BR stock for 100-200 VFS matches

[memilanuk]

So... I've got a Savage Target Action RBLP that has been T&T'd, fitted w/ an Evo trigger, and a 24" Rock Creek 5R #6HV 1:17tw barrel chambered in .30 BR by Gold Creek Rifles. The rifle seems to be shooting well, bedded in a factory F-Class stock... but it's considerably over even the 13.5 lb HV/VFS limit with that stock accounting for over 4 lbs of it. I'm not sure if its possible to hog off enough material to drop that thing about a pound and a half, which is what it'd need to make weight. Right now I'm already running a fairly light scope (Weaver T24) and that caused me some grief not being able to see the bullet holes clearly @ 300.

I'm looking for something considerably lighter... like a McMillan Edge, for example. Actually, there are some super-light 'Montana' cedar / carbon-fiber stocks that some guys around here are using, but those are out of production. One guy is using a Stockade Benchrest stock on another Target action with a similar setup so that is another viable option... but I have no idea what the weight is on that stock or any other options out there. Any other ideas or suggestions?

TIA,

Monte

[rjtfroggy]

http://scopeusout.com/custom-rifle-stocks/target-stocks/

Shehane st-br stocks not cheap but made for what you want. Wait time is supposed to be about 4-5 weeks for the laminate( all woods are in stock).
I can't comment on fit or quality yet mine is still 3 weeks out.

[memilanuk]

Any idea on weight? The general impression I've gotten was that unless made from cedar or something else fairly light-weight it was going to be tough to make weight with regular wood/laminate stocks as they tend to be heavy.

[82boy]

Monte,
The best way to do this would be to buy an fiberglass stock you like, get it uninletted, and get it for a Remington 700 tang, have it sent off and inletted for a savage. You looking at a bit of cost to do this, but it would be the best option. It is super hard to make weight with laminate stock. You next best option would be look around on benchrest central, or 6BR, and find a benchrest stock that is already inletted, and becaome a master of epoxy. You can fill in the stock with epoxy, and bed it to a Savage action.

A few other ways to save weight, you can find an aluminum trigger guard, Savage use to use them in the late 1970's, or you could have SSS make you one. You may want to cut a couple of inches off the barrel, as most benchrest shooters shoot barrels around 22 inches to keep weight down. Go with Tally one piece ring/bases, they are the lightest set up out there. You can take a router, and cut pockets into the stock in the barrel channel, leaving a section or two between them. Have the bolt fluted, drill out a hole in the back of your bolt handel. Get rid of the heavy recoil pad, make a light weight recoil pad from a flipflop shoe. It all sounds like little things but them little things add up.

On not seeing bullet holes at 300 yards, I would not worry much about this as most clubs, sanctions hardly ever shoot 300 yard matchs, most are 100 and 200 yards. You may want to look at replacing that scope, I would think that you should be able to see 30 cal holes in a target at 300 yards. Are you using the official Red NBRSA/IBS score targets (There is a reason why they are red.) at 300 yards? You might find that on a red target you can see your holes.

[82boy]

Any idea on weight? The general impression I've gotten was that unless made from cedar or something else fairly light-weight it was going to be tough to make weight with regular wood/laminate stocks as they tend to be heavy.

On a Laminate stock, You could laminate one up from Luawn pylywood, it is super light, and would easily make weight. Shehane uses Obeach wood, and it is light. Catalpa is light. Basicly these are exotic woods, and unless you willing to make your own stock, having a stock made with them could be very pricy.

[memilanuk]

Just got off the phone with Bill Shehane... he said their lightest option is the African Obeche wood stocks in the Indian Paint pattern, but he wasn't sure how much they weighed for sure. Not sure I want to go that route as I've talked with two different LR F-Class shooters in the past who had the Indian Paint pattern stocks and they both commented on how soft the wood was and how easily dented up they were.

The main reason I was kind of interested in going with wood was some comments from the local gunsmith that a number of the better shooters were going back to wood stock as they felt it was more 'dead' on the bags and easier to tune. He did qualify that with it was really, really hard to tell and he himself wasn't quite convinced.

Originally we had talked about going with a 22 or even 21" barrel, but he'd opted not to chop it off at this point as nothing we did would make the current stock make weight. The bolt handle on the gun currently is one of SSS's varmint/target/tactical handles, with a hole in the end already. The scope rings are Burris Signature Zee, and the base is an EGW aluminum base. I had been thinking about looking at the Benchsource rail and some Davidson rings; are the Talley substantially lighter than those? I've never had to quite shave weight this bad before, so I'm a little leary of screwing up a good-shooting gun.

