While I have a .338 Lapua for those days when I feel like teaching the paper a real serious lesson the fact is that for quite sometime, my main bolt gun interest lay with quality factory and custom F-TR and Tactical rifles chambered in the cartridges that I’ve spent most of my shooting life around - the .308 and the .223. However for the past few years and particulary at matches, I often found myself admiring those F-Open rifles chambered in the sixes and sevens and being especially impressed by the results the owners of such rifles achieved.
Well as it turned out a fellow CGN’er, Jefferson, had a spare, new and unfired six that he was looking to rehome and he had an interest in acquiring a nice, quality .308 mag fed rifle of which I had several . A trade took place at the V-Bulls match in Kamloops and Jefferson took ownership of a fine ATRS-built Defiance while I drove home with a new rifle eminently suitable for F-Open.
My new rifle is chambered in the very popular 6mmBR and is built on the very well regarded NZ-made Barnard single-shot action and sports a stainlessKrieger 5r 1:8 barrel.
All metal is housedin a green Robertson GBR stock – apparently one of the last sold in Canada –with an Anschutz rail and a fully adjustable butt-plate and cheek riser. All gunsmithing was done by Mick McPhee so you know it was done right.
Jefferson was kind enough to include some Berger projectiles with the trade and Paul Reiben supplied me with brass and dies. When all was ready I was set to make some ammo and I made up a batch using the Berger 108 BT bullets, new Lapua brass, CCI primers and Varget powder in .2 increments from 29g to 30g.
With ammo ready, I mounted my S+B 12-50 Pmii onto the rifle and headed off to Mission Rod and Gun Club. In light rain with minimal wind I first sighted in (I do not ascribe to the theory of barrel ‘break-in’) at 100 and when so sighted I moved out to 300 (yards not meters) to test. My testing process is quite simple; I fire a series of five-shot groups on one day and then repeat the same test on another – assuming fairly consistent results, a fine tuning follows and then I am pretty much set on a load.
It would be surprising if a rifle made by a smith of McPhee’s reputation out of such high quality components handled in any way less than stellar and I was not disappointed. The trigger (Barnard) broke crisp and clean and the recoil (55% of a.308) was almost non-existent given the weight of the rifle. The Robertson stock is a joy to use, everything fit me perfectly and the operation of the rifle could not be smoother. I shot off a Henry Remple bipod and found it to be every bit as solid with this rifle as it is with mylighter F/TR rig.
So, how did the Barnard shoot? To say I was happy would be an understatement as the poorest shooting load gave me a 5 shot spread that measured 1.03” with four of them falling within a .6 cluster. Now I’m used to a .308, so the‘worst’ of these 6mm groupings would have been more than acceptable (sub half MOA) with a rifle in that calibre. The best loading really, really pleased me as I was able to produce a group that measured 0.661” – all five covered with a quarter at 300 yards! Now, at last, I fully understand all the fuss made over those little 6mm's J
I shall repeat the test on the weekend and fine tune from there if necessay but so far it looks like my F/TR .308 rifle will gather a bit of dust next year while I try my hand at F-Open !
Cheers and thanks for reading.
Well as it turned out a fellow CGN’er, Jefferson, had a spare, new and unfired six that he was looking to rehome and he had an interest in acquiring a nice, quality .308 mag fed rifle of which I had several . A trade took place at the V-Bulls match in Kamloops and Jefferson took ownership of a fine ATRS-built Defiance while I drove home with a new rifle eminently suitable for F-Open.
My new rifle is chambered in the very popular 6mmBR and is built on the very well regarded NZ-made Barnard single-shot action and sports a stainlessKrieger 5r 1:8 barrel.
All metal is housedin a green Robertson GBR stock – apparently one of the last sold in Canada –with an Anschutz rail and a fully adjustable butt-plate and cheek riser. All gunsmithing was done by Mick McPhee so you know it was done right.
Jefferson was kind enough to include some Berger projectiles with the trade and Paul Reiben supplied me with brass and dies. When all was ready I was set to make some ammo and I made up a batch using the Berger 108 BT bullets, new Lapua brass, CCI primers and Varget powder in .2 increments from 29g to 30g.
With ammo ready, I mounted my S+B 12-50 Pmii onto the rifle and headed off to Mission Rod and Gun Club. In light rain with minimal wind I first sighted in (I do not ascribe to the theory of barrel ‘break-in’) at 100 and when so sighted I moved out to 300 (yards not meters) to test. My testing process is quite simple; I fire a series of five-shot groups on one day and then repeat the same test on another – assuming fairly consistent results, a fine tuning follows and then I am pretty much set on a load.
It would be surprising if a rifle made by a smith of McPhee’s reputation out of such high quality components handled in any way less than stellar and I was not disappointed. The trigger (Barnard) broke crisp and clean and the recoil (55% of a.308) was almost non-existent given the weight of the rifle. The Robertson stock is a joy to use, everything fit me perfectly and the operation of the rifle could not be smoother. I shot off a Henry Remple bipod and found it to be every bit as solid with this rifle as it is with mylighter F/TR rig.
So, how did the Barnard shoot? To say I was happy would be an understatement as the poorest shooting load gave me a 5 shot spread that measured 1.03” with four of them falling within a .6 cluster. Now I’m used to a .308, so the‘worst’ of these 6mm groupings would have been more than acceptable (sub half MOA) with a rifle in that calibre. The best loading really, really pleased me as I was able to produce a group that measured 0.661” – all five covered with a quarter at 300 yards! Now, at last, I fully understand all the fuss made over those little 6mm's J
I shall repeat the test on the weekend and fine tune from there if necessay but so far it looks like my F/TR .308 rifle will gather a bit of dust next year while I try my hand at F-Open !
Cheers and thanks for reading.
