Wow. If James Bond shot F-TR, we think this is what he might use. You’re looking at the radical new Steve Jennings stock for F-TR competition. This skeletonized stock is crafted to fit the Barnard action. As you can see, there is no conventional fore-arm. Instead a carbon fiber tube extends forward of the action. At the front end of the tube, a fixture hold the beefy, forward-angled, girder-style bipod legs. These legs adjust to two heights, for prone or bench shooting. Large Delrin cylinders at the bottom of the legs provide stability and help resist bipod hop. Cost of the Jennings stock, including bipod legs and bag-rider assembly, is $700.00 at Chesebro Rifles.
The rear bag-rider, which adjusts for height, is also carried by a carbon-fiber tube that runs from the bottom of the pistol grip back to the buttplate. The bag-rider is attached via an eccentric fixture. This way, as you spin it in and out, the vertical position changes. This allows you to get the elevation centered -up on the target, but this system is not designed for fast changes “on the fly”. Small changes in elevation are made by squeezing the bag.
Mark Chesebro also offers a complete rifle built around the new Jennings stock. Built with a Barnard Action, Trueflite (NZ) barrel, and Barnard trigger, a complete Jennings F-TR rifle costs $2500.00. For more information on the Steve Jennings F-TR stock, or complete rifles built with this stock, visit ChesebroRifles.com or call (805) 280-5311. We hope to get our hands on one of these rigs for testing very soon!
EDITOR’s COMMENT: Now it would be great if Seb Lambang’s joystick bipod head could somehow be adapted to this rig, with the joystick running under the carbon fiber “fore-end”, but still using the forward-angled Jennings girder-style legs and oversize “Coke-Can” bipod feet. That could definitely be a James Bond-worthy F-TR rig.
Product Tip by EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
Gary Eliseo’s Tubegun chassis kits, long favored by High Power and prone sling-shooters, are now being used in increasing numbers by F-Class shooters, particularly F-TR competitors shooting from bipod. Here’s good news for the F-TR crew. Gary Eliseo has announced that his B1 and R1 Competition Shooting Stuff (CSS) Chassis kits will now be available with DUAL PORTS, by special order. This allows a right-handed F-TR shooter to load with left hand, with the fired case ejecting on the right. For more information visit www.GotXRing.com or call Gary at (714) 630-5734.
The European F-Class Championship (and British Championship) kick off this weekend (November 2-4) at the legendary Bisley Range in the UK. With 185 entrants, this event should be the largest F-Class competition of the year outside of North America. The Championship matches commence tomorrow, but competitors have already arrived at Bisley and they are getting their F-Class rifles warmed up during practice sessions. Here are some photos from the F-TR Ireland Facebook Page.
F-TR Ireland reports: “Here are photos taken during today’s Practice Day at Bisley on Stickledown Range at 800, 900, and 1000 yards. [We had] a great day’s shooting and excellent camaraderie amongst the team-mates.” The bottom photo shows the 900-yard Firing Line during Practice Day.
Last month, the Montana Rifle and Pistol Association (MRPA) hosted the 3rd Annual Northern Rockies Long Range and F-Class Regional at the Deep Creek Range near Missoula, Montana. The match was a sell-out for the third straight year, and three competitors set pending NRA Long Range and F-Class National Records. If the pending records are recognized by the NRA, that will make a total of eight (8) NRA National records set at Deep Creek over the last three years.
This year, the forest fires and resultant smoke conditions in the Intermountain West cast a ominous haze over the event. However, the haze did not prevent outstanding performances by many shooters in both F-class and sling divisions.
