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January 2nd, 2015
Scheduled to open in spring 2015, the CMP’s new Talladega Marksmanship Park will be one of the largest, most elaborate public shooting ranges in the nation. State-of-the-art electronic targets will be utilized for both competition and practice, with groups and scoring viewable via electronic monitors. Sporting Clays, Trap, and 5-Stand venues will offer fully automated clay target-launching systems utlizing swipe card technology. For more info, visit the Talladega Marksmanship Park website.
CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park
Plans were approved in March 2012 by the CMP Board of Directors for a 500-acre marksmanship park located two miles from the Talladega International Motor Speedway in Talladega County, Alabama. The new CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park will feature a 600-yard rifle range with 50 electronic firing points, 100 yard multi-purpose range with 40 electronic firing points, 50 yard pistol range with 25 electronic firing points, 50 foot pistol qualification range, 15 action pistol bays, trap field with 5 stand overlay with automated trap machines, and 15 station sporting clays field with automated trap machines. The facility address is: 4387 Turner Mill Road, Talladega, Alabama.
Park Usage Fees:
| Range (Centerfire/Rimfire)
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1/2 Day (4 hr) Adult
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1/2 Day Junior (age 10-17)
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All Day (8 hr) Adult
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All Day Junior (age 10-17)
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| 100-yard Electronic Targets |
$15 |
$8 |
$25 |
$13 |
| 50-yard Electronic Targets |
$15 |
$8 |
$25 |
$13 |
| 50-Foot Paper Targets |
$10 |
$5 |
$20 |
$10 |
| 200, 300, 600-yard Electronic Targets |
$20 |
$10 |
$35 |
$18 |
| 10-Day Pass (10 visits All Day or Half Day) |
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$200 |
$100 |
| Note: All juniors (age 10-17) must be accompanied by a responsible adult. Both the junior and responsible adult must successfully complete the CMP Marksmanship Park Safety class prior to participating in live fire on park property. |
January 1st, 2015
Happy New Year to all our readers worldwide, and especially the 26,500+ members of the AccurateShooter Forum. We hope 2015 brings you happiness in your lives and success in your endeavors. And we wish for small groups, good scores, and successful hunts in the New Year.
Download free wallpapers from goodfon.com.
We hope that, in 2015, you’ll enjoy your precision rifles, spending “quality time” at the range with good friends. We upgraded our site this year, acquiring new high-speed dedicated servers. We hope you’ll continue to enjoy our feature articles, our Daily Bulletin, our match reports, and our Free Forum Classifieds. The formula seems to be working — our audience is bigger than ever and it just keeps growing, with over 150,000+ unique users visiting the site every week.
Forum Membership Grows 13% in 2014
Our Shooters’ Forum grew significantly in 2014. Membership grew by 13% as ranks swelled to over 26,500 members! More people are successfully buying and selling in our FREE Forum Classifieds section than ever before. Remember, user donations help make our Free Classifieds possible.
Daily Bulletin Is a Big Hit
The AccurateShooter Daily Bulletin has become a “must read” for anyone interested in serious rifle accuracy. In the Bulletin you’ll find money-saving sale notices, timely match reports, and a host of reloading and accurizing tips. The Bulletin has become THE source for exclusive “scoops” on new products and new shooting technologies. Eric Stecker of Berger Bullets says: “You guys have become the ‘USA Today’ of the precision shooting market.” 365 days a year we offer a unique combination of shooting tips, gear reviews, industry news, and highlighted bargains and special sales.
We need your support. For over 10 years the site has relied largely on volunteer efforts by dedicated shooters. But as the site grows, serving a larger audience, we need the assistance of professional gunsmiths, writers, and video editors. Those guys don’t work for glory alone.
Consider this — what do you pay for a movie ticket these days? Probably $8.50 or more for 90 minutes of escapism. For a buck a month ($12 a year) you can help this site provide a YEAR’s worth of info, tests, and shooting news that you won’t find anywhere else.
 In the past quarter about 120 site users have donated. We thank all those who have generously contributed. But that still leaves tens of thousands of users who access the site regularly without contributing. In fact, though our readership grew significantly in 2014, we received $3000.00 less in donations than during 2013.
Here’s our proposal. First, if you have used our FREE Classifieds to successfully sell your rifles or shooting gear, consider sending in a dollar or two from your sale proceeds. Second, for those who use the site regularly, consider donating One Dollar a Month. That’s less than the price of a cup of coffee.
