PROJECT RIFLE: DESIGN OVER COST

Created on 14th May 2009

LAURIE HOLLAND realises how costly his project to build a tube gun is set to be - but results, he hopes, will justify it all

LAST MONTH I covered the principles behind tube guns, so it's time to look at the Competition Shooting Stuff (CSS) B1 single-shot rifle stock kit that arrived in the post alongside the Barnard action that had made an even longer journey. However, a brief update on tube gun developments first. All makers are wooing police and military ‘tactical rifle' users, not to mention civilian sniper and practical rifle competitors (probably the real opportunity) who want black outfits that stand up to abuse while providing rapid fire, accuracy, detachable box magazines and solidly attached bipods.

MAK already has all these, David Tubb's Superior Shooting Systems Inc offers a tactical version of the T2K, the Tubb 2000T, and Gary Eliseo (CSS) is now taking orders for a new RT10 magazine rifle kit built around the Remington 700 long action and designed for powerful long-range cartridges including magnum designs using, as the name suggests, a 10-round detachable box magazine. Barnard Precision has a straight-line tactical design called the 07, which you'll no doubt read about in Target Sports, a well-known writer having acquired one. I found another example of a bolt-action ‘tactical' straight-line rifle design at the Blair Atholl F-Class meetings, Andy and Vanessa Duffy sharing a .308W RPA Rangemaster. (RPA's ‘Interceptor' is a varmint/target rifle, while the ‘Rangemaster' is marketed to police and military users primarily in .338 Lapua Magnum.)

Choices

Why did I choose the CSS kit? Four reasons: firstly, the choice of action with this design optimised for the single-shot Barnard Model P, while the MAK has to use the Remington 700 or product-improved clones such as the Stiller. While more expensive, the Barnard is far superior to the Remy repeating design for precision shooting. (Anyway, by the time you have the 700 trued, bolt lugs lapped, throw in a Jewell or CG Universal match trigger, for example, there's no cost saving, and you still have big holes in the action, top and bottom. I investigated using the solid-bottom Stiller ‘Predator' match action that has the 700's external dimensions, so should fit the MAK and CSS stocks. However, this is not a cheap option, especially as you again have to buy a trigger assembly.) Then there is the way the action is secured in the main tube section, or more precisely how it's not secured - no glue required in this design. If the tube-gun concept doesn't work out in practice, the prospect of having to apply a blow-torch flame for an extended period to a glued-together action and stock-tube to persuade these expensive and precisely machined components to part company won't appeal, and the heat will also ruin their finishes. (Also, I'm not sure how one has the rifle rebarrelled with the action near-permanently installed in the stock tube.) I thought CSS offered good value at $800 plus $80 shipping and insurance, as this includes the sophisticated buttstock assembly while the initially cheaper MAK equivalent doesn't. The latter would have required the purchase of an adjustable AR15-compatible component able to ride a rear bag, the eminently suitable Magpul ‘PRS' (Precision Rifle Stock) available here, but adding £250. (While on the subject of prices, don't forget that Parcelforce International charges £12 for handling the customs documentation of any privately imported stock kit, and HM's licensed thieves demand duty and VAT that add another 20% or so to whatever the American purchase price translates to at the prevailing pound/dollar exchange rate.) Finally, Gary Eliseo went out of his way to answer every query I raised promptly and fully, and to facilitate the sale and export of a stock kit, while MAK initially said there was no problem dealing with a British customer, but then stopped answering emails, perhaps because its products are currently on back-order against a strong domestic demand.

There was another decision required, some would say the key one - colour. My inclination was for black, but Mr Bottomley was of the opinion I should specify a delightful (I'd call it ‘lurid') violent purple hue. With increasingly colourful F-Class rifles seen on the firing points, I eventually came round to Vince's view, but ‘violent purple' no way! I decided instead that red would suit black stock components at one end of the rifle and a stainless barrel at the other, and I had no regrets when the kit arrived thanks to the shade used and the superb powder-coated finish. Besides, I still have a ‘black rifle' on order - an alternative F/TR shooting tool with an appearance which will more than satisfy my more conservative instincts.

