I normally shoot silhouette matches and have a gun set up for that. It's a 1712 action with a custom barrel in a Pharr RTS stock. My daughter wants me to shoot in a summer prone league with her and I don't have any position rifles. As you might guess from the title of this post, the idea is to get a prone stock to use this scoped, repeater barreled action in. I expect to use the same scope in prone as I do in offhand position for silhouette. I know the 172 is a round 54 action but don't really know much about position rifle shooting or position rifle stocks. It's also a repeater. With all that information presented, I am now asking for your help with two questions.
Should I pursue this idea or is it going to be more trouble than it's worth?
If I should do it, how should I do it? Is there such a thing as an Anschutz prone stock for a repeater other than the rarely-seen 1807 repeater? Should I just get a non-repeater stock and drill out a magazine recess? Should I remove the magazine assembly off my 1712 and use some sort of insert (top of a single-shot adapter or similar) to fill the hole in the bottom of the action?
Thanks for any insight that you might be able to provide.
As well as contending the magazine (or lack of space for one), I think you may run into problems with the bedding bolts. I don't think that Match 54 sporters and target rifles have the bedding bolts in the same place.
To the best of my knowledge Anschutz the only M54 Target repeaters have been in 14/18/1907 UIT Standard stocks. The xx11 Prone and xx13 Supermatch rifles have always been single shot.
As Tim pointed out the actions are different from the sporters to the match guns. A used 54MS with a rail added may be an option for both sports, or simple buy a used 1903 for a junior. An adjustable length of pull is often a nice feature for a smaller shooter, so a 1903 has a lot of virtue in my opinion. While a used 1903 is a bit of cash, you should be able to recoup most of the investment when she graduates to another rifle or quits shooting.
yes the 1807 is a fairly typical UIT standard; think extra deep fore-end (usually flush with the bottom of the triggerguard), and simple butt.
The 1807, and UIT Standard rifles generally, were designed as one-size-fits all 3-Position rifles. If you only want to dabble in prone, a UIT Standard will work perfectly well. However the very deep fore-end isn't ideal, most serious prone shooters prefer dedicated Prone or Supermatch stocks (google Anschutz 1811 and 1813 to get an idea).
Thanks to both of you for the advice. To be clear, my daughter already has a rifle that she shoots 4H position matches with. She wants me to shoot the summer prone league with her so I need something to do it with. Instead of buying a rifle to shoot 10 times every summer, I thought it would be a better idea to just get a decently serviceable prone stock to put my Anschutz action/Lilja barrel/Pearson mounts/T24 scope that I already have into. This is definitely only "dabbling" at best for me. I shoot in master class in smallbore silhouette but prone and I aren't exactly close friends. :)
To also add more background information here, I'm also considering upgrading my silhouette rifle. The end product would be the 54 match action with 5022 trigger (or 5018 with springs replaced) with a custom barrel in a Pharr RTS stock (one gun for standard and hunter classes). I could start with either a 54.18 MSR or some other 54 match repeater. I was thinking that since I'm not going to use the MSR stock for silhouette anyway that I might as well start with a rifle that comes with a stock that I could use for prone, also. Now, where can I find one of those 1800/1900 repeaters? :)
JasonM wrote: Now, where can I find one of those 1800/1900 repeaters? :)
Go looking for an 1827 Biathlon. I still have one that I bought second hand at the end of the 1980's when everyone was moving to the 1827 Fortner - which is the only one that they seem to produce now.
I still have a soft spot for mine although, I use it rarely now. I understand that in Australia they were used quite a bit in sillouette and other 'sporting' matches.
Our Biathlon association also had a number of 1427s plus several others based on the 64 action which seem to be all that JGA offers in a bolt action biathlon rifle.
JasonM wrote:I'm pretty well set on the bolt action rifles in the 1800/1900 series when I upgrade. I'm going for the proven design, not breaking new ground.
The 1827 is exactly that; a 54 repeater action, plus if you can find a full setup you get a stock with a forend rail pretty close to standard rifle dimensions, front and rear sights, 5 magazines, match trigger, carry harness etc, . I now shoot mine prone with Jacket, sling, etc from time to time and it is still fun, although at ~4.5kg it doesn't sit as still as my main rifle.