Eliseo R5 Tubegun Shoots in the Ones with Factory 6BR Ammo
What kind of accuracy do you think a tubegun can deliver with factory ammo — during barrel break-in? Perhaps 0.6″ at 100 yards, half-MOA if the conditions are perfect? Well you may want to change your preconceptions about tubeguns — and factory ammo. This Eliseo R5 repeater, smithed by John Pierce with a Pierce CM action and Broughton 5C barrel, shot the Lapua 90gr factory ammo into flat ONEs during the break-in session. A day later, in tricky 8-14 mph winds, the gun nailed a witnessed and computer-measured 0.174″ 5-shot group using the 105gr factory ammo. That would be impressive for a “full-race” benchgun with precision handloads. For an across-the-course rifle shooting factory ammo, it’s pretty amazing.
Eliseo Tubegun Shoots in the Ones
This accurate rifle belongs to our friend (and designated expert trigger-puller) Joe Friedrich. During the initial break-in session, since his reloading dies had not yet arrived, Joe decided to start with some Lapua factory-loaded 6BR ammo he had on hand. After doing a few two-shot-and-clean cycles (with patches and nylon brush), Joe decided to try a 3-round group just to see if the Broughton barrel had some potential. To his astonishment, the Eliseo R5 put three rounds in 0.100″ (photo below left). Joe then cleaned the barrel again, shot a couple foulers and tried a 4-shot group. The results were just as stunning — 4 shots in a mere 0.104″ but three in virtually one hole (photo below right).
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Joe’s Halloween 6BR Tubegun SPECS Chassis: Eliseo R5 Repeater, fitted with Eliseo Front Sled and Rear Bag-Rider. Gunsmithing: Pierce Engineering Ltd.. Chambering: 6mmBR Norma, .272″ No-turn Neck, approx. 0.090″ freebore. Action: Pierce Engineering, Rem 700 footprint, Chrome-Moly, fluted bolt. Barrel: Broughton 5C (Canted Land), 27.5″, 1:8″ twist, Medium Palma contour. Trigger: CG X-Treme Two-Stage. Optics: March (Kelbly’s) 10-60x52mm. Ammunition: Lapua 6mmbr 90gr Scenar BT (#4316045, non-moly), 105gr Scenar BT (#4316046, non-moly ). |
You Can’t Believe How This Gun Shoots
Joe called your Editor and said “You can’t believe how this gun shoots with factory ammo!”. So we arranged a photo session for the next afternoon, where I could verify the rifle’s accuracy. Well it turned out the conditions were way more challenging than when Joe broke in the barrel the day before. Winds were running 8-14 mph and were swinging through 180 degrees half-way down the range. Joe fired a few 90s through the Oehler chronograph at my request, then opened a box of Lapua 105gr factory ammo. It took about four rounds for the barrel to settle in after being cleaned the night before. Then Joe got serious, and with your Editor looking over his shoulder, he drilled a 0.174″ five-shot group in switching winds, doping every shot. Joe felt the gun could have shot tighter but he missed one wind call.
Serious Accuracy with a Multi-Purpose Rifle
So there you have it — a tubegun that shoots in the ones with factory ammo. Joe says that, at least with the 90s, the Elesio R5 shoots as well as his 6 PPC. Joe stressed that “steering the tubegun is hard work. You really have to concentrate compared to a purpose-built bench gun like my PPC. With the tubegun, everything has to be perfect on every shot — hand position, cheek position, stock position in the bag. If you’re off just a little bit, it’s easy to steer the gun the wrong way and send a shot out of the group.”
Accuracy Great but Fouling Heavy and ES Could Be Better
Have there been any negatives to Joe’s 6BR tubegun experiment so far? Well, the Broughton 5C barrel, while phenomenally accurate, shows signs of being a bad fouler. Copper built up pretty quickly over the first 25 rounds or so. We saw best accuracy with a recently-cleaned barrel. Hopefully the fouling will lessen as the barrel polishes in with use. And the canted land barrel is slower than average with the factory ammo. Lapua rates its 90gr naked-bullet ammo at 2950 fps with a 26″ tube. In Joe’s 27.5″ barrel we only averaged 2901 fps. With the 105gr factory ammo, which is rated at 2790 fps, we averaged just 2694 fps. That’s quite disappointing. Also the ES on the factory ammo, slightly over 50 fps for both bullet types, wasn’t particularly good. Still, the overall results were stunning. This gun shoots better than many long-range benchrest rifles running carefully-developed handloads — and it does that with factory ammo, right out of the box.
