Custom Rifle ideas

[Nature Boy]

Your SPR would make a decent base for a custom rig (in particular a great hunting rifle) later on

Exactly the line I was thinking as well

 

[Nature Boy]

the Sako and AI would likely do far better on the resale market.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) I don't sell guns. The only one that's ever crossed my mind to unload was a Savage A17, but then I think about putting it into a boyds laminate stock and bedding it.......

 

[MrBorland]

Exactly the line I was thinking as well

I just happened to have one.

The SPR action makes a terrific base for a hunting rifle because, while it's essentially a Winchester M70, it's got a pre-64 trigger, which is renowned for it's reliability, and can be tuned for a very nice break. And unlike pre-64 M70s, the SPR is a true short action. The best of both worlds. The scope base mounting screws are also a bit beefier than a stock M70. For those who like to hunt hard with a short action, a custom SPR sporter is close to perfection, IMO.

At one point, CDNN was selling SPR actions, but they're long gone. I'm still kicking myself for not getting any (let alone the half dozen that I should've bought).

 

[DRYHUMOR]

I just happened to have one.

The SPR action makes a terrific base for a hunting rifle because, while it's essentially a Winchester M70, it's got a pre-64 trigger, which is renowned for it's reliability, and can be tuned for a very nice break. And unlike pre-64 M70s, the SPR is a true short action. The best of both worlds. The scope base mounting screws are also a bit beefier than a stock M70. For those who like to hunt hard with a short action, a custom SPR sporter is close to perfection, IMO.

At one point, CDNN was selling SPR actions, but they're long gone. I'm still kicking myself for not getting any (let alone the half dozen that I should've bought).

Those actions still pop up from time to time. MGW was selling a few, a few on forums once and awhile.

Most aftermarket goodies support the Remington footprint. Winchester, not so much, same but less.

I've been looking at Bighorn actions off and on. http://bighornarms.com/product/sr2-action/ Add a new Bix and Andy https://bulletcentral.com/product-category/components/triggers/ and I think it would be a very nice start.

 

[Bart B.]

Round receivers cannot resist torque from firing.

There's no difference in accuracy high dollar actions can produce than what a Winchester can do.

So why aren't Winchesters popular?

Ignorance.

 

[stoky]

You're going to want gain twist rifling of course.

 

[BrocLuno]

Then there is the option of going long/big

A Model 1917 action is square bottom, hell for strong, and will take a 375 H&H if tweaked right. So for now, build a 308.

But next time how about 338 Win Mag

 

[MCMXI]

Round receivers cannot resist torque from firing.

How about a machined recess inside a chassis or mini chassis to properly accept a round receiver's integral recoil lug in combination with properly sized and positioned action screw holes in the chassis or stock. A flat bottomed receiver might be easier to work with but it's disingenuous, not to mention disrespectful, to state that rifles built with round receivers aren't capable of exceptional and consistent accuracy and those that use them are ignorant. My AI rifles have flat bottomed receivers that are bolted and permanently bonded with epoxy to an aluminum chassis but I don't have a problem with the idea of using a round receiver to make an accurate rifle. The Mausingfield is gaining quite a reputation as being an excellent receiver with its integral recoil lug and circular cross section, and Ted is far from ignorant.

 

[1stmarine]

I love winchester actions but IMO lets not make a huge deal of something that might not be a problem after all.
Round receivers have many advantages and not just to simplicity and cost attractiveness that btw can be put in other parts and features.
Round receivers are used in some of the best rifles one can buy and used in all sort of demanding roles whether they are precision service rifles used by sniper teams or high end competition.
Round receivers are fitted in tube guns that line up in all competitions and bring home medals all around the world.
I understand the idea of the torque but I cannot see how this would have any sort of impact or could be objectively measured otherwise people would not use them to compete and win championships, but they do.

R700 fitted inside the Eliseo Portolio.

 

[CB900F]

Nature;

I've got a couple of customs & my son does also. For your stated purpose, my son's long range rig is probably right down your alley with the exception of caliber, his is in 7 mm Practical. He did have to extend his load development testing out to 2 or 3 hundred yards (I forget which) in order to get observable data on the targets as to which was a better load when he got into the minor details. Oh, and with a couple of necessary exceptions, all major components & work was done in Montana. His cost was somewhere close to your budget figure, but we don't discuss the details on that since "other ears" may be listening.

The closest thing I have to your objective is my custom hunting gun in 6.5 Swede. Tikka action, trued & a one-off recoil lug installed along with the 22 inch Lilja barrel. The stock is wood & Rob Smith did that for me. The scope is a Zeiss 3.5-10X 44 mm mil-dot Conquest in Talley rings. This is a hunting rig with a medium weight sporter barrel, but it shoots! Normal 100 yard three shot groups run in the .400 - .500 range. The smallest is a .261 inch group.

