Second-Hand Rifle of the Year — 30BR That Still Shoots Dots

Forum member Toby Bradshaw is one lucky dude. He recently acquired a “previously owned” 30BR benchrest rifle from fellow forum member Al Nyhus. This 17-year-old gun has to be a candidate for “Second-Hand Rifle of the Year.” You see, Al’s cast-off 30BR still shoots tiny little dots — as its new owner discovered. Al Nyhus reports: “That gun won literally piles of trophies, plaques and patches for me. It will win any time and any where for ‘ya if you hit the flags right.”

Here are the first three-shot groups out of the gun, during load testing by its new owner. Yeah, we would take that. Needless to say, Toby is delighted with his “hand-me-down” purchase. If only all new benchrest rifles could shoot this way!

Bradshaw Bags a 17-Year-Old Panda-Actioned 30BR from Al Nyhus
Toby tells us: “I took advantage of Al Nyhus’s move from score shooting to drag racing, and picked up his ’97 vintage Panda 30BR. I hauled my gear to the range to zero the Leupold 45x that I put in the Kelbly high rings, and to produce three snug cases to send to the Harrells for a FL bushing die. I expanded and neck-turned a few gold box 6BR culls, leaving just 0.001 clearance in the chamber to produce a fitted neck, since I don’t yet have a sizing die (but did get a Wilson seater die from Al). I have 1000 118gr 7-ogive bullets on order from Ronnie Cheeks, but I bought 200 Berger 115gr FB to do some fireforming and practice until the Cheeks bullets arrive.

I bore-sighted, adjusted the scope to the first bullet hole, and verified the adjustment with a second shot in the middle of the 100-yard score target sheet (visible in the photo).

After running an H4198 pressure test without any drama, I loaded the once-fireformed brass with a stout load of H4198, bullets still at the jam, and shot two 3-shot groups with a 2-click scope adjustment in between. You can see the results above. I’d say that’s not bad for a ‘used’ rifle with no real load development on my part.”

Toby Bradshaw’s story about his “hand-me-down” 17-year-old rifle reinforces what we’ve been saying for a long time about the little 30BR cartridge. Necked-up from the parent 6mmBR Norma case, the 30BR is, without question, one of the most inherently accurate cartridges ever invented. And it is forgiving….

Compared to the other dominant short-range accuracy cartridge, the 6 PPC, the 30BR tends to be less finicky, and easier to tune. The 30BR offers broad accuracy nodes. Also, we often find that 30BRs are relatively insensitive to seating depth. It’s not uncommon for a good 30 BR to shoot quality bullets equally well at a variety of seating depths, both in the lands and out of the lands.