308 for Benchrest?

[JFrank]

Thanks RW
Now I know
J

 

[Laurie]

It isn’t quite the 30 BR which is an equivalent cartridge but not identical.

The 308X1.5 was a wildcat made in 1961 by shortening the 308 to a case length of 1.5 inches. The shoulder is 20 degrees where the BR line is 30 IIRC. Before the BR line emerged the 308x1.5 had a small presence in Benchrest particularly for score shooting.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.308×1.5-inch_Barnes

Norman Clark, the British Gunsmith has a beautiful little lightweight sporting 308X1.5" rifle he built for himself on a Mauser 95 action many, many years ago. He did it to see if it would meet a need for an accurate varmint / small deer rifle. (The latter role requires the cartridge to meet or exceed a minimum 1,700 ft/lb ME floor under the UK's 1960s Deer Acts.) It did, and was a delight to use. A lady friend persuaded him to sell it to her as she found it so pleasant to carry and use compared to rifles chambered in other cartridges. He did stipulate a first chance to buy it back if she ever disposed of it, so it came back to him after some years and he says he'd never sell it again.

There was a move here some years back to revive the experimental British military cartridge of the 1940's/early '50s, the 280/30 British aka 7X43mm, very similar to the 7BR but as per the 308X1.5" with a shallower shoulder angle, for similar uses. Apparently a great small deer number, very accurate, and very pleasant to shoot. It obviously didn't catch on, so there are just a few custom rifles around in it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.280_British

 

[spitfire_er]

Several years ago, before I had a decent understanding of how to shoot accurately, I shot a vintage 308 win unlimited BR rifle built by my wife's late grandfather.

I put 10 rounds into a small 0.3" something size group. I was impressed. This was with no special BR reloading techniques either. That rifle took 5th place at nationals in 1969 I believe. Of course it's worn many barrels since then, and the shooter was mutch better than I. It has many recorded groups in the zeros.

Long story, back in the day it was a contender, but why deal with the increase in recoil over a BR, or something similar.

 

[Macropod]

Sako came out with a 7 x 33mm cartridge which I guess is a similar concept. I believe it used lighter projectiles though.

 

[boltman13]

I used to shoot a NBSRA legal Hunter Bench Rest rifle with a tight necked 308. I used mainly 125-135 gr bullets in it. It had a 1:14 twist. Keeping a 10 pound rifle stable and consistent in the rest and rear bag was never easy. I usually averaged about 235 out of 250 possible at both 100 and 200 yards. Since our matches are not sanctioned I brought my F-TR rifle in 308 to one match for grins. Using Sierra 150 gr Match Kings in the 1:10 twist barrel and a Sinclair Bypod I scored a 246 at 100 and a 242 at 200 yards. I had never broken 240 at either distance with my legal HBR rifle. Part of it was probably due to the fact that my F-TR rifle's scope would only go down to 10X whereas my other scope was at 6X. The recoil from the F-TR rifle was much easier to manage with the 18 pound rifle as well. Any round that let's you take advantage of the 30 cal. bullet hole and stay consistent in riding the bags gives the bench rest for score shooter a big advantage. That's why the 30BR is so popular.

 

[riverwolf1]

I started NBRSA matches with a 30x44 which IIRC was 1.5” long shooting Bibs 134gr bullets in a 15 twist barrel pleasant to shoot and produced top notch scores, then I built a Kodak 30x47 NLI which had a 35’ shoulder, still with a 15 twist, and 125gr bullets, and it was flat out the best combo I ever shot, until the 30BR, when this came out it was an absolute no brainer.
rechambered 2 rifles for it in 17 twist & 18 twist shooting Berger 115gr. and Bill Small 118’s and H4198 you just figure out your load and seating depth and basically your done fooling with it.
I have wondered why some of the F Open guys don’t shoot it as velocities in mine are running at about 3,050+ fps.