F-T/R rules question: Is the US Team long freebore reamer legal?

[ORjeff]

I actually searched for the answer but couldn't find it. I can't be the first to see this....

I'm building my first F-T/R rig and pondering which reamer to go with. From my reading it looks to me like the favorite bullet among top shooters is still the Berger 200.20X and I'm seeing lots of recommendations to go with a 10 tw barrel and the US Team F-T/R reamer that has a freebore of .170 instead of the SAMMI spec of .090. 2024 F class rule 3.1(b) says: "F-Class Target Rifle (F-TR) - A rifle restricted to the chambers of unmodified .308 Winchester/7.62mm NATO or unmodified .223 Remington/5.56mm X 45 NATO cartridge cases." That's fairy simple language. The US Team reamer print I've looked at looks like a SAMMI min spec chamber except for the modified longer freebore. I believe that it only takes one modification until something is no longer unmodified. So, is a chamber made with the US team F-T/R reamer legal for use in an F-T/R competition?

 

[mike mccormick]

I actually searched for the answer but couldn't find it. I can't be the first to see this....

I'm building my first F-T/R rig and pondering which reamer to go with. From my reading it looks to me like the favorite bullet among top shooters is still the Berger 200.20X and I'm seeing lots of recommendations to go with a 10 tw barrel and the US Team F-T/R reamer that has a freebore of .170 instead of the SAMMI spec of .090. 2024 F class rule 3.1(b) says: "F-Class Target Rifle (F-TR) - A rifle restricted to the chambers of unmodified .308 Winchester/7.62mm NATO or unmodified .223 Remington/5.56mm X 45 NATO cartridge cases." That's fairy simple language. The US Team reamer print I've looked at looks like a SAMMI min spec chamber except for the modified longer freebore. I believe that it only takes one modification until something is no longer unmodified. So, is a chamber made with the US team F-T/R reamer legal for use in an F-T/R competition?

The chamber itself is unmodified. The freebore is not part of the chamber.

 

[6BRA]

The chamber itself is unmodified. The freebore is not part of the chamber.

Splitting hairs

 

[memilanuk]

The chamber itself is unmodified.

Actually, it is. Most "match" chambers are tighter in several dimensions than straight up SAAMI / CIP provides for.

is a chamber made with the US team F-T/R reamer legal for use in an F-T/R competition?

Think about that for... maybe 5 seconds. Do you really think the US national team would be running an *illegal* chamber for the last three world championships? Do you think the other countries would let them?

A rifle restricted to the chambers of unmodified .308 Winchester/7.62mm NATO or unmodified .223 Remington/5.56mm X 45 NATO cartridge cases.

Now. To be fair, it's not exactly worded the way it's actually interpreted. Welcome to the NRA rulebook, where they still think the whole damn thing has to fit in a pocket sized pamphlet, so brevity trumps clarity.

The way "unmodified" is interpreted in practice is to not make it *bigger*, increasing the powder capacity and thus potential velocity. An example would be something like an Ackley Improved case design, where the shoulder is blown out / forward, increasing the capacity approximately 10%. That's no bueno. But most of the changes you're seeing actually make the chamber *smaller*.

The 'intent' of the language is to prevent people modifying thru case beyond the volume of the original parent case. Could that have been spelled out a little (okay, a lot) more clearly? Absolutely.

And then, just for the sake of being the devil's advocate... one *could* argue that allowing the basically unrestricted cartridge length and/or freebore allows heavier projectiles to be seated further out, thereby increasing the available case volume since the bullet base isn't intruding into the powder space as much... but that's a whole 'nother discussion.

 

[Matthew Schwartzkopf]

I actually searched for the answer but couldn't find it. I can't be the first to see this....

I'm building my first F-T/R rig and pondering which reamer to go with. From my reading it looks to me like the favorite bullet among top shooters is still the Berger 200.20X and I'm seeing lots of recommendations to go with a 10 tw barrel and the US Team F-T/R reamer that has a freebore of .170 instead of the SAMMI spec of .090. 2024 F class rule 3.1(b) says: "F-Class Target Rifle (F-TR) - A rifle restricted to the chambers of unmodified .308 Winchester/7.62mm NATO or unmodified .223 Remington/5.56mm X 45 NATO cartridge cases." That's fairy simple language. The US Team reamer print I've looked at looks like a SAMMI min spec chamber except for the modified longer freebore. I believe that it only takes one modification until something is no longer unmodified. So, is a chamber made with the US team F-T/R reamer legal for use in an F-T/R competition?

"cartridge cases"

 

[Doug Beach]

It should be restricted, but it’s not. The FTR chamber is good to go.

 

[ORjeff]

OK, thanks for the replies. It looks like Mr. Schwartzkopf get's the prize for the best answer that the rule can be rewritten to read: "A rifle restricted to the chamber of unmodified .308 Winchester cartridge cases." So yeah, that one word at the end changes the entire meaning of the sentance. I guess I should have seen that. I guess that means COAL variance from the SAMMI spec is also allowed which I was also wondering about. Anyway, looks like I get to move forward with my build so thank you again.

 

[D-4297]

Just chambered two new Brux with a Manson 2013 F-TR reamer that had a slight modification done to increase the Freebore length to 180 , and after break-in , it seems to be shooting very tight .
Normal bullet at 600 is the Jugg 185 Target , and when someone can twist my arm to go to 1,000 , I use the Berger 200 Target Hybrid ! Personal opinion was I found to much inconsistency in the 200.20X .

 

[clowdis]

Strictly speaking F-TR evolved from the "Target Rifle" class of shooting. So maybe everybody should be shooting 155 grain bullets in their .308's. That would put chambers closer to NATO standard but heck, Palma chambers aren't exactly "standard" either.

 

[memilanuk]

Blair, I would have loved for FTR to have inherited the 156 gn bullet limit from Palma... but that horse is well out of the barn for over a decade now, so it's kinda unlikely.

 

[clowdis]

Blair, I would have loved for FTR to have inherited the 156 gn bullet limit from Palma... but that horse is well out of the barn for over a decade now, so it's kinda unlikely.

I certainly don't see any "going back" either with everyone having guns/barrels designed for heavier bullets and nobody that I know shooting the 155's. But I don't see where the 155 limit has hurt Palma shooting any. It does require more wind reading skill from the shooter and would give more separation in the scores. But like you said "that horse is out of the barn".

 

[FatBoy]

The rule was originally proposed so Palma shooters, US based and Internationally based military snipers could compete with issues weapons. Hence the weight restriction, set to issued 7.62 sniper rifles (British AI being the heaviest then). We had no way of knowing the chambers or freebore, and at least I didn’t care. We intentionally did not limit bullet weight.

Monte hit the mail in the head (not surprising as the intent when at least I was discussing this with Larry was just a 308 Win case. We knew a factory M700 was going to have different dimensions than a Palma rifle, but both were to be legal.

Though it does seem silly in retrospect, I never expected the kind of stuff we see now to even be discussed. I guess with all things competitive, players push the envelope and the game evolves. We got some great bullets out of this, excellent load development and some other stuff that is tailored only to the game…. So be it.