Back in 2001, a few of us from SH developed a few project rifles with the support of several vendors. These rifles were fielded in the 2001 Carlos Hathcock Match at Cherry Ridge, NJ, and the Inaugural Spirit of America Match at Whittington Center, Raton, NM in 2002. One of them won the Carlos in 2003, in the hands of a 16 Y/O Distinguished Rimfire shooter.
They were based on Savage 2001 10FP .260 factory rifles with Ken Farrel 20MOA sloped scope bases and recoil lugs. Two had McMillan A3 Tactical Stocks and another an A5 Tactical. We shot F Open in Raton from simple Hoppe's rests and rear bags. It was my first match at 1000yd, having previously been topped out at 300yd. I placed-mid pack in the end, but did manage a 197 in the final round. We used VV-N550 and 139 Scenars. The stocks were gratis from McMillan, and the Ken Farrel parts were much reduced from Sharpshooter. Woody at L-W sold me my barrel at a huge discount. Again, these are all suppliers who made a genuine commitment to the 2001-2003 SH Ghost Dancer Rifle project.
My rifle later had pillar bedding installed (again, gratis) by McMillan, and later yet, had an L-W 28" 1:8" LW-50 stainless .260 SAAMI prechambered Savage threaded barrel installed by Dark Eagle. It was used at Bodines for 1000yd F Open for (I'm guessing) 2+ years in the mid-2000-zeros. Never a bride, always a bride's maid. I shot 140 A-Max and 142SMK with H-4350. It was a very reliable rifle in the hands of a shooter who still hadn't mastered the wind.
It was also used in a series of homemade barrel tuner experiments which bypassed the use of a threaded muzzle. (A length of bicycle inner tube was stretched over the last 5" of the barrel, and a 1" ID, 4" long pipe union was rubber lubed and carefully threaded onto the rubber barrel sheath. It made up a crude barrel tuner. It did some amazing things to 200yd, but I abandoned it. The rifle would need retuning every succeeding day. I was burning up ammo and barrel at far too swift a rate.)
Later, it had a homemade/chambered/threaded 30BR barrel installed, again a bride's maid; the L-W .260 barrel was restored (by me) this Summer. The 30BR barrel was never quite 'right'. I am developing a milder creampuff .260 load using 95 V-Max and Varget for 200yd club matches and varmints at distance.
The current scope is a Mueller 8-32x44 side focus target scope. It's a true gem.
I have fair number of other rifles, all SAAMI chambered factory standard rifles, some of which I shoot in competition against all comers in local club matches, completely for fun; and finally, I've actually earned a win or two.
Greg
