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April 23rd, 2014
Tech Tip by Mark LaFevers
Our “master fabricator” Mark LaFevers has installed some of the CG Mod 22 triggers from X-Treme Shooting Products. This is an excellent Two-stage Trigger for the Remington 700 type actions. Though advertised as a “drop-in”, Mark found some stock fitting was required when installing this unit in a wood stock. Here is Mark’s brief report.
 CG Mod 22 Trigger Installation Tips
Having already installed a CG X-Treme trigger in my Borden-action Eliseo tube gun, I was looking forward to the same easy installation and adjustment process on a friend’s Remington 22-250 in a laminate varminter stock. Where there were no fit issues in the aluminum Eliseo stock, I had to relieve a fair amount of wood at the tang end of the laminate stock inletting. While not difficult, this took a little more time than I had anticipated, using a 3/8″ square file.
The end result was just as satisfying, a two-stage trigger fully independently adjustable with outstanding feel and sensitivity. The adjustment instructions for the CG Mod 22 trigger from X-Treme Shooting Products are clear and easy to follow.
I like to set the length of travel of the first stage long enough to define pulling up to the end of it clearly, with the second stage set just heavy enough that you don’t pull into it accidentally before you are ready. The trigger breaks very cleanly, helping to make the shot either on paper or hunting. It’s nice to find a two-stage trigger with this kind of precise adjustment that also has a safety — an important feature for a hunting gun.
April 12th, 2014
Remington Arms Company, LLC (Remington) is recalling Model 700 and Model Seven rifles with X-Mark Pro® (XMP) triggers, manufactured from May 1, 2006 to April 9, 2014. The reason for the recall is that “Remington engineers determined that some Model 700 and Model Seven rifles with XMP triggers could, under certain circumstances, unintentionally discharge.” READ Recall Notice.
Remington’s investigation determined that some XMP triggers might have excess bonding agent used in the assembly process, which could cause an unintentional discharge. Therefore, Remington is recalling ALL affected products to fully inspect and clean the XMP triggers with a specialized process. Remington has advised customers to immediately cease use of recalled rifles and return them to Remington free of charge. The rifles will be inspected, specialty cleaned, tested, and returned as soon as possible. Remington advises: “Do not attempt to diagnose or repair recalled rifles”.
Remington now offers a dedicated website and toll-free hotline to help consumers determine whether their Model 700 or Model Seven rifle(s) are subject to recall.
- Remington Recall Website: http://xmprecall.remington.com
On this website you can enter rifle serial number(s) to determine, in seconds, if a particular rifle is subject to recall.
- Toll-Free Recall Hotline: 1-800-243-9700
(Prompt #3 then Prompt #1) Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm EDT.
The Remington Recall Notice also says that a visual inspection can reveal if a rifle is subject to recall. You may determine if your rifle is subject to the recall by visually inspecting the face of the trigger.
1) If the face of the trigger is ribbed (see Photo (1) below), your rifle does not have an XMP trigger and is NOT subject to this recall.
2) If the face of the trigger is smooth (see Photo (2) below), your rifle has an XMP trigger and IS subject to this recall. You should immediately seek further assistance by calling 1-800-243-9700 or visiting XMPrecall.remington.com.
If You Have A Rifle Subject to Recall
STOP USING YOUR RIFLE. Any unintended discharge has the potential to cause injury or death. Immediately cease use of recalled rifles and return them to Remington free of charge. Rifles will be inspected, specialty cleaned, tested, and returned as soon as possible, at no cost to you. DO NOT attempt to diagnose or repair recalled rifles.
“Remington takes safety extremely seriously,” said Teddy Novin, Director of Public Affairs and Communications. “While we have the utmost confidence in the design of the XMP trigger, we are undertaking this recall in the interest of customer safety, to remove any potential excess bonding agent applied in the assembly process. We have established significant safety and technical resources to determine which rifles are affected and to minimize any risks. Our goal is to have every recalled firearm inspected, specialty cleaned, tested and returned as soon as possible.”
