Shuggy

It’s very handy and great for positional shooting. But the varmint profile barrel is also quite capable of coping with extended shot strings for target shooting.

I had an old Remington 700 VS, with a burnt out barrel, that was sitting in the cabinet doing nothing, and I had a similar itch for a ‘shorty’ that channelled the look of the DARPA XM-3 sniper rifle. I asked Neil McKillop to work his usual magic and this was the result. The first time out on the range, I think that I was annoying my spotter, as I kept hitting the spotting disc. Calibre is 0.308 and barrel length is 18”. Moderator is an Ase Utra BoreLock SL5i.

I have had a Tipton Gun Vise for years and they are great. However, chassis style stocks such as my AX308 do not fit well. I have recently bought a ‘pattern makers vice’ to replace the Tipton. These have the advantage of soft jaws, the ability to grip ‘tapers, round or odd shapes’ and the ability to swivel to any orientation. Plus the price is only £148, which I think is very reasonable. https://www.axminstertools.com/axminster-trade-vices-pattern-makers-vice-107038?queryID=43682989aa623abd93274522cd48abbd

This just showed up in my Facebook feed: Press release – 31st October 2022 The Phoenix Barrel Company Ltd We are pleased to announce the formation of a new UK rifle barrel manufacturing company by a group of international target rifle shooters and experienced barrel makers. With over 150 years of target shooting experience amongst the shareholders and the expertise of highly regarded barrel makers, it is our strong desire to quickly become the leading rifle barrel manufacturer in the UK marketplace. The company has purchased the machinery and equipment and other assets of the barrel making division of Sassen Engineering Ltd in Birmingham (in liquidation), and is preparing to commence production in early November 2022 to satisfy a healthy and growing order book. For more information, please contact us on info@phoenixbarrels.com

Another alternative is the Klarig muzzle brake from Germany: https://muendungsbremsen.de/en/borelock-brake.html This is compatible with the Ase Utra Borelock system, but is much more compact and neater looking than the Finnish made brakes. However, fair warning, Klarig does not accept credit card payments, insisting on the SEPA bank transfer system. I found this pretty complex and managed to mess it up. However, the quality of the brake itself is top notch, with excellent machining and a Nitride surface finish.

A 32 ft lb CB Long is also safe around habitation. You have to compare apples with apples. One of the joys of a tube magazine rimfire is that it will feed pretty much any length of ammunition. I am certainly not dissing FAC airguns. Choice is good and the engineering shown above is amazing. I’m just pointing out that there are other options available.

Well said by VarmLR. The shooting community has always been pretty good at weeding out the tiny few that wilfully conduct illegal acts. It does no one any good to look the other way.

That does make sense. The same flexibility also exists to a degree with rimfire. You can go from CB Longs at ~10 ft lbs, all the way up to CCI Stingers at ~140 ft lbs. But maybe not with the same fantastic consistency as you are getting.

Aggy, thank you, I think that’s an amazing rifle. However, I must admit that I have never quite ‘got’ FAC air rifles. If one is going to go to the trouble of obtaining an FAC, what advantages does an air rifle confer over a rimfire? if you take something like this 22 Henry lever action: this will hold 16 rounds of 22 Short, each delivering about 70 ft lbs. It weighs something like 6 lbs; handles like a magic wand; holds minute-of-bunny head comfortably at 50 yards; is almost silent when fitted with a moderator; and can be picked up for around £700. What am I missing?

It’s very interesting to read the scammer’s post history. He clearly took some effort to post just enough apparently knowledgeable posts to appear plausible. Please take care everyone!

A hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel, such as you will find on an SA80 will typically last 10-20,000 rounds. A non-chrome lined barrel would probably last a bit less. But there is a big difference between service rifle accuracy standards and civilian ‘match’ accuracy. I am guessing that a stainless 0.223 match barrel would probably give good accuracy for 5-6,000 rounds? Good barrel life is one of the joys of using standard ‘underbore’ cartridges such as 0.223 and 0.308.

