Building a Bolt action F Class Rifle

Since F class is fine for single load rifles, no need to worry about magazine capacity, so no advantage to having a 30-06 there.

The advantage in lighter recoil is going to look pretty significant on paper, but honestly not so significant on the shoulder. Laying prone behind a big 30 cal rifle, the 30-06 or 300 Win Mag will both beat you up pretty good if you don't have a good butt pad and stock fit. The slight advantage of the 30-06 is that you won't have to add as much weight to the rifle as you would with a 300 win mag, but for "belly benchrest" I don't think that matters too much.

You'll get slightly better barrel life with the 30-06. You'll get slightly better exterior ballistics with the 300 Win Mag.

Between the two, I'd go with the 300 Win Mag since I'm tracking there isn't a category advantage to going with the 30-06, but I haven't looked at the rules in a few years so maybe there is a sub-category of F class where 30-06 can compete as a service cartridge.

But...even if you have a fondness for 30 caliber rifles, the 7mm Rem Mag makes a LOT of sense as it gives you the exterior ballistics of a 300 Win Mag with the equivalent recoil of a 30-06. The 284 Win is just as good.

Jimro
 
I have to disagree on the 300 WM.

300 WM is going to have a lot lower barrel life.

30-06 you will probably get no less than 3000 and more like 5 to 8000 before accuracy goes.

Not sure where in there you loose F class accuracy, but its a lot higher than the 300 WM

You are putting a whole lot more barrel eating powder down the pipe for not a whole lot more velocity.
 
I really enjoy reading good input on this topic. Thanks. I was thinking about a 30-06 Competition Rifle as well. Actually re-chambering a Sabatti to the '06. I know I'm a little crazy and my other .308 custom and my expensive custom .300 WM are shooting better than I can aim. -but- something about the 30-06 that does make it shoot very well. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's the longer case neck? Yes the creedmoor and 6br are great, but - I've come to the conclusion - Pick a Cartridge and shoot it and keep shooting it as long as you enjoy it because everybody is different. I know I won't win anything but I'm sure having fun trying.
 
.300 WM barrel Life

Yea, I am aware that the .300 WM is a bit of a barrel eater....Nothing like a .243 Win, 22-250 or .284 but a barrel eater none the less. And yes, I know that compared to Ammo cost, re-barreling is relatively cheap. That however doesn't mean it is irrelevant. For me, I guess that the 30-06 just seems to make a lot of sense. My other .300 WM didin't have a muzzle brake, and also wasn't that heavy, but I do realize prone shooting is different than bench shooting. I once shot my dads .338 RUM with 250 grain pills prone and after about the 5th shot I was done.

also, thanks for the link old roper....7 mag is intriguing.
 
Looking at match work reports, I would say the 300 wm is as much or more a barrel eater than the 243.

Under 1500 seems for sure and under 1000 in a lot of cases (pun)
\
So I applaud the 30-06 choice not only for that reason, if you want to push it with R-17, you can get 300 WM mag velocities. (I also like it!)

Don't get me wrong, you have to go up past the recommend and if you do you need to be very careful on pressure and not looking at primers, miking the base, hard to extract sneaking up in tiny and repeated steps.

People often want something new, I keep hearing how old the 30-06 is and there are better and greater things out there.

Well Lewis and Clark went across the entire USA getting game with Muzzle loaders and an Air Rifle (damned good one but an air rifle)

That included Grizzly.

The only thing a 30-06 can't do is Elephant and Cape full head on (and maybe with the right developed bullet it could as well, Deplete Uranium or some such)

But there are two cartridges that are close to identical that stand the test of time, done right and as solid as they get and you can't improve on them.

Match them yes, but real improvement? nah.

7.92 Mauser (parent) and 30-06 (direction offspring) and they can take anything in th4e world (Elephant and Cape included from the side)

30-06 just wins because its now far more widespread (locally not in some case but world wide yes).

Its the all time King and always will be as long as there are bullets going down barrels.
 
While you're configuring your rifle, consider that F-Class course of fire is 20 rounds in 20 minutes. Factor in how you'll add weight to tame some recoil as the prone position places more recoil impulse through your body/shoulder since the upper body doesn't move as much to absorb recoil. Might be a factor in your caliber choice.
 
Recoil is a factor. The weight restriction and no muzzle brake really limits caliber choice for large magnums. I have a .348 LM with Night force scope, (Barrett M98B). But the muzzle brake reduces felt recoil by +60% making the kick feel like a .270 win, so removing the brake would make it hard to shoot accurately for 60 rounds in a morning.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top