Centrefire Sporting Rifle For Competitive Shooting

[miroflex]

Hello,

Many of us would like to have a go at shooting in shooting events but may not be able to afford the expense of a match rifle. What do members who have tried their hand in competition feel about the practical aspects of modifying the sights of a high grade sporting rifle, say a .275 Rigby by John Rigby on a Mauser bolt action, for competitive shooting? Would it be possible to achieve at least a minimum qualifying score with such equipment? Or would it better to borrow or hire a purpose made match rifle, assuming that both are in very good condition?

Regards.

[eljefe]

Understandably, the sport has gone full throttle at space age guns. E.g Bench rest ‘heavy class’ are 18 lbs of steel and metal which have a token resemblance to their humble ,sporting rifle’ ancestors.
Specifically the 7x57 - which is the original Nomenclature , by the Mauser company, was anglicised to the .275 Rigby - even though Rigby imported the actions and barrels in the early 20th century, from Waffenfabrik Mauser because of the strong, British Nationalist culture prevalent at that time.

The original military barrel twist was 1:9 or 1:8.75” to accomodate the 175 gr FMJ projectile which ran at about 2300 fps.

A gr7 Rigby in .275 was close to $10,000 US, wore some ugly ‘Rigby’ branded scope, and . ‘275”Rigby’ headstamped ammo- rumor has it that Hornady makes this for Rigby.
As per the company rep, the accuracy is guaranteed only with the 140 gr projectile.
In comparison:
A 7x57 with 1:8.75 “ barrel twist will happily handle any projectile load from 120-175 gr.

So a ‘high grade’Rigby costs about as much or MORE than the current crop of BR rifles used in India.
Accurising? In a personal communication with the Rigby company, my query of why they used no crossbolts for heavy rifles to help with the wood bearing the recoil was answered “… the Rigby rifles inletting pattern is sufficient for the bearing surfaces and does not need crossbolts.

A ‘High grade’ sporting rifle does not translate into a target rifle simply by adding a peep or vernier/ match sights.

I have taken game,and rung 1’x1’ gongs at 400y with an accurised 7x57 ( the common mans designation of the .275 Rigby) because i have done a few mods like change the stock to a configuration suited to my LOP and stature, epoxy bedded , bolt lugs checked for equal bearing surfaces etc and finally, handloaded ammo which is prepped with something bordering on OCD (or anal retentiveness)
Yes, MQS have been reached with minimally tweaked sporting rifles, most notably in .30-06, and factory ammo. Post ‘71, a large quantity of US made ‘Lake city ‘ ammo In 30-06 was captured and filtered down in the civvy market, which was essentially match grade ammo.

A Barnes type monolithic projectile will definitely give a little
More accuracy. But I dont think any one offers ammo loaded with
Barnes in 7x57. And you cant reload in India. In my experience, the S&B (or Soddit & Buggerit) 140 gr factory ammo in SP,with its barely adequate accuracy, uneven flash holes and which may be available
A very strong contender is 7mm-08 caliber. It has excellent ballistics and transonic profile.

Going by availabilty , see if you can get an IOF .30-06 and beg plead and cry and ask Z375 for his special ‘thook Maalish’ job. Its world class.

Good Luck

[timmy]

Miroflex, one thing you might consider is attending a match, to see what people in various classes are shooting.

Regarding an M98 action, here's what Stuart Otteson mentions in volume 1 of his Bolt Action Rifles books:

The M98 receiver beds on the flat underside, principally behind the recoil lug and at the rear tang. The front surface has about 1 sq. in. area. This is relatively small in comparison with most later bolt actions, and the Mauser is, in fact, not noted for maintaining a solid bedding in the stock.

This would tell me that you may have some work to do, playing around with bedding, if you are going to enter matches against newer designs.

Vertical guard screws thread into the recoil lug and tang. Both are bushed to prevent springing the receiver or floorplate. Nevertheless, a long slender tang and the deeply notched left rail leave the Mauser receiver weak and easily bent by guard-screw tension if support contact in the wood is im- perfect .

and . . .

The left siderail is cut out to form a deep thumb clearance just forward of the bridge. The primary function of this notch is to aid clip charging of the magazine, but it also creates a gas-release point for the left raceway (D.R.G.M. 56,068 issued Aug. 9, 1895). When clip charging is not a factor, the desirability of this notch becomes suspect, since it does seriously weaken the receiver mid- section.

This problem has more to do with fitting a heavy barrel and supporting it when it is free-floated. However, the flexibility will affect bedding, as mentioned above.

Performance of the M98 lock can serve as a basis to compare later turn- bolt designs. Its mainspring gives a moderate average driving thrust (about 17 Ib.) over a fairly long distance (about ?hin.) to achieve a high energy and impulse blow (about 130 in.-oz. and 1.4 oz.-sec.). The significance and relation to performance of these parameters is covered in later chapters.

Lock time is just over 5 milliseconds (ms.), slow by today’s standards, yet very good in its day. In fact, compared to many non-turnbolt type actions, it was exceptional. Even today’s automatics, pumps, and lever rifles, with their swinging or hammer type lock mechanisms, usually can’t match it.

Like many other authors, Otteson addresses issues that are more of interest to sportsmen, while a few of his comments, like those Iv'e quoed above, relate to target shooting.

You must also consider the condition of your bore and your trigger Your sporting barrel, especially if your competition requires fairly rapid multiple shots, will work against you if you face folks using heavier barreled guns. This will also require fine-tuning your bedding. At some point, you may be required to consider how desirable modifications are to a nice, valuable rifle. Or, you could consider getting another stock for competition purposes so you can play with the bedding (glass bedding and pillars, for instance) without modifying your existing stock.

