullbore for mid range. The 30" barrel length is nearly optimal for the 155's, but maybe a little off for the 200's depending on which powder is chosen (I use Varget for everything). Twist in my current barrel is 10, but if I don't switch over to F-open at the end of this barrel's life, I'll probably go back to an 11 twist.
 
Heavy Palma or similar, possibly fluted if you need to shave weight. Plenty of Medium Palma contour barrels out there as well. 30" is the norm; a few people go longer in an effort to pick up some 'free' MV or maybe experiment with hitting a particular accuracy node. Longer than 30" starts getting to be more difficult (not impossible) to find a case that fits, though.

10 twist would cover pretty much any of the available options that you might want to run. 11 should work up to the 200-210s, might be iffy @ 215-230 if'n you desire to experiment in that direction.

Dave Kiff @ PTG has an F/TR reamer with a 0.168" freebore that works well for a lot of people; there is also a '2013 US FTR' reamer that Kiff makes that is basically a '95 Palma chamber (well tested and proven) with a 0.170" freebore. Probably not enough difference between the two to argue over, but figured I'd throw it out there.
 
memilanuk said:
Heavy Palma or similar, possibly fluted if you need to shave weight. Plenty of Medium Palma contour barrels out there as well. 30" is the norm; a few people go longer in an effort to pick up some 'free' MV or maybe experiment with hitting a particular accuracy node. Longer than 30" starts getting to be more difficult (not impossible) to find a case that fits, though.

10 twist would cover pretty much any of the available options that you might want to run. 11 should work up to the 200-210s, might be iffy @ 215-230 if'n you desire to experiment in that direction.

Dave Kiff @ PTG has an F/TR reamer with a 0.168" freebore that works well for a lot of people; there is also a '2013 US FTR' reamer that Kiff makes that is basically a '95 Palma chamber (well tested and proven) with a 0.170" freebore. Probably not enough difference between the two to argue over, but figured I'd throw it out there.

Thank you Mr. Milanuk!

I want the FTR rifle to be no more than 16.6 lbs with the scope.
Action + trigger + guard should be around 2.0 - 2.2 lbs.
Stock "in FTR mode" should be around 3.0 - 3.5 lbs w/ Anschutz rail (self).
My bipod 1.3 lbs.
Scope, say 2.5 lbs with one pc alum rings.
So the barrel must be no more than 8.7 lbs, max.
Heavy Palma is 6.50 lbs @ 30"
Light Varmint is 7.00 lbs @ 28". Heavy Varmint 7.45 lbs @ 28".
So maybe I should go with LV or even HV contour @ 31" finish length.... is this correct?

seb.
 
I plan to store the rifle with the barrel removed, so the rifle case shouldn't be a problem...seb.
 
I think you may be under-estimating the stock weight. Does that include anything like adjustable cheekpiece, adjustable buttplate, etc.? Some people are comfortable without those things; others feel they are an absolute necessity.

I'd still say go with a 30" Heavy Palma contour and leave yourself some room to make weight if other components a) don't come in as light as you expect b) your scale at home disagrees with the official one @ the tournament check-in and c) one or more of your components dies on you during the match, gets lost/damaged in transit, etc. and you are forced to substitute something else.

People are usually very good about lending parts if something breaks, but you have no control over the weight at that point. Best to plan a little on the light side to leave some margin for error. Yes, I've shown up at a match with a rifle weighing 8.21 kg (with a limit of 8.25) but I was sweating it the whole time.
 
Again thank you for the insights!

I am planning to make the stock myself, probably with no adjustable cheekpiece & buttplate - but I will check.

Q:
Would a stock like this work for F-Class, in your opinion? ... http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/?s=hammerhead+seb&submit=Search

With 3" foreend - without front wing.
With 3" rear keel & custom rear bag/ears.
With different grip / more comfort "pistol grip".

Later on,
seb.
 
For F/TR... I'd say it looks fairly uncomfortable, personally. I'm slightly larger than the average bear, though.

Take that stock and get down in position on the ground behind it for 25-30 minutes and see how it feels, and how much fatigue you experience.
 
I am an experimenter at heart. I think it might be quite easy to shoot considering the very linear design.

With that in mind, I think Monte's advice is solid about trying your stock idea "in position."
 

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