F T/R Competition Opinions on F-T/R low budget stock

[rich56]

Looking for your opinions for a low budget stock for the F-T/R rifle (my first) I'm building. Rifle is a Remington 40XC 308 1-10" 24" barrel. no stock at present. Sinclair bipod, Sightron 8-32x56 scope. Max yardage is 600 yds in my area. I'm looking at this HS Tactical stock. $380 on line price is about top of my budget. Will this be OK for the competition? Is there any other viable options in this price range?

 

[Greg Langelius *]

No experience with HS, this is my F T/R stock, except mine is set up for the Savage. I own a pair, each has a Savage 11VT riding in it, a .223 and a .308. The .223 was shot at the Berger SW LR Nationals F T/R MR/600yd matches last February; and I think it was very clearly capable.

My two Savages still have the factory 2-piece scope bases mounted, and no cheek height adjustment is needed with medium rings and 44mm objectives. This scope clearly resolves 22 caliber bullet holes for me at 300yd. My Bipod is a 6"-9" Harris knockoff.

Greg

PS IMHO a 40XC is a lot of rifle for a starter gun. No issue, and it will work fine as progress is made, but the 11VT's are clearly adequate for the task as a starter rifle. The above packages, list prices only, add up to $758.96; which is why I can afford the two rifles. The .223 is almost fully load developed, the .308 is just getting started.

Right now, the bulk of my load development work is being applied to a pair of Stag Model 6 Super Varminters. For now, the 11VT .223 load is Win brass, CCI BR-4, Hornady 75gr HPBT-Match loaded to magazine feeding length, and 24.4gr of Varget.

The .308 preliminary (not developed at all) load is Win Brass, CCI BR-2, Hornady 178gr ELD-X loaded to magazine feeding length, and 42.2gr of IMR-4064, but this load is just for pressure testing purposes and scope zeroing, and clearly needs more development.

Greg

ETA 4/7/22 Prices, of course, have gone up since this post was new, but the same price balance between this and most other options is still effective.

 

[anon]

I am quite fond of that PST stock and have two for short action Remingtons that I have shot extensively in prone matches, both F T/R and with a sling. I drilled the stock and used a Karsten kydex cheek piece on the stock I shoot from a sling. They were a lot cheaper fifteen years ago.

 

[rich56]

Thanks for responces. The equipment mentioned is already owned. I sold the Macmillan position kevlar stock to help finance the build and bought anoher gun with the money. OOPs. With that stock off the bench the rifle shot groups at 200 yds that impressed me with Federal Gold 175 gn ammo. I will be lhand loading for it in the future. I will be investigating the Choate stock. Especially because the 40XC has a ADL trigger guard a d the Choate has that style available.

 

[Willbas]

I am using a Bell and Carlson Tactical Medalist Style 6 http://www.bellandcarlson.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=1118 I added the RAD to wich added a lot of more money but iit shoots.

 

[XTR]

As long as your stock is solid and dosn't flex under recoil you are fine. The shape if the forend is irrelevant in F-TR because you run a bipod. I personally want some drop to the toe so I can slide up and back to adjust vertical, even though I typically run a Seb Joypod. (just don't look at my stocks for an example, Ive been at this long enough now that I've gone and spent a whole lot of $$ on custom wood.)

 

[Denys]

The only thing you need to do to that stock is remove the rear sling swivel stud and plug up the hole if it would hang on the rear bag.

 

[CharlieNC]

I started with a Manners T4A, fit and shot well. Switched to a custom stock for a year and could never get as comfortable. The T4A was in use on a tac rifle. Having a couple of Choates on older training rifles I have learned these are comparable ergonomically to the T4A so I added another on the Ftr. Not as pretty but shoots as well, with a rigid internal chassis and bedding block. I can't justify spending more than its $200 cost due to great performance.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I had the 308 PA-10 20" Savage 11VT out to the range recently, and relearned an old lesson that day. The bolt would give significant resistance to closing on both IMI 168 Auto Match and my own handloads, which use 168 Hornady HPBT's at the same OAL set from the IMI.

Then, yesterday; I recalled having the same issue on a teammate's rifle in the mid 1900's. The answer is simple; I had been seating the 168's at 2.815" because that was the longest length I could get to feed reliably in my M1A mags. Worked fine in the M1A and my PA10. But then I remembered that Savage throats are cut with a different reamer, and don't accept such lengths.

I will be reseating all of my 308/168's to 2.800 forthwith, including the IMI's.

Greg

PS Just went out to the shop after posting above, and mic'd, etc. random samples of the fired ammo from the range day. Not to surprisingly, they all ran .005-.015" longer than the 2.800" nominal spec length. I got the 2.815" OAL from my M1A.

I understand that the OAL is not the problem, it's the ogive; but longer seated bullets have ogives that protrude by the same amount as the OAL deviation. Some ogives will squeak by, some won't. All are being reseated to 2.800" OAL, and tested.

PPS, I just reviewed my Speer 308 reloading data, and it specifies a 2.700" OAL. This will be mynew standard. I'd rather Jump 'em than Jam 'em.