Ultimate FTR Rig

N

NezRongero

Member
If you were to build the ultimate FTR rig how would go by doing it?

Reamer design, FB for 185 or 200 Berger, neck dimension
Barrel brand
Stock brand
Action brand, RBRP, RBLP?
Scope brand, power, clicks, reticle
Scope rings
Bipod brand
Gunsmith - metal work
Stock work

Thank you
 
Bat mb action on a pr&t ftr stock with a brux barrel. NF comp scope, they make ftr specific reamers for each bullet youd use.
 
There are lots of answers but one valid one is a box-stock Savage 12 F/TR 308 for about twelve hundred bucks along with 100 hours of individualized coaching by a wind reading expert. :cool:
 
Building a successful FTR rig is all about weight-saving.

The barrel is the starting point - heavy profile - 1.25 to 1 inch at the muzzle - 30 inches long at least. Yes, the heavy bullets are taking over, so think c. 200gn.

Action - the BAT M is a great action but it's a pound heavier than the Stolle F Class action - which also has a built-in rail with taper. Easy way to save weight. Use Stolle rings as well - very light.

Scope? Needs to be of at least 32 power and light. The March 10 - 60 is 25oz and perfect. If it's too expensive, go for the 8-32 Sightron with LRMOA ret. or maybe the new 15-60 Vortex - bit heavier but cheaper than the March.

Stock - it should be long - 39 inches - the Precision Rifle & Tool stock is perfect (see Bob Ballard's Gun of the Week no.88 on 6mmBR.com) Forget adjustable butt and cheek-piece - you don't need 'em and you can't afford the weight but the beavertail fore-end is great for load-testing on the bench.

Bi-pod? Needs to be light, around a pound - SEB Joypod if you can afford it - Mystic Precision if you can't.

VinceB (UK)
 
Thank you all for the responses. Dusty, thank you for the vote of confidence.

The reason for all these questions, though I enjoy shooting my service rifle across the mid and long range courses, due to the shoulder injuries my sling shooting days may be numbered. I will miss shooting irons at 1000 yards though.

Dusty, I heard through the grapevine that you an M14 guy at heart, here is one for your laughs and giggles


http://youtu.be/rKqFfhF1sX4
 
Guys, Nez is a Service Rifle sling shooter. He has attained High Master status. He can read the wind!! Nez, you know how well the March scopes work. I notice that Doc Beech showed a new reticle they have available. I would favor the receivers from Kelblys.
 
Butch Lambert said:
Guys, Nez is a Service Rifle sling shooter. He has attained High Master status. He can read the wind!! Nez, you know how well the March scopes work. I notice that Doc Beech showed a new reticle they have available. I would favor the receivers from Kelblys.
Click to expand...

No doubt Nez will have a very short learning curve... but I've shot with a few well-known high-level sling shooters (both Service and Palma) in my time, and every single one that tried F-class found they had to read the wind a lot tighter than they had before. A few considered it good 'wind-training' for exactly that reason. Needless to say, they came up to speed pretty quickly, as they already had a solid foundation to build on.
 
Dusty Stevens said:
He cant be lazy thats for sure. Isnt the x and 10 quite a bit smaller than service rifle in f class?
Click to expand...

The X-ring on the sling target becomes the 10 ring on the F-class target, and the new X-ring is 1/2 the diameter (only 1/4 the area!).

Shooting sling is definitely more physically demanding - training one's self to be that still while strapped into a heavy coat and slung up is harder than it looks, and Service Rifle, with the one-size-fits-all stock and relatively short sight radius doesn't make it any easier. But when there is just a fuzz over 1/4 moa difference between an X and a 9... F-class isn't as forgiving as one might think. When the mirage comes up, and you can no longer see anything inside the 9 ring - its all a big fuzzy grey mess - a lot of the 'benefit' of shooting scoped starts to fade! ;)
 
We'll see how he does. With a good setup and his experience ill put nez up against any of the "ftr heroes". Hes not getting into this because he failed at his other game. This is gonna be like putting an outback surgeon in the best equipped OR.
 
After reading this thread, I did a search on this class, and found some of the results rather amusing.

Most amusing was the requirement that you must shoot off of a bi-pod, rather than a fancy front test. But then someone is actually manufacturing a joystick front by-pod. Sort of defeats the spirit of the class.