All National Guard Shooter, SSG John Coggshall
SSG Coggshall is a member of the Connecticut Army National Guard’s 1-102 Infantry battalion and a member of the All National Guard marksmanship unit. Coggshall used an Eliseo Tubegun set up as a Palma rifle and used factory-loaded ammunition. Coggshall shot great, finishing with a 1091-59X out of a possible 1100 points. This should be a new national record for the Long Range Regional Aggregate in the Service Category. The previous record was set in Missoula by Allen Spiker, former member of the All National Guard team. While Coggshall is new to the Palma game, he has a lot of experience shooting smallbore as well as service rifle. He has been on a winning Whistler Boy team, and has been the High Junior during the President’s 100 at Camp Perry. His Team Coach described him as a hard-holder who can hold half the X-Ring with his iron-sighted Palma rifle.
Ken Nelson
Ken Nelson also had a record setting performance. Nelson fired a very impressive 1096-71X, as he dropped only four points to smash previous national record in the Senior Category. With this score he not only established a new NRA national record, he squeezed out the tournament win over second place finisher Allen Spiker. Both shooters fired 1096s, but Nelson surpassed Spiker by X-count. Nelson reported that he received some advice from his friend, German Salazar, before the match, and Nelson took that advice to heart. He noted that his thought process between shots really helped him on the line. Nelson splits his time between his native British Columbia and Phoenix, AZ where he shoots at Ben Avery. Nelson only began shooting long range four years ago, after many seasons as a smallbore shooter.
LTC Donald Erpenbach – Montana ARNG
LTC Erpenbach set two pending F-TR records at the match. Erpenbach shot exceedingly well on day one of the tournament. In the first day’s Palma course Erpenbach shot a 442-14X besting the previous record held by USAMU shooter Sherri Gallagher. Erpenbach was on a roll and in the separate 1000-yard match he fired a 194-7X, edging ahead of the previous record. Erpenbach really put things together well for this match.
SGT Micheal Palagi – Montana ARNG
SGT Palagi received the MRPA’s new “Top M-24” shooter award. This award recognizes Montana Soldiers who shoot an issued sniper rifle with issued M118LR ammo. Palagi’s recent performance was outstanding and he is deserving recipient of the first Top M-24 award.
Deep Creek Range
The Deep Creek Range in Missoula, MT is one of the nicest places to shoot in the Intermountain West region. The range is located in the mountains within a few minutes drive of Missoula, and there is camping on-site. When conditions are good at Deep Creek, records get broken. The MRPA host 3 weekends of shooting there every year. To learn more about shooting at Deep Creek, contact Jamey Williams at jameydan[at]gmail.com.
The MRPA wishes to thank the 2012 Northern Rockies Sponsors:
Barnes Bullets
Berger Bullets
Sierra Bullets
BAT Actions
Bruno’s Shooter Supply
Carl Boettger Scope Mounts
Creedmoor Sports
Competition Machine – Gary Eliseo
USTacticalSupply.com
Sebastian (Seb) Lambang of SEB Coaxial, a brilliant designer and fabricator, has created an ingenious joystick bipod. The first coaxial bipod we’ve ever seen, Seb’s new bipod is a superb example of creative design and smart engineering. This unit gives F-TR and other bipod shooters precise, one-handed control of both windage and elevation. Seb’s innovative joystick bipod is yet one more example of the innovative, advanced engineering we’ve come to expect from his company. We think this guy could be building Formula 1 cars if he set his mind to it. We are fortunate that Seb loves shooting, so he applies his talent to designing and building great new products for the shooting sports.
Seb tells us: “I just finished a prototype joystick bipod, i.e. a bipod with joystick (coaxial) elevation and windage control. This patent-pending bipod is my newest project/invention. As far as I know, there is no one that makes this type of bipod… so it’s probably the only one in the world.” We already know some shooters who want to order Seb’s joystick bipod, but Seb cautions: “It’s not for sale yet. It’s still in prototype step. There is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.”