How to Contribute
Making a donation to the site is simple and easy. Just click on the orange “Donate” button at right. If you have a credit card, you don’t need a Paypal account to contribute. Any sum is welcome — donations need not be large. |
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If you don’t like Paypal, you can send a check. Make the check payable to our “Answerman” Jeff Williams. Please list your Forum Log-In Name (if any), and mail the check to:
Jeff Williams
P.O. Box 2409
Evergreen, CO 80437-2409
January 1st, 2015
 Sharpshooter (and competitive smallbore shooter) Kirsten Joy Weiss tried a special New Year’s trick shot for 2015. In keeping with the festive New Year’s spirit, Kirsten attempted to shoot the cork off a champagne bottle. After a few unsuccessful tries, she managed to hit the cork with at least two shots. But alas the cork did not fly. She actually hit the cork, but it did not release. That was surprising…
Undaunted, Kirsten changed her strategy, aiming for the neck of the bottle. This duplicates the process of “sabering” a champagne bottle — a method of liberating the bubbly by slashing off the end of the neck with a blade. Aiming for the neck of the bottle, Kirsten successfully blew off the top of the bottle. (Apparently, when “sabering” it is actually the pressure within the champagne bottle which does most of the work).
January 1st, 2015
Forum member K.W., aka ‘CigarCop’, has spotlighted his handsome long-range F-Class and Bench Rifle in our Forum’s Show Off Your Bat! thread. This is built with a BAT Multi-Flat action, Brux barrel, and a fiberglass McMillan F-Class stock. As you can see, it’s one handsome rifle. Be sure to click the image below to see the much more impressive wide-screen image!
The smithing was done by Bob Green and CigarCop was full of praise for Bob’s work: “I can’t really say enough about Bob Green, his attention to every detail and his ability to build an awesome shooting rifle… but once again he turned a pile of parts into a masterpiece! This irf was built on a Bat MB Multi-flat in .284 Win with a Brux 1:8.5″ twist barrel. It’s almost identical to my 6.5x47L that [Bob] also built. Once again, thanks Bob!”
Bob Green told us: “There was nothing really unusual about this build — this is the quality we try to maintain on all our guns. The barrel was chambered with the client’s reamer to a min-spec SAAMI .284 Win. The Multi-Flat BAT is pillar-bedded and bolted in, with no extra weight added to the stock. CigarCop provided the nice metal spacers on the buttstock and I polished them up. The finish is plain black but it looks good.”
Based in York, Pennsylvania, Bob Green is one of AccurateShooter.com’s recommended gunsmiths. To learn more about his Bob’s work visit GreensRifles.com, email Bob [at] Greensrifles.com, or call (717) 792-1069.
December 31st, 2014
G.A. Precision (G.A.P.) has announced a new three-lug action, the Tempest. This unit features a large bolt knob with extended, curved bolt handle (similar to the bolt handle on the Accuracy International AX). Up front the Tempest boasts an integral recoil lug with extended front tenon section — for better support of heavy barrels. The Tempest’s distinctive feature is its three-lug bolt. Compared to a two-lug bolt, a three-lugger allows a short, 60° bolt lift (fewer degrees of lift to release). Like the G.A.P. Templar action, the new Tempest sports a Rem 700 footprint, though stock inletting would have to be altered slightly for the integral lug/tenon design.
Sorry guys, G.A.P. has not yet announced a retail price or delivery date (we did ask, but the folks at G.A.P. don’t even have a wholesale price from the 3rd-party manufacturer yet). Whatever it costs, the Tempest action will be popular. It has already inspired nearly 300 likes on the G.A.P. Facebook page.
December 31st, 2014
Are you feeling lucky on this last day of 2014? Well Cheaper Than Dirt is giving away a very unique (and very patriotic) rifle. The Just Right Carbine is a simple, blowback-action semi-auto rifle that can be configured to shoot three different pistol cartridges: 9mm, .40 SW, and .45 ACP. The Just Right Carbine bridges the power gap between long guns chambered for rimfire cartridges and those using full-power rifle rounds. With caliber conversion kits, this modular carbine can shoot the three most popular semi-auto pistol cartridges: 9mm, .40 SW, and .45 ACP. The give-away rifle is configured to shoot one caliber, the 9mm Luger (9mm parabellum).
This special-release Stars and Strips Edition carbine is finished in an American Flag camouflage. American Rifleman magazine says this rifle is versatile and easy to operate:
“At first glance, the JR Carbine is just another AR variant. Though it shares numerous parts and an outward appearance with the ubiquitous AR platform, the JR is actually of a totally different design. Unlike the AR’s gas-operated action, the JR Carbine uses a simple blowback system similar to that of the Ruger 10/22. The bolt is held forward by spring pressure and is cycled by the energy of the fired round; there are no gas tubes or pistons involved. While it doesn’t use the AR’s operating system, the JR Carbine does share with the AR its modularity and some parts commonality, so many of the myriad of AR accessories can be used on the JR. The carbine uses a standard commercial diameter AR buffer tube so any buttstock compatible with a commercial AR can be fitted to the JR. Mil-spec and commercial AR parts are also interchangeable with the carbine’s AR-style trigger, grip, and safety[.]”