It's turned into a equipment face, just like everything else. That being said, I have seen the out of the box Savage FTR in 308 shoot pretty consistent "three's" and clean 20x's in VFS.
 
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jackie schmidt said:
After reading this thread, I did a search on this class, and found some of the results rather amusing.

Most amusing was the requirement that you must shoot off of a bi-pod, rather than a fancy front test. But then someone is actually manufacturing a joystick front by-pod. Sort of defeats the spirit of the class.
Click to expand...

As compared to the arbitrary rules for say, so-called "Hunter" Benchrest, with a maximum of 6x scopes, or the single-shot actions with filler blocks? Or some of the tricked-out Service Rifle AR-15s, with free-float handguards, lead weights in every available free space, pinned rear sights, match triggers...oh, and 1907-style slings that were never issued with any black rifle ever...?

Pretty much every competitive discipline evolves it's own set of rules and standards that from the outside may appear a bit odd.

A joystick bipod is one possible solution; it comes with its own set of issues that have to be dealt with in turn.
 
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To the OP's question...
Borden BRM action RBRP no ejection, PR&T Low Boy stock, Krieger 30" 10 twist 4 groove HV, reamer with .168" free bore, neck is either a no turn or a skim cut for 98% clean up, Lapua 308 Palma brass, neck I use is .340" gives me .003" clearance with Lapua brass neck turned. Berger 185gr juggernauts bullets, with this free bore you could use the 200 gr. Gunsmith I use is Sid Goodling (mostly a BR smith) but he's very very very good !!! Scope NF 15x55 FCR-1 reticle with a Holland scope level, Shehane no taper custom rings on a Goodling 20 MOA dovetail base. SEB joy pod bi-pod. All this weighs 17lbs. 10 oz.
 
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6mmBR said:
To the OP's question...
Borden BRM action RBRP no ejection, PR&T Low Boy stock, Krieger 30" 10 twist 4 groove HV, reamer with .168" free bore, neck is either a no turn or a skim cut for 98% clean up, Lapua 308 Palma brass, neck I use is .340" gives me .003" clearance with Lapua brass neck turned. Berger 185gr juggernauts bullets, with this free bore you could use the 200 gr. Gunsmith I use is Sid Goodling (mostly a BR smith) but he's very very very good !!! Scope NF 15x55 FCR-1 reticle with a Holland scope level, Shehane no taper custom rings on a Goodling 20 MOA dovetail base. SEB joy pod bi-pod. All this weighs 17lbs. 10 oz.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the information, yours and what others have mentioned should give me what I need in planning the project. With Butch Lambert's long distance guidance I would do the metal work, he's been very patient with me so far. I am not sure yet about who would do the furniture work. I have not done a complete bedding job since the 80s, probably a lot of techniques have evolved over the the years during my absence in bench rest. Shooting high power I got spoiled with these LEGO guns called AR15s, just screw them together and shoot.

F Class. benchrest on your belly, should be fun.
 
NezRongero said:
I am not sure yet about who would do the furniture work. I have not done a complete bedding job since the 80s, probably a lot of techniques have evolved over the the years during my absence in bench rest.
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If its just bedding, I'd say Greg Swezey of Gold Creek Rifles. If you need a complete stock job, talk to Ray Bowman of Precision Rifle & Tool, or Alex Sitman of MasterClass Stocks. Both of the latter have experience with adjustable buttplates, adjustable cheekpieces, etc. BR gunsmiths are not necessarily set up to work on those bits.
 
I believe that you are correct about the stock work...Ray Bowman did my stock, but Sid does everything else...metal work and bedding with pillars.
 
jackie schmidt said:
After reading this thread, I did a search on this class, and found some of the results rather amusing.

Most amusing was the requirement that you must shoot off of a bi-pod, rather than a fancy front test. But then someone is actually manufacturing a joystick front by-pod. Sort of defeats the spirit of the class.

It's turned into a equipment face, just like everything else. That being said, I have seen the out of the box Savage FTR in 308 shoot pretty consistent "three's" and clean 20x's in VFS.
Click to expand...

Jackie, about the same thing as the varmint class rule of not being able to have windage adjustment on the rear sand bag. So what happened, they put them in the front rest. Now a front rest costs a $1000 or more. When it used to be just a relatively cheap front tripod with a sandbag mounted on it.
 
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