Building a benchrest rifle

[Lee Martin]

Ulrich .30-caliber Bullet Dies
______________________________________

My George Ulrich .30-caliber dies and presses arrived last week.

Left-to-Right: steel core swaging die, carbide core seater, carbide point-up die



The punches:

• Top row – core seaters in 0.2665, 0.2670, 0.2675, 0.2680, and 0.2685
• Bottom left – core swaging punch
• Bottom right – 3 point up punches



I only needed two press conversions. I’ll use the same press for core swaging 6mm and .30. But the core seating and point up dies are dedicated to their own press. They never get pulled except for cleaning.

Left – core seating, Right – point up. George reworks the under linkage for added leverage. Swaging .30-cal is much harder on the arm than 6mm.



My first batch of 114 grain, 7-ogive bullets is underway (a batch = 1,000). Expect I’ll have them done next week.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[cherokeetracker]

Awesome !!! Glad to see this is getting under way. Look forward to the results later.

Charles

[Rimfire69]

This is great.

[Lee Martin]

Match #28 – Dallastown, PA
IBS Pennsylvania State Championships – VFS 100/200
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Last weekend I traveled north to shoot the IBS Pennsylvania state championships. It was a cool, but dry weekend with moderate wind. Nothing heavy, just a constant in-and-out pattern which made you stay on the flags. Friday afternoon was spent registering and arranging flags. Things kicked off 8:00 AM Saturday with the 200 yard leg. I shot well and was one of three competitors on track for a perfect 250 going into the last target. Two shots on the sighter cleanly took the 10 ring. Records #1 and #2 we solid 10’s and with the same condition, I moved to #3. Everything felt right, except the bullet landed in the 9 ring. Numbers 4 and 5 were good hits on the 10. For 100 yards, we moved flags and rotated benches. I stayed clean at 100, which secured another “250 Club” sticker. I took 8th in the grand agg (dropped 1 point for the whole event, 499/500. Top 10 at the States is good). A satisfying finish, considering the level of competition and my first trip to that range. Photos of the event:

Flag setting Friday afternoon:



Early Saturday morning:







Relay #2:





Resetting flags between 200 and 100 yards:





My .30 Stingray at 100 yards:



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[cmillard]

Lee, just read an amazing article over on accurateshooter.com. Bart sauter, shooting a lederer barrel in 6BRA, shot a new 600 yard 5 shot group of .282. Unbelievable!

[Lee Martin]

Bart Sauter is a highly accomplished bag shooter. Look no further than his induction into the NBRSA Hall of Fame. But even at his level, laying down a 0.282" at 600 yards is phenomenal (quick plug - I highly recommend his bullets and jackets. World class product from an all around great guy). As for Lederer blanks? I have 7 sitting in my shop right now. They're quickly gaining a reputation for being high on the "hummer meter".

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Martin 114 gr .30-caliber Bullets
__________________________________________

The first batch of 1,000 Martin 114 gr .30’s are done. I tuned them Saturday over a 2.0 gr window of LT-30. Load increments were 0.3 grs using two seating depths: 1) Jam, and 2) Jam minus 0.010”. Winds were very mild, averaging 2 mph. It was a good day to test.

Left to right – raw cut core at 77.2 grs, swaged core at 74.2 grs, unfilled jacket, core swaged jacket, and a pointed-up 114 gr 7-ogive bullet.



32.0 grs at both depths showed a node. Average 3-shot groups were high 1's. Moving to 32.3 and 32.6 grs gave vertical; I basically was in-between nodes. A typical group for those charges (mid-to-high 2’s):



At 33.0 grs I was back on a node. The “jam” load stuck 3 shots on top of one another (low 1’s):



I bumped the seating back to jam-10 and got this:



Folding the paper tears inward measured 0.314” edge-to-edge. That translates to a 0.06” group. To confirm, I rolled five and went down two clicks on my March. They all went center hole, netting a 0.145” cluster. The first four pulls tore one dot, the fifth shot walked up a hair.



33.3 and 33.6 came off the node. 34.0 shot really tight, but didn’t print like the 33.0. A Lab Radar tracked velocities, extreme spreads, and SD’s. 33.0 averaged 2,962 fps while 34.0 went 3,014. My 114’s see competition this weekend in Richmond. I’ll take 33.0 grs at jam-10.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[cherokeetracker]

Congratulations on the scores. With all the practice on the 6mms I think you have got this bullet swaging off to a real good start. Best of luck on Saturday.

Charles

[Lee Martin]

Match #29 – Black Creek, VA
IBS VFS 100
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My bullets performed well in their first competition. The gun, load, and 114 gr Martins were all on. However, I let them down on one shot.

