June 11th 2023Sunday GunDay – French 6-6.5×47 F Classer for Ali?noreToday’s Sunday GunDay Story features a beautiful and unique F-Class rifle made in France. This handsome rifle first appeared in our Gun of the Week archives. This rifle was given as a gift by a husband to his wife. We are re-publishing this “French Connection”, because it is so unique and has such a great story. Europe has many capable custom arms makers. In this article, we feature Christian Salva from Toulouse, France. This article features a beautiful and ultra-accurate 6-6.5×47 Lapua F Class rifle. The rifle was designed for a woman and exhibits flawless craftsmanship to match its superior performance.Alie Gets Her Weapon — Thanks to Husband Au?lienPhotos by LONASSAC and text by T.J.E.
Ali?nore is a charming young French woman who shares her passion for long- and short-range shooting with Aur?lien. Aur?lien, who already owns a 6mmBR PGM Ultima Ratio Rifle, decided to build a rifle for his wife in order that they can shoot together. They turned to the Christian Salva Workshop in Toulouse, in the south of France. This was close to their home.
Ali?nore selected a flawless, French walnut blank with a perfect grain for the stock. The stock is made from a single solid piece of walnut with a waxed finishing to highlight the fine figuring. The stock is designed for F-Class shooting, prone and bench rest. The fore-end of the stock is flat and 3.35? The fore-end is flat and 3.35? The rails on the underside of the forearm are designed to accept a Parker-Hall or Versa Pod type bipod. A rail is located on the underside of forearm to accept a Parker-Hall bipod or Versa Pod. The trigger guard features a custom light alloy SALVA design. The buttplate is Ansch?tz type. It can be adjusted vertically and rotated around its horizontal axis. The cheek piece can be adjusted for height alone — that’s all you need. Ali?nore chose the F-Class target rifle from Christian Salva’s range, as it was the best fit for the type of shooting they wanted to do. The 600-meter rifle range of their club, located near their home (see photos above), is available to them. The range is lacking a target pit, as it is customary in France. Members shoot prone, using front benchrest rests similar to F-Class. It’s impossible to mark and spot individual shots (as is done in American High Power matches) without a target trench. With a good scope and good light, it is possible to see shot-holes at 400m. Sometimes, even at 600m. But this is rare. When this rifle was made, Christian Salva, one of France’s few gunsmiths, manufactured the rifle from front sight all the way to buttplate. He builds the entire rifle, with the exception of the barrel. This includes the action, bolt and trigger, as well as the stock. He does the bedding and chambering as well. He does everything according to the customer’s specifications, which is only possible in a small, highly specialized business.
The rifle is built on a SALVA hexagonal action with a flat bottom, which was set into a highly-figured French Walnut stock using a bed block. The gun measures 49? The gun is 49? The scope is included. The barrel is 29cm long. The barrel is 29? (31mm) in diameter. The barrel’s weight and size made it necessary to use a bedding block to secure the barreled-action into the stock. The action has an angled Picatinny Rail with a 20-MOA built in to allow long-range shots without using the scope’s internal height. The rifle is fitted with a Nightforce 12x42x56mm BR Scope held in alloy rings. Details of SALVA Action
The rifle is equipped with a Dural alloy right port and bolt, as well as a single-shot action coated in a champagne-colored surface hardener. The hexagonal action (normally for a French-style action) has a flat base to improve bedding. On this gun, the barreled actions are secured by the long barrel blocks. The action is floating. Look at the picture below. The barrel block secures barreled actions into the wood stocks. Christian Salva uses high-tech machinery to produce his actions, including CNC multi axis mills. The advanced design makes the action both strong and light. SALVA’s action is thick and strong, despite its reduced weight. It can chamber cartridges ranging from 6mmBR up to magnum calibres like the 300 Win Mag. A treated steel insert is screwed in the front of the action. This insert is threaded for the barrel and machinized to accept the locking lugs on the bolt. The threaded section of the unit is extra long (36mm, 1.5mm) to ensure rigidity. A steel insert is screwed in place with a BTR Screw where the bolt lever closes to prevent the steel bolt lever wearing out the Dural alloy.
