Tactical-Target Rifle Project Reviews

[saleen322]

I know there are a number of people on here who are planning rifle projects and/or thinking about buying a specific rifle. For most people, these projects represent a major monetary investment and it may be helpful for them to hear real-world results from projects and purchases of tactical and/or target rifles. For this thread, lets limit the submissions to bolt action rifles that are 1 MOA or less capable, calibers that have a realistic minimum effective range of 300 yards, and are physically owned by the responders. While all comments are very welcome, if you want to write about your rifle, include pictures and a 5-shot group target shot at 100 yards or greater. Include as much information as you can including costs, what worked, what didn’t and what you would have done different. Hopefully, this will give someone taking on these projects some more objective information so they do not solely have to rely on the vendor’s information.

This is my old, tactical school rifle that I had for about 20 years. I used it when I attended training courses and conducted training. If I was using it as an operator, I would have taken weight off of it but when you have to shoot a lot in a short period of time, even with a .308, the weight of the rifle saves you a lot of recoil abuse. A couple of side notes on this old girl; I build this about 20 yrs ago so I am relying on my old mind to recall the prices (1991 prices). The ones I am not too sure about I have question marks after. The bolt really has some 3/8” bolt in it. I was going to a NRA Long Range LE instructor school and they had some sections where you had to do quick follow up shots. I cut, put my heat sink in the body, and welded a grade 5 hardware store bolt into the handle to give it more leverage. The bolt was bumping the stock and I just took a sander to it. There was a guy in the class who had just dropped 3 grand on a Robar with glass, drag bag, and etc (Big money back then) and he kept telling us that, so, ok I wanted to tweak his nose a little so I left the bolt rough and the sander marks on my Mauser so I could try to outscore him with a ugly rifle. FYI: I left a wiget laying on the target that I think only the old heads will identify. It was laying in the case and I thought I would put it in the picture.

Caliber: .308 Winchester
Action: 98 Mauser (Brno Military) $40
Trigger: Timney w/safety-set at 3 lbs $45?
Barrel: Olympic stainless 1-12, 24” long, broach cut, 1.25” dia (Krylon flat rattle can finish) $150?
Stock: McMillan $250
Bases, Rings: Weaver, Burris Z-Rings $20
Optics: USA Steel tube Weaver T-16 w/std duplex reticule $175? (Used)
Weight, empty with optics, bipod, and sling: approx 15 lbs
100 yard 5-group: 0.479” (18 degrees, very light breeze, light snow flurries)
Load: Fed match brass, 168 match king, 40.0 IMR-3031, Win LR primer

[Suburban]

I kinda like it. Like a budget hot rod, but a rifle. 15 pounds for rifle with scope isn't horrible; that barrel looks pretty substantial. IIRC, my Remington rimfire benchrest rifle is 14 pounds without scope or mounts.

I'm afraid that the prices of the Timney triggers and Zee rings have more than doubled. You can probably get a Bell & Carlson stock for that money, but not a McMillan.

[Tim Ault]

Alot of credit should go to the man shooting it ! there are probably more than a few that throw down 2-3K or more on rifle and optics that cant shoot to the rifles abilities . The instrument dont make the musician!

[yukon375]

heres my latest finished rifle.[IMG][/IMG] it's a blueprinted 700 shortie, lilja barrel, 3 groove, 1-11 twist, rem mnt. rifle contour. 11 degree crown, chambered for 308 with .341 neck so i can drive lapua brass and not cut necks. stock is a mickie edge in mnt rifle profile with 1/2" dec. pad. scope base holes are 8-40's with talley lightweights. and hold a loopie 3-9 lightweight. never weighed the rig but it is light, and a bit sporty off the bench.heres the targets....[IMG][/IMG].one 6 shot, one 5, the rest 3 shots. havent had alot of time to work out a load, but it seems to like rl-15 and 165's. heres a pic of the 3 projects i'm working on now,
2011-01-10_18-33-28_176 by yukon375, on Flickr top left is a borden timberline action waiting on a barrel from krieger, middle is a borden alpine action with wyatt box, and a custom contour(about #5) krieger 5r barrel, 1-10 twist, 11 degree crown, and got the .341 necked 308 in that one to. bottom is my old school project, waiting on a few pieces parts before it goes to hart for a barrel.

[YBNORMAL]

Here is mine, it started life as a Remington 700 SPS Tactical.

Caliber: .308 Winchester
Action: Rem SA (stock)
Trigger: stock XMark at around 3lb
Barrel: Stock Rem barrel-Rifle cost was (iirc) around $550
Stock: Bell and Carlson $300 LNIB
Bases, Rings: Weaver one piece, Burris Tactical rings $20,$60
Optics: Bushnell (B&L) Elite 3200 10x $150 LNIB
Weight, HEAVY! (not sure)
Load: Win brass, Ferderal primers, 36gr 4064 under 168gr SMK.
Bipod: Harris



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This target is the first outing of the rifle, with the floopy Houge stock, off bags with FGGM 175gr at 100yds, three shot group.



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This is the same day at 200yds, I was shooting for groups so I hadn't made any scope adjustments yet.



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This was another range trip with my reloads. 10shot group at 100yds, I was still using the hogue stock at this point but had relieved the barrel channel so the barrel floated even as the rifle was loaded on the bipod.