How to Enter Contest: For a chance to win this rifle, visit the Cheaper Than Dirt Contest Registration Page and complete the online entry form. Limit one entry per person and e-mail address during the Sweepstakes Period.
December 31st, 2014
 Report by Anette Wachter, 30CalGal.com
The ball is rolling to challenge the I-594 bill that passed in Washington state last November. This is perhaps the strictest gun control law out there. Why? Because it is like the Health Care Law. There are too many pages of undefined crap that they said they would figure out after it goes in to law.
Our local Second Amendment Foundation with Alan Gottlieb has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Tacoma, WA. The language in the new law is unclear to even law enforcement and the Washington State Department of Licensing (DOL). Have you gone to DOL’s website about this recently? There is no advice and the site just pushes you to your local law enforcement or the ATF. Local law enforcement officials do not want to enforce this law and do not know how to do so. And the ATF, a federal organization, is unclear [as to the impact of the law] as well.
The law will not be overturned so don’t get your hopes up. But they have to define it. It is so confusing. We need to get the ridiculous parts about transfers undone. So many people and agencies are affected by this unclear language.
 I just had dinner last night with Brian Judy of the NRA and Adina Hicks of the Protect Our Gun Rights Washington group. There will be an organized rally in Olympia on January 15th starting at 9:00 am. That’s on a weekday when the Legislature is again in session. Visits to Legislators start at 11:00. I will be there and I will go to the office of my district’s Representative. We need your support! If you are in Washington please join us out there.
Please call your legislator ahead of time and make an appointment to see them after the rally that day. The Washington Firearms Leadership and Activism Group (WAFLAG), Protect Our Gun Rights Washington, and the Gun Rights Coalition will host the event. Both the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and the Second Amendment Foundation are sponsoring the event also. Please read more details and the entire article by Dave Workman of TheGunMag.com HERE.
December 30th, 2014
The AR-10 was designed to handle the 7.62×51/.308 Winchester and other .308 “family” cartridges such as the .243 Win and .260 Remington. Our friend Dennis Santiago recently put together an AR-10 to shoot the accurate .260 Rem cartridge. Here is his initial report:
AR-10 Platform Chambered for .260 Remington by Dennis Santiago
I was very curious to see how the .260 works in the AR-10 compared to a .308. I’ve always thought about chambering a bolt gun in .260 but before doing so I thought it’d be good to try it using a less expensive entry point. With an AR platform’s easy interchanging of barrels, it seem like the best way to test out the .260 Rem chambering. So far, it’s most impressive.
DPMS LR-308 in .260 Remington getting function cycle tuned and zeroed
I took the AR-10-type .260 Rem a step closer to being ready for matches yesterday. The first order of business was to confirm which buffer spring to use with both the 123 grain and 140 grain bullet loads. My .260 Rem loads, on average, are using 4-5 grains less powder than the .308 loads. In a semi-automatic action that means less gas/energy to work the mechanics. The solution in an AR-10 platform is to either cut coils in the .308 spring or use a weaker AR-15 buffer spring; yup they are not the same. In this case, a CS flat spring for the AR-15 did the trick.
I also put a very nice NightForce Benchrest 12-42x56mm scope that came via friend Mark Gravitt on it and got zeros. This scope’s 1/8th MOA clicks are nice. The AR-10 had previously mounted a NightForce F1, a more “field tactical” 3-15X system. This 12-42X scope now sets this gun up as more of a target cannon. Field of view is limited when your minimum magnification is twelve. Maybe I’ll put an auxiliary red dot on it just to find the target.
Pet Loads: H4350 and Lapua 123gr Scenars
Comment by Daily Bulletin Editor
Over a two-year period, this Editor put a lot of rounds through a .260 Remington. I did a ton of load testing with that Savage-actioned rifle (before it was rebarreled as a 6mmBR Norma). I tried two dozen load recipes with five different powders and bullets ranging from 100 grains to 142 grains. Hodgdon H4350 was my “go-to” powder. As many 260 Rem shooters have discovered, H4350 is a winner in the .260 Rem. This propellant delivered the lowest ES in my rifle and nothing beat H4350 for consistent accuracy with bullets in the 120-140 grain range. My most accurate load was with Lapua 123gr Scenars, pushed by H4350 and CCI 250 primers. The 123gr Scenars worked well jumped as well as seated into the lands. Best accuracy, in my 24″-barreled .260 Rem, was right about 2950 fps. Other powders work well, but H4350 is a very good choice for the .260 Remington (as well as the smaller 6.5×47 Lapua cartridge).
