Easily customizable bolt action

With production actions one is not really any better than any other out there. All can be made accurate
Yes the stevens is the same as the savage model 10 for accessories. I have a stevens .223 that shoots federal speer 68gr under 3/4" for me . Not bad for me and a stock rifle that cost 280 bucks + a rifle basix 85 dollar trigger kit. It does have a good scope to help. but still.

I'm thinking of buying a bolt action somewhere in the distant future (I already have a break action .280 for hunting, and a 1911 that I'm customizing). The only big requirement is that I want to be able to easily (in a relative way) be able to customize almost every part of the gun. I'm big on being able to modify my weapons, and it would be nice to start cheap, and build my way up to expensive. Ideally the base gun would be inexpensive, and easy to find. On one last note, it needs to be a .308, .30-06, or 7.62x54mmR, although the first two are preferable. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Without knowing what your ultimate application for the rifle is (hunting, competition, varmanting, general plinking, etc.) I'd suggest going with an M700. I've known more than one guy who bought a .308 M700 on sale, and starting with the action, built guns capable of good long-range accuracy.

The suggestion of starting with a Savage is probably a good one, too, though I have little experience with their rifles.

I'd strongly caution against starting with a surplus gun like a Mosin. In the long run it will cost as much or more to get the gun modified, the results will likely be much less than if you had started with a modern action, and the resale value on it will be nowhere near what it cost to build in the first place.

helotaxi said:

Anything other than mil-surp available? Nope. Any off-the-shelf mods available? Nope. Does the round feed from a normal, non-curved magazine suitable for a bolt gun?

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While the 'worth' of the 7.62x54R round Vs. other cartridges is subjective, your first three statements are not. They are 100% wrong.

helotaxi said:

Anything other than mil-surp available? Nope.

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1) There ARE non milsurp rifles in this caliber. Not only are new non-military mosins now being build in Europe, but EAA imported Russian made sporting bolt actions as well as combination rifle/shotguns and a semi-automatic hunting rifle for this cartridge.

They may not be as common as Mosins, they do exist and can be found by those who look for them. You are undeniably 100% wrong on this claim.

helotaxi said:

Any off-the-shelf mods available? Nope.

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2) Plenty of "off the shelf" store bought mods for the Mosin Nagant. Boyds offers both partially finished and 'drop in' stocks for the Mosin action. Timney makes an adjustable match trigger. You can even purchase a dedicated pillar bedding kit for the Mosin action.

You are undeniably 100% wrong on this claim.

helotaxi said:

Does the round feed from a normal, non-curved magazine suitable for a bolt gun?

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3) Not only is this point moot, seeing as most hunting rifles only hold 3-5 rounds, but fact is that the Mosins internal magazine is not outwardly curved. Even those which do use a slightly curved 10 round magazine have no issues, so I have no idea what your referencing as "suitable" magazines.

In addition, the Mosins magazine is actually a very good thing. The use of a cartridge interrupter, rather than feed lips, solves the potential 'double feed' issue that can be experience by other push feed actions (Remington, Savage, Browning) by keeping the next cartridge out of reach from the bolt until the action is locked forward. That actually makes it far MORE suitable for a bolt action than many many commercial rifles of today.

It is hard to say your '100%' wrong on this one, because your premise is so mushy, but you certainly are not correct.

Sorry if it seems like I'm trying to beat you up. I'm not. But many of the things you said are just not factually accurate, regardless of where one may stand on issues like Milsurps, CRF, or action types.

TonyAngel said:

Still, the one advantage that the Savage offers may be a bit overstated. What I'm talking about is the ability to change the barrels yourself. If you do get a custom barrel for the rifle, the best way to get your money out of it would be to get a good barrel, which will come in the form of a blank, which will require that a gunsmith cut it, crown it, thread it and set the headspace. All of which is going to cost you the same as it would for a Remington.

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Unless you go with a very heavy profile barrel that eliminates the barrel nut, this isn't true. The 'smith does not need to ever even touch the rifle to build a barrel for it. Unlike a Rem that uses the shoulder on the barrel to set the headspace the Savage barrel is simply threaded into the action until the headspace is correct and then locked down with the nut. There is not smith fitting or setting of the headspace required. As such, a "custom" barrel for a Savage is really only a high quality drop-in just like everything else for the rifle. It is essentially a bolt action AR in that all one needs to be to build one is an armorer, not a gunsmith. The setup works so well, in fact that not only are most of the quality barrel makers stocking Savage drop in barrels but some enterprising folks are beginning to make barrel nuts for Remingtons to allow a similar ease of barrel finishing and headspace adjustment.

Easily? R700. Parts are everywhere and most anyone who calls themselves a gunsmith has worked on at least a handful. Not the cheapest or easiest to work on at home, but overall easiest. If you want to do the work yourself, the Savage is probably the best route.

I don't get the point of starting with a milsurp for a custom build, at least not today. The actions being put out today are better than most anything out there on the surplus market. That's not to say that milsurps are bad rifles, but why take a 2MOA milsurp and hope to get it to a 1MOA shooter when you can take a box stock rifle that shoots 1MOA and push for something in the 1/4-1/2MOA range? It just doesn't make sense. Everything about a current production action seems like a better route than a milsurp.

