In 2025, Tom Mousel from Montana renewed every IBS Heavy Gun 1,000‑yard aggregate record—all in one season. Over about five months and twenty 10‑shot targets, he averaged a stunning 4.8197″ for his 20‑target aggregate. Along the way, he also set records for the 6‑target (3.7600″), first 10‑target (4.5514″), and 12‑target (3.879″) aggregates, despite temperature swings of nearly 70 °F. Tom Mousel utterly redefined what was thought possible in 1,000‑yard benchrest. Breaking every aggregate record in a single season—and doing so in a brand‑new rifle—represents an unprecedented leap in raw 1,000‑yard accuracy. Also maintaining that level of performance consistently across 200 shots under vastly changing conditions is arguably one of the biggest accomplishments in long‑range BR!!

Tom’s rifle was a masterpiece: a Roy Hunter–built heavy stock (~65–70 lb), BAT action, 32″ Bartlein barrel chambered in .300 WSM, hand‑loaded bullets, H4350 powder, Lapua brass—and topped with a March Majesta 8–80×56 scope.

March Majesta 8–80×56 with Super‑ED lenses, temperature‑stabilized optics, a wide‑angle eyepiece, and “shimmer protection,” it is specifically engineered for elite long‑range shooting. Fortunately, many users across F‑Class and benchrest mention its clarity and precision at 80× magnification.

Below is a quote from Alex Wheeler’s post.

8 in total. I have thought about how to write this in a way to make people understand the significance if you don’t really follow long range Benchrest. 1000 yard IBS agg. records are a little different. There’s 20 10 shot targets shot in the year. You have a 6, 10, 12, and 20 target agg for group and score. So 8 in total. The 10 is the first target from your first 10 matches. The 6 is the best of those. The 20 is all 20 and the 12 is the best of those. So you have to keep a gun in tune for half a year. And for the 10 and 20 you cant throw out the bad ones. Everyone counts. These are THE records to look at when your talking real 1000 yard raw accuracy. The 6 and 10 are the original long standing records from day one. So to break them all in one year, and the first year of a new rifle can’t be understated. It is hands down the biggest accomplishment I have seen or know of in long range BR, at least in my opinion. On to the good stuff….

Tom Mousel from Montana set out to build a serious heavy gun a couple years ago. He had Roy Hunter build a one off stock of their own design with ziricote wood. I don’t know if its the wood or the lead that’s in the stock that makes this thing so good. Having been around enough “good” guns I can tell when we have a special one and this is one. Its 8″ wide up front and 2″ in the rear with a wood rudder. The stock weights around 65-70 pounds. Roy did all the finish work and the pictures really don’t do it justice. I know you hear that all the time but the contrast this wood has is like nothing I have ever seen.

I glued and screwed a Bat M into Roys pre bed, and went through the action as usual. I set this ignition up with a spacer and spring that I have made for the short action Bats, like the B. A tuned up Bix n Andy made the cut. I used my custom shroud and did the rest of the lug and timing work. We went through a couple tweaks on the ignition and triggers. That was the final setup. The free floated gain twist 32″ 1.450″ Bartlein Barrel is chambered in 300 WSM. Its a no turn neck as well. Tom makes his own bullet on a Jeff Peinhardt die. He runs H4350, Lapua brass, and a March Majesta scope, and he chases the lands. I will let him tell any more about the load that he wants. I’m sure he will be on this post and he has always been very open. A true ambassador of the sport.

I have attached the groups and scores. Keep in mind this is 1000 yards, 10 shots, and over 5 months. Which is probably 70 degrees in temp change. The best 6 agged 3.7600″ and the first 10 agged 4.5514″. the 12 agged 3.879″ and the 20 was 4.8197″. 20 10 shot groups that averaged 4.8″!