Thanks for all the information thus far. I’ve been on accurateshooter.com and attempted Long-Range.com. Neither contained the nuts and bolts of the competitions I was looking for. Plenty of articles on new gear and past champion rifles. Not much in the way of strategy, proven equipment, or beginner setups.
As stated, I’ll be attending the matches as soon as I locate them.
Try finding your local state NRA affiliate organization. As an example, in Washington state, it's the WA State Rifle & Pistol Association (WSRPA); in Oregon, its the Oregon State Shooting Association (OSSA). Often times they maintain a state event schedule, as they have to sign-off on any state championships as well. They may have a contact person for HP or F-class, who can in turn put you in touch with a match director near you. Alternately, over on Accurateshooter.com there is a thread on 'where to shoot', some where in the Competition sub-forum.
Known gunsmith that can build a rifle to spec.
Lots and lots. Keith Weil is one that comes to mind (KW Precision) or Emil Kovan (Kovan Match Rifles) are two very popular upper tier builders. Alex Wheeler (Wheeler Precision) and Shawn Williams (Northridge Rifles) also do great work.
F Class TR seems to be moving to the Berger 200 plus weight bullets. So 1-9 twist?
It kind of swung from 175s in 24" tactical/varmint rifles, to 155s for a number of years, then 185s for a few, then people dabbled with 215/230s, and seems to have mostly settled in the 200 gn range as a balance of BC vs. safely achievable velocity, along with some other concerns (behavior in head/tail winds, gun handling, etc.). The old theory used to be to run as slow of a twist as would stabilize the bullet enough to keep it from key holing, for best accuracy. Hence the older Palma rifles running 13 tw, and some of the slower twists you see on short-range BR guns (where BC really doesn't matter at all). The more current theory is to spin the bullet fast enough to capitalize on all the potential BC available from a given shape/design, with the minimum stability margin being considerably higher than previously used. I know people who have ran 200 Hybrids and 200.20X from an 11 tw and reported excellent results. I think I'd say the vast majority of people I know of run (at least) a 10 twist for the 20X bullets. A 9 probably wouldn't hurt. The newer Sierra 200MKs (#2231) are quite a bit longer than the Berger 200.20X (1.58x", vs 1.50x") and from what I hear (haven't played with them personally yet) need at least a 9, if not faster, twist to get the best performance. I've seen people that claim the S200MK wouldn't shoot worth a dang with anything slower than an 8 or 8.5, but Tommy Todd (Sierra's ballistician) says they shoot just fine in a 9.
Is the Vortex Golden Eagle holding up well?
Yes, I haven't heard of any major systemic problems, or even minor ones. I think everyone I know of who has one, loves 'em.
SFP, it that really were it’s at for that competition or is it just tradition?
Yes, for both
Given the nature of the target already having hold-off lines built into it, tic marks on the reticle aren't quite as useful as in other sports. Most SFP target scopes have 1/8 moa clicks, which do come in handy for dialing in your hold, both for elevation and windage. The SFP part typically lets you do very, very fine holds once you have things dialed in how you want. It's not uncommon to hold one line (edge of X-ring), two lines (edge of 10 ring), three lines (edge of 9 ring), etc. Then you get into holding 1.5 lines... 1.25 lines... just inside 1 line... especially if you're chasing a condition as it dies off. Tough to do that with 0.1 mil (0.36 moa) clicks, and since FFP mil/mil reticles vary *wildly* in terms of how fine they are in the center area... it's hard to say if you can hold as finely with those reticles. Also, there are relatively few FFP scopes that run in the same sort of magnification range as a NF 12-42 BR, 15-55X Comp, Vortex 15-60x GE, Kahles, March, etc. Granted, between lighting and mirage, you may not be able to run at that high of a power very often, but it sure is nice to be able to when you can. There are some very, very good shooters out there that run their scopes around 25-30x and hold off all the way to the edge of the paper - or beyond. Some days the mirage gets bad enough that all those lines on the target face just turn into a grey blur, and you're better off holding edge of black, or edge of the target frame - some where, any where that there is a defined edge to reference off of. And finally, most FFP scopes are built for either tactical, or LR hunting, where weight is not an object. SFP target scopes... are built specifically for disciplines (F-class & LR-BR) where there are hard limits on the overall weight of the gun - including the scope. Most people find they would rather have that extra weight in the barrel, the bipod, or something other than the scope since we don't tend to bash them around as much.
