Our friend Dennis Santiago is a talented Service Rifle shooter, who regularly competes with an AR shooting the .223 Rem cartridge. A few seasons back, he decided to go over to the “dark side”, putting together a Palma (fullbore) rifle chambered for the .308 Winchester. Dennis selected a Competition Machine (Gary Eliseo) R1 Chassis for the project. Here’s Santiago’s account of his “true blue” Palma build.

Palma Rifle Report by Dennis Santiago
“This project was a .308 Win Palma rifle with an Eliseo R1 chassis, Rem 700 action (blue-printed with PT&G upgrades), Jewell trigger, Boots Obermeyer 1:11″-twist barrel, and Phoenix sights holding Gehmann apertures. Next comes chassis and sling set-up, initial mechanical zeroing, and load development. Yup, I have a bunch of Peterson small primer .308 brass, Sierra #2156 155gr MKs, and Varget to get started with. I’m told I can drive 155gr pills to stay supersonic to 1K. Should make for an interesting 2020. My goal was to be cozy with this blue beast by the time the Berger Southwest Nationals kicked off in February 2020.”

CLICK Image for full-screen photo with more detail.

Pinning the Picatinny — For a Super-Solid Mount

One of the key parts of the build, Dennis explains, is mounting the top rail with pins: “Once the rail is aligned using a spin-centered optic, it locks down with three 3/16″ roll pins. That way there is no reliance on screws that can come loose. Above is a photo of the top of the Eliseo tube chassis showing the three, 3/16″ roll pins that unitize the Picatinny rail. You can also see the four brass screws that just kiss the action to fully stabilize it in the tube. The recoil ring buttresses completely around the action with metal to metal contact. There are a million details hidden inside a Gary gun.”

Phoenix Sights Front and Rear

Rise of the Phoenix — Here are the sights for the Eliseo R1. There are very few manufacturers left making these kinds of ultra-precise and repeatable iron sights.

These Ray-Vin tools help set mechanical zero on the sights. Dennis notes: “Finally a reason to pull out the Ray-Vin calibration paraphernalia to set up a mechanical zero. This photo is for all of you who still remember that those barrel flats and screws in our sight towers actually had a purpose once upon a time.”

Sling ‘N Irons — Classic Palma Configuration

Dennis plans to use an Eric Hollis sling with his new blue Palma rifle.

Peterson Small Primer .308 Win Brass for Santiago’s Rig

Dennis has used Peterson Cartridge Small Rifle primer .308 Win brass. Peterson offers a “Select” version weight-sorted and length-sorted at the factory. All Select casings (in a 50ct box) are guaranteed to be within 1 grain in weight and .001″ in OAL. Peterson Select brass is available for 20 different cartridge types, including .308 Win both small primer/small flash hole and large primer/large flash hole.

Now Adapted with a Scope
Currently (in 2025) Dennis has this rifle fitted with a high-magnification Nightforce zoom scope, and he competes with his blue prone rifle in the “Any-Any” division. He usually runs the scope at about 22X power. For an older guy with aging eyes, being able to run high-magnification optics is a big plus.

With the optics Dennis has found the rifle to be exceptionally accurate. Shooting 168gr bullets it has produced 5-round groups around 1/3-MOA during testing. And it can easily hold the X-Ring at 300 yards.

Getting the Blue Rifle Ready for the Berger SW Nationals

Dennis has campaigned his rifle at recent Berger Southwest Nationals (SWN) events. At the SWN a Palma shooter can shoot iron sights, or also fit a scope and shoot in the “Any Sights” category. The week-long Berger SWN is the biggest rifle match in the Western United States. Hundreds of shooters compete in both individual and team events. The SWN begins with the Mid-Range Nationals at 600 yards. Then the Long-Range matches are held, with targets out to 1000 yards. Watch the video to see the Ben Avery facility, home of the Berger SWN:

Chassis-maker Gary Elesio at the 2017 Berger SW Nationals. Gary shoots what he sells:

New Mexico Gunsmith Doan Trever is a true wizard with wood. At Doan Trevor Custom Rifle Building, he crafts stunning figured wood stocks, and also builds complete wood-stocked and fiberglass-stocked rifles that shoot as good as they look. Doan is a true master, with a mind for function and an eye for beauty. The ability to hand-craft wood is becoming a lost art. For this Sunday, we celebrate four projects crafted by Doan: two complete rifle, a special F-Class stock built for multiple actions, and an F-TR stock for a Sako action. Visit DoanTrevor.com to view find dozens of other stunning stocks and complete rifles.