The cylindrical bolt is made of all-steel and has a diameter measuring 0.906? The bolt has three (3) locking lugs on the front. Both the extractor and the ejector are placed in the locking lugs of this bolt design. Salva’s aim in designing the position and operation for both extractor and the ejector was to reduce the side pressure on cartridges. The extractor was designed to hold the cartridge case in position with minimal lateral movement. The ejector can also be found in one of the three lugs. [Editor’s note: Many benchrest actions such as the Stolle Panda and Stiller Viper use an extractor built into the lug. This feature is also found on Savage bolts, and the push-feed Model 70 Winchesters. These bolts, however, do not also have the ejector as a lug. Unlike most bolt designs, the ejector does not have a spring. This springless ejector was designed to eliminate side-pressure when chambering a cartridge, keeping the round concentric within the chamber. The ejector will eject a case if you pull the bolt back all the way. The bolt can be pulled back to the maximum if the shooter wants to remove the case manually. The 1.5? The 29? Lothar Walther
The barrel of Ali?nore’s rifle is the only part not made by SALVA, Toulouse. Christian Salva selected a stainless Lothar Walther 6-groove barrel with a 1/8?-twist to handle 105gr Bullets. The muzzle has been milled to have an 11? The muzzle is milled with an 11? This German Walther tube is 1.22? This German Walther tube has a straight contour of 1.22? The barrel is 74mm long. Salva decided that this barrel, which is long and non-tapered, was so heavy that it needed to be mounted with an alloy bedding plate, approximately 8? The bedding block is about 8? The bedding block is attached to the barrel with ten Allen-head screws, while the lower part of the block is secured to wood stock using eight screws and bedding compound.
Christian’s design is also used to manufacture the trigger, which is entirely manufactured by SALVA. The overall trigger pull weight can be adjusted from 50-250 grams (1.88 oz). – 8.8 oz.). Cartridge and Load Information
The rifle is chambered for 6-6.5×47 Lapua. Aur?lien begins with Lapua cases 6.5×47. The cases are necked down to 6mm, and then neck-sized using a.265 bushing. bushing. The necks are slightly turned to ensure uniformity of the neckwall and a consistent grip for the bullet. Aur?lien loads Berger VLD 105gr bullets using Vihtavuori powder and small magnum primes. His preferred load is 38.2 grain of N160, with a cartridge length (COAL), of 2.732 mm. (69.40 mm). This load gives a muzzle velocity of 2854 fps (or 870 meters per second), measured at one meter away from the muzzle. [Editor’s Note-This is a very mild loading. The 6-6.5×47 can shoot 105-grainers at speeds over 3100 fps. The Smooth Function + Great Accuracy of the Rifle
The recoil is minimal for a 9 kg 6-6.5×47 Lapua when firing with a front rest. This is ideal for women. The rifle is easy to use, even though the first few rounds were a little stiff when loading. After that, everything worked out perfectly. The bolt action is solid, and you can feel everything is tight and snug. The versatile trigger is comparable to the best benchrests and has the added bonus of being able to operate in a single or two-stage mode. The minimum pull-weight is 50 grams (1.8 oz.). The term “two-stages” may not be the best one to use, as it is hard to detect the let-off at this weight. The trigger can be adjusted to a single-stage, very light let-off. The rifle is equipped with a Nightforce 12x42x56mm BR scope. This high-magnification optical allows the shooter to see their bullet holes at 400 metres in good light. This is useful when adjusting for the wind. The ergonomics and adjustability of the stock allow the shooter feel comfortable with this rifle. The Ansch?tz Butt-plate, and the easily-adjustable cheek piece height, help in this regard. This rifle has shown impressive accuracy. Aur?lien shot the group below at 400 meters (437.4 yard) on C200 targets. This 5-shot group was calculated at 0.555 using OnTarget’s group measuring software. Or 0.121 MOA. This is remarkable for a weapon that fires long VLD-style ammunition. The rifle produced “one-ragged holes” at 100 meters. Tags: 6-6.5×47 Barrel Block Christian Salva F-Class Nightforce Scope Sunday Gunday Walther Barrel
