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August 1st, 2012
Long-range benchrest shooter Scott Weber had a pretty decent day at the range last Saturday — to put it mildly. Shooting his 6mm Dasher in a Williamport (PA) 1000-yard match, Scott recorded two new Light Gun world records, breaking a record set by Scott’s own father (Frank Weber) in the process.
Early in the day, Scott shot a 3.746″ (99-1X) 10-shot group which beat the existing group-size record, a 3.835″ group shot at the Montana Deep Creek Range in 2006. Then, in the shoot-off, Scott drilled a 100-6X score to top the existing score record held by his father Frank Weber. Interestingly, Frank’s 2012 record was also a 100-6X, but Scott has the smaller group — 4.007″ vs. Frank’s 4.237″ — so Scott will be credited with the record. Well at least he kept it in the family!
Scott reports: “It’s unbelievable to set one record but two in one day on different relays — it doesn’t seem real. All I wanted to do was win the shoot off since I never won one since I’ve been shooting. My dad is happy for me , but he told me ‘don’t look back’ because he is coming to get his record back!”
INSIDE STORY — Rifle Specs and Load Details
Scott Tells us: “Mark King built the rifle. It is similar to my dad’s Light Gun that Mark also built. It has a Sitman (Master Class) stock with 2-inch rail in the back, BAT 3-lug action, Broughton barrel with Mark King brake, and a Jewell trigger. My scope is a Leupold 8.5-25X, MK IV.” The Broughton barrel is chambered for the 6mm Dasher with a 0.266″ neck. Scott turns his necks to about 10.5 thousandths thickness and runs 0.261″ neck tension.
Two Loads for Two Records
Scott used two different loads during the match: “The load I used for the group record was 32.7 grains Varget with CCI primers, 107gr VLD custom bullet, seated +.010 into the lands. These 107gr VLDs were experimental bullets I just recently received. I used a different load in the shoot-off when I broke the score record. That load was 33.7 grains Varget, CCI primers, 105 Berger hunting VLD, seated +.010 into lands. The Bergers were trimmed and pointed hard with a Hoover pointing die.” [Editor’s Note: The 33.7 grain load is very stout and may be UNSAFE in some Rifles. Both listed loads should only be used with fully-formed Dasher cases.]
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July 11th, 2012
Report by Birdog
Forum member John S. aka “Voldoc”, came over Sunday to check the elevation come-ups on his new March scope. At my home range, dubbed the ‘Dasher Dome’, we had either a gong or paper target at 100-yard intervals to 800 yards. Voldoc wanted to check his ballistic chart against real world conditions. Voldoc will use this test to verify his come-ups for a “quick-view” BDC tape that will be applied to his elevation turret. He was running his “go to”, tried and true “red mist load”, an 87gr Hornady V-Max. The rifle was a Nesika-action 6mm Dasher with 1:12″-twist HV-contour Krieger. Doc has doubles with this combination out to 700 yards and many kills past 1,000. [Editor’s Note: We featured Voldoc’s varmint rifles in our Tennessee Triple Threat story, a Gun of the Week article on this site. Notably, Voldoc made a 1,000-yard plus prarie dog kill with a 20BR shooting 55gr Bergers.]
My ‘Dasher Dome’ is a good place for testing. Dirt berms have just been completed at 100, 300, 600, 700, an 780 yards. Voldoc started at 100 and shot at 100-yard intervals recording his elevation at each interval. His ballistic chart was within a click or two at each distance. When he reached 780 yards, he repeated the test at each distance down to 300 yards. Dead on!
 Custom BDC Turret Tapes
Doc already has ballistics tapes fitted to his Nightforce-equipped rigs. But Doc’s new Dasher has a March so he need to confirm the come-ups. The tapes, made by Forum member Dominic (aka “Xterminator”), show rotation clicks for various yardages. There are versions for both standard and “High-Speed” Nightforce turrets, as well as some other scope brands. For more info, send email to: media-banc [at] videotron.ca . Learn more about Dominic’s custom come-up tapes in this Forum Thread.
| Doc at the ‘Dome’
Confirmed results at 780 yards
Sub-Quarter MOA group on Steel Prairie Dog
The photo at right confirms that VolDoc has his zeroes confirmed at 780 yards. Look closely. That’s about a 1.5″ center-mass group on ‘Chico’ the prairie dog (lower right). Nice Shooting Doc! Chico’s buddy, ‘Chuckie’ the steel ground-hog, took many hits. Show in photo are three hits in the throat zone.
