Building a bolt action rifle

[Eric0321]

I'm interested in building a bolt action rifle that I can hopefully, one day, use in competition. I was in the USMC and miss being on the range.

This is new territory for me and I don't really know where to start. I imagine it would be easier buying something like a Remington 700 or Ruger 77 and swapping out parts as I can afford. I'm not very familiar with other brands but am not opposed to them either. At least this way I have a rifle to shoot while I'm building.

As far as caliber, I have been looking at .308, .260 and .243 as potential candidates. From what little I've read so far it seems like you can easily go from .308 to the other two by just swapping the barrel so I may start with .308 as a base.

Any suggestions, good article links to start, companies to get different parts from, pictures and specs of your build?

Any help appreciated.

 

[42769vette]

I would skip the idea of starting with the m77.

get the cheapest 308, 7-08, 243 remington 700 you can find. caliber of the rifle you buy doesnt really matter as long as its a short action 470 bolt face. My personal favorite caliber in the world is the 260 so I would buy a 260 barrel from any of the major manufactors. I personally use shelin, because thats what my first custom barrel was and they have given me no reason to go else where. There is nothing wrong with kreiger, rock, barthlein, etc.

The best advise I can give you is buy the right thing once and be done with it. If you cheap out you will always say "I wonder if this would give me better results"

Are you doing the machine work or hiring it done?

 

[42769vette]

Ive done a few bolt action builds, this is my favorite

Stiller action
shelin select match barrel 260
manners mcst stock
rifle basix trigger
badger bottom metal

In the pics the rifle wears my old nightforce, Ive since upgraded to the Vortex razor

The pics are 5 shots at 120 yards and 4 shots center mass at 700 yards

 

[sloughfoot]

What kind of competition? Will you need a single shot prone gun or a repeater for across the course in NRA matches?

The need dictates the rifle. And the investment needed.

Here is a picture of a single shot prone rifle based on a 40X action with a 30 inch Kreiger barrel and iron sights. It is used for Palma matches fired at 800, 900, and 1000 yards with 155 grain bullets. It is a prone rifle built for a specific purpose.

 

[Sagamore - One]

You may want to have a look at the Savage line. They are the best bang for the buck as they come from the factory and are easily upgraded as you progress.
Swapping barrels to change calibers is a home workshop job...gunsmith not needed.

 

[Eric0321]

I like the looks of your rifle 42769vette. I like the removable magazine too. I've found a few conversion kits for the Remington 700 that will allow me to do that. I think it will be incorporated into my build :-)

I read about competitions out in Colorado where there is a course you have to trek through stopping at designated firing positions where you acquire and engage targets at different ranges, then move to next position. I would like to get into something like that.

I stopped by the gun shop on my way home from work and they had a Remington 700 Police. Which I'm told are inherently more accurate than other varients of the 700 due to them not coming of an assembly line and are hand crafted by the team that builds the M24's for the military. Which sounds pretty sweet. A little $$$ for a starting price though. $860.

 

[ROLEXrifleman]

If you were told that the 700P was not an assembly line rifle you were lied to.
The 700P is nothing but a standard 700 action with a heavier profiled barrel set in a $200 McMillan stock with a parkerized finish.
There is nothing hand crafted about it.
Please do not buy anything from the shop that told you that.

 

[ROLEXrifleman]

It is used for Palma matches fired at 800, 900, and 1000 yards with 155 grain bullets.

how fast are you spitting those pills out?

 

[42769vette]

If you were told that the 700P was not an assembly line rifle you were lied to.
The 700P is nothing but a standard 700 action with a heavier profiled barrel set in a $200 McMillan stock with a parkerized finish.
There is nothing hand crafted about it.
Please do not buy anything from the shop that told you that.

Agreed, besides If your truely planning a build alot of that 860 will go to waste when you rebarrel.

For a detachable mag system I like Badger, but CDI make a good product aswell. I like the mag release on mine alot better than the factory one. Its not in the pic but I put a product called the rad latch on my badger and love it.

Another way to look if your going with detachable bottom metal is a chasis like the xrl, mccree's, etc. by the time you buy a mcm/manners (450 minimum) and a badger (300) your in the chasis price range and the chasis requires no bedding. They were not real popular when I did mine so I didnt have that option. If I were to do it again I would probably go with a XLR.

Whatever you do dont spend so much on the gun and accessories that you cant buy quality optics

 

[ROLEXrifleman]

I stopped by the gun shop on my way home from work and they had a Remington 700 Police. Which I'm told are inherently more accurate than other varients of the 700 due to them not coming of an assembly line and are hand crafted by the team that builds the M24's for the military. Which sounds pretty sweet. A little $$$ for a starting price though. $860.

Not to go on a rant here but I'm extremely bothered that you would get such misinformation about a firearm at a local gun shop. the bar for my standards might be set to high for local gun shops but what you were told is insane. Anyone behind the counter that has no clue what they are talking about needs to STFU and either get someone who does have a clue or be a man and say I DON'T KNOW. If you were given this information in an attempt to otherwise make the sale it is a despicable ploy to get someone's hard earned $.
Please give the name of the shop, you might be doing someone else reading this thread a favor by pointing out where not to go for info and sales.

