Is The Challenge Of Big Bore Extreme Range Shooting And Hunting Right For You? By James Patterson
Handling a 50 BMG
Is a 50 BMG caliber rifle difficult to shoot? Not at all. The relatively heavy weight of a standard rifle at 30 pounds or more combined with a very efficient muzzle brake makes it a pleasure to shoot. The typical recoil can be compared to a .243 rifle or a 12 gauge trap load. On the other hand, the burning of a typical load of 230 grains of powder combined with that muzzle brake makes the muzzle blast experience exhilarating. A first time shooter will fire, pause for a moment in awe at the muzzle blast, and then break out into what has become known as “The 50 caliber Grin”, almost impossible to wipe from ones face. My daughter started competing with the 50 BMG at 18 (115 lbs of tall skinny girl) and happily shoots 100+ rounds in the course of a match, her grin on the last round is as wide as on the first! Many members and competitors in the FCSA are women and many have distinguished themselves as excellent marksman having set world records on numerous occasions.
Cost of Big-Bore Shooting
Is owning and shooting a 50 BMG caliber rifle expensive? Relatively speaking yes, but one must put it into perspective. Rifles may run from $2500 to $7000, maybe even more for a top of the line custom rifle. A good scope will set you back $500 to $1500. And while excellent commercial ammo is available it runs from $3 to $5 a round. Most serious shooters start reloading for the rifle as soon as practical, not only for the economics of reloading but also for the ability to fine tune custom ammo for their specific rifle. It’s a very rare match that is won shooting commercial ammo. I recently compared the cost of my hobby — owning, shooting, and competing with the 50 BMG — with a friend whose hobby is snowmobiling. Factoring in the cost of equipment, licensing, gasoline, clothing, etc. it was soon obvious that my hobby was significantly less expensive than his.
Getting Started So how does one get started? You could do as I did, purchase a rifle not knowing what you were really getting into; or you could come out to a FCSA-sponsored event, shoot a number of different rifles, rub shoulders with those who have already taken the plunge, and see if this sport is right for you. While membership in the Fifty Caliber Shooters Association (FSCA) is required to compete at a FSCA event, membership is not required to come and experience first hand what is going on. If you have any inclination that you are interested in the extreme sport of long rang, big bore shooting then a year’s membership in the FCSA is only $60 ($20 for active duty military) a significant bargain if it helps you make just one well-informed equipment choice. In addition one of the primary functions of the FCSA is helping to identify active members near you who can help you understand just what is involved and help you ‘get your feet wet’ in this challenging sport.
Accuracy International (AI) is perhaps the most noted manufacturer of bolt-action sniper rifles in the Western world. AI was founded in the 1980s by Dave Caig, Malcolm Cooper, and Dave Walls, three competitive rifle shooters. The company took its name from Cooper’s shop: Accuracy International Shooting Sports. The first project was a smallbore target rifle for civilians. Then the trio decided to build a 7.62×51 sniper rifle, inspired by a UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) competition to replace the venerable L42A1. (That old, wood-stocked design had proven unsatisfactory in the 1982 Falkland Islands conflict.)
Working in a garage workshop, Walls and his partners combined their knowledge of target shooting with input from active military personnel to create the first AI sniper rifle, the L96A1. This ground-breaking design won the MoD contract and immediately proved successful in the field. In an interview with The Telegraph, Walls explained: “The company’s early success was based on not just the what the founders knew from target shooting but also what they learnt from the users, the military users. They went out and they sought inputs from those users, and based on that they designed their very first sniper rifle, and it was very successful.”
Today, “At a discreet location on the outskirts of Portsmouth”, Accuracy International continues to make rugged, versatile, and ultra-accurate sniper rifles for military, law enforcement, and private use. A team from The Telegraph visited the Accuracy International facility in England earlier this year. The video below shows AI’s facilities and the products AI produces:
Watch Accuracy International Video:
Profile of Accuracy International in The Firearm Blog
If you want to learn more about Accuracy International, you’ll find an excellent company history in The Firearm Blog (TFB). Writer Miles Vining visited AI’s Portsmouth facility and toured the factory. His in-depth TFB article provides some fascinating insights. For example, Vining recounts that struggles AI went through before reaching its current success:
“The company wasn’t an immediate success in the beginning. After winning the British Army contract and the MoD realizing the gun was constructed in a garage, Accuracy International had to subcontract many of its parts out to various companies around the UK. In 2000, after over 15 years of production, the company only had two CNC machines, one of which didn’t even work and the other one was making front sight posts…. During the 1990s Accuracy International was surviving on contract to contract, barely making ends meet.”
