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July 4th, 2010
 Texan Jackie Schmidt, using a 13.5-lb 30BR Heavy Varmint rifle, has shot a pending NBRSA world record 5-target, 5-shot-per-target Aggregate at 100 yards. Jackie’s 5x5x100 Agg measured 0.1118! How small is that? To help our readers visualize this, the illustration at right shows what a SINGLE 0.111″ 5-shot group (with .30-cal holes) would look like. Jackie’s actual measured group sizes for his five-target Aggregate were: .153, .093, .120, .100, and .093.
If this record is certified, it will be the best 5×5 100-yard Agg ever shot in history by a bag gun in competition. Jackie’s Agg may also beat the “Unlimited” (Rail Gun) 5x5x100 records, but we’re still researching that. Remarkably, Jackie shot his 0.1118″ Agg with a stout-recoiling 30 BR (not a PPC), he did it in howling winds, and he did it with brass that had been fired 30 times! He also shot the entire Agg without cleaning his barrel.
We know it may be difficult for some readers to understand how hard it is to average 0.1118 for 25 shots on FIVE targets. To help demonstrate this, we’ve created an illustration that shows a SINGLE 0.111″ five-shot group. Jackie shot five groups that averaged this size. And he wasn’t “machine-gunning”. He took 6-7 minutes to shoot each target, firing on a “angle transition” in the conditions. Jackie explained: “The wind was switching, but I wasn’t shooting the dominant condition. I would wait for the transition and then shoot when the flags came around to about 15 degrees.”
Jackie gave credit to his rifle: “Though I usually use this rifle for score shoots, this 30BR is the most accurate rifle I have in terms of shooting small groups. I was lucky and hit the perfect tune. There was absolutely no vertical. You can’t shoot [an Agg] like this unless you have a rifle tuned to the hilt.” Jackie recognizes that this performance was a “once in a lifetime type experience.” He told us: “Today everything was right. The rifle was shooting impeccably, I had a good handle on the conditions, and just didn’t make a mistake.” Jackie added: “These days are few and far between — you just have to cherish the moment.”
Jackie’s 5-target Agg was so good that many experts predict it will stand as a record for a long time. On Benchrest Central, respected BR gunsmith Mike Bryant wrote: “The current record … was still Rex Reneau’s .1399 Agg from 1982. With Jackie’s Agg, I’m sure that it will easily beat Rex’s record when measured by the records committee. It’s just too far under the current record for it not to hold up… [and] to do it with a .30 BR is even more amazing. That should put to rest the notion that the .30 BR is a score cartridge only.”
Many people are surprised this pending Agg record was shot with a 30BR rather than a 6 PPC. When asked if he thinks the 30 BR can rival the 6PPC in group competition, Jackie told us: “In the 13.5-lb Heavy Varmint class, a good 30 BR is every bit as accurate as a good PPC, and possesses an equal Agging capability.” It’s different in the 10.5 classes, Jackie acknowledged: “in the LV/Sporter 10.5-lb classes, the 30 BR can get a little aggravating over the course of a match due to its greater recoil.”
Jackie’s Aggregate May Be Best in Benchrest History
Shooting in a Midland, Texas BR for group match, Jackie battled shifty, 15-20 mph winds in what may well be the greatest single-day display of “pure accuracy” in the history of the shooting sports. To put this accomplishment in perspective, Jackie’s 5-target Agg was better than any other 5×5 100-yard Aggregate ever shot in a registered benchrest match by a bag-gun. And according to the published records we could find on file with the NBRSA and IBS, Jackie’s 0.1118″ also beats even the existing rail-gun 5x5x100 Aggs. So, this could potentially be the smallest 5-target Agg ever shot in history, by any gun, in any registered match, at any time. Below are the current IBS and NBRSA World records listed on the Internet:
| Current Benchrest 100-yard World Records (5 Targets, 5 shots per target) |
| 5-5-100 Aggregate (NBRSA)
Unlimited: .1283″ Steve Kostanich 8/10/2003
Heavy Varmint: .1399″ Rex Reneau 9/6/1982
Light Varmint: .1500″ Jeff Fowler 6/11/1994
Sporter: .1573 (na) Dick Katchmar 4/14/1985 |
5-5-100 Aggregate Records (IBS)
Unlimited HB: .1386 (na) R. Howell 12/3/04
Heavy Varmint: .1407″ Tony Boyer 8/3/07
Light Varmint: .1599″ B. Goad 8/13/08
Sporter: .1592″ R. Boop 8/13/08 |
 Gun Specs: Jackie was shooting a 13.5-lb 30 BR that he chambered and assembled himself. The barrel is a 4-groove, 1:18″ twist, HV-taper Krieger, fitted with a 5.5-oz. “snubber” barrel tuner made by Jackie. The action is a cast Farley, “glued and screwed” into the stock and fitted with a Jewell trigger. The stock is a Robertson Composites BRX, built with extra weight to make the gun a dedicated 13.5-pounder. The scope is a 50-power March.