Mausingfield America Rifle with English Walnut Stock

Doan told us: “This is a highly figured piece of English Walnut with burls and flowers. Along the bottom of the stock there’s a burl/flower that looks like an owl and one side looks like the Sandia Mountains. This rifle is in 30 PCR. Doan adds: “The owner is enjoying this rifle immensely.”

VIEW more photos HERE

Walther KK500 (Twin Trigger), English Walnut Laminate Stock with Fiddleback Accents

About this unique rig Doan notes: “This left-handed rifle has two triggers. It has an electronic trigger AND a mechanical trigger. With the wood stock option, the charging cable needs to be modified modify in order to clear the trigger extension to be able to charge. Also, keeping with aesthetics, I made it able to remove the trigger guard in order to charge more easily. Removing the trigger guard does not change the bedding.”

VIEW more photos HERE

American Walnut F-Class Stock with Figured English/Claro Walnut Fore-End Inlay

Doan explains: “The owner has three actions with the same barrel block mounting system. He wanted to be able to use one stock. I built a bedding system that would accomplish this task. The two pieces of Claro Walnut on the fore-end are mirror copies.”

VIEW more photos HERE

F-TR Stock for Sako 85 with Johnny Byer Stock Blank

Here’s a handsome F-TR rig. Doan reports: “The pistol grip cap is a piece of Screw Bean Mesquite Wood from my old front yard in Albuquerque. (I live in Rio Rancho, NM now.) Take a look at the bottom photo with the blue background, the rifle doesn’t have any stippling yet. Sometimes, you have stippling as the last step. There’s no room for error when this order of events is necessary.”

VIEW more photos HERE

About Doan Trevor

Doan Trevor is a master gunsmith and stock-maker who works in the old style. He still hand-crafts stocks from start to finish, and does all the metal-work on the custom rifles he builds. Starting with highly-figured woods, Doan carves and shapes his stocks largely by hand, with meticulous attention to detail. Each rifle he builds is optimized for its intended discipline, and custom-fitted for the customer.

With photography by Doan’s talented wife Sue, Doan has created a website, DoanTrevor.com, that is a feast for the eyes. You can see beautiful wood-stocked rifles being hand-crafted. Doan also illustrates how he creates custom metal parts, and how he beds barreled actions into the finished stocks.

Definitely visit Doan’s website. Be sure to click on the site’s secondary pages: Rifle Building, Woodworking, and Metalworking. There you’ll find info on wood-working plus hundreds of high-quality photos.

Contact Doan Trevor

Doan Trevor Custom Rifle Building
Website: DoanTrevor.com
Email: doantrevor@gmail.com
Phone: 714-457-5566

Products and Services: Custom rifle building for High Power, F-Class, Long Range, and Smallbore shooters. Fancy Wood and Fiberglass Rifle Stocks, Custom Grips for Rifles, and Offset Sights.

Here is an interesting project by one of our Forum members. Martin C. (aka “Killick”) modified an Anschutz 1411 Match 54 rimfire prone stock to become a comfortable, great-tracking F-Class Open Division Stock. No Killick didn’t sacrifice a perfectly good rimfire rifle for this project — he bought the Anschutz stock by itself on eBay, then transformed it…

Killick explains: “This project started about seven years ago. I bought the Anschutz prone stock on eBay and whittled it a bit into a Palma rifle with a Barnard action and block and a Doan Trevor cheek piece and scope rail. Then about two years ago I decided to re-task the stock/action assembly into an F-Open rig. With more whittling, gluing, sanding, body fillering, sanding, filling, sanding, more sanding…and sanding, forming, priming, sanding, painting, waiting, painting, painting…painting and before you know it, Bob’s your uncle.”

Here is the eBay-sourced Anschutz 1411 stock, with new high-gloss blue finish, as initially modified for use in Killick’s centerfire Palma rifle. Looks nice!

Next step was the addition of a 3″-wide wood fore-end for F-Open duties with front rest:

Almost done here… just needs priming and final painting:

Here is Killick’s completed F-Open rifle with its much-modified Anschutz stock now finished in fire-engine red lacquer. This image shows the detail of the grip and customized cheekpiece.