A major turn-around came with the creation of AI’s Arctic Warfare rifle for the 1993 Swedish trials. As chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum, this AW rifle proved to be a game-changer that “carried the company through the 1990s”. In 2005 the enterprise did go through a re-organization with Tom Irwin and Dave Walls taking over as sole Directors. Since then, AI has been going strong for the past decade. It now produces almost all components in-house, with 30 CNC machines, 70 employees in the UK, and two large-scale manufacturing plants.
When we recently ran a story about Dennis Santiago’s new snakeskin Eliseo Tubegun, folks asked us if this kind of rifle can be competitive in F-Class competition. Here’s a detailed answer to that question by G. Salazar, who runs the Riflemans Journal Website.
A while back, G. Salazar published a three-part article on Shooting The Tubegun in F-Class. Links for all three segments are found below. The article covers some of the hardware German engineered to adapt his tubegun for long-range F-Class shooting with scope. If you’re an F-Classer, or just a fan of tubeguns, you should read German’s article, in all its parts.
In the intro to his multi-part F-Class Tubegun article, German explains:
Salazar: The tubegun has truly changed the face of High Power shooting over the past five years or so. Specifically, the CSS (Gary Eliseo) tubeguns, which are made for a broad variety of actions and configurable to single-shot or repeater, have truly helped the sport to grow. That’s not just idle talk, the two principal factors that made the tubegun so important to our growth are the ease of transition for AR15 shooters moving into a bolt-action rifle and the absolutely ridiculous length of time it currently takes to get a stock from the conventional stock makers. My last conventional stock took well over two years from order to delivery (plain fiberglass). One of my friends has now been waiting four years for a simple wood stock for a smallbore rifle. By contrast, tubeguns, which are largely CNC machined, are delivered in a reasonably short time — weeks or a couple of months at most.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the tubegun would never have attained its present success if it weren’t for one simple fact — they are brutally accurate. I have three CSS tubeguns, one chambered in .308 and two in .30-06 and they are my favorite prone rifles due to their accuracy and great ergonomics. Those factors are just as appealing to an F-Class competitor as to a prone shooter, and indeed, the tubegun is making solid inroads into F-Class. READ MORE…
This article, written by Sinclair’s Phil Hoham, originally appeared in the Sinclair Int’l Reloading Press.
Forster Products’ Heritage
I toured Forster Products’ Lanark, Illinois plant with Forster owners Robert Ruch and Rod Hartman. Forster Products was founded by the Forster brothers in 1935. The company’s first production was in the basement of their home. There, the brothers crafted the famous “Forster 99” model airplane engines, establishing a reputation for quality right from the start. In 1946 the company expanded into firearms reloading products, starting with headspace gauges, universal sight-mounting fixtures, and Forster’s famous case trimmers. All of these tools are still being manufactured and sold by Forster Product today.
In the 1950s, Forster’s reputation for precision allowed it to become a Rolls-Royce subcontractor making fluid and fuel control parts used in Rolls-Royce aircraft engines. Forster also manufactured fluid control parts used at the Hoover Dam and in the United States MX missiles. With this precision background it is no wonder that Forster Products holds an ISO 9001-2008 quality certification!
Forster Acquired Bonanza Reloading Co. in 1984
Forster reloading dies and presses came into being in 1984 when Forster purchased the Bonanza Reloading Company from its owner Clarence Purdie. Mr. Purdie designed the CO-AX press with its floating jaws, easy die installation and tremendous leverage. He also held the patents on the famous “sliding sleeve” featured in the Forster “Ultra” and “Benchrest” seaters. His sizing die design positioned the expander ball high up in the full length and neck dies so the case neck is supported as it resized while it is being withdrawn from the die. This design feature is also unique to the Forster brand. All of these innovations make Forster dies a quality product for producing precision ammunition. No wonder Carl Bernosky and John Whidden (NRA High Power and Long-Range champions) swear by them! It was great seeing that “Made in the USA” quality is still alive and well and that Bob and Rod along with their staff have such a great commitment to precision manufacturing and quality customer service.