Seb will test and refine the design in the next couple of months before production starts. But Seb is quite satisfied with the design so far: “The rigidity, ease and comfort of use, and compactness, are already OK in my opinion.” Folks in Europe will be able to see the design very soon. The first real-world test of Seb’s new joystick bipod will be at the European F-Class Championship, slated for November 2-3 in the UK. Seb notes: “I won’t be shooting F-TR in the match, but I will ask some fellow F-TR shooters at the Bisley range to test it, and provide feedback.” Seb invites Daily Bulletin readers to look at the photos and provide comments or suggestions on design enhancements.
Technical Description At the lowest setting with the adjustable legs, the SEB bipod is approximately 6″ tall. At the highest setting, the unit is about 9″ tall. To smooth upward movement of the rifle, Seb designed the coaxial head with “built-in uplift”. The joystick itself is about 10″ long, with a collet-type head. When folded, the new SEB Bipod is relatively compact, about 9″ long x 5″ wide x 2″ thick. Most parts are made from aircraft grade 7000 series aluminum. The current weight of the prototype is 26 ounces (740 grams). Seb is working on reducing weight for the production models.
Joystick Function and Adjustment Range
As with SEB Coaxial front rests, the joystick function is user-selectable. The joystick handle can operate either ‘up for up’ or ‘up for down’, simply by reversing the unit and the joystick. The bipod’s effective windage and elevation range* is approximately 38 MOA horizontal (windage) and 16 MOA vertical (elevation). Seb explains: “That’s not as much as my other rests, but for F-Class use it should be adequate. The finer the adjustment, the better on the target and the smoother the joystick operation. It’s like using a scope with 1/8 MOA adjustment rather than 1/4 MOA.”
*True vertical travel is about 32 MOA but in the field the rifle stock will limit how far you can lift the joysticK. Note also that the adjustment range varies with your set-up geometry. The shorter the distance between the rear bag and the bipod, the greater the travel in MOA. This means that if you extend the distance between rear bag and bipod, you will lose some MOA travel.
Adding to its undefeated resume, Team Sinclair Int’l racked up an unprecedented fifth Team F-TR National Championship at Raton, New Mexico, last week. The team, consisting of firing members, Paul Phillips, Brad Sauve, Jeff Rorer, Derek Rodgers (Captain) and wind coach, Ray Gross, prevailed over 12 other teams representing the best F-TR shooters from the USA, South Africa, Australia, and Canada.
Boasting the highest attendance of any F-Class Nationals, the 2012 competition was made up of dual 1,000-yard matches, with 800 possible points per match. Team Sinclair scored 1561-48X to win the F-TR championship, finishing ahead of second-place North State X-Men (1542-39X) and third-place Team Savage (1541-47X). Team Sinclair’s Day 1 score of 790-31X topped all other F-TR teams and set a new (pending) U.S. F-TR National record for 1,000-yard F-Class competition.
“We’re grateful for Sinclair International’s support,” said the team in a joint statement. “All of us use Sinclair’s precision shooting components and reloading supplies when preparing for these events. We need products of the highest quality and consistency for us to succeed. We’ve never been defeated, and that’s a testament to Sinclair International.”
Sinclair’s F-TR Team has been competing since 2007. The newest member, Jeff Rorer, joined the team in 2009. Team Sinclair Int’l remains undefeated in F-TR National Championships. Here’s an interesting factoid about the Team Sinclair shooters. One or more members of the current Sinclair squad have been on the winning F-TR team at every U.S. F-Class National Championships since they were first held in 2004, except for 2010 when Sinclair did not field a team. Brad Sauve has been on the winning F-TR team every year except 2010: Great Lakes Express (2004, 2005 winning team); Team Green (2006 winner); Team Sinclair (2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 winner). Ray Gross and Paul Phillips were also on most of those winning squads.
The 2012 F-Class Nationals have concluded and the event was a great success. Nearly 200 shooters competed at Raton this year.
