Joining in on the newb questions

[BoulderE89]

I am a competition shooter who has only shot things that are of the short action variety. Things like PRS (6GT), NRL Hunter (6.5 CM) etc. on my bucket list is to shoot, hopefully soon, the Nightforce ELR match. I am planning to build a long action rifle over the course of 2023 specifically for that match and also for general fun shooting out past 1K. I am not a hunter so don’t need it to be ultralight. I’m on a teacher salary so can’t just drop it all at once, but I can save and spend.

Couple questions in preparing for this…

1. Caliber: initially I had planned to do 7 saum but with 7 prc released that seems tempting for the factory ammo option too and getting brass that way. I reload so I’ll mainly do that but still, factory options never hurt in a pinch. Also considered 300 prc. I’m between those 3 and curious what opinions are there. 7 prc is taking the cake at this point in my head.

2. Contour: should I go middle of the road with something like a medium Palma that would be good for general use or just go heavy to something like an M24 or heavy Palma contour for my intended purposes?

3 chassis: planning to do a R700 LA clone build so I’m thinking of keeping it simple and getting an ACC for ease of adjusting the weight depending on what I’m doing. I know that can get pretty heavy if you want it to but isn’t all that heavy bare bones. Don’t own one so curious if, for these matches, there may be a better option.

Thanks for all input given

 

[badassgunworks]

A smart move would be to go straight to 300 norma as the others will leave a lot to be desired for future elr events 7mm is not going to be a huge improvement over your 6.5 creed step up and get somthing with balls behind it.
Barrel 1.250 shank 6" long straight taper to .950 at muzzle 30" long do a chassis or stock with a long front end so you dont need a bipod extension . And somthing with a adjustable. Cheek and bag rider. Like the elieso tube chassis from competition mechine

 

[Ebar48]

1: one thing you will see when stretching out far is the importance of bullet splash, which is the biggest detriment to the 7s in my opinion. They absolutely would work, it will be interesting to see how the 7prc stands up to these types of shorter range ELR matches.

If I had to choose a caliber to start with, I would go 300 PRC or 30 Sherman magnum (300PRC improved). You will get much better splash running the 230-250 gn projectiles than a 180-195 gn in the 7. 300 PRC up front will give you the flexibility to run the various magnum based cartridges if you want to buy a new barrel, where if you go with the lapua bolt head you are limiting the possible cartridges you can run.

Best advice I can give you is this….buy a good action that accepts shouldered prefits and 2 bolts (one magnum bolt face, one lapua). Start with a 300 prc, 7prc or whatever you desire and shoot it a lot, learn the capabilities and the limitations and when you are ready to step it up, go with a 300 Norma Mag improved, or 33XC. With two bolts you can swap a barrel and a bolt at home and you are off.

I would do a bat HR, defiance deviant or a lone peak Fuzion. Defiance is most likely still super backed up and not accepting orders and lone peak has a decent turn around. All three will sell you an extra bolt with a different bolt face. Only the Fuzion will have guaranteed shouldered prefit availability, but your smith can save the specs for the action and spin up a new barrel for you in the future. Just make sure you ask if they are willing to do that if you go bat or defiance. Either way, get the .750 bolt diameter.

I like MTU contour in 30” finished length as a go to standard, my next 300NMI will have a 32” with a modified (heavier MTU contour). Go as heavy as you can, and still meet any required weight limits of the competitions you want to shoot. Personally I wouldn’t go lighter than heavy Palma.

The ACC would work great. I do prefer the MPA matrix, but both are awesome. I have both and don’t have any complaints.

 

[BoulderE89]

1: one thing you will see when stretching out far is the importance of bullet splash, which is the biggest detriment to the 7s in my opinion. They absolutely would work, it will be interesting to see how the 7prc stands up to these types of shorter range ELR matches.

If I had to choose a caliber to start with, I would go 300 PRC or 30 Sherman magnum (300PRC improved). You will get much better splash running the 230-250 gn projectiles than a 180-195 gn in the 7. 300 PRC up front will give you the flexibility to run the various magnum based cartridges if you want to buy a new barrel, where if you go with the lapua bolt head you are limiting the possible cartridges you can run.

