Re: Going to a "Lighter" barrel for comp shooting
Frank's dead-on. The closer the task comes to a hunting scenario, the better the hunting rifle serves the purpose.
Tactical Rifles built on the traditional model are great guns, but they are no joy to employ in the field.
Carlos used a hunting rifle. He knew what he had to do and how to get it done.
The 'tradition' tactical rifle model came later, and departed from his wisdom.
For one thing, when a barrel gets hot, the sporter will cool down faster than the heavy one. It's simple thermodynamics. The more heat a mass will absorb, the more time it will take to emit it.
Add to this that the further out one gets from the starting point, the more energy will be consumed in transporting the rig. These and other related factors all make a contribution to practical field marksmanship.
On the one hand, Frank's arguments for accuracy with a lighter barrel are quite true, and my own experience in paper tactical matches bear them out. 20rd in a handful of minutes was not a stretch.
Popular wisdom about sporter barrels not being able to stay accurate when hot depend on a lot of things, most of which can be accommodated with reasoned thought and practical experience. No small part of the problem is that a significantly hotter barrel probably needs its load adjusted. So maybe there needs to be an additional adjusted load for such situations.
Greg
