Remington BDL to Sniper

[Abacon]

All your points are true, thanks

Maverick, sweet looking rifle! Also, I intend to be a professional and am learning from a 40+ year professional. He doesn't let me do anything without me first watching a process start to finish, then being carefully walked through the process start to finish. (For good reason)

Using the Krieger Contours, what would you guys recommend as a contour? Obviously Fluting a barrel helps with heat buildup. If I were to rapid fire I'd like to worry less about heat buildup, won't a thicker barrel also assist with that?

I want to let you all know I don't claim to know everything and I asked to gain knowledge so I am not downing on anyone. I appreciate your responses.

I was thinking the #10 MTU based on Kriegers Chart. It's 7 lbs or 6.5 Flutted. Is this overkill?

 

[Maverick223]

TY, Abacon. A heavy barrel will help you with long shot strings, but honestly a medium weight barrel is sufficient unless you plan to fire long strings in quick succession. IMO a Light Palma or at the most Standard Palma or Light Target contour would be best for a rifle that might be used for hunting. Anything heavier is simply too heavy for practical offhand hunting IMO (the MTU contour is way too much...i'd want the barreled action to weigh no more than that contour). Additionally I am a big proponent of fluting due to the higher strength to weight ratio as well as the slightly improved cooling properties...I don't care what the late Gale McMillan had to say on the subject.

 

[USSR]

With apologies to the PC enamored on this site, here is my Tactical Rifle in .30-06:

Winchester Model 70 Action (trued by Jack Krieger)
26" Fluted Krieger MTU Contour Barrel
McMillan A2 Stock (pillar bedded by Krieger)
Jewell Trigger
Speed Lock Firing Pin and Spring
Williams One-Piece Steel Bottom Metal
Badger 20MOA Picatinny Rail and Rings
Leupold 6.5-20x50 LR Scope with MilDots

Don

 

[ball3006]

The question is, how does the rifle shoot now? All you may need to do is mount a decient scope and a bipod and go shooting. If you are a gunsmith in training, just ask one of the instructors. I attended Trinidad St Jr College, class of 64, and the staff theree was first rate and could answer any questions you may throw at them......chris3

 

[Abacon]

Maverick,
Agreed! I could go with the Standard Target #8 Flutted shaving it to 5.5 lbs and making the barreled action about as much as the MTU? In my shooting I do enjoy rapid shots on different steel targets.

USSR,
Very nice! We have similar taste.

Ball,
I am workin on that. Turning a 700 Tactical has been a want of mine for many years. Two things I don't currently like, the stock is wood and the barrel is about as light as a barrel gets. Great for a hunting rifle but I'm looking a little heavier and with a nice stock.

 

[dubbleA]

Just take your time and get exactly what you want. Then when it's finished you can build another because the former isnt what you exactly wanted.

Here's my latest precission rifle, comes in at 18lbs loaded, ready to go. Gears are already turning for the next one.

 

[Maverick223]

+1, dubbleA. I already have my next one spec'd out...just waiting for the cash to build it (which might be a while). FWIW i'm looking at a GAP Templar action dropped in a JAE-700SA chassis with a Schneider polygonally rifled bbl in .260Rem. and Jewell bottom safety trigger group.

 

[Art Eatman]

If the target shooting is for five-shot groups with some cool-down between strings, a #2 profile barrel is heavy enough. I had no difficulty in getting sub-MOA five-shot groups, whether 100 yards or 500 yards.

The .280 Rem is a smidgen longer than the .30-'06, so it's slightly over-bore. A barrel length of 24" to 26" would be close to optimum for muzzle velocity. I tend to prefer 26", myself, for the '06.

As for fluting, I have yet to read of any definitive testing which shows any benefit in group size. There's no doubt as to the "on paper" benefits as regards stiffness/weight/cooling, but unfluted barrels have yielded groups which are just as tight. As near as I can tell, fluting doesn't hurt anything, so those who like it should go that route.

 

[Maverick223]

...unfluted barrels have yielded groups which are just as tight. As near as I can tell, fluting doesn't hurt anything, so those who like it should go that route.

Exactly! The same barrel (profile, length, metallurgy, chambering, et cetera) with flutes has a bit better radiant heat transfer, but a bit quicker initial rise in temperature due to conduction (because there is less mass to absorb the heat), the biggest advantage is a barrel that is significantly lighter with almost equivalent stiffness. In short, a benchrest rifle (where weight isn't much of a consideration) there is little reason for it, everything else stands to benefit.

 

[unwise11]

I'd try to keep it at 15-17 lbs if going to hunt, I'm 14, and when hunting season opens I'll be carrying a heavy SPS Tactical Rem 700 in .223, a Howa in .308, or a Marlin 30-30, (depends on my mood and the weather) but I lift weights, and I'm 150something, 5-10" so I agree, weight is not a big deal, especially with a sling..
So, I'd go with .280, or 6.5-06 and go with a 22" heavy barrel, and a Bell and Carlson or McMillan stock..

 

[Abacon]

Dubble A,
Now that is a sexy rifle! Very nice! What are the specs? Very true on the building another one. I've always said you can't have too many guns. I shoot mostly with my DPMS now but I've always wanted a bolt action larger than my .22. This is the first I'm putting together other than the sporterized Nagant I had years back.

Art, good info on the barrel length. I'll go with a 26 for sure. I'm not entirely familiar with the course of fire in most competitions outside the Marine Corps. I am pretty sure there were bolt competitions like the M16/M4 that had a 10 round rapid fire. Obviously I'd need me a detachable mag that holds 10 rounds if that were the case. Where should I start looking for competition when I feel I'm ready? I could compete to 600 now but wouldn't feel ready to jump into 1,000 yard matches if I even could.

I was thinking of some AR competitions with the NRA to start out but wasn't familiar with bolt rifles or long range. Does anyone here know anything about those competitions or where to get started?

 

[snake284]

All I know about Krieger is what I bought, a No. Four contour 28" long SS. .257 Barrel. My Smith cut it down to about 25.5 inches long but it is fairly heavy. But since I don't wal around much I don't care. I can get it to a blind and sit down. If both my legs were better I love to walk. I have walked up on some big deer, however hogs are too wary and you do better out of a blind. I do have a about four lighter rifles that are nice to walkn around with. I have that old post 63 Mod. 70 in .270 and a Ruger 77 Tang safety with a light barrel. Then my two model 700s are not real heavy either. All I have that's heavy is the .250 Savage with the Krieger barrel and my .280 on a Mauser action and ER Shaw 26 Inch heavy sporter barrel. I have walked around with that .280 back when I was younger in the late 80s-early 90s, but I had a neuropathy hit me in 2003-2004, and it left my left leg pretty week.
But all this to say, I like 26 inch barrels. In fact my build in progress will sport a 27 inch shilen. Why 27" ? Because you can always cut barrel off, but it doesn't grow back real well. Seriously, I believe you can make a rifle with a long barrel and cut it off later if you want to. But the only way you're getting that barrel back long is to buy another one. Cutting off and recrowning is very cheap compared to buying new and reaming a new chamber.

 

[Maverick223]

Cutting off and recrowning is very cheap compared to buying new and reaming a new chamber.

Depending upon the contour a longer-than-necessary/desired barrel also allows you to cut the bbl back, re-thread, and re-cut the chamber/throat to double your bbl life (but you have to have a bbl with a relatively long shank).

 

[Abacon]

Nice, good outlook Snake