If you have a Model 700 or Model Seven rifle subject to recall, contact Remington right away. Provide the rifle’s serial number and your addresss. Remington will send you pre-paid shipping tags, boxes and written instructions. Remington will cover all related shipping, inspection, and cleaning charges.
Story Tip from EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
April 11th, 2014
This Article Originally Appeared in Sinclair International’s The Reloading Press.
Pre-Season Gun Maintenance,
by Ron Dague, Sinclair International
 I give my rifles a pre-season check before the shooting season starts. This starts with a general inspection starting with the butt-plate or recoil pad and making sure that all the screws and adjustable parts (on an adjustable butt-plate) move freely up or down and side to side. If you got caught in rain some of these screws and adjustable parts may not move when needed. I disassemble parts as needed and put rust preventative or a light oil and/or grease on threads and sliding parts. On rifles with recoil pads and fixed butt-plates, make sure the screws are tight and that holes in the stock aren’t stripped out. Make sure there are no cracks in the stock and around the butt-plate. If the recoil pad is glued-on, just make sure it hasn’t come loose.
Next I take the action out of the stock and check for cracks and wear marks. I look at the bedding to make sure that oils and cleaning solvents have not damaged the bedding. While the action is out of the stock, I look for any surface rust or dirt/dust in the recoil lug area and magazine well. Clean as needed and repair or re-bed if needed.
Trigger Assembly and Action
 With the barreled action out of the stock, it is a good time to spray out the trigger with cleaner. I use Ronson oil or lighter fluid. [Editor’s Note: Some trigger-makers advise against using any kind of lubricant, grease or oil — so plain lighter fluid is preferred.] After the trigger is cleaned you may want to check the trigger pull weight. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this, take it to a gun smith and have it checked. It is worth every penny to not have a trigger issue and/or a safety malfunction. I also take the bolt apart and clean the firing pin spring and bolt housing with Gun Scrubber or automotive brake cleaner. Then lube the firing pin-spring and firing pin with light oil. I use Kel Lube and/or Butch’s gun oil. Put a small dab of gun grease on the [bolt locking lugs] and cocking ramp.
I will also spray the outside of the action and barrel and give that a light coating of oil for rust prevention. I clean the action with Sinclair’s action cleaning tool. Don’t forget to clean the bore. Even though you didn’t fire the rifle, this makes sure nothing obstructs your barrel.
Checking Metal Fixtures and Fasteners
 Next I look at the trigger guard and hinged floor plate and make sure it works as designed. Make sure there are no cracks in the trigger guard from an accidental drop. Check guard screws and /or action screws for tightness and tighten to proper spec. There are torque specs for this, but on wood stocks the wood can crush and this should be checked throughout the year as weather change can affect this. My entire collection of rifles are bedded and I just tighten them just snug with screw driver or Allen wrench. The rimfire rifles have a spec of 55 to 74 inch/lbs and I think would carry over to center fire as well. I would caution you about torque wrenches as you need a good quality wrench, and read the directions on how to use it. You can over torque if not careful. Check the swivel studs and bipod to make sure there tight as well. You may want to take scope off and check the base screws and check the rings.
Test Fire the Rifle After Maintenance
After all cleaning and is done and everything is reassembled, take a few rounds out to the range and test fire to make sure everything works as it should. Don’t forget to run 3-5 rounds through the magazine at least two times for function. I look at this as preventive maintenance on the rifle. If you give it a look over you shouldn’t have any trouble during the rifle matches or hunting trip.
Ron Dague
Certified Reloading Instructor
Certified Range Safety Officer
Email: rond [at] sinclairintl.com
Phone: 800-717-8211
April 6th, 2014
by Bill Gravatt
(This article was written when Bill was President of Sinclair International, Inc.)
Chamber casting is an easy task for the handloader to perform. A chamber casting is valuable if you run across a firearm that you believe has a custom barrel on it and you want to find out the dimensions of the chamber. Some gunsmiths will chamber a barrel and not mark it properly with the neck dimension or the exact cartridge name or specifications. We also get calls from some customers that have military firearms without cartridge stampings on the barrel; this will help these shooters identify their chambering.