Best advice I can give you is this….buy a good action that accepts shouldered prefits and 2 bolts (one magnum bolt face, one lapua). Start with a 300 prc, 7prc or whatever you desire and shoot it a lot, learn the capabilities and the limitations and when you are ready to step it up, go with a 300 Norma Mag improved, or 33XC. With two bolts you can swap a barrel and a bolt at home and you are off.

I would do a bat HR, defiance deviant or a lone peak Fuzion. Defiance is most likely still super backed up and not accepting orders and lone peak has a decent turn around. All three will sell you an extra bolt with a different bolt face. Only the Fuzion will have guaranteed shouldered prefit availability, but your smith can save the specs for the action and spin up a new barrel for you in the future. Just make sure you ask if they are willing to do that if you go bat or defiance. Either way, get the .750 bolt diameter.

I like MTU contour in 30” finished length as a go to standard, my next 300NMI will have a 32” with a modified (heavier MTU contour). Go as heavy as you can, and still meet any required weight limits of the competitions you want to shoot. Personally I wouldn’t go lighter than heavy Palma.

The ACC would work great. I do prefer the MPA matrix, but both are awesome. I have both and don’t have any complaints.

I’m a big fan of lone peaks and use them in all my short action stuff so I would go that route. With keeping a lapua bolt around I would need to go get the XL size action right off the bat correct? My understanding is 300 NM needs an even bigger action. could you run 7 or 300 prc from the xl action?

I do like the idea of having multiple calibers available off the action. I do something similar with my comp gun, swapping between a 6mm and a 223 with the bolt and barrel swap

 

[Ebar48]

yea I would go with the Fuzion 338 action for sure, it is a rem 700 LA footprint so it fits the ACC. And you can do both a magnum and lapua bolt for it. You can run the PRCs and the Norma Mag/33XC from the same action

The 300 NM is actually roughly a long as the 300 PRC depending on how you load them (even though the Norma case is shorter than the PRC just slightly) Both work well in CIP length actions.

I run the 230 Bergers comfortably at 3050 in a 30” in my 300NM (not improved) and I know guys running about 2950 in the PRC with the same bullet. They are pretty close which is why I would start with the PRC and then if you want to stick 30 cal go straight to the 300NMI. I would skip the 338 Lapua all together unless you are running the improved version but at that point you are still better off going 33xc

 

[badassgunworks]

1: one thing you will see when stretching out far is the importance of bullet splash, which is the biggest detriment to the 7s in my opinion. They absolutely would work, it will be interesting to see how the 7prc stands up to these types of shorter range ELR matches.

If I had to choose a caliber to start with, I would go 300 PRC or 30 Sherman magnum (300PRC improved). You will get much better splash running the 230-250 gn projectiles than a 180-195 gn in the 7. 300 PRC up front will give you the flexibility to run the various magnum based cartridges if you want to buy a new barrel, where if you go with the lapua bolt head you are limiting the possible cartridges you can run.

Best advice I can give you is this….buy a good action that accepts shouldered prefits and 2 bolts (one magnum bolt face, one lapua). Start with a 300 prc, 7prc or whatever you desire and shoot it a lot, learn the capabilities and the limitations and when you are ready to step it up, go with a 300 Norma Mag improved, or 33XC. With two bolts you can swap a barrel and a bolt at home and you are off.

I would do a bat HR, defiance deviant or a lone peak Fuzion. Defiance is most likely still super backed up and not accepting orders and lone peak has a decent turn around. All three will sell you an extra bolt with a different bolt face. Only the Fuzion will have guaranteed shouldered prefit availability, but your smith can save the specs for the action and spin up a new barrel for you in the future. Just make sure you ask if they are willing to do that if you go bat or defiance. Either way, get the .750 bolt diameter.

I like MTU contour in 30” finished length as a go to standard, my next 300NMI will have a 32” with a modified (heavier MTU contour). Go as heavy as you can, and still meet any required weight limits of the competitions you want to shoot. Personally I wouldn’t go lighter than heavy Palma.

The ACC would work great. I do prefer the MPA matrix, but both are awesome. I have both and don’t have any complaints.

Pierce actions are made 100% to spect and are all the same so its one of your best options for pre- fits i would suggest stay away from the .750 bolt as most of them are weaker then the .700 bolt action unless its a 1.400 or 1.450 body not the standard 1.350 like defiance. Want strong go with the pierce 800 series of borden lapua action

 

[Taylorbok]

For NF ELR match there is no issue seeing splash even with the smaller bullets, a fast 7 would be hard to beat but I'm a fan of 30's so I'd follow suit on 300 PRC, 30 Sherman or 300 Norma
The Norma will let you go to an XC down the road but it's overkill for the NF match.
32" 1.25 straight tube.

