Benchrest rifle build question

It depends on what classes your talking about. If your shooting NBRSA/IBS rules, and not club rules, then it depends again on what all you want to shoot in. The short answer is yes.

If you wanting to shoot the gun in hunter class, then a 30 BR will not work as the case capacity is too small. You would have to go to a 30x44 or a 30x47, the gun would have to be under 10 lbs., and the forearm would have to be at 2 inch's wide, the action must have an magazine cut out, you can put a single shot adapter in, and the scope would be limited to 6 power. You can take this gun and switch out scopes, and shoot in all the varmint classes. Most score shooting offers this class, it was not until recent that they opened up the use of Varmint rifles, as a class called "varmint for score." This class is abbreviated as VFS. (If I recall right they go off of heavy varmint rules, of the gun must weigh less than 13.5 lbs.) This was a brain child, to get more shooters involved, and to allow the group shooters to compete in score shooting.

Now if you build a light Varmint gun, a gun that ways less than 10.5 lbs., has a 3 inch wide forearm, and no limit on scope power. you could shoot it in Light varmint, Heavy Varmint group shooting, and Varmint for score, groups, You could also shoot the gun in unlimited, and since the gun has a bigger caliber than a 22 you could shoot the gun in sporter class. This doesn't matter if it is a 6mm or a 30cal. the rules states 30 cal or less.

Now a bit of warning. You may want to re-think the 30BR, yes they have proven to shoot well in group shooting, but they have not set the world on fire, and you will hardly ever see anyone shooting one. I would also state that I had a 10.5 LV gun chambered in 30br and it beat the ever loving crap out of me. I had to get rid of it. The hunter for score guys with the 30x47s and 10 lbs weight make cellulous recoil pads, and usually wear shot gun jackets with recoil pads, to keep from getting beat up. If you look at the fellows in group shooting that are doing well with 30br they are usually using them in heavy gun, and shooting 6 PPC in light gun. It is hard to believe but that little bit of weight makes a big difference. The last downfall with the 30BR is finding bullets, the match grad 107-118 are bullets are about non existent.

With that all said I would recommend you build a 6 PPC, the ever so slight advantage of the bigger 30 cal hole doesn't out weight the advantage of the heavier recoil. Yes the 30's are dominating score shooting, but a good tuned 6 PPC will run with them all day long. In group shooting the 6 PPC dominates, I have seen a few fellows that was competitive with 30brs, but they are few and far in-between. Also with a 6PPC you don't have to worry if you going to fit in the rule guidelines, as most clubs build there match's around them.

With that all said go to a few match's, and see what everyone is using, check the rules at that range and make sure before you build something. A club match I once shot at would not allow the 30br to compete. Do you home work, and do just go by what people tell you on the internet.