Another reason to make a chamber casting would be for a die manufacturer to manufacture custom dies for you. A chamber casting is often required when fired cases are not available. Some reloaders will make a chamber casting that shows them the exact configuration of the throat and leade so they can determine what bullets to try. Shooters using cast bullets will make a cast so they can choose a mould that better fits their throat taper and grove/lands diameter.
A product called Cerrosafe is the most common, reliable, and the safest material to use for making chamber castings. Cerrosafe is a metal alloy that has some unique properties which make it ideal for chamber casting. First, it has a relatively low melting point of 158 to 190° Fahrenheit. This makes it easy for the handloader to melt the Cerrosafe in his home shop. Second, it shrinks slightly during cooling which allows it to be extracted from the chamber easily. It then re-expands to the chamber’s original size after about one hour at room temperature. After cooling for about 200 hours, the chamber cast will expand to about .0025″ larger than the actual chamber size. Most good reloading die makers are used to working from Cerrosafe chamber casts.
As we said, using Cerrosafe is fairly easy and comes with complete instructions.
Making a Cerrosafe Chamber Cast — Step by Step:
1. First, clean and dry the chamber and barrel thoroughly.
2. Disassemble the firearm as necessary to gain access to the chamber.
3. Insert a tight fitting cleaning patch with a jag into the bore from the muzzle end to form a plug for the Cerrosafe. The patch should be positioned in the bore, just forward of the throat by approximately ½” to 1”.
4. Heat a Cerrosafe ingot in a small ladle. A heavy cast iron bullet caster’s ladle works fine or a plumber’s ladle. Any source of heat will do (a small propane torch will work fine).
5. Pour the Cerrosafe into the chamber until a little mound forms at the rear of the chamber. Too much and it can become more difficult to remove the cast from the chamber. If this happens, simply heat the barrel a little and re-melt the Cerrosafe. Don’t worry, your barrel gets a bit hotter than 190 degrees during firing.
6. The chamber can be difficult to access, so some people find it easier if they make a pouring tube out of steel, brass, or aluminum tubing to funnel the Cerrosafe into the chamber.
7. After the Cerrosafe has hardened, the chamber casting can be pushed out of the chamber coming from the muzzle end using a cleaning rod or a wooden dowel. It is recommended that you push it out within a half-hour of casting the chamber. We usually push our cast out within a few minutes. If the cast does not push out easily, insert a cleaning rod from the muzzle and tap the rod handle with the palm of your hand to start the cast out of the chamber. You can put a paper towel in the action to catch the cast or lay the rifle on the bench with a towel or bench mat underneath it to catch the cast as it falls from the action. This will prevent damage to the cast.
8. Take your measurements shortly after one hour of cast, and then put the casting away until you need it again. A medicine container or something similar makes a great container. If you are going to keep the cast be sure to mark the cast or the storage container so you know which rifle it came from. If you have no need to keep the cast you can re-melt the Cerrosafe and use it again when you need to make another cast. |
This article originally appeared in Sinclair International’s The Reloading Press Blog.
March 24th, 2014
Brownells’ 8th Annual Gunsmith Career Fair will be held at the Des Moines Marriot Downtown in Des Moines, Iowa, April 1-2, 2014. The Brownells Gunsmith Conference & Career Fair is expected to draw hundreds of attendees along with representatives from three dozen potential employers. As in past years, the Career Fair will include gunsmithing seminars along with opportunities for individuals to interview for jobs with arms-makers and government agencies.
 Gunsmith CareerFair.com.
In addition to industry and government representatives, many trade schools and colleges offering gunsmithing programs will be exhibiting at the 2014 Gunsmith fair. Past exhibitors have included:
Story tip by EdLongrange. Reader Submissions are welcome.