Bits ‘n' pieces

I'll let the photographs do the work in describing the stock components, and restrict myself to a couple of observations. Firstly, the fit and finish is superb throughout, everything slotting together easily but without the slightest trace of slop, or displaying unseemly gaps between abutting edges. Such is the miracle of CNC production - but one also has to remember Gary Eliseo's background is not only as a precision engineer but as one who designed equipment, tools and machines from scratch to meet customers' performance specifications. This skill and experience shows up in the thought that has gone into the design and the many little touches to help the user, such as buttstock markings to allow settings to be recorded. The stock is designed for prone shooting off the elbows with a sling, so we need some adaptations to use it in the supported F-Class role. Vince will attach an L-shaped bracket to the bottom of the buttplate mount to provide a rear support/bag riding rail. With the rifle to be used in F/TR, front-end support is restricted to a ‘bipod' attached to the rifle - standalone heavy front rests as used in ‘F-Open' are not permitted. Top F/TR competitor Ian Dixon is supplying one of his own-design triangular section jobs, including fabricating a bespoke mounting bracket for the CSS forend tube, so that takes care of that end of the piece.

What can I tell you about the action? The Model P is a deceptively simple-looking single-shot triple bolt-lug design from Barnard Precision of Auckland, New Zealand. A heavy-duty steel tube with a long barrel-supporting tenon thread area acts as the receiver; a minimum size loading/ejection port is machined in. Mine is right bolt-right port, but you can specify left-hand operation, port provided opposite the bolt handle or twin port (loading one side, ejection the other), as well as repeater versions. The bolt is of large diameter, provides more than adequate total lug surface area and a deeply recessed face for safety with a hefty ‘Sako-pattern' extractor and spring-loaded button ejector. Lock-time is tiny and firing pin strike adjustable. An example of designed-in simplicity is a bolt stop/release consisting of a peg in the receiver wall that runs along an L-shape track machined in the bolt body, thereby doubling as a bolt guide/rib. With release effected by simply opening the bolt and then applying a part turn to move the peg into the short leg of the ‘L', no spring-tensioned catches or similar are needed. Big deal, you say, but I've seen competitors using minimum clearance precision actions in trouble on more than one occasion thanks to a faulty release catch spring or even a small piece of dirt or case brass locking catch and bolt up.

The receiver and bolt are hardened before final machining, so the finished article remains ‘true'. A Barnard-designed and manufactured three-lever match trigger assembly is included, pull-weight-adjustable from 6oz to 4lb, also able to be set for single- or double-stage operation. These actions are popular with TR/Palma shooters worldwide and appear increasingly frequently in F-Class. Other precision shooting competitors are looking at them as a cost effective and strong for weight alternative to the American twin-lug actions. Top rifle builder Norman Clark recommends this action for any single-shot precision rifle and has used it in many fine TR, Match Rifle and F-Class rifles.

Bartlein

The final main component is the barrel, on order from Bartlein Barrels of Jackson, Wisconsin, and is unfortunately yet to arrive as Target Sports goes to press, so it will be some time before you read Vince's report on the build. The problem is that of success, Bartlein barrelled rifles having won so many competitions recently that the company has been overwhelmed by demand. I'll leave the technical description to Vince, only noting that we've opted for four-groove one turn in 13.5" twist rifling to suit the 155gn Lapua Scenar with Berger's new high-BC 155.5gn BT Match a possible alternative once it's available here. Barrel profile is heavy, tapering to a still substantial 1" diameter at the muzzle and with a target length after threading and crowning of 32" this will carry some weight; Vince estimates 7½lb.

Optics and pounds

The F/TR all-up weight limit is 8.25kg (18.18lb) including the bipod and sights, which may seem generous but can become critical in practice with heavy-profile 32" and greater length barrels. The stock kit weighs in at around 4½lb. The action and trigger is nominally 3lb, so we've reached 15lb before a scope and bipod are added, giving us just over 3lb to play with, around half of that taken by the former and its mounting rings. One of the new Sightron 8-32X56 30mm body Series III target scopes has been obtained for this rifle (there will be a range test report on it soon). The Weaver sight-mounting rail that comes with the CSS stock has a 10MOA slope, a bit lacking for .308 Winchester with around 30MOA elevation increase needed for 1,000yd over a 100yd zero, but the Sightron provides the largest adjustment range in its class, so there shouldn't be a problem. However, if weight is critical, I have an alternative in the form of a fixed power 1"tube Weaver T36, saving around ½lb. This would almost certainly run into elevation adjustment problems, the answer being Burris Signature rings with offset inserts to put enough slope into the mounts. The absolute last resort will be barrel length reduction - having struggled throughout the 2008 season with the MV limitations imposed by my FN SPR's 24" barrel. I'll sacrifice velocity in its replacement - but with great reluctance!

What has all this cost? Please don't ask! The original idea was for a basic black MAK stock kit that sells for just under $600, the cheapest Remy 700 action I could get hold of, a Pac-Nor or similar budget barrel while recycling an existing bipod and scope. The scope and cost of the project have somehow grown, just like Topsy, but they will be justified by the results, or so I sincerely hope.

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