xphunter
Member
I started a concept benchrest specialty pistol project about a year ago with gunsmith Eric Wallace (Nawakwa Accuracy), to see if a SP could be built that would meet the required weight limit of 7.5 pounds and the maximum barrel length of 15 inches. It must track well and have a cartridge that would outperform most other 15" rigs out to 1000 yards.
I have a couple of bench specialty pistols that are for Heavy Pistol, which is the other SP class for the MOA LR handgun competition that is held every year in Sundance, WY.
They both have 6 inch wide forends and then they also have aluminum tracks that are three inches wide below the pistol grip. Eric was convinced he could have the same forend width with this light pistol and keep under the weight limit.
When I got the gun, it came in two different boxes.
When I showed my wife the stock it made her think of Batman's car (The Bat Car), so she immediately named this SP, "Batman."
Here is some pictures of my two heavy pistols with Batman in the middle.
Remington XP-100, with a PTG bolt.
It is a Long Dasher or a 6mmx47 Lapua Improved-Not based off of the 6BR.
6.5x47 Lapua case, lightly neck turned, then you take the Long Dasher die and neck it down to 6mm part way down the neck and create a false shoulder, then fireform the case.
15" Brux barrel and it weighs under 7 pounds.
Carbon fiber stock that is filled with foam that weighs just under 1 pound.
8T Brux barrel, and a Aluminum brake.
Jewell trigger.
There is not a traditional recoil lug, but rather a lug was milled out of the bottom of the single shot action.
30 MOA Davidson type rail base and Kelbly rings. When I put the Sightron SII/Big Sky 36x scope on it it weighed under 7 pounds.
When you have over a half of a pound and you are going to be shooting 5 shot groups and maybe a ten shot group at 500, 750 and 1000 yards you want all the weight you can get.
I had a Sightron S-III 6-24 with MOA reticle, plus a set of Kelbly rings laying around and decided to try it to see what I would end up weight wise.
Here is the result:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j4/xphunter_2006/S-III_zpsc41b9465.jpg
7 pounds and 7 ounces. I am an ounce under weight and I already have the sunshade on it. Talk about close!
After getting some fireform loads done, I did a ladder load development at 300 yards.
Did a ladder load development today at 300 yards. Had full value wind at around 8mph, but that speed was not constant. The vertical on the top group was right at 1/2". That was pleasing. Steve and I expected the wind to give us fits horizontally.
After some more loading I took the top four numbers and loaded 8 of each ( 5 for group and 3 for getting some MV info. Wind had changed, was stronger with more gusting.
Shot again at 300 yards.
Best group had four shots right at 1/4MOA with one going higher. On all four groups the vertical was higher than when doing the ladder the following day.
That was to be expected, but I still wanted better, even though the conditions were not in my favor.
105 hybrid @ 2888 fps. Took some of the other rounds (9 in all) and shot at 400 yards and was able to put several shots on top of each other on steel, which is always gratifying. Then I went out to 500 yards with fire forming loads, but soon had to give up because of excessive wind and rain.
I would now load some more of my chosen load and adjust the OAL 10 thou longer and then 10 thou less to see if I can tighten things up a bit more.
The original seat depth turned out to be the best, and now it was time to fireform loads and then load up the newly formed brass as the competition was one day away.
Here is some group therapy from the first day, competing at 500 yards.
I shot three relays of five shots each.
You can see how good this rig shoots by the vertical group on the green (one of the relays). The vertical on that group is 1.8", and of course the wind got me and spread it out. The wind is always the Achilles heel.
My third relay was my best group at 500 (not dots).
The results of last weeks match:
I was fortunate to take first in all three distances: 500, 750 and 1,000 yards.
This is in the Light Pistol division.
We had some crazy winds this week
My best 5-shot groups at distance were:
500 yards: 2.445"
750 yards: 4" and change (can't remember right now).
1000 yards: 7.5"
These are not amazing groups, but considering the wind we had, I am very pleased. On Thursday my full value correction for wind was over 20 mph and the wind at the bench was 9-13 mph...It was really blowing hard closer to the target
I decided to spot for myself for all of 500 and all of the 1000 yard groups.
Bob Baker (Freedom Arms) spotted for me at the 750 yard distances.
Batman tracks so good, that I could spot my own shots!
Eric Wallace (Nawakwa Accuracy) builds amazingly accurate SP's. Well, he build long-range rifles too, but I like the SP's the best.
We also did a 10-shot group at a 1000 yards in the relay because of impending weather and Batman had a 11.25" group.
The weather got so bad it caused us to miss the the shoot-off for 1000 yard heavy pistol. We had two minutes left in the sighter period when a very severe storm rolled over us and completely shut us down.
When a I chronoed my load, my spread was like 3 fps-One of the lowest I had ever had with my Oehler 33P.