March 16th, 2014
Most long-range benchrest stocks are three inches wide because that used to be the max width under the rules for Light Gun Class. Many folks may not realize that the IBS, the NBRSA, and the Williamsport organizations have all modified their Light Gun rules to allow wider forearm widths in registered competition. A wider stock provides increased stability and resists rotation (torquing) as the gun is fired. If you’re building a new Light Gun, you may want to consider a 4″-wide or 5″-wide forearm. Do check the rules of your local club or regional organization to ensure the wider width is allowed in the matches you attend. And if you plan to shoot F-Class as well, stick to 3″. Under F-Class (Open) rules, “the width of the rifle’s forend shall not exceed 76mm (approximately 3 inches)”.
Wider Forearm Stock Options
Most stock-makers still only offer a 3″-wide forearm width with their Light Gun long-range benchrest stocks. However, there are some other options. On request, Joel Russo, Russo Rifle Stocks, can cut a stock with 4″-wide forearm, but that’s not a standard pattern.
If you want a 4″-5″ wide version of the popular MBR Tooley-style long-range stock, Bill Shehane offers a ‘Big Dawg’ version of his MBR Tracker stock. This features a longer, deeper, and wider fore-end for added stability and more resistance to torque with the heavy calibers. Along with having a wider forearm, the Big Dawg stock is cut 4″ longer than a standard Shehane ST-1000 Tracker. This provides a “longer wheelbase” for better balance with very long (30″+) barrels. (The ST-1000 itself is 3″ longer than most benchrest stocks.) The Big Dawg is available with a 4″-wide or 5″-wide forearm, and will handle barrels up to 40″ in length and 1.5″ in diameter. In the top photo, taken by Forum member Preacher, you see a 4″-wide Big Dawg next to a normal ST-1000 Tracker. (Both stocks are symmetrical; there is distortion caused by wide-angle lens.)
This color pattern is what Bill calls “Prairie Dog Camo”, a Rutland laminate in orange and dark gray, with olive ‘accent’ layers. The price for a ‘Big Dawg’ in Rutland laminate is $625. In African Obeche wood (any color choice), the price is $855.00. For more info, contact Bill Shehane at (704) 824-7511, or visit his website, www.ScopeUsOut.com.
Wide Stocks for Rimfire Benchrest
Ultra-wide stocks are also legal in many rimfire benchrest disciplines. Shown below is a rimfire rifle built with a 4″-wide Shehane Big Dawg stock. This gun is used in ARA Unlimited competition. Extra-wide stocks like this can also be used in the IR 50/50 Unlimited Class and RBA Unlimited Class.
Why use a wide stock for rimfire where recoil is not an issue? The extra width definitely provides more stability in the bags. This is noticeable when cycling the action during the loading process — the gun shows less “wiggle” when opening and closing the bolt. The larger mass of wood also, potentially, provides additional vibration damping. A wider stock design carries more weight (per inch of length) and more mass is distributed outboard. Initial testing shows that the wide stocks work well for rimfire shooters who like to grip their gun — the gun feels “planted” with less wobble when the stock is gripped or cheeked by the shooter.
March 3rd, 2014
 Krieger Barrels Inc. is a family-run business. Founder John Krieger now works with two of his sons in the business, Andrew (“Andy”) and Mark. At SHOT Show 2014 we had a chance to chat with John and Andy. John told us that he is very proud to work with his two sons. He said that Andy, who has a degree in engineering, brings an important skill set and a new level of scientific expertise to the business. On his part, Andy says that his father is a “great boss… and the best teacher you could have”. Meet this father and son barrel-making team in this short video.
John Krieger and Andrew Krieger
How does Krieger Barrels produce such a great product year in and year out? It takes a lot of highly-skilled labor and some serious machinery to produce outstanding cut-rifled barrels. To illustrate the barrel-making process, Krieger has produced a fascinating video, filmed at Krieger’s production facility in Richfield, Wisconsin. This video shows the process of single-point, cut-rifled barrel-making start to finish. If you love big, powerful machines, you’ll enjoy this video. Its really quite amazing to see all that’s involved in the production of cut-rifled barrels.
How Krieger Barrels Are Made (MUST-WATCH video — one of the best we’ve ever featured).