Record Load: Jackie was running a stout load of Hodgdon H4198 powder, Federal 205M primers, and BIB (Robinette) 112gr flat-base bullets seated about .003″ into the lands. Load is “tuned for 3020 fps”. Cases are formed from Lapua 6mmBR brass using a dedicated forming barrel that blows the necks out to 0.330″ in one step. Trim length is 1.540″, longer than most 30 BRs. Jackie turns the necks for a total of .002″ clearance.
April 27th, 2010
 The final results of the 2010 NBRSA 600-Yard National Championship held at the Sac Valley Shooting Center on April 23-25, 2010, are now available. Click the link below to download an MS Word file with complete scores.
Official Scorer Jim O’Connell reports: “On Friday Billy Copelin was presented his NBRSA Long-Range Hall of Fame Jacket. He joined a very elite group of shooters. Congratulations to Billy. The weather was fairly nice and the wind (light brezze) was manageable. Robert Hoppe and Don Nielson both broke the 6-target Light Gun score record with a 278-3X. Don beat Robert because Don had the smaller group. Richard Schatz broke two records, the 6-target Heavy Gun group (3.045), and the twelve target Two-Gun group (2.782). Don Nielson was the 2010 National Champion with a score of 12 (8-Heavy Gun Score, 2-Heavy Gun Group, 1-Light Gun Score, and 1-Light Gun Group). Congratulations to Don. Thank you all for your participation and support of the Sloughhouse Benchrest Shooters. Hope to see you all at the NBRSA 1000-Yard Nationals.”
CLICK HERE to Download 2010 NBRSA 600-Yard Nationals Scores (MS Word file)
April 26th, 2010
 NBRSA Long-Range BR Hall-of-Famer Don Nielson earned his second NBRSA 600-yard championship this weekend in Sacramento, California. Don took the overall title, which counts score and group results for both Light Gun (LG) and Heavy Gun (HG). 6mm Dasher shooters Richard Schatz and Robert Hoppe finished second and third overall, respectively. Potential new records were set at the match, with possible new records by Nielson in LG Group Agg, LG Score Agg, and (possibly) 12-target Agg. Along with winning the Championship, Don placed first in LG Group, first in LG Score, second in HG Group, and second in Two-Gun Group Agg. Nielson also shot the smallest LG group, a 1.4″ group with four of five shots in slightly over 1/2 inch!
Don shot two 6.5×47 17-lb rifles, one in Light Gun and one in Heavy Gun. (He shot two near-identical rifles so he didn’t need to clean between LG and HG relays). For his pair of 6.5x47s, Don loaded Alliant Reloder 15 powder, with Federal 205M primers, and Berger 130 VLD bullets “right out of the box.” Don’s rifles featured Kelbly 1000-yard stocks, Bartlein 30″ barrels, and March 10-60x52mm scopes. Below Don Nielson is shown testing in 2008. Don shot this gun in the match, but it has a new Bartlein barrel.
The Match was well-attended — 46 of the nation’s top mid-range shooters competed. Don Nielson said conditions were “pretty nice until the third (last) relay on Sunday”. Don felt that winds didn’t top 10 mph until late on Sunday. Don credited both his guns for performing very consistently and he wanted to acknowledge his fellow shooters: “Richard, as usual, shot great with his Dasher. Robert (Hoppe) shot well as did Darryl Kightlinger and Everet Smith, whom we call the ‘Shasta Locomotive'”. Below are preliminary results provided by Lynn Dragoman.
