One action many cals?

Get or give advice on equipment, reloading and other technical issues.

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Brad Y
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One action many cals?

Post by Brad Y »

WA has had its fair share of gun related news in the last week or two. I have heard tonight that there is talk of changing the rules to try and limit the amount of firearms a person can own. Not sure if its true or not, but it got me thinking.

How many of you guys have one action and change barrels and cals on it? And how many have one action, stock etc for one cal?

Im at the point where Im going to need to get another action soon for a 284S, not sure if I should use the short action I have, or buy another action (long). Still weighing that one up I guess.

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AlanF
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Post by AlanF »

Brad,

I've been switching barrels on Barnards for a few years, including changing calibres. Its a 5 minute job - allows me to take multiple barrels to competitions and change plans at short notice e.g. weather cuts up so screw on the 7mm. I use a simple tow bar mounted barrel vise. Its a good way of expanding your options on a limited budget.

Alan
jasmay
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Post by jasmay »

What Alan said....

Go the Barnard!!!
Brad Y
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Post by Brad Y »

Alan, I do the same with my rem 700- It can be 223, 308 and soon to be a 6 dasher as well.

My ultimate point is when you have a barrel in and action and scope all working as one and shooting awesome, do you change things around a bit then still expect it to be 100% the same when it goes back together? Is it worth the extra hassle and expense of owning and licensing individual 6mm, 6.5mm, 7mm, 308, etc if you want to shoot those different cals? Assume each rifle is tuned and works well across all ranges.
jasmay
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Post by jasmay »

I currently run 2 barrels (but have several more) on my barnard.

A 1:12 twist and a 1:10 for different weight projectiles.

I change them mulitple times during a single days practice with no adverese effect on accuracy.

Simply keep a log with the elevations (and widage if needed) for each barrel and your good to go.... It may be a little different with a remy action if its not had a full truing and blueprint, but I doubt it....
AlanF
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Post by AlanF »

Brad,

Having never had several rifles, I've learnt to work around any of the short-comings with switching barrels, and if I suddenly had $10K to spend I would probably spend it on barrels rather than complete rifles. But you'd better get more opinions from those who've experienced both approaches.

Alan
Barry Davies
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Post by Barry Davies »

How many different options would one need --caliber wise that is?
AlanF
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Post by AlanF »

Barry Davies wrote:How many different options would one need --caliber wise that is?

Barry,

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. Using a well designed stock with free recoil and a rifle approaching 10Kg, it will be well behaved and with good tuning be competitive at all distances in any F-Open event.

However if you intend using the rifle in other competitions as well e.g. BR, then smaller calibres may be more suitable, so switching calibres is a sensible option.

Alan
DaveMc
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Post by DaveMc »

Barry Davies wrote:How many different options would one need --caliber wise that is?


1 Barry! :D but it is fun to have a few other "play toys"


Edit Oops Alan - you got in before me - turned around to make a coffee and whammo.
Last edited by DaveMc on Tue May 28, 2013 9:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Brad Y
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Post by Brad Y »

Thats the argument police are saying here, but there is nothing in the act about it...

Lets see, I have a 223 and 308 for FS and 6mm dasher for 1000yd BR/club FO use on one action and have a 6.5mm on another action for dedicated FO use and Im planning a 7mm for queens/national teams. Dont see that as a problem. That covers my years f class shooting. Most people I know have calibers they compete with, and others they use for club shooting.
bartman007
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2 is better than 1

Post by bartman007 »

Hey Brad,

I run with 2 of most things. There are a few reasons for this:

1. If an item fails e.g. trigger / scope / barrel / action then I can revert to the other gear to get me by without compromising at a competition.

2. During a 3 range meet, I can start with a 6mm, then at the next range if the conditions cut up rough, I can simply swap to the 7mm without having to unscrew barrels.

By having a short range setup, and a long range setup, you have redundancy that doesn't take effort to use.

I find having 1 scope zero'd for the 6mm and the other scope zero'd for the 7mm, that I can wind back to zero wind at any time without having to think is that 2 3/8 right for the 7mm or whatever.

Another driver for having two actions, is that I have one with a Magnum bolt face, the other Standard. Having two Barnards also assists with swapping barreled actions painlessly.
Brad Y
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Post by Brad Y »

Hi Mike

Sounds pretty much like my setup. Two actions two scopes and two cals for each action gives alot of diversity. I like the idea of one rig for each cal but like Alan points out, money would be better spent having a few more barrels ready to go for each one.

I plan to shoot more FS at club level hence why I like having the 308 on one action. Will probably drop the 223 off that one as I only use it for hunting now.
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Costs

Post by bartman007 »

To have another setup to separate the barrels and make for easy changeover:

1 x Barnard action $1600
1 x Sightron scope $1200
1 x Rings and Rail $250

So for around $3000 you have a second bit of kit that will allow for easy changeover during a match. But of course you can drop out the scope to lower the cost somewhat.
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Post by bsouthernau »

Brad Y wrote: Most people I know have calibers they compete with, and others they use for club shooting.


I'm wondering why anyone would use a different calibre for club shooting from the one they'd use in competition.

Barry
Quick
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Post by Quick »

Barry,

I guess it's to save barrel life. I only have one FO cal at the moment but once I'm comfy with it, I'll screw my 308 barrel on and shoot FS at club level and save the FO barrel for comps and when I want to practice with it. Mainly to save barrel life as ill probably only get 1500 rounds before a rechamber is needed with my 6x47L as I don't run it really hot. Guys running a 7WSM it alike I can defiantly see why they would have a club shooting rifle and a prize meet/queens rifle.
Shaun aka 'Quick'
Yanchep, Western Australia

308 Win F/TR & F-S
7mm F-Open Shooter.
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