Forster’s Time-Saving 3-in-1 Case Trimming/Chamfering Tool
Forster’s CFO, Robert Ruch, demonstrates the 3-in-1 Case Mouth Cutter tool in the video below. This unit trims the case to length, puts a 14-degree chamfer on the INSIDE of the neck, AND (last but not least), it cuts a 30-degree chamfer on the OUTSIDE of the neck. As you can see, the tool turns very smoothly (no chatter) and the job is finished in a few seconds. Forster’s 3-in-1 Carbide cutting tool works with all existing Forster case trimmers and other hand lathes with a .490″ shaft diameter. The tool typically sells for about $60.00 at major vendors, and Robert says it should last for a lifetime of use. The unit fits over the Cutter Shaft and easily secures with one set screw. The 3-in-1 cutter is available for five (5) calibers: .224, .243 (6mm), .264 (6.5mm), .284 (7mm), and .308.
Frank Galli, aka “Lowlight”, runs the popular SnipersHide.com website. A while back, Frank completed a gunsmithing course with Robert Gradous. Frank recounts the learning process in an informative, nicely-illustrated article on the ‘Hide. Frank explains how he put together a new 6.5 Creedmoor tactical rifle using a Bartlein barrel, Bighorn Action (Rem clone with floating bolt-head), and a “lightly used” Accuracy International 1.5 chassis. The HD video below shows the process start-to-finish. READ Full Article.
During Frank’s “hands-on” training sessions with Gradous, Frank learned to thread and chamber a barrel, fit a recoil lug, and install the barreled action in the AI chassis. Chambering was done with great care: “We spent the better part of the day working the barrel. I feel this is a critical component and seeing the attention to detail in Robert’s approach confirmed it for me. When it came time to chamber Robert had a custom tight chamber reamer there for a 6.5CM but I’m shooting a tactical rifle, tight chambers aren’t for me, and this was clear, as out came the standard SAAMI reamer.”
Frank also learned how to modify an aluminum chassis: “the AI chassis had the recoil lug opened up, but it was opened in the wrong direction. This was going to require milling increasing the gap to at least a 1/2″ in size. Robert was really leery of this, but my attitude was, ‘it’s just a chassis and nothing a little Marine Tex can’t handle’.” Thankfully the chassis mod came out OK.
Once the barreled action was complete and the AI chassis was successfully milled, Frank applied a tan Cerakote finish to the barreled action. This would give a proper tactical look to the rifle, while providing superior corrosion resistance for the metal parts. To learn more about Cerakote finishing, check out the Cerakote Application Video, published last week in the Daily Bulletin.
When the rifle was complete, Frank took it out for testing with a variety of ammo, both factory fodder and handloads. There were some initial worries about accuracy as it took a while for the barrel to break in. A few sessions of bore cleaning were required before the barrel stopped fouling and then — like magic — the rifle started printing really small groups.
By the end of his load testing session, Frank was getting good groups with Hornady 120gr GMX factory 6.5 Creedmoor ammo, and really superb groups with handloads. The 120gr GMX ammo “was going 3100 fps with no ill effects”. The best handloads were approaching 1/4 MOA for three shots, and Frank’s load with Berger 130 VLDs shot even smaller than that: “In my opinion the load development we did was worth its weight in gold. Where else can you build in a rifle in two days, then go out and develop a baseline load using everything from 120gr ammo to 140gr ammo with a few in between? My favorite load and clearly the rifle’s too, was the [Berger] 130gr VLD. This gave us great velocity, awesome groups [with some one-holers] and really nice results at distance.”
Lowlight’s Gunsmithing Story is a ‘Must-Read’
We recommend you read Frank’s story. It shows that, with the right tools, and the supervision of a master smith, even a novice can produce an ultra-accurate rifle. For those of you who have considered taking a gunsmithing class, Frank’s successful experience with gunsmith Robert Gradous should give you plenty of motivation.