Overall NBRSA National Championship
1. Don “The Pumpkin” Nielson
2. Richard Schatz
3. Robert Hoppe
4. Darryl Kightlinger
5. Everet Smith
6. Curt Mendenhall
7. William Hubina
8. Kenneth Schroeder
9. John Crawford
10. Lynn Dragoman Jr
Two-Gun Score
1. Everet Smith
2. Darryl Kightlinger
3. Richard Schatz
4. Curt Mendenhall
5. Don Nielson
6. Kenneth Schroeder
7. Lynn Dragoman Jr
8. Robert Hoppe
9. Stu Harvey
10. Lou Murdica
Two-Gun Group
1. Richard Schatz
2. Don Nielson
3. Robert Hoppe
4. Everet Smith
5. Curt Mendenhall
6. William Hubina
7. Kenneth Schroeder
8. Darryl Kightlinger
9. John Crawford
10. Greg Wilson |
Three-Target Winners
Heavy Gun 3-Tgt Score — Darryl Kightlinger
Heavy Gun 3-Tgt Group — Robert Hoppe
Light Gun 3-Tgt Score — Robert Hoppe
Light Gun 3-Tgt Group — John Crawford
Light Gun Score
1. Don Nielson
2. Robert Hoppe
3. Darryl Kightlinger
4. Everet Smith
5. Curt Mendenhall
Light Gun Group
1. Don Nielson
2. Richard Schatz
3. Robert Hoppe
4. John Crawford
5. Darryl Kightlinger
Heavy Gun Score
1. Richard Schatz
2. Kenneth Schroeder
3. Everet Smith
4. Stu Harvey
5. Darryl Kightlinger
Heavy Gun Group
1. Richard Schatz
2. Don Nielson
3. Everet Smith
4. Curt Mendenhall
5. William Hubina |
November 30th, 2009
On Sunday November 29th, the Ojai Valley Gun Club hosted its first-ever NBRSA-sanctioned, 600-yard Benchrest match. Ojai boasts a beautiful range in the Southern California foothills about 40 road miles from the coast. Many Pala Range regulars from the San Diego area were on hand, and some “big names” turned up for the event including Lou Murdica and 2007 NBRSA 600-yard Champion Don Nielson. In sunny but wildly changeable conditions (ranging from near-calm to 20 mph gusts), Don showed how it was done, winning the match with his 6.5×47 Lapua rifle.
Don finished first in ALL LG and HG categories except Heavy Gun score, where he placed second. In Light Gun class, Don shot a 2.207″ Agg for three, 5-shot targets (1.523″, 2.344″, 2.754″). Mind you this was in conditions where some pretty good shooters were off paper. Don said the secret was to shoot fast: “When it’s switchy, you can’t wait. I pretty much never stopped and never slowed down. Even for the 10-shot Heavy Gun Groups I think I was done in 30 seconds.” Second in Two Gun Overall was Brenda Hill. Brenda has established herself as one of California’s top F-Class and long-range shooters. At Ojai, Brenda was shooting a very accurate 6BRX rifle smithed by Leroy Johnson, jpgrifles [at] yahoo.com. John Crawford, Bruce Duncan, and Lou Murdica also all shot well in the difficult conditions.
On the firing line we found some very interesting equipment. John Crawford of the Bay Area had a beautiful Leonard-stocked gun chambered in 6mm Grendel. John is getting over 2900 fps with his 6mm Grendel, shooting 105gr Berger VLDs. He does have a long throat, but that is still impressive — 6BR velocities from the smaller-diameter Grendel case. Along with its gorgeous wood stock, Crawford’s rifle featured some very cool hardware. The trigger guard was radically skeletonized and anodized black. John’s scope was mounted with 4-bolt integrated scope rings/bases with 20 MOA built-in elevation. Produced by Marvin Pearson in Oregon, (360) 748-3429, these custom ring/bases were beautifully finished with radiused edges. Pearson’s ring/bases are available for 1″, 30mm, or 34mm tubes, with zero elevation “pre-load”, or up to 30 MOA of built-in elevation. Pearson charges $125.00 per set (plus shipping).