 

[badassgunworks]

For NF ELR match there is no issue seeing splash even with the smaller bullets, a fast 7 would be hard to beat but I'm a fan of 30's so I'd follow suit on 300 PRC, 30 Sherman or 300 Norma
The Norma will let you go to an XC down the road but it's overkill for the NF match.
32" 1.25 straight tube.

Xc or any overbore hot rod is issue for the nightforce challange heat and barrel temps become a problem 300 wsm would be one of your best options for the NF challange.

 

[Taylorbok]

Xc or any overbore hot rod is issue for the nightforce challange heat and barrel temps become a problem 300 wsm would be one of your best options for the NF challange.

What kind of velocity can you get out of a properly throated 300 WSM with say 230 a-tips? I feel like you'd be giving up a lot compared to a PRC but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[oneshot.onehit]

Badass has some good points mentioned, my favorites which would cover the NF challenge and light class ELR would be the 300 Norma or 33XC. Someday you will want to play in this game don’t fool yourself.

JH

 

[badassgunworks]

What kind of velocity can you get out of a properly throated 300 WSM with say 230 a-tips? I feel like you'd be giving up a lot compared to a PRC but maybe I'm wrong.

You would basically give up nothing but gain a fair amount the 300 PRC 300 Win Mag and 300 WSM Performance wise are all very close to each other the PRC is basically a 300 Win Mag with no belt so it's a little bit better for reloading and quite possibly more accurate than the 300 Win Mag. However the efficiency and accuracy of the 300 WSM using a little bit less powder holds a longer shot string accuracy The 300WSM is the 30 caliber choice of f open it's one of the leading choices for f class a great performer longer shot strings and low standard deviations

 

[otnot]

I'm new to ELR as well and I just went through what your going through and I ended up building a Norma 300 Improved chambered by Alex Wheeler because of his reputation and he has dies to fit. I went with the 300 Norma Improved because I knew that later on down the road I would want to go farther and faster with a bigger caliber like the 33xc or the 37xc and the Surgeon 1581 xl action would let me do that. By the way Eurooptics has that action available and Bugholes has the heavy 1.350 Bartlein barrels in a 1:9 twist. The hardest thing to find was a stock but I got lucky there and Manners had one on the shelf that was already inletted for that action. Good luck and good shooting.

 

[BoulderE89]

Okay so I got a 300 prc build in the works now and plan to mainly shoot this between 1K-2K. but I’m stuck in paralysis by analysis on the scope and curious what you guys have found to work best? There are three scopes I can get, price is somewhat a factor but not the main one.

1. Zeiss S3 6-36 - has good elevation travel at 32 mils and glass should be clear, but it’s made in Japan where most of Zeiss is usually made in Germany with schott glass. Also has a large mag range, and I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

2. Leupold 7-35 - the glass on the 5-25 I know is stellar but I’ve heard the 7-35 glass isn’t quite the same quality. Elevation travel is a little less at 29 mils. Can get it in the PR2 reticle which I think would be good for ELR type shooting.

3. Vortex gen3 6-36 - not my top choice for both the larger price and I think they are harder to find right now. The glass is supposed to be very good, travel is great at 36 mils with a good mag range. Weight doesn’t bother me.

What would you guys lean to getting? Need some guidance so I’m not buying something else down the road.

 

[Ebar48]

No experience with the zeiss but the Leupold and the razor gen 3 would both be great options. If I were you I would try to look through both and pick the one you prefer. Own the Leupold MK5 and it’s a fantasic scope, I have only looked through the gen 3 a couple times and really like it as well. If I had to pick, I would go with the razor for one reason, that being I am not a fan of the 3 rotation limit on the Leupold. Granted that still gives you a ton of elevation but I just prefer having access to the whole range. Either option you chose, it won’t limit you in the long run.

 

[badassgunworks]

Maven sr4

 

[BoulderE89]

Maven sr4

While I think that would be a good option for glass quality and elevation travel, I’m not a fan of their mil reticles at all.

 

[Schw15]

If you want a razor gen 3 check out libertyoptics.com and he's on the hide has a thread in the px great prices a little wait though.