Benchrest in Canada
BR Discussions => Centerfire Discussions => Topic started by: Bill Leeper on October 14, 2025, 09:14:19 AM
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After many, many years away from BR competition, I decided to get back into it. There was a time when I was a passable shooter but that was then. Nonetheless, I attended a couple of matches this past summer (where I shot quite poorly, thanks for asking) with the intention of attending a big match once I got sorted out a bit. I heard about the Tack Driver match, organized by Jim Cline in South Carolina. It is a match fired at 300m (I like the distance) for group and for score (the score part is on a 200 yd hunter BR target!). It is kind of a "run what you brung" event, but the winning formula, to date, has been a HV rifle in PPC or a BR or BR derivative. Hugh Williamson has come very close to cleaning the score portion of the event and has placed second overall. If pressed, I would be inclined to pick Hugh as the likely winner this year. Still, ever the optimist, I entered the match and I brashly told Jim that I would show up with a 308. Now, I had a heavy 308 with which I had shot a 750/750 on the ISSF target and it is a pretty solid 1/4 minute rifle at that range. Instead of that, I decided to build another.
I had three suitable actions and a couple of old Hart barrels. I also had one unsuitable action which I naturally chose to use. This is an old Wichita Mini action with a PPC bolt. I fitted one of the Hart barrels to it and rebated the rims on twenty cases to test the concept. It worked fine except for one thing; it didn't shoot as well as my silhouette rifle. In fact, it sucked. Now and then, it would shoot under .4 but it was usually closer to .8. Pretty good for a lightweight 30/06 but an embarrassment for a BR gun. Now I had previously shot this rifle, with a 6BR barrel on it (also with rebated rims) at a couple of BR matches. It had not shot particularly well. It was worse as a 308. The likely reason became apparent when I was taking it apart to do some diagnostic work. When I removed the scope (a 36x Weaver) it rattled! Now I'm no expert, but I don't think they are supposed to do that. I replaced it with an old 24x Leupold I have and, at the same time, put on a new Williamson barrel. The improvement was immediate and I'll tell all about it later. Right now, I've got to go to town. Bill
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Tough crowd down there. All the big kids and then some! I think you will enjoy it!
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I'm pretty sure I have a shot at high 308! I've replaced the broken scope with a new Sightron. This fixed the problems I was having with the rifle. Still, like all 308's, it's kind of hard to shoot. I've had the scope just touch my nose a few times. That's disconcerting. I thought I had an issue with the scope focus. Turned out I was wearing my shop glasses which don't fully correct my distance vision. A switch to the right glasses fixed things right up!
The HWP barrel is great. I only hope to be able to do it justice.
Having the 300 meter range 50 yds from the house makes load development less trouble. None of the powders I was hoping for (the ones I have a lot of) made the cut. Still, there are three in the running. I ordered some bullets specifically for this. They are sitting in a postal warehouse somewhere. I'm stuck with 167 Scenars but they seem to be capable of decent performance. If this was a 300 meter "F" class match, I would be very confident. Whether I shoot well or not, I'll record what I can for the YT channel. Bill