Been sitting on a .243 for the better part of 3 years, with the total sum input being replacing the rusty bored barrel with a factory take-off, swap in an Xmark Pro (with one spring adjustment removed and the other backed out) and getting it sighted. I finally decided to take it out and shoot it again a couple of weeks ago, and It shot really pretty well, with 95gr ballistic tips over a max charge of RL-19 going into 3/4" clusters.
I was once again ready to put it in the back of the gun case for another interminable stay.......It came out so rarely I dont even have a picture of it.
About a week later I ran across an X-Cal barrel in 6.5CM (which may not be my favorite cartridge, but I seem to build more of them than I do ARs) for cheap.
Why not says me, and I placed a bid for noticeably less than what the barrel should sell for.
Two days later I was trying to come up with what I was going to DO with this 6.5 barrel that I'd managed to win and now had on the way.
Since Id JUST played with the .243, I actually remembered I had it and decided to go ahead and USE the action on hand rather than going looking for another action to build from (this was ostensibly my wife "hunting" rifle as well so that OBVIOUSLY needed replacing...since she never used it....but that's a story for another day).
Old rifle got pulled out, the crappy worn out adl to bdl converted stock got pulled and the rifle stripped down.
This gun was one of my first attempts at using Durablue/Duracote, and I had blasted it one day then painted the next.
Anywhere else this probably wouldn't have been a problem, but here in Hilo, that meant rust had started, and rust vanes quickly started appearing under the Duracote. They never got bad enough for it to lift or chip like the Cerakote on my muzzleloader did, but they were visible under the finish.
The ones on my Abolt are noticeable as well, and it's on my list of things to fix....eventually.
Anyway, I measured the barrel to bolt clearance and expected headspace (used barrel so it was already chambered). I found them to be such that using a .250 recoil lug (what the barrel was shanked for), would give me about .005 clearance on the bolt, and headspace tight on a go gauge.
Not too shabby for a 50yr old rifle and a used barrel......probably more luck than anything else. I had expected to have the barrel set back and then rechamber it.
Then the action was pulled all the way down and stripped of Duracote.
PTG recoil lug came today, so I finished stripping the Duracote left inside the action with the blaster (which actually took some work), and finished the action in flat black. I also blasted the barrel and the random flash hider I'm using as a thread protector. The bolt handle got blasted and Duracoated black as well, and I have a stainless PTG bolt shroud coming...tho that WAS meant for the other 6.5 I built last year.
Here's the completed barreled action waiting for new stock! and what it would look like if I dropped it back into its old stock.
I've been curious about the Promag Archangel stocks for the bolt guns for a while. I HAVE handled and shot a Mosin wearing one, and it actually felt pretty good for the limited (less than a magazine) number of shots I fired thru it. So I had my FFL buddy order one. If it's horrible I might swap this over to a chassis since I've never owned a chassis rifle.
I was once again ready to put it in the back of the gun case for another interminable stay.......It came out so rarely I dont even have a picture of it.
About a week later I ran across an X-Cal barrel in 6.5CM (which may not be my favorite cartridge, but I seem to build more of them than I do ARs) for cheap.
Why not says me, and I placed a bid for noticeably less than what the barrel should sell for.
Two days later I was trying to come up with what I was going to DO with this 6.5 barrel that I'd managed to win and now had on the way.
Since Id JUST played with the .243, I actually remembered I had it and decided to go ahead and USE the action on hand rather than going looking for another action to build from (this was ostensibly my wife "hunting" rifle as well so that OBVIOUSLY needed replacing...since she never used it....but that's a story for another day).
Old rifle got pulled out, the crappy worn out adl to bdl converted stock got pulled and the rifle stripped down.
This gun was one of my first attempts at using Durablue/Duracote, and I had blasted it one day then painted the next.
Anywhere else this probably wouldn't have been a problem, but here in Hilo, that meant rust had started, and rust vanes quickly started appearing under the Duracote. They never got bad enough for it to lift or chip like the Cerakote on my muzzleloader did, but they were visible under the finish.
The ones on my Abolt are noticeable as well, and it's on my list of things to fix....eventually.
Anyway, I measured the barrel to bolt clearance and expected headspace (used barrel so it was already chambered). I found them to be such that using a .250 recoil lug (what the barrel was shanked for), would give me about .005 clearance on the bolt, and headspace tight on a go gauge.
Not too shabby for a 50yr old rifle and a used barrel......probably more luck than anything else. I had expected to have the barrel set back and then rechamber it.
Then the action was pulled all the way down and stripped of Duracote.
PTG recoil lug came today, so I finished stripping the Duracote left inside the action with the blaster (which actually took some work), and finished the action in flat black. I also blasted the barrel and the random flash hider I'm using as a thread protector. The bolt handle got blasted and Duracoated black as well, and I have a stainless PTG bolt shroud coming...tho that WAS meant for the other 6.5 I built last year.
Here's the completed barreled action waiting for new stock! and what it would look like if I dropped it back into its old stock.
I've been curious about the Promag Archangel stocks for the bolt guns for a while. I HAVE handled and shot a Mosin wearing one, and it actually felt pretty good for the limited (less than a magazine) number of shots I fired thru it. So I had my FFL buddy order one. If it's horrible I might swap this over to a chassis since I've never owned a chassis rifle.