Congrats to the new F-Class National Champions: David Bailey (F-Open) and James Crofts (F-TR). Bailey amassed a 1283-59X score to edge F-Open runner-up Bob Sebold (1282-59X) by a single point. Note that Jim and Bob, both AccurateShooter Forum members, had the same X-count. Bob’s excellent X-count placed him ahead of Jim Murphy (1282-50X), who captured third place along with F-Open High Senior Title. High Lady Shooter was Michelle Gallagher with a 1274-51, while Danny Biggs, a past National Champion, was High Senior with 1273-46X.
Forum member James (‘Jim’) Crofts took the F-TR crown with a truly dominating performance. Jim’s 1272-47X was a full six points and 11 Xs ahead of runner-up (and 2011 champ) Jeff Rorer, who finished with 1266-36X. In third-place overall, was High Senior Daniel Pohlable (1264-42X). In fourth overall, was the High Lady shooter Trudie Fay (1259-45X).
Jim Crofts really deserves praise for his marksmanship at Raton. Jim’s F-TR Score of 1272-47X would have ranked him 13th in the F-Open division, ahead of dozens of skilled shooters running ballistically-superior cartridges. In his .308 Win, Jim ran Berger 200gr Match Hybrids at 2600 fps with Hodgdon Varget. Jim’s winning F-TR rifle featured a 30″ Brux barrel and Precision Rifle & Tool (PR&T) stock. And take note — Jim’s barrel had over 3000 rounds though it by the end of the match. Jim wants to thank Ray Bowman at PR&T for smithing a great rifle and providing sponsorship.
Interview with Jim Crofts
We had a chance to talk to Jim by telephone this morning, and he was kind enough to answer a few questions for us….
AccurateShooter: Is this your first big win? How did you feel receiving the trophy as National F-TR Champion?
Jim: I won the Berger SW Nationals earlier this year, but this is my first-ever National Championship. I was very relieved once it was over because there were many great shooters right behind me.
AccurateShooter: Did you run any new hardware at the Nationals? Did you alter your load any?
Jim: This is the same combination that I’ve used all year long. I went back to my old faithful PR&T-built rifle and my old faithful load and everything works. I still anneal my cases every firing. You will find this helps maintain consistent bullet seating and it helps lower your extreme spread.
AccurateShooter: Shooters from your neck of the woods have now won the F-TR division two years running — Whats the secret?
Yes, with my win we’ve had back to back F-TR National championships for North State X-Men club members. Jeff Rorer, last year’s F-TR champ [and 2012 runner-up] shoots with us at a local level. That’s who I’ve been chasing since last year’s National Championship. When you shoot against quality competition every week, it makes you strive for perfection.
AccurateShooter: How were conditions during the week? Raton can be windy…
Jim: Actually, conditions were moderate most of the week. However, on the last day, it was calm during the first match, but in the second match it got to be very tricky. There were changes in velocity and angles — I had a hard time keeping up with the velocity changes in the last match.
AccurateShooter: How has the FTR game changed in the last couple years? Is it more competitive than ever before?
Jim: The sport is growing and it’s getting tougher, that’s for sure. This year we had 91 competitors in F-TR. It went up from about 60 last year to 91 this year — a 50% increase. And the competition is really getting tight in F-TR. Not only are the numbers of shooters growing, but the quality of the competition is getting higher every year.
Also at the F-Class Nationals this year, some Eliseo Tubeguns made an appearance. Shown below are Linda Shehan (Team Australia) and Warren Dean (Team USA) with their GC-1 FTR rigs at the nationals. These tubeguns feature actions by Rod Shehan, with an Adam Davies bipod on the left, and Sinclair F-Class bipod on the right.
