New F Class Open (Beginer Build)

[Aguy]

Hi All,

just thought I would put up a post, I have been shooting for a little while, and have been interested in getting into a bit of target/long range shooting. and have taken the plunge into buying a new rifle to have a bit of a crack at F class open, so this post is detailing the start of my journey.

I currently have a few rifles that I could have used for F Class either open or Std, being a Tikka T3 Stainless Light in 308, a Tikka T3 Laminate Stainless in 6.5 x 55 and a Remington 700 5R milspec in 300 win mag (the Remington has a Vortex Viper PST FFP 6-24 x50 on it). I had been thinking about having a go with the Remington 700 but then a very good second hand rifle (less then 150 rounds on it) popped up, at the right price (its not like some of the proper F Classers, but I thought it might be a good start).

Anyway it is a Tikka T3 sporter in 6.5 x 55, currently the rifle is completely stock, it has the 24" bull barrel on it, with a twist rate is a 1/8.





The rifle is shooting pretty well at the moment with a basic scope on it (at 100m anyways) the photo below is a 5 round group.




just going through at the moment trying to work out what direction to head with the scope, but will post that up in the Equipment forum

[Tim N]

The rifle is a nice piece of kit, shoots well, only scary thing is the hammer in the pic
I'd suggest shooting it as is for a while at club or comp shoots and have a good look at other peoples setups before spending any money on upgrades.

[Norm]

Looks like it shoots quite well. What sort of velocity are you getting?

[Aguy]

Unfortunately no chronograph yet, Based on my books, 42gr of 2209 and 140gr projectile it will be in the low 2500 fps, guessing I will need to speed it up a fair bit. Unfortunately a lot of the books have fairly low pressure loads for the swede due to the old krag's floating around in the states

[Norm]

That velocity is down a bit but it will give you something to start with.
Just have fun.

[plumbs7]

Tiny groups at 100m serves u well at 1000 yd. will need a bit more speed . A chrony is a must to good load tuning! Like Norm said just have fun as u r only competing against urself. Regards Graham.
Ps read Brian Litz's book too. Also J Hausler ( Bribane Rifle club) has couching clinics at Belmont . Try and track her down as she is a very good coach and very giving! ( as are a lot of the top shots).

[macguru]

If that group is repeatable then i would not worry too much about cranking it up for 1000 yds just yet, most local range shooting is at 300-600 yards and accuracy is the key... One thing to watch with that model is the bedding, a friend of mine had one and the action was just sitting on the soft wood laminate so after a while he compressed it tightening up the action screws and had to get a bedding job. he also got a new barrel and its a sweet 308 rifle now ... But while yours is grouping like that i would just enjoy it and do the bedding and barrel down the track as the need arises...

[Aguy]

Went to Belmont this morning, as I managed to find some 140gr berger vld yesterday, out of the 6 different groups I shot these are the best two. First had 45gr of 2209 and the second has 47gr of 2209, need to get a chronograph to check speeds, but velocity should be somewhere around high 2600 for first target and in the 2800s for the second





Just using a fixed 6 power trophy series that the rifle had on it when I bought it at the moment, and I think the flyer in the 47gr group was me pulling it from rushing, but for that the group was looking at .28 moa

[plumbs7]

Good stuff mate keep it up! Get the JbM app for ur iPhone. Totally worth it's weight in gold. Sorry for the slow reply. I haven't checked in for a while! Regards Graham.