thinking about biulding a rifle for tactical matches

[lal357]

I think shooting the light 308s out of a shorter barrel you may have a reality check on how much MV you can actually achieve. Those 2900 to 3000 FPS numbers you hear from F class guys are with 30" barrels and pouring in more powder than most shooters would consider reasonable and seating WAY out past what you can fit into a magazine. Go and read some of Darrell Buells posts here and over there regarding his 155 F class loads. Don't believe most of velocity numbers you read on Snipers Hide, I figured out pretty quick that I either had the slowest barrels ever made or there was some BS numbers on the internet (Hmmmm ....) I think most of those numbers are derived from guys running their come ups from 100 in JBM to calculate a MV but don't take into acct DA.

i agree with the fps i'm getting 2925 out of my 30" 308 shooting 155 amax's now as for darrels comments he's one of the reasons i stuck with the 155's in fclass .........the matches will be just for fun something to fill the void inbetween f class matches .......

looks like it will be a savage 110 action with a 24" either cbi or shilen barrel(have good luck with both)end threaded for a brake, rifle basix -2 trigger , and either axlr chassis or a boyd's varmint thumbhole pillared,and action bedded with a cdi bottom metal.scope is still up in the air nothing more than 24 power mil/mil egw base and burris extreme rings .
now to just start getting parts .all this and i'm still working on my 6.5creedmoor that has to be finished by FEB.

 

[brian427cobra]

I call BS on 300WM being hard to beat, it's more like hard to win with, at ASC maybe, but if you look over at Tactical Matches and browse the PRS final list of competitors you'll see just about half are shooting 6mm something, and the other half 6.5 something, all short action, in order to quaility for the final you needed to shoot in a number of matches held across the country from PRK to FLA, and of course TEXAS is in between, simple numbers don't lie.

 

[scott_at_vortex]

Wouldnt a .308 running the 155.5's really hot be a good choice ? Would you really be giving up all that much to other calibers ?

The main problem with doing this is that we shoot in all weather conditions. So when (not if) shooting in the rain you would more than likely run into problems.


On another note, I shoot quite a few matches and as long as you are careful about remembering to go back for your brass it is possible that you will not lose very many. I had a few matches this year where I did not lose any brass. I have shot the past 2yrs with the same 1000 pieces of brass and have lost less than 50 total. Admittedly, I am a little on the anal side about picking up my brass though

 

[lal357]

i may be off on this but why does everyone like to run thier bullets really hot .i've been reloading since 1986 and was told from my father who also reloaded that to load for accuracy not fps with that said i know there are usually more than one node for accuracy and if there is a major difference in fps then i'll go that route but it seems more and more i hear go as fast as i can and sacrifice some accuracy to do it . i'm also aware about losing brass (i shoot a 400 corbon for fun and lose brass all the time) that why i'm thinking military brass its cheap plentiful and is also found laying around the range from time to time .
remember this proejct is just for fun i dont ever plan on going state to state to do this and will probably only shoot in 5 matches a year i got the idea from a hunter comp my club puts on from time to time where you shoot bench @ 300 then prone 200 and standing @ 100. and my singleshot f class guns are not the best to shoot this type of match in so it got me thinking of a tactical rifle .

 

[ohearchai]

Lal357, I started with a 24inch Rem 700 in varmint contour bedded in a McMillan A1 with Seekins dbm and a fixed power scope. I went out and shot the matches and had lots of fun. Was I competitive, no, did my wind reading skills improve, yes but did I say that I had fun. As mentioned above the 6mm, 6.5 rule the roost in practical/tactical matches, FFP scopes with a mrad reticle are highly desirable. Nightforce F1 or Vortex Razor HD are excellent choices, but not the only ones available, the Vortex PST are really great value for money. If you want to use a 308, take a good look at Bergers new 175 hybrids, but the 175smks were my go to load. When I changed to 260, my scores improved, although I don't think my actual shooting skills did, the 260 is just a little more forgiving. Also you mentioned the XLR chassis, remember its like shooting an ar and not for everyone, tried it but it wasn't for me. The W-3 is a different kettle of fish altogether. If you can get some time behind a stock before you purchase, it would be highly recommended. Also anything that you can gleam from Scott at Vortex posts about this discipline should be well regarded, the man shoots his 6.5 very well.