December 30th, 2014
We can predict, with some certainty, how long a light bulb will last (in use), or a shingle roof, or even a nuclear reactor. But how about barrels? Is there a way to reliably estimate barrel life based on known characteristics? This article explains one effort to quantify barrel life…
 How long will a barrel last before the accuracy “goes south”? There are so many variables involved (powder type, bore diameter, bullet coatings etc.) that it’s hard to predict. You might say “Well, my buddy has a .243 and he got 1500 rounds before the throat was shot out” — those kind of comparisons can be useful, but they’re not very scientific, and they won’t help much if you’ve got a gun in a new chambering (such as the 6.5×47) for which long-term test results are lacking.
Is there a more reliable way to predict barrel life — one that will work for a broad range of calibers? Well, Forum member MikeCr has developed an Excel spreadsheet that accounts for a number of variables, and gives a pretty good estimate of useful barrel life, whether you’re shooting a .223 Rem or a 338 Lapua Magnum. Mike’s program predicts barrel life using five variables: 1) Bullet Diameter; 2) Powder Charge weight; 3) Powder Heat Potential (KJ/kg); 4) Pressure (in psi); and 5) Bullet Coating (yes/no). Mike provides a table with Heat Potential ratings for most popular powder types. The user needs to know the pressure of his load. This can be estimated with QuickLOAD.
You can download the lastest version of Mike’s spreadsheet below. You’ll need Excel or an Excel viewer to open the file.
Click to Download Spreadsheet: Barrel Life Spreadsheet (Latest Version)
Shown below is Mike’s Spreadsheet, with variables for a 6BR shooting 105gr “naked” bullets with 30.3 grains of Hodgdon Varget powder. The formula predicts 2401 rounds of barrel life. That corresponds pretty well to what we’d expect for a 6BR — about 2500 rounds.
 
Mike observes: “There has been a lot of discussion lately related to cartridge design and resulting barrel life. This is a really important factor to consider amongst a myriad of choices. Barrel life is controversial, and subjective. There are no clear-cut standards for comparison. But a few years ago, I put together a spreadsheet based on Bart Bobbit’s rule of thumb. It worked pretty good, only occasionally failing some tests when validated against posted barrel lives.
According to Ken Howell, I had to account for pressure. And Henry Child’s powder temperature testing provided another piece needed. So, I’ve tweaked it here and there to pass more tests. From 223 Rem to 300 UltraMagnum. Another element added, but turned off, is shot interval. I would need way more tests to lock in on this. But everyone knows, the faster you shoot, the worse the barrel life.
Anyway, another factor hard to define is ‘accurate’ barrel life. This cannot be quantified without standards. Barrels are replaced when expectations are no longer met. I feel that a [barrel] passes peak potential in a finite period due to throat erosion. But that don’t mean it’s toast, if it still shoots well enough. It’s just as likely that many of us never see that peak potential anyway. It’s a slippery thing. Point-blank BR competitors will toss a barrel when it leaves the 1s. I could get another 4000 rounds from it, and be content with its performance, I’m sure.”
NOTE: Mike says: “This spreadsheet may show a lower barrel life than you prefer. But it pretty well spotlights cartridges to stay away from if you plan much time at the range or in dog town.”
Editor’s Comment: Mike’s spreadsheet is a helpful tool, but it is NOT a definitive “take-it-to-the-bank” indicator of barrel life. Mike cautions that predicting barrel life involves so many different factors (including how hot the barrel is run), that the task is a bit like predicting tread life on car tires. Still, the spreadsheet is very helpful. It can certainly warn us that some chamberings (such as the 6-284) are likely to be barrel burners. That can help you make a smart decision when choosing a chambering for your next rifle.
December 30th, 2014
 Midsouth Shooters Supply is having a huge End-of-Year Sale. Hundreds of clearance items are marked down 40% (or more) through the end of 2014. For the next couple of days there are amazing deals to be had on ammo, optics, scope rings, gun cases, reloading dies, muzzle-loader rifles, cleaning supplies and much more. Below are some of the top deals we found this morning. (NOTE: This is just a tiny fraction of the hundreds of 40% OFF clearance items.) Remember, these deeply-discounted deals expire soon — you snooze, you lose.
Go to Midsouth End-of-Year Clearance Sale.
Sample Sale Items (hundreds more products are 40% off):
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