Good Friends, Good Rifles Make for the Best of Times
Birdog reports: “Overall, this was a great way to spent a Sunday. Temps reached 103° F, but Doc got to the ‘Dasher Dome’ at 5:30 a.m. and we beat the heat. After testing was completed, we walked two miles with temps in the 90s. What can I say — good friends, good BRs — this was the best of times! |
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Serious Rangefinders:
Very high-quality laser rangefinders permitted the shooters to confirm target distances with great precision. Birdog uses a Vectronix LRF while Voldoc uses a Leica GeoVid rangefinding binoculars.
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May 22nd, 2012
 Jerry Hurt set a pending new IBS 600-yard Light Gun Score Aggregate Record of 198 this weekend at the MSSA range in Memphis, Tennessee. If certified, this would beat the previous LG Record of 197 set by Sam Hall in 2011. The 198 score Four-Target Agg was well-centered with a 2.256″ Group Agg. One shot on Jerry’s third target appears to have just clipped the line for the 10. (See Target 3 Close-up Photo).
Forum member Tim Claunch reports: “Mr. Jerry Hurt had an exceptional Light Gun match and indeed scored a 198. I drew next bench to Jerry and was there watching him. You won’t find a nicer gentleman in our sport — congratulations Jerry Hurt!”. Match conditions were very good with partly sunny skies and 75° early temps with a light SW Tailwind.
Jerry was shooting a 16.86-lb, 6mm Dasher with a BAT two-lug Action and Shehane MBR stock in Obeche wood laminate. The 1.25″-straight contour 5C Broughton barrel is chambered with a 0.267″ neck for neck-turned brass with 0.265″ loaded necks. This barrel was purchased about a year ago, but only had about 150 rounds on it when Jerry shot the 198 score. Measuring 27.5″ long, this Broughton has proven exceptionally fast. Jerry’s chronographed velocities are significantly faster than other Dasher shooters — too fast to print. Let’s just say Jerry is running a very high speed node.
 Berger 105gr Hybrids .030″ Off Lands
Jerry’s load consisted of Berger 105gr Hybrid bullets, seated 0.030″ off the lands and pushed by 33.0 grains of “Long-Range Match” pull-down (surplus) powder. This powder, which is very similar to Reloder 15, has produced some great results recently. Ron Boyd used it in his Dasher to shoot a 1.462″ 1000-yard group last month.
Notably, Jerry shot his Berger 105 hybrids “right out of the box… with no sorting, no pointing.” Jerry did tell us that: “this is a new lot of 105 Hybrids… obviously they are very, very good.”
Jerry praised his equipment. Along with his very fast Broughton barrel, Jerry gave credit to his Shehane MBR. “It’s a looker, that’s for sure. Because the 1.25″ straight barrel is heavy, I haven’t added weight to the stock but it still tracks really well.” Jerry also said that his Sure Feed Vertical Ammo Caddy helps him get rounds downrange quickly: “These work really well with the 6BR, Dasher, BRX. And I also have a second Sure Feed for my .300 Ackley 1000-yard gun. These are custom-made by Tim Sellars in Texas. They are set up for a particular cartridge type, and Tim customizes the Caddy to fit the height of your rifle on the rest. You want the bottom round in the stack — the one you grab — to be real close to the loading port.”
Sure Feed Ammo Caddies
Tim Sellars – Sure Feed
4704 Redondo Street
North Richland Hills, TX 76180
Phone: (682) 240-7690 (cell)
eMail: sel248 [at] aol.com
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April 11th, 2012
After we ran our Bulletin news item about Ron Boyd’s amazing 1.462″ 5-shot group at 1000 yards, many readers wanted to see some close-up photos of Ron’s rig. Thanks to Robert Ross of the MidWest Benchrest Club, we have some photos of Ron with his ultra-accurate 6mm Dasher 17-lb Light Gun. This rifle features a BAT SV action, Precision Rifle & Tool (PR&T) “Hammerhead stock” with 5″-wide front wings, Nightforce 12-42 Benchrest scope, and Jewell trigger. Ron had just added a 30″ 1:8″-twist Bartlein barrel to the gun before shooting the 1.462″ group. That barrel only had about 40 rounds through it when it produced the near-record group. The barrel in photos below was a 28″ Benchmark, recently replaced with the new Bartlein. Ron’s ultra-accurate 6 Dasher load consists of surplus Long Range Match powder, with Spencer 103gr bullets. Ron also anneals his Dasher brass after every firing.
CLICK Small gallery photos to view full-size images
Henry Pasquet’s .284 Win Heavy Gun
At the same Midwest Benchrest Club IBS match where Ron shot his small five-shot group, Henry Pasquet drilled a very impressive 3.348″ ten-shot group. This group was just .304″ off the IBS 10-shot Heavy Gun record of 3.044″ shot by Joel Pendergraft in 2009. We are told that Henry was running a straight .284 Winchester. You can see in the inset photos below that Henry uses a tuner on his barrel. He also has fitted an extra-wide front sled and a machined rear “keel” to reduce torque and improve tracking. Henry can adjust windage and elevation with BOTH his Fulghum front rest (from Randolph Machine) and his adjustable rear rest.
