Dwight, the only dumb questions are those unasked and those to which the answer is ignored! 

Anyway, while I have not seen any Encores on the line for schuetzen yet, I suspect it will just be a matter of time.  There were some Contenders built up as schuetzen rifles, so the precedent is there.  At that time, supporters of the project cited the Maynard and the tip-up Stevens rifles as antecedents providing historical correctness.  The more I find out about Maynard, the more they seem like 19th century T/Cs!   

The one rule you need to be especially aware of has to do with barrel length.  As memory serves, the rule book for ASSRA calls for a barrel of not less than 21" (which is longer than some of the "rifle" barrels made for T/Cs.)  Such barrels might be BATF legal but not legal for ASSRA competition.  Of course I have an original Maynard barrel that is 20" long from the factory, but that is ineligible to compete as well. 

Well, I guess that's about it for now, but I'm sure some other folks will chime in with their opinions which are, after all, like noses... everybody's got one!   

Regards and Merry Christmas!
Charlie Shaeff
the Green Frog

Dwight,

  If you get REAL lucky you can find an Encore with a factory .32/40 barrel on it. I almost bought one many years ago. Been kinda looking for one ever since. Not sure tho if they would have a legal length barrel.

PETE

Pete- That would have been a TCR83, NOT an Encore!  They were pretty nice tho!

Section 1.16 Barrels

Barrels may be of any length in excess of 21.5" and any weight, but for bench rifles the barrela shall be about 2" in dia or less.

The barrel need NOT be rifled for the entire length but must fully encircle the bullet as it passes through the un-rifled section.

K38

I have long thought a T/C Encore or probably better a Contender would make a nice Schuetzen outfit. I say Contender because it is strong enought for any pratical Schuetzen cartridge and the switch firing pin allows you to shoot rimfire and centerfire with the same action/stock/sight set up.   

The Encore is surely stronger but for 32 Millers/32/40 etc the plain Contender is strong enough.  The Contenders have the ablity to get real nice trigger pulls too thanks to Handgun Silouette competiton.  Charlie McNett shoots our local Schuetzen matches with a Contender benchrest in 32 Miller Short and it performs very well.

I am a big switch barrel on the same stock/action fan and shoot two CPA's that allow Rim and Centerfire in Schuetzen events. There is a real economy in the same Action/stock/scope/Iron sights for all events

I have a couple of Bulberry barrels for my little Contender carbine  22 LR & .22 K Hornet, he does nice work.  The Rimfire T/C would be a great little Schuetzen if ASSRA did not have the short barrel rule.  However I see no chance of ASSRA modifying the rule so order long if you get one.

If you plan on setting a T/C  up let me know. I would be intresteted in the stock pattern and may well build one my self

Boats

Bullberry will make a 32-40 or 32 Miller for either a Contender or an Encore.  I am coming around to think the Contender would be better because of the rimfire/centerfire capability.  There is am aftermarket rimfire Encore conversion though.  I have heard the Contender can have a bit better trigger, and the G2 looks a lot better than the old one with the horrible psuedo engraving.  I had a Contender pistol in 30-30 and 44 mag.  The 30-30 shot very well with a 4X leupold scope, but I traded it for something else.

Dwight

Marlinguy I was thinking more about a lighter Schutzen.  My CPA is Pope model stocked with the .22LR barrel weighs over 14 lbs scoped. I will sometimes shoot my Smallbore Silouette rifle on the ASSRA target. It was set up under the old rule and weighs 7 1/2 lbs.  Honestly there is no difference in the scores I shoot with either rifle.

A T/C could have a semi hooked buttplate and forearm that you could shoot off fingertips.  Set up that way the finished rifle should weigh less than 9 or 10 lbs.  Which by the way is about the pratical limit for rifles without palm rest.  For the centerfire cartridge it should be one of the ligher ones too. Perhaps a 7 mm ?

Boats

If you want to have a barrel chambered for .32 Miller Short or 32-40 for breach seating do you need to use a special reamer, as opposed to a chamber for fixed ammunition?

Thanks,

Dwight

K38 you are right and to my eye the High Walls, CPA's & Ballards with heavy barrels are the most eye appealing rifles out there.

But a Contender outfit would be much less expensive and fully competitive. When I say much less I mean 1/3 of the all up price.

Since I already have a contender I may set up as a Schuetzen just for the fun of it.

Boats

I think the TC Contender would make a neat schuetzen rifle in a .22LR! The standard barrel diameter, with a 23" length, and wood in schuetzen configuration! Then a second barrel in .32 Miller to switch back and forth.
Even with both barrels, it would still be cheaper than one Hi Wall or Ballard.