To learn more, visit Killick’s Anschutz Stock F-Class Project Thread on our Shooters’ Forum.

At Camp Perry this summer, there will be a new 600-yard match as part of the CMP’s National Long Range series, slated for July 31 through August 5, 2023, at Camp Perry, Ohio. For the first time, there will be a Mid-Range 3×600 Match, with 20 shots slow prone at 600 yards. This 3×600 competition is the first of the CMP’s Mid-Range offerings, with more planned in the near future.

Open to competitors of any experience level, the CMP’s National Long Range Series features ten individual and team events in Service, Match, and Palma rifle classes on Camp Perry’s 1,000-yard Viale Range. The matches are open to Match Rifle, Service Rifle, Palma, F-Open, F-TR or AR Tactical categories. The National Long Range series is part of the CMP’s annual National Matches, held at Camp Perry, Ohio.

Other Camp Perry National Match Events Include:
Viale Memorial, Critchfield, Henry Memorial, Kerr Memorial, McMaken & Speaks Memorial, Baesel Memorial individual matches – 20 slow prone shots at 1,000 yards.
Bataan Memorial 4-Man Team Match – 20 shots slow prone by each member at 1,000 yards.
Winder Memorial Iron 4 Man Team Match – 20 record shots per team member at 1,000 yards.
Camp Perry Palma Match – 15 record shots at 800, 900, and 1,000 yards.

CLICK HERE for CMP High Power Rifle Competition Rules (2023)

CLICK HERE to REGISTER for CMP Nat’l Mid-Range & Long-Range Rifle Matches

About the Camp Perry National Matches
Held at the Camp Perry National Guard Training Facility in Ohio since 1907, the National Trophy Pistol and Rifle Matches offer a wide variety of smallbore rifle, high power rifle, and pistol competitions. The Small Arms Firing Schools lead new and experienced individuals on safety and fundamentals within Pistol, Rifle, and Smallbore Rifle disciplines. The National Matches are conducted by a partnership between the CMP and Ohio National Guard. Learn more by visiting the CMP National Match website.

Here is an interesting project by one of our Forum members. Martin C. (aka “Killick”) modified an Anschutz 1411 Match 54 rimfire prone stock to become a comfortable, great-tracking F-Class Open Division Stock. No Killick didn’t sacrifice a perfectly good rimfire rifle for this project — he bought the Anschutz stock by itself on eBay, then transformed it…

Killick explains: “This project started about seven years ago. I bought the Anschutz prone stock on eBay and whittled it a bit into a Palma rifle with a Barnard action and block and a Doan Trevor cheek piece and scope rail. Then about two years ago I decided to re-task the stock/action assembly into an F-Open rig. With more whittling, gluing, sanding, body fillering, sanding, filling, sanding, more sanding…and sanding, forming, priming, sanding, painting, waiting, painting, painting…painting and before you know it, Bob’s your uncle.”

Here is the eBay-sourced Anschutz 1411 stock, with new high-gloss blue finish, as initially modified for use in Killick’s centerfire Palma rifle. Looks nice!

Next step was the addition of a 3″-wide wood fore-end for F-Open duties with front rest:

Almost done here… just needs priming and final painting:

Here is Killick’s completed F-Open rifle with its much-modified Anschutz stock now finished in fire-engine red lacquer. This image shows the detail of the grip and customized cheekpiece.

To learn more, visit Killick’s Anschutz Stock F-Class Project Thread on our Shooters’ Forum.

The 2022 Southwest Nationals are history. This was a very successful mid-range and long-range event, with 330+ participants and some great shooting in F-Open, F-TR, and Sling divisions. We congratulate the 2022 SWN Champions: Tod Hendricks (F-Open, 1243-73X); Keith Trapp (F-TR, 1233-62X); and Kimberly Rowe (1231-63X). Shown below are Sling Winner Kimberly Rowe, and F-TR Champ Keith Trapp.

Here are the TOP TEN for each of the three divisions. CLICK HERE for ALL results:

Click the links below for full results, including Grand Aggs and day-by-day performances. You can also find further results plus a large collection of photos at SouthwestNationals.net.