Congrats to the U.S.A. F-Class Team which triumphed in the 2012 Stars & Stripes Challenge Match held September 16 at Raton, New Mexico. The showcase event in the Stars & Stripes Match is a team competition with 8-man national teams. Team USA finished first with a 3443-107X combined score. In second place was the South Africa Protea Team with 3428-88X. Team Australia came in thirds with 3398-81X, and Team Canada scored 3364-63X to secure fourth place. In the photo below, Team USA members celebrate their victory. Shown (left to right) are: Charles Ballard, Larry Taite, Laura Perry, John Weil, Trudie Fay, Shiraz Balolia (Captain), Bob Mead, Rick Hunt, Jeff Rorer, Darrell Buell, Jim Murphy and Larry Bartholome.
Along with the signature National Team Event, the Stars & Stripes event featured 4-person team matches for both F-Open and F-TR divisions. Winner of the F-Open 4-person event, with a 1757-65X score, was Team Long Shots, captained by Mark Walker and coached by Michelle Gallagher. Team shooters were: David Baily, David Gosnell, Ken Dickerman, and Mark Walker. Finishing first in the 4-person F-TR team event was Team Misfits, coached and captained by Lige Harris. Lige also shot on the team, along with Leslie Jones, Tom Jones, and John Kills. Team Misfits scored 1710-34X to secure a 16-point victory over F-TR runner-up U.S. Development Team #4.
Texas stock-maker Wayne Young has created an innovative modular stock. The fore-end side-plates bolt on to an aluminum sub-chassis so you can alter the width, or run an offset on either side of center. You can transform the stock from 3″ wide to 5″ wide in a couple minutes. Or, if you want to experiment with offset (i.e. having more fore-end width on one side of the barrel than the other side), you can simply remove a few bolts, and stack up the sideplates on one side.
The ability to quickly (and inexpensively) transform a stock from 3″ wide to 5″ wide is a definite plus for shooters who want to use the same rig in both F-Class and benchrest. You can run your rifle at max-legal 3″ width for F-Class, then bolt on additional fore-end “wings” to run at 5″ for bench competition. The 5″-wide stocks are now legal for 600-yard and 1000-yard benchrest, at both IBS and NBRSA registered matches. Those folks who have tried out 5″-wide stocks on Light Guns have been impressed with the results. The extra width stabilizes the rifle on the bags, reducing perceived twist (torquing) and hop. There is less “Rocking and Rolling”. With the gun torquing less, the tracking during recoil normally shows an improvement as well. (But we should say that, even with the standard 3″ width, these stocks track great.)
Video Demonstrates Superior Tracking
How does a Wayne Young stock track? Straight and true — with virtually no hop. You can see for yourself. In the video below, Wayne shoots a test rifle chambered in .284 Winchester, a popular F-Class cartridge. The load is a 175gr Berger XLD bullet pushed at 3010 fps by Reloder 17 powder. That’s a stout, fast load — the recoil force easily meets or exceeds a typical F-Open match load. To better demonstrate the gun’s handling characteristics, Wayne deliberately shoots the gun free-recoil style — without gripping hard or shouldering the stock*. As you can see, the gun recoils straight back. The forearm and buttstock also slide perfectly in the bags, without “grabbing”. (Note: In the video, the rifle’s front bag-rider section is aluminum without polymer “wings”. This particular gun was built with a wider aluminum channel to fit a large-diameter, straight-contour barrel).
Stock Specifications and Design Features
Finished stocks weigh approximately 7 pounds, 4 ounces. If needed, stocks can be lightened to just under 7 pounds. Overall length is 36″. Length of pull is adjustable from 13 to 13.75 inches with standard two-way adjustable butt pad. The main chassis is machined from billet 6061-T6 (Tee Six) aluminum, while the fore-end chassis section is 6063-T5 (Tee Five). The black side sections, fore-end plates, and buttstock lowers are CNC-machined from high-grade HDPE, a rugged, chemically-resistant polymer.
The chassis for round actions features a “V-Block” seating area. There is a flat configuration for Panda and Stiller flat-bottom actions. With either the round- or flat-bottom configuration, actions can be mounted directly on the 1.25″-square aluminum chassis, using supplied action bolts. (Skim bedding is optional.) No inletting, pillar-installation, or stock finishing (painting) is required. Just bolt your barreled action into the chassis and head to the range.
