One action many cals?

[bsouthernau]

Barry,

I'll ..... save the FO barrel for comps and when I want to practice with it.

That was my point. Club shooting IS practice for open comps. By all means get your money's worth out of your barrels and completely wear out the partially worn ones at club level - that's what I try to do - but to practise with one calibre and compete with another didn't seem a particularly fruitful way to go to my way of thinking.

Barry

[Quick]

Barry,

You do make a good point. More to think about....

[Brad Y]

If there is a prize shoot coming up, I would be shooting my comp rifle to make sure everything is working how it should. But that really only happens once a year for FO in WA (queens) so we can spend most of the year shooting what ever. I can save a fair bit of money shooting FS over the year than shooting FO week in week out. Same as quick, Im shooting my 6.5mm gun until I have it all figured out, putting it away until closer to the date and playing with another cal (6mm and 308) until then.

[Seddo]

I'm not the best person to ask as i am a bit of a gun whore.

Personally love the idea of a switchbarrel rifle, i own a thompson contender, thomposon encore and a DTA. I dont have a propper target rifle that is a switch barrel but if i was starting from scratch again i would for sure. 3 actions with different bolt faces and a handfull of barrels and i would be good to go. You dont need 2 or 3 different action, barrel or calibres but when has need had anything to do with it??

I have a mate who lives in tassy and he said the cops were giving him a hard time when he put in a PTA for his 5th or 6th centerfrire rifle. He isnt a target shooter so i dont know if the same thing would happen if he was.

[ecomeat]

My BAT left hand Model M was originally built as a 6 x 47 Lap, but after wearing the first barrel out, i rechambered it as a 284 Win and then months later got another 6 x 47 Lapua chambered as well, so it's now officially a "switch barrel".
I have to confess to being a bit nervous about actually changing the barrels/calibres whilst at a Prize Meeting if it didn't hold it's POI for each barrel EXACTLY THE SAME.............worried about making a fool of myself by not being able to find my "new" zero and spraying shots all over the target !
I have only changed it over about 3 times each way so far, and thank God it did hold precisely the same POI, (for the 6 x 47 Lap, vertical is perfect, but I have to wind the windage 1 and 7/8 moa Right) but I confess that the little bit of pressure at a shoot away from home is something that i can't pretend isn't there.
I know that a lot of good shooters happily make multiple changes of barrel and do so with absolute confidence, but I am still gaining mine ........ and haven't got there yet !
Tony

[ecomeat]

For F-Open with the current target and scoring rules, in my opinion one calibre is enough for success at the highest level, and if you shoot the longs, then a 7mm is a good all-round choice.

Alan

Alan,
With your recent performances, I think you may have comfortably proven that point, beyond all doubt !
Tony

[bartman007]

I have to confess to being a bit nervous about actually changing the barrels/calibres whilst at a Prize Meeting if it didn't hold it's POI for each barrel EXACTLY THE SAME.............worried about making a fool of myself by not being able to find my "new" zero and spraying shots all over the target !

Ecomeat, you don't have to worry about POI when changing barrels. I find with my gear that I'm always back in the center each time I screw in barrels. The only important thing is to write down what zero belongs with which barrel. That is the only constant.

So there is no issue changing barrels on the day between ranges.

In regard to shooting different calibers during club shoots, I agree with Barry, you need to keep with what you will be competing with. Personally I use my 6mm BRX as it has great barrel life (around 3000 rounds now) and still shooting 60.6 and above consistently! The 6x47 is another beast that burns too much powder and barrel each time it is fired. Great for competition, but short in life. Maybe chamber an older 6mm to use for club days. It will make you work over the longer ranges.

[Brad Y]

I hear what you guys are saying but our one main prize shoot is every september. Once that is over I dont see the need to continually burn up barrel life for club shoots. I would think going back to 308 or 223 would get you learning the wind reading a bit better until its time to dust off the open guns for preparation again? Fingers crossed next year there will be a few more prize shoots to keep us going throughout the year. Now having a dasher it will be a bit easier to shoot club stuff year round rather than my current one rifle that I want ready to go for the queens.

[Quick]

Brad, I hear what your saying. We are in the same boat. I'm considering getting another barrel for club shoots and having a match barrel. It's a hard one with a barrel burning cal to decide what to do. I'll probs shoot my rifle for the rest of the year until I get 100% comfy with it and then screw the 308 barrel in. If we start having 3-4 OPM a year with open and the queens. I think that I'll only shoot open but until that happens, Ill shoot FS aswell.

[AlanF]

For F-Open with the current target and scoring rules, in my opinion one calibre is enough for success at the highest level, and if you shoot the longs, then a 7mm is a good all-round choice.

Alan

Alan,
With your recent performances, I think you may have comfortably proven that point, beyond all doubt !
Tony

Tony,

There will be a very strong F-Open field at the Nationals in 3 weeks time. It'll be interesting to see what calibres are used at 300 - my guess is 7mm will be well represented!

You will be competing I presume?

Alan

[ecomeat]

Alan,
Yes definitely will be there to compete, right "in my own back yard". It will be worth the hours drive each way, each day for me, just to watch the tussle for the top of the Leader Board !
My 284 is going pretty well, but i will use the 6 x 47 Lap at 300 and 500 unless the wind is really gruesome, just coz it's so bloody sweet to shoot. Hopefully it won't be like Warwick Qld a couple of weeks ago where the 60-10 i fully intended to shoot turned into a 57-1 !!
This will only be my 2nd Queens, so I have much to learn .
Be on the lookout for information sponges like me, who intend to watch, listen and learn from the highly experienced shooters for the whole Event , fully intending to use the information gained to improve our shooting enough that we one day become competetive.
My barrel and I, both crashed and burned at last years QRA Queens, but I still really enjoyed the experience, and took a lot away from it.
Hopefully the learning curve can continue this year at both the NRA and QRA Queens as well. I will be the old grey headed bugger hounding all of the F Open shooters for Equipment Details, so that you and I can do up a good list and publish it on here.
Tony

[AlanF]

I'll look forward to it Tony.

[bsouthernau]

I will be the old grey headed bugger hounding all of the F Open shooters for Equipment Details, so that you and I can do up a good list and publish it on here.
Tony

Forget about the equipment details Tony. What you need to be hounding them about is how to shoot the 1000yds late in the morning when the wind is changing from land breeze to sea breeze. Every flag is doing something different and this is the mound of broken dreams.

Don't ask how I know this!!!

Barry