Brother in gun-smith school = opportunity for me

[Teknik]

As the title states, my brother has recently entered gun smith school. Not only does he get to re-blue 15 of the families guns for free, but he is also required to build 4 custom guns. And that’s where I come in. He is going to build 2 for himself, 1 for my dad, and 1 for me. Now, each gun has a budget that is included in tuition to the school, but you are allowed to go over said budget if you pay the overage (which I will). I don’t know what the budget is, but it’s not important. He also gets all his parts at a discounted rate. So...having recently bought my first non-hunting rifle (AR 15), I have decided that I want some kind of sniper rifle chambered in a .308. I really don’t know anything about building a gun other than for this I want some nice glass, and a heavy ??? barrel. I would also like to have a semi-auto, not a bolt action. Other than that I don’t know.
So I’m open for suggestions. I need to tell him exactly what I want, so I need some help and some direction. I feel that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I figured I'd talk to the pros. Lett’er fly.

 

[Omnicron]

I may get blasted for this but I am going to put my two shiny pieces in on this.

If you are gonig for real accuracy with a sniper rifle, aren't you going to want a bolt action? Of course it will take longer for a repeat shot but you'll have better accuracy from it.

 

[dakotasin]

agreed... go bolt for your sniper rig.

rem 700 action, 26" lothar walther barrel, jewell trigger, leupold 8.5-25 m1, 20 moa 1-piece base (i'd go ken farrel, but badger makes a dandy), warne rings, mcmillan stock, pachymar decelerator (grind to fit), and a harris bipod.

have the works chambered to something cool (i'd go 7 wsm, but 308 will work, too). would also have the base holes re-drilled to handle 8-40 screws (will also have to re-drill your bases).

there's a ton of things i'd love to do w/ something like this, but since your brother will be the 'smith, i'm sure he'll have some pretty good ideas.

 

[duckfoot]

Here are a few thoughts on building a long range rig

Barrel:
Shilen, Douglas, Lilja, and Kreiger

Like the blade is the heart of a Samurai sword, the same is true about the barrel of a rifle. Get the best you can and if you can hold off a bit if you can go up a notch. Barrels come in different materials that will ware differently as time goes by. Chrome Moly and Stainless Steel seem to be to most popular out there. As for twist rule of thumb is shorter the bullet lower the twist. Longer the bullet higher the twist. Then number of lands, rifling type R5, buttoned, polygonal I could go on and on about each. So do some legwork, for yourself.

Action:
Mauser, Remington 700, Winchester, Ruger 77, Dakota 76, and Howa.

All are strong enough get the job done, and will come down to a touch and feel for which action you like best. Go to a gun monger and try a few out and then decide. Just make sure that you get your brother to true the bolt face to the barrel breach.

Stock:
McMillan, HS Precision, and Carbelite

Again this is going to be a touch and feel issue on which stock you might go with. The Remington PSS and VLS stocks are made by HS Precision so if you want a starting point. There you go, but many like the McMillan and will wait months to have one made.

Bedding:
Glass, Pillar, and Viced barrel

If done right, all will work out great.

Trigger:
Timney, Keplinger Single Set, Shilen, and Jewell

Do you need a custom or after market trigger to get a 1 MOA rifle? No. You can get a 1 MOA rifle if the first four items are done right and from here on out you are getting into shooters help. What I mean is that, all the rest of the rifle will be set up to help the shooter be more accurate or have an easier time shooting accurately. Trigger, recoil pad, adjustable butt plate, adjustable comb, and adjustable cheek rest fall into this category.

As for glass, mounts and rings. All I can say is, you get what you pay for on glass. Personally I like Badger Ordnance and Luepold stuff but it is pricy stuff. On the other hand I use a Ken Farrell mount, Luepold rings and a Tasco Super Sniper with very good results for the price.