Rifle Mitosis: Son's New PRS Competition Rifle
08-14-2023, 02:35 PM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,888
Rifle Mitosis: Son's New PRS Competition Rifle
I shared a little about my son shooting last season, and the Manners Compact stock we've used with my barreled action from my competition rifle to let him shoot and hunt, but we finally reached a final milestone for a rifle of his own this summer, so I thought I'd share details on the build. We did end up playing a bit of musical chairs with some components, which I'll describe below, where one rifle sort of split in half and spawned two new rifles.
I have been shooting PRS and NRL matches for 7 seasons, starting at the end of the 2017 season with a 6.5 Grendel AR-15, then buying a Seekins Havak PH1 in 6mm Creedmoor at the beginning of the 2018 season. Over my first few years, I took opportunities to participate in "Pro Series" matches, meaning national level, 2 day matches, which draw some of the top professional shooters in the country - I'm especially blessed that in the State of Kansas, I'm within 3 hours' drive of 4 ranges which host monthly PRS Regional Series matches, and formerly a 5th, with three of those having hosted Pro Series matches. I also travel out of state to Pro Series matches - all of which is largely motivated by 3 things: 1) I want to measure my skills against the best shooters in the country, 2) I want to collect the experiences of shooting these high level matches at different venues, and 3) sponsor support for pro series match prize tables is fantastic, meaning I have opportunities to pick up high value parts and heavy discount certificates. Pictured here is my original Seekins Havak PH1, shown with its original "light tactical" barrel contour and "triral" fluting - modifications done here from factory condition were to add the Area419 Arcalock rail and a Victor Company cheek riser, to swap the factory Timney 510 trigger for a Jewel HVR, and to add a pound and a half of lead in the forend to get weight and balance where I wanted it. I've also since modified the stock to accept Heavy Palma barrels, and have been using the heavier HP contour ever since.
I still shoot matches with this Seekins, but not so often - but this rifle DID earn me sufficient points at matches to walk prize tables to pick up free or heavily discounted parts for my next rifle. I won a Kahles K525i in a random drawing of all competitors at a Pro Series match a couple years ago, and picked up a TriggerTech trigger and the American Precision Arms muzzle brake from prize tables, as well as a discount certificate for the Defiance Deviant action - the stock I picked up heavily discounted on an invitational raffle I learned about at a match, and the barrel I got for half price through a discount offer Bartlein offered at one of the pro matches here in Kansas.
Shooting that new Defiance and my older Seekins, I started stacking up even more parts for another rifle for my son. I picked up a free barrel from Proof Research, an Area419 modular Arcalock rail, another APA muzzle brake and another TriggerTech Diamond trigger (my son likes curved shoe triggers, I use a flat), and an Atlas bipod. I also picked up another half off discount certificate for another Defiance Ruckus action, as well as a half off certificate for the Manners Compact Stock. I won the Nightforce NX8 2.5-20x50 F1 by having the fastest clean run on the tiebreaker stage at a Pro Series match last spring in New Mexico. Pictured here are (most of) the new parts which would be combined with those from my other Defiance rifle to produce two rifles for my son and I:
Since my son is younger, and because I go through more barrels each season than he, I traded barreled actions with him, so he took over my Defiance Deviant with Bartlein M24 barrel contour, swapping my flat shoe Diamond for his curved shoe, and removing my Kahles K525i to make use of his Nightforce NX8, bolting it all into a Manners G2 Compact stock. I took the new Defiance Deviant action and the pre-fit Proof Research barrel into my Manners T4a stock. My rifle ends up about 3 pounds heavier, but both have fantastic forward balance, about 4" ahead of the front action screw. Both are 6mm Dashers.