I believe that the CZ527 is a basic Mauser action, so any decent ‘smith should be able to improve its accuracy by fitting a stainless match barrel instead of the hammer forged one that it comes with. May as well get it glass bedded while you are at it.

Springs, baffles and washers here: https://www.silco.co.uk/internal-baffles-kit-for-parker-hale-mm1-848-p.asp

I think that I probably contributed to that thread 5 years ago! I think that the one new choice since then would be the A-Tec Marksman. However, I went with the AI design back then and have been very satisfied with it. The AI over brake moderator design is really very good. However, you do need to keep the mating surfaces clean and coated with an appropriate high temperature grease. We had another good thread on that where Baldie shared some useful advice.

I am genuinely interested. What makes the newer barrels trash?

My experience is mainly with 308 rather than 223, but I have found that the cheaper factory offerings from the likes of Remington, Federal, PPU and Magtech do not shoot very well. I would be very unsurprised if it is the same in 223. The factory brands that do seem to shoot well are GGG (especially the loads that use the Sierra bullet) and SM Chemnitzer (previously known as MEN). I expect that the likes of Lapua and Norma are also both good, but I have personally never seen any for sale. As for your rifle, Baldie has written a number of interesting posts on here about the lack of accuracy that can be expected with AR15s that use bolted-in milsurp barrels with inappropriate chambers and poorly headspaced barrel extensions. If the accuracy is still poor with quality ammo, then that’s the direction that you should probably look next.

It’s a complicated bit of chemistry, but it’s more like decades under normal storage. The good news is that performance drops off before propellant become dangerous. This is the reason why velocity drops off and ES increases in surplus ammunition and the number of ‘click-bangs’ also increases. The ammunition is still safe at this stage, but it’s a sure sign that it needs to be disposed of. Personally I would sprinkle it over your roses or cabbages, rather than burying it in bulk.

Nitrocellulose and Nitroglycerin are basically unstable nitrate ester explosives which are made into safe propellants by the use of additives. Over many years they will degrade by generating nitric acid, which in turn further degrades the propellant, a process called ‘thermal decomposition’. This is accelerated by temperature cycling and other environmental exposure. Eventually the reaction can run away, causing fires and explosions. Every year, various arms dumps around the world explode because people failed to pay attention to the basics of explosives storage and surveillance. The critical additive is a stabiliser, which soaks up and neutralises the nitric acid. However, after long enough, it will eventually get used up, at which point the propellant starts to gas and become dangerous. For the home reloader, powders stored under normal household temperatures and humidity would take many decades to become unsafe, but it will happen eventually. Best not to take any chances and dispose of them safely. On the other hand, black powder remains useable for a long time, as long as it’s kept dry. I believe that TS6 was an American brand made by Curtis and Harvey. As mentioned above, don’t ever be tempted to dispose of black powder by burning, unless it has been thoroughly wetted first.

Tier One should stand behind their product and send you a new set. Worth a try at least? What you have there is somewhere beyond tolerance stacking.

If you want affordable, then there are these: https://uk.hawkeoptics.com/match-mount-30mm-2-piece-9-11mm-high.html …which you can fit with these: https://uk.hawkeoptics.com/mount-inserts-30mm.html

The Sierra 190gr Matchkings also work quite well at long range, even out of a shorter barrel. They are an old design, but still a good one. And they are about 30% cheaper than the Bergers.

I reckon that plain old black round targets are best for iron sights, whether diopter or leaf style. And if you want to see the hits clearly, the ‘splatter’ type of targets are very good. There are various brands: ‘Shoot-NC’, ‘Dirty Bird’ and ‘GlowShot’, but they all do much the same thing. You can get bullseye targets in various sizes to suit your need.

And the DOSR WG means the Defence Ordnance, Munitions and Explosives Safety Regulator Working Group. In other words, the person and group who sets the safety rules for all MOD owned ranges. The Ministry of Defence really does love its acronyms!

Yes, I would like to take this please, when you are ready.

I saw this on the HPS Target Rifles website - they do a 3/4 scale laminate stock for their CZ based youth rifle.