The Game--Big Rigs for Ultimate Long-Range Accuracy

The Game--Big Rigs for Ultimate Long-Range Accuracy

The driving passion of 1000-yard Heavy Gun shooters, as Bruce Baer tells us, is "to put 10 shots in one ragged hole at 1000 yards." To be competitive, you'll need a rifle that can print half-inch 5-shot groups at 300 yards. A typical relay-winning group will run about 5" to 7" for TEN shots. But it could be in the fours or even threes. The current IBS 10-shot world record group is 3.472", set by Bill Crawford in 1998. The 6-match Aggregate IBS record is 6.1652" by Johnny Byers in 2002. There are three governing organizations for 1K Heavy Gun competition, and each has slightly different rules, but the guns used are much the same. They feature heavy 1.450" or larger diameter barrels, weights of 60+ pounds, and they run on elaborately machined (and very pricey) front and rear rests. These are not rail-guns, nor return-to-battery firing platforms. You still have to push them forward after each shot. But when set up correctly, Heavy Guns slide straight back and come right onto target with little or no "steering" by the shooter. Nearly all shooters free recoil their rigs, and aiming adjustments are made with controls on the rests, not by muscling the guns.

The name of the game is speed. Most Heavy Gun shooters try to launch all ten rounds in the shortest period of time, to get all shots downrange before conditions change. This can be done in as little as thirty seconds by some of the fastest shooters. But, the most successful Heavy Gunners will keep an eye out for conditions, and wait out a shift, or put in a minor correction when needed. When conditions are steady, however, you want to "rock and roll"--fire, reload, slide gun forward, touch the trigger off, then repeat. Normally shooters will get off all their shots in well under two minutes.

The Rules

Steve Shelp, chairman of the IBS Long-Range Rules committee provides this run-down on the key rules for 1000-yard Heavy Gun shooting, noting the difference among IBS, NBRSA, and Williamsport regulations. Steve notes: "Everybody restricts bores to less than forty caliber, and rests must have at least a half-inch thickness of sand under the gun, and the front and rear rests cannot be connected. Williamsport has a 100-lb Heavy Gun Weight limit, with a 8"-wide max fore-arm width. IBS and NBRSA Heavy Guns are unlimited in weight. NBRSA allows muzzle brakes on Heavy Guns, but brakes are prohibited under IBS and Williamsport Heavy Gun Rules. Williamsport and IBS clubs shoot a single 10-shot string during a relay. The Score Winner and Group Winner of each relay then go to a shoot-off to determine the match winner. In NBRSA, they shoot an aggregate match with multiple targets per gun for each relay. Winners are chosen based on Aggregates, both for score and group. All three organizations prohibit return-to-battery rigs, meaning the gun must move freely on the rest and has to be returned to firing position by the shooter after every shot." The IBS web site adds: "In IBS competition, both Light Gun and Heavy Gun have a six-minute sight-in period, followed by a 10-minute period for record shots. No sighters are allowed during the record period." George Tompkins notes one important difference in scoring between IBS and NBRSA: "In IBS, even one shot off paper results in a "DQ", whereas in NBRSA you add 10" to the group for that shot. So, in NBRSA, you aren't completely eliminated in a big match by one errant shot. I much prefer the NBRSA rule, particularly if you've driven a long distance to attend a match."

The Tools

Heavy Gun long-range BR is definitely an "equipment race". You can very easily drop $5000 for a competitive rifle, quality rests, and a couple of barrels. It helps to be well-heeled in this sport. For while the best equipment won't deliver a win, sub-standard equipment will guarantee a poor showing. Competing in Heavy Gun competition is like fielding a Formula One racer. Unless you're prepared to keep pace with technology, and buy top-quality equipment, you won't stay ahead of the pack.

Barrels--Size Matters

Fat barrels in barrel bedding blocks are the norm in Heavy Gun competition. These guys burn a lot of powder in their cases and 1.450" or even 1.600" straight-countour barrels handle the heat better than HV-style contours. The greater mass of steel makes for a more effective heat sink and the greater surface area of the fat barrels provides more cooling surface. Barrel bedding blocks allow barrels as long a 36" to be used, but most barrels are 32" or shorter, with some competitors experimenting with barrels as short as 26". Krieger, Lilja, Broughton, Hart and Spencer barrels are popular these days, with Spencers being more common on the East Coast. The gun shown in the photo was fitted with a big "Coke Can" muzzle brake for the NBRSA 2005 Nationals. The brake would have to be removed for IBS or Williamsport matches. Many shooters keep a quiver of barrels, with tubes from a variety of sources. George Tompkins tells us: "I've shot Harts and Kriegers and one or two Schneiders. I've had extremely good luck with Kriegers, I think they make as good as barrel as anybody. But, I'm going to try the Broughton barrels next--I've just ordered two 7mms and a .338."

Barrels can be conventionally fitted into a receiver, or clamped into a barrel bedding block. Bruce Baer explains: "The barrel bedding block is a very good system, well worth the money. With this set-up the action is essentially free-floated, and it becomes just a fire-control unit. The block also aids with vibration control. The block dampens vibration and effectively shortens the barrel in terms of its vibration properties. We've found that a barrel block system is cost-effective--you don't need a big oversize custom action with a lot of bedding surface. A barrel-block rig is also easier to work on. It's a unit that a guy can put together more quickly since there's no bedding to worry about. He can change barreled actions quicker."

