Hi Guys
Just joined up today after having a bit of a look previously. I live in Busselton WA and shoot at Capel range, only 15 mins away.
Ive only started shooting this year and sadly with prior commitments, ive only done two 300m shoots in F open. I have re barreled my Howa 1500 from 22-250 to a lilja 10 twist 22BRX and im shooting the 69gr nosler custom competition bullets. Its a very accurate rig and im starting to improve my wind reading. Scores from my second time have gone up compared to my first time which is good. Im very impressed with the cheap howa action after blueprinting, it seems to be the same as what i would expect from a remington action, only without all the aftermarket bits and pieces.
Im looking at doing a bit more of a combination stock for F open and spotlighting, as i will be getting a dedicated 22BRX 7 twist barrel to shoot 90gr berger VLD's and swap the other barrel in for varminting as it also shoots nosler ballistic tips very well. Currently it sports a geoff slee thumbhole stock which i find great for varminting but a bit of a pain to handle on the mound. Are there any stock patterns around that will suit the combination of these two sports better so i can use a bipod in the field and then on a rest at the range? Or am i more than likely better off just getting a removable ally plate set up on the front of the rifle?
Cheers
First time poster
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AlanF
- Posts: 7532
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Welcome aboard Brad.
Yours is the first 22 BRX I've heard of in F-Open, but Rod Davies from NSW uses a similar 22BR very successfully. Rod uses flat base bullets, which normally would not be a wise choice for long range shooting - however his wind-reading skills more than make up for the disadvantage.
Regarding your rifle setup, I normally wouldn't recommend having a setup that is a compromise between varminting and LR target. There are several things I can think of which will make it awkward. You can have up to 10Kg all-up weight in F-Open, so you will be giving away some advantage if you have a typical varmint weight setup, although using 22BRX the recoil will not be a problem. Barrels are commonly up to 30" for a target rifle, for extra velocity and to allow several rechamberings. Again with the 22BRX you'll probably get plenty of velocity in say a 26" barrel, but you can shoot up to 2000 rounds per annum in target shooting so rechambering is a cost saver. If you're going for a 7 twist barrel then that will stabilise the longer target projectiles, but what you do about throat length could be problematic. If you have the ideal throat for the 90 grainers then it will be too short for the good FB varmint projectiles. So a compromise will be needed there. Regarding your stock, if you'll be using a bipod, then I would recommend having an Anschutz type channel fitted to the fore-end, and using one of the lighter target type bipods. It will be important that the fore-end is reasonably stiff if you are fitting a heavy barrel. Hopefully there is enough "meat" in it after any channel enlargement required.
There are people on this forum with "been there, done that" stories so hopefully they can refine my advice and add some more.
Hope to see you on the mound one day. There is a glimmer of hope for F-Open returning to the WA Queens soon.
Alan
Yours is the first 22 BRX I've heard of in F-Open, but Rod Davies from NSW uses a similar 22BR very successfully. Rod uses flat base bullets, which normally would not be a wise choice for long range shooting - however his wind-reading skills more than make up for the disadvantage.
Regarding your rifle setup, I normally wouldn't recommend having a setup that is a compromise between varminting and LR target. There are several things I can think of which will make it awkward. You can have up to 10Kg all-up weight in F-Open, so you will be giving away some advantage if you have a typical varmint weight setup, although using 22BRX the recoil will not be a problem. Barrels are commonly up to 30" for a target rifle, for extra velocity and to allow several rechamberings. Again with the 22BRX you'll probably get plenty of velocity in say a 26" barrel, but you can shoot up to 2000 rounds per annum in target shooting so rechambering is a cost saver. If you're going for a 7 twist barrel then that will stabilise the longer target projectiles, but what you do about throat length could be problematic. If you have the ideal throat for the 90 grainers then it will be too short for the good FB varmint projectiles. So a compromise will be needed there. Regarding your stock, if you'll be using a bipod, then I would recommend having an Anschutz type channel fitted to the fore-end, and using one of the lighter target type bipods. It will be important that the fore-end is reasonably stiff if you are fitting a heavy barrel. Hopefully there is enough "meat" in it after any channel enlargement required.
There are people on this forum with "been there, done that" stories so hopefully they can refine my advice and add some more.
Hope to see you on the mound one day. There is a glimmer of hope for F-Open returning to the WA Queens soon.
Alan
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Woody_rod
- Posts: 862
- Joined: Thu May 22, 2008 9:00 pm
- Location: Woodanilling WA
If you want to pursue multi purpose...I have a suggestion on the stock....make sure it has a wide flat forend in order to ride/track in the front rest for your target shooting. U can then get yourself an anschutz style rail and inlet it into the underside of the forend. With that in place, u can use a harris bipod (with the anschutz rail adapter) which will prob be better for varminting purposes.
You could also make a tracking rail for the butt stock by making a spacer that fits between the recoil pad and the stock. This extends below the toe of the stock enough to fix a cylindrical bar that is parallell to your forend. I did this for one of my stocks and it works a treat. I made the bar removable with a M5 coutersunk machine screw. The spacer was made from 10mmx50mm aluminium plate. The bar is 12mm dia. I just D&T'd a hole to suit the M5 screw in the end of the bar, countersunk a hole in the plate and it locks up rock solid.
