Goondiwindi

[williada]

A Berry good win. Each agg both days and Grand Agg. FO

[AlanF]

Well done Tony. Bartlein 7mm?

[ecomeat]

Thanks, gentlemen.
Yep.....7mm all the way, (with Bartlein #4 performing to perfection) as did Julie and Cam, and a number of others. When Cam shot first at 300m with a 7 mm Shehane and got up with 60-8 and I managed to round him up about ten minutes later with 9 X's in a row to finish on 60-9, any and all doubts that I ever had about the old 284 Win being accurate enough at short range dissipated forever !!
It was the most perfect , crystal clear sight picture that you could ever hope for and 180 VLDs didn't seem to notice the very tiny breeze.....apparently I blew the spotter out 6 times in a row.... so if rifles couldn't perform there and then, they probably need to reconfigure "something".
Goondiwindi Border Championships really is a fabulous weekend out in the bush. It's out in the red dirt country about 20klm out of town, with no electricity, but some of the best hospitality from true "country folks" that you could ever see. Well known shooters like Lowell Tillack, Col Sutton and Gary Heusler and their extraordinary families, worked their butts off to make it happen. Gary ran the butts and didnt get to fire a shot, while Lowell and Col did the RO work and general organising......at the expense of their own shooting results. So any punters out there should ignore their Goondiwindi form
The food was first class as well as being well priced ......the beer was cold.....and the dust and bullshit were very plentiful ! Shooters from WA and Vic also made the trip and enjoyed every minute of it.
Goondiwindi paid good cash prizes for Ranges ($15,$10 & $5 on every range for every discipline) and had good practical trophies for 1st-3rd in Daily Agg and Grand Agg so it's an OPM that I will certainly be trying to get back to again next year.

[Steve N]

Congratulations Tony on a very good win and also to fellow Beaudesert club member Mike Samuels with a solid win in FTR despite packing the wrong ammo fo day two. Congrats also to Mahlon Reid for another win in FB and a higher score than FA winner Roger Dahl who battled on with a bleeding leg which required a trip to hospital.

[Norm]

Well done Tony, I think you should introduce Steve to Mr Bartlein.

[ecomeat]

Thanks Norm.
Yes I do think a nice Bartlein from Mr 7mm.com.au is exactly what he needs. Plus, now that Steve has grown up some more he could go the whole hog and get it chambered in 284 Win or Shehane . Given that he has now got quality items with his scope, action and stock I can't think of a single reason for him to go 7/08 again unless he has got thousands of 308 cases.
If he really likes that 2700-2750 fps with 180 grainers, then the 284 does that easily and accurately......as Barry Lewis showed us when he won the 2013 QRA Queens ! Or he can easily run it where the rest of us do and still not have brass issues.
I heard a whisper that you had a pretty good weekend yourself, young fella !!.
How about some details ?

[Quick]

Why go with a 284 and use more powder for no reason and still get less case life?? That I will never understand from the 284 brigade........

[ecomeat]

Shaun,
Possibly so he could run 180 gr bullets at 2820-2880 fps without any pressure issues.
Lowell Tillack ran a straight 284 Win at about 2880 fps at the QRA Queens for a score that is simply world class in every sense.
Marty Lobert's effort in the FCWC in 2013 with a straight 284 Win at about 2880 simply was world class. He was 2nd in the Individual Championships in the whole world. Damn, it made me proud to be an Aussie !!
The Gold Medal winning Aussies who went to Raton are the F Class World Champions for 4 years, and they all ran (I think !!) 180 gr bullets at 2820 fps PLUS, to achieve that.
I just haven't seen 7mm/08s in the "winners circle" with the same frequency as the 284 Win or Shehane.
I dont doubt that some good riflemen have done extraordinarily well using that calibre, but i just havent been aware of their results myself. Can you point out some of the bigger wins/great shoots that were achieved with the 7/08 against strong competition on a national stage for me ?

[williada]

Norm is a shy man, but I can tell you he won the FO Champion of Champions in Gippsland by a significant margin from a couple of handy shots. Maybe he had stolen all the Queensland information and technology from a recent visit to advance his position.

Shaun, the 7mm-08 is a great case, but the reason to use more powder is justified sometimes in the 284 to increase velocity over the longer ranges or a championship when the importance of case life no longer matters if you want to win. That's when you pull out all stops. There were also a few lessons from Belmont. IMO, the turbulence of the Belmont frontal required higher velocities to stay on song. In a Queens series, you can bet ugly days will come up. Its old army theory that the chain is as strong as its weakest link. The weak link was insufficient velocity at Belmont. David.

[Quick]

Ok. Thats fair enough. But why then go from a 7mm08AI to a 284, you would be better going to a SAUM I would think. I wont dispute that the 284 has the wins on the board. For me personally, 50fps of extra MV and worse case and barrel life just arnt worth it to me. But if Steve wants to go that way, more power to him

[Steve N]

More accuracy to me would be handier!!
I reckon both cartridges are very capable and have their place.
Steve.

[plumbs7]

Great win Tony and as I said somewhere else . Well deserved too! The 7-08 AI debate is a little akin to Holden and Ford. Perhaps with a master pilot behind a 7-08 AI ( instead of me ), we would maybe see it in the winners circle . I'm only dabbling in open and will soon go back to standard . So will have to leave it to master pilots , Norm ,Steve or Quick or somebody else , will have to prove the calibre .

Tony you are right in what u are saying !
The 7-08 is good for me as its like a standard gun that can do it all but maybe at a compromise ! I'm still very surprised at the velocities I'm getting!
Lowell certainly did well changing to .284 !

Back on topic thanks to Goondawindi RC for a great Saturday as I had paternal duties the next day !
Also good to See Tony have a win after a broken leg and a couple of destroyed barrels which is now well behind him ! Kind regards Graham Sells !

[DenisA]

Congrats Tony. It looked like a great event. I'm really frustrated that I couldn't be there............ to contribute funds to the prize pool of course

On the 7mm debate, a saami spec'd production 7-08 in standard form should only be compared to a saami spec'd production .284win. If your talking about a 7-08 Ackley Improved then you'd have to compare that to a .284 Shehane wouldn't you.
Put into perspective, the MV and case life advantages are clearer.

[plumbs7]

Very sorry , last word about the 7-08 AI . If one was looking at a 6.5x47L , my thoughts would be forget about it and go for the 7-08 AI instead ! Ok bye !

[plumbs7]

Some photos