LV Benchrest Rifle 6PPC

This is the results of almost 2 years of planning and waiting on materials to finish.

The action is a Stolle Panda Dual Port (no eject), stock is a Robertson/ Borden pattern LV, Jewell trigger, pillar bedded w/ 7075 custom aluminum pillars, Bat trigger guard, Hart 14 twist 6mm barrel, 6PPC chamber w/ my own minimal turn neck, Leupold 36 BRD scope, and all aluminum surfaces have a brushed finish.

As the rifle sits it weighs in at 9# 12oz. , well under the max weight of 10 ½ pounds, this is just where I wanted to be when finished to allow changes to the balance as necessary. As to this date I have only fire formed cases for the snow and bad weather came too early to allow some good bench time for grouping sessions.

All work on this rifle is my own, as is the rifle on the main page and that rifle was a 2 year project also.

Well as of the end of this season, September 2009, I didn’t get much done on testing. The only group testing that was done was at Harrison matches, the benches at our club are crap and makes it difficult to get good feedback so things will have to wait until next year. I have to admit that my enthusiasm this year was low and most of my shootin was done with the Thirty so maybe the long winter will spur my interest in getting the PPC working in the spring.

Update February 2010 

Last year I didn’t get a lot of shooting with this rifle for I was frustrated with many things, one of which was the ejecting of a spent round. When  decided to turn this original Right bolt, Right port into a dual port it was my impression that to get the spent round out all I had to do was push it out when loading another round from the left, WRONG, they just wouldn’t go. By the end of the season, for what little I used this rifle I was very frustrated at picking the spent rounds out. Upon hearing about an ejector that Kelbly’s had developed for there actions I went looking for an example but couldn’t find one, apparently they do not yet have a description on there site so a phone call was in order. After talking to (????????) I forgot his name; I was assured that there wouldn’t be any pressure on the back of the case when in battery so I said go ahead and do it, the pics below will show what they have. I must say that it is just the CAT’S ASS! I couldn’t be more pleased and it works flawlessly from my basement empty case cycling. It works according to how much force you bring the bolt back, go lightly and the case can be ejected just enough to clear the stock but slam it back and it can be thrown half way across the room. In one pic you can see the hole in the back of the bolt lug; this is where the pin in the special bolt stop contacts the ejector, thus pushing it out ejecting the case. It took about a week, door to door, to get this modification completed; the $125 included return shipping and now I can’t wait for some decent weather to try my new toy out.

Ejector at rest

Ejector deployed

Thru Hole, ejector lug

Update February, 2011

Thinking back on last year and what was accomplished, it wasn’t much. As the year before my interest waned but at the tail or the end of season I shot a match in Winn Michigan. Super Shoot winner Steve Robbins put this shoot on with help of others, it has to be the best range that I have ever shot on, just wish it was out my back door. Now I have to admit to having bad bench manners for shooting free recoil, this is my biggest problem, with that said I managed to squeak out an almost ZERO and a low 1 with the others I won’t mention. Ok, it won’t be world class but I now know that the rifle works as I had hoped. The new rear bag and other mod’s never really panned out so this is all being re-thought, just haven’t decided which way to go at this point, probably will end up going back to what I have and try to adapt.

As I watch the news, budget proposals, gas prices rising for no real reason, the proposed taxes on what is left of my meager pension, the decline of SS and all that other shit it is time to change course. In my opinion and I am sure there are many others that feel the same the cost of this sport has gotten out of hand. I enjoy shooting, still do and always have but I am not inclined to travel hundreds of miles or many hours just to shoot a match. One day, one or two yardages are enough, to stay over night and soak up 2 days is not in my vocabulary, never has been and never will be, just gets to expensive. I found it interesting about the NBRSA memberships, less than 1600 across the US; I would have guessed it t be at least 4 times that amount. Well I am not a member, probably will not be one either for the extra $50 to shoot one or two registered matches a year just isn’t worth it. IMO and there are many others will agree that there should be reciprocity between the two organizations. I am a member of IBS, enjoy the magazine and will keep supporting this organization but the NBRSA fell apart when the dumped the “Magazine” for that wonderful news letter, that letter does nothing for me plus raising there dues just because ????. Nuff said.  

Now to get to what is planned for this year, it is kinda up in the air at this moment but what I was thinking is limiting the shooting schedule. As life is passing by with the many things that I said I was going to do and haven’t done, one thinks it is time to refocus. I am planning to attend the one day matches when it doesn’t conflict with my family, hunting and fishing, work on my bench manners in relationship to shooting free recoil, test some other up-grades and prove out my new boat-tail bullets, oh yah, got a BT die added to my 6mm bullet die set.

 Now, fly fishing was a passion long before shooting and just haven’t spent any real time at it since the mid 70’s. I have had a small drift boat sitting here now for 4 years, worked to rejuvenate it, get it water worthy and to this day it hasn’t seen water so it either use it of get rid of it, think I’ll use it.

Well an update will follow after this fall’s bow season.