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Building a Rifle

4K views 18 replies 16 participants last post by  straw dog 
#1 ·
Get someone reputable to do the work.It is the little things that make the differance.
 
#3 ·
Hi Jerry, Before you make any decissions you should talk to a good gunsmith.
If you get into the saginaw area stop in at Dick Williams Gunshop. Talk to a Lyle McGregor or Dick himself. Lyle worked in my shop for eight years or better and built a lot of custom rifles,some even went to Africa. Lyle is a excent smith and will build a excelent one just for you. He is a great stockmaker and knows his stuff.
See you in Tucson at the State Shoot.Will talk to you their.

Regards,

Al Brackett
 
#4 ·
For a hunting rifle, there is very little to be gained by chambering for a wildcat as PBB suggests. How much added energy, accuracy or whatever do you need?

The 700 action is a good one but a pre-64 M70 will add value to your custom gun - if that matters to you.

I like your caliber choice. It will handle anything on this continent, I have a 300 Mag in a Remington stock 700 rifle and it will group into 1 MOA. I put a muzzle brake on it as I could not take the recoil off the bench. Now is kicks like a .243 but boy is it loud!

Don Verna
 
#6 ·
At short yardage..I'd retract the 30/338 and opt for a 308/338.. Which is good for anything but small game.. I designed and built many because the choice of bullets for the 358 Winchester was limited. It was also my round of choice in my XP-100.. Many animals fell to it under 300 yards.. The 7/08..I also used very well before it became a factory loading.. I built a XP-100 for Dr. Syril Scully who took a full curl ram at almost 400 yards at the YO ranch.. Truth of the matter is.. depending on what you are shooting.. a good 308 or 338 will easily take most any American game.. MY personal do it all rifle is a 378 A-Square built on a Remington 700 action.. It's a tac driver.. All Good.. So many rifles.. so little ammo.. Mike
 
#7 ·
I'd say, go talk with a couple of gunsmiths about suggestions, and prices. You'll want to know what it's primary use will be, what kind of extras you want, and what your bottom-line price is. I prefer Rem 700 and Sako 75 actions. You can easily get $2000 into this, so is that worth it to you? Budget way will be buy a used Rem 700 rifle and have your stock put on it. Then whether to have the action accurized will depend on your budget and if it shoots as-is. If you want a new barrel, I like Dan Lilja's. The .300 WM is a great choice. Phil E
 
#8 ·
Jerry contact Jerry Stiller Stiller Arms or something like that, have him provide one of his Predator actions, with a Shilen barrel already installed. Order a Jewell trigger, pick your stock maker of choice and get the wallet out!

Jerry's action is based on a Rem 700 that is already trued, tuned etc to just short of benchrest standards and for the money, I think it is the best out there. I hope to build two of them up before hunting season starts here in Ar. this fall!

Mike

ps I would also take a look at one of the short mags or a std 308 unless you are going to hunt bear with it!
 
#9 ·
Based on your caliber choice I'm guessing your not talking about dangerous game.

I too favor the 700 Rem and you could buy a brand new one or buy one used and re barrel.

If your looking for sub .5 moa you might be looking at custom actions but any 700 Rem and savage 110 with a good barrel and good trigger will print 1" groups @100 yrds.

Joe
 
#12 ·
A predator hunting fanatic friend of mine uses Neseka actions and Shilen barrels.Jewel triggers.When we go hunting I just use one of his guns because they are so accurate they put mine to shame.These are in the .204 to .243 range and they shoot quarter size groups at 200 yards.

Darr
 
#13 ·
If you really want to have fun on your grizz hunt....get one of the new stainless Marlin 45-70 Lever actions....and buy some loads from Garrett..Sledgehammers I think they are called...It will be a little more exciting to get closer to the bear before you take a shot...but thats what its all about right?...one for the memory book...oh and don't worry the gun will flatten Smokey like a freight train
 
#14 ·
Getting close to a grizzly can be a one shot deal. YOUR LIFE. They can be shot through the front shoulder taking the heart out, and if they figure where your at 200yds away will seem to close when they turn and charge. A friend guided in Alaska he took them lightly until one was stopped a 8 feet from them. Now if the bear turns toward them after his hunter shot he sends a follow up one.
 
#16 ·
I have a Belgin FN Mauser magnum action with hinged floorplate. This action is new in the white and has never been barreled. $375.00 plus shipping to your FFL holder. Install a douglas premium xx barrel and this would make a first-class custom rifle.

Remove the x's from the e-mail address.

Zach
 
#17 ·
I recently built a custom rifle - not for the same purpose as yours but the pricing wouldn't vary much. I did it following a gun club discussion wherein it was claimed doing so would cost two grand before a scope was purchased. I thought I could do it for half that if I used an off-the-shelf stock.

I started with a used Model 700 rifle for $400. I had the receiver bead-blasted and black oxide coated ($25) to match the Leupold scope I would be using. McGowen's Precision Barrels made me a 27" stainless barrel chambered for .243 Ackley Improved in the Douglas 5A contour with eight flutes. They also trued the receiver and lapped the bolt for a total of $414. A Hoque Overmolded stock with a full-length aluminum bedding block and forend support was $200. A few other extras like a lightweight Callahan firing pin ($60) and a Timney trigger group ($109) brought the total to about $1,200. But I have the factory barrel and stock and a Bushnell 3-9x scope from the used rifle to sell, so I should come out of the project right around my target amount.

For a scope, I went with a Leupold VX-3 6.5-20x 40mm AO Target scope and put it in Leupold bases and rings.

How's it shoot? It puts five 65-grain Berger Match bullets into no more than .356" at 100 yards while clocking an average of 3,939 fps. I'm happy but the woodchucks aren't going to be.

Ed
 
#18 ·
Jerry,

What are you expecting out of your rifle? What yardages do you expect to hunt? Have you shot a 300 win mag before?

Many guides have people come hunting and shoot big mags but can't hit anything with them. The 300 win mag is an excellent choice for a wide range of game, but does have some recoil issues. Some people get very good results hunting with the age old 30-06. It's not as glamorous as a mag but has probably harvested more game than anything else except a 30-30 and is easier to shoot.

The next question I have is, how much work do you want to do on the project. The 700 action is an excellent action an is used for many custom guns. On the other hand, there are many fine actions out there for the 300 mags. The Winchester M70 and the Mauser are both very good and many a fine gun has been built on them and both will work. The Mauser action has been around for a long time and there are some beautiful rifle built on them.

You don’t need benchrest accuracy for a 1 minute of grizzly hunting, so the issue comes down to you. Remington action start at about $400.00 and go up. Winchester actions cost about the same and a Mauser rifle can be had for less than $100.00.

All of them can be improved upon by a good ‘smith, and there are other good actions out there too. Parts for the Remington, Winchester and Mauser are available everywhere for repairs and for building your rifle. I don’t think you can go wrong with any choice. An air gauged premium barrel is a neat thing to talk about around a fire, but, at one hundred yards or less you would be hard press to figure out if a one half inch group killed your grizzly any quicker than a 2 inch group.

Now if your hunting bean fields for deer, than your talking a whole different game and an air gauge premium barrel and more attention paid to detail about blue printing your action and bedding the rifle comes into play. A 600 yard shot could mean the difference between a kill and a wound and no good sportsman would take a shot longer than they are capable of shooting, not the gun, but their talent behind the trigger.

Good luck. I would like to know what you come up with and see the rifle. I’ve got a blueprinted Mauser action sitting here and I don’t know what to build it in. It’s a hard decision to make.

Your friend in shooting.

OB
 
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