Tonight's "Saturday Night Gun Pron (tm)" look at some of the products sold by Sinclair International, a specialized supplier of esoteric goodies for "precision shooters" (target rifles).
In the world of putting holes in paper targets with centerfire rifles, the most common platforms are the Remington 700, and the M-16. The majority of accessories are geared towards these two weapons, although there are plenty of goodies that can be used with any rifle.
Serious target shooting requires serious attention to the tiniest of details. First comes cleaning. There are high-end cleaning rods (complete with their own special carrying cases), with the Dewey plastic-coated rod getting the nod for best protecting the barrel. Can't have microscopic particles of junk embedded in the rifling by the cleaning rod.
You need a bucket at the muzzle to catch all the gunk, as well as rod guides, front and rear. Nothing is too good when it comes to protecting your barrel.
The rod guides replace the bolt, and have a little port hole that lets you pour the correct amount of bore cleaner onto your high-tech patch as it is pushed towards the muzzle. We won't even discuss the dozens of cleaning preparations available for cleaning your rifle. However, a specialized cleaning cradle is often handy.
Now that your rifle is clean, you have to put some ammunition in it. "Service Rifle" events usually require the use of commercial or GI match ammo. Other competitions allow (and almost demand) custom handloaded ammo. Sinclair has various brands of reloading equipment of exquisite precision to load your ammo. Much of it works the same as regular dies, presses, scales, etc. But there's also "must have" items like a meplat trimmer.
After your meplats are uniformly trimmed, you have to trim the inside and outside of your cartridge cases for absolute uniformity. This is especially important if your barrel is chambered for non-standard subminimum chamber dimensions. First you measure, then you trim and ream.
After that comes reloading, but first you need precision micrometer dies to put everything together.
Now all you need are decent sights on your rifle. Service rifle competition use iron sights that resembled those on the issue rifle. If you're using a bolt action rifle in an "open" competition, the sky's pretty much the limit. Here are some "typical" front and rear sights with a price that's almost that of a baseline Remington 700 rifle itself:
If you are using a scope, there are similar wild and wonderful (and expensive) accessories. One "must have" is an offset scope level, so you can check for unintentional canting of your weapon.
And if you're shooting from a bench rest, a simple adjustable rest with a nice leather pad for that extra touch of luxury for you and your rifle.
Top everything off with a special shooting cap that blocks out distractions from the side.
Sinclair International has been bought by the Brownell's people, so I expect to see their next catalog printed in the unique horizontal format the Brownell's uses. But what I saw this time, and from their web site, has really gotten me geeked.
Only two things are holding me back from jumping in with both feet: time, and money.