900F

 

[Nature Boy]

http://www.scout.com/military/snipers-hide/forums/5514-bolt-action-rifles/13536474-the-mausingfield

read that long thread and if when you are finished you do not want the American Rifle Company action I will be surprised.

Read all 17 pages. A lot of interesting info on American Rifle Company and LRI.

I still have a lot of homework on stock or chassis

 

[z7]

I don't have much experience with stock/chassis selection. I ended up with a KRG X-Ray chassis because I could install myself without bedding and lose no accuracy potential. the Mausingfield dropped right in, torque down the action screws and go. my other reason for the X-Ray was price and weight. it is the lightest chassis, rivaled only by a manners elite carbon fiber series, but by the time to get the manners mini chassis you are equal weight for nearly twice the money. Or get a traditional stock, add the bottom metal and bedding and you are still significantly more expensive than KRG X-RAy

 

[Bart B.]

Round receivers are wonderful epoxy bedded in conventional wood or synthetic stocks when barrel torque is no more than what 308 Win's shooting 150-gr. bullets cause. With heavier bullets, Rem. 700's so stocked worked loose from perfect fit after 300 or so rounds. 30 caliber magnums on Rem 700 receivers went half that many. Accuracy degraded about a half MOA or a little more, then rebedding fixed it. Hard to detect by most people shooting aperture sights in three positions.

Some 'smiths put a 1" or thicker recoil lug on such barreled actions that helped a little. Pillar bedded 700's did a little better. Some 700's with 30 caliber magnum barrels had their recoil lugs bent forward from recoil. Tubb recoil lugs for 700's are thicker and harder than factory originals.

Question: the $1600 Mausingfield actions have a "Battle-proven M1903 Springfield inertial" ejector. How does it work? Never heard of an inertial ejector.

 

[Sav .250]

If it were me, I`d get with some place that does "custom" work. JMO.

 

[z7]

Bart:

the video is a good explanation, but instead of relying on a spring loaded plunger in the bolt face, there is a "flipper" that is engaged by the bolt as it is retracted. the case is simply flipped out of the action by a small piece of steel with a pin through it that is cammed over as the bolt is pulled to the rear.

the design thoughts, according to Ted, it is simpler. a piece of steel and a pin are less prone to failure than a plunger design. . . .according to Ted. He claims it was copied or inspired by the Springfield 1903 design.

the really neat aspect of this is the user can intentionally sling brass across space and time into the next universe by running the bolt really hard, or be gentle and have a nice little pile of brass next to the shooter, case velocity is determined by the bolt velocity, not a spring

 

[Bart B.]

Thanks for that video. It looks as good as pre '64 Win 70's.

What's the spread of zero's across a dozen random picked magazines for Mausingfield actions?

Any tests with Mausingfield based rifles putting 20 to 30 shots inside 1/2 MOA at 200 yards or more?

Competition grade bolt action tube guns can have half MOA or more. Which is why they have matched magazines that enable zero's be consistent across them.

Regarding short versus long actions with my and others observations; long ones produce better accuracy than short ones. Why else were Rem 7XX short ones glued in long sleeves for benchrest rifles?

 

[1stmarine]

Round receivers are wonderful epoxy bedded in conventional wood or synthetic stocks when barrel torque is no more than what 308 Win's shooting 150-gr. bullets cause. With heavier bullets, Rem. 700's so stocked worked loose from perfect fit after 300 or so rounds. 30 caliber magnums on Rem 700 receivers went half that many. Accuracy degraded about a half MOA or a little more, then rebedding fixed it. Hard to detect by most people shooting aperture sights in three positions.

Some 'smiths put a 1" or thicker recoil lug on such barreled actions that helped a little. Pillar bedded 700's did a little better. Some 700's with 30 caliber magnum barrels had their recoil lugs bent forward from recoil. Tubb recoil lugs for 700's are thicker and harder than factory originals.

Question: the $1600 Mausingfield actions have a "Battle-proven M1903 Springfield inertial" ejector. How does it work? Never heard of an inertial ejector.

Hi Bart,
The round receivers are not just used in tube guns with aperture sights but they win competitions left and right in open chasis like mcmillan and with anything from 6mm to the largest 30, 338 and 50 calibers.
Shooters like Mike Miller, Stan Pate, John Pierce, Bryan Litz, Brad Sauve and countless others all won championships including shooting heavy loads and "classic" setups.
In the military famous US sniper Christ Kyle used a Remington 700 action on a McMillan chassis for his win mag and as far as I know armorers and gunsmiths that complete and test a good
shooting rifle do not come back to revisit the bedding as part of the preventive maintenance routine, and actions, stocks and barrels hold up sometimes for thousands of rounds depending on the caliber.
I am not trying to create an argument but to learn more about this since I am not understanding how anyone could objectively measure the adverse effect of torque.
Of course we are talking about high end rifles that require some consideration and most likely quality chasis, custom barrels and recoil lugs along with proper bedding jobs.

