What is the Best Prone Smallbore rifle for olympic 50 meter

[GOVTMODEL]

Top level prone shooters are constantly testing ammo, and to a lesser extent their gun and barrel. If you think the national and world level shooters are going to the store, buying a new gun, picking up a few boxes of Tenex, and going out a winning medals, than I have big news for you.

This is the dirty little secret of prone shooting.

I assure you that the AMU and OTC boys are getting their Tenex directly from the importer, if not directly from England. They aren't buying it from a discount mail order house! They test and use the best for competition. Whatever is left is tested by the importer and his buddies, the best kept for themselves, and passed on to distributors, who test and have buddies, pick the best, etc, etc, until the average Joe who buys mail order pays $1100 a case for the left-over junk.


I assure you the AMU and OTC boys test many barrels. I am sure you have all read about Emmons getting 5 Lilja barrels and selecting the best one to shoot the Olympics. That was not because he did not have anything else better to do.

Jeff

Several important facts about Eley TENEX are no big secret.

(1) Rule #1 at the Eley Customer Range is "All lots of ammunition are available to all customers." No lots are set aside.

(2) The best lots are sold through the Customer Range, which accounts for nearly 30% of all TENEX sales.

(3) National Team shooters and/or their armorers from all over the world regularly send folks with a bunch of rifles to lot-test TENEX to match ammunition to specific rifles. They then reserve entire lots of TENEX.

(4) To avoid competition with their own distribution network, the ammunition is actually purchased through the normal supply chain in the customers country.

(5) If you're traveling to the UK, it's free to go to the Customer Range to batch test ammo. Reservations are required.

[Guest]

I'd say go and try to hold every rifle you can find and buy what fits best. After that buy some of every lot of ammo you can find and buy what shoots best.Then shoot until the ammo/gun is whats holding you back. Then try to play with every possible thing on you gun. I have a tuner for ESP on my gun just so I can get my gun to get the most out of my ammo (sk match). I just bought new ammo and haven't tuned it in yet but just shot 196 on outdoor 3p targets 3 shots I threw. But a large part of shooting mainly mental. But when you get to prone shooting equipment and testing plays an equally big part

[joydeepk]

What kind of a tuner you have you mentioned.....please clarify. regards

[Guest]

I use a tuner made by Earnest Shooting Products in pa. All it is, is a bloop tube with a brass rod attached to the bottom of it. And by moving the rod backward and forward it changes the harmonics of the barrel. If you crafty you could make one yourself

[joydeepk]

Thanks, ill try it out.

[Tim Conrad]

Best rifle ? Which is the best car ? Best cellphone ? Best computer ? Depends on your preference. Most of the US Team shoots Anschutz. A few with factory barrels. They've gone through a ton of ammo and barrels, looking for every little bit they can get. Most of us don't need that, nor can afford it. I shoot a mid 80's 1813 with a Schneider (sp ?) cut barrel, alum stock, Ans trigger and old international (6 click/min) sights. Tests under 5 mm center-center at 50 m, with Federal UM1B (which tells you I won't shoot forever). Have had quite a few 10x bulls at 100 yds. Barrels are indeed a black art. Some will shoot many lots of ammo well, some won't shoot any. Testing is the only way to determine that. If you shoot mostly 50 ft, it doesn't make much difference. ISSF 50 meter or benchrest matters a whole lot.

Tuners may help, if set properly. I ran a bunch of tests with an electronic micrometer (10 microinch resolution, 10,000 Hz frequency response) and noted that the barrel does a little 'bunny hop' before the bullet exits. A tuner can alter the timing of the hop vs bullet exit. Don't want them at the same time. The Henrich Vibration Controller isn't nearly as sensitive to placement or conditions, works well on some guns. Anything mounted on the stock will have very little effect as the bullet is gone before the stock wiggles.

As for extension tubes: depends on eyesight. Moving the front sight farther out makes it easier to focus on the target and front aperture at the same time, but you will see more barrel motion. If you are old enough to have 'fixed focus' eyes, the tube helps a lot, IF you scale the front aperture up by the increase in sight radius. The increase by itself does nothing for you, so young folks with good eyes are not getting much benefit.

If you use a tube, I strongly suggest using the big front sight globe. Moving it farther away makes it look smaller. Harder to keep things aligned with the standard front sight assembly.

Bottom line: do what works.