[TrapperReady]

After my first season of shooting highpower, I'm pretty-well hooked. To make things all legal-like (and make sure I'm not at an equipment disadvantage), I'm going to order a new Service Rifle upper from John Holliger.

The standard one listed on his web site includes a 1 in 8 twist barrel and 1/4 moa sights. I've been thinking about going with 1/2 moa sights, since that would be legal for all events, correct? If I went with 1/4 moa sights, what would I be unable to shoot?

Is 1 in 8 the best all-around twist-rate?

What width front post would be optimal?

What size aperature should be used for the rear sight?

Any other considerations/comments? Most of the matches I'll be shooting will be reduced course, but I'd plan to shoot at least a handful of xtc matches a year.

BTW, anyone can respond. I'm not necessarily looking for expert opinions or anything.

[Steve Smith]

Good choice going with John. Expect about an 8 week turn around though.

You can use 1/4 for everything. I suggest you get that.

1:8 is the slowest you want and 1:6.5 is the fastest right now, 1:7 and 7.5 is out there too of course. Any will suit you fine.

I think most of us use a .052 to begin with and then make adjustments as time goes by.

Most folks start with the .042 aperture but if your eyes are good, ask John for a .038 and a .044 and .046 so you can experiment.

I'd suggest a Pac-Nor for your barrel, as it is relatively inexpensive and won't give up anything to any of the other brands.

Not much else to ask for. You won't have anything to blame but yourself after that.

How old are you, and how good are your eyes?

[TrapperReady]

Steve - Thanks for the fast reply. Also, congrats on your upgrade! Very nice result for a lot of hard work.

Age - not quite 37

Eyes - vision is horrible, but easily corrected to 20/20 or slightly better.

The turn-around is fine, since this is getting to be the time when free weekends are spent filling the freezer with poultry.

As far as twist-rate, in your opinion, should I go with the 1 in 8, or try something faster?

I thought during one of the flattop threads you mentioned that you needed 1/2 moa sights for the NTIT stuff. Perhaps I misunderstood you (I'm sure it's happened before).

Also, I'm taking my lower to a smith for a 2-stage trigger. What's your favorite brand/type these days?

Thanks again!

[Jon Coppenbarger]

go with the 1/4 x 1/4 as it is legal in everything.
what it will do for you is allow you to make fine adjustments and as you get better you will find its hard to get by without those 1/4 x 1/4 plus its something you will not have to upgrade later.

for your first rifle either the 1-8 or 1-7.5 is what you should stay with

the .52 is the one most folks use and with a 6 hold its the one most common.
the .62 is the one alot of folks go to when using a center hold as I have.

as far as the rear you need to use what fits your eye sight and that could vary widely depending on your eyes or the light conditions for the day.

I would suggest to save you the trouble is to get both the .52 and .62 and have the .52 installed to start as it takes all of a couple minutes to change it out.

also order everything from the .38, .40, .42, .44, .46 as you may end up using them all at one time or the other.

a general rule is that if you use a hood on your rear sight you will need a larger apeture also the same in dark conditions and with aging or poor eyes, the opisite is true if you go the reverse on all of those things.

I hope you are going for the complete custom service rifle upper as its the best out there and a bargin.

I have two uppers getting rebarreled right now and steve also has one back there also.
the one I shot this weekend is getting near the end of its life for the barrel and will go in as soon as I get one of the others back.

just saw steves post sounds like I repeated everything he already said

ps even when they get tired they still shoot but I do know now what happens as your x count goes way down as mine has the last month or so when the barrel starts to go.

[Steve Smith]

Jon already answered your question on barrel twist. This time around I'm getting a 1:6.5 with a throat for 90 grain JLKs, but you'd never notice the difference on your first barrel. More trouble than its worth at your point. As little as you plan to shoot XC, you can use you first barrel for 3 or maybe even 4 seasons of hard shooting before it starts to flake out on you. By that time you'll have enough experience under your belt that if you want to experiment you'll know it.

Thanks for the congrats! :D

Now we have 3 Masters in the house, and 1 High Master!

By the way, I am VERY happy that I got my MA card shooting XC and not the reduced course. When you become an Expert and you know you're on the trail of Master, you should at least consider shooting for your next classification XC. No one will think less of you if you don't, but believe me, you'll be really proud you did it.

[TrapperReady]

Thanks again for all the info!

The only question that remains is "Which trigger do you currently recommend?".

I'm going to have a 2-stage installed, and was considering the RRA model. I thought Steve had answered a previous question about it, but I couldn't find it in the archives.

[Jon Coppenbarger]

we both use hollinger tuned rock rivers. just order one with your upper easy to install and you should never need to ever work on it.
if you do its a easy fix.

[Steve Smith]

Agreed, just get a Holliger/RRA.