ALL F-Open Results | ALL F-TR Results | ALL Sling Div. Results

The Berger SW Nationals is one of the few American events where sling shooters compete on the same firing line as F-Class competitors (though in separate groups).

Reading the wind can be challenging at Ben Avery. What’s your wind call here?

Top competitors show focus and concentration in mid-range match.

Stunning F-Open rifle with SEB Mini front rest with Blake Machine accessories.

Looking downrange during Team Match.

Here is the 1000-yard firing line on the final day of competition.

Competitor’s Thoughts about the 2022 SW Nationals
Our friend John Masek (“F Class John” in our Forum) shot great to finish 4th overall in the F-Open division. Here is his “take-away” from this year’s SWN:

The 2022 SWN saw what I can only describe as the largest collection of tight-shooting guns I’ve even seen. As we approached the 800-yard line for the first day of the Long Range program, it was absolutely dead calm and everyone knew some high scores were going to get posted. By the end of the 800-yard match, the vast majority of the 134 F-Open shooters shot a clean 150 with a staggering eight of them shooting a perfect 150-15X (even 11-year-old Ethan Blake). By the end of the day, after shooting 15 rounds each at 800, 900, and 1000 yards, the entire first page of F-Open shooters was separated by only 7 points — a crazy tight margin.

On the following day we started with a very difficult 10-15 mph headwind that derailed many shooters. After the dust settled, there were 22 points separating the first page of shooters but still just 9 points spread among the top 20. The final day was fairly mild and it was anyone’s game, but there was just enough wind to keep shooters on their toes, giving many a chance at redemption from the previous day.

At the end of the day, Tod Hendricks, Tim Vaught, and Ken Dickerman kept their heads in the game and held onto their leads to finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively in F-Open. Tod shot an amazing 200-15X in his final round, proving that he was indeed deserving of the F-Open gold medal after three days of fierce competition.

As always, this match, along with the F-Class Nationals and V2 Finale, bring out the finest shooters in the country (and others from around the world). I highly encourage anyone who is able to attend these matches to do so. It’s an experience like no other. No matter your score, you’ll leave with more experience and certainly more friends than you arrived with.

There was construction behind the Ben Avery Range. Note the many tall cranes.

Competitors being transported for their sessions pulling targets in the pits.

Working in the pits is part of the Berger SWN experience.

Over 300 Competitors from Many Countries
On opening day of the 2022 SW Nationals Nancy Tompkins posted: “We started the day off with National anthems for Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico, Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the USA. We have 282 shooters today and 333 for the Long Range portion of the match. It is fantastic seeing so many targets up and so many competitors after the last two years.”

Photo by Nancy Tompkins near Ben Avery Shooting Facility the evening before the Southwest Nationals. Nancy posted: “Thank you to all of the sponsors, volunteers, and shooters who have traveled from all over… to make this match so special.

Parting Shot: Norm Harrold Target, 200-17X

Paul Phillips posted: “Today I pulled a target for Norm Harrold. This was his 1000-yard target that scored 200-17X. This was the best F-Class score I ever pulled for. It sure is nice when they’re all in the X-Ring. Nice shooting Norm! This is a 5-inch X-Ring.” NOTE: This was from the first 20-shot competition on Day 2 at 1000 yards. We believe Norm had the second highest score for this particular 20-shot match, behind Steven Zock who shot an amazing 200-19X.

See you next year!

The Berger SW Nationals competition is back! After being cancelled in 2021 due to Covid concerns, one of America’s best shooting matches returns in 2022. The match kicks off tomorrow, February 9, 2022, and continues through Sunday February 13, 2022 at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix, Arizona.

This is a unique match that combines F-Class competition with High Power (Palma) prone sling shooting. The nation’s top F-Open and F-TR shooters will be in Phoenix, along with top “hard-holders” with their bolt-action long-range target rifles.

If you’re curious about the equipment favored by Berger SWN competitors, here are the equipment lists from the last SWN match in 2020. This list was compiled by the match directors from info supplied by 2020 F-Class and High Power competitors. This covers hardware (actions, barrels, stocks), optics (riflescopes, spotting scopes), and cartridges (brass, bullets, powders). As you’d expect, .284 Win (and variants) dominated the F-Open ranks. Though some guys did try the .223 Rem for F-TR, the .308 Win was still used by the vast majority of F-TR shooters.