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Tags: 6BR, 6mmbr, Broughton, Eliseo, Lapua Scenar, Pierce Engineering
You’ve got to say ‘well done’ to Joe Friedrich, not to mention his gunsmith and Lapua for the factory ammo, but I’m not surprised by this level of performance from the CSS (Eliseo) tubegun platform when decent components are installed therein.
I took my .308W F-TR Eliseo B1 to its and my first ever 1,000yd UK BR Assoc competition at Diggle in early May basically to see how the load (185gn Berger BT L-R over Viht N550) grouped at that range and to get an accurate 1,000yd zero before the first GB-FCA league round opf the season. With Gary E’s bag riding attachments added, I knocked up an ‘agg’ of 10.599″ and smallest group of 5.879″ for 3rd overall and 2nd smallest group on a day that wasn’t over-easy wind wise. Since my Barnard Model P action was specified as no-extractor needing cases picked out of the action, my groups weren’t shot at record speed either.
Sadly, since the rifle was built to F-TR standards of 18lb and the bag riders probably added a little compared to my ultra-lightweight F-Class bi-pod, it was classed as ‘Heavy Gun’ for which there is no classification in the UK. So, my third place is ‘honorary’.
Just don’t let anybody tell you that Eliseo tubeguns don’t shoot alongside the best, wheatever form they’re in. My barrel is a Broughton too by coincidence.
Laurie,
York, England
My RTS with Bartlein .308 barrel is also very accurate, beyond my ability to hold. I will second the bench handling aspects of the stock. It requires constant concentration to achieve very small groups. The gun is a little top-heavy when equipped with bag-riders and scope.
First,Thank You Paul for the nice write up. Second Thank You Gary and John for a job well done.
For awhile I’ve wanted to own a tube gun, and this rifle will be used primarily for 300m prone and some local 600 yard matches. I’m very pleased how the rifle performs and excited to see how it’s going to perform with load development.
Joe F
The great part is you have a real shooter!
The bad part is you now have no excuses, and it’s all on you if you don’t do well with it.
Sometimes when you put a rifle together, the combination of the action, barrel, etc. can be almost magically accurate, and when I get one like that I tend to not change anything because I always fear it may just be an anomaly that I cannot repeat, although I have to say that tube guns do tend to be very accurate rifles.
Joe’s math is wrong on those targets, should’nt he be subtracting .243, giving even better results!! a .91 and .95
Kevin–
We measured the actual size of one bullet hole as it appeared on the target, which was .234. That gives you actual center to center distance (as close as possible with such small groups). The 5-shot group was measured with On-Target software using a computer scan. That’s quite precise, though it still requires the human eye to center the red circle precisely around each hole. Joe’s 4-shot group is really the most amazing of the lot. He truly put 3 of the four right through the same hole.
Not a surprise to me. If I could win a 600 yard Bench Rest match with a new Remington action with out ANY blue printing, a custom action should really be a shooter in the Elieso tube gun.
Jerry
Jerry, thanks for your comment. You definitely showed what could be done with an Eliseo Tubegun. Here we were stunned to see what could be achieved with the factory ammo. FYI, the bullets in this ammo were beautiful. Very consistent jackets with small, extremely uniform meplats. Joe and I both observed that, at least to the naked eye, these were some of the nicest bullets we’d ever seen. The 90-grainers were purchased about 6 months ago. I don’t know the mfg. date.
Jerry,
I read that article and was impressed. I didn’t know it was a bone stock action though. Now I’m really impressed!
And Kevin, if I’m not mistaken your math is wrong too .091″ and .095 as in not the ones but the zeros.
Mark
I have put together several of Gary’s stocks on different actions, ie: Pierce, Remington, Borden, Stiller,and Savage and different after market custom barrels. All have been great shooters out of the gate.
Nat Lambeth
Very nice rifle. What are the colours on thes tube kit??
Brgds
Herman Koers