Long range rifles

Question for those who are LR shooters and had to make the decision between SB vs LB...

Where I’m at I have to order through MAS (military and diplomatic sales for those living abroad). 6’ beds are pretty much non-existent unless you special order, which could take 7-8+ months.
Obviously I’m a sane person and prefer a bed that isn’t shorter than 6’ but it looks like my options are limited...because I’m not going to wait 8+ months lol.

For those of you with 5’ beds that spend your free time loading up steel and driving out to your spot, do you find the bed size limiting? Ammo, stands, steel, pelican case, etc...

I ask because I’m coming from an 03 tundra (that I had to sell prior to my move) which had a 6’ bed that served me well...be it for home renovations, shooting steel in NC, or towing my Whaler in FL.

So my real question is should I just expect to trade my 5’ OR (full premium package - Adv tech and TRD/LED) or PRO for a 6’ OR premium setup when I return to the states? ...or are you finding a 5’ to be enough for extended range days and the occasional home reno?

[plan was to go diamondback HD with roof racks/ladder racks if I stuck with a SB taco; or just the DBHD with a LB]

 

My 5 foot hasn't been limiting my range days, but it does limit my camping. If I was to do it again, I'd go ACLB, but I'm not planning to start a family so 4 doors isn't necessary. My Plano double long gun locker fits fine in the 5 foot bed.

 

Damn, that’s what I figured.
I have the luggage...umm I mean the family baggage, so the DC is a requirement lol. My 03 tundra AC was perfect...until it required a car seat in the back, which is why I’m going DC on the Tacoma. I really want the LB and don’t want to have to trade in for a LB in 3years (trade ins never turn out well lol), but it sounds like I might have to bite the bullet and prepare myself for the inevitable.

 

Honestly, if you are pining for a LB, you’ll never be satisfied with a SB.

Where are you stationed now?

 

Yea, that’s what I was afraid of.

I’m over at SHAPE (Belgium), so unfortunately I won’t be doing any shooting for the next three years. Wife took orders here (I’m just a Dependa now) so I left contract and followed her...and the toys went into storage.

 

Nice. I passed on orders to Schinnen from Japan back in 08 to Echo Tango Suitcase. It was a tough decision, and in hindsight, I’d likely have been med boarded there anyway... but I wanted to GTFO.

If I were you I’d start looking for something cool that will be 25yrs old at time of your DEROS. Defender 110 TD5, 70-series troopy, Nissan patrol, etc. drive that, enjoy that, bring it home with your household goods and sell it for a mint. Then buy your Taco.

Or grab something from the lemon lot, and wait for the truck you want to arrive via Overseas order.

 

I have a Ruger Precision in 6.5 Creedmoor and it is damn near automatic at 700-1000

 

Yea I was thinking of getting rid of what I’m driving now for whatever 2020 Tacoma that’s available, just to see if I like it. Use it for side work here and then selling/trading it for whatever LB is out when we get back to the states.

To bring it all back to the thread topic, here they are before they went into the darkness of a storage unit lol.

LMT SLK8 w/ 16” SS 556 topped with a 4-16 ATACR Mil-R

FN A3G 308 topped with a 5-25 ATACR Mil-XT

 

Took the 12lrp for some social distancing and load development yesterday. Tried with and without the Area 419 brake, and my goodness. I can now spot my splash at 100yrd, and the target barley moves in the reticle. It’s pretty awesome. I found two nodes in the .3’s at 42.1 and 42.3 of h4350, but the latter resulted in a popped primer and other primer damage. So looks like 42.1 is it. Average velocity over 10rds was 2918 with a SD of 8.1.

I might be putting in too much neck tension though.

 

That 419 brake is pretty damn nice. My wife and I both run one on our rifles. I know absolutely ZERO when it comes to reloading, which I'll probably start looking into during my down time here. I have about three 5-gallon buckets filled with 308 and 556 brass in storage... So I should probably plan to do something with all that lol.

 

I was playing with neck tension with my 308 but when switched over to the 708 I just kept using the full length sizing die, I was making 308s into 7mm, where I noticed a difference was full length trimming, by cutting everything to a matched length it made the tension more consistent across the batch

Are you using gage pins to check the neck tension

 

Not case trimming yet. Was using once fired lapua brass through a Redding type-s full length die. I have a neck bushing that might be a thou too tight.

Looking at trimmers now.

 

I got the Wilson micrometer trimmer when it was on sale

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012786644?pid=276092

 

Buddy recommended that one as well. Was hoping to use my allowance this month on a new bipod, but case trimmer it is.

Just need ATF to get me my replacement license... damn them for me loosing my copy when I was moving my stuff into the arms room! How dare they!

Brownells/Sinclair also figured out my last copy had expired and pulled my discount.

They are all super jerks, because I couldn’t possibly take responsibility for any of this.

 

I absolutely love my Burris XTR's I run them on my 1 mile guns!

 

That is all.

 

40X is insane for all but spotting scope duty.

 

That looks like the Ethiopian .30-06 surplus I bought a while back.

 

Wrong continent, right diameter.

Surplus Korean .30 carbine

 

Oh nice, I've heard good things about that stuff. The Ethiopian I bought was...passable. We'll see how the brass holds up to multiple firings.