Lapua brass, CCI Small Rifle magnum Primers, H-4350 and 105 Berger Hybrids ended up making a great combination!
I have a couple of bench specialty pistols that are for Heavy Pistol, which is the other SP class for the MOA LR handgun competition that is held every year in Sundance, WY.
They both have 6 inch wide forends and then they also have aluminum tracks that are three inches wide below the pistol grip. Eric was convinced he could have the same forend width with this light pistol and keep under the weight limit.
When I got the gun, it came in two different boxes.
When I showed my wife the stock it made her think of Batman's car (The Bat Car), so she immediately named this SP, "Batman."
Here is some pictures of my two heavy pistols with Batman in the middle.
Remington XP-100, with a PTG bolt.
It is a Long Dasher or a 6mmx47 Lapua Improved-Not based off of the 6BR.
6.5x47 Lapua case, lightly neck turned, then you take the Long Dasher die and neck it down to 6mm part way down the neck and create a false shoulder, then fireform the case.
15" Brux barrel and it weighs under 7 pounds.
Carbon fiber stock that is filled with foam that weighs just under 1 pound.
8T Brux barrel, and a Aluminum brake.
Jewell trigger.
There is not a traditional recoil lug, but rather a lug was milled out of the bottom of the single shot action.
30 MOA Davidson type rail base and Kelbly rings. When I put the Sightron SII/Big Sky 36x scope on it it weighed under 7 pounds.
When you have over a half of a pound and you are going to be shooting 5 shot groups and maybe a ten shot group at 500, 750 and 1000 yards you want all the weight you can get.
I had a Sightron S-III 6-24 with MOA reticle, plus a set of Kelbly rings laying around and decided to try it to see what I would end up weight wise.
Here is the result:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j4/xphunter_2006/S-III_zpsc41b9465.jpg
7 pounds and 7 ounces. I am an ounce under weight and I already have the sunshade on it. Talk about close!
After getting some fireform loads done, I did a ladder load development at 300 yards.
Did a ladder load development today at 300 yards. Had full value wind at around 8mph, but that speed was not constant. The vertical on the top group was right at 1/2". That was pleasing. Steve and I expected the wind to give us fits horizontally.
After some more loading I took the top four numbers and loaded 8 of each ( 5 for group and 3 for getting some MV info. Wind had changed, was stronger with more gusting.
Shot again at 300 yards.
Best group had four shots right at 1/4MOA with one going higher. On all four groups the vertical was higher than when doing the ladder the following day.
That was to be expected, but I still wanted better, even though the conditions were not in my favor.
105 hybrid @ 2888 fps. Took some of the other rounds (9 in all) and shot at 400 yards and was able to put several shots on top of each other on steel, which is always gratifying. Then I went out to 500 yards with fire forming loads, but soon had to give up because of excessive wind and rain.
I would now load some more of my chosen load and adjust the OAL 10 thou longer and then 10 thou less to see if I can tighten things up a bit more.
The original seat depth turned out to be the best, and now it was time to fireform loads and then load up the newly formed brass as the competition was one day away.
Here is some group therapy from the first day, competing at 500 yards.
I shot three relays of five shots each.
You can see how good this rig shoots by the vertical group on the green (one of the relays). The vertical on that group is 1.8", and of course the wind got me and spread it out. The wind is always the Achilles heel.
My third relay was my best group at 500 (not dots).
The results of last weeks match:
I was fortunate to take first in all three distances: 500, 750 and 1,000 yards.
This is in the Light Pistol division.
We had some crazy winds this week
My best 5-shot groups at distance were:
500 yards: 2.445"
750 yards: 4" and change (can't remember right now).
1000 yards: 7.5"
These are not amazing groups, but considering the wind we had, I am very pleased. On Thursday my full value correction for wind was over 20 mph and the wind at the bench was 9-13 mph...It was really blowing hard closer to the target
I decided to spot for myself for all of 500 and all of the 1000 yard groups.
Bob Baker (Freedom Arms) spotted for me at the 750 yard distances.
Batman tracks so good, that I could spot my own shots!
Eric Wallace (Nawakwa Accuracy) builds amazingly accurate SP's. Well, he build long-range rifles too, but I like the SP's the best.
We also did a 10-shot group at a 1000 yards in the relay because of impending weather and Batman had a 11.25" group.
The weather got so bad it caused us to miss the the shoot-off for 1000 yard heavy pistol. We had two minutes left in the sighter period when a very severe storm rolled over us and completely shut us down.
When a I chronoed my load, my spread was like 3 fps-One of the lowest I had ever had with my Oehler 33P.
Lapua brass, CCI Small Rifle magnum Primers, H-4350 and 105 Berger Hybrids ended up making a great combination!
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