Building a bolt action rifle. Where do I start?

[DJM]

I want to start getting in to long range shooting and before doing this build my own bolt action .308...

I ran across a video (see below) and my literally jaw dropped.

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I checked out the site and the price for this rifle is way out of my league so I want to start building one slowing as I get the money for parts. So my question is where to begin and what do I need to know before I get started.

[MoJo]

Building a super accurate bolt action rifle is 50% witchcraft, 25% watchmaker, and 25% jeweler. Nothing shoots as accurately as a properly built bolt gun. Unlike the MSR, bolt rifles aren't modular "lego" guns they have to be fitted, machined, tweaked, massaged, and exorcised. Now that I have told you the easy stuff, the first place to start is deciding on the action you are going to use. Everything else depends on your choice of action. Once you have your action, decide on the barrel and if you have all the tool$ fit the barrel to the action. Stock making comes next, then sights and ancillary components. If you still have your sanity the product may meet your expectations. You will be broke, but you will have a $100,000 rifle. Not it's worth, what you have invested in specialty tools and machinery. Good luck.

[DJM]

Thanks for the info!
I was checking out some Surgeon actions. Does anyone else have any suggestions when it comes to Actions?

[puma guy]

I recommend joining forums dedicated to the type of shooting and rifles that you are interested in. Benchrestcentral.com is one I know of. My cousin shoots benchrest and has built several rifles. Many of them are "machines" that barely resemble a traditional rifle. If you are going to go custom there are many receiver builders and barrel makers to choose from. Most are not cheap. I would start with a used rifle with quality components. Many shooters decide to change calibers and trade/sell for seed money for the new toy. There are many different types of "long range" shooting as well. Military style weapons i.e. M1 Garands are used for 300, 600 and 1000 yd matches with iron sights. Bayou Rifles has regular matches. You haven't mentioned what you are particularly interested in so it makes it harder to offer advice. Good Luck

[Andrew]

Along with everything MoJo listed, there is the occasional blood sacrifice under a full moon and/or the signing over of your first born. True precision rifles are an expensive undertaking even should you have the skills to do the smithing yourself. Pricing for entry level PR. A high quality barrel is going to start at $350. The action $1100 - $1300, The stock $900 - $1000 with all the pieces, Triggers start at $200. Optics, OMG! Bits and pieces, another $3-500. The shop and smithing tools, multiple $10s of thousands.
There are other options though, commercially produced rifles that have a demonstrable history of accuracy, that allow you to gain the skills you'll need to make shots like Tyler @ 800 yards. Believe me, it's not just the rifle in your video. Remington 700, Winchester Model 70, Browning A-bolts are all accurate rifles that are priced less than a complete McMillan stock. For the price of the action Weatherby Vanguard series 2 (600-1300) guarantee sub moa performance out of the box.
YMMV

[LTUME1978]

DJM,

a couple of years ago, I got the desire to learn how to shoot accurately at 1000 yards. I read a lot of articles on long range shooting (for lack of a better term, sniper competition) to see what those guys are using. One thing that I did see was that just about all of them are now using some form of a 6.5 caliber, not a 308 because of the superior ballistic coefficient of the 6.5. Just about all of them have custom rifles and optics that total around $10K in cost. That was way out of my price range as a beginner at this so I asked some of my shooting buddies that shoot F class benchrest where to start (F class is 1000 yard prone bench rest). They all said the same thing, get a Savage. I ended up getting a Savage Long Range Precision in 6.5 Creedmoor. The cost of the rifle was a little over $800.00. I put a Leupold 6.5 X 20 Extended Range Scope (30 mm tube) on the rifle with a TMR. The scope was about $1400.00 plus another $180.00 for rings and base. This rifle will easily shoot 1/3 MOA or better and is very accurate out to 1000 yards. I plan to shoot this combination for some time to see how it works for me. Maybe (and that is a very big maybe at this time) I might go with something better at some point in the future but at this time, I don't see how I can justify a custom rifle the way this thing shoots. I will be going to a training class to learn how to use this rifle/scope and will be asking a lot about equipment at that class (am 1st alternate on Paul Howe's Long Range Hunter Class later this month, hope I get as he does not offer that class again until next year). You may want to look at a less expensive option to start out and grow from there.

John

[RECIT]

DJM,

If you have never shot at distance before go and buy a Savage 10 or Remington 700 is choice caliber. Get a good midrange scope and go shoot it. Experience and training play as much of a part as equipment does in the long range game. If you are wanting to work up 1k yards then I agree the .308 is not the round to do it. 600yds and under and .308 it a great round. Not saying .308 is not capable of 1k shooting, there are just a lot better rounds for that specific purpose.

Both the Savage 10 and the Remington 700 are great starter platforms and are fully customizable. If you feel your skills are worth the extra $ after having some success at long distance then you might want to empty your savings for a GAP or Accuracy International set up.

[Rugerboy50]

DJM,

If you have never shot at distance before go and buy a Savage 10 or Remington 700 is choice caliber. Get a good midrange scope and go shoot it. Experience and training play as much of a part as equipment does in the long range game. If you are wanting to work up 1k yards then I agree the .308 is not the round to do it. 600yds and under and .308 it a great round. Not saying .308 is not capable of 1k shooting, there are just a lot better rounds for that specific purpose.

Both the Savage 10 and the Remington 700 are great starter platforms and are fully customizable. If you feel your skills are worth the extra $ after having some success at long distance then you might want to empty your savings for a GAP or Accuracy International set up.

Great advice.

I recently purchased a model 10 flcpk in .223 and it will be better shooter than me for a long time to come. I put a vortex viper 4-16 44 hd on it and am very happy with it.

[Afff_667]

http://kyledefoor.tumblr.com/post/32826 ... the-action

Kyle Defoor is a combate veteran, good guy, and well respected trainer/SME in many circles. He recently did a series of blog posts (I guess that's what you call them) in which he reviewed how to build an "everyman hunting rifle" with the criteria that he wanted to be able to reliably and accurately reach out to 600 yards or so. The link takes you to the posts where you can read not only the "whats" he recommended but, most importanly I think, the whys. According to his posts, his project topped out right at $1,100 or so. All in all, it's pretty much what RECIT and Rugerboy50 are talking about.

I'm beginning my trek down this road and feel like it will take me a long time to outgrow the setup Defoor describes, if I ever out grow it at all. I'll either get hooked and upgrade or have a great rifle for the safe and ocassional shooting or one that I should be able to sell pretty easily and recoup most of my investment.