Any 7-08 Benchrest guns?

[jbhotrod]

I can't comment on the hotter 6.5s' L-R verticals. I do know they are very good with the sevens. To be competitive at national level, it's a 7mm WSM or to a lesser extent .300 WSM in the UK. Some have tried the SAUMs here, but few have stuck with them. Grant Taylor was beating allcomers a few seasons back with the Shehane, and not loaded right up either, but even he seems to have been forced down the short magnum route.

Would you say the 7 WSM can hold the same ES/SD's as the .284?
Also, whats your F-Open set up? And does Mr Bottomley still shoot F-Class and Benchrest?

 

[Laurie]

Again, I can't comment on 7mm short magnum ES values - these aren't cartridges I've ever loaded. AFIK, they do very well in this respect using the almost universal 7mm/270WSM version starting with Norma brass. I've not found either the 284 or Shehane particularly easy cartridges to tune. Many recipes seem to settle on 25 or 27 fps ES with loads that produce reasonable MVs and group well. Finessing loads, brass, neck tension etc to halve those values and group that little tighter takes a lot of work.

My friend Vince (Bottomley) whom you mention is a fan of 6.5-284 (more for BR than F) but NOT at all of the straight-284. With the cartridge being a bit 'in' these days for club competition shooting, Vince spends a lot of time trying to persuade relative newcomers to F-Open not to choose 284, and usually failing. (Then he spends hours on the 100yd range helping them out with load development!)

Yes, he still shoots F-Class, but only at club level these days. (We'll be up against each other on Sunday in a 1,000 yard comp, may even be partners.) Vince has always been a 6mm fan and uses this calibre for nearly all his F and BR shooting nowadays - 6mm SMACK (Swiss Match / Ackley), a 6mm Dasher variant, and now 6XC too as well as the PPC for short distance BR of course. With the light recoiling sixes, he uses an Evo bi-pod rather than his SEB Neo front-rest in F-Class - a lot less weight to hump around hilly Diggle ranges. BR has always been Vince's first love and he is doing every match we run on that at Diggle - 100, 600, and 1,000 yards which we are able to run year-long (600 in an autumn / winter series; 100/1,000 on monthly 'BR weekends' from April to September).

I lean the other way and always opt for F-Class when there's a choice, only getting the occasional winter 600 yard BR and our annual 500yd 'Fly Shoot' comps in.