I'm still learning to shoot with the setup (free recoil) however it works really well with my 6mm dasher which prob has a tad more recoil than your 22BRX. This rifle is accurate enough to be competitive in FO in this setup so go with what is comfortable for you
I'll try to take some pics and post em if u like.
You could also make a tracking rail for the butt stock by making a spacer that fits between the recoil pad and the stock. This extends below the toe of the stock enough to fix a cylindrical bar that is parallell to your forend. I did this for one of my stocks and it works a treat. I made the bar removable with a M5 coutersunk machine screw. The spacer was made from 10mmx50mm aluminium plate. The bar is 12mm dia. I just D&T'd a hole to suit the M5 screw in the end of the bar, countersunk a hole in the plate and it locks up rock solid.
I'm still learning to shoot with the setup (free recoil) however it works really well with my 6mm dasher which prob has a tad more recoil than your 22BRX. This rifle is accurate enough to be competitive in FO in this setup so go with what is comfortable for you
I'll try to take some pics and post em if u like.
"Aim small, miss small"
Simon
Simon
Thanks for the welcome guys.
A bit more of an eleboration on the rifle.
Howa 1500 action
27" lilja 1:10 twist barrel
Geoff Slee thumbhole stock (left handed because im topsy turvy and learnt to shoot right handed guns left handed)
0 MOA Picatinny rail for quick releae scope mounts ( i have one scope for target shooting and another for spotlighting etc)
As is the gun weighs around 8kg not including scope and is right on the threshold of what im prepared to carry when out spotlighting etc.
I do realise that by cropping the barrel back to around 24", I would probably have a pretty competitive BR setup if i had a better tracking stock. But BR comps are run over an hour away and its just too far.
There is plenty of meat in the stock still so i will look into the channel at the fore end. Its walnut as well and is very stiff. I have seen one of those bipods used here so i will try and find some details out about them, otherwise i was going to go the ally plate under the fore end and shoot off a caldwell rock BR rest.
I will be getting another barrel- probably a true flite- in 7 wtist and was thinking around the 28-30 inch mark to shoot for F open, and will screw and unscrew the current barrel on when i go varminting.
The 22BRX was an idea that I got mostly for varminting. I can run 55gr nosler BT's at 3750fps with 34.5gr of 2208. That isnt a hot load either. Great fox medicine. The 69gr HPBT bullets shoot at 3364fps with 32.1gr of 2208. With the 90 gr bullets i will get a reamer made to suit for the new barrel. What I have only just realised, is that my current barrel is a standard BR reamer run in 0.100" deep and my necks are very short in the chamber. Thus im jumping bullets a long way which isnt going to help me accuracy wise.
Im not at the level where im doing competitions and the like yet, as I have alot of other commitments on weekends- I travel around WA doing bream fishing tournaments and also play hockey here in Busselton, so for me going and shooting at capel is designed to teach me about the effects of wind etc. I have just got a bit wrapped up in it and want to have something that will hold up a bit more in the wind without having to go through the tedious exercise of re licensing another caliber under WA laws.
A bit more of an eleboration on the rifle.
Howa 1500 action
27" lilja 1:10 twist barrel
Geoff Slee thumbhole stock (left handed because im topsy turvy and learnt to shoot right handed guns left handed)
0 MOA Picatinny rail for quick releae scope mounts ( i have one scope for target shooting and another for spotlighting etc)
As is the gun weighs around 8kg not including scope and is right on the threshold of what im prepared to carry when out spotlighting etc.
I do realise that by cropping the barrel back to around 24", I would probably have a pretty competitive BR setup if i had a better tracking stock. But BR comps are run over an hour away and its just too far.
There is plenty of meat in the stock still so i will look into the channel at the fore end. Its walnut as well and is very stiff. I have seen one of those bipods used here so i will try and find some details out about them, otherwise i was going to go the ally plate under the fore end and shoot off a caldwell rock BR rest.
I will be getting another barrel- probably a true flite- in 7 wtist and was thinking around the 28-30 inch mark to shoot for F open, and will screw and unscrew the current barrel on when i go varminting.
The 22BRX was an idea that I got mostly for varminting. I can run 55gr nosler BT's at 3750fps with 34.5gr of 2208. That isnt a hot load either. Great fox medicine. The 69gr HPBT bullets shoot at 3364fps with 32.1gr of 2208. With the 90 gr bullets i will get a reamer made to suit for the new barrel. What I have only just realised, is that my current barrel is a standard BR reamer run in 0.100" deep and my necks are very short in the chamber. Thus im jumping bullets a long way which isnt going to help me accuracy wise.
Im not at the level where im doing competitions and the like yet, as I have alot of other commitments on weekends- I travel around WA doing bream fishing tournaments and also play hockey here in Busselton, so for me going and shooting at capel is designed to teach me about the effects of wind etc. I have just got a bit wrapped up in it and want to have something that will hold up a bit more in the wind without having to go through the tedious exercise of re licensing another caliber under WA laws.
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