Matt Schwartzkopf, USA F-TR Team member (and Ben Avery Range Supervisor), collected comprehensive gear reports during the 2020 Berger SW Nationals. Matt then created charts showing competitors’ choices for Actions, Barrels, Stocks, Riflescopes and Spotting Scopes. In addition, Matt compiled bullet choice and powder preferences for all classes along with cartridge rankings for F-Open Division.

ACTIONS Listed by Division (Sling, F-TR, F-Open)

ACTIONS by Brand (Combined Listing — All Divisions)

BARRELS by Brand (Combined Listing — All Divisions)

BULLETS by Brand (Combined Listing — All Divisions)

CARTRIDGE BRASS by Brand (Combined Listing — All Divisions)

POWDER by Brand (Combined Listing — All Divisions)

STOCKS by Brand (Combined Listing — All Divisions)

RIFLESCOPES by Brand (Combined Listing — All Divisions)

SPOTTING SCOPES Listed by Class (Sling, F-TR, F-Open)

The best F-Class and Sling shooters in the nation compete each year at the Berger Southwest Nationals at the Ben Avery range in Arizona. Walk down the firing line and you’ll see the absolute “best of the best” in equipment — from $3500 optics to $2000 stocks and $400 triggers. Berger SWN shooters have some of the best equipment you can buy. In this game, where just 1 or 2 points can separate first from third place (considering X-Count), it’s important to have top-flight equipment. That means a custom action, custom barrel, and high-end stock or chassis system.

Cartridge Selection in F-Open Division

In addition, Matt produced an interesting listing of cartridge/caliber types for the F-Open division. This is helpful because cartridge choice is unrestricted in the F-Open class. By contrast, the F-TR division is limited to .223 Remington (5.56×45) or .308 Winchester (7.62×51). You can see that the .284 Winchester (and variants) currently dominate F-Open.

Shooters’ Forum Thread about SWN Gear Selection

There was a discussion of the 2020 SWN Gear Selection in our Shooters’ Forum. CLICK HERE to view that Forum thread. Many top SWN shooters, including past F-Open National Champion Larry Bartholome, contributed to this Forum discussion about gear options.

Milanovic Wins LR National Championship
We have a new Long-Range National Champion. Competing at Camp Atterbury in Indiana, Oliver Milanovic took the 2021 NRA National Long Range Championship with a score of 1245-73X. Oliver was shooting an Eliseo Chassis + Borden Action Palma Rifle with 155gr bullets. Finishing second, tied on points but with four fewer Xs, was 2019 National Long Range Champion SSG Amanda Elsenbuss, with 1245-69X. In third place was Jeffrey Miles, just one point back, with 1244-73X.

As you can see, with the top three shooters all separated by just one point, it was a very close competition. But Milanovic, a popular marksman from Arizona, put on an impressive performance to take the win and the Thompkins Trophy. No stranger to the podium, Oliver has been on the winning Sling Division Team at the Berger SW Nationals in the past.

For all the relays, Milanovic shot his trusty .308 Winchester Competition Machine (Eliseo) chassis rifle with a Borden action, loading Palma-spec 155-gr bullets. In the Long Range Championship, other chamberings are allowed for some stages, but we’re told Oliver ran his 155gr Palma load throughout. Milanovic also won the Palma Individual Trophy Match with an impressive 450-30X score, not dropping a single point.

CLICK HERE for Full Long Range Nat’l Championship Results »

A full report on the 2021 NRA High Power Long Range Championship will appear in a future digital edition of Shooting Sports USA.

New Mexico Gunsmith Doan Trever is a true wizard with wood. At Doan Trevor Custom Rifle Building, he crafts stunning figured wood stocks, and also builds complete wood-stocked and fiberglass-stocked rifles that shoot as good as they look. Doan is a true master, with a mind for function and an eye for beauty. The ability to hand-craft wood is becoming a lost art. For this Sunday, we celebrate four projects crafted by Doan: two complete rifle, a special F-Class stock built for multiple actions, and an F-TR stock for a Sako action. Visit DoanTrevor.com to view find dozens of other stunning stocks and complete rifles.