@benzy

A milsurp can do much better than that, I've seen a Steyr m95 carbine go from 3MOA to 1 MOA. Thats pretty good even by todays standards. I find it more rewarding to work with milsurps, I like to put myself in a Soviet sniper's place while working on mine, wondering what he/she would have done to improve their guns. I took the advice of a friend who has a 91/30 sniper from 1941, he said he found a piece of wood shimming the trigger sear. I did it with brass shim and it did wonders. I like improving on things, not being given a perfect gun already.

It's still a 1MOA rifle, which most rifles made today give you that performance out of the box. I'm not a Soviet Sniper. I'm a guy shooting in Michigan at either paper or small ground animals.

I don't think anyone here would consider a box stock Stevens 200 a perfect rifle. The fact is, they are a starting point that typically is better at the start than a worked milsurp at the end. They also have a lot of potential to go in multiple areas, allowing you to improving things. Look at it realistically. You can either take a 3 MOA rifle, put a bit of work and money into it, and end up with a rifle that shoots groups about 1/3 of the original groups or you can buy a 1 MOA rifle, put a bit of work and money into it, and end up with a rifle that shoots groups about 1/3 of the original groups. I don't see why I would take the first option when the second isn't any more expensive in the end.

but why take a 2MOA milsurp and hope to get it to a 1MOA shooter when you can take a box stock rifle that shoots 1MOA and push for something in the 1/4-1/2MOA range? It just doesn't make sense. Everything about a current production action seems like a better route than a milsurp.

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100%

A milsurp can do much better than that, I've seen a Steyr m95 carbine go from 3MOA to 1 MOA. Thats pretty good even by todays standards.

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We're still only getting 1moa. The only difference in your example is the rifle shot more poorly to start with. Either way, the title of this thread is 'Easily customizable bolt action'; it's hard to say that old mil-surp fills that role very well.

If accuracy is the goal, what are the odds that the mil-surp receiver is built to precise tolerances? Probably not too good. Barrel runout, off square bolt face/lugs/recesses are probably the norm in these MASS / FAST production rifles. Correcting these types of problems are beyond the skill level of most shooters. While a new production rifle may still have these types of problems, I’ll bet it’s to a lesser degree than the mil-surps. Are you going to buy a horse from the glue factory yard with the plan to feed it the most expensive feed money can buy in order to make a show horse out of it???

Yeah, what's the OP's definition of "easily customizable" as in Tact-i-cool al la a built up sniper, or a snow camo job for seal hunting, or what here? Is it going to use a bi-pod, or shoot off a bench?

Easily customizable is a AR thing. Bolts can be customized, but you need a plan and then go from A to B. I wouldn't say that bolts are easy to change cloths on from day to day? Or, to make a lightweight hunter on Saturday and then a scout rifle on Tuesday? What's the goal here? The question almost seems designed to bait & chum the board?

Well my Mosin customed out rather nicely I think and will know more about how well she shoots later this week, But 1 thing I do know for sure is that I'll be spending more time at the range than most cause my ammo's cheaper than dirt and plenty of it. I have less than $300 in it including 2 spam cans of ammo and I'll be laughing all the way home after most others are hitting the ATM for more ammo money

It really comes down to if you want to go with an aftermarket barrel or not. If you do, and you want to install it at home, and you don't have a decently large sized lathe, Savage/Stevens is the only way to go. If you have a lathe large enough to properly chamber and thread a barrel, then ANYTHING will be available. If you want to stick with the factory barrel, again, about ANYTHING will work. Right now I like the trigger options out there for the Remington 700. I would look at getting it converted to have a barrel nut and then use prefit barrels. You can get a donor Remington 700 for FAR less than $700.

A nutted Rem 700 opens up a lot of options.

@Sonofroost

I found the perfect rifle for you. Get a cheap M39 from this guy at gunsnammo.com. Pick up whatever stock you want, be it ATI, Richards whatever. From there you can install a scopemount from accumounts and put a nice scope on it. The M39s have a great trigger pull and are very accurate. Use heavier bullets for best results.

If your intention is to build a competition grade gun, I'd strongly suggest doing some basic research into the various forms of bolt-gun competition, and then make your choices in equipment according the sport and division in which you want to compete.

With the exception of matches built around shooting military/surplus guns, you'll probably want to start with something more modern.

part of the issue here is that people confuse accuracy with precision.

Precision is the ability to do the same thing time after time (i.e. tight shot group, all touching, pretty clover leaf, etc.).

Accuracy is the ability to hit the POA.

A rifle can be accurate but not precise (for example, a 3 inch bull's eye would provide a rather large shot group, but still be "accurate" for hunting purposes).

A rifle that produces a 1/2" shot group five inches off the bull would be precise, but not accurate...

Just an old lab tech with too much time on his hands.

That certainly helps pick a better rifle. Any grammar or spelling mistakes you would like to point out as well?

Yes, and while that description was accurate, calling the rifle inaccurate because the sights were misaligned leaving the precise group outside the bullseye would be inaccurate. Sight regulation is a shooter problem, not a rifle problem.

IMAG0045.jpg by Chris.jpg, on Flickr

I've got about $450 into my wal-mart Savage 10FXP.
.308, 22" barrel, Bushnell 3-9x40mm.
I've added a metal triggergaurd, OE Savage large bolt handle, Harris LM1A2, and spray-on bedliner coated the stock. Shoots better than my sorry butt still, and has been a great platform to learn with so far.