Target Sports

SYSS SURGEON: PART TWO SMOOTH OPERATOR

Created on 20th May 2009

TIM FINLEY puts in a spectacular performance with the Surgeon in the sniper training McQueen's competition - winning the round

AS MENTIONED in part one, South Yorkshire Shooting Supplies now has the UK distributorship of the renowned fullbore tactical rifle action made by Surgeon in the USA. SYSS also makes custom rifles built on that. I say build as the staff chamber barrels and fit them to actions on their own premises. As I stated in the last article I wanted a rifle chambered in 6.5x47mm to be a magazine-fed tactical rifle along the same lines as Ross Borough's (which by the way has just shot a 2.70" five-shot group at 600yd in a benchrest competition, finishing second). My choice of parts to go with the Surgeon action for my own tactical rifle were as follows: firstly SYSS's own floor plate magazine system, which works with Accuracy International magazines. This mag system is made in deepest Yorkshire to SYSS's own design and is now being used by many custom rifle builders in the UK due to its quality construction. It is proving almost impossible to get hold of such systems from the USA, (i.e. Badgers). The trigger had to be a Jewel, and I chose an Archer Border barrel. I wanted to shoot a UK-produced barrel and they really do shoot. With a 1 in 8.5 twist it would handle the 6.5mm 123gn Lapua Scenar bullets well, with an overall length of 28". I then wanted it fitted with a muzzle brake. The Vais type suited the barrel profile T1 and was really all that was needed as the 6.5x47mm is not a heavy recoiling cartridge. A lot of people shoot the round without a brake, but I wanted to be able to spot the shots falling on the McQueen's target head at 200yd before I cycled the action. I am used to seeing where shots fall when using my Steyr LG110 HFT/FT air rifles (if you can shoot HFT well you can shoot anything!). The stock had to be a McMillan A5 adjustable in a camo finish as that is the best tactical stock out there, going from my air rifle experience. I wanted an adjustable cheekpiece as I still find it amazing how many fullbore tactical shooters see nothing wrong in using a really low cheekpiece. It's as though they have never heard of exit pupils and parallax error - they wouldn't last five minutes on an HFT shoot! Finish-wise I wanted a Duracoat olive green colour from Jager Sporting Arms, who do some coating works for Roger.

With my build list done it was up to Roger and Dave at SYSS to get hold of the parts then assemble the rifle. The only hold up was waiting for the stock. The Surgeon action was off the shelf at Roger's. The magazine floor plate again is made for Roger so was on the shelf along with AI magazines to go with it. The Vais brake is also a SYSS stock item: the barrel came from Border in no time at all as the two firms have a very good working relationship. Dave chambered and fitted the barrel as soon as my order was in, even threading and fitting the muzzle brake.

Eventually the stock did turn up and Dave was able to assemble the gun. The action was bedded with Devcon and the rifle sent to James at Jager for painting, along with a five and 10-shot AI magazine.

Sorting the ammunition

Once Dave had finished working his magic and handed me the rifle, I measured the rifle's chamber to get the optimum bullet seating depth and made up some rounds for initial testing. Ross was using 123gn Lapua Scenar bullets with Lapua brass. Unlike Dave who uses Vihtavuori N540 in his, Ross uses Reloder 15.

Knowing how accurate Ross's gun is I went for Reloder 15 too. I made up 55 rounds in half-grain increments starting at under top book pressure. Initial tests were ok but I did it right before the last McQueen's round of 2008. I did not have enough rounds in the box to fully zero the rifle and shoot the competition. I opted to shoot the competition as I was so keen to use the rifle. On the day the weather was so bad both rounds were shot at 300yd from an undercover firing point. I managed to shoot a 43 on the first round where the shots fell a bit too low and 45 on the second, this with the windage also out by a few inches. I came sixth on the day but at least I did have a load that seemed accurate. I loaded up some rounds all at that powder amount and bullet seating depth for the first Diggle McQueen's round of the 2009 season. I still had to shoot a group at 100yd. On the morning of the first round we went to the zero range; the windage was indeed out at 100yd and with that problem sorted I shot at the centre of a 30mm diameter orange dot for a group. It hit just a fraction off centre. I aimed and fired again. For the first time ever in my fullbore shooting career it went through the same hole. Dave, the rifle builder, was a few benches away getting his rifle sorted for the competition and kept asking me how it was going. I said nothing and cycled the action to load another round; the third round just marginally enlarged the one hole. At this point I went over and gave Dave a ‘Morecambe and Wise' double palm slap on his face. He looked through his scope and was quite pleased too. Remember this is a magazine-fed rifle shot off a Harris bipod and a Hunters of England tactical back bag. That it's also a tack driver as a single-shot benchrest rifle is down to the Surgeon action and Dave's skill as a gunsmith.

On to the McQueens

From the brief stint at the 100yd zero range it was on to the sniper training McQueen's competition. We were making our way to the 200yd firing point when the rain started. Diggle can be a bleak place and, with the wind gusting, we were to shoot both rounds from 300yd undercover. To accommodate the large entry it was decided two heads were to appear in the eight windows at the same time. Shooters would compete in pairs; to differentiate the heads had either green or red cardboard stars stapled to the sticks on either side of each head. I shot with Dave using his 6mmBR magazine fed Surgeon as featured in part one of the article. I was nervous, as it was only the third time I had shot the rifle on the McQueen's wall. Conditions were not conducive to confidence, with the wind gusting really badly too.

When the shooting was over, I was surprised by my score; a 50ex-50 with just one of the 10 rounds cutting the five-ring on the left. The group was strung up and down a bit but that was all down to me. Jeanette Whitney with her 6x47mm, built by Target Sports' own Vince Bottomley, also put in a 50. Jeanette was one of the first shooters ever to get a 50ex-50 at 200yd at Diggle some years ago.

So no pressures for round two then! Well, I happen to thrive on pressure. The wind did not improve in the afternoon but I now felt very confident. Dave had everything crossed as scoring another maximum at 300yd had only been done once before in the club's history, by last year's McQueen's league winner using a .260 Remington built by Tactical Rifles Inc in the US. The whole course of fire felt good but I had to wait for the competition to end and the heads come back to the club house for scoring to find out. It transpired that I had indeed shot another 50 for 100ex-100. I won the round then, which was pleasing for me as I came in third overall in 2006 and 2007 with my .308 single shot Remington 700, the highest placed military calibre in those years (2008 was a bit of a blur, my wife having twins).You just could not write the script; it all seems unbelievable but the proof is there. SYSS builds a mean tactical rifle capable of benchrest performance. I would love to see what Dave is capable of when it comes to building a pure benchrest rifle! As with the custom Rimfire Magic rifles SYSS build, the customer also has quite a selection of parts to choose from at SYSS for a fullbore Tactical Magic rifle.

Incidentally, I have a space on my ticket for a 6mmBR; guess who is going to build it for me?

My rifle specification

Surgeon action: £975
Border barrel: £550
Jewel trigger: £230
A5 McMillan stock: £650
Bedding: £180
Vais brake: £195
Duracoat: £175
AI 10-shot mag: £60
All prices include fitting.

SYSS SURGEON: PART TWO SMOOTH OPERATOR

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SYSS SURGEON: PART TWO SMOOTH OPERATOR

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