Crawford carried his 6mm Grendel ammo in compact 100-round ammo ammo cases from J&J Products. These cases pack big capacity in a relatively small footprint. There is enough clearance for long VLD-style bullets, but not so much extra “headroom” that the rounds can fall out if the box is inverted. John uses a piece of pink foam, cut to box dimensions, to protect his bullet tips when traveling. These 100-round J&J boxes measure 5.375″L x 5.375″W x 2.400″D and cost just $4.88 (J&J item BR-100).
 Match director Barry Bluhm had a very nice ammo caddy that places ten loaded rounds up close to the loading port for fast cycling. Southpaw Bluhm keeps his ammo caddy on the right side, but the design would work equally well when used on the left side by a right-handed shooter.
Barry, who shoots a 6-6.5×47 for the most part, deserves a huge amount of credit for organizing this event. He spent many long hours building new target frames, and organized volunteers to man the pits and run the range. Without Barry’s dedication and hard work, this 600-yard match, hopefully the first of many registered events at Ojai, couldn’t have happened.
To learn more about the Ojai Valley Gun Club, or view the schedule of upcoming events, visit www.OVGC.net.
October 27th, 2009
Billy Copelin dominated the 2009 NBRSA 1000-yard Nationals in Sacramento, winning the National Championship and setting four pending records in the process. Billy used a 17-pounder in Light Gun Class, and a bigger rifle in Heavy Gun Class, but both were chambered for the 6mm Dasher. The little case, an improved version of the 6mmBR Norma, performed brilliantly in Billy’s hands. Along with his overall championship, Copelin won Two-Gun Group Agg (6.566″), Two-Gun Score Agg (840-8X), Light Gun Group Agg (4.611″), Heavy Gun Group Agg (8.522″), and Heavy Gun Score Agg (561-4X).
Jim O’Connell, official match scorer, observed: “It was Billy Copelin’s weekend as he won just about everything that wasn’t nailed down. On his way to winning the 2009 National Championship, Billy set four new records and earned himself a spot in the Hall of Fame (joining Jerry Tierney and Don Nielson). Congratulations to Billy…that was some fine shooting!” Copelin’s four pending records are: 3-Target LG Score (147-3X); 6-Target LG Group (4.611″); 2-Gun 12-Target Score (840-8X); and 2-Gun 12-Target Group (6.566″). Below is a video of Copelin shooting at the 600-yard NBRSA Nationals in 2008.
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Generally Good Conditions Prevail
Fairly nice weather conditions prevailed for the 2009 NBRSA 1000-Yard National Championship. As a result, some fine scores were fired. Ventura, CA shooter Barry Bluhm, who won the Light Gun Score title with an impressive 279-6X, told us “There was nice weather most of the time all three days. Winds were 3 to 6 mph, but they didn’t stay the same. During some relays, winds got twitchy and would switch from side to side. If you missed a wind call, you could get burned.”
Barry, who does testing for AccurateShooter.com as one of our elite “designated trigger pullers”, noted that while Copelin “pretty much cleaned everyone’s clock with his Dashers”, a lot of guys shot big cartridges in Heavy Gun Class. George Tompkins was shooting 300gr bullets from a massive, metal-stocked Maxi chambered for the .338 Lapua Magnum.
Jerry Tierney finished second overall in this year’s NBRSA 1K Nationals. Jerry, the 2008 NBRSA 600-yard Champion, brought his .284 Winchester to the match, “making LG weight by an ounce or so.” Tierney, who is renowned for his wind-doping skills, tells us “he was rooting for the wind to blow, but it was Dasher weather.” Jerry added that the big boomers did not distinguish themselves: “The true heavies made a lot of noise but were not really in the running in these conditions. It was strictly a Dasher weekend, and a really great shooter [Copelin] behind a Dasher finished on top.” Tierney added that Copelin really deserved the championship: “Billy’s been at it many years; we all knew he was going to win the big one someday.”
Great Shooting by Many Competitors
Though Copelin hauled away the biggest trophies, there were many impressive performances by other shooters. Jay McMunn shot an amazing 2.445″, five-shot Small Group in Light Gun, and Stu Harvey wasn’t far behind at 2.473″. Charles Greer nailed two ten-shot 99s in Heavy Gun and one was a very small 6.649″ to boot. Robert Hoppe and T. Johnson both had 10-shot HG groups under 5.5″ (though Copelin shot smallest of all with a 4.907″ in HG).