 

[Eric0321]

ROLEXrifleman, it wasn't the shop that told me that but an acquaintance. I'll have to educate him ;-) Thanks. One of the many reasons I like this forum!

42769vette, those are interesting looking chassis and definitely something to consider. I'm kind of partial to the traditional looking stock but not averse to the chassis. I'm willing to bet they would grow on me. I like the idea of no bedding.

It seems like pretty much everything will be replaced on the original rifle. Is it a better approach to just build then?

Thank you for all of your input. I greatly appreciate it.

 

[42769vette]

ROLEXrifleman, it wasn't the shop that told me that but an acquaintance. I'll have to educate him ;-) Thanks. One of the many reasons I like this forum!

42769vette, those are interesting looking chassis and definitely something to consider. I'm kind of partial to the traditional looking stock but not averse to the chassis. I'm willing to bet they would grow on me. I like the idea of no bedding.

It seems like pretty much everything will be replaced on the original rifle. Is it a better approach to just build then?

Thank you for all of your input. I greatly appreciate it.

Everything except the action is replaced, that is why I recomended getting the cheapest one you can find. new/used doesnt matter. You might save the trigger, but i love rifle basix triggers and they are cheap in the grand scheme of the build. The 260 above I was hiring the machine work done. After paying for blueprinting and a donor rifle I would have had close to the price I paid for the stiller action.

My next build I was doing the machining myself. so on that one I started with a factory action (model 70) and blueprinted it myself saving some money, and learning alot.

 

[jakeep]

Check out U.S. Long Range Rifle Teams the long range forum has a for sale page with some nice rifles. I'm a big fan of the .260. I doubt you buy anything from a gun shop that will work unless you buy the cheapest model 70 or 700 as a start on a good rifle.

 

[ROLEXrifleman]

ROLEXrifleman, it wasn't the shop that told me that but an acquaintance. I'll have to educate him ;-) Thanks. One of the many reasons I like this forum!

10-4 no problem. In that case just punch him square in the face!

One thing to consider though when it comes to the 700P is the fact that it does have a following and if you wanted to you could buy that and see if you still want to go through with a build.

I've broken many shooters in with the "I want to build a rifle" mentality that shot an off the shelf sub MOA 700P that quickly realized the gun was more than capable of what they needed. Not to discourage you but simply pointing out options.

A 700P with proper torque of the action screws can hold an incredibly consistent sub 1" at 100 yards. Another thing to think of when you say build is that the rifle is only one part of the system. the Rings, base and optic are all as, if not more, important to the build that the rifle.

The reality is you as the shooter have to be honest with your evaluation of what you want to achieve, your budget and your willingness to commit.

the AVERAGE shooter will be surpassed by the abilities of most off the shelf rifles and unless they bring the wallet to purchase ammo and have the desire and time to devote to working on marksmanship skills any build may just go to waste.
With that said i have also seen a **** ton of custom guns just sit in safes because the owners are just that, owners, not shooters.

 

[fireball168]

The 700P is nothing but a standard 700 action with a heavier profiled barrel set in a $200 McMillan stock with a parkerized finish.

Perhaps you meant to type "HS Precision".

Seemed more than somewhat ironic with the after-rant to follow.

 

[ROLEXrifleman]

LOL, you are correct.
It is in fact HS precision.

i've seemed to have deleted HS precision from my mind so I dont think of Lon Horiuchi

 

[sloughfoot]

how fast are you spitting those pills out?

3,000 +- 50 fps. 46.2 grains of RE15 and Lapua cases, WLR primers. 2.800 OAL.

 

[Eric0321]

These answered quite a few of my noob questions:
How To Build Your Own Remington 700 - Part I | World's Largest Supplier of Firearm Accessories, Gun Parts and Gunsmithing Tools - BROWNELLS

How To Build Your Own Remington 700 - Part II | World's Largest Supplier of Firearm Accessories, Gun Parts and Gunsmithing Tools - BROWNELLS

How To Build Your Own Remington 700 - Part III | World's Largest Supplier of Firearm Accessories, Gun Parts and Gunsmithing Tools - BROWNELLS

How To Build Your Own Remington 700 - Part IV | World's Largest Supplier of Firearm Accessories, Gun Parts and Gunsmithing Tools - BROWNELLS

 

[42769vette]

These answered quite a few of my noob questions:
How To Build Your Own Remington 700 - Part I | World's Largest Supplier of Firearm Accessories, Gun Parts and Gunsmithing Tools - BROWNELLS

How To Build Your Own Remington 700 - Part II | World's Largest Supplier of Firearm Accessories, Gun Parts and Gunsmithing Tools - BROWNELLS

How To Build Your Own Remington 700 - Part III | World's Largest Supplier of Firearm Accessories, Gun Parts and Gunsmithing Tools - BROWNELLS

How To Build Your Own Remington 700 - Part IV | World's Largest Supplier of Firearm Accessories, Gun Parts and Gunsmithing Tools - BROWNELLS

If you need to call my offer stands

 

[avboiler11]

Build a Savage yourself, in your basement or garage, with VERY minimal tooling.