[Matt304]

I'm interested in building a long-range target rifle in something like 300WinMag. I will not use it in actual competition, just personal firing.

I'd like to start with an action and build off of it. I'm new to centerfire rifles like this, so I don't know what actions are commonly used by competitors. I thought that the straight-pull design on a Blaser LRS R93 was interesting to me. Do target shooters use anything similar out there to this action?

Can anyone recommend the various target action manufacturers I could buy from to start a build?

Thanks.

[Jim Watson]

I shoot a little Long Range and have never seen a Blaser on the line.

Names to look at are Nesika, Barnard, and Stolle. Probably a couple more that I can't recall right now. Expensive, all of them. Not that you can't build a good target rifle on a Winchester, Remington, or Savage action.

[js2013]

There's a whole lot of custom actions to chose from these days. Besides those Mr. Watson mentioned there's BAT, Lawton, Farley, Viper, and a bunch more I can't think of. These are precision made and cost big bucks and most have very fast lock times. If money is no object then go with a custom action, if you want to go cheap I'd start with a single shot Savage action.

[skinewmexico]

Savage F-Class in 6.5x284 is going to be your best bang for the buck. And a lot more fun to shoot than a 300 winmag.

[ocabj]

I agree with skinewmexico. The 6.5x284 is the superior cartridge. Most of the long range shooters have switched to it. You're getting about the same usable throat life as in 300WM with equivalent cost to reload ammo, but with better bullets (6.5mm bullets are simply awesome).

As far as rifles, the Savage F-Class gun will get you there with little startup costs. If you want to build your own, you'll definitely want to go with the custom actions.

[Jim Watson]

Slightly OT for Matt and others with "personal firing" at long range - How do you know what you are hitting? Picking out bullet holes in paper with a spotting scope is limited to maybe 300 yards.

Steel helps.
A painted steel plate is ok as long as you can keep track of the bullet splashes; the bigger the bullet, the bigger the splash and the longer the usable range. I will occasionally have trouble picking up a heavy bullet .223 splash at 600 yards, a .30 is bigger and should be visible farther out. I will likely find out how much farther, my friend with the land is talking about extending the range to 800+ yards.
There is a strobe light that flashes on impact against a plate, there are self-resetting knockdown targets, and The Q sets a radio near the plates to transmit the clang; but they do not tell you where you hit the plate.

Nothing I know of really replaces a target pit with a colleague spotting your shots with contrasting markers. But that usually requires organized competition on a well built range.

[JesseL]

Slightly OT for Matt and others with "personal firing" at long range - How do you know what you are hitting? Picking out bullet holes in paper with a spotting scope is limited to maybe 300 yards.

Nothing I know of really replaces a target pit with a colleague spotting your shots with contrasting markers. But that usually requires organized competition on a well built range.

Or you could use something like this (http://www.6mmbr.com/reactivetargets.html#targetCAM).

[GunTech]

In addition to the actions already mention, there's the Surgeon action. It meant to be a tactical action, but is Rem 700 compatible and quite well made.

http://www.surgeonrifles.com/

[Jim Watson]

Oh, JessieL, that might have to be squeezed into the budget next year.

[Matt304]

Thanks for all the info guys. Boy, now I drool over which one I want to save for! This project is the one which is going to lurk in the background behind the few others I have going, so I have some time to throw it all together and think about it. I want to settle on an action (and caliber) first, then add the barrel, scope and mount, and during all of that conjure up what stock style I really want to use. I really like the Nesika actions by the way.

I have a possible 1200 yard range off of my back deck. Having that, it kills me knowing that currently my best rifle is accurate to about only 200 yards, which is a .270. So I really need to get something worthy in the pack besides big-bores.

Speaking of 6.5mm, I have heard quite a bit about it and will definitely consider it. 300win was just a choice because I thought it was an all around good cartridge for long range. If it was the 300 in the build, I would be using a very heavy barrel and brake to dampen recoil.

Thanks again for the suggestions, and I found the reactive targets very interesting and will bookmark that site.

[js2013]

1200 yards off the back deck, that's sweet!

[skinewmexico]

I just bought a Shilen 6.5x47 Lapua barrel that I have high hopes for. Waiting on a Savage action to come in to mount it.

[cpttango30]

This is what you need tight here.
http://benchrest.com/youngrails/