Overall Rankings, using the NBRSA scoring system, which counts placements for both score and group, are listed below (lowest total wins). CLICK HERE to download complete results with group and score rankings for all events. We send a big “Thank-You” to Jim O’Connell from providing these match results so quickly.
National Champion — BILLY COPELIN (5 total points)
Second Place — GERALD TIERNEY (24)
Third Place — KENNETH SCHROEDER (26)
Fourth Place — CHARLES GREER (31)
Fifth Place — BARRY BLUHM (33)
Sixth Place — GREG WILSON (44)
Seventh Place — ROBERT HOPPE (46)
Eighth Place — LOU MURDICA (47)
Ninth Place — T. JOHNSON (54)
Tenth Place — GARY NOBLE (55)
October 22nd, 2009
The 2009 NBRSA 1000-yard Nationals (Sloughhouse 1000) will be held at the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center in Sacramento, California on October 23, 24, & 25th.This event is being hosted by the Sloughhouse Benchrest Shooters Club. The NBRSA 1K benchrest Nationals should draw many of the nation’s top shooters. This is one of the major long-range events of the year on the West Coast. Match organizers invite all long-range benchresters to attend, even if you have not tried 1000 yards before. A good 600-yard gun can be quite competitive at 1000 when conditions are favorable. Two classes will compete, Light Gun (17-lb max weight) and Heavy Gun (Unlimited Weight). The current match fee is $75.00 per class, so it will cost $150.00 to shoot both classes.
CLICK HERE for the match Sign-Up and Registration form (PDF file).
Sacramento Valley Shooting Center 1000-yard range (seen from 600-yard line).
There are RV/camping facilities adjacent to the range, and moderately priced hotels can be found within a 20-minute drive of the range. If you camp you should bring water, food and all essentials as the range is pretty far from a store. Do note, however, on Saturday, October 24th, a catered lunch will be served and on Friday, October 23rd and Sunday, October 25th, a hot vendor will be available on the grounds so that shooters may purchase lunch.
If you have questions about the range facilities or driving directions, you can call Sac Valley Shooting Center at (916) 354-9668. The Center is located approximately 15 miles South/East of the city of Sacramento. The physical address for the range is 15501 Meiss Road, Sloughouse, CA 95683. To navigate to the range, take a look at the map below. The Sac Valley staff cautions: “Do not use GPS or Map Quest to get to the range. On the Dillard Road side is an unpaved, nearly impassible rock road. Use Ione Road to approach Meiss Road [from the east]”. You can also get detailed, turn by turn directions (from main approach highways), on the Sac Valley Shooting Center website. CLICK HERE for directions to range.
October 3rd, 2009
The final results have been tallied for the 2009 NBRSA 100/200 Yard Benchrest (Group) Nationals. This was an epoch event, with numerous potential records set, including a stunning 0.093 by Tom Libby in the 200-yard Sporter Match. (Target photo below, courtesy James Mock.) Exceptionally good conditions produced phenomenal scores, with dozens of Teen Aggs in some events. Jack Neary won the Two-Gun Grand with an impressive 0.1788 Agg. Tony Boyer, runner-up to Neary in the Two-Gun, took the Three-Gun Grand with an 0.1995 and Boyer won the Four-Gun Grand as well with an 0.2038. Other top shooters, by class, are listed below.
| Sporter Grand |
LV Grand |
HV Grand |
UnLTD Grand |
Jack Neary, 0.1846
Gary Ocock, 0.1846
Mike Ratigan, 0.1872 |
Tony Boyer, 0.1661
Jack Neary, 0.1731
Tim Courtney, 0.1805 |
Bob Scarborough, 0.2160
Mike Ratigan, 0.2166
Lowell Hottenstein, 0.2244 |
Tony Boyer, 2.165
Jeff Summers, 2.300
Mike Conry, 2.363 |
Click Here for Complete Match Results and Standings
 Hottenstein Bullets were HOT
A quick glance at the official equipment list shows some remarkable trends. First, Lowell Hottenstein’s bullets were indeed the “Hot” ticket. The majority of Top 10 finishers in every bag gun class used Lowell’s bullets. In fact, in both LV and HV classes, 8 of the top 10 shooters used Hottensteins. That’s 80% Top 10 usage in the most competitive classes — a remarkable showing for one bullet-maker.