Mausingfield America Rifle with English Walnut Stock

Doan told us: “This is a highly figured piece of English Walnut with burls and flowers. Along the bottom of the stock there’s a burl/flower that looks like an owl and one side looks like the Sandia Mountains. This rifle is in 30 PCR. Doan adds: “The owner is enjoying this rifle immensely.”

VIEW more photos HERE

Walther KK500 (Twin Trigger), English Walnut Laminate Stock with Fiddleback Accents

About this unique rig Doan notes: “This left-handed rifle has two triggers. It has an electronic trigger AND a mechanical trigger. With the wood stock option, the charging cable needs to be modified modify in order to clear the trigger extension to be able to charge. Also, keeping with aesthetics, I made it able to remove the trigger guard in order to charge more easily. Removing the trigger guard does not change the bedding.”

VIEW more photos HERE

American Walnut F-Class Stock with Figured English/Claro Walnut Fore-End Inlay

Doan explains: “The owner has three actions with the same barrel block mounting system. He wanted to be able to use one stock. I built a bedding system that would accomplish this task. The two pieces of Claro Walnut on the fore-end are mirror copies.”

VIEW more photos HERE

F-TR Stock for Sako 85 with Johnny Byer Stock Blank

Here’s a handsome F-TR rig. Doan reports: “The pistol grip cap is a piece of Screw Bean Mesquite Wood from my old front yard in Albuquerque. (I live in Rio Rancho, NM now.) Take a look at the bottom photo with the blue background, the rifle doesn’t have any stippling yet. Sometimes, you have stippling as the last step. There’s no room for error when this order of events is necessary.”

VIEW more photos HERE

About Doan Trevor

Doan Trevor is a master gunsmith and stock-maker who works in the old style. He still hand-crafts stocks from start to finish, and does all the metal-work on the custom rifles he builds. Starting with highly-figured woods, Doan carves and shapes his stocks largely by hand, with meticulous attention to detail. Each rifle he builds is optimized for its intended discipline, and custom-fitted for the customer.

With photography by Doan’s talented wife Sue, Doan has created a website, DoanTrevor.com, that is a feast for the eyes. You can see beautiful wood-stocked rifles being hand-crafted. Doan also illustrates how he creates custom metal parts, and how he beds barreled actions into the finished stocks.

Definitely visit Doan’s website. Be sure to click on the site’s secondary pages: Rifle Building, Woodworking, and Metalworking. There you’ll find info on wood-working plus hundreds of high-quality photos.

Contact Doan Trevor

Doan Trevor Custom Rifle Building
Website: DoanTrevor.com
Email: doantrevor@gmail.com
Phone: 714-457-5566

Products and Services: Custom rifle building for High Power, F-Class, Long Range, and Smallbore shooters. Fancy Wood and Fiberglass Rifle Stocks, Custom Grips for Rifles, and Offset Sights.

John Whidden’s Championship-Winning Rifle
For this Sunday GunDay we feature John Whidden’s very special Palma rifle, the rig that carried him to his 5th NRA Long Range National Championship in 2017. John captured his fifth Long Range crown with a superb performance in the Palma match. The caliber is .308 Win, as dictated by the Palma rules.

This unique .308 Win prone rifle from Whidden Gunworks features a Barnard “P” action in a converted aluminum Anschutz “Precise” smallbore (rimfire) stock. The combo of Barnard action and Anschutz ergonomics is hard to beat, says John, who told us: “this is easily the best Palma rifle I’ve ever had.” John told us this gun handles like no other: “After recoil, with this Anschutz stock, the sights fall right back on target — better than any other prone rifle I’ve shot”.

As a bonus, the Barnard “drop-in” required no major modification of the Anschutz Precise stock. This means John can actually swap in his rimfire barreled action and shoot smallbore with the same stock.

Whidden’s Perfect Palma Match
Whidden secured the 2017 LR Title by shooting “clean” (not dropping a point) in the tough Palma competition. In the NRA Palma match, rifles must be .223 Rem or .308 Winchester, with metallic sights (no scopes). The match is conducted at three yardages, 15 shots at each distance of 800/900/1000 yards, with unlimited sighters at 800 and two sighters at 900 and 1000.

Sling Rifle Evolved: The Ultra-Accurate Hybrid Palma Rifle

by John Whidden of Whidden Gunworks
The mental component of Long Range competitive shooting is always challenging but having tremendous confidence in the accuracy of your equipment is a huge benefit. There’s nothing to start your Palma match off well like knowing that you are shooting the most accurate Palma rifle you’ve ever owned.