For anyone interested in accurate rifles, this is absolutely a “must-watch” video. Watch blanks being cryogenically treated, then drilled and lathe-turned. Next comes the big stuff — the massive rifling machines that single-point-cut the rifling in a precise, time-consuming process. Following that you can see barrels being contoured, polished, and inspected (with air gauge and bore-scope). There is even a sequence showing chambers being cut.
Here is a time-line of the important barrel-making processes shown in the video. You may want to use the “Pause” button, or repeat some segments to get a better look at particular operations. The numbers on the left represent playback minutes and seconds.
Krieger Barrel-Making Processes Shown in Video
00:24 – Cryogenic treatment of steel blanks
00:38 – Pre-contour Barrels on CNC lathe
01:14 – Drilling Barrels
01:28 – Finish Turning on CNC lathe
01:40 – Reaming
01:50 – Cut Rifling
02:12 – Hand Lapping
02:25 – Cut Rifling
02:40 – Finish Lapping
02:55 – Outside Contour Inspection
03:10 – Engraving
03:22 – Polish
03:50 – Fluting
03:56 – Chambering
04:16 – Final Inspection
February 24th, 2014
Looking for a high-quality fiberglass stock at a bargain price? Then check out the Kelbly over-run stocks at PMA Tool. You’ll find a wide variety of stocks on sale at extremely attractive prices (from $200 to $350.00). There are 3″-wide benchrest and F-Class stocks, Hunter Class benchrest stocks, and a variety of general-purpose hunting and varmint stocks. Most of the benchrest stocks are priced at $300.00 to $350.00 — that’s hundreds less than you’d ordinarily pay for a first-tier fiberglass stock from McMillan or other big name manufacturer.
And price isn’t the only attraction. With these Kelbly over-run stocks, there is no waiting. PMA Tool can ship you out a stock in a matter of days. By contrast, you might wait months to get a newly-made stock from another maker. PMA Tool has acquired dozens of Kelbly stocks so there is a large selection. If you go to the PMA website, you can select from three categories of stocks. Then choose a stock that has the appropriate inlet for your action. Some of the over-run stocks are inletted for Pandas, others for BATs, and some for other round actions.
February 21st, 2014
Most F-TR rifles are essentially prone rifles adapted for use with bipod and rear bags. They feature prone or tactical-style stocks designed to allow a firm grip on the gun, with cheek, hand, and shoulder contact. This has worked very well. Unquestionably, a skilled F-TR shooter can achieve outstanding scores with such a configuration — it works. However, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat”.
At the Berger Southwest Nationals, Eric Stecker introduced a new type of rifle, and a new type of gun-handling, to the F-TR ranks. Shooting “free-recoil” style* (i.e. with virtually no contact on his rifle) Eric managed to finished second overall in F-TR (with the highest X-count), beating some past national champions in the process. Thinking “outside the box” worked for Stecker in Phoenix. The success of Eric’s benchrest-style rifle and shooting technique definitely drew the attention of other F-TR shooters.
Click photo to zoom
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VOICE FILE: Eric Stecker Talks About the SWN and his Radical F-TR Rifle. |
Eric’s F-TR rig was built by John Pierce using a stiff, light Scoville carbon-fiber stock. The stock is so light that Eric’s rifle came in 1.5 pounds under the F-TR maximum weight limit (8.25kg or 18.18 pounds). The gun features a Pierce action, Bartlein barrel, Jewell trigger, and a Gen 1 Nightforce 15-55X52mm Comp scope. From the get-go, Eric’s strategy was to “aim small” and shoot his rig like a bench-gun. He actually focused on shooting really small groups rather that just trying to keep shots within scoring rings and “hold waterline”. With a .308 Win that could shoot bugholes at 100 yards, this strategy paid off.
 Rifle builder John Pierce explains the thinking behind this rifle: “The stock choice was mine — I had built two prototype rifles last year based on the premise that the game is Benchrest in the prone position. I still feel very strongly regarding [this concept]. I chose Bob Scoville for obvious reasons — he is an artisan and his stocks have won so much, they just flat work. We built Eric the latest configuration along these lines, and the tool worked for him. Without a doubt, Eric is a shooter, and we were all pleased to watch him perform so well.”
