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October 22nd, 2007
The St. Thomas Sportsman’s Club in Pennsylvannia recently held its season-ending big GroundHog shoot. 104 shooters attended the event and $2000.00 worth of prizes (and cash) was awarded. The event encompassed three stages, at 200, 300, and 400 yards, with scores totaled for the three distances. Roy Hunter posted the best score, an impressive 144.01 (out of a possible 150) to win the Custom Class. Roy shot a 30BR, demonstrating the accuracy of this cartridge on distances out to 400 yards.
Ranked below are the Top 15 shooters in the Custom and Factory Classes. Ed Harshman won the Factory Class shooting a .223 Rem. A 22/250 and a .223 Rem finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively, while two .308s rounded out the Top Five.
The two most successful chamberings in Custom Class were the 6BR and 30BR, but a couple 6.5s and 6PPCs did well also.
These results demonstrated that among factory guns, the little .223 Remington remains a great choice, with low recoil and excellent accuracy. Among customs, we’d have to say the 6BR is still the cartridge to beat, though the 30BR is definitely capable of winning it all.
October 21st, 2007
AccurateShooter.com has a list of Recommended Gunsmiths. Inclusion on that list is based on demonstrated ability plus customer recommendations. Nobody has “bought their way” on to the list. Most of the smiths listed on our Gunsmith Page specialize in bolt-action rifles, for Benchrest, varminting, and long-range. While some do work on AR15s and “space-guns”, this is not their primary focus.
If you need a first-rate gunsmith for a service rifle, Sinclair International has compiled its own list of smiths including highly respected names. For service rifles (including AR types), Sinclair recommends the following:
Phil Arrington (Service Rifle)
Arrington Accuracy Works
1408 West Ross Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85027
Phone: (623) 582-5066
Compass Lake Engineering (Service Rifle)
719 White Dr
Alford, FL 32420
Phone: (850) 579-1208
Fulton Armory (Service Rifle & Parts)
8725 Bollman Pl., #1
Savage, MD 20763
Phone: (301) 490-9485
Derrick Martin (Service Rifle)
Accuracy Speaks, Inc.
3960 N Usery Pass Rd.
Mesa, AZ 85207
Phone: (480) 373-9499
Scott Medesha (Service Rifle)
Medesha Firearms Ltd.
10326 E. Adobe Rd.
Mesa, AZ 85207
Phone: (480) 986-5876
Albert Turner (Service Rifle)
Turner Enterprises
2200 Seminole Ct.
Plano, TX 75074
Phone: (214) 424-8409
Bill Wylde (Service Rifle)
Wylde & Co.
PO Box 261
Greenup, IL 62428
Phone: (217) 923-3266
To Sinclair’s list we would definitely add John Holliger of White Oak Precision. John built the upper for the Smith & Wesson M&P AR with which Carl Bernosky won the Camp Perry High Power Championship in 2007. This marked the first time an AR-style semi-auto has won that event. John also builds many outstanding components for AR-style rifles, including windage-adjustable front sight bases, and the White Oak Precision Adjustable Buttstock (shown below).
John Holliger
White Oak Precision
101 South Perry
Carlock, IL 61725
Phone: (309) 376-2288
October 21st, 2007
 The Howa 1500 is a nice rifle, offering good performance for the price. We like the Howa 1500 Varminter in particular, which comes with a quality laminated stock and smooth-working, stainless action. One of the few issues with a factory Howa has been the heavy trigger pull weight. You can fix that with a drop-in trigger from JARD. The recently-introduced, all-steel JARD trigger adjusts for overtravel, sear engagement, and pull weight. The trigger includes a Rem-style lever safety. Internals are precision-machined and hardened. Priced at $132 (item 100-003-169) at Brownell’s, the JARD trigger for the Howa 1500 can be ordered in a variety of pull weights from 14 to 28 ounces. Along with the Howa 1500, the JARD trigger fits S&W 1500, and Weatherby Vanguard rifles.
October 20th, 2007
Wipe-Out foam bore cleaner is a product we’ve used with great success on many rifles. With sufficient dwell time, it removes both carbon and copper fouling. You can combine it with Wipe-Out Accelerator or the new Patch-Out product to speed up cleaning time. Many shooters, including this editor, find that bore-brushing has been virtually eliminated with the regular use of Wipe-Out. (With some barrels however, you may still have to brush or use a bore paste if you notice stubborn carbon build-up in the throat area.)
Standard procedure with Wipe-Out is to insert your O-ring cleaning rod guide into the chamber and then squirt through the muzzle. However, this isn’t possible with all rifles. One of our readers wanted to try Wipe-Out, but he has a Remington 7400. This is a semi-automatic rifle with no pass-through in the rear of the receiver. There’s no way to insert a guide rod, and it’s also tricky to use a chamber plug.