CLICK Small gallery photos to view full-size images
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September 8th, 2010
The 2010 IBS 1000-Yard Nationals took place September 1-4 at the Gopher Rifle & Revolver Club (GRRC) in Harris, MN. There were three days of shooting for both Light Gun (LG) and Heavy Gun (HG) classes, with IBS, NBRSA and Williamsport rifles eligible. There was some rain on Thursday (Day 1) that delayed the afternoon relays, but, overall, Thursday had the best conditions. Mike Wieland of GRRC reports that winds were very strong on Friday (Day 2), while on Saturday (Day 3) “a breeze developed that provided a challenging condition and kept the groups bigger and the scores lower for most of the shooters”. The very strong winds on Day 2 also produced a number of DQs.
Bauer Wins Two-Gun and Heavy Gun; Baron Graham Wins Light Gun
The Overall Two-Gun Match Winner was Jim Bauer, who shot a 6mm Dasher in LG and a 300 Ackley in HG. Both guns were smithed by Gordy Gritters and featured Krieger Barrels, BAT actions, and Shehane stocks. In his Dasher, Jim loaded Spencer bullets with Reloder 15. For his Heavy, Jim used Berger bullets with Reloder 25. Jim’s match Aggs were 8.879 for LG and 9.694 for HG. Finishing Second Overall in Two-Gun was Jim Isaacson, followed by Jay Cutright (3rd), David Powley (4th), and John Stecik (5th).
Match Two-Gun Winner Jim Bauer also won the Heavy Gun Division with his Gritters-built 300 Ackley. Close behind were runner-up Steve Sabo shooting a 300 WSM (Broughton barrel, BAT action), and third-place Jay Cutright shooting a Bartlein-barreled big 7mm wildcat. Fourth and fifth in HG, respectively, were Tod Soeby (300 WSM), and James Isaacson (6.5×47 Lapua). Though there were quite a few 6mms used in HG class, the big boomers dominated the top positions.
Baron Graham shot very impressively to win the Light Gun Division. Baron shot a big 30 wildcat (300 Atlas), built by Leonard Baity. In his Krieger-barreled 300 Atlas, Baron shot used Berger Bullets with Reloder 25 powder. Second in LG was Jon Ammerman shooting a 6XC, followed by David Powley (3rd, 6-6.5×47), James Isaacson (4th, 6.5×47), and Gordy Mitchell (5th, 6mmBR). Though Baron’s big 30 won LG overall, the mid-size 6mm and 6.5mm cartridges did very well. Though a Dasher didn’t crack the Top Five in Light Gun, there were a bunch of Dashers on the line. This little cartridge, an improved version of the 6mmBR case, is really coming into its own in 1K competition, as is the 6.5×47 Lapua.
The Gopher Rifle & Revolver Club crew did an excellent job running the firing line, working the pits, handling targets, as well as doing the scoring and information gathering. Mike Wieland of GRRC says: “Thank you to all the volunteers, the sponsors and the shooters who made this a success!”
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July 26th, 2010
Shooting at the Original Pennsylvania 1000-Yard Benchrest Club (Williamsport), Frank Weber, set a new Light Gun Williamsport Record Score and World Record Score this past weekend, a 100-6X (4.237″) for ten (10) shots. Our Assistant Editor Jason Baney witnessed the new record while working the pits. Jason reports: “Frank’s 100-6X beats my Williamsport Record and Andy Murtaugh’s World Record. It was an incredible group. Frank almost got a group record as well — nine of Frank’s ten shots measured about 3.4″, all falling well inside the 4″x4″ white square. This was a great achievement for Frank. He has been shooting at Williamsport since 1968, and this is his first-ever Light Gun group under 7 inches.”
Weber’s Record-Setting Light Gun
Frank Weber set his 1K record with a BAT-actioned 6mm Dasher smithed by Mark King. The Broughton 1:8″ twist, 28″ barrel has a 0.266″-necked Dasher chamber, with 0.155″ freebore. The Broughton barrel is nearly new — it had roughly 100 rounds through it when the record was shot. For optics, Weber used a Nightforce 8-32x56mm NXS scope.
Record Recipe: Varget, BR4s, and Custom 105gr Bullets Jumped .010″
Weber’s record-setting load was fairly typical for a Dasher, except for the projectile. Frank loaded 33.5 grains of Hodgdon Varget and CCI BR4 primers behind a custom 105gr bullet, seated 0.010″ OFF the lands (i.e. he was jumping the bullets ten thousandths). Ironically, Frank was using this relay to test seating depths. It certainly seems that he found a load that worked! Later, in the shoot-off, Frank tried IMR 8208 XBR powder.
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