Here is somemore info from one of the top shooters of the nationals.
"Jerry,
The rifles are all essentially rack grade sticks. Three of them have been bedded (Darrell's rifle being the sole exception, and obviously it didn't hold him back any), and two of them have Tubb buttplates fitted to the stock. Mine... well I had to do some scrambling to get a scope remounted before the SOA match and didn't get it quite far forward enough and used some really tall rings (Burris Signature Zee Extra High rings). As a result mine got some... field expedient alterations involving foam padding and duct tape. Not pretty, but it worked. I'll probably get a couple spacers made up to fit in there instead so it looks a little nicer
Something else to consider... there were ~19 F/TR shooters @ the FCNC. Six (~1/3) were shooting Savage-based rifles. The four of us on Team Savage w/ the new 12 F/TR rifles, plus Warren Dean shooting a Savage w/ a custom barrel and stock, and Hans Prinz with another Savage with custom barrel and stock. Warren cleaned the 500 and 600 yd targets during the SOA matches (i.e. 100 w/ good X count), and was one of the few F/TR shooters to do so. I came close (99-7X @ 500yds), but didn't quite manage to make it happen. The one point I dropped there was solely due to me thinking I saw more wind than there was. Hans had some gun problems the first day of the FCNC (turns out he had a broken firing pin) right off the bat, but we got him back in action with one of the team rifles and ammo so he could finish the first stage/match @ 600yds. Savage provided us w/ a 'care package' of small parts, so we got his firing pin replaced between relays and he was back in action. He also out-shot me w/ my own rifle that day (147-5X!!!). On the second day (first day @ 1k), Hans took 2nd F/TR for the day... with a crossfire (beautiful '10', too). Otherwise he'd have been in the lead by *9* points. The point is, there were a lot of good shooters there, and not just on the Savage team. It was a really enjoyable week of shooting for me, as I rarely get to go head-to-head with other F/TR shooters in my neck of the woods.
Monte Milanuk
Team Savage "
Unless the pipe is really large and long, the repeater action WILL support it just fine. I know several F class shooters that hang 28" to 30" heavy varminter pipes off their repeaters with no problem (barrel nut install). If you went with a no taper 1.25" pipe that long, I would look at a block or the single shot action for sure.
Any normal varminter 26" pipe is easily handled by the repeating action.
My 6.5 Mystic rifles use Stevens actions and have a block more to control barrel heat then for support. Works very well. Controls high pressure firings without any issue and has proven superbly accurate.
If you ensure that the bending load is within design limits, both solid and repeater actions will provide the same level of mechanical accuracy. Supporting under the first inch or two of barrel, with bedding, will reduce strain on the action tremendously.
Jerry
