Hi Gary, I think it is a good idea that Sinclair does not sell with a bag as there are many different styles of bags on the market and depending on the type of shooting, different widths. I still think that one of the optimum rests is a Cain made right in Canada

Thanks Bill and Rick! It is not as fun as being there but it is more fun than not knowing or hearing anything especially when Bill is reporting all the scores of the Canadian shooters.

All the latest hooplah about scopes has been blown out of proportion and as Bill has said their is more often something else to blame. Having a second known scope that has a known reliability is a plus or a hood scope checker. If you are in doubt of your scope first check your load to see if all is well and make sure nothing has worked its way loose on the rifle or scope. If the temp has changed significantly it may require a little adjusting on the powder measure. The myth of finding a good load and sticking to it is false in my opinion but you rarely have to make major swings when a rifle is in tune. The thing I would first check if things start to go funny and after the load is checked is the firing pin and spring. Springs and firing pins on some actions are real touchy and do not stay good forever, especially on some of the newer actions. All the older rem based actions like the hart and stolle which have the longer firing pin and spring should have a firing pin travel of .25 and about 24 lbs tension and as long as nothing is binding they are hard to beat. The newer actions with a .190 fall and whatever spring tension can be quite unpredictable in performance once the spring gets older.
 I bought a rifle with a short throw and was a proven performer at the previous Super Shoot and yet when I got it a year later and had 3 barrels made up for it it would not shoot anything consitantly for a year and I tried another scope and it didn't help. Got a new firing pin spring and had the firing pin polished up a bit and it started to perform with most of the loads and barrels.
 On my brand new Panda I had issues with it from the start and for two years I struggled in the middle of the pack or worse and almost gave up until Greg Walley felt sorry for me and checked my gun over for me and found that the firing pin fall was only .217. Got the sear replaced and it now has the proper fall and it shoots very competively instead of an occasional small group and a bunch of .3s If you freeze a scope it does not guarantee anything other than the retcle tube should be glued but the reticle ,lens etc can still go bad.

 I had this issue with my gun when I first had a barrel done by Joe. The reamer is sort of a mix of Clayton Martin and Joe Kroetsch's idea of all the best features of a 6ppc reamer. The short throat was to get as much barrel life as possible without setting a barrel back and so that you could use the newer double ojive bullets that Bart and Bruno were starting to make at the time. At the time I was neck sizing with a Wilson inline and when you seated a 7 or 8 ojive bullet it would pop past the sized part of the neck and the bullet would rest on the powder. The way I fixed it was to have the die shortened 60 thou or more and the chamber reamed the same amount deeper so that in the end the die will size down a little farther on the neck and the problem stopped. Everything was working good after that.

Since you are fire forming, my bet is the shoulder has been set back to far. You cannot set the bullet in the lands hard enough to overcome this problem and and if this is the case you are probably creating another problem. The bullet in the lands on a case with the shoulder set back to far is acting like a cushion and the case is still being pushed until it stops, then the case gets tight to the wall and pushs the case head back which stretches the web thin which is bad news if your gun likes upper pressure loads.

A simple Hart rest or better yet a Hayes.

The Super Shoot is the premier match. Every year it is held the week between the Canadian victoria day and the American Memorial day weekend, it starts wednesday and ends the saturday. Bring some money and be prepared to meet the biggest names in BR and watch the wind blow till you say "o crap" and then watch screamers get a half dozen screamers get shot  while you wonder how it is done. Watch closely!

 Initially you are right, but you truly have to add up the cost monetarily and physically. You have to switch scopes if the type of shooting is different, every time you change barrels you will have to sight in to get back on target and the shear inconvenience. The barrels have a limited life and you may spend a quarter of it sighting in. You may also change barrels and grab the wrong bolt and head off to wherever you are going and realize you have the wrong bolt. The decision is yours, don't try to save a 100 bucks to spend 400 later. My take would be a 6BR also.

The first few years I started in this sport I would figure out how many aggs I would be able to shoot and order powder and bullets accordingly. It was right around 700 rds worth and then I would try to figure out how I was going to afford all this. This was when you could get the Australian 322 right off the shelf. When that changed and nothing worked the same,I spent a bunch on components and barrels till I finally found something I could work with again, after a while you start to find stuff you like and stock up. It will surely run short at some point and you will wish you did later.

 Calvin, while flags are important they do not need to be fancy. You should see the flags Ed Watson set many a record with. I myself watch the ribbons 90 percent over the flags. The flags are good at showing a pattern in the field if all the flags have similar color patterns but the ribbons will show the switches and intensity way more accurately.