How are they burning up 308 barrels in less that 2 thousand rounds? This seems questionable at best per my experience.
'Burning up' is a relative thing. One, they're looking at it from the view point of X-count on a very small (1/2 moa X-ring) target, which means the gun has to be consistently grouping close to 1/4 moa at distance. Not just for a few select shots, but for 20+ at a time, several times a day. So a barrel that may soldier on for 3, 4 or 5k rounds (or more) on larger targets, or where the humans ability to hold (i.e. positional shooting) is the limiting factor, is probably headed for the back-up / loaner / practice gun @ 2k, and probably for the scrap bin @ 3k, in F-class - at the higher levels of competition. Yes, there are people pulling barrels at those intervals that probably really can't shoot the difference (yet) but confidence in one's equipment is worth something in and of itself. Traveling to a big match, paying for hotel, air fair, car rental, match fees, shipping ammo ahead, etc. tends to make you want to be *sure* that the barrel being on the downhill side of it's life is not something else to have to worry about. If you're shooting local / club 1-2 day matches that are in easy driving distance... you can probably 'afford' to stretch that barrel out to the bitter end.
Since it’s single load only, why would a $1500 custom action have a truly quantifiable benefit over the single shot Savage model 12?
I'm probably not the best person to answer this one... as I have been a factory sponsored shooter for Savage since 2007 so I'm just a wee bit biased
That said... *in my opinion* it's mostly a matter of refinement. I have my doubts as to how much edge there is in pure mechanical accuracy. There are a lot of features available in custom actions that are just not readily available, even via aftermarket tinkering, for a Savage. Coned bolt faces, drop ports, easily changeable triggers in the 2-4 oz range, and some of the exquisitely timed actions actions you see on the line would be good examples. Savage actions tend to vary considerably in terms of bolt lift, primary extraction, etc. The 'Target' actions tend to be pretty good (better than the rest of the line, by and large) but even there you run into some that just flat need some TLC from a good gunsmith - and there just aren't a whole lot of those out there that specialize in working on Savage actions.
Something like a factory Savage 12 FTR will get you off to a very good start for local club matches. The factory stock and barrel will get you thru a season or two, and then you'll probably need to replace the barrel anyway. If it's not burned out, you'll probably be getting to the point where you want specific features from a barrel and/or chamber that the OEM one just won't have. The stock... I wish I could say more good about it beyond "it fits most people okay", but I really can't. The McMillan XIT stock is just much, much *much* better all the way around.
The custom actions... are very, very nice when every thing is working. Pure mechanical perfection. Two finger bolt lift, 2 oz triggers, and super, super smooth. But sometimes that uber perfection goes sideways when it encounters dirt, dust, mud and rain. Super tight tolerance bolts can end up with galled lugs; I don't know how many freakin' times I've seen people have to pull guns off the line because their gun AD'd due to a little dust or water in the trigger. News flash, we *do* shoot down on the deck, not up on a bench, and normally not under a cover of any sort. People love to hate the AccuTrigger... but I've got many tens of thousands of rounds down range with them, and I've never, ever seen or heard of one AD. The safety blade may catch the sear from falling and lock up when you slap the bolt closed like a Remchester, but it probably just saved you 10 points by doing so. Run it like a reasonable person, and they work just fine, rain or shine. Lots of people manage just fine with various BR triggers, but there's usually a learning curve of "don't run the stupid thing at the ragged edge, reliability trumps having the lightest possible trigger" that takes some people longer than others to figure out
In the end, it's kind of like cars: you can make a Corvette look pretty and run *really* fast, but no matter how nice you make it, it'll never be quite as 'refined' as some of the fancy euro super cars. Whether you'd rather buy low and build up, or just buy it all blinged out from the get-go, is up to you