Wayne’s stocks come with two-way adjustable butt-plate, adjustable cheekpiece, trigger guard, and all fasteners. If you consider all that standard equipment and the fact that Wayne’s gunstocks require no inletting and no finishing, these stocks are attractively priced. Wayne’s F-Open/Benchrest Stock, with 3″ fore-end, costs $499.00 plus $25.00 S/H. There is also a $499.00 F-TR version with a fore-end set up for bipod attachment. (Wayne produces an integral, adjustable and removable F-TR bipod for $75.00.) Add $100.00 extra if you want the aluminum components hard-anodized. With long actions or Savage actions, there is an extra charge to configure the central chassis to fit. For more information visit WaynesGunstocks.com or call (210) 288-3063 from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday.
* If Wayne was shooting a .284 Win in an F-Class match, he would grip the gun and put some shoulder into it. But for demonstration purposes in the video, Wayne free-recoiled the rig so you can see how well it tracks with no holding or steering by the shooter.
In our Shooters’ Forum, Darrell Buell, Captain of F-TR Team USA, has started a discussion about permitted bullet weights in F-TR competition. Darrell observes that a new generation of ultra-heavyweight 215-230 grain bullets may spur a “technology race” that would increase the cost to compete in F-TR matches at the top level.
Darrell writes: “In order to run the uber-heavies, you will be required at a minimum to get a gunsmith to re-cut at least the throat of your chamber, then you are stuck with a tiny number of projectiles that will work in the rifle. People that want to be competitive will feel compelled to drop the expense of modifying their rifles, and not have any guarantee that their mods will turn out to be effective. We will have strayed from our successful initial model for F-T/R, as a class for ‘shooter vs. shooter’ competition, and be marching down the road that you must have a $5000 custom to be remotely competitive.” As the result, Darrell has proposed an F-TR rule change that would limit the max weight of permitted .308-caliber bullets to “less than 201 grains”.
At the beginning of the F-TR Bullet Weight Thread, you’ll find a poll on the issue of bullet weights. Registered members of our Forum can vote in the poll. You have three choices: a) Leave the Rules unchanged; b) Limit max bullet weight to less than 201 grains; and c) Limit max bullet weight to 156 grains or less.
What do you think? Should the F-TR rules be changed to cap bullet weights? Or, is it best to leave bullet choice unrestricted for .308-caliber shooters? Darrell wants F-TR shooters to express their opinions by Voting in the Poll.
Modern F-TR Rigs are getting increasingly sophisticated (and looking more like F-Open rifles). Here is Vince Bottomley’s latest F-TR rifle, which, in the hands of Stuart Anselm, won the European F-TR Championship shooting 185gr Berger Bullets.
Mark Chesebro also offers a complete rifle built around the new Jennings stock. Built with a Barnard Action, Trueflite (NZ) barrel, and Barnard trigger, a complete Jennings F-TR rifle costs $2500.00. For more information on the Steve Jennings F-TR stock, or complete rifles built with this stock, visit ChesebroRifles.com or call (805) 280-5311. We hope to get our hands on one of these rigs for testing very soon!
Ken Nelson
LTC Donald Erpenbach – Montana ARNG
Sebastian (Seb) Lambang of 
At the lowest setting with the adjustable legs, the SEB bipod is approximately 6″ tall. At the highest setting, the unit is about 9″ tall. To smooth upward movement of the rifle, Seb designed the coaxial head with “built-in uplift”. The joystick itself is about 10″ long, with a collet-type head. When folded, the new SEB Bipod is relatively compact, about 9″ long x 5″ wide x 2″ thick. Most parts are made from aircraft grade 7000 series aluminum. The current weight of the prototype is 26 ounces (740 grams). Seb is working on reducing weight for the production models.
Interview with Jim Crofts
