Best of the West?

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Deafmanwalking

New member
Does anyone know what kind of rifle John Burns from the "Best of the West" uses? I've tried to contact him to find out who the gunsmith is, but have not yet recieved an answer. I would buy one if I could find out all of the particulars. I'm very interested in long range shooting so any help would be appreciated.
 
I never could get his site up on my systems but I bought the training DVDs and it made good sense. By watching the dvd, I'm sure he is the gunsmith.

The Best of the west training set walks you through accuracy improvements and the other fine tuning tips for long range.

I am getting ready to sell my copy. It is over 10 hours of training. It is just good common sense laid out where you can understand it as it affects long range shooting.

I can tell you that it did help my shooting. If that saves an animal from getting injured or improves my odds of getting the game down, I'll gladly pay that.

I have spent far more on less results for sure.
 
I know that it is a 7mm, based off of the 7mm STW, with the shoulder angle changed I think it is 7mm WRP. I think he smiths his own rifles. Long range shooting is fun, but I hope all those folks who watch it, know of the hours spent to be able to shoot like that. I've heard John say many times on the show, don't do this until you practice, practice, practice. Just buying the video, does not make a long range shooter. Being able to dope wind, accurate rifles, good field technique, and good glass, make it possible. I have been shooting all of my life, and 400-500yds is my comfort zone in the field. Beyond that, I just cant't seem to dope wind or make accurate calculations. But I also live in rural Pittsburgh area. I'm sure if I lived where I could practice I'd get better. So what I do, is shoot at very small targets, for instance, if I want to shoot a deer at 400 yds, I take a 4" paper plate, and try and keep all of my shots in a practice session in that plate. I use an old system for hold over(adjusting the power ring, until the animal is in the bracket) then I know where to hold and at what power. It works for me, and I am very comfortable on deer size game. I shoot a lot, and shoot groundhogs all summer, just shooting for heads only. The longest I plunked in the head, was 625 yds. But I have misjudged plenty also. John is a pro, and I'd almost bet, he has some military training as well. I like the show, but I get this feeling that too many are going to buy the videos, and are not going to spend the big dollars for a MOA long range rifle, with just as much going into optics, stock, load developement, or practice, hence a lot of wounded animals. Where does the hunting play into all of this. Just my 2 cts. Butcher
 
I was watching one of the BOW programs and they stated the cal rifle they where using was the 7mm STW. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Here's a cut-paste from his website.


The action is a Remington 700 BDL. The threads were cut true to the bolt raceway and all other machine work was then trued to the threads. This includes the bolt face and action face with the lugs lapped to full contact. The feed rails and feed ramp are polished and the magazine box is fitted to the cartridge for reliable feeding.


An aftermarket trigger was installed to provide a perfect trigger release. A great trigger is large step in the right direction to making a system as easy to shoot as possible.
Leupold QD bases were then installed and were drilled and reamed for precision dowel pins to prevent movement of the base on the receiver. This is the major area of movement when a rifle loses its zero. The bases are only held in position on the action by friction. Some Gunsmiths replace the small 6 gauge screws with larger 8 gauge screws but this really does not do much. The mount can still be moved on the action by a sharp blow. Physically attaching the mounts make for a much stronger set up. The QD mounts have a great strength to weight ratio and give some added flexibility to the system.
An oversize hardened steel recoil lug is fitted to the action. The factory mild steel lug will not allow enough axial preload to be applied to the barrel to positively prevent movement of the action/barrel joint.
A stainless steel match grade, stress relieved, hand lapped barrel was then installed using a proprietary thread form to positively stabilize the action/barrel joint. The barrel was fluted to speed cooling time for summer practice sessions. The chamber was cut for a proprietary round called the .284 WRP. The finished length is 26 inches.
The cartridge is called the .284 WRP and is VERY similar to the commercial 7mm STW. The only difference is in the throat geometry. I change the length of freebore and leade angle to make it shoot better. 7mm STW factory throats are not the best design for good accuracy. Standard brass and loading dies work perfectly and I suppose so would factory ammunition if I wanted to increase ammo costs and decrease performance levels. This combination will shoot a 150gr bullet at 3400 fps in the 26 inch barrel. I use both Barnes XBTs and Swift Sciroccos and still can't figure out which one I really prefer.
Next item is a McMillan A-3 stock. The system most seen on TV is black but I prefer the molded in marble patterns. The action is pillar bedded with the barrel free floating. This stock is somewhat unconventional in appearance but very functional. It handles recoil very well and the vertical pistol grip positions the firing hand much better than a conventional sporter stock. This is a large stock and requires a special saddle scabbard for use on horseback. A stud is installed in the forend to mount a quick release bipod.
The scope is a Leupold 4.5 X 14 Long Range Side Focus 30mm tube with a 50mm objective. Try saying that 5 times fast. I had Premier Reticles install my custom reticle and replace the tall windage turret with a coin click turret to make it better for a saddle scabbard. The reticle has windage dots for wind holds and vertical lines for quick range finding. This scope will dial on to ranges over 1700 yds on warm days.
A custom Bullet Drop Compensator was then installed exactly matching the drop of the .284 WRP in this rifle. This enables us to range the animal and then dial the exact amount of elevation in to the scope to allow a dead on hold at that range. The development of the extremely accurate drop data takes a large amount of time and knowledge and is one of the most important aspects of long range shooting.
 
The man knows his stuff and even better doesn't mind telling you how you can do it. (For a fee of course).

One of the best $100 purchases I have made in my opinion. One of the most helpful things I learned was the bullet drop info for getting scopes dialed in by getting custom caps made for the scopes. I have done that and that alone has increased my accuracy over the counting of clicks. This together with mildot ranging and you have a very deadly long range rig. (Provided you practice)

Also, if you practice trigger control like he suggests, you can shave that group size down quite a bit on a rifle... Even better, the guy is normal and you can understand him. I would recommend it to anyone, young or old, Experianced or not.
 
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