LR Stocks and Philosophy

H

Hombre0321

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While I am new to long range Benchrest my tinkering mind always is looking for something. I have a very nice custom built Long Range rifle, the stock was built for shooting F-Class but is serving me pretty well for Benchrest shooting and I will continue to use it for that purpose.

Now with that said I also have just recently purchased a short range rifle. I bought it mainly for the action with plans to convert it to a long range rifle this off season into maybe a caliber more suited to shooting at a 1,000 than my current 6MMBR probably Dasher. Now the rifle is chambered in 30BR and I am having a ball shooting it after spending a small fortune in tooling to make the cases. In shooting this rifle I must say that the design of the stock is very easy to shoot, it bags really well, feels really good and has solved a couple of gun handling problems I was suffering with the long Range rifle.

So that brings up a question. Has anyone or does anyone incorporate both designs into any one stock? Another words I really like the flat bottom edge leading to the heel of the long range rifle. This sets the rifle higher as the stock is much thicker comb to heel. This sets the bag well and recoil is straight back which I like a lot. The short range Benchrest stock has what appears to be a much straighter comb, which I like very much as well. This stock is very narrow comb to heel however and i don't really care for that in a long Range Stock.

I don't want to reinvent the wheel here, or maybe get into a rule problem. It looks like the short range Benchrest stock could be modified easily enough. Is there a problem with this idea?

Roland
 
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First of all, unlike short-range benchrest, there are no rules about stocks in long-range benchrest. If you want a 5-inch wide forearm, have at it. No taper in the butt, that's just fine.

I'm less helpful in the philosophy department. As always, there are multiple competing theories, IMO, none of which amount to enough to offset personal preference. The one thing most everyone has to deal with is whether or not you will shoot free recoil. Some rifles shoot better that way, but it's not an option as you go up the recoil energy chart. For a .30 larger than a .308, very few of us can shoot free recoil.

If you are going to stay in the Dasher region, shooting free recoil is quite possible. My preference here is to have a stock that stays away from my face.

The other item on the list is just how mechanical you want to be in acquiring the target -- Joystick front rest? Windage top? Use the forearm stop on the front rest? Or handle the rifle -- which usually amounts to squeezing the rear bag to control a bit of windage and elevation. If the latter, you want at least a little taper in the butt, so that pushing the rifle a touch forward or backwards on the rest changes the elevation.

Another thought: if you get a wood stock, you can whittle on it. Any shell stock -- like fiberglass -- is dependant on the skin for strength, so what you buy is what you stay with.

Not particularly recommending it, but early on I got a Shehane blank -- a wood laminate -- and whittled on it to meet my desires. I listed it as an SOS in the equipment list (Sort Of Shehane). Later on, Bill adapted most of those things to one of his named stocks.

This sort of whittling is best done on a milling machine . . .
 
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