Talk to me about tube guns..

[The Gun Pimp]

I'm looking for single shot 30-06 to be used in F open. Any advice and approx price would be much obliged..

Any advice? Personally, I'd have another think about the 30-06.

Have a look what's doing the winning in the UK (7mmWSM) but maybe go for the 284Win. - if barrel-life is more important than medals.

To be honest, I think you'd struggle to get the 30-06 competitive but Laurie may wish to comment.

[Laurie]

I'm looking for single shot 30-06 to be used in F open. Any advice and approx price would be much obliged..

Any advice? Personally, I'd have another think about the 30-06. To be honest, I think you'd struggle to get the 30-06 competitive but Laurie may wish to comment.

I would too. It won't do much that 308 Win doesn't already do, and you get a disproportionate amount of additional recoil for the extra MV. (A result of it being a less efficient cartridge so using a much larger % increase in powder charge than it produces in terms of MV/ME.) You also have a better choice of off the shelf brass with .308 Win - Lapua .30-06 is very expensive (if you can get it) and the lots that I've bought are at the lower end of the lapua consistency spectrum.

A tubegun for F/O is an excellent choice, but I'd look at 6.5X47L or .260 Rem (throated long) if you're going to do most of your shooting at 200-600 yards, and .284 Win if it really has to perform at 800, 900 and 1,000.

[paulbradley]

Thanks for the tips. I'll think on calibre...

[R.G.C]

Vince explains the concept of the tube gun perfectly, things have moved on these days

I will stop now as this is getting to be a Sales hit and I will get told off. What I can say is I am photographing the DM build as it proceeds and will post some pictures in my own section when it is staring to look like a rifle. The DM build is very special to me as to date all of our orders have been from overseas so it will be good to see this rifle being shot here in the UK and I have just been asked to do a similar build for a second UK shooter so you should see the M66 around the country.

David,

With the same reservations as yours, I think the 'integral' Receiver/Chassis unique concept would need some clarification?


R.G.C

[ovenpaa]

R.G.C I have an article I will place in the Vendors and Innovators section.

Paul, the M66 LTT single shot rifle starts at GBP2695, this includes a C.G Model 22 trigger and a barrel chambered to suit the customers requirements. This does not include front or rear bag riders, bipod mounts or hand stops as these are dependant on the discipline to be shot. There are a range of barrel makes, profiles and lengths available and these can also make a slight difference to cost.

[paulbradley]

Thanks ovenpaa. The pennies are being saved! What's your opinion on the 30-06 as a viable distance round? Salazar is very successful with it and makes a lot of sense when talking about why he selected it.

[ovenpaa]

Paul, I have read Laurie and Vince's comments regarding the 30-06 and yes, there are more accurate rounds available, certainly you are going to have to work hard to beat the new high BC bullets. Having said that, the 30-06 is a very effective cartridge and if you could get a Berger 185 Juggernaut down the range at say 3050fps or even 3100fps via a 32" barrel...... The important thing is wind reading and consistency, get those right first.

My view is we are going to see a few 30Cal Open shooters starting to show up at the range, if any choose 30-06 remains to be seen however the .30 will certainly be there.

[R.G.C]

Thanks ovenpaa. The pennies are being saved! What's your opinion on the 30-06 as a viable distance round? Salazar is very successful with it and makes a lot of sense when talking about why he selected it.

Paul,

German is mpstly a Palma, Service and Hipoer shooter.

The 06 was primarily built as the 03, and mpdified 06 with extended neck and taper for,amongst other reasons, better feeding. Long necks and tapes are a notion of the past.

Moreover, if the 30-o6 can be fed in as simgle shot, it does not enter in SA box or detached magazines intended for cartridges with an OAL of 73-74mm maximum. Moreover; a complete round cannot be removed from a sA without removing the bolt.

Modern calibres are all short cases with fattier powder chamvers, achieving similar loading densiies.


If you persist on the 30-06, my recommendation would be to consider a Long Action (3/4 inch longer than tge SA
My point, FWIW
R.G.C

[Laurie]

The other thing to remember with German S's use of the .30-06 is that he's in the Good Ole Southern US where the '06 is like an institution. Most match directors allow .30-06 in the same class as .308 if there are calibre restrictions in everything bar major tournaments or national/international matches.

In the UK, there is no way any match organiser accepts this cartridge in a restricted discipline such as F/TR, so you get to shoot a harder recoiling, moderately ballistically enhanced .308 against 7mm short magnums or the .300WSM shooting 230gn Berger Hybrids at 3,000 fps in 'Open Class'. F/TR or to give it its NRA title F-Class (Restricted) was introduced to allow the widely available and popular .308 Win and its .223 Rem smaller sibling their own discipline as .308 stopped being competitive in the longer range matches as soon as the first 'warm' 6.5s were adopted getting on for 10 years ago, and believe me things have moved on a lot in F-Class cartridge external ballistic capabilities since then.

Comparing a 'good 7mm' and the aught-six pushed to its limits in a 30-inch barrel produces the following.

Using QuickLOAD, you can get the 210gn Sierra MK VLD up to 2,750-2,775 fps range if the barrel is optimally throated for long >200gn bullets. That makes the COAL even longer than the SAAMI maximum of course, so Robert's point about action length becomes even more pertinent. Getting to these MVs needs 56-60gn of suitable powders.

Again using QuickLOAD, the 7mmWSM using an 180gn VLD and again optimally throated pushes the higher BC 7mm out at 3,050-3,100 fps at the expense of getting on for 65gn of suitable powder.

Run the top end MV for the '06 against the bottom end value for the WSM and here's what Bryan Litz's PM Ballistic Solver 2 program predicts under standard ballistic environmental conditions and applying the superior G7 BC form

At 1,000 yards

.30-06 / 210 ............ 1,499 fps retained velocity; 6.6-MOA lateral drift in a 10 mph crosswind.
7WSM / 180 ............. 1,773 fps retained velocity; 5.2-MOA lateral drift in a 10 mph crosswind.

Using Sierra Infinity 6's recoil calculator, the '06 produces 12 ft/lb free recoil energy in a 20lb F/O rifle, while the WSM is only a little more at 12.6 ft/lb. (For comparison, my 308 Win F/TR load is calculated to produce 8.2 ft/lb if the discipline were to allow a 20 lb rifle which it doesn't.)

[paulbradley]

What a well researched post Laurie. Thank you. I have a good few months before I lay out any money for anything so don't worry, I won't impulsively purchase anything!