This isn't to say that an M98 action will not shoot, because many shooters over the years have made them shoot well. But it is something to consider.

But el jefe has, in my opinion, "rung the bell" when he mentions ammunition. Getting any kind of ammunition is one thing, and reloading is ruled out. A lot of 7x57 mm ammo is intended for sporting purposes and often is held to pressure levels that are appropriate for using the ammunition in surplus rifles that have a 0.318" bore. The barrels of 7x57 mm rifles are often cut with a long throat, so as to chamber the long 175 gr round nosed bullets that were often the standard military load. You might consider whether these bullets and the chambering are going to work for your intended purpose. Granted, with all of this said, you may have a combination that will, despite all, launch bullets into a pretty respectable group. Knowing what the gun will do in a simulated competition test is probably your first course of action.

But as el jefe noted, 30-06 ammo is probably going to be easiest to find, especially in bullet choices that are more amenable to your chosen use. The Blaser-derived rifle is modern and should provide the basis for a pretty accurate rifle. Frank de Haas, in his bolt action book, reported that he was able to achieve "less than .750 MOZ" at first, and a little over an inch with repeated shots with his Blaser 22-250. He then mentioned that he achieved "less than .500" for a three shot group from a cold barrel. I suspect that this would be more along the line of what you're seeking, as compared to an M98.

However, maybe it would be fun to bring the old Rigby out and give it a try, to see what kind of performance it could turn in for you. It might be fun, tinkering around with an old rifle like that, and also it could well be fun stepping out onto the range in a competition setting. Who knows how well you may do?

[Vikram]

Jefe and Tim,

Thank you for your educational posts. There is always something new to learn.

[timmy]

Maybe I'm going a little too far afield here, but my vrey limited experience in this sort of thing runs this way: I wanted to shoot in "C&R" matches. This competition is limited to older bolt action military rifles. The area's competitions offered this sort of shooting in three classes: standard military rifles with factory ammo, standard military rifles with reloaded ammo, and military rifles with scope sights and reloaded ammo.

I chose the first, or lowest level of competition.

The rifles that were successful in this were the Swiss K31 straight pull bolt action and the M96 Swedish Mauser long rifle. By this time, neither of these were inexpensive. My choice was the more affordable M39 Finnish version of the Mosin Nagant rifle. This wasn't the choice of most winners, but its accuracy offered a chance to run with the leaders.

The chief element over which I had control was ammunition, so I started trying out whatever I could find. I tested a host of military surplus, and whatever commercial ammunition I could find. I had high hopes for Sellier & Ballot Hollow Point Boat Tail Match (which el jefe referred to as "Soddit & Buggerit" -- I found out the hard way he's right!) and was a little shocked to find it was no better than the lowest accuracy surplus ammo that was decades old!

Not in shiny new brass cases, I found that the second most accurate ammo was surplus Hungarian that was made in the 70s. I used this for all my practice, as happily, I'd laid a quantity of this away, having bought a number of 440 round sealed surplus tins of it. It really was pretty good stuff.

Surprisingly, the most accurate ammo was Barnaul 203 gr round nosed hunting ammo. That my Finn would like heavier bullets was something I was already aware of, but the Barnaul was the most accurate and later, conversations with others confirmed my experience in this. It was steel cased, like the surplus Warsaw Pact ammo from a number of nations (only Albanian surplus was in brass cases -- but then again, Albania wasn't in the Warsaw Pact. It wasn't very accurate and it was filthy to shoot. I wondered whether their powder factories were using used chewing tobacco and old rubbish as powder components! Then again, since their only ally was China, maybe the rubbish was shipped from there.) Barnaul seems to be a cut above the other Russian ammo with which I have familiarity, and what I have left of what I bought has been laid aside, in case I go hunting. I feel it might do well in that use, too.

The point of my long-winded story is that I feel you should survey whatever ammo is available for your rifle. You never know what your gun will like and what it won't until you try it. It's all about giving yourself and your gun the best chance.

[eljefe]

Timmy, the Eastern Block steel cased ammo has very surprising accuracy. Most is Berdan primed. A mate and I spent a futile afternoon trying to pull the FMJ projectiles froma huge pile of 7.62x39 ammo. We broke his inertia bullet puller ! The damn things had a coat of lacquer on the case / projectile junction. Maybe the Eastern Bloc version of super glue! A simple plan was to put each case in a vice and drive the projectile a bit into the case, thus breaking the seal, and then into the puller.
Yup, its not for nothing the S&B is called soddit & Buggerit- poor case neck tension, goes to hell in a handbasket after 2 reloads and worst thing is the off centre primer pocket flash holes with 8-9/10 having a bit of brass swarf sticking into the case body.

[shooter50]

That 275 by John Rigby would classify as an antique in India. Why don't you shoot it first to see how accurate it is. I doubt if you will be able to get better than 3-4 MOA. If that is so, then it is useless for big bore shooting competition.

[mundaire]

I should also add a note of caution here, the MQS for all events, including big bore rifle has been substantially increased over the past few years.

When it used to be 475/ 600, one could still expect to be in with an OK chance using a modified sporting rifle. However, unless I'm mistaken its gone up to 540/ 600. With that kind of qualifying score required, you'd be going in with a serious handicap using an ordinary rifle that has been tricked out for the match. Don't forget, unlike other countries, in India you cannot buy major parts like a match grade barrel, match trigger assembly etc.

What most people end up doing is, practice throughout the year using a club owned match 22 rifle and for the Nationals they rent out a match rifle from NRAI, for use at the match. That may be a much more practical approach IMHO.

Don't let initial failures get you down, there's nothing that can't be achieved with perseverance.

Best wishes for all success in your shooting journey

Cheers!
Abhijeet