F T/R Competition Question from a complete novice

[Keizer09]

I have read the posts here for some time, but just joined. I am having a hunting rifle made and my guidance to the smith was to build a great deer rifle that could reach to 1,000 yards at the range. We decided on a 6.5x284, with a 24" Schneider barrel, a remington 700 factory action, a precision stockworks rifleman stock and a NSX 5-22x50.

I apologize for the history that is probably boring. The rifle is guaranteed to shoot .5 MOA or less. Is this a good enough setup to start shooting in F-Class? I understand that there are far better and more expensive rigs that will perform better. But, is this good enough to get started shooting?

Thanks and I apologize if this post recovers ground that the board is tired of discussing.

 

[thrusty]

Welcome to the Hide! Good question...

6.5x284 is a great caliber for long range precision as it really "bucks" the wind. A lot of benchrest and F-class shooters like it for that fact. However, it it is a barrel burner...

You didn't mention anything about barrel contour, only that it was a hunting rifle. So, I'm assuming that it's a light contour barrel. You will want to make sure you take it slow on your strings when shooting as your barrel will heat up quickly and likely lead to stringy shot placement.

This caliber will put you in the Open class...which just makes it that much more difficult for you to be compeititve against the guys with 17lb guns that shoot laserbeams.

You'll be able to compete just fine, keep an eye on your round count through the barrel and get another barrel on order if you plan on shooting it a lot.

 

[Keizer09]

Thank you for the feedback. I honestly don't know the contour, and I should. Given lead times, the smith was finishing this rifle and said it was what we had discussed, so I just bought it rather than start from scratch and add a few months onto the wait.

The only negative I really saw with the caliber was that it tends to eat through barrels. I'll be mindful of taking care of the barrel. If I burn through it, then it means that I loved shooting the rifle, so i can live with buying new barrels.

I also thought that this would be a nice caliber as an intro--very accurate, but mild recoil and great ammo is relatively easy to find.

 

[gstaylorg]

Only drawback I see to that rifle is that it will put you into F-Open class, where you may be up against a lot of really, really good shooters that also have their own super-accurate, zippy fast, barrel-burning rifles. Other than that, you ought to be GTG. Let us know how it works out for you.

 

[Killshot44]

What you describe will either whet your appetite for a more suitable set-up or piss you off, depending on your attitude.

While 6.5/284 is a good chambering for F-Open, most shooting it use longer (29"-32") barrels for higher velocities and fatter (1.25") barrels to fight the heat from firing 20-shot strings in 7-10 minutes. When the conditions are right, you'll be shooting as soon as the target is back up. There is no taking care of barrels. They're an expendable, like powder and primers. Most shooting that caliber buy several at a time.

Sounds like you have a nice deer rifle. Shoot a few matches with it and if you like competing, build a dedicated F-Class gun.

But beware, the sport is seriously addictive and leads to Empty Wallet Disorder.

 

[Keizer09]

That is very helpful, thanks. It seems like the rifle is sufficient to get started, but won't be competitive. I can live with that right now, although it will almost certainly piss me off as I get a little better. If I enjoy F-Class as much as I think I will, then I'll buy a dedicated rifle for it. I'm dreading that conversation with the wife already.

 

[KT35]

Don't discredit it before you start. The first gun I shot in F-open was a 6.5x47 with a 26inch mtu contour barrel on a HS precision stock. I had to put a 3inch adaptor on it to ride the front rest. I shot several clean 200's at 600 yards and some very high 190's at 1k. So you can be competitive. I'm not saying you will be the over all winner in the match but go in open minded and learn as much as possible.

If you like it, definitley do as killshot44 suggested. Build a dedicated F-class gun. Or two or three or four in my case. EWD is a bitch!

You didn't say anything about reloading. If you don't do it you need to start. This will be a key factor in shooting good scores.

PS. With my wife I find it easier to ask forgiveness than permission! LOL

KT

 

[Keizer09]

I've found the same thing for marital bliss. That and profuse apologies!!

My reloading press should be here in a couple of weeks. To be honest with you, the ballistics and the physics of long range shooting is what drew me to it. I'm looking forward to reloading.

 

[lawrence97]

Not a bad rig to start with and get into the sport. It puts you in open class but you can still learn and have lots of fun

 

[walley2960]

What a great thread.

 

[TunTav0321]

Thrusty, Sorry buddy but F-Open is not 17 lbs, its 22 Lbs.

What you seem to be doing is trying to build a multi-purpose Hunting and F-Open rifle. This is not going to work very well. To be competitive with the 6.5x284 ( a great choice in a F-Open rifle) you are going to need to be just as close as you can get to that 22 lb limit. There is recoil with the 6.5x284, and after you shoot a match were you send 75 or 80 shots downrange in a day you are going to feel it, especially in a hunting weight rifle. Also you are going to need the rifle to track, the way you do that with a cartridge like the 6.5x284 is weight. Most F-Class shooters are shooting a barrel that alone, just the barrel itself weighs in around 11 to 13 lbs. 11 lbs is a heavy hunting rifle if you have to lug it around all day. It will be extremely difficult to get a 26" barrel to track well in F-Class. It is just way to short for the best results in competition shooting F-Class in paticular.

Also to get the most out of shooting prone you would be best served by shooting a prone style stock. You also mention your scope choice is Nighforce 5-22 power scope. There are some using scopes that low powdered at a 1,000 yds but not too many, you are much better served by a scope in the 36 to 50 power range. It is better to have more magnification and not need it, than to not have enough when you do.

Also you mention a guarantee of shooting a .5 MOA. No competent gunsmith would make that guarantee there are simple to many variables for him to do that. And certainly not on a factory Remington action. And at what distance is this guarantee good for?

I hate to sound so negative, but we live in the real world. The best thing you could do is build two rifles instead of trying to make one do two jobs that it probably won't be able to either well.

Roland

 

[Keizer09]

That makes sense. Yes, it's a multi-purpose rifle. The accuracy guarantee is 100 yards. No question that I'm building a deer rifle