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April 10th, 2014

Richard King’s Radical .223 Rem F-Class Rig

We know you guys like exotic hardware, so today we pulled something very exotic from our featured rifle archives. We doubt that you have ever seen anything quite like this before. Gun-builder Richard King says: “I thought you might like to see my latest project. This is my personal gun, built the way I wanted it. I know it’s radical and some may not care for it. But it works.”

Richard King F-TR skeleton rifle

Report by Richard King (King’s Armory, Texas; ‘Kings X’ on our Forum)
This is pretty much an all-aluminum rifle. The action is a Kelbly F-Class with a Shilen stainless steel competition trigger. The scope is a 1″-tube Leupold 36X with a Tucker Conversion set in Jewell spherical bearing rings. The .223 barrel is Pac-Nor 3-groove, 1:6.5″-twist mounted in a “V”-type barrel block. The bipod has vertical adjustment only via a dovetail slide activated by a stick handle. It works like a joy-stick, but for vertical only. I adjust for windage by moving the rear sandbag.

The 30″ barrel is 1.250″ in diameter. With the barrel block forward, the vibrations should be at a low frequency. Instead of one long rod whipping, I now have two short rods (barrel haves) being dampened. This is my fourth barrel block gun. They work, but so does a good pillar-bedded action. I just do stuff a little different.

Richard King F-TR skeleton rifle

The vertical “keel” down the bottom of the stock stops the “spring” of a flat-bar stock. There is little, if any, noticeable flex before or during recoil. The long length of the stock, the fat barrel, and the forward-mounted barrel block work together to keep the gun from rising off the ground. BUT, remember this is a .223 Rem rifle. A .308 Win version might act very differently. I may try a .308-barreled action soon, just to see what happens. But I will stick with the .223 Rem as my choice for match shooting.

Richard King F-TR skeleton rifleThe offset scope idea came from a benchrest “rail” gun. In truth, the whole concept came from a rail gun — just adapted to being shot off a bipod. Sure it isn’t directly over the bore. It is about 1.5″ over to the left. So if you want the scope to be zeroed on the center of the target, you have to adjust for the offset. At 100 yards that is 1.5 MOA. But at 300 it is only 0.5 MOA, at 600 only a ¼-MOA, and at 1000 about 1 click on my scope.

What the offset DOES do for me is eliminate any cheek pressure. My cheek never touches the stock. Since this is only a .223 Rem, I don’t put and shoulder pressure behind it. And I don’t have a pistol grip to hang on to, but I do put my thumb behind the trigger guard and “pinch” the two-ounce trigger.

The offset scope placement could interfere with loading a dual-port action from the left. That’s not a problem for me as I set my spotting scope up on the left side very close to the rifle. I have plenty of time to reload from the right side while the target is in the pits being scored.

Again — this is my rifle. It is designed for my style of shooting. It is not meant to be a universal “fit all” for the general public. However, I will say the design is adaptable. I can easily convert the system to run in F-Open Class. I would drop a big-bore barreled action into the “V” block, slide on a heavier pre-zeroed scope and rings, add plates on the sides up front to bring the width to 3”, and maybe a recoil pad. It might be interesting to offset the wings up from to counter torque of the big bullets. But I would also have to offset the rear bag rider to get the gun to recoil straight back.

How the Gun Performs
I have had “T” to the range only twice for load development. It groups like my present barrel-blocked 223 F-TR gun. But it’s much easier to shoot and it only moves about 3/4” — straight back. I tried to build am omni-directional joy-stick bipod but I could not get all the side-to-side wiggle out of it. So I have set it up so it only moves up and down (horizontal movement is locked-out). As it works now, the joystick on the bipod lets me set elevation on the target quickly (with up/down adjustment). Then, to adjust for windage, I slide my rear bag side-to-side as needed. Once set, I just tickle the trigger and smile.

Gun Handling — Shoot It Like a Bench-Gun
I basically shoot the gun with no cheek or body contact. I don’t grip it, other than maybe a pinch on the trigger guard. The scope was offset to the left to help the shooter move off the gun and avoid the possibility of head/cheek contact with the stock.

[haiku url=”http://accurateshooter.net/Video/RichKingTalks.mp3″ Title=”Richard King Talks”]

VOICE FILE: Richard King Explains How He Shoots his ‘Texas-T’ Rifle:

CLICK PHOTOS to See Big Size

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April 10th, 2014

New White Background Sight-In Target from Birchwood Casey

Here’s a new target that should be very useful at long range (500 yards and beyond). The new 12″ square Birchwood Casey white background Sight-In Target displays a black “halo” around each hit (like the yellow circle on a conventional Shoot-N-C). Larger than bullet diameter, the “halos” can be easily seen with a high-magnification scope at long range. The self-adhesive target features four diamonds with contrasting red box centers. For precise aiming, you can position your cross-hairs to align with the corners of the boxes. Or, you can put a target dot sticker in the middle.

shoot-n-c sight-in-target white black halo

While we envision using this target with optics at long range, Birchwood Casey says that open sights show up well against the white background, making these targets well-suited for indoor ranges or use in low light conditions.

The new sight-in target has five aiming points and a 1-inch grid overlay for quick and easy sight adjustments. It comes with target pasters that allow shooters to cover up bullet holes and continue using the target for added value. The new White/Black Shoot-N-C 12″ Sight-In Targets come in packs of five with 75 target pasters for a suggested retail price of $12.70.


If you prefer a target that displays yellow/green “halos”, Birchwood Casey also makes a 12″ grid target with four yellow-edged diamonds. Red circles provide precise aiming points in the middle of each box. You can quickly estimate group size or dial-in your zero using the hi-viz yellow 1″ grid lines.

shoot-n-c sight-in-target white black halo

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April 10th, 2014

CMP Games Are Underway in Oklahoma

The CMP Games – Oklahoma kicked off yesterday with a Small Arms Firing School session. The 2014 CMP Games – Oklahoma run 9-13 April at the Oklahoma City Gun Club. This popular 5-day event features clinics, SAFS/M16 match, EIC Rifle Match, GSMM Four Gun Aggregate, Vintage Sniper Match, CMP As-Issued 1911 Pistol Match, Military & Police Service Pistol Match, EIC Pistol match, and several other activities.

Below, Leon Rutherford, CMP Master Instructor, helps a shooter on the firing line during the CMP Small Arms Firing School. The SAFS teaches safety, positions, how to load and clear the rifle, how to loop a sling and prepare for practice firing. Students are issued AR-15 rifles to use during the school and will fire the M16 EIC Rifle Match on April 10.

On April 11-13 there will be Garand/Springfield/Vintage and Modern Military Matches, a Carbine Match, and a Vintage Sniper Match. There will also be Pistol Matches held each day from April 10 – 13, 2014. To see match results, visit the CMP Competition Tracker Webpage.

CMP oklahoma

NOTE: The young shooter in the above photo IS wearing eye protection, an all-clear set of eyewear. This close-up shows the eye protection better.

CMP oklahoma

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