Whetrock,
I started shooting CAS long range about 10 years ago and my first single shot was a Buff Classic. I probably put somewhere in the area of 1000 rounds thru it, working up loads, practicing and in matches. I shot only cast bullets, most 400 grain, at around 1400 fps, so not anything close to max loads, but all off benchrest, prone, or sitting on cross sticks. When shooting off the bench I used a slip on shotgun recoil pad and usually shot with a PAST shoulder pad. Even with extensive shooting sessions, I had no issues. You could do the same at the range, and in the field, who notices recoil? I also tried filling tang screw access hole with lead shot. It helped a little. .The plus side of the light weight is that it would be an easy carry in the woods and if you are using iron sights, the long barrel is an obvious advantage.
I found it to be a very accurate rifle, shooting it between 200 and 300 yards and won several matches and placed fairly high in most I shot in. After shooting it for a couple years I ran into a deal on a Browning BPCR that I just couldn't pass up and sold it to a fellow shooter who was just getting into CAS long range. He still shoots it. Our club has a Buffalo shoot each fall, where there are 13 steel plate buffalos, about midway in size between a IHMSA pig and ram, at various distances between 75 and 300 yards. You have two minutes to try knock down as many as you can. In two of the last five years it has been won by two different shooters with Buff Classics. They both still had the ejectors (our club is more into having a good time, than being real fussy about SASS rules) and it gave them a speed edge, and had plenty of accuracy.
I would consider this easily a 200 yard rifle, and could go beyond if you know your distance with fair accuracy and the drop of your rifle. If you put a tang mounted sight on it, there are some issues because you are mounting it directly into the wood. There are several methods that seem to have deveoped to best deal with this. If you want to go that route I can give you some more info. I would personally put a barrel mounted peep on it or a low power scope. Some of them come with a barrel mounted peep, and you can get a blade replacement for that sight, if that is more to your liking.
If you are going to do plinking, Trail Boss with cast bullets are a pussy cat to shoot and I have found them to be amazingly accurate out to 100 yards, which I think is the longest I have tried them. They would probably work well beyond that, but you are going to have a rainbow trajectory.
Bottom line is I think that if you want a nostalgic caliber that will kill anything in North America, you could not find a better buy.
Jackpine