These days, when gun owners get together, the hot topic is: “Where did all the rimfire ammo go?” For the past couple of years, .22 LR rimfire ammo has been very hard to find, and what you can purchase is priced much higher than before. Is there some conspiracy? Have ammo-makers cut back production? Mark Keefe, Editor of American Rifleman, recently addressed these questions, and the related issue of production capacity.
Keefe observes that, if “normal” demand for rimfire ammo has increased substantially (and permanently), we may not see a big improvement in the availability of rimfire ammo until such time as ammo-makers increase production capacity. But that would require the construction of very expensive new ammo manufacturing facilities. According to Keefe, that’s not likely to happen any time soon because manufacturers will not spend hundreds of millions chasing a short-term demand “bubble”. In Keefe’s view, until the panic buying subsides, and ammo-makers can reliably determine the true, “normal” long-term demand for rimfire ammo, it is unlikely that they will invest in new factories.
Click Graphic to Read Full Article:
Here are some highlights of the Keefe Article on Rimfire Ammunition:
U.S. Rimfire Ammo Factories Really Are Running at Full Capacity
Keefe: “I have been in two of the major rimfire plants in the United States since this ‘crisis’ hit. They are, indeed, running three shifts, full out. But there are not that many rimfire plants in the [USA].”
Increased Rimfire Gun Sales May Justify Increased Production Capacity
Keefe: “There are, literally, millions more .22 Long Rifle firearms owned and shot that have entered civilian hands in recent years…. Variables such as a substantial increase in the number of .22s sold and a change in the type of .22s being shot … may make a new rimfire plant worth it. Time will tell.”
Construction of New Factories is Very Expensive
Keefe: “Would it be worth it to go to the expense of, say, building a $250 million rimfire plant to make your company’s money back at a penny a round over the next 10 to 20 years? The answer, so far, has been a resounding ‘No’.”
Manufacturers Can’t Assess True Demand Levels Until the Panic Buying Ceases
Keefe: “At some point, ammunition demand will reach its real level[.] At that point, the major ammo makers will look and see if there is sufficient demand for [bringing] a new rimfire plant on-line.”
Forum Member Roy B. has found a website with scores of well-researched articles about guns and shooting. The Firearms History Blog features a wide variety of posts on myriad subjects, from early black powder firearms to modern match rifles. You’ll find tons of information on gun design, barrel-making, action types, and firearms testing equipment. To access hundreds of articles, click on the Firearm History Blog Archive Menu on the left side. Click the navigation arrows to access monthly collections one by one. Some of the best articles are from 2010, so be sure to check those archives too! Here are some of our favorites:
RifleShooter Magazine released a list of the Ten Greatest Lever Guns of All Time. Writing for RifleShooter, Brad Fitzpatrick examined a wide selection of lever guns produced in the past 150 years, and came up with this short list of ten “all-star” lever action rifles:
Savage Model 99
Winchester Model 1873/73
Winchester Model 1888/88
Winchester Model 1892/92
Winchester Model 1894/94
As with all “Top 10″ lists, this will be controversial. Where is the Winchester model 1866 “Yellowboy”, the favorite of Native Americans? Where is the iconic Winchester model 1895, the beloved gun Teddy Roosevelt called “Big Medicine”? But other choices are hard to fault. The Henry Rifle, the first popular cartridge lever gun, surely belongs on the list. And, believe it or not, the Winchester Model 94 is the best-selling sporting rifle of all time in the USA, according to RifleShooter.
So what do you think of RifleShooter’s Top 10 list? Does it make sense, or did RifleShooter magazine get it wrong? If you go to the RifleShooter website, you can vote for your favorite lever gun among the ten candidates listed above. (Scroll to bottom of page for poll.)
Fitzpatrick writes: “The lever action played a very legitimate role in America’s westward expansion. It could bring meat to your table or protect your land and assets against rustlers.
Nostalgia aside, the lever gun is an effective hunting tool for those willing to live within its limitations. While it can’t beat a bolt gun with a light trigger and free-floated barrel in a long-range shooting competition, a lever action in the right hands can be rather accurate, especially given new advancements in rifle design and bullet technology.”