Whidden Palma Rifle
Action: Barnard “P” (three lugs, 60° bolt lift)
Barrel: Bartlein 32″, Light Palma contour, cryo-treated by 300 Below.
Stock: Anschutz Precise aluminum smallbore stock, set up for centerfire barreled action.
Trigger: Barnard Two-Stage adjustable

Whidden’s Wonder-Gun: German Stock, New Zealand Action, American Barrel
John built this Palma rifle in early 2016. With it, John won back-to-back long-range Championships in 2016 (Camp Perry) and 2017 (Camp Atterbury). The major components are: Barnard ‘P’ action, Anschutz Precise smallbore stock, and Bartlein barrel. The caliber is .308 Win, as dictated by the Palma rules. Palma matches are fired from 800, 900, and 1000 yards utilizing iron sights only. No optical sights are allowed.

The Anschutz Precise stock is so well-designed that once I finished adjusting the details, I realized that my hold was about 1/3 smaller than with the stocks I shot previously. While in recoil the gun will track vertically and fall back down right on my own target just as it should. In the past, with my other Palma rifles, it was frankly sometimes a struggle to get them to settle back on target after a shot.

Whidden Gunworks has installed a variety of different actions in the Anschutz Precise stocks. Though the stocks are designed for the .22 LR caliber 2013 action rifles, we’ve successfully installed Barnard, Kelbly, Bat, Nesika, and Remington clone actions into them. The Barnard Model P makes a particularly simple installation because there is no modification necessary to the stock at all. A competitor can then shoot both his centerfire rifle as well as his smallbore gun in the exact same stock. The location of the trigger and bolt handle on the Barnard are positioned just right to make this work. Other actions do require at least some amount of modification to the stock, and we have found the Barnard works the best.

Barnard manufactures several models of actions as part of their lineup. All of the actions in the lineup use three lug bolts which give a shorter 60-degree bolt lift when opening and closing. All of the critical surfaces are machined after heat treating. This means that they are exceptionally true and square, more so than other actions. The Model P action is most familiar to Palma and F-Class shooters and are commonly seen on the firing line. The fact that Model P actions include an excellent two-stage trigger makes also the pricing very attractive.

Based on my previous excellent experiences, I selected Bartlein barrels for this rifle. When shooting internationally in the Palma matches we are restricted to 155 grain .308 bullets, but I made the unusual choice of a 1-10″ twist for these bullets. I’ve shot this fast twist for some years with the 155s with good success and it’s pleasing to know that Bryan Litz is finding benefits in some cartridges to shooting faster twist rates than we previously thought we needed. The load is Vihtavuori N140 Powder with Berger 155gr Hybrid bullets. The chamber is the 2011 Palma and the barrel is a Light Palma contour finished at 32” length. The barrel was cryo-treated by 300 Below. The point of impact isn’t changed at all by barrel heating and the accuracy is incredible regardless of the temperature of the barrel. This can’t be said of all the barrels I’ve owned.

Get Your Own Whidden Wonder-Gun
Like this Anschutz-Barnard hybrid rifle? Whidden Gunworks can build you a rig like this, fitting a centerfire barreled action in the Anschutz Precise stock. John tells us: “The price of a rifle like this one but without sights or mounts would be under $5000.00. We attempt to keep all of the parts except the stock in inventory, so lead time should be under eight (8) weeks.”

Stock Offers Great Adjustability
One thing that is quickly noticed about the Anschutz Precise stock is its adjustability. The engineers did a very good job of allowing many of these adjustments to be made while in the shooting position, most notably the cheekpiece adjustments. When a shooter picks up a Precise stock for the first time they also notice how narrow the fore-end is. This really contributes to reducing the pain in the forward hand in prone when shooting with a sling. This stock is, by far, the most comfortable sling stock I’ve ever handled.

This rifle was very accurate right away and very comfortable to shoot. I’ve built some really good shooting Palma rifles but this is easily the best Palma rifle I’ve ever had. The Barnard action with its superb quality and excellent two-stage trigger has been the best choice I could have made. When you can go to the firing line knowing that you have the very best, the foundation for success has been set.