Isenhour Sets new 600-yard Light Gun Records: Sub-Inch + 50-3X.
Larry Isenhour became the third man to go “sub-inch” at 600 yards in sanctioned competition, setting two new IBS Light Gun records in the process. Larry’s 0.943″ 50-3X group was an impressive accomplishment on the new, smaller target adopted this season. Fellow shooter Sam Hall reports: “Congratulations to Larry Isenhour. At Oak Ridge, TN this weekend (8/25/07), I got to witness Larry break the IBS 600-yard single target Light Gun group record with a 0.943″ inch group. All were in the 10 ring for a perfect 50 score — which will also be a new IBS 600-yard single target LG score record. That will be hard to beat! Conditions were not ‘perfect’ either. Switchy winds of 5-15 mph. There were several large groups shot over the day. It could not have happened to a more deserving fellow. Larry is a great guy and a great competitor.”
Here’s the target and the gun that shot it. Larry’s rifle (smithed by Mike Davis) features a Stolle Panda action, and 25.5″ Lilja 3-groove 8-twist barrel with 2500 rounds on it. The stock is a one-off custom built by Larry’s brother Robert. It’s walnut with a layer of Curly Maple in the middle. Note how the wood layers are stacked vertically rather than the more conventional horizontal lamination. The barrel is a bit on the short side because it started out as a .243 Ackley and then was re-chambered as a BRX (after 200 rounds), losing some length in the process. Larry believes that “You don’t need a super-long barrel. 25-26″ is plenty for the 600-yard game”. CLICK for LARGE PHOTO.
Larry was shooting a 6 BRX with 32.8gr of Varget powder, along with the Lot 559 Berger 105gr VLD bullets. NOTE: Lot 559 included the first 105s produced with Berger’s new die, and some shooters were concerned that the bullet diameters were smaller than previous 105s. Addressing those concerns, Berger polished the die, with the result that current 105 VLDs are very slightly larger in diameter than lot 559 bullets. Just shows you that maybe the new die VLDs were pretty good right from the start. Larry told us that “The lot 559 105s have shot like lasers through this barrel.”
Larry shoots a mild load, running about 2910 fps, with a .272″ no-turn neck. The record-setting brass was two and a half years old and had been reloaded 15-18 times without annealing. He neck-sizes first then resizes the whole body with a .308 die (this is longer than a 6BR body die so it sizes the longer BRX case from top to bottom). Larry’s shooting style is “modified free recoil”. He places his thumb behind the tang and one finger on the pistol grip very lightly, “just to index the trigger consistently”, according to Larry. He’ll let the stock touch his shoulder lightly. He shoots as fast as reasonably possible under the conditions. “Once I’ve got the gun indexed and the point of aim set right, I’ll touch her off–I don’t wait around”, Larry observed.
Editor’s Note: Larry is definitely a deserving record-holder. He truly is one of the “founding fathers” of this web site. Way back in May/June of 2004, before we even launched 6mmBR.com, Larry provided a ton of information that eventually went into our initial FAQ and competition pages. We want to thank Larry for all his assistance.
Congratulations brother, I have seen this
comming for a while. The editors forgot to
mention that Mike Davis was the gunsmith.
Ol’ Mike has built several world record
guns. I believe from what I have seen in
Larry’s shooting that he might just be able
to shoot an even smaller group.
All the best Bro,
Robert (Mike) Isenhour
EDITOR: Thanks, Robert. I’ve added Davis’ name to the story.
Hi Larry,
[I received] an email about your accomplishment. Congratulations on a great group! A sub inch group at that range is very impressive. It takes top notch equipment to shoot like that at 600 yards and more importantly a great shooter. Nice job.
Dan Lilja