On the NRA’s American Rifleman website you’ll find a helpful article that provides basic tips on avoiding legal entanglements when traveling from state to state with firearms in your vehicle. The basic advice is to plan out your trip in advance, researching all state and local laws that will apply. This can be a daunting task, but a Federal law, the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA) does provide some protection for travelers.
According to the NRA: “FOPA shields you from local restrictions if you’re transporting firearms for lawful purposes. Under FOPA, notwithstanding any state or local law, a person is entitled to transport a firearm from any place where he or she may lawfully possess and carry such firearm to any other place where he or she may lawfully possess and carry it, if the firearm is unloaded and locked out of reach. In vehicles without a trunk, the unloaded firearm must be in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console.”
The NRA cautions that: “Laws vary place-to-place, and if you do anything other than pass through a state, you must obey all local laws. This is especially true when you are carrying a loaded firearm in your vehicle or on your person. There’s no shortcut here. You need to map out your trip state-by-state to be sure you stay legal during your trip.”
Resources for Travelers
The American Rifleman article also lists useful print and online resources you can consult to learn more about laws that apply when traveling with firearms:
Joe Hendricks of Team Remington is the 2014 NRA High Power National Champion. This is Joe’s first National High Power championship, and he accomplished it through a gutsy, come-from-behind victory on the final day. This was no easy win for Joe, aka “Joesr” on our AccurateShooter Forum.
Here’s the story of Joe’s 2014 victory at Camp Perry. One thing that made Joe’s victory even more memorable was that both Joe’s father and Joe’s son were there to witness the win. Three generations of Hendricks men were at Camp Perry to see his achievement. That’s a great thing for a family.
Down by Too Many Points and Too Many Xs By Joe Hendricks, Nat’l High Power Champion (2014)
On the last day of the High Power Championship, believe it or not I felt no pressure — because I really didn’t think I had a chance to win it all. I knew the leaders would clean the day and my only hope was that possibly one or two would falter enough to allow me third place. All I was trying to do was shoot Xs, so that I could move past two of the people in front of me and (maybe) secure 3rd place. I started the day tied for third on points with two other competitor, but in fifth place when you figured in X-count.
Yes I was watching the board going into the final day and so many people say “Don’t watch the board!”. However, for me, looking at the board motivates me.
The best I could do at 300 yards was a 200-6X, with nice groups, but not centered. That was not enough Xs and I knew I wasn’t moving up the leader board. I knew that simply shooting a 200 score wasn’t going to cut it and I still had work to do to get onto the podium (i.e. earn third place). At that point I figured I was still tied for third (disregarding X-count).
So I went to the 600-yard line with goal of getting on to the podium. I was shooting for third at that point. I figured maybe with two cleans I could grab third place.
Understand I know my competition and I know I’m shooting against the best High Power marksmen in the world. There were two people who have won this match before and several deserving champions just behind. So at this point, I’m wasn’t giving myself a chance to win — I was hoping to place third.
The first string at 600 yards went well with nothing less than a 10. I shot a normal 200-10X, meaning 10s and Xs were mixed up with no wide shots. Apparently others faltered when I shot clean (all 10s or Xs) — I didn’t know that after the first string at 600 I was actually in the lead….
Click Image to See Full-Size Photo
Pulling it Together: Five Xs for the Final Five Shots
The second string at 600 yards was strange. I shot five Xs in my first 6 or 7 shots and then ran a string of 10s that were either wide or corner shots. So, after 15 shots, I wasn’t getting better, I was getting worse. I needed to get my act together (and right quickly).
I took a moment to regroup and said to myself: “Stop this. We are not doing this today…” (i.e. we are NOT going to break down with just five shots to go). That’s something I heard Ken Roxburgh said to my son during their team match.
That thought process changed my attitude, and it seemed to relieve the pressure, so I was able to concentrate on every shot. I was re-focused and ready to roll. I know Perry, I know the wind at Perry and I had confidence in my 6CM cartridge to shoot 10s through the final five shots.
That confidence paid off — in the final five shots I broke every shot dead center and every shot came up an X!
I don’t care where you place at Perry, if your final shot is an X you have something to take back for next year. Running five Xs in a row to end Perry is special. But, ironically, I can not say that running five Xs in a row to win Perry is a feeling I can actually remember, because, at the time, I thought I had finished third, not first….
