lotsa respect for bolt action "seeders"

[unforgiven1203]

I've owned my savage 110 tactical (chambered in .308) since about '95 . It has proven itself to be capable of incredible accuracy but has been almost exclusivly a bench/bipod gun (due to its heft).it has recently lost 5.5 pounds by removing the rediculous "ultimate sniper" stock. It is still a heavy rifle with a very fat bbl but with the factory (bare bones) stock it is manageable.
slung up on concrete (atterbury) with my only shooting jacket for padding I got settled in prone and set my scope on 6x.when I started shooting I realized what a contortion act "working the bolt"really is,and maybe there is a good reason that m1a's cost so much!
shooting groups of 5 I was pretty consistant at a about 2 1/2 moa, which I was fairly satisfied with , but I feel I can drop these groups with some practice
I did verify (with a bipod) that the gun and load were still capable of sub moa accuracy, which I'm also happy with since these were my first "rifle" reloads (and I got the components for free! Thanks Dad!).

 

[DaveD]

I must agree. Running a Rifleman score with a bolt gun is impressive.

 

[NEOCON]

We had a guy this weekend KYboltman shoot a Rifleman score with a bolt gun on sunday. This guy was the most receptive to instruction that I have ever worked with so far. He was offered a semi several times but said he wanted to do what he could with what he brought. Some of the timed stages at the end of the day he was waiting on the semis to finish shooting he was that fast at mag changes and working the bolt. I was impressed and told him so several times.

 

[Clay]

that would definitely be more of a challenge, but there were times when I had the rifle slung up where I could let my right hand/arm down completely and the rifle would stay in position because your support arm is opposite your trigger arm. I think the hardest position would be sitting, trying to get your arm back into position every time you need to pull the trigger.

 

[unforgiven1203]

yeah I've watched "bill of rights" and a couple others do some pretty fast bolt manipulation, but with the long action the throw is a lot longer making the contortion much more severe. with enough practice I think many of us could make rifleman with a center fire bolt action. but getting that practice with ammo costs the way they are is another challenge altogether.

 

[redneckmedic]

Good report, and good for you!

 

[Bill of Rights]

yeah I've watched "bill of rights" and a couple others do some pretty fast bolt manipulation, but with the long action the throw is a lot longer making the contortion much more severe. with enough practice I think many of us could make rifleman with a center fire bolt action. but getting that practice with ammo costs the way they are is another challenge altogether.

Heh... I didn't know I was being watched. Now I'm all self-conscious. <drags big toe in sand>

It's practice, pure and simple, and as we hear so often, it's not practice that makes perfect, it's perfect practice that makes perfect. Muscle memory made a difference for me. If I ever have time to de-cosmo my 91/30, I'll be practicing some rapid bolt work on that, too. Something tells me it will not go quite as smoothly as my Savage does.

Thanks for the compliment, unforgiven!

Blessings,
Bill

 

[UncleRed]

I went to an appleseed Oct '08 in Wabash IN with a friend (T-bolt on the Appleseed board) who was using a Rem XR100 in .223. A Single Shot bolt action that tips the scales about 11 lbs. with the scope. He shot a 232 if I remember correctly. It can be done.

-UR