K 38

Couple of things.

Bench rest with a T/C  I am no bench shooter but watched Charlie McNett shoot his off the bench. It's not as easy as a bolt gun but he seemed to have no problem. I think he rolled the rifle sideways to load. And was using a plugged case for a seater.

On the chamber. Again I am no gunsmith but Paul Shuttleworth re-cut the leade in a 32/40 barrel for me. It was chambered for fixed and could not seat a bullet breech. After he re-cut the leade a proper breech tapered bullet goes in real good. I think it's just a hand job with a reamer. But since it is important you want to make sure the gunsmith knows how to do the job. Bulberry would be able to tell you right away.

On the Palm rest. The metal parts for CPA's palm rest are about a hundred bucks.  For some reason I have a collection of palm rest. I make them up on my lathe in all sorts of configurations. If you just buy the forestock part I can make a palm rest for you pretty easy. On the topic of forestocks for a T/C Schuetzen  I think I would run two forestocks one for bench and one equiped with the fixture for the palm rest.  Flat forestocks make a big difference bench rest.

On the sights.  My little Contender carbine has one Leopold 3x9 compact that they added target knobs too.  It's on a Leopold QR base and switching scopes and barrels it holds zero very well. Just as good as the Unertl or STS on my Schuetzen CPA's. 

CPA sells a iron sight reciver base that fits a Weaver mount that could be a good option to switch irons and scopes between two barrels.  Another thing. On my switch CPA's I have a very high iron sight line.  This allows me to keep the same head positon scope or iron. With a sprit level on the front sight the high sight line is no handicap and same head positon is a real advantage.  Since the sights are removable they don't interfere with the scope at all

Last on the buttstocks Let me know what Bulberry says about a Schuetzen buttstock as I would like to make one up myself.

Boats

Good morning, Board;

This is an interesting thread.  I looked up some contender butt stocks and am wondering if there is anything in the rules against having a thumb hole stock?

Y'all be good.

horsefly

Good morning, Asst;

Shot the heck out of one good idea didn't you!?  The reason I asked is that I was looking at G2 stocks at (I think) Gun Stocks Inc and the thumb holers looked a lot stronger than the standard stock with such a deep cut for the thumb.

Y'all be good.

horsefly

Good morning, boats;

I was looking at the gunstocksinc site mentioned by someone else above and they have three basic stocks.  One is the standard, but it doesn't have as much wood as the others.  The other two are thumbhole with higher cheek pieces.  The difference I see is that one has the stock belly cut out for the racy crowd.  The standard thumbhole looks more likely.

If they would cut one and leave belly and cheek piece wood, I think that thumbholer would be a very likely candidate.  You could just cut the top of the thumbhole out and it wouldn't be a thumbhole anymore.

You mentioned that the stock bolt is stronger than it looks and I suppose for the calibers used in schuetzen, strength at the bottom of the thumb cut shouldn't be an issue.

I'm not trying to get around the rulebook - just to figure out an affordable, but good way to make a competitive rifle for both centerfire and rimfire standing targets.

Y'all be good.

horsefly

Horsefly 

I think I will look at the stock blanks you mention and perhaps make some drawings and bandsawn mock up's

As far as the thumbhole. Remember it's only ASSRA that has rules against Contenders. The other Schuetzen orgs. would probably allow it. I had some exchanges about the short barrel rule a couple of years ago and found it pretty well set in stone. I don't know what the problem is or was but it stands in the rule books and as I understand it can only be changed at Etna Green.  I have a couple of ASSRA legal rifles and don't worry about a Contender making the rule. You may see it different and if so should build to suit.

Will post something once I get a feel for what a Schuetzen buttstock would look like.

Boats

There is no rule against Contender or Encore actions.

Dale53

K38

Did Bulberry say anything about throats for Breech Seating in his Miller chambers ?

Boats

boats;
         The 32 Miller I have [JGS] has the throat as part of the reamer. I would assume that since the cartridge is used for breechseating only, that all reamers would come throat attached unless ordered otherwise.   leadball

PS  I believe this is a JGS stock reamer [no extra cost]

Thanks guys,  Leadball thanks on the reamer advice too.

I had a look at the site. Those  buttstocks could work very well.

I am at a little disavantage as we are sanding floors in my house and my books are packed up.  Ken Walters "Ned Roberts and the Single shot rifle book: Has details on many old shooters and the rifles they used. Lots of them used light tip up designs and some of the stocks are  not unlike a T/C's. it will be a week before I can look at it though.

The Stevens handy rifles stocks could be a nice pattern too. If the rifle is about 9 lbs and balanced like a modern sporter you don't need much hook to the buttplate. 

Boats