The warm-up target showed real promise. I took out all 5 X’s, which built confidence. On record #1, I fired two foulers at the sighter. Both went in the same hole on the X. The flags showed a good condition so I decided to run fast. I quickly moved to the first bull and let one fly. In doing so, I didn’t reposition myself correctly. Not only did my trigger finger hit the inside of the trigger guard, my cheek bounced off the buttstock as the gun recoiled. Sure enough, the bullet flicked out into the 9-ring. Dropping a point at 100 yards is the kiss of death. I stayed focused and hit 10’s the rest of the day, pegging 17 X’s. That landed me in 14th position among 19 competitors. Had it not been for poor gun handling, I would’ve finished 5th. Out of 30 X’s across six targets, I took out 22. The bullet looks like it’ll shoot.

Unrelated, I found that MTM 9mm boxes work well for my .30-caliber swaging:



I ordered ten since I run bullets in lots of 1,000.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Match #30 – Fairfax Rod & Gun Club
IBS VFS 200 Yards
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The match director, Wayne France, recapped Saturday well. It was hot and winds were calm. And calm at Fairfax means shots tend to go where you don’t expect them to (no one seems to know why but it’s very real). Everyone fought fliers at some point. I was bit on targets 1 & 2, dropping a point each. Going into the 3rd session, I was in last place. I clawed back into it however finishing clean the rest of the day. I lost my points early, others lost them late. I finished 5th out of a 9.



Yesterday I went out at sunrise and fire-formed 50 new .30 Stingrays. On two, I stuck bullets in the barrel in spite of heavy neck tension and long seating. The shoulder angle and datum line are moved ahead a fair amount. Sometimes the case jumps enough to nix ignition. When that happens, I stand the gun on end and slowly eject the shell. Otherwise, powder gets dumped throughout the action. I played it safe and disassembled the trigger. It was time for routine cleaning and I wanted to make sure LT-30 granules didn’t get trapped. That’ll foul up fire control fast. I found no traces of powder and the trigger guts looked good.



This Saturday is the Dick Grosbier Memorial two-day in Thurmont, MD. 200 yards on Saturday, 300 yards Sunday. I’m eager to see what the Stingray does at 300.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[potatojudge]

Lee, am I understanding the tables right that you're the only shooter who makes their own action, smiths their own rifle, and makes their own bullets? I can't tell, but are any of the other shooters using wildcats of their own design?

[Lee Martin]

May 18, 2018 0:45:39 GMT -5 potatojudge said:

Lee, am I understanding the tables right that you're the only shooter who makes their own action, smiths their own rifle, and makes their own bullets? I can't tell, but are any of the other shooters using wildcats of their own design?

I'm one of the few shooting a wildcat of my design. Nearly everyone in VFS chambers the .30 BR. Fellow IBS competitor Wayne France shoots his .30 WW (.30 BR with the shoulder moved ahead 0.070"). The .30 Dasher is used sporadically too. In UBR, where the targets are scaled to caliber, you see a lot of 6 PPC and 6 BR, plus a few .22-calibers.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Match #31 – Thurmont, MD
IBS VFS 200 & 300 (Dick Grosbier Memorial Shoot)
_____________________________________________________

This was a two day event, commemorating long-time benchrest shooter Dick Grosbier. Dick was heavily involved with IBS and sadly passed away in 2017.

Saturday was the 200 yard leg and the bullets, gun, and my flag reading ability did well. I shot a perfect 250, hitting 10 X’s along the way. That was good enough for 10th spot out of 25. Sunday was 300 yards, which was my first time at that distance. Flatly put, 300 kicked my ass. I just couldn’t get dialed in on my holds and kept trying to finesse shots. In hindsight, I should’ve picked one condition and held the same POI throughout (note - catching one condition or window is tough at 300. There was a lot of in-and-out over that span). I quickly learned trying to walk bullets into the 10 ring by constantly adjusting my aim doesn’t work. Judging by Saturday’s results, the bullet and gun could not be blamed. It was all on me. I finished at the bottom Sunday, but like the distance. I’ll get another crack at it in June during the Bud Pryor Memorial at Thurmont (100/200/300).

Flag setting:



Front of the firing line:



200 yard, relay #2:



We had heavy rain for 4 days prior to the match. Thurmont is located next to a river which rose fast. The parking area when we arrived:



The parking area two hours after we started:



300 yard view from behind my gun:



Awards and a photo of the late Dick Grosbier:



The range post clean-up:



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[moosemeat]

Lee I would be curious to know what your rifle groups at 300 yards with the light bullets. What are the specs on the target?

[matt56]

This is one of the best threads I've read in a while. I almost took to benchrest about 10 years ago but at the time I didn't really have the money to get started out. The first match I ever went to at our local club a gentlemen let me shoot a 40-x 30 BR at 100 yds. I shot a 250 but I can't remember how many x's. It was enough for 3rd place that day. I still have the sticker. I went to all the matches that year but I couldn't get my own equipment sorted out. As time went on better and better shooters started showing up and I couldn't keep up with our informal club matches. I was always second guessing everything.

Now I'm hooked on revolvers and contenders. I feel bad for leaving benchrest behind, I know a few of the older guys were disappointed I didn't stick with it.