I have shot it a few times since I changed the stock but I haven't really done any serious work with it in the configuration that you see in the first pic. I will say that I was getting equivilent groups with the B&C with less concentration on my part.

[saleen322]

heres my latest finished rifle it's a blueprinted 700 shortie, lilja barrel, 3 groove, 1-11 twist, rem mnt. rifle contour. 11 degree crown, chambered for 308 with .341 neck so i can drive lapua brass and not cut necks. stock is a mickie edge in mnt rifle profile with 1/2" dec. pad. scope base holes are 8-40's with talley lightweights. and hold a loopie 3-9 lightweight. never weighed the rig but it is light, and a bit sporty off the bench.heres the targets one 6 shot, one 5, the rest 3 shots. havent had alot of time to work out a load, but it seems to like rl-15 and 165's. heres a pic of the 3 projects i'm working on now, on Flickr top left is a borden timberline action waiting on a barrel from krieger, middle is a borden alpine action with wyatt box, and a custom contour(about #5) krieger 5r barrel, 1-10 twist, 11 degree crown, and got the .341 necked 308 in that one to. bottom is my old school project, waiting on a few pieces parts before it goes to hart for a barrel.

Very nice and good shooting!

[saleen322]

I moved this post here as it is more on point here. I purchased this 110 Savage off the used gun rack probably around 1982. It was cheap, with a plain birch stock but seemed to have a good trigger. The accuracy was sort of ok but the stock design was so poor that, for just a .308, it had tremendous felt recoil. It was never a favorite and it saw sparing use for about a decade. I had got a deal on a stainless button rifled light target 30 caliber barrel and the barrel just stood in a corner of my gun room for a couple of years. On a whim, I asked my shooting buddy to thread and chamber the stainless barrel to the Savage. At the same time I tossed the stock and bought a Bell & Carlson (BC) stock. When I took the stock off I saw someone had replaced the stock trigger with a Canjar. The gun came back from my buddy and I fitted up the Bell & Carlson. At the same time I put a Harris bipod on the gun. The accuracy was a little disappointing, probably in the 1.25 MOA or worse area. I bedded the rifle, put pillars in but not much improvement. In a short period of time shooting the rifle, the front sling stud pulled right out of the stock. I took the BC stock off and found a very thin layer of composite material over light, foam filler. I tossed the synthetic stock and got a laminate. Immediately the average groups went below 1 MOA. The scope is a USA Burris 10X silhouette. Clear, repeatable with a perfect size reticule, the only regret I have is I didn’t buy more Burris scopes at the time. This is one of the few rifles I have that I shot at 1000 yards.

Caliber: .308 Win
Action: Savage 110
Trigger: Canjar, set @ 2 lbs
Barrel: Olympic 24", button rifled stainless 1-10, similar to a #5 Douglas contour
Stock: Richards Microfit Brown on Brown laminate
Rings & Base: Burris (1-piece base)
Scope: Burris Silhouette 10X
100 Yard Group: 0.723" (17 degrees w/very light snow)
Load: I think it was some left over Federal Match 168?

[animalmother85]

It's good to see other custom builds.

I'll play

Badger Ordnance M2008, Fluted Bartlein M24 contour, 5R 1-8.5", .260AI, APS painkiller (was originally to be turned down to a smaller size, but was not and may be over kill for a something that won't kick that much, especially with the finished weight), Nightforce NXS 5.5-22x56 on Badger rings. Huber 'heavy' two lb two-stage trigger (the jackson trigger shown is going on another rifle). What is not shown will later be shown in a KMW Sentinel Stock(if it were possible to transform pornstar style sex into a rifle stock, this is it.) when I get back state side. I'll also post some groups, good and bad and the respective load data. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other things...









With Lapua coming out with .260 brass, I'm really looking forward to coming home(as well as other reasons of course) and pushing this rifle really far. At nearly 3000fps on RL17 and a BC of .615 with 139gr Lapua Scenars, it should be a winner.

Nice rifle Yukon...Rep sent, You are still 'Grand Master'

[yukon375]

heres one i built a few years ago for large beasties bend on mayhem.
2011-01-12_19-05-31_192 by yukon375, on Flickr... its a rem 700 long, blueprinted. the bolt was fluted,has ptg bottom metal. the barrel is a pac-nor 3 groove. 1-12 twist, chambered for the 375 h&h, a cartridge that has been fabled in story and song for the last 99 yrs. drilled and tapped for 8-40's. loopie dual dovetail monts, now has a loopie 2.5-8,the stock is a mickie rem sporter profile(sex on a stick to my eyes) standard weight. tips the scale at 8.5lbs. did have the 1.5-5 when it was first completed. heres a pic of the 6 point i wacked with it and the 1.5-5.
downsized_1130091152 by yukon375, on Flickr and heres the target.
2011-01-12_19-13-19_127 by yukon375, on Flickr yes thats 200 yrds. not too shabby for a rifle the throws slugs the size of football eh? all i did was take the 270gr. hornady and kept addin' power till i got to 2700 fps. and shot groups. as you can tell, this rifle is one of my favs.
375 by yukon375, on Flickr

[saleen322]

Nice rifle, great caliber and excellent shooting!