Holy Long Ranger, Batman!!

[PegLeg45]

Man oh man, did I get to drive one heck of a sweet rifle today!!

My good friend let me try out his competition rifle (that he used to place 2nd at the state shoot at Ft. Benning this year) while testing some reloads at the range today.
He has a Stiller action and I'm not sure about the barrel but I think it's Broughton. I do know the rifle was built by Camp Perry winner John Whidden from Nashville, Ga. (link below).

This rifle shot better at 600 yards than my hunting .308 shoots at 200. Having never fired this rifle before, I was pleased to have shot a near one minute group of five shots at 600.........did I mention this is one sweet rifle?
    

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2010/08/whidden-wins-john-whidden-re-captures-nra-long-range-title/

http://nrablog.com/post/2010/08/17/John-Widden-recaptures-Long-Range-Title.aspx

http://www.viperactions.com/

http://www.whiddengunworks.net/index.html

http://www.rifle-barrels.net/

[alfsauve]

Very Jealous!

What caliber was the rifle?

Congratulations, again.

 Had to look Nashville up.   Above Moody AFB.

[twyacht]

What alf said.....caliber?

Tweaked to the max, reach out rifle.... Sweet..

[PegLeg45]

It was a regular old .308 Winchester......Of course, the ammo is custom hand-loaded and tuned for the rifle.
He was using 168gr Sierra Matchkings in Lapua brass. He used to use Varget powder, but switched and I can't recall what was in the loads today.

Not only did I fall in love with the rifle, but the Night Force scope is the cat's meow also.

[alfsauve]

It was a regular old .308 Winchester......Of course, the ammo is custom hand-loaded and tuned for the rifle.
He was using 168gr Sierra Matchkings in Lapua brass. He used to use Varget powder, but switched and I can't recall what was in the loads today.

All very sweet.

It confirms my thoughts that the .308 based cartridges are quite capable of long range shooting.   The magnum cartridges not being necessary, unless you're going for armor piercing.   I've still got designs on getting a 260Rem with a suppressor capable of moa at 500+ yds.

[Sponsor]

[PegLeg45]

Yes, the .308 is a very capable round. They are shooting in F-Tactical class and are restricted to either .223 or .308 caliber rifles with a bi-pod and a rear sandbag.
The guys on the long range team were shooting at 1000 yards before the area neighbors banded together and 'politely' asked that they stop the 1000 yard shooting because they heard about the deadly rifles that could, and I quote the attorney, "kill at 10,000 yards". It wasn't worth the legal expense to fight it and everyone mostly shot at 600 anyway. One of the guys did OK last week at Ft. Benning at a 1000 yard match with his Surgeon .308.


(Heck, the 168gr .308 only drops about 20-25 or so feet at 1000 yards....piece of cake)   

[twyacht]

(Heck, the 168gr .308 only drops about 20-25 or so feet at 1000 yards....piece of cake)    Grin
 
Than add a full value wind gusting,.........but calm at the target.....

 

[Badgersmilk]

Congratulations on a real fun day at the range!  Lucky dog!

The bigger the caliber the louder the shot, the longer it is to recover for follow up, the bigger the muzzle flash (flash supressors often hurt more than help by kicking up dust, disturbing brush hiding the shooter and hurting accuracy). .308 recoil can be easily managed by about any shooter.  Ammo is cheap, common, and reload supplies are everywhere.  Plus it uses a short action.  A shooter is giving up a lot moving up to something like .338 Lapua IMO.  Especially on this continent.  Game just isn't THAT big.  Deer and black bear haven't figured out how to wear bullet proof vests yet.  

Imagin carrying a few hundred rounds, & loaded magazines of...

[alfsauve]

......., the bigger the muzzle flash (flash supressors often hurt more than help by kicking up dust, disturbing brush hiding the shooter and hurting accuracy).....

Of course, when I used the word suppressor, I meant a full-on "sound suppressors" (shhh....an evil silencer). 

[PegLeg45]

One of the shooters had a Ruger 10/22 with an evil suppressor. Using CCI subsonic rounds all you could hear was the bolt shutting after the shot. He also had some rounds by CCI that were so slow moving that after the shot you could hear the bullet hit the dirt and bounce like a thrown rock. Everyone got a kick out of that.