A few shooters, such as Charles Ellertson, are experimenting with a "Tension Barrel" system. The barrel is still threaded into the action, but it runs inside an external shroud. The barrel is threaded on the outboard end and secured with a big nut that contacts the shroud. By rotating the nut, you pull the barrel into tension, while simultaneously pushing the shroud in compression. This works like the barrel/shroud system on Dan Wesson revolvers--barrel in tension, shroud in compression. The result is an extremely rigid barrel assembly with very little flex, resulting in reduced vibration.

Stocks--Designs to Control Mass in Motion

Williamsport limits Heavy Guns to 100 pounds. Under IBS and NBRSA rules weight is unlimited. You will see a few massive 200-lb behemoths at IBS matches, but most competitors find that something in the 60-90 pound range works best. Bruce Baer explains, "You can't stop a gun from recoiling. If it doesn't recoil it will jump. If it jumps you might as well go home because you won't shoot a good group. So it is pointless to try to build a gun so heavy as to eliminate all recoil. The more you restrict the rifle's recoil the more temperamental that rifle will be. The 200-pounders just don't out-perform something in the 60- to 80-pound range, and I think the optimal weight is 60-70 pounds.

Extreme mass is not necessarily an advantage. Watch a locomotive starting up from zero--it will vibrate from one end to another. If the gun is too heavy I think it will vibrate at the start of recoil and that will kill accuracy. I want the gun to start from recoil with very little effort so it will be smooth from start to stop.

I've experimented with a 166-lb gun. It wouldn't recoil smoothly. It was very temperamental. I couldn't find anything to lube the bags to get it to break loose on the initial movement. I tried free recoil, different holds, different shoulder pressures. I even tried a "death-grip", hard-hold. I tried all kinds of things. It would cluster but I couldn't keep all 10 shots in that cluster. I would always lose a couple shots out the bottom or out the top. Vertical was inconsistent. And inconsistent vertical (if your loads are good and the barrel is otherwise well-tuned) is a recoil problem. If you continually get shots out the top or bottom I would bet money the issue is inconsistent recoil. I couldn't get the rifle to shoot at well as when it was 80 pounds before I added the weight (via rails) to make it 166 pounds. But even at 80 it didn't shoot as well as my 60-pounders. I believe we can go too heavy."

Stocks can be made of any material. Wood, fiberglass, carbon fiber, and metal are all used in stock construction. The most eye-catching stocks are the "heavy metal" wonders, CNC-machined out of a 70-lb blank of solid aluminum. Wood stocks, and to a lesser extent glass stocks, are more forgiving, offering greater damping and recoil absorption. Metal stocks offer superior rigidity, and the CNC machining allows tracking surfaces to be perfectly parallel.

Even with wood and glass stocks however, competitors fit machined metal flats or runners to improve tracking. For best performance, the metal runners must be aligned correctly. George Tompkins, who uses a CNC-machined billet stock produced by Gary Alvey, notes how important geometry is to stock performance: "Alignment is key. Your bottom-plates and side-flats need to be in perfect alignment with the center of the bore axis so the gun tracks real well. On my gun, Gary indicates the bore axis and mills the stock to be perfectly parallel. When I return my gun to battery, my scope never leaves the target, as I move the gun back and forth. I can sometimes fire a whole string without re-aligning the gun. All you have to do is slide her forward and pull the trigger. Gary lives near me in Grand Junction, Colorado, and needless to say, I'm real happy with his work. I think Gary produces some of the best one-piece metal stocks ever made because everything is parallel and the gun tracks so well. Here's my wife Dee Tompkins shooting a metal-stocked Heavy Gun at the 2005 NBRSA Nationals."

Rests--The Foundation of an Accurate Heavy Gun

Dave Tooley tells us "A winning Heavy Gun has to be a complete system--barrel, action, stock, and rests. You can't do well if any part of that system is sub-par." Dave explains that you need a rest arrangement that fits your rifle, sets up easily and repeatably, and can be comfortable on the bench: "Don't try and build a gun that is so big and heavy that you're fighting it as well as the conditions. You need the rest set up so that you can handle the gun smoothly and get in a good rhythm." (Steve Shelp tells us: "Listen to what Tooley says. He has some of the best bench technique I've seen. He is smooth and FAST. And he is consistent. He may not win on any given day, but he is always up there among the leaders".)

Dave explained that some rests may be masterpieces of machining, but they don't work so well in competition because they don't allow a comfortable shooting position. Dave tells us: "The rear rest I use has a smaller footprint than some other designs. This lets me position the rest at the extreme rear edge of the bench and well over to the left (for a right-handed shooter). When I'm shooting, I don't want my Heavy Gun to be any farther away from me than my Light Gun would be. Otherwise, you'll be straining and you'll have a block of concrete in your chest."

One interesting feature of the rest in the photo at right (created by Gary Alvey for Bruce Baer), is that it is convertible from one-piece to two sections. The four smaller knobs near the center lock/unlock the front and rear halves. With the unit locked, you can set it down on the bench and the front and rear bags will be perfectly aligned. Then just twist the knobs to unlock the unit, and slide the rear unit back a little bit. Now you have a fully legal "unconnected" two-piece rest system, with the two halves in proper alignment.