Eric sets up rifle before match. During live fire his hands do not contact the stock.
Eric employed a benchrest-style shooting technique with his F-TR rig — he shot pretty much free recoil, with no cheek pressure, no hand contact, and just a “whisper” of shoulder contact. Eric explains: “I shoot what’s called ‘free recoil’. Now the rifle is butted up against my shoulder very lightly, but no other part of my body touches the rifle except for my finger on the trigger.” Eric has even used this technique when shooting a 7mm cartridge in F-Open at other matches: “Someone suggested that this style wasn’t possible with the larger [7mm] cartridges, but I found it very successful so I continue to do it that way.”
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VOICE FILE: Eric Stecker Talks About Shooting F-TR with Benchrest Technique. |
Eric also employed an unconventional strategy — he was focused on shooting small groups (not just holding ring values): “Since I have started shooting F-Class, I treat [the target] like a benchrest target. What I mean by that is that I regard the center as my first shot, and so my objective is to create the smallest group. So, I will hold whatever… is required to end up with the bullet ending up in the center — that’s probably true of any F-Class shooter, but I guess the perspective’s a little different when you have a benchrest background.” Eric explained that “maybe I aim a little smaller than others might”, because in the benchrest game, “the slightest miss ends up costing you quite dearly”.
Click to Zoom Photo (This is not Eric Stecker’s rifle, but a “sistership” built by John Pierce.)
Eric Talks about F-TR Trends
Will other F-TR shooters build rifles suited for free-recoil-style shooting? Eric isn’t sure: “I don’t know if this type of rifle is the future of F-TR. I shoot a lot of benchrest, so putting those kinds of components into an F-TR gun made a lot of sense to me. One thing I like about F-TR is that there are a lot of different types of approaches being tried and some of them are successful. So I think it’s still pretty wide-open[.] But I think the really great part of what we found at the Southwest Nationals is that shooting [with] a benchrest-style approach certainly doesn’t hurt you. What I mean by that is … aiming small, trying to make the group as tight as possible rather than trying to hit a particular area. I actually tried to shoot tight groups — that was a focus and that worked for me — I had quite a high X-Count.” NOTE: Eric finished with 51 Xs, 14 more than F-TR Grand Agg winner Radoslaw Czupryna (37X). James Crofts had the second highest X-Count with 48 Xs.
Even Berger’s Boss did pit duty at the Berger SW Nationals.
*”Free Recoil” style shooting has its variations. Some would say “pure free recoil” would not even allow shoulder contact. Eric Stecker lightly touches the back of the stock with his shoulder.
February 7th, 2014
Click image to see full-screen panorama.
If you’re a fan of fine rifles, and functional shooting accessories, you’d have to be impressed with the hardware on display at the Berger Southwest Nationals (SWN). At this popular match, sling-shooters compete alongside F-Classers, so you get to see a wide variety of rifles — iron sights, and optical sights, traditional wood-stocked Palma rifles and modern metal tube-guns. And the F-TR class showcased a bevy of bipods, with numerous different designs. Here are some of the interesting guns and gear we saw at the Berger Southwest Nationals on Thursday February 6, 2013.
Here’s a nice spotting scope and front rest/rear bag set-up for F-Open. Can you name all the accessory items on display?
The rifle is battle-scarred, but the marksman’s form is good. And that’s what counts.
Team Grizzly had an impressive Kowa “Big Eyes” rig — Size Counts in the optics game.
There were quite a few Tubeguns and Tubb 2000s on the firing line. We took notice of this Tubb-gunner’s nice hold and his HBN-coated ammo.
How do you transport an F-TR rifle with a wide-track bipod? Here’s one clever solution — a rolling cart with vertical rifle-holder.
Somewhere under all that head-gear is a human being. This is one way to “tune out” visual distractions.
Here’s a good view of the Pohlabel “Flex” Bipod. Click to see a full-screen version.
Here’s an interesting, modular F-Open rig from Wayne Young. The forearm can be adjusted to 5″ or 6″ width for shooting benchrest.
CLICK HERE for a full write-up on the Wayne Young stock design.
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