 

[Nature Boy]

I don't have much experience with stock/chassis selection. I ended up with a KRG X-Ray chassis because I could install myself without bedding and lose no accuracy potential. the Mausingfield dropped right in, torque down the action screws and go. my other reason for the X-Ray was price and weight. it is the lightest chassis, rivaled only by a manners elite carbon fiber series, but by the time to get the manners mini chassis you are equal weight for nearly twice the money. Or get a traditional stock, add the bottom metal and bedding and you are still significantly more expensive than KRG X-RAy

If I was to go the Mausingfield route, it looks like it would be worthwhile to call Chad at LRI to explore options. He looks like the guy who has the most experience building these out into some nice rifles. I might do that today

 

[Bart B.]

I am not trying to create an argument but to learn more about this since I am not understanding how anyone could objectively measure the adverse effect of torque.

If one sees accuracy loss in a couple hundred shots and rebedding the round Remmy fixes it, then this cycle repeats, seems to me and others experiencing this its objectivly measuring it. Never known of Winchesters having this problem. One of the multiple time National High Power Champions alerted me about this. So did Sierra's ballistics man. Stock screws torqued in for each day's shooting keeps bedding force repeatable.

Yes, round actions have done well in various disciplines. All the ones I know of did it in the first couple hundred rounds of barrel life.

Have you ever seen scope reticles twist counterclockwise on magnums when shot?

 

[1stmarine]

Also take a look at the bergara action that comes packed with features only found in
actions and rifles that cost x 3 times or more.

Independent left side bolt stop release




Easty to read cocking and safety indicators visible form the back.


The bolt handle is brazed to the bolt body and screwed to the end so they can be exchanged.
The bolt and receiver are made of beefy 4140 chrome-moly steel.
The bolt rides on two rails within the receiver and it’s incredibly slick and smooth.




Adjustable US made Timney Trigger in all models including the most basic B14.
Integral recoil lug is standard.




IMO huge improvement over the sako style and badger custom extractors for 100% reliable
extraction under any circumstances...




You can get an entire base rilfe for half of the cost of one custom action alone and still not all features.
The bergara leaves any SPS and 5R in the dust in terms of value out of the box.
Even if you decide to use a baseline and re-barrel will not have to do anything to the action.

They also released the HMR with a 'budget' full beded aluminium chassis...

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/01/06/new-rifle-bergara-b14-hmr/


https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2016/2/25/bergara-storms-the-rifle-market/

Or simply get a BPR 17 for around $1,900 and go compete with it if you want as they show 1/4 moa out of the box consistently.

 

[Nature Boy]

the really neat aspect of this is the user can intentionally sling brass across space and time into the next universe by running the bolt really hard, or be gentle and have a nice little pile of brass next to the shooter

That's a ubiquitous function of most rifles with CRF design. My FN SPR and 1903A3 have this capability

 

[stoky]

simply get a BPR 17 for around $1,900 and go compete with it if you want as they show 1/4 moa out of the box consistently.
View attachment 229854

Then, one only needs decide if the scope will be Docter, Swarovski or Kahles (on my!).

 

[z7]

Nature Boy,

another person to look at that has a high reputation is Patriot Valley Arms, http://patriotvalleyarms.com/ they also work the ARC and he produces a lot of high quality rifles.

I went with LRI because of what i found on the internet- I can not find anything actually bad about their builds. any problems I have read about were promptly fixed. it is a small shop, easy to reach with a quick turnaround. they are reasonably priced when looking at custom guns and not some guy with his lathe in the basement (nothing against DIY guys or skilled machinists, but CNC machinery and a good operator wins)

 

[Bart B.]

the really neat aspect of this is the user can intentionally sling brass across space and time into the next universe by running the bolt really hard, or be gentle and have a nice little pile of brass next to the shooter, case velocity is determined by the bolt velocity, not a spring

Or stop the bolt short then take the fired case out to go back into the box next to a loaded one so it stays cleaner than those aground.

 

[1stmarine]

Then, one only needs decide if the scope will be Docter, Swarovski or Kahles (on my!).

No need. A $700 weaver tactical or vortex will give good service.
The B14 start around $700 for popular calibers incliding the 308. Same action.
There is another in the $1200 range and the hmr is expected below $1000.
Even if one takes only the action from the baseline it is work every penny.
And there is nothing a B&C medalist stock cannot do so one can also go that route if one likes it.
The key is that we don't have to reinvent the wheel or spend an eye to get top shelf performance.