After finishing the last string, I had a 1798 point total. I packed up my stuff, went over to the Remington golf cart, and told Ken Roxburgh that I was fairly sure I had placed third overall.
“Down 13… How About You?”
I then walked down the line and I saw Brandon Green from the USAMU congratulating Norm Houle on winning. I paused for a moment and then walked over to Norm and asked him: “What did you shoot?” Norm replied: “I was down 13, how about you?” I then answered “Down 11″. Norm gave me a huge handshake and then it hit me. I had won.
I was a feet away from my father. I went to him and said I think I won. Pricelessly, Dad said “Won what?” Then it hit him. Literally in tears, He called my mother to report the good news.
At that point I realized this Championship wasn’t my life’s work, it was his. THANK YOU DAD!
My son Joe Hendricks Jr. was in the pits and didn’t yet know about my first-place finish. He is 18 and has his own hopes for a rifle championship someday. When he came back from the pits, I said to him: “You don’t know…” He looked at me and said “Know what?”. I said “I won”, and he asked “Won what?”. Then I told him: “The whole thing.” I have never seen him smile the way he did at that moment.
Next we call my wife on the phone (she was staying in Port Clinton, but wasn’t at the range that day). I tell her I won, and she says “Won what?” Again, I reply “The whole thing … I won the whole thing.” I hear only silence on the phone, then she says “Are you serious?” I reply, “Yes I am” and then there is a long pause, after which she says: “Joe, you aren’t messing with me are you?” I tell her: “No, I’m serious, come out here, you’ll see…” She pauses then says, “OK I will… but if you are messing with me YOU WILL PAY.” My girls say she almost wrecked the car driving out to the range.
So my wife finally shows up at the Remington Team trailer. As she was getting out of the car she says “If you are [fooling] with me I will kill you. Did you really win?” In fact, she asked me three times before she believed it had actually happened.
By this time Ken Roxburgh of Remington (my coach) had also called Carl Bernosky. Carl Bernosky has been a huge part of my shooting since I young. Having Carl be so excited about my win means nearly as much to me as the win itself. What a great day!
Joe wanted to thank his sponsors Remington and Berger Bullets. The 6CM Cartridge he shoots is a wildcat based on the .243 Winchester. Joes uses slow-burning H1000 powder and he shot Berger 105gr 6mm Hybrids at Camp Perry this year.
So how does one get started? You could do as I did, purchase a rifle not knowing what you were really getting into; or you could come out to a FCSA-sponsored event, shoot a number of different rifles, rub shoulders with those who have already taken the plunge, and see if this sport is right for you. While membership in the Fifty Caliber Shooters Association (FSCA) is required to compete at a FSCA event, membership is not required to come and experience first hand what is going on. If you have any inclination that you are interested in the extreme sport of long rang, big bore shooting then a year’s membership in the FCSA is only $60 ($20 for active duty military) a significant bargain if it helps you make just one well-informed equipment choice. In addition one of the primary functions of the FCSA is helping to identify active members near you who can help you understand just what is involved and help you ‘get your feet wet’ in this challenging sport.
Forster Products’ Heritage
Once the barreled action was complete and the AI chassis was successfully milled, Frank applied a tan Cerakote finish to the barreled action. This would give a proper tactical look to the rifle, while providing superior corrosion resistance for the metal parts. To learn more about Cerakote finishing, check out the 
By the end of his load testing session, Frank was getting good groups with Hornady 120gr GMX factory 6.5 Creedmoor ammo, and really superb groups with handloads. The 120gr GMX ammo “was going 3100 fps with no ill effects”. The best handloads were approaching 1/4 MOA for three shots, and Frank’s load with Berger 130 VLDs shot even smaller than that: “In my opinion the load development we did was worth its weight in gold. Where else can you build in a rifle in two days, then go out and develop a baseline load using everything from 120gr ammo to 140gr ammo with a few in between? My favorite load and clearly the rifle’s too, was the [Berger] 130gr VLD. This gave us great velocity, awesome groups [with some one-holers] and really nice results at distance.”
On the NRA’s 