He was able to practice up and shoot his first match with the "new" rifle in its final form on his birthday this year, and did fantastic. He was able to shoot moving targets for the first time, both a conventional side-to-side mover as well as two "poppers" which peeked up from behind the cover of the trunk and the hood of a car downrange, and he made well-timed hits on both types of targets - hitting more targets on that stage than ~25 of the ~45 adults at the match. He's using a bit lighter rear bag (a pellet-filled Wiebad Mini Fortune Cookie which I won at my first PRS match) than I would like for him, but the lighter weight makes a big difference in his ability to manage and manipulate the bag with the rifle, so it works well for now. He was the only one in our squad to hit all of his shots past 1,000yrds as well, and he was able to extend his farthest impact to date after the match to 1400yrds on the KD range at the host range - first shot impact, and 8 impacts out of 10 attempts in 15-20mph Kansas crosswinds, with a dinky little Dasher at 1400yrds sure ain't bad, let alone for a 10yr old kid!
More good news is that I have plenty of BR4's and Varget on hand, and I'm doing well to find 105 and 109 Hybrids as needed to keep both rifles well fed so we can keep shooting matches together. But were it not for the support of these great companies which donate components to prize tables all over the country to promote growth in the sport, I doubt we’d have either of these rifles in our life, and I may not even still be shooting this sport, let alone my son would not be starting into it with me.
I have been shooting PRS and NRL matches for 7 seasons, starting at the end of the 2017 season with a 6.5 Grendel AR-15, then buying a Seekins Havak PH1 in 6mm Creedmoor at the beginning of the 2018 season. Over my first few years, I took opportunities to participate in "Pro Series" matches, meaning national level, 2 day matches, which draw some of the top professional shooters in the country - I'm especially blessed that in the State of Kansas, I'm within 3 hours' drive of 4 ranges which host monthly PRS Regional Series matches, and formerly a 5th, with three of those having hosted Pro Series matches. I also travel out of state to Pro Series matches - all of which is largely motivated by 3 things: 1) I want to measure my skills against the best shooters in the country, 2) I want to collect the experiences of shooting these high level matches at different venues, and 3) sponsor support for pro series match prize tables is fantastic, meaning I have opportunities to pick up high value parts and heavy discount certificates. Pictured here is my original Seekins Havak PH1, shown with its original "light tactical" barrel contour and "triral" fluting - modifications done here from factory condition were to add the Area419 Arcalock rail and a Victor Company cheek riser, to swap the factory Timney 510 trigger for a Jewel HVR, and to add a pound and a half of lead in the forend to get weight and balance where I wanted it. I've also since modified the stock to accept Heavy Palma barrels, and have been using the heavier HP contour ever since.
I still shoot matches with this Seekins, but not so often - but this rifle DID earn me sufficient points at matches to walk prize tables to pick up free or heavily discounted parts for my next rifle. I won a Kahles K525i in a random drawing of all competitors at a Pro Series match a couple years ago, and picked up a TriggerTech trigger and the American Precision Arms muzzle brake from prize tables, as well as a discount certificate for the Defiance Deviant action - the stock I picked up heavily discounted on an invitational raffle I learned about at a match, and the barrel I got for half price through a discount offer Bartlein offered at one of the pro matches here in Kansas.
Shooting that new Defiance and my older Seekins, I started stacking up even more parts for another rifle for my son. I picked up a free barrel from Proof Research, an Area419 modular Arcalock rail, another APA muzzle brake and another TriggerTech Diamond trigger (my son likes curved shoe triggers, I use a flat), and an Atlas bipod. I also picked up another half off discount certificate for another Defiance Ruckus action, as well as a half off certificate for the Manners Compact Stock. I won the Nightforce NX8 2.5-20x50 F1 by having the fastest clean run on the tiebreaker stage at a Pro Series match last spring in New Mexico. Pictured here are (most of) the new parts which would be combined with those from my other Defiance rifle to produce two rifles for my son and I:
Since my son is younger, and because I go through more barrels each season than he, I traded barreled actions with him, so he took over my Defiance Deviant with Bartlein M24 barrel contour, swapping my flat shoe Diamond for his curved shoe, and removing my Kahles K525i to make use of his Nightforce NX8, bolting it all into a Manners G2 Compact stock. I took the new Defiance Deviant action and the pre-fit Proof Research barrel into my Manners T4a stock. My rifle ends up about 3 pounds heavier, but both have fantastic forward balance, about 4" ahead of the front action screw. Both are 6mm Dashers.