READ Jason’s Wipe-Out Article Here
For rifles such as the Garand, M1A and other semi-autos, you can apply Wipe-Out through the breech if you use fitted, plastic tubing. Jason Baney has written a short article describing this process. In a nutshell, you need one piece of tubing that fits the chamber tightly and then connects with a second, smaller diameter tube that attaches to the Wipe-Out can. This avoids any “over-spray” of foam in the action area, providing a clean, simple solution. Just squirt for a second or so, and wait for white foam to come out of the muzzle. Be sure to keep Wipe-Out off fine wood stocks.
October 19th, 2007
Team Glock’s Jessie Abbate is the new Ladies USPSA Multi-Gun National Champion. Bringing a new level of grace, speed, and accuracy to the Multi-Gun discipline, Jessie took top honors among women in the recent USPSA Multi-Gun National Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The three-gun match consisted of 12 stages. 3 stages were shot with a pistol, 3 with a rifle, 3 utilized a shotgun, and 3 were multi-gun. Each stage presented different levels of difficulty such as swinging shotgun and rifle targets, multiple moving pistol targets and long range rifle shots past 300 yards. Other stages were designed for speed which allowed shooters to employ all three of their guns. Jessie used an MSTN AR-15 type carbine in the rifle stages, a 12 gauge for the shotgun segments, and a Glock 34 for the pistol stages.
Jessie reports: “I started the match off Friday morning with a great shotgun stage followed by exceptional rifle and pistol stages. But as I was shooting with multiple guns, I began to tire and made small mistakes that cost me some points. With the long-range rifle stage at the end of the day, I just wanted to survive it so I could move on and put it behind me.” Jessie began the second day with a fresh outlook and shot smoothly and consistently. Abbate wrapped up the last day of competition with a 200-point victory and the Ladies Multi-Gun National Championship.
 The lovely Jessie is now one of America’s top action shooters. Jessie began shooting by going to the range with her father. With the training she received from her father, a world champion cowboy action shooter, and help from her husband Billy, a USPSA Grandmaster, Jessie’s pistol shooting skills continue to grow. She now competes in practical and steel shooting sports with Glock pistols. Jessie was welcomed to Team Glock in the summer of 2006. Jessie balances a busy schedule with her job in the family business in Georgia, going to school for a business degree and training on the shooting range.
Photos courtesy Glock Inc., and Team Glock.
October 19th, 2007
 In cooperation with Tom Meyers, Whidden Gunworks is now the North American source for the Davies triggers, providing both trigger sales and installation. Crafted in Australia, Davies triggers are popular with long-range Highpower and Palma shooters, and these triggers are also well-suited for F-Class. The Davies trigger adjusts for pull weight, and the mounting of the trigger shoe allows the shooter to adjust both length of pull and trigger shoe angle.
The Davies regular weight trigger adjusts from 1 lb, 2 oz. to 3.5 pounds pull weight. Davies’ F-Class triggers will adjust from 4 oz. to 1 pound. Both Regular and F-Class triggers should fit all actions that will accept Remington-pattern triggers. If a Jewell trigger can work with your gun, so should a Davies. Price of the triggers is $275 plus shipping. If you don’t wish to install the trigger yourself, Whidden Gunworks can install both regular pull weight and F-Class triggers. For more info, visit WhiddenGunworks.net or call (229) 686-1911. John Whidden will add Davies trigger photos/specs to his website soon.
Davies trigger photo courtesy Warner Tool Company.
October 19th, 2007
Here’s a nice do-it-yourself project for the winter. Simpson, maker of Strong-Tie fasteners, offers FREE Workbench Plans for a sturdy, 48″-wide bench with a pegboard backing and both upper and lower shelves. A complete list of fasteners and cut lengths is provided. For use as a loading bench with mounted presses, you can double-up the bench-top for extra ridigity. Without much difficulty, the plans can be adapted to build a wider bench if you prefer.
The same downloadable document also contains plans for an 80″-high 6-shelf unit, a 72″-high heavy-duty shelving unit (with 4 shelves), and a 48″-wide heavy-duty table.
October 18th, 2007
Manners Stocks has released its new “T4″ series of tactical stocks. The new design features flats on the bottom of the fore-end and buttstock so the stock performs well from sandbag rests as well as from bipod. With outer shells composed of 35% aircraft-grade carbon fiber and 65% fiberglass, the Manners T4/T4A stocks are very light and very stiff. The T4 weighs just 2.7 pounds, while the T4A (with adjustable checkpiece) is 4.1 pounds.