You're right about the 300yd being fairly rare; apparently this club and maybe a small handful of others shoot 300yds at all. I guess last year they finally started keeping records for 300yd as well as 100-200, so that may change in the future. From what I heard, the standing record at the end of last season was a 243 or so for five targets @ 300yds... yesterday it was broken with a pending 249. I was at a 247 going into the last target, but mis-judged a wind change and nerfed one out into the 8, ruining an otherwise clean target. Ended up 5th instead of 3rd... ah, well. My gunsmith looked at me and said "You need to get a stock for that thing sooner rather than later..." ;)

Not being able to see the shots was frustrating... yes, they were using the red targets, but some of those shots that land right in the middle of the line were awful hard to see with either my T24 or my Kowa 821M w/ 27x WA/LER lens. It was fairly overcast, almost even dark for the first relay or two (with daylight savings and all) and I could barely see hits in the red at all.

There's a limit to how much and how fast I can throw money at this setup... I'm guessing stock this summer, then hopefully move one of my 'bigger' scopes over when the competitive LR F-Class season winds down, buy some wind flags at some point for practice time, etc.

[82boy]

Take you SSS bold handle and drill the hole much bigger. Burris rings are very heavy. Watch the Indian blanket pattern stocks, as they have a tendancy to crack and break, this is why SSS no longer offers them. Tally is the lightest set up you will find, both rings weigh in at around 3 oz, yes this is FAR lighter than the benchsources rail by its self, and you add davidson rings you even farther away. Dont buy windflags make your own, they are super simple to make.

What you looking to do can be done, I have done it myself. Here is a gun that I built when I had a douglas 1 in 17 twist 30 BR barrel they gun weighed in at 10.3 lbs, with a Weaver T 36 scope. Right now I have a Krieger #7 6 PPC barrel, and the gun weighs in at 10.5 lbs. I have a douglas 22BR barrel that puts the gun at 10.1 lbs, with the Tasco World class 24 power scope. I am playing with a 22 PPC barrel, and we will see where it is at. Look at the last picture you will see the Tally light weight rings.

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/advatarebr.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/HPIM1573.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/HPIM1813.jpg
And the gun shoots well too, here is a 100 yard 5 shot group that was shot with the gun with the kriger 6 PPC barrel. The target measures at .136
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/5shot100yardgroupinthehigh1s.jpg
Here is three 100 yard 5 shot targets shot with the Douglas 30BR barrel.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/30Brtest1001.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/30brtest2001.jpg

[memilanuk]

Sooo... on the Talley rings, I presume they need to be bedded to the receiver and lapped to the particular mounting setup?

How much weight did the fluted bolt body save?

Is that a SSS stock, or something else?

[82boy]

Nope the rings are not bedded to the reciever, and no I did not lap them, they came right out the package and onto the gun. You could bed them if you wanted, they have a recess in the center if you want. I swer they are the same ring BAT machine uses, because they look identical to BATs setup.

The bolt fluting did not save much maby a 1/2 oz, but like I said before every little bit makes a difference.

The stock is a custom made stock, I dont know that the stock maker is interested in making more. I had a couple of them one was on a Benchrest Savage MKII I sold. I paid around $300 for each of them.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/IMG_0134.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/IMG_0128.jpg

[memilanuk]

Gotcha. I'll get a set of rings on the way.

I think the problem here is going to be that due to a little mis-communication I ended up with a no-nut barrel setup - the barreled action, no scope rings or base, etc. already weighs 8 lbs 8.5 oz. I can shorten it a bit, but I'm a little leery of re-contouring it for a barrel nut now. Throw on the scope (without caps or rings, but with sun shade) and I'm at 9lbs 10.6 oz, still with no stock. Don't think I'm gonna make LV any which way ya slice it ;) HV / VFS... might be doable. I do want to reserve some weight room so that when the time comes I can move one of my 'bigger' scopes over to this gun.

[82boy]

I would not wory about the barrel nut, it is a nice feature, as it helps save on weight. I would leav it as you got it, but would seriously think about cutting the barrel down to 22 inchs. You be suprised how much 2 inches of barrel weighs. I would not use a sun shade on the scope, just use a shade on the barrel, it will also same some weight, and usualy works better. You might have problem making heavy vamint weight because you basicly have to get the stock to weight in at 3lbs, with trigger guard and but plate. You will never do it with any kind of wood stock. I would limit using bigger scopes as well, you want to keep the scope at the weight you are at. You are cutting it close, you need to put it on a serious diet, and shave weight every place you can, even if it is just a very small minut amount.

[JCalhoun]

Monte,

Is there a carbon fiber or fiberglass stock that would work?

Plastic trigger guard is ugly but almost weightless.

[memilanuk]

I've got a 'TMBR' stock on order... Tom Meredith's design produced by McMillan (fiberglass). Should be completely blank / un-inletted, so a clean slate. Finished weight is supposed to be around 2 lbs, which combined with the barreled action (8.5 lbs) should leave around 3 lbs for trigger guard, butt plate, rings & scope. Current scope weighs right @ 1 lb; other options may weigh as much as 1.75 lbs, so hopefully I should be in good shape. I'm going to look into the aluminum trigger guard... on a gun this nice, plastic pieces would be almost criminal ;)