He was able to practice up and shoot his first match with the "new" rifle in its final form on his birthday this year, and did fantastic. He was able to shoot moving targets for the first time, both a conventional side-to-side mover as well as two "poppers" which peeked up from behind the cover of the trunk and the hood of a car downrange, and he made well-timed hits on both types of targets - hitting more targets on that stage than ~25 of the ~45 adults at the match. He's using a bit lighter rear bag (a pellet-filled Wiebad Mini Fortune Cookie which I won at my first PRS match) than I would like for him, but the lighter weight makes a big difference in his ability to manage and manipulate the bag with the rifle, so it works well for now. He was the only one in our squad to hit all of his shots past 1,000yrds as well, and he was able to extend his farthest impact to date after the match to 1400yrds on the KD range at the host range - first shot impact, and 8 impacts out of 10 attempts in 15-20mph Kansas crosswinds, with a dinky little Dasher at 1400yrds sure ain't bad, let alone for a 10yr old kid!
More good news is that I have plenty of BR4's and Varget on hand, and I'm doing well to find 105 and 109 Hybrids as needed to keep both rifles well fed so we can keep shooting matches together. But were it not for the support of these great companies which donate components to prize tables all over the country to promote growth in the sport, I doubt we’d have either of these rifles in our life, and I may not even still be shooting this sport, let alone my son would not be starting into it with me.
Last edited by Nomercy448; 08-15-2023 at 07:33 PM.
08-19-2023, 06:13 AM
#2
Fork Horn
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 471
Great Write Up NM ! I have not seen your " NoMercy448 " name on one of the sites I go to , I figure you must be a member there . The Len Backus Long Range Hunting Site . Like you , lots of the guys there are into building the ultimate long range rifle . https://www.longrangehunting.com/ . Me , I dont know the 1st thing about it . Just like the rifles and parts you post , there I read all about the different parts and manufacturers that I have never heard of . LOL Glad to see how you are mentoring your young son . Learning from you , he might become a world class marksman in the future .
Last edited by SportsmanNH; 08-19-2023 at 06:20 AM.
08-20-2023, 05:58 PM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,888
I've been Nomercy448 on this site since the late 1990's, even before we migrated to this server; a name I picked while playing highschool football, hence the "for 48" reference - but the pseudonym didn't survive when I joined other sites. I have a couple I use regularly, but "Varminterror" is my most common username around the web.
I'm registered over at LRH.com, but I don't visit there very often and post even less frequently - just not my favorite site, but I'm a member over there.
The kid is already pretty salty - he's slower on the gun than he needs to be, and he's still not quite big enough to move a proper heavy bag (11lbs) and his rifle (currently 17lbs, a bit underweight in concession for his size and strength). He times out with a lot of shots in his magazine, but he doesn't miss very many of the shots he does take - it's not so uncommon this summer that he'll actually hit a higher percentage of shots he takes than do I at matches. He came away with Top Junior at the match this weekend, in a field of kids with far more matches than himself, two of them 4 and 5yrs older than him as well.
I'm registered over at LRH.com, but I don't visit there very often and post even less frequently - just not my favorite site, but I'm a member over there.
The kid is already pretty salty - he's slower on the gun than he needs to be, and he's still not quite big enough to move a proper heavy bag (11lbs) and his rifle (currently 17lbs, a bit underweight in concession for his size and strength). He times out with a lot of shots in his magazine, but he doesn't miss very many of the shots he does take - it's not so uncommon this summer that he'll actually hit a higher percentage of shots he takes than do I at matches. He came away with Top Junior at the match this weekend, in a field of kids with far more matches than himself, two of them 4 and 5yrs older than him as well.