 Tom Manners tells us: “The T4A comes standard with an adjustable cheek using Terry Cross’s hardware. Both the T4 and T4A come standard with a fixed 1″ Pachmyer Decelerator pad. They can also be ordered with the optional butt spacer system and a Decel pad. The fore-end is about 2.50″ wide and will take barrels up to 1.350″ in diameter. The sides and bottom of the fore-end and the bottom of the butt behind the hook are parallel with the bore. This allows the stock to ride very straight and true if you want to use bags. We lengthened the pistol grip about 1/4″ longer compared to the Manners T2 stock.”
Manners stocks are built to a very high standard compared to most fiberglass stocks on the market. The geometry is consistent and the shells are free from voids and flaws. Manners stocks are all hand-laid with high-temp epoxy resins, placed under a vacuum, and heat cured for optimal resin to fabric weight ratio. Standard configuration stocks come fullly-inletted with a pillar set ready to install at time of bedding. Tactical stocks come painted with a durable, polyurethane enamel in black, OD green, coyote brown, dessert tan, or sand. A variety of camouflage patterns from Larson Tactical are also available at extra cost. The T4 costs $425.00, while the T4A (with Terry Cross adjustable cheek hardware) is $595.00.
October 18th, 2007
Berger recently introduced a new, high-BC 22-caliber bullet with a forgiving non-VLD design. This new bullet is designed for long-range use, single-loaded in an AR15 service rifle or cross the course rifle. It will also be ideal for use in a .223 Remington F-TR class rifle.
 The new 82gr Berger has been somewhat hard to find, but Powder Valley has received a shipment. Powder Valley’s owner Bryan tells us: “The Berger .224 82 gr BT is in stock and ready to ship. Only a limited supply is available. The 82gr BT has performed exceptionally well in all tests. The G1 BC is .450 and we are recommending a 1:8″ twist or faster. This bullet is perfect for those who shoot heavy 22 cal but do not like the sensitive nature of the VLD-type bullets. All tests show that this bullet shoots very well at any OAL and with most loads. At Camp Perry, Shawn McKenna used this bullet on his way to a 2nd place in the NRA Civilian Service Rifle National Championship.” Bryan added: “If you mention this Bulletin notice, you will receive an additional 5% discount.” Call Bryan at (800) 227-4299 to order.
October 17th, 2007
Over the past year, your editor has discussed optics quality control with dozens of very successful shooters. There was widespread agreement that too many scopes are leaving the factory with canted reticles, i.e. cross-hairs that are not plumb with the turrets. In fact, to my surprise, most of the top shooters I polled said, yes they have, at least once, purchased a $700+ scope from a major manufacturer that arrived with a canted reticle. The amount of cant ranged from an estimated one to three degrees. Three degrees happens to be one major domestic scope-maker’s production tolerance. We all agreed that this was unacceptable in a high-dollar scope. (Note: here we are talking about an INTERNAL scope assembly problem that results in reticles being off-axis relative to the turrets. Don’t confuse this with the canting which occurs if you don’t level your rifle. A canted reticle is a production defect requiring factory repair.)
 
Three degrees may not sound like much–after all it is less than 1% of a 360-degree circle. Nonetheless, as the diagrams show, three degrees of cant is VERY noticeable in a scope. In fact, most people will be bothered by a reticle that is just one degree off-axis. Canted reticles are not just annoying to look at, but off-axis reticles cause a number of problems with sighting and accuracy. For example, if you set up your rifle so the vertical cross-hair is straight up and down, your turrets will be slightly tilted. This means that when you click elevation you will change windage slightly, and vice-versa. If, on the other hand, you cant (or tilt) the whole rifle to make the turrets square, this throws off the bullet trajectory–causing bullet impact that is low and displaced horizontally*.
Now, all manufacturers can have a production flaw now and then. Yet we’ve never heard a complaint about canted reticles in Nightforce or Schmidt & Bender scopes. So, it IS possible for the better manufacturers to get it right. Our point here is that it is time for the major scope-makers to address this problem and improve their quality control. That will happen sooner if consumers pay greater attention to reticle alignment during the purchasing process. If you have a scope with a canted reticle, send it back to the maker and ask for the problem to be fixed. If enough shooters do that, we expect the scope-makers will take notice and improve their products.
*CLICK HERE to read a very thorough technical article that explains the effect of rifle canting on bullet trajectory. CLICK HERE to see targets shot with canted rifles showing bullet displacement. The diagram below shows how this occurs.
Illustration courtesy Long Shot Products, Ltd.
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