As for powder, Vihtavuori N133 was still favored by the vast majority of shooters… but watch out for Hodgdon’s new 8208 XBR powder. (More on that in a separate report).
Cut-Rifled Barrels and BAT Actions
Bartlein and Krieger cut-rifled barrels completely dominated the match. In Sporter, Light Varmint, AND Heavy Varmint Classes ALL of the Top 20 shooters used either a Bartlein or a Krieger. You read that right, in ALL the bag gun classes, nobody cracked the Top 20 without either a Bartlein or Krieger. Is the button-rifled barrel “obsolete” in short-range benchrest?
BAT, BAT, and more BAT. A BAT Machine action was in EVERY Light Varmint rifle in the Top 20. 100%. Among Heavy Varmint rigs, 16 out of the Top 20 used BATs (there were two Pandas, a Stolle Teddy and One Farley). Again, that’s remarkable dominance by a single action-maker. There was more diversity among Top 20 Sporters, but BAT still had 10/20 or 50%.
Light Varmint Top 20 Equipment List
Heavy Varmint Top 20 Equipment List
Sporter Top 20 Equipment List
September 25th, 2009
 The 2009 NBRSA 100/200 yard Benchrest (for Group) Nationals are underway this week in Missouri at the Benchrest Club of St. Louis. Conditions have been extraordinarily calm, with very little wind. As a result, a host of potential records have been set. At the completion of Unlimited (UNL), Sporter (SPTR), and Light Varmint (LV) classes, there have been thirteen (13) possible new World records shot, and more may come in the final Heavy Varmint (HV) relays. Potential records set so far include:
UNL 10-100: Tony Boyer and Eric Stanton
LV 5-100: Jack Neary and Tony Boyer
LV 5-200: Gene Bukys
LV Grand: Jack Neary and Tony Boyer
SPTR 5-200: Tom Libby
SPTR Grand: Jack Neary, Gary Ocock, Mike Ratigan, Mark Buettgen, and Rodney Brown.
Thus far, Jack Neary has won the Sporter Grand Aggregate, and he won the LV 100 with a spectacular 0.15+ Agg. We’ve been told that Gene Bukys won the SPTR 200 with yet another 0.15+ Agg. That’s amazing shooting by Jack and Gene. Tom Libby also shot a .093 in Sporter at 200 yards to set a potential record.
To give you an idea of how many shooters have turned in truly superior performances, there were 20 teen aggs in the LV 100 alone. Below are the Top Ten LV 100 Aggs. As one observer commented on Benchrest Central, “I can’t imagine how it must feel to shoot a .1690″ Agg and finish 7th…or worse yet, a .1498″ and NOT win!”
1. Jack Neary .1482 (Possible New World Record)
2. Tony Boyer .1498
3. Mike Conry .1574
4. John Horn .1626
5. Larry Costas .1648
6. Tim Courtney .1660
7. Larry Scharhorst. 1690
8. Lester Bruno .1708
9. Eddie Harris .1794
10. Bob Scarborough Jr. .1800
On Day 1 of the Unlimited Match, Tony Boyer shot brilliantly at 100 yards, nailing a 0.1894 Agg which lowers the existing record by 0.0271, a large margin in short range benchrest. The previous UNL 8-10-100 NBRSA World Record Agg was 0.2165 set by Lester Bruno in 2001. In the same St. Louis UNL 100 match, Eric Stanton also broke the existing record with an 0.2161.
We will update this report as more official results are received. If you have photos of the NBRSA 100/200 Nationals in St. Louis, please email them to mailbox@6mmBR.com. Please include caption information (Date, Event, Shooter, Equipment etc.).
May 6th, 2009
 Roger Amos (aka Expiper) is a long-time friend of this website and member of our Shooters’ Forum. We were pleased to see that, while competing at the NBRSA 600-yard Nationals, Roger set a new NBRSA Light Gun 3-target score record of 145-4X. Roger set the record with his 13.4-lb Panda-actioned, 8-twist 6BR, the same gun he shoots in 100/200 yard benchrest matches. Roger has demonstrated that a single gun can be competitive at multiple distances. This concept of a “universal benchrest rifle” is something we’ve advocated for quite some time, as we would like to see more 600-yard shooters compete at 100/200 and vice-versa. Also, with the tough economic times, it makes good sense to have one rifle that can do double-duty. Roger explains that his record-setting rifle “is typical of what I [now shoot] because of the high cost of building a target gun that is only legal/shootable at one distance or discipline. I am disabled and can’t carry a heavy gun because of my back. Out of necessity came up with this ‘universal rifle’ solution.”
Roger’s record-setting 6BR features a 28.5″ Krieger barrel (UHV profile), with a .237″ bore, .271″ no-turn neck, and .040″ freebore. That freebore length is much shorter than on most 600-yard guns, which typically have .090″-.120″ freebore. With an .040″ freebore, Roger can shoot both the 100+ grain bullets as well as the 62-68 grainers. At 600 yards, Roger runs Berger 105gr VLDs, .015″ into the lands, pushed by Reloder 15 and Fed 205M primers.
Fast-Twist Barrels at Short Ranges
Roger tells us that: “I have been shooting 8-twist barrels for several years now at 100-200-300 and they will shoot just as well as a traditional 14-twist (point blank) barrel … IF you use GOOD bullets. I have found that Barts and Fowler 62-68s will stand the extreme rotation associated with 3600+ fps and 1:8″ twist. Some bullets can’t take it. You just gotta try whatever you have and see for yourself. I have found the most accuracy at 100-200 with the 66-80 grain Fowler bullets or the 80gr Bergers. At 300 yards the 80gr Berger or 90gr Berger BT are excellent! At 600-1000 yards, the Berger 95gr VLDs can outperform the 105s because of their extra speed (although the 95s have a lower BC, their greater velocity can offset the BC advantage of the heavier bullet.)
Most of my stocks are around 22 ounces and give a finished weight of approximately 12 pounds. My Kelbly Klub stock on this gun is 48 ounces, for an all-up weight of 13.4 pounds. To help with balance, this particular stock has extra matrix in the fiber and is heavier than normal for point-blank guns. This gun can make weight as a Heavy Varmint but not as a Sporter — even if I used a 5-lb barrel.”
Pre-loading vs. Loading at the Match
Roger often loads at the range, but this wasn’t feasible at the NBRSA 600-yard Nationals. Roger explains: “When shooting ‘point blank’ (100/200) events, I usually load at the match like the majority of shooters. However this 600-yard event in Sacramento required airplane travel. These days, when flying, you are very limited as to cargo weight. Also you can NOT carry gun powder or primers. In your checked luggage, you are limited to 5 kilos (11 lbs.) of LOADED ammo and two long guns (or 5 pistols). Accordingly, I couldn’t take my dies/press/etc. with me, so I preloaded for the 600-yard Nationals.”
April 13th, 2009
The 2009 NBRSA 600-Yard Nationals (Sloughhouse 600) will be held April 24, 25, and 26, at the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center. This 3-day match is hosted by the Folsom Shooting Club, at the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center in Sloughhouse, CA, a few minutes East of Sacramento. This event grows more popular every year as more and more top shooters are drawn to the relatively new 600-yard benchrest discipline.
Last year, Jerry Tierney (shown in VIDEO below) dominated the field, shooting a 6mmBR Improved in an Elesio R5 Tubegun. CLICK HERE to read an in-depth report on last year’s 600-yard Nationals, with lots of photos.
Match information plus range maps are available at www.sacvalley.org in the “Upcoming Events” section, or click the links below:
NBRSA 600 Nationals Match INFO
Download NBRSA 600 Nationals REGISTRATION FORM (.pdf file)
Match fees are currently $75.00 per class (light gun and heavy gun). If you have further questions, or need forms mailed to you, contact match Director Ed Eckhoff: (530) 661-6018; e-mail: eckran@yahoo.com.
RECOMMENDED